Art exhibition

This was not a huge success. There were not many people there, perhaps it was the weather, or poor publicity, or...who knows. I sold several cards, and now have pictures ready in frames, which I will display at the guest house. I have sold a total of four pictures now, as well as lots of cards, some of which I make from pictures I like parts of! It is an amazing feeling to sell a picture and think someone actually likes it enough to hang it on their wall - or enough to give it to someone who might or might not hang it on their wall!

3BT

I have neglected 3BT for a few days

1 - The man who rang who had found Simon's filofax yesterday - is this a cheat, as I already mentioned it! But, it was extra beautiful!

2 - The chocolate bunny I found in one of the guest rooms which a kind guest had left for me, I mean us. We ate his ears first, then I ate most of the rest of him. His ears were enormous...

3 - Our newly refurbished polytunnel. It has had the potting surface redone, so that there will not be pools of muddy water forming all the time, and another bed formed, as well as the doors rehung and made possible to open without moving a great piece of stone to get in each time. I have no excuses not to use it. Time? Oh that old thing. The picture was taken in 2006, and is what I now need to aspire to for this year, although possibly with less weeds. Sweetcorn did not do well in the polytunnel, and was happier outside. I wish I approached gardening with glee, but it mostly is with anxiety as days pass and nothing has been done and the weeds start to get going. I use to have a little walled garden, this was great, I would love to create something similar in a part of this garden, but can't see how that can be arranged.

Found!

Simon's certificates, phone and filofax were all found by a nice man nearby. They must have fallen off his landrover, where he must have placed them whilst putting other things in the car.

Not very clever, but all has ended well.

I've shrunk!

During a routine blood pressure etc. appointment with the nurse at my GP surgery, I was measured, for the first time in many years. I have shrunk by nearly an inch. This is rather a shock, I didnt realise that the shrinking process would have started yet. That makes my BMI even worse than I feared. I think I was bending, I should have pushed my head up more!

What with that and leaving my glasses in the road, I don't think much of this aging process, it gets you in all sorts of little, unanticipated ways, just when you think all is well.

Ho hum, could be worse I suppose.

Simon has lost his phone, brand new Filofax and certificates he needs for work, somewhere this morning, he knows not where. As he is always leaivng and losing things, I did not take it too seriously, but it would be a real pain if it has truly gone this time.

3BT by Vanessa

1 - Finding my glasses. I lost my reading glasses after the setting up of the art exhibition of earlier posts. When I called in the next day, there they were, and the lovely lady who had found them had discovered them in the road! Oh dear, old age is creeping in. Not only did I feel bereft without them, although I have other pairs of over the counter ones, but the fact of somehow dropping them in the road, is not boding well!

2 - The art exhibition. When we set it up, it was rather chaotic. The hall had not been prepared before the arrival of the pictures and lots of people. There were people up ladders, fixing bits of plastic, people standing around looking a bit fed up, and people sorting out pictures and hanging pictures as soon as the bits of plastic were in place. It looked like it could never be ready! But, yesterday, a setting of perfect calm, at St. Kew Parish Hall, near Wadebridge. Lots of pictures, many of a very high standard, yummy cakes as well.

3 - Snow. Coming outside to a little flurry of snow this morning. The changeable British weather. People walking past, all bundled up for winter. The picture above was not taken today, but way back in Nov 2006 I think.

cards at art exhibition

These are some of the cards I have put in the art exhibition, I hope I shall sell some of these. The spooky moon is here again, it doesn't detract so much as it does in the pictures! anyone who knows this area will recognise the middle card as depicting Gull Rock, at Trebarwith Strand.

Art Exhibition

Since this is intended to be a craft related blog, it is high time I added some craft, or art work. Several local art groups which are lead by the same teacher, Wendy Parkyn, are having an exhibition from 21st - 27th March, and I have managed to include a few pieces of my work. I rushed about today to get them framed, and the lovely man at Stable Art in Bodmin did a great job, and they all look far better than they did! And far better than in these photos, which don't show the frame and in which a moon has appeared in the centre of each picture, as the light was nearly gone by the time I had the opportunity to take a picture. Of course, I will probably have plenty of opportunity in a week or so to take leisurely photos, but, just in case they all sell, I took these! There are some fantasitc paintings in the exhibition.

3BT by Ted

1 - standing in the doorway, at length, making sure Vanessa can't close it, especcially when it is a cold day

2 - sleeping on Vanessa's head, and possibly on her face, just as she nods off, so that she can't breath

3 - the possiblity of new baby creatures to catch in Spring. I may not bother, but the idea's nice.

Blogging pause

I have been a bit lax on the blogging front in the past few days. I have been very busy with guests, and am also involved in painting pictures for an exhibiton for our local art groups. When does it set up? Tomorrow. What have I got ready? Nothing. But, I will, I have several pictures nearly ready and quite a lot of watercolour cards. I will post a few bits here tomorrow before I go.

This picture is of a painting I did earlier...

The photo is wonky.

3BT

1 - lambs leaping straight up in the air, for no apparent reason.
2 - a plate of vegan sushi, presented to delighted guests
3 - the look on our neighbour's faces when I took them a cake - shock I expect, as I have never taken one before!


Ted would like to do his 3BT soon, he tells me he has plenty to add.

Three Beautiful Things, by Sky

1 - me
2 - my ball
3 - me

3BT

1 - having a house full of lovely guests and being busy properly again

2 - making plans for the guest house, looking forward with pleasure

3 - seeing Simon's mum, Elizabeth, so much better after her fall and also looking positively to the future

birds outside the window

Just below the window where I sit at the computer, ie the view I plan to photograph each month, I have just seen four species of bird in close succession. Firstly a wren, very agitated, fast and making quite a loud noise, passed about four feet from where I sit. Then there were blue tits and a sparrowy type affair. A female balckbird made her appearance, followed by the male. He proceeded to pull a worm from the ground, pecked at it for a while, let it have a final wiggle about in daylight, then swallowed. It must be wiggling around in his stomach.

Ted the cat has now marched past, so all the birds are agitated.

Have tried to cpy a picture of a wren into this blog, but don't seem to know how, so that's that.

3BT

1 - Biscuit/Berri's soft brown eyes
2 - the three boxes of lovely Riverford food that arrives on Tuesdays
3 - my new Run pan

Once a month

I have decided to take a picture of the view from outside the window where I sit at the computer, once a month. This will be quite an interesting record for me at least.

There is the need for a little tidying up I think. It will interest me to see how fast the echiums grow and whether there will be any camelia flowers out on 11th April.

Run pan

This is my birthday present, it arrived today. A sad sort of present? Oh no, a wonderful present. These Run pans are not cheap and they are great to use. If it suggests I am excessively dedicated to my work, that is no bad thing.

Storm watching

This was not taken today, but on another stormy day. We visited Trebarwith Strand this morning, when it was wet and wild and again this evening, when it was wet and wild and dark. For anyone reading this who knows the area, the water was thrown right up to the Port William pub, where I got a complete soaking, of the take-your-breath-away type. I can still taste salt, hours later.

3BT
1 - Ted, pussy cat, sleeping all through the storm
2 - actually getting my new sewing machine out of its box and threading it up and having a go. I have been a bit scared of it, but it is great.
3 - Sky, dog, being all scared of the storm and having to spend the whole day in the annexe, where it was a bit quieter.

waiting for the storm

my 3 beautiful things for today

1 - we are supposed to get a major storm tonight. Will we, won't we, the not knowing, anticipation

2 - this stepped path in Cadgwith - my heart is still on the Lizard!

3 - lots of surprise phone calls and post as I turn 15 (??)

The house described in my previous post is just a little further to the left of this headland. i realised there was no context in my pictures, they did not show the view or the fact of the nearby sea at all.

holidays remembered

A rather boring looking flat roofed building, but this is where I spent many summer and winter holidays as a child. It is at the far end of Kennack Sands, nestled into the hillside. I used to get so excited as we arrived, having driven from Sussex after getting up very early in the morning. Past Goonhilly and then we were nearly there, Kuggar, down a rough track and there it was, all windswept and scrummy. My main interest, aged 9 - 13 ish ish, was looking at and collecting stones, little bits of amethyst, studying the serpentine. I was a strange child! I loved the sea as well, so wasn't totally weird.

Ridiculous? Me? I don't think so.

Is it not normal to occasionaly drape oneself in a towel which some human idiot has left in the way over the back of the seat?

3BT - on the LIzard

I am spoilt for things to include in my Three Beautiful Things on the Lizard. 300 might be easier.
1 - Lying in bed in the morning listening to music, not having to be anywhere in particular

2 - The otters at the Gweek seal sanctuary who kept a toad each as a 'baby' - it all looked rather alarming, but they apparently never hurt them and take them to bed with them! Each to their own.

3 - Arriving at Porthleven for tea after walking a long way along the cliff top from Gunwalloe. Briefly forgetting that we would have to do the return walk.

Cliff Top Etiquette

We have just returned from a week's stay at The Hen House, which was wonderfully relaxing and, although under two hours drive away and still in Cornwall, in an area totally different from here, on the Lizard peninsula. Leaves were coming out, there were some echiums in flower (I expect ours in June in north Cornwall).

We managed quite a few walks in the week, along sunkissed clifftops and treelined creeks. There were few people around as it was only early March. But, when we did see people we greeted each other as we passed by. Somehow we usually know the point where it is or isn't the required etiquette to greet people. This has always struck me as intriguing. Is it the volume of people you pass? Do you only greet people if you haven't seen another person for e.g. 30 seconds, and only along a country footpath? Or, is it related to your proximity to a built up area? Or is it the lifitng of the head to make eye contact? In Treknow, for instance, we all greet each other all the time, whether passing a stranger or someone you have known for years. If I had done this when I lived in London, I would have been considered extremely strange, plus there wouldn't have been time to do anything else! If in doubt, I always try to err on the side of greeting, for instance towards the start or end of a walk. It is always uncomfortable if a person does not respond, but this is undoubtedly informed by a different etiquette - that of the city, a foreign land, or some internal place the person is caught up in.