Monday 29 April 2013
The best laid plans..
Things aren't going to plan. I thought it time to show you a couple of achievements from the last Crop. Neither have any journaling on them and I'm actually thinking that they don't need it..pretty self explanatory really, huh.
The plan was that I'd rear this child to an age such as this, of innocence and sweetness and then she'd stop growing and be my forever companion. Walking, talking and gorgeous...but not with any greater need than loving parents and some diverting friends. But she grew up. And unlike most plans that don't work out..I'm OK with this. I like her even more as a young adult, if that's possible. What I don't like is the huge number of photos I've got of her as a child that remain to be saved into some fabulous scrapbook LO. I'm thinking that Plan B may have to be - scrap faster. She is trained to take photos and save the junk that I use on pages, so the back-log is becoming appalling. Even her memory will be frayed by the time I get to recording some of the high points of her teens!
So, with the next Crop on Saturday...ah well, you know. I'll TRY. But it would be rude not to chat too. And certainly rude not to help out in the kitchen and make a cuppa now and then. You get it. Plan B needs a Plan C that allows for maximum excuses!
Friday 26 April 2013
She thinks she's a tour guide...
I seem to be developing a 'thing' about doors. Spanish doors mainly, it has to be said. Speaks to the power of a natural resource like wood huh - however cracked and dry from the sun, they continue to fill the hole! This door I managed to catch being opened...it actually opens as a regular sized door which is really charming, huh...it hides a courtyard too, but of course I was too polite (scared) to rush over with my camera.
And here's another. The back door, if you will, to the church in the centre of town. I'm guessing that the right hand leaf is used more often..no weeds growing there. Although generally the town was closed on this bright Monday, we could hear music...which was probably a treat we'd have missed if the town had been busy. Yup, silver linings indeed.
Now me and Mr Dunnit make a living out of wood. He's incredibly experienced and could definitely win a competition of 'guess the tree from the leaf'. But not this one. But who cares..look at their magnificent limbs and of course, the root structure is fascinating. As are the 'modern' benches...piles of terracotta bricks, banded together like goods on a pallet. Interesting. Not entirely comfortable on the back of a pair of fat legs, I can tell you.
Wednesday 24 April 2013
What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 203
Nothing major, just a few ATCs for samples to bandy about at a bit of a free for all type workshop soon. You can clearly see my coaster, unused since we got back from hols - note to self, get some time at your desk! Also, quite excitingly, the next kit from Chic Maker..I subscribed after the review. On top of that is the cutest change purse you ever did see..bright pink silicone. A gift to find in the recesses of your handbag! There's a small roll of duct tape just above the notebook. I'm very very handy I know, but it's actually because I want to use it on a card for a male. So naturally, it's there to remind me!
Show us your far more interesting desk then, do. Upload a pic to your blog, put WOYWW in the post title, link your blog here and we'll swing by. Be patient..there's a lot of swinging to be done!
Monday 22 April 2013
She's still on about Spring in Spain....
It's the building here, at left. Windows too high to see through from street level which is why we walked oh, about a thousand miles round the city to the back of the theatre. Worth it though huh! On any other day, that strange silver bar arrangement just above the arch there is actually a proper walkway from the castle centre around the amphitheatre. But not on a Monday Senor y Senora. For us, not a particular problem..we're very into taking a small chunk of culture and a large chunk of coffee break involving an umbrella and a sea view. I know, shocking really. But the Romans..really, they are everywhere in Europe. Well, they were.
We took loads of pics..I won't bore you any more. Yet. They may yet turn up on scrapbook pages instead of as blog posts, that strikes me as possibly a more palatable way of getting over my holiday. We've been home since the weekend and it's cold here. But the sunshine is lovely, thank you. It made me realise just how much I needed to clean the windows in the workroom and conservatory. Ah, there's no place like home!
Friday 19 April 2013
A Spanish Spring: Chapter one
Well, OK...a tale of love - after all, I do love Mr Dunnit. A lot. Truth? Whining that I'd rather be out in the sunshine than sitting inside hemming a pair of curtains. Discovery? Once done, the curtains look great and the sun was still shining...and more love - he loves it when I stop whining.
Wednesday 17 April 2013
What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 202
Can't upload a pic, the tablet thing has finally defeated me. the coffee table that I'm currently sitting in front of has my closed Smash book on it and the crochet squares I'm still working on. I think I've done about ten since the start of this trip...naturally, I intended to do more! so gentle WOYWWer, pretend that there's nothing different about this week and leave a link to your post and Workdesk please. I'm back soon...warn Miss Dunnit and don't be surprised if I actually visit!
Sunday 14 April 2013
Dunnits abroad
it's a promising title, huh. Hey, I should call my book that. you know, the book we all have inside us, waiting to be written ..looks as though I've made a start!
Mr Dunnit has gone to practice his golf. our neighbours are relaxing on their terraces - I can't se them, but every now and then I can hear the clink of a teaspoon in a cup or a slight movement of chair on tile. Yes, it's very quiet here this afternoon. o sounds from the swimming pool either...but that might be because the water is cold enough to induce heart failure. in my opinion.
I cant give you a run down of our touristic achievements and explorations. Unless you count trying a new restaurant last night ( the Sangria was excellent, I must say, and shed loads of atmosphere, lovely). see we came over on 'holiday' to spruce the place up a bit prior to lots of use over the next ten months, so we've actually been quite busy. thing is, you kinds don't mind washing loose covers, cushions and beach towels when you know they'll be dry in a jiffy and looking splendid and vibrant in the sunshine. we've done a fair amount of DIY and making good too...trying to decide if we can touch up the paint work for now or whether we should make a start on the whole thing....I know my preferred option. Hey, YOU know my preferred option!
I've managed to so some SMASH journalling too. Mostly because the stuff is here, I don't think it would have been missed if I'd left it at home.. I fear I'm not a natural at it, it still feels a bit contrived,I must be doing what I never did at school. Trying too hard. May not do much more...possibly because this place is so familiar, I need to take a holiday to somewhere I've never been, Oh what an idea, a holiday! I must talk to Mr D.
Friday 12 April 2013
The whole photos thing...
Today's topic is photography. I'm on holiday, which is what prompts such thought. That is the good news. The bad news is that I intend to blog as usual. That said of course, this will involve finding a bar with free Internet access...so it"s likely that you'll be reading this if I've had a gin and slimline. Or two. There may be typos. And worse, there may not be pictures. Aha, I'm getting to the point after only a handful of sentences! Possibly.
For some reason, I feel a fool using my iPad to take photos in public. Ya see, I watched the Olympics and I saw all those people blocking other people's vision and generally looking silly by using their iPads (other tablets are available) as cameras. After all, as a camera they aren't exactly discreet, huh. in an age when we use teeny everything and even 'pocket' phnes have cameras, carting a tablet round for Camera pirposes seems a bit incongruous to me. Nor do I want to be waving it about (the iPad, that is) doing the 'look at me, I'm an Apple person' either. Heaven forbid I'm mistaken for an iPad user...someone might ask me how to use it, and as I barely use 10% of its ability, I'm not the sophisticated consumer that Apple wants me to be, or that ownership of the brand apparently implies.
So photos for blog use may well be taken in erm, private moments. Thats is to say that you might end up seeing my daily domestic holiday life as a change from my daily domestic real life. Or perhaps, some food, or the odd swimming pool shot...I don't know. But if we do real sightseeing, there will be a camera and that means waiting to get home to the old PC before I can see and show. In a way, the waiting experience equals the old film and developing thing. I still get the same crushing disappointment when I see that I haven't become an ace photographer in my sleep and without effort!
And here's something else you may need to know.....me and Mr Dunnit, we have no firm plans to go anywhere or do much but walk about in the sunshine...so there may well be no real photography anyway. But if after al that, you're even vaguely interested, watch this space!
Wednesday 10 April 2013
What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? 201
This is a scheduled post, for I am out and about already, and I fear that I may not get to many of you this week..be patient and kind to me, huh.
Monday 8 April 2013
The (non) mystery of the white squares...
I thought you'd like to see the losing battle. There is nothing, I say nothing, that travels through my house like the little squares of glasseine paper off the foam pads. I have no idea why or how the static gets them, after all, I peel them off and (I think) chuck 'em in my handy desk bin for later - much later - decanting into the recycling paper bin.
So how come I find them...
Friday 5 April 2013
A lesson....
Anyone with a job and a house to run, with or without family, will know that's true. At different times of the day and night, we are carving out some time to do something that makes us happy. No doubt that any sort of creativity is therapy. (Except the relentless slog of cooking supper...I don't mind doing it, but I hate being the one who has to choose all the time....!)
This is one of my therapies:
Time to visit with a friend. You may well recognise Jan. It's been ages since we caught up and so yesterday, fresh from her trip to Wales, we took the chance. We discussed the charity of choice for the WOYWW crop, the menu for the WOYWW crop and life. As you would. I was riveting company as you can see. The lesson - quite clear and profound - make and take the time for a cuppa and a chat. It's good for the soul.
Here's some details about the pic, in case you're interested...
I made the quilt from Jo's LilyBo instructions and Jan's remnants..I did manage to buy the red fleece lining and the wadding! I have been angsting over not having made the bag yet, and of course, Jan won't have that sort of nonsense. She suggested it go as part of a first donation to the chosen charity. Salisbury Women's Refuge. Women and children often have to leave home with nothing but the clothes they stand up in. The Refuge offers a place of safety and amongst other things, some bits and pieces to help. I hope Jo will approve of the diversion. Jan sleeping through my interesting news just might have offered me another lesson, but I'm too busy to learn....
Have a lovely weekend!
Wednesday 3 April 2013
What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 200
Meanwhile, there's a stunning return to form at my place. The sewing hasn't been put away, the Smash stuff has been moved aside and the preps for Thursday's workshop have been ignored. I'm on a deadline!
Monday 1 April 2013
I nearly had heart failure when my 'Easter Egg' arrived. It was huge, and quite possibly a little out of proportion to the spirit of the holiday, the Eggs that I was giving as gifts and erm, even the spirited act of revenge I'd planned it to be!
All this for an A4 book, some tape and a coupla teeny notebooks! |
I was expecting a pizza box and this girt great packing crate turned up. Oh my..and I had to leave it there like that for two whole hours before anyone else saw it! Inside? The realisation of a longed for bit of stash. A kit for Smash. I think I'll be OK with this. I love the idea and to a great extent the concept of all the lovely Journals. But they aren't me and I feel the text and entries are all a bit contrived and silly when I do them (a problem I still have with scrapbook journaling). But the Smash stuff has a reason. And I think that's what's lacking for me in the Journal thing....I'm much too shallow to be recording my innermost thoughts and feelings or expressing myself 'through' a particular medium. I blog! But I have a reason to have a go at the old Smash. Me and Mr Dunnit are going away together soon. Just him and me. This is unusual. It's more years than I can remember since we've been on holiday without Miss Dunnit of course...but usually too, we are accompanied by one or other set of parents. It's always a delight, but this time is like the line in the sand of how grown up we're getting. So I've decided to Smash rather than scrapbook our increasing 'just us' times.