The Bloomberg Pavillion

I've been having the kind of week that you normally only see on movies. A chance to change something from their past which would completely alter my life. I've stuck with the decision I made so many years ago but it hasn't stopped my thoughts and emotions being turned upside down and inside out. Everything in my life that seemed fixed suddenly has other options and it's almost impossible not to think of all the possibilities that could have unfolded. My poor wee brain feels thoroughly fragmented as it churns over all the possible ways things could have gone.

What better day to send out one of my draft posts from last year of the Bloomberg Pavillion with it's multi-faceted structure. That's what my brain is like this week, a solid base with all manner of wildness spilling out the top and looking different depending on where you approach it and the time of day.





'bloomberg pavilion' by akihisa hirata architecture office, tokyo, japan. photo © takumi ota
images courtesy of akihisa hirata architecture office + museum of contemporary art tokyo
found via Designboom

Ulrika Kestere, Hair, Blue Clothes

Ulrika Kestere - Winter horse poster €22 here

Ulrika Kestere - Ice Princess

I was originally directed towards the top photograph by Ulrika Kestere by someone saying she had a similar wardrobe to me. I thought they meant furniture wardrobe but clearly they meant likes to wear lots of different blues with a touch of red. The clothes are nice but it's the photo itself I like most. It is part of a series called "Girl with 7 horses" and she has made this one available to buy as a print here. You can see more of her photographs on her blog Ulicam. I liked the wintery one because I collect blue dresses and have long wanted to photograph them in snow, but it's always been too wet, too cold or too windy. She is tougher than I am.

I was looking at old photos this week and found one of me as a kid on the banks of the Mississippi River wearing blue with a touch of red (loved my bandanna) in 1984 when our parents bundled us all into a Camper Van and spent the Summer driving from LA to New York (having been living in LA 2yrs but returning to live in Scotland). I didn't realise I was doing non traditional hair buns in '84, I thought I didn't bun my hair until college in '89. Ulrika has an animated gif of braided hair that reminds me of why I put up with my really long but infuriatingly prone to tangling hair for so long. I loved playing with it, so many ways to express my mood. But when you have ME every bit of energy is precious and it's pointless wasting it on a daily battle with tuggy hair (you can see the tugs beginning to form a blur in centre of the bottom photo). Last January I chopped nearly all of it off and last month I did it again. But it's nice to find photo's of it long.


Me with my Brother. Watching Mississippi paddle steamer 1984

Me at Big Bear Lake, California 2008

73,000 Clustr hits

Clematis on stone, only 4 flowers this year :(

A big thank you to all of you who visited, linked to and commented on Cally Creates in the last year. My Clustr Map has just archived and it says there were 73,000 manual hits since 11th May '07. Amazing. I never imagined it was possible. It has cleared the picture now and started a fresh set of red dots on the global map which is nice because I can watch it fill up again and see if the pattern of readers has changed since last year. I've really enjoyed seeing where you all live, getting excited each time a red dot appeared in a new country, or became a bigger size, and now I can have that excitement all over again. Already I see there is quite a nice fresh sprinkle of you, like new Spring growth. Very seasonal.

Thank you all for still visiting, even when I'm not so well and can't vary the blog as much as I'd like. Can you believe I STILL have a load of white posts from Jan/Feb that I haven't got round to fixing the links on. On the bright side, if I don't get them done this year I can just do another White theme next January.

Did you have good weekends? We had thunder, lightening, rain, mist and cold winds, but I was glad because the plants needed the water and now my water butts are nice and full for what looks to be another week of sunshine, though not quite the heatwave of last week. The sun is out today and it's clear that the sun rain sun has really boosted the plant life outside, more amazingly speedy growth (by Scottish standards).

I'm finally able to see where the sun and shade are in my garden, and Mr P's garden, since the new house,fence and shed were built next door and the hedge removed. It's quite a drastic change and neither garden has any private space now, so no sitting around in my knickers doing my skin brushing! About 50% of my shade loving plants are now in sun and 30% of my sun loving plants are now in shade. I'm so desperate to dig them up and replant but I know that I'd be asking for trouble health-wise. I did a very minimum bit of moving to get the strawberries and ferns in better places, and then I got carried away and spent 6 days very slowly digging a hole to replant a clematis (a white one). I felt dreadful after that, completely worn out and aching from head to toe. That clematis better love it there! The upside of all the change is that there are less places for slugs and snails to hide. Now they have to go where the hedgehog can get at them. Midnight lunch munch.

Drive-by shooting, the good kind

LA drive-by (click image to enlarge)

Mum used to worry about drive by shootings in LA. But it's ok when it's me doing the shooting, with my camera. This shot, like so many, was taken as we flew by in the car. I love it. I love the degrees of focus/unfocuss, blurring/sharpness. I love the white picket fence with the red/pink flowers peeking over the top against that lovely grey blue background and the man walking by with the baseball cap. I love the soft shadows on the building, the pistachio ice cream colour of the metal tubing (I think it was for a billboard). I love the crisp clean lines of the cables against the sky.


Marina Del Ray drive by (I think)

It's 4.53am. I can't sleep cause my PHN has flared up massively so I've spent 3hrs catching up on Alicia's blog. It's amazing to think that in the past I used to visit the people on my side links most days. Certainly not less than weekly. Now there are many I've not been to since New Year because I'm too tired. I feel bad because I do really want to keep up. My friend in Australia text me yesterday to ask how LA was. I felt so guilty cause I've never had the energy to write up a proper email about the trip. Even what I've posted here has been image based. She wants me to use facebook but I really struggle with anything that requires a password to access it. I have too many passwords to remember.

Plus, I dislike having to read everyone else's comments in order to get a context for what is being said. I mind find it easier if I knew the people, but almost everyone I know on facebook lives in another country, so the people are strangers to me and the extra effort of sifting through their writings fries my addled brain. Anyone else find that or is it just a Chronic Fatigue thing? I like things simple, find site, look at friends post/pics/email,respond if I have energy. No special access required. No unnecessary strain on the brain. My poor confused brain (Liz, your text made me laugh, the one about cognitive dysfunction, especially as those are my initials).


West Hollywood drive-by

The ME/CFS world talks a lot about 'brain fog' and it's certainly been a big reason for my comparative lack of computer use in the last year, especially when it comes to blogs that are heavy on writing and tell ongoing stories. It's like my brain just can't keep all the info together, it muddles up people, places, names and dates (and let's not get into how much is forgotten within seconds of entering, literally seconds). And, of course, I get sucked in, emotionally. I get excited, inspired, enthused, engrossed or perhaps saddened, and I want to leave comments. All things which take up energy I don't have anymore and add to the fizzing in my brain. So, until my brain cells are back to normal I'm afraid, friends, that the blog is still the best I can manage communication-wise. It covers the widest base of people I would normally contact in other ways. A one stop shop, and that all important place where I can feel I achieved something, even if it is just to put a few more pictures up.


Venice drive-by

Well, my goodness, I never expected all that to come tumbling out. Sometimes it just happens that way (usually in the wee small hours if I can't sleep). Yet if I had planned to write any of this it would never have happened. The weight of necessity really pulls me down, so when these spontaneous moments come it's best to go with the flow. But blimey, it's nearly 6am! I've just realised it's daylight outside. I can hear the birds singing and the radiator clickety clicking (weather still pretty cold). I was just saying to Alicia that we are going to have Daffodils in May (unless some more freak weather comes and squishes them before Thursday). It's all ahoo (yes Jill, still plugging away with Jack and Stephen). Speaking of Jack and Stephen, I read a nice line yesterday '...I saw him running about on deck before I came below, laughing like a holiday' (from The Surgeon's Mate, Patrick O'Brian). I like that, though the aforementioned addled brain had changed it to 'happy as a holiday' which I rather like.

Colder than usual

Old lace in my sewing room

Got freaked out today, the Doctor's Surgery rang and told me to make an appointment to discuss my ultrasound results (they then refused to actually give me an appointment on account of their new system, have to ring at 8.30am and hope my call beats all the others that ring at the exact same time. But what freaked me was them calling. They never call, no matter how many tests I've had done they always give me the results when I am in for my normal appointment, which was happening next week anyway. Why have they called? Does this mean it's bad? During the scan the woman said it looked like polyps, and some can be cancerous, so naturally my mind has had a mini freakout about that. Hopefully that's not it, but I know a biopsy is likely and that alone is a stress I could do without thanks very much.


paint pot on my desk (rest of the desk is a mess!)

The other ongoing drama is that Mr P and I have become time travellers. With night-time temperatures dropping every night since Friday very worrying when his boiler broke last week. At first we were a bit freaked that now there wasn't even one of us with a warm house, but then we kind of got into the groove of it feeling like the 1970's when houses were cold and people stayed warm by wearing seasonally appropriate clothing. If nothing else it's eco friendly and at least the days have mostly been sunny. Rain is due Thursday onwards but presumably will bring with it milder night time temperatures.


Old fabric from my collection

Not that either of us bask in hot temps at home when we both have working heating. 16ºc is our average with 18º as a treat and 20º for Christmas and guests. Mr P has a wee oil filled radiator so we've been running that at 12º to stop the pipes bursting near the kitchen at night, but in the daytime it's off. It feels like camping, sleeping in thermals and wearing a woolly hat in bed. The cat, not having lived in the 70's, or even the 80's, is less impressed by the sudden chill and despite never having been keen on sleeping on people is now permanently attached to my hip of belly when I sleep and my lap if I'm sitting in the day.

Just me, thinking about things

Design for print and papercut 1991


Unfinished test cut from one of my papercut sketchbooks 1991
(reverse side shown)

I have mountains of white art, books, ceramics, textiles that I planned to photograph and show from my past, but my energy is at it's lowest in 17yrs, even picking up the camera seems like preparing for a mountain hike, so I'm afraid you are stuck with the things I had already taken shots of for other purposes. I do have some good pics, but it's things I'm still haven't the courage to show. You'd think I'd feel easier about it 17 years on but the fact that I made this work when I first had M.E means that all the feelings I had invested in it then are all popping up again mow, so it feels current, not old at all.

This next bit is just thoughts that needed out of my head after a particularly difficult time walking Lucy today, nothing to do with art so you may want to skip it.

Update - My post was depressing me a bit so I've moved it to the comments section, but have left the relevant photo's here and also the link to Danger: field liable to sudden collapse. Also the link for Marley, losing our jobs, and Lucy (who was called Tia then).

View from the dangerous field, December '07


Hedge on the edge of the dangerous field, December '07


Giant Hogweed in the dangerous field, December '07

My work: the 4 day sketchbook 1991

More from the 4 day sketchbook, 1991.

These were on a concertina section in the sketchbook. I think it pulled out to 8 pages but it's over a month since I found and photographed the book so I can't quite remember. It's already returned to the vast abyss that claims everything I'm looking for 5 minutes before I need it. "Where is it, I saw it this morning...?" Vanished into the ether like odd socks, putty rubbers and kirby grips.



These later developed into little papercut books and cards, still not feeling bold enough to show them but I think it will happen because finding them all again has got me wanting to make new ones. SO much that was hard or costly in the early '90s is easier and cheaper now, and with the magic of the internet, blogs and Etsy I no longer have to worry about the scorn of posh galleries who don't want my 'silly little books and cards'. I can go straight to the people who love these things. Of course it's all a bit pie in the sky while my energy is so low, but I beat this illness before so I'm determined to do it again and I want my work to be part of the process. Sorry to mump on, it's all a bit dominant just now so it seeps into this space, but I feel I should let it as it's a good way to track my progress.

Ok, enough health chat, back to the old drawings. I used to work up photocopies of my sketches with gouache or felt tips to try out colourways for printing but here is one done with Photoshop, muted to fit with the season and the clocks having changed...

Sunny day - Cloudy day

The great escape, whizzing away from the rain

Last Friday I think. Mr P was free for a few hours and I was still riding (comparatively) high on the oomph from K's visit that I thought we could maybe take Lucy to the beach. Regular readers will know how I've been desperate to get to a beach for over a year but my damn health has thwarted every attempt. I was so determined to make it this time but within 10mins of getting things ready and collecting Lucy it was clear that I was already knackered and wouldn't manage the Yellowcraigs trip. I was so bummed till I realised we could go to Crammond instead. Yey for Crammond.


Lightened this so you could see her, the clouds were much darker.

Not the long sandy beach of my dreams, but only 25 mins by car and at least it has water and some sand. Heavy rain threatened constantly but as it never actually dropped on us we were able to enjoy the moody skies it brought as it approached. Looking East down the Firth of Forth...



Apparently Lucy likes to drink sea water, eat seaweed and then throw up at L's house the next day so L had asked that we not let her go in the water. I thought it would be difficult (she LOVES water) but there were so many doggy smells all over the beach she seemed very content wandering around snuffling at rocks and grasses while we sat on a log watching the world's maddest spaniel chase gulls through the water non-stop for about 40 minutes. Seriously, it literally did not stop running and when it passed us again later it was still doing it, full speed, soaking wet, happy as can be. It seemed to nicely balance out my own lack of motion.

Funny how things change. I was that spaniel for years, doing everything super fast, bundles of energy. When I went to school I walked so fast that the boys used to make a passing racing car noise as I overtook them- Neeeeeauw. The spaniel wasn't alone, it's owner had another older spaniel as well, he had a dodgy leg and plodded very slowly and carefully around the rocks on the beach. I never realised at the time that the dogs were the before and after of me. But I still have hope that I'll be a mad spaniel again, or something in between. Yes, in between is more sensible.

* just added, low quality 18 second clip of the spaniel!

Thinking Blogger + Vanessa Valencia

Oops, I accidentally pressed post TWICE while this was unfinished and dated last month (I'm so behind with my posts), sorry readers, my brain is like mush, can you hear it sloshing about? Here it is properly with the pictures and more up-to-date links added...


Vanessa Valencia - 'Super Cupcake, Bake Girl'
Acrylic on wood 8.5"x6"x1.75"

I was immensely surprised to discover last month that Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist (whose 'V' doesn't work on her keyboard!) nominated me for a 'Thinking Blogger Award'. I've not been doing much blog reading (but a little picture perusing) so I hadn't realised - sorry so late in my response Vanessa, and thank you, I feel really priveledged to be on your list. And don't think that I've put you on mine out of courtesy, you would have always have been on it.


Vanessa Valencia - 'Leaves will fall, fruit will ripen, time will tell'
Acrylic on wood 8.5"x6"x1.75"

I love how Vanessa's work is so distinctly her, I've seen people with a similar style, but Vanessa's are just so clearly by Vanessa. They remind of Pippi Longstocking. I VERY much wanted to be Pippi Longstocking when I was a kid. I totally identified with the mismatched clothing, long pigtails, affinity with animals and, of course, the fact that she wasn't like the other kids.

I just love the way Vanessa's images are so full of life and colour, and stories (and cakes!). It means her pictures can make you think just as much as her words can, which is great when I'm too tired to read blogs, I can skim though her images and get a burst of colour and an idea of what's happening in her life.


Vanessa Valencia - 'On a Certain day'
Acrylic on canvas 12"x12"x1.5"

The works above are all from Vanessa's most recent Thinking Blogger post (she gets lots of us thinking) where she is also announcing updates to her shop. Definitely worth a visit, though what I'd really like to to is visit her real gallery space in real life. It's one of those places that just oozes the personality of the person who makes it. I'd even more like to visit her house, she has the most fantastic collection of religious icons and the like. I bet I could spend hours, weeks, months in her house ooh-ing and ah-ing and taking photo's. I hope you are enjoying your trip Vanessa, and eating some green beans while you are away :0). Ok here's the Thinking Blogger response...

If you are nominated and decide to join in you should reveal the origininal source, say who nominated you (Vanessa), nominate 5 blogs which you read that really make you think and finally display the thinking blogger logo/button.

My 5 nominations are, in the order that I discovered them:
1. Anna Torborg - Twelve22
2. Alicia Paulson - Posie Gets Cozy
3. Lisa Solomon - Lisa's Musings
4. Vanessa Valencia - A Fanciful Twist
5a. Julie Avisar - Handmaid
5b. Anna Peach - The Golden Egret Studio (cheeky, but she makes me think most of all)

There are more, of course, of course, but these are the ones that post regularly and make me think so much they enter my dreams. And they have all positively influenced the way I live my daily life. They all have passion for what they do. They immerse themselves in things whether it be food, art, crafts, discovery, experimentation, friends, travel or just life. You ladies really have enriched my life in ways that you will probably never know, thank you.

Tomorrow I'll respond to the people who tagged me for the 7 things meme. (although bloglines readers will have already seen it, but without the pictures).

Jellyfish

I see the sea and the sea sees me.

I don't see the sea just now, so I've been needing to get my fix on Flickr instead, indulging once again in jellyfish. I am always astounded by them, they are so profoundly beautiful, so other-worldly. Nearly all the images shown are in aquariums as they are easy to take, but it is SO SO SO important to defend our oceans so that these amazing creatures, and all the other under water wonders, can be preserved. Our seas and oceans are under enormous threat from humans yet we have the power as individuals, as voters and as consumers to help turn that around. Also, see the end of this post for how your art can help. But first, the jellyfish!...


Portugese Man 'O War (i think)
originally uploaded by entertreynment


left pic originally uploaded by FlgCEH
right pic originally uploaded by rosswebsdale

My brother and I once swam in a lake somewhere in the East coast of America which was filled with 100's of 1000's of tiny see-through jellyfish the size of a 10p piece (or a quarter in US) a bit like these. They didn't sting, at least, not that we noticed, and it was better than being out of the water where the biting flies were.

You Tube has a nice clip of a mass of jellies floating about, though these are much chunkier, denser, more complex jellies and there are far fewer of them - but they are in dreamy green water. I noticed lot of the You Tube jellyfish clips have innapropriate music with them but I did find one that worked, at least for me it did- large floaty see-through jellies wafting through blue water like ghosts with Enya singing Carribean Blue, very fitting. I like Enya, not the hits so much, but the other stuff. The ethereal ones.




both shots originally uploaded by mafic

Now I've got Enya in my head. I just found one of my favourite Enya tracks Exile on You Tube and noticed for the 1st time that Enya looks a bit like Ulla. Actually the Carribean Blue video (see here) is very 'Ulla'. My favourite track, usually, is 'Evening Falls' (lyrics here, short Last FM soundclip here and full track with video on here). It really reminds of how disconnected I felt when I was living with my crazy Aunt, but in my own house.

So strange to have your home, your things, your pets and your neighbourhood right there but to feel like you are in a strange and horrible place where nothing is safe, everything familar has been transformed into something threatening. You remember everything as it was, but it's not like that anymore (and never was again). I got through it by really going into myself, it was like there was an out of focus film between me and the life I used to have, but if I tried to have any of that old life she would try and destroy it. So I withdrew so that she couldn't identify anything else to attack.


originally uploaded by itsray


Portugese Man 'O War tentacles in a jar
originally uploaded by mastergeorge

That Enya song really reminds me of that feeling. I think I would have gone crazy if I hadn't withdrawn and become a 'Stepford Niece'. Not that it made much difference, my family seemed to think I was pretty crazy anyway. That was the hardest part of all. Escaping her to visit them in LA during holidays only to find that they saw me as being like her, the enemy. After that I think I pretty much gave up realising there wasn't anywhere where it was ok to just be me.

We all get on ok now but I have never felt part of my family since then. Not that I ever felt like I fitted in anyway, but I at least felt like my Dad used to understand me. But after living with his sister he never looked at me the same way, I was like tainted goods, tainted with her craziness. It doesn't help that I look a bit like her - which is why I hate my cheekbones even though people keep telling me cheekbones are great.


originally uploaded by kasiaeryn


originally uploaded by seancadzow

That's why I love blogging, you lot seem willing to let me be myself, all the sides of myself. I can do a post that starts off with me being all happy about jellyfish and then unexpectedly (I never saw this coming) slip into some bad memory, but I know you'll forgive me for it and that I'll come out of it feeling fresh and posting about my joy in what is around me, like today's freshly opened peonies (photo soon).

Blimey. What a mini journey. I just looked at where I started this post, I see the sea and the sea sees me. That pretty much sums up my love of the sea. I feel at home there (mermaid wannabe) and when I stand on a quiet beach with the wind tangling my hair into thousands of tiny knots and my eyelashes building up a layer of salty air I do feel like finally some'thing' can see the real me.


originally uploaded by kyoten


originally uploaded by fiveholer
clearly not jellyfish but it's so very very 'me'

I never show you my 'serious' artwork. but a lot of it is work around that stuff. About not being seen, about people projecting ideas of what they think you are onto you but not actually seeing you at all. About the body being like a seed, all full of potential, like a shell with the inside often very different from what you see on the outside. I'm very interested in symbiotic realtionships and how amazing they can be and you see a lot of that happening in the ocean, another reason why I'm drawn to the water. There's a LOT of symbiosis in the oceans.

See the amazing jellyfish sculptural window display at Magic Pony, Toronto here.
Jellyfish street lighting here.
Cute painting of a jellyfish by Christel Weixelman.

And on the subject of art - Greenpeace are asking for your ocean inspired art which could potentially shown in their art4oceans gallery. Find out more here.

green things and Clustr visitors

On the bus, 18 - 81, yet so similar.
Their coats were the same colour too,
one a raincoat, the other a combat jacket.

Amazing, just realised my last post was my 500th. No wonder I get tired.
One of the things that is always guaranteed to bring a HUGE smile to my face is Morran, Camilla's dog, on video. See her dancing! Camilla also had a link to this beautiful piece of jewellery by Andi Gut (found via Ma Roulotte).

Other good things I have been missing during my semi-absence (other than everyone's May Birthdays - Mr P has his today) are the posts over at Sew Green where I also post, usually. With all the Spring cleaning that happens this time of year you really should read 'Laundry Soap DIY' and 'Clean Green'. And if your not getting your home gorgeous, you're probably getting yourself gorgeous, but what lurks within those beauty products and what are the alternatives? All is revealed in 'cosmetics: it's what's on the inside that counts' and 'green toes'.

Miss P got me Neways as they make safe products for your skin which include labelling for people with allergies. She gave me Great Tan for my Christmas and I did a test on my leg recently, nice colour- not orangey at all, so I'm very pleased. Thanks Miss P.


Makes me want a sorbet.

I'm utterly obsessed with the whole Clustr Map thing just now, I thought maybe 20 people a week were popping by, but the map has only been on for 8 days (and it didn't start counting till the 3rd day) and already there have been 1102 visits! I'm gagging to know who on Earth you all are? And Katharine says that figure doesn't include people using RSS feeds, which I know a good few of you are using. I'm so stunned! What makes you visit? What do you like seeing or reading about. I'm utterly intrigued. I squealed myself breathless when I read that 200 people visited on Friday.

I am also a bit mortified. It was one thing to think it was a handful of you, but to have so many people seeing my atrocious spelling. I hope you come for the pictures and don't notice the grammar. The writing part is really for myself, I never imagine that many people read it. My mix of UK, US, UK schooling means I got totally muddled about which grammatical rules to follow and it would appear I now make it up as I go along Fal-dee-da. But I do spell colour with a 'u'.


Chives in old Ecover tubs at Damhead Farm Shop.

One of the things that stops me commenting on sites is word verification. I don't mind the first few but after about 5 I get irritated, esp. if they are long ones. I get that impatience from my mother. We laugh because she used to get annoyed waiting for the bread to toast and would pop it up and eat it before it was ready.

So, to encourage you to leave a comment I have turned it off word verification for a few days (or until the spam starts). I hope you'll leave a note to say who you are, what you do, what interests you about this blog (and what doesn't). Are you all men? I'd love to be able to visit you too if you have a blog or website, but feel free to leave an anonymous comment if you prefer.

I'm having a go at socialising tonight, friends round for Mr P's Birthday dinner. Fingers crossed I make it through without having to go back to bed. Hope you've all been having a good weekend. I can tell you right now that you have all perked up my weekend with your visits.

People are strange

It always amuses (and yet horrifies) me the way the British (not all of us you understand) drive to beautiful places in the countryside, then sit right beside their car, in the carpark, usually facing the road. They eat their lunch, read the paper, maybe even sleep a little. And all a stones throw from a beauty spot!



The photo above is particularly amusing to me, as I always imagined that my old neighbour (when I lived in Edinburgh) was probably doing this whenever she went driving for the day. I wondered if I was being mean, but I based it on the fact that our flats were beside a park but she always put her deck chair out beside the road near our houses.

Turns out I was not being mean, that's HER in the photo! Sitting in the carpark 30 seconds walk from the path onto the Pentland Hills on a warm sunny day. Worst of all, if she faced the other way she would be looking at a view over the whole of Edinburgh and across the water to Fife, but no, she sat facing the row of cars on the other side of the carpark (not shown in photo). C_R_A_Z_Y. Luckily she was so unaware of her sourroundings she didn't spot me, the fact that I almost crawled on the ground behind a car helped - naughty.

And speaking of crazy, it's crazy busy here, I may need a bloggy break but thanks to all for your comments on dog (L has renamed her Lucy) and all other things. You people brighten my days immensely! Oh, and today, I took Lucy to met the folks at the farm shop, and she was so chilled out she sat (attached to rail) and waited quite happily while I nipped in for brocolli and nuts. We went to the dog place today and she is now officially ours!



Oh, and some cat sitting coming up too, so more of this to be had. That's Mo, he's growing up fast now, but still skinny with long legs. I had to put a bell on Mr P's cat today after he nearly caught the 1st blackbird chick of the season in my garden. Mr P hates him having a bell on, but it's just for a short while to give the chicks a fighting chance.

My Green Day

Some Green things from my day, a day of 1st's...



My 1st day out walking since I got sick.
The sun was glorious and I saw the lambs near my house :0). I walked (v-e-r-y slowly) to the farm shop and bought bundles of organic greens. (to answer V's Q, it was painful but well worth it)



My 1st day of properly doing the garden.
It was slow going but I managed to fill 4 compost bins! I doubt I'll be able to walk tomorrow. My old osteopath used to say spring was his busiest time for that very reason.



Best of all (though amazingly I forgot amid my garden zeal), my 1st day of officially being a part of the wonderful new Sew Green blog! Yes, little old me, even though I ramble and can't spell to save myself. I think I charmed them with my post about peeing on my compost heap last month.

I think it's such a wonderful blog already and I'm really looking forward to posting on a wide variety of green things. My personal faves are green roofs, gardening, eco buildings, organic food. Oh who am I kidding, I have LOADS of favourites. I'll be doing my best to add some UK/European perspectives to widen the geographic interest and influence.

My 1st post will be on wednesday but no need to wait for that, head on over now, the girls have been doing great posts. I am thrilled beyond words to be part of it, thrilled!