Circles

I meant to start with the circle pebbles but for some reason it got moved to the bottom and I cant move it back.  Well anyway this is a lovely bit of driftwood we found  and its coming home with us to be made into something, I think it would look nice as a lamp base?  Will have to wash the seagull pooh off first.

I just love this bit of rope hanging on a fishermans hut, yes it really is that blue! We had a lazy day today, I did not do any painting which is naughty as it needs to be finished but what the heck I'm on Oliday! 

These are the bits I got yesterday, I think the sitting down dog must be half of the black and white whisky dogs.  I wasnt going to buy him but he was sat on the shelf with the other one and I thought he would be lonely without his friend so they both came with me.

You cant believe the circles arent painted on amazing nature!

Pebbles on the beach

At About eight o'clock this morning we gave in to Midge and took her down onto the beach, she ran on ahead with E and I tagged along behind looking at the lovely pebbles,  looking back the hut looked nice in the morning sun.  It was strange going to sleep with the sea so close, you don't hear it after a while and then all of a sudden you hear it again and it seems much louder, there was one point when I said to E its a shame we cant turn it down a bit! I think it makes more noise as its on pebbles not sand. Ian was up at first light  expounding on the delights of the day, I just pulled the covers over my head and tried for a bit more snoozing now I had the bed to myself, but Midgie kept giving me kisses and she is very liky when she wants you to get up, then you get a ball shoved in your face and more kisses!  So after ten minutes of trying to fend her off I had woken up to much so got out of bed stuck my head out of the window and took a deep breath.

Just  look at these pebbles, amazing.  I think we will be taking some home with us.  Today we looked for ones with a circle on, tomorrow we are going for stripped ones.

Back at the hut the sun was shining on the porch, its just like a Country Living photo or Coast. In fact I think this place has been in CL or Coast.  It was the location in the Demi Moore film Half light and Kate Winslet has stayed here..and ...Helen and Polly.... it may be used in the new Johnny Depp movie!!!!! 

Well today E sat out on the deck and read and snoozed and I started some work, one of the illustrations for the book.  I am taking photos of it as I go along which should be quite interesting, I will put some pics on when its finished.  We popped into Bude for a bit of shopping and I made E screech to a halt by a shop called Shabby 'n' Chic, well how could I resist that!  It was a little treasure trove and I bought two black china 50s dogs and a milk jug like ones I collect. I will show you those tomorrow. 

On holiday, what a place!!!!!

Just look at that door!! I could rip it off its hinges and take it home with me,  oooh scrummy all that lovely peeling paint!  Well this is the door of our little holiday retreat we found on the internet.  And inside the door.........

This is one end of the 'beach hut'

And this is the other! Very compact and bijou!  But what a view, this is out of one of the windows, Ian took up residence on the porch as soon as we arrived, I did all the unpacking, he just sat and stared with a grin on his face. He likes nothing more than to sit  with a book, a cup of coffee and some chocolate biscuits looking at the sea.  Well he can do that for the rest of the week! 

And this is the porch without Ian. It doesn't look like it but the sun was shinning all afternoon. It is going to be lovely to go to sleep listening to the sound of the sea, oooh cant wait to cuddle up in bed with my Daphne Du Maurier (What else could I possibly read!!), Ian and little Midge.

It only took us an hour and a bit to get here but it feels like a million miles from home.  I must take some pictures of the pebbles on the beach.  I was a bit disappointed when I first saw it was a pebbly beach not a sandy one but when you get on it all the pebbles are a lovely soft grey with white stripes on and if you look down its just art at your feet!

Will be back tomorrow with more photos.  Hey, Heidi, John and Oscar told you it was a great place!  Good to see you are getting blogging.

Beach and Boot!

Yesterday was a beautiful day and down on the beach I had fun with Midge.  Midge is our four year old Jack Russell and is a very spoilt dog, we love her to pieces!  She loves nothing more than going to the beach and playing endless games of  fetch, she must run about five miles to my two!  Well yesterday was no different and here she is waiting for me to throw the ball.

While I was walking along this flock of Canada Geese came gliding in and stopped for a paddle. I got quite close to them and they didnt seem bothered by me at all.  They stayed for a few minutes before flying off again.

Down at the end of the beach there are lots of rock pools and rocks covered in limpets. We had a good old look in them all, Midge snapping at the water when she saw little fish darting about and snuffling in the seaweed that grows around the edges, lucky no crabs were hiding ready to nip her nose.  It was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours just me and my doggie and the sea.

This morning I went into Truro and stopped at the car boot sale.  There was not much there but on one stand I came across these lovely old tins, some unopened and  some unused bath cubes, boxed, remember those hard lumps of perfumed bath salts that never seemed to dissolve? A lovely little box of face powder unopened and two hand painted bottles of bath salts.  Also a pretty sewing basket in very good condition. Quite a good haul from an unpromising boot sale.  I love booting you just never know what you will find.  

On Monday we are off on a last minute break.  We have not had a holiday for three years so are really looking forward to a few days away.  We are going to stay on the north coast in the most amazing place right on the beach,  I will, I hope be blogging from there all next week and you will have to pop back for a visit to see just what this wonderful location is!?  Ian is just going to look at the sea and read but I am taking some work with me, Im not very good at sitting doing nothing for long but I am going to enjoy every second and so is Midge with lots of walks between work and reading.  Do visit again it will be worth it!

Sunny corner and a message for Polly

Today the weather has been so lovely that I just had to spend a bit of time in this sunny corner.  Daisy joined me and I managed to get some rare photos of her as she is camera shy most of the time.  She looks a bit scarggy at the moment as she is in between summer and winter coats when her tail grows to be nearly the same size as the rest of her!

It looks like the lion statue is whispering in her ear, she is such a sweety, she is our little fairy with fur.

Back indoors here are some of the new charms in the making for jewellery to take to the V&H fair.  Noddy, as you can see is the main character for all these pieces and I am planning to add some vintage buttons and beads to the bracelets and necklaces and some brooches too!

Message For Polly

Hello Polly.  It was lovely to see you with your paints out, hope you got some ideas down before you had to start on, Yuk, homework.  Thought I would show you a page out of my sketch book so you can see that you should not be precious about it and try and make it look good, it is just a jotter for thoughts.  If you get into a habit of using it you will be surprised at just how useful it is.  Post some of your work for us all to see.  LOL x  

I saw three ships a sailing

Well more than three actually, but it bought the rhyme to mind.  It was a slightly cloudy morning and we thought that it might rain even though a good day had been forecast.  We all got up before seven so we could make an early start, we had decided to drive down to St Mawes which is only about 14 miles from us and watch the ships from the castle.  Lots of traffic was expected and we wanted to get a ringside seat so we got down there by nine. We were very lucky with the parking and managed to get the car  right down near the water at the only place where the hedge was low.  We staked our claim and then had to wait about five hours for the regatta to start!  Ian and Chris went off for a coffee while Jackie and I stayed behind to make sure nobody moved in on our space!  When the boys got back it was our turn and we managed to while away a couple of hours shopping, like woman can, even though there are only about four shops worth going into.  

By  about eleven the place was packed and the sun came out every now and then between the clouds. Around two o'clock the ships started to make their way out to sea.  It was lovely to watch them all go past with all the little yachts following on behind and around them.  The only disappointment was that they only put the sails out when they were out in the bay and we had expected them to go past full sail from the start, but with the use of cropping and sharpening the photos show them well.  Sitting scoffing sausage rolls and cake in the fresh sea air while this wonderful scene unfolded in front of us made for an unforgettable day and I look forward to the next one in ten years time!

It was all worth the early start and the waiting, these magnificent vessels looked so calm and serene on the water.  I wish lots of luck to all the crews taking part in this wonderful race.

CAKE!

There is something very familiar and comforting about baking rock cakes.  I can remember making them with my mum when I was young.  Mum was and still is a great home baker and with seven children she was constantly in the kitchen, we used to 'help' me and my younger sister and were allowed to lick the bowl, although mum always said we would get worms!  Did anyone else's mum say that?  The recipe I use now is from an old 50's cookery book, like the one mum had.  I love old cookery books the photos are great I don't know what it is about the colours they are just so Doris Day!

When I was in Sainsburys the other day I saw tubs of curd cheese and it made me think of curd cheesecake my great Aunty Mary used to make when we went to visit her in Hull so I thought I would try and find the recipe, of course mum came to the rescue again.  She has lots of family recipes written down like Aunty Mary's Spice Bread and Aunty Hilda Chocolate Mouse (yummy) to name a few.  Well I gave it a go although I could not find semolina anywhere and had to sustitute that with ground almonds it seems to have worked OK and tastes like I remember even though its about  35 years since I had any!                                                                                                

Well a busy day ahead of me out and about, up to Padstow this evening to see my friends new exhibition of paintings then back down to St Mawes with other friends to watch the fireworks at Falmouth.  Then tall ships tommorow yipee!

Tall ships at Falmouth

Today we went to Falmouth to have a look at the Tall Ships that have gathered there for the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta, which starts from here on Saturday.  Around 20 tall ships from around the world will head off from Falmouth in a race to Ilhavo in Portugal and then on to Funchal in Madeira.

We have been waiting for this all year and it was a real thrill to get up close and even go aboard some of these lovely ships.

All the colourful flags fluttering in the quite strong breeze made for a very gay and festive atmosphere.

On Saturday we hope to be able to park at St Mawes (if we can get there early enough to find a space!) so that we can watch all the ships in full sail go by, I have never seen a ship in full sail in real life and as the weather forcast is good, fingers crossed, it should be quite spectacular.  I will be posting photos!

Out of my window, and a new sketch book

This morning the garden looks a bit autumnal to me, everything has gone a bit leggy and messy, it will be good to get out there soon and trim it all back.  Not being a natural gardener I tend to just leave things till all the leaves drop off in the hope I wont do to much damage then!  Although we have been here three years we have only this year started to get the garden back into shape with a lot of help from our neighbor Julia who has weeded and cleared  indefatigably, it is a large garden and had been left for a couple of years before we moved in and it doesn't help that the wood comes right to the back door so brambles are constantly being battled against.  
 Lots of lovely new Sketchbooks   

I bought all these lovely new sketch books from our brilliant art shop in Truro.  They were really cheap and I can't resist art materials!  I have just finished filling my old one and thought, when I saw these lovely canvas covered ones, that I would paint my own and some for friends and turn some into journals.  So here is my new sketch book ready to start filling with new ideas.  I wasn't going to do anything today but couldn't resist finishing this off while listening to the Archers, yes I'm an addict!
I need to start sketching ideas for a childrens book based on the characters 'The Peppermint Twins'.  My husband sent some of my paintings to a friend of ours who illustrates and has his own publishing company and he really liked this image and has asked me to work up a cover and two spreads and the story for a book that he will then take to the Frankfurt book fair (One of the main book shows of the year) in the hope that it will be picked up by some packagers.  I used to illustrate childrens books in the past and have been thinking of getting back into it for a while now, I didn't know Ian had sent off any of my work and it was a nice surprise after feeling so down about closing the gallery.
I have a rough idea what the story will be but it needs some working out so it will fill twelve spreads and leave room for the illustrations.  Think I will go for a nice walk with Midge and have a good think.

Ozone and Ebay.

After five days of packing up my shop and moving it all home where it now resides in most of the rooms of the house, I decided that I

 needed to get down to the beach for a bit of 

ozone.  It was a lovely day and the colours were amazing these pics dont show all the different blues and turquoises there were.

First I drove down into Portscatho and then round to Pendower beach which is the best dog walking beach near us, when the tides out doglets can run to there hearts content. Now the kids have gone back to school the beaches are nearly empty again, yippeee,

 we get the beaches back to ourselves for the winter.

What the postman delivered

When I got home the postman had been and here are some of the ebay goodies I got this week.  These are just six of the lovely old postcards, ninety in all, aren't they lovely? I cant wait to

use them in some jewellery or labels or something, must get making soon!  They are mostly of children although there are some animal ones too.  I just love the pointy hats.

Here's Noddy!

Yes this little fellow arrived too. Is'nt he just so cute, I thought he would make a lovely addition when I display my Noddy jewellery, made out of old books.  He is made from foam and came with a Noddy in a car,  I got both for a bargain price, hooray for ebay!

Boris at the door

Of course one of the best things that awaits when you get home is a cat at the door!