What , so soon?

Another post so soon you say...it's only been 5 years since the last one. heehee

If you want my crafting blog you need to head here to Jo Blogs.

As you may have guessed, I've accumulated one or two more pics but will add a couple here now just for now to switch up my main Jo Blogs page border.

Here are a few pics from our time at Universal Studios in Florida ...great colour combinations and shadows that I thought may come in handy for my art work one day

Hopefully I'll be back on here before another 5 years is up ;)

Supermoon

Tonight is the night of whats being called the Supermoon.

The moon is closer to us than usual and so will appear slightly bigger, especially when first appearing over the horizon.

The moon this evening looked fabulous. The photos are not that clear (usually its impossible to snap away at the moon using my little camera and get any sort of image at all), but tonight I managed these.

The birds were going loopy out there tonight...tweeting like mad!!

October Silence

October 2010...autumn is fast approaching...



This morning the mist was rolling in over Sussex and so I nipped down to the bottom of our garden first thing as the sun was breaking through to take a few photos.



These horses are in the field next to were we live and wondered what I was doing out and about so early I think. In the background the mist is covering all the fields and flood plains towards town.

They're not the only ones wondering why I was up so early I imagine, but its been a while since I've seen it look so peaceful out there and so full of soft hues.

Edit to say that the first image was shown on TV on the BBC's South East Today News on Monday 1st November 2010 when they presented a programme about autumn and changing colours/season. Even had my name on screen! Whahoooooooo!

AND!!!!!!!

THREE times on Daybreak TV on Meridian ITV pre the weather report with Simon Parkin on the morning of November 5th, again shown with my name!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

What a suprise! Baby chicks!

On Thursday (three days ago) Dave discovered that one of our hens (or two taking it in turns actually) had been hiding some eggs and that they were about to hatch! So he got to work creating a little safe haven for the Hen and eggs and lo and behold look what turned up over night- two baby chicks, one like Mum hen(rusty coloured) and one like dad cockerel (white)...(Dave took a few pics). Then a few hours later, a third! Another white one.



For better pics and a little 15 second film please hop on over to my husband Daves blog.
http://onemanandhischickens.blogspot.com/

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

A Misty Morning...

This morning it was really misty and a fog had settled amongst the trees in the garden and in the fields behind the house.

The Snowdrops are in full bloom at the moment in the back garden around the 'Nothing Tree' and the pear tree with signs of the occassional Daffodil peeping through the surface of the soil....so...before I'd even had a cuppa I borrowed Stiggy's camera and had a saunter to the bottom of the garden to capture a few eery images of the trees and a few Snowdrop shots.










The Snowdrop photo imparticular looks much better when enlarged as the dew from the mist was still on the leaves and the heads of the flowers.

Round and round the garden....

...and up the road a bit :0)

Not quite as poetic as the kids rhyme but its looked like Narnia in the gardens and fields here over the past 48 hours.

First of all Dave went on a walk-about and I stayed in with the kids who were both home due to schools being closed...then it was my turn.

First of all(armed with Daves posh camera) I shuffled down the drive and crossed over the road which had been gritted the night before so was a bit slushy sandy. This is the main country road to Newhaven where theres a port, and so can get busy at times, but there wasnt a soul about.






Our driveway is where theres a break in the hedge on the left...


these are the trees that edge the field where horses usually graze opposite the house. Everything looked like it had been blasted with a snow machine on a film set.



......and in the other direction facing the town in the distance



and over the hedge...



didn't want to be out too long...all that fresh air and excercise plays havock lol, so I walked back home (in the centre of the road! No traffic!...well, one police car doing its circuit to see if anyone was stuck I guess), but otherwise nothing...

in the area where we planted our vegetables last year there were some great patterns and textures going on..

this reminded me of woven wool or knitting



and this one, the grass reminded me of scratches on a photo......




lots of great inspiration for mixed media pieces...





Over the fence, my favourite view from the summertime, (as we spent a lot of time digging and planting overlooking these trees)...only now it all looked so incredibly different....







So that was Monday.......yesterday.... and the snow finally stopped falling during late afternoon and moved on up from the south to the midlands and the rest of the UK...

and Tuesday came and brought us the most gorgeous sunrise (we had white sky yesterday- the sun couldnt get through) ...I took these this morning from the lounge.







It was a really welcome sight after the cold freezing temperatures over the past few days.

The chickens are ok...they survived the ordeal, although stopped laying for a day... and the wild birds made the most of all the extra seed and peanuts we put out aswell as our usual hanging feeders.

The moles....well, thats another story lol...Dave has that all under control (snigger lol)

The kids should be back to school tomorrow...much to Kanes dismay lol...he's had a lot of fun outside- a perfect ending to what was his birthday weekend.

Its been a while......

I hadn't realised how long it had been since my last post here until I noticed Dave's blog link list ...oooops...6 months or something maaaaad lol
Since I last posted we've moved into the new place, had Christmas and are settling down.

LOVE living here- thought I'd show a few pics taken recently in the cold and the rain here in our paddock where the chickens live, very different images to those taken during my earlier posts on the blog.

Before Christmas I was asked to submit a few samples to Stampotique Originals rubber stamps in Arizona(see main blog for links etc) and so along with my usual style of working with perspex, and multi layering I did some simple makes, one of which used the photo taken from the front of the house.





I'm hoping to start journaling lots of texture and pattern inspiration from the garden, getting back to my textile roots again using this type of thing...



I've been taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch which takes place this weekend and amongst the usual Robins, Coal Tits and Jays we've had a BARN OWL!!(if you have speakers play the sound effect- nearly threw me off my chair rofl) AND!! AND!! this morning I was watching our resident Green Woodpecker when he/she was joined by ANOTHER one!! WE HAVE TWO!!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited lol (yes I know, I need to get out more lol) . Dave did a post on the Owl and the Woodpecker/s (no pussycat or peagreen boat available at the time of writing lol) on his blog.
So...all in all, the Snowdrops are popping up through the grass, loads of wildlife (foxes stroll through the garden) and the trees are budding again. Can't wait to get planting all the vegetables :0)

From woodlice to waterwings....

Stiggy, over on One Man and his Chickens has tagged me to think of more weirdness about myself that I havent listed in tags over on my art blog, so lets have a go (he did say I didnt HAVE to, but I've not received a tag over on this blog before...... sorry if they are really peculiar, but I've done this a few times over on my art blog in the past year.

Ok...six 'random' facts about me..... lol

1. I'm perfectly happy to pick up spiders but not woodlice or beetles.

2. None of the mirrors work properly in our house. I AM an ideal weight for someone whose 6'4" lol (pity I'm only 5'3(and a half)".... hopefully all this gardening, once we've settled in, will do me good.

3. Dave and I both took just 13 driving lessons in our teens and both of us passed first time (we discovered this in a 'who is the better driver' debate with each other once after 'discussing' who was 'the better driver' roflrofl...ok Dave is more confident at driving to new places and parking, I'm more responsible and get less irate at other drivers lol)...so its a draw :0)

4. I recently traced my family tree back to 1792 and compiled it all in a scrapbook for a suprise Christmas present for my Dad. I discovered that my family were very hard workers (agriculture/ Lime burners/ and later on the railways and cheese makers) and the women must have been incredibly strong. Its amazing how emotionally attached you become to particular members of the family tree when tracing their lives. When I discovered the early death of my Great Great Great Grandmother I actually went 'Nooooooo' out loud.

5. Over the last 17 years I have learnt to survive on very little sleep (not by choice I hasten to add lol and possibly to the relief of the rest of the family as I snore like a fog horn), but have discovered recently that my creativity has benefited from my sleep deprivation and I've ended up making a few things that I wouldnt have if I'd have been full of the joys of spring lol

6. I have a fear of drowning even though I can swim... so spend most of my time wearing water wings just incase it rains hard lol (joke...the water wings bit not the drowning)

Hope they are fact enough....I wont tag on, as I imagine you've all been 'done' as I've pinched most of my outdoorsy blog links from Stiggy :0)which I LOVE!

Inside and out...

The whole reason we are moving house is to make life a lot easier for us as a family accommodating hoists and access for Zaks chair.
On Friday Zak was able to look around the inside of the house as well as the outside for the first time since the build began. When we first viewed the property he could only access two of the rooms as his wheelchair couldn't take the turns or it through the doors.(Thats after collapsing the chair to get it into the house ), so this day was special one for him to be able to take in whats going on.



(testing out the corridor)


("and the hoist will be from here...to here...")



Seeing the size of Zaks chair in the house confirmed that the wide hallway and open lounge was definitely the way to have designed the place. I can't wait until we are settled in and sorted. We are half way through the time scale now.

(next door's wondering whats going on lol)



The change has been pretty incredible but still retains its calmness and 'good feel' about it when you walk through the gates.Something thats difficult to describe but both Stiggy and I both felt when we first visited.Maybe its all the birdsong? Perfect.

Brighton Marina...

For a change we recently took a stroll along Brighton Marina, had a Pizza then took a look at the boats. We hadn't done that for about 3 years. Although we live alongside so many tourist attractions you tend to take it for granted. Are you the same?

Took a few pics as always....

This is a floating (obviously- its a boat lol) Chinese Restaurant- the Brighton Pagoda, where Dave and I had one of our early dates 7 years ago. It has an upstairs and downstairs ...tiny. It doesnt seem so long ago- how time flies...



Littlun and a mermaid...



and look at these ...this is a bar window with a screen of drinking glasses all the way along the window- really strange to see such a wall of different transparent shapes. If you look where the box frames are you can see inside the bar. Inspirational ...I came away from there thinking of all sorts of stuff I could create.

An eventful day...nettles and nets.

Today the weather was so hot!!
On eventual arrival at the build after a delayed start to the day, walking up the driveway was more like an assault course compared to its usual feeling of calm.
After snagging my skirt 3 times on various building materials, wood and nails, then catching my hair on a low branch, then a grand finale of nettle stings all up my left arm as I was throwing a hissy fit about my skirt , the day slowly started to improve lol...well it HAD to as so far it was like the scene from the Police Squad movie on the boat- one disaster to the next

I don't do hot weather well... so my first thought was to head over to the allotment and set up my little chair and have a cool drink and take in this view before anything else happened to drive me 'over the edge' lol



Stiggy was over digging a trench for his shed extension so his day was all planned.

BUT....what did I find as I turned the corner from the garden....BIRDS!! BIG BLACK BIRDS SCOFFING WHAT WE HAVE NOW DISCOVERED (thanks Stiggys dad)TO BE TAYBERRIES!!





That was the final straw...netting was needed...and a tall person and a hammer.

....so a little while later, Stiggy, whilst I was weeding, had fastened a big 'hair net' over the whole lot to keep them out- just the job, looks fabulous and they will hopefully survive- they taste gorgeous- like a cross between raspberries and blackberries..would make brilliant jam.






Had a wander and a word with the chickens, tested out the lovely new easy gate instead of tearing my hands to shreds on wire and a stick, and generally pootled about. The Silkies are very friendly, this one inparticular is always first to greet and actually runs really fast towards you like a little dinosaur.




The sun was so bright today that the colours were really vibrant...



And the end of day news is that we maywell be adopting 5 more chickens.... a local farm is giving away chickens (that are free range) to good homes rather than them meet the end of their days. Exciting stuff.