Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A week (or so) in my life............

My week started off with a bang in more ways than one. Our shower is over the bath and yesterday I rather carelessly managed to slip on the floor. Should have been fine as I am fairly well padded but managed to crack the back of my head on the low brick wall which hides all the pipes in the bathroom. Really did see stars and have a large painful bump on the back of my head. Megan insisted that I should visit the doctor who checked my eyes and sent me home with a leaflet of symptoms to look out for in case of more serious damage and the instruction to take it easy for the rest of the day! Returned home and decided to update my blog. All went well, added lots of pictures tried to publish the post to receive an error message. Having working with html coding for years I usually do not have a problem sorting out missing codes. Don't know what happened, perhaps it was the blow to my head, but I lost most of my carefully written update. So I have had to start all over again, hope I can remember everything.
Our recent trip to London was useful as we managed to visit some of our favourite shopping 'haunts' to top up on silk ribbon and other needed items. Found the latest issue of my favourite Beadwork magazine, really miss Borders! They stocked all the UK and international magazines and much as I would like to take out subscriptions to some of the magazines, it is just not a viable option at the moment.
The Etsy get together was rather a disappointment, was looking forward to meeting like minded crafty people. The event was obviously an attraction as the response was excellent but the venue was rather cramped, perhaps there should have been a limit on numbers. Tables had been set up with a selection of items to make, paper flowers, painted glassware and small banners using a selection of scrap fabrics. All quick and easy stuff but without much guidance or communication from the organiser. I noticed a lot of attendees left early, most probably also a little disappointed.
Some time ago when visiting Frankfurt Airport we saw an exhibition of decorated cows. These formed part of the Cow Parade, an international public art exhibition featured in major world cities. Fibreglass sculptures of cows artfully decorated in a variety of colours and designs.
Whilst travelling by bus through London we spotted a variety of painted elephants. Megan managed to take a quick picture of three ellies on the back of a truck. Not the best picture but snapped in haste after scratching in handbag for camera and through the window of a London bus!
Searched on the internet and discovered they form part of the Elephant Parade, a conservation campaign highlighting the urgent crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. The elephants have been decorated in a wide range of colours and designs by various artists and will be sold by auction (at £75 per ticket) to raise funds for the conservation effort. To see more pictures of all the elephants you might like to visit:
http://www.elephantparadelondon.org/
We celebrated Father's Day last Sunday here in the UK and had a special family get together with lunch in the garden. The weather has been extremely warm and I am starting to think that we do need some rain as it is now so dry.
We are feeding (and watering) an ever increasing number of birds in our garden. All the babies are growing up and think this is the best place to find food! We also have a shy squirrel who climbs into the feeder to salvage what is left of the seed. I have found a very old wooden squirrel feeder nailed to one of the trees which I plan to clean out to use specifically for our new garden visitor.
The garden is slowing improving and flowers starting to bloom. We have a very pretty flowering pea right by the front door, no fragrance and quite different to the sweet pea plants I am used to growing. The flowers are deep pink which fade to most pale purple as they age. 
As a bit of a magpie collector I could not resist this branch of tiny fur cones which I found on one of my walks.

Saturday was Armed Forces Day in the UK with special parades in some of the major cities around the country. Austin's regiment for some reason decided to hold a parade on Sunday so we travelled to London to offer our support. Looking smart and relaxed after the event
 This was our first trip to London since we moved house and we took a slightly different route, partly on quieter country roads through pretty villages. On all our recent travels I have been looking out for fields with wild poppies and have been disappointed to discover only a handful  growing at the side of the roads. I was pleased to finally find a large area of red poppies growing between the canola oil plants. A beautiful picture of idyllic English countryside.
And I have also managed to complete some work. Two little bears waiting to be dressed/decorated. The cream little girl has quite an opinion of herself or is perhaps a stargazer. Have made a crochet hat for her so today will be spent hopefully completing all her clothing.
I have also had fun completing some of my beadwork. The pansy cabochon I purchased some time ago whilst in the States and now it is finally complete with a beaded necklace to match.

The brown beaded cabochon is actually resin but with the delica beadwork and flower and leaf trim it has been turned into something quite special. Now have to decide on what style of necklace will complete this piece
My final creation is a necklace still waiting for a clasp, pretty fairy pastel colours and pearl beads.
  
A long catch up with lots of pictures, just hope I have remembered everything the second time around.! Until next time, have a good week............

There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our heart.

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