me on Monday

a wave I prepared earlier – when this posts I’ll be on a train enjoying some countryside on a train daytrip

over the weekend I enjoyed the sun when it appeared – in case it doesn’t come back for a while! I spent some time in my garden trimming and tidying and eyeing up the emerging fruit.  Later we had a nice walk in a local park and admired a new mural under a bridge

I like the mix of nature and traditional graffiti styles

while trimming the privet hedge I pondered things I love and hate, in response to the challenge posed by Eileen on her blog.  Here are the items I came up with – I resisted going back to make changes as that could be an endless process.  So here are 10 thinks that came to mind when I thought about what I love and hate on Sunday afternoon:

I love

1. Spring bulbs blooming
2. Summer fruit
3. Sound of waves on the shore
4. Rich colours
5. Laughter
6. Small kindnesses
7. A big book or series driven by a strong narrative – where things happen
8. A walk with camera
9. Ideas
10. Creativity and creating things

 

I hate

1. Dusk before dinner
2. Discrimination of all kinds
3. Surgery shown on TV
4. Furry food – such as peaches
5. Rudeness
6. Strong artificial smells
7. Lateness
8. Finding slugs have eaten the things I planted
9. Repetitive tasks
10. Not being able to think of enough items for a list

The challenge then asks me to nominate 10 people to repeat the exercise – but with several blogfriends already nominated we are likely to repeat so I’ll just say – if you want to do this then consider yourself nominated.

Scavenger hunt finds

I’m pleased with my first month’s haul of Rinda’s scavenger hunt finds – mostly due to keeping my eyes open and remembering most of the items on the list

my first find was architectural columns – here on the side of the art gallery in the middle of Edinburgh, just where I get off the bus

a University also pretty easy – the nice old building in the background is one of the student union social places

I saw a poster for a fairground visiting locally so wandered past to find a merry-go-round – this was an item that I had wondered where I would find it

a cellular tower was local (rather blurry I know – I’m taking them on my phone and I haven’t mastered zooming).  I’ve become aware of how many of these there are since I got the list and started looking – I like how the scavenger hunt always makes me pay attention to my every day surroundings.

this is the tent I was working in for Moonwalk and when I read this item on the list I knew this would be my best opportunity

I had no idea where I would find a turtle without making a trip to the zoo so was delighted to see some in this colouring-in book

and a wander around IKEA provided another that I had been unsure about – a rocking chair, obligingly modelled by my nephew.  This is a sub item but I’m not at all sure where I will find a flagpole with multiple flags or people playing a board game.

A solid start and plenty of interesting items to keep me looking – thanks Rinda for another fun list.

Summer of colour purple and yellow

a lovely rich combination of purple and yellow for summer of colour this week (a nice traditional colour wheel opposites combo).

I decided to play with squares inside the circle segment and like the contrast of bigger squares in the smaller space.

And with half of the segments completed my final piece is looking good

Another amazing array of pieces last week – visiting all the different participants and seeing how one colour palette is interpreted by so many creative people is my favourite part of this annual fest organised by Kristin – you can find them all on her blog TwinkleTwinklelittlestar.

Comparative pair

I'm still making sensory aids for people with dementia - we are now calling them sensory sleeves because twiddle muff can sound rude.

I was making them big, to fit 2 hands easily and using aran yarn and a big hook.  Then our crafting groups was given a mass of cotton yarn - ironically by a lady who is unable to craft anymore as she has dementia.  Even using two strands of the cotton together it is still much finer than the aran and I use a much smaller hook and make a considerably smaller sleeve, to fit over one arm.  We thought some people would prefer the feel of cotton and people vary a lot in size.

These 2 images are actually part of one photo so that really is the size difference.

Our first batch of sleeves is in use at a local dementia unit and they are popular so production continues.  I am enjoying the balance of repetition and uniqueness as I decide how to add buttons and texture to each using what I have in my stash.

Looking forward to all your unique pairs contributions too.

Summer of colour – pink, pink, orange

I’m enjoying Kristin’s colour palette approach this year where she gives us free range to choose the exact tone of the specified colours – this week we have to pick 2 pinks and an orange and I’ve enjoyed seeing how some people go for the hot versions and others have a softer range.

I went with 2 hot and one soft for my new star segment and was thinking of the atmosphere around a strange planet – perhaps prompted by the news that the robot on the comet woke up 

and here is how the 2 segments look together

thanks to Kristin for a fifth year of wonderful artistic sharing around a colour palette

Pair of families

Walking by the river at this time of year I'm always on the lookout for chicks - the goslings are growing well and there are a few ducklings.  some other birds come up the river while they have young as the food is easier to reach than in the waves of the firth (estuary).  I thought these two sets of chicks provided an interesting contrast in family rearing approaches

The goosander seems very successful in rearing a full clutch of chicks.  The eider ducks create a creche of all chicks which is looked after by all of the non breeding females - not many chicks at the moment.  Both sets of chicks dive under water for food so taking a photo can be frustrating as they all disappear under water.

me on Monday

someone turned off the sun!!  After lovely, bare arms and shorts weather mid week the cloud and drizzle returned for the weekend – but more sun is promised forecast for later in the week.

Saturday morning found me out in my garden, removing weeds and digging.  I’m the first to admit that gardening is not my forte but I do like picking food from my garden.  So when my Dad offered me some of the seedlings that he had spare I accepted with thanks and then rooted through my recycle bin to find some pots to use as slug protection while they get established.  I can see them out of my kitchen window which should help remind me to water them when we don’t have rain.

In other news, for the second year Dad and I volunteered in the baggage tent for the Moonwalk – an over night 26 mile walk that raises money for breast cancer research. Many walkers wear fancy dress – in particular decorated bras so there is a fun atmosphere as the walkers gather and get ready to set off at midnight. We take their bags, check their number is attached and then store them in number order for easy retrieval by the morning shift.

Other than that is was a weekend of crochet, reading and practicing sign language.

Waving to Sian for prompting us to start each week with a wave, and to all my other lovely blogreaders – wishing you all a good week

May was

May was a busy and fun filled month with a canal trip, Rugby 7s tournament, my birthday and trip to Bristol where I met up with some lovely blog friends.  All of which have featured in my Monday waves and pairs posts. 

In between these highlights I had a busy and creative month.

I posted a pixel magic piece daily for 100 days project on instagram

 

and as a consequence took masses of photos of close up of texture or colour.

I re-read the Royal Assassin trilogy by Robyn Hobbs, on my kindle and enjoyed it so much I then immediately started the second trilogy in the related trilogy of trilogies (squared trilogy?).  I first read them over 12 years ago and not in the right order so I had some idea of the characters and setting but could not remember all the details.  Every so often I read about a new character or event and suddenly remember more details about them. 

I crocheted some cute young guinea pigs and managed to add to my pile of blanket squares ready for a South African charity

I’ve enjoyed the spring changes to the birds on the river with the arrival of goslings, ducklings and lots of swans

I have been encouraging my 2 tomato plants and tickling the flowers to pollenate tomatoes – I have a good number of green ones maturing.  In my garden my apple tree and strawbery and raspberry plants are all showing  signs of a good harvest.  My rocket (arugula to my friends over the Atlantic) has gone mad so I have plenty to pick for salads,a long with mint, young kale and sorrel.

Plenty of flowers to appreciate too – for some reason I seem to have been focussed on the white one when pointing my camera in May.

A third of the way into June already – plenty more to watch and do and enjoy – wishing you all a good month.

Summer of colour, blue, blue, green

It must be summer because the lovely creative challenge - Summer of Colour - in underway.  I've enjoyed it in each of the last 4 years, both participating and seeing the range of ways people use the set colours.

Thinking back over past years I realised that the ones I enjoyed the best were when I set myself an overall project which meant that each weekly item was part of a whole.  So I decided to create one finished piece which is divided into 6 parts which I will fill in each week - all digitally.  I created a simple design using a 6 point star so that I have 6 segments to work on.

This week Kristin set our colour palette as 2 blues and 1 green - giving us a free choice of tone etc. The three I chose made me think of fun and movement and airiness so I created this

I will fill in one segment each week and hope that the 2 solid circles will provide a connection across the segments.

To see what everyone else has done visitt Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle

Pair caught under the leaves

A sunny morning meant that I finally tackled some weeding in my flower beds and took my camera to take some pretty flower photos.  But I also spotted some smaller wildlife hurrying for cover under the leaves and pursued them for my pair of critters

I did also remove a bucket load of old bluebell stems and other sundry plants that I don't want in my garden (aka weeds)

wondering what other pairs I'll see this week on all your lovely blogs

Me on Monday

busy making Twiddle Muffs – yes you read right – also known as sensory bands

to provide a calming occupation for bored hands for people with dementia

the idea is to include several different textures plus things to twiddle such as beads, button, hoops and ribbons.

Which makes them perfect for someone with a stash of bits and pieces – plus vindication for keeping such a stash.  I sorted through and have a box of possible bits and then I’m creating a ‘kit’ around a particular colour, based on the interesting texture wool that I have.  I think it is important to make them look nice too and by keeping each one to a core colour it means the recipients can choose one in a favourite colour – I know I’d want to.

I’m enjoying the variety in yarn and thinking about how to add twiddle bits – more creatively rewarding than making blanket squares. 

I’ll be sending these off to dementia care charities.

Waving to everyone and an extra wave to Sian for leading this weekly wave.  Optimistic about the weather in the coming week and hoping to get outside to enjoy some sunshine.

5 in 5 in the spray at WSM

On Friday I went through to Weston Super Mare to visit Miriam – after a lovely lunch with plenty to laughter and chat we went for a walk at the water front – I’ve been intrigued with this sea wall path since I first saw it on Miriam’s blog – it really does look as if people are walking on water

and with the tide coming in we almost were walking on water as spray from some waves came over onto the path – much laughter as we avoided wet feet

but of course crashing waves make for fabulous photos if you get the timing right

both from the side and looking down

Looking out to sea the sun was shining in beautiful contrast to the dark clouds

Lovely to admire a different coastal view with fun company – thank you Miriam.

And thank you to Sandie for the monthly prompt to share 5 photos taken in one go (it may have taken more than 5 minutes in this case!)

Pair of photographers

When I was thinking about different kinds of linked photo pairs back in December, one that I really wanted to use was - photographer and what was being photographed.

My wander with cameras with blogfriends Miriam, Maggie and Barbara at the weekend provided the perfect opportunity as we all admired the light and colours on the water sculptures

 

I expect Bristol sculpture will feature in some other pairs this week!

Looking forward to seeing what has captured your eyes this week

Me on Monday

back home in front of my computer and enjoying my photos from a weekend away to the Bristol area and meeting blog friends in real life – not as scary as non blogging friends seem to perceive meeting people you ‘met on the internet’.

After all we already know bits and pieces like pets and offspring and recent happening and who else can you share thoughts like ‘perhaps Rinda will want us to take a photo of a big bunch of balloons this year’ or ‘are weathervanes sufficiently trans Atlantic for the scavenger hunt’ or ‘remember how hard the unicycle was, and an angel and the sunrise’. 

But lovely to now be able to add the timbre of the the voice and the laugh and smile when reading posts from Miriam, Maggie and Barbara.

We had fun with our cameras and couldn’t resist the reflective properties of a large shiny dome

 

 and then Miriam’s son kindly came to take a group shot of us all (and a lovely bronze 17 year old poet)

  

as you can see we were blessed with a sunny day.  More photos from our wander with cameras later in the week!

Waving to you all and celebrating meeting blog friends in real life and hoping for more of it.