Less blogging

I've been too tired to blog or even read blogs but I did a little perusing today and here were some things that caught my eye...

Abigail posted about 3robbers
Jessica had things to say about smell that are just so true.
Patty has a great garden blog that just makes me want to stop blogging and start digging

Wah, I had more to say but my computer is definitely dying on me, no response to mouse clicks, sometimes it won't type for 5 mins. What will I do? I can't possibly afford a new one, though I would LOVE a laptop so I could sit in the garden to blog.

I'm sorry not to be posting, or commenting on the great blog reads, especially Alicia, VeniceandVegas and Ulla, I tried in vain to send comments earlier but it just wouldn't respond. Luckily Peggy Lee, June Christy and some Yodel music are keeping me calm.

Enough of this, I'm going to feed a cute cat, water my oriental veg (my mizuna makes me deliriously happy, it is so beautiful AND tasty) and then I'm going to sleep, more, before work. Who knows when my computer will let me post again, hopefully something tomorrow.

Black antique buttons

That previous post was meant to be sent yesterday, and is no reflection at all on today which has been a beautiful day, as long as you kept your jacket on. Lots and lots of sunshine and only a few drops of rain.

I'm cat/house/garden sitting for my friend Caroline and today was the perfect day to do some work on her garden ( a trade for her giving me reflexology). It's such a pleasure to work there, not that it is exactly easy, but in her garden if you want to plant something you dig a hole in the soil. In mine, if you want to plant something you dig a hole in the CONCRETE!!!

I was digging at 9am when the fire engines arrived to put out the fire a few houses down. I had been speaking to the guy the night before and I knew he was out at the vet with his cat. God only knows how he felt when he got home, but I saw the place and it was black inside and the windows were smashed out. I couldn't bear it if that happened to me. Blimey, I hope his little dog wasn't in the house when it happened! I worry about these things a lot and one of the few things I do spend money on is insurance. Not that I could ever replace my lovely things, I mean, all those buttons and fabrics. And photo's. I'm very slowly digitising my photos to get them onto discs so I have backups, but life seems too short to spend the whole of it archiving memories.

And on that note I'm off to feed her cat and dig her garden before the deluge that is supposed to come tomorrow. But before I go Hiya to NIKKI and ANDY my friends who sadly (for me) emigrated to Melbourne. Nikki has followed the clues and found my blog, which is great. Hope you are enjoying it folks, think of me tomorrow, getting soaked in the rain, or even tonight when they predict it will be only 4 degrees while you bask in your autumnal warmth! Here are some black antique buttons just for your viewing pleasure, I picked them for the photo cause I'm having a week of button pics (till I find my camera cable) and I bet they'd look good with your black chandelier or your black Torde Boontje Garland lights...

Ecoist.com

I think I linked to these recycled bill poster bags by Ecoist.com from an article by Holly at Decor8 that I saw yesterday. Honestly, I don't know how she finds the time to find so much and do her interviews and everything. I can never keep up.

I wasn't meant to be blogging today but it is pouring with rain and there is a viscious cold howling wind. What's going on, it's crazy, the sun was shining this morning and we had frost the other night. Unfortunately I've not had the time, energy or inclination to go and get food in since I got home the other day, and now I really have to go it's too yukky. It's times like these I wish I had a Smart car... (apparently they have finally reached the States)

I picked up these last week after a bit of a search for just the right buttons to go on an aqua piece I'm making. I especially like the top one which reminds me of retro crockery.

I'm a funny one about colour and pattern, I honestly love so many different colours, combinations, styles, periods, patterns etc. In my home it's all about white's and ivory colours with the occasional wall in a single different colour. I like the ivory as a backdrop to which I can bring in any of my fabrics to create totally different moods. I think I tend to be quite seasonal about it all. There is definitely a preference for reds and whites at Christmas, and in the summer all the pale icy blue and turquoises get to dominate (which is why I LOVE Camilla's photo's like this one of Morran on the stairwell).

Then again, it might be the more Mediterranean blues, all zingy and bright in multiple shades, combined with pattern and shots of lime or orange to create areas in my white home that look like bowls of exotic fruit. I just love how the feel of a room can completely change just by using a different piece of fabric over your furniture, or by hanging a piece of antique lace across the centre of a large room to create an airy partition.

Before all the house demolition I was the kind of person who loved nothing more than dressing the house for a themed party or even just for a friends visit. If I have a friend that likes retro I'll get out my 1950's curtains and my 3 leg wooden coffee table. If they like girly pinks then out come the florals and maybe some garlands, and if the have a thing for bright colour, well then I can just go wild!

I think my taste and personality is reflected in my home in a way that it isn't in my clothing. I like very specific clothes but it's pretty rare that what I want is actually available in my size in the charity shops or in the sales. So it follows that it's the house that gets to wear a new outfit for special occasions. In theory I like the idea of have a nice tidy house with a defined stlye that stays pretty consistent, but it's just not in my nature.

I'm a bit nomadic but since I stopped travelling around I have to change my home constantly so that I get the feeling of having moved to a different place. Sometimes I like the beach house look, other times something more urban and then maybe quite kitsch for a while. I hoard a lot of stuff. Really I just need more than one house, and each one can have it's own style and I wouldn't have to keep re-arranging. Anyone want to buy me a beach hut? Or a cedar cube in the woods with a glass walled courtyard in the middle.

I was talking to a nice woman called Tonia recently (who works in Concrete Butterfly, a great shop in Edinburgh) about how my blog might imply that I'm all about the pinks and flowers and that I was worried Anna might get a shock when we met up to discover I'd be all in black, beige and a mossy green. I'd wear more blues if I had the hint of a tan, but even when I was living in LA it took me months and months to pick up any colour, I'm just a pale Scottish lass.

For those of you who haven't witnessed it we have a thing here that girls have tartan legs in winter, which means they are so white and when they get really cold you can see blue and purple veins making a pattern across their legs! You don't see it so much these days because everyone seems to go to sunbeds through the winter now. In some ways it's a good thing because as a nation, we often looked pretty unwell in winter, not like the Swedes who look so healthy even when pale. But the problem is, all these ultra tanned folk are making me look even paler than before!

Now how did I get from floral buttons to pale legs and sunbeds? I never saw that one coming.

Easing off a little

Just a little note to say I'm going to be easing off the posts Friday-Tuesday though I have set up to post a button picture each day if possible. I want to be really focused on the people I'm with over the weekend and not accidentally get sucked in to posting or replying, so to anyone leaving comments or emails, I won't be replying till Tues/Wednesday, but thanks for your feedback. Fingers crossed for good weather! I'll no doubt take lots of photo's for you.

white buttons

Some of my bigger (thanks to Samantha fo alerting me to that rude typo!) white buttons , I love white. And cream.
I especially love these white teapot and chair cosies by Ruth Cross found at Loop thanks to a link by Holly at Decor8.

red buttons

Well my big plan to post button photo's over the weekend never quite came to anything but I do have a good reason. The grand plans for helping MrP's mum with her garden were all ended by 4 days of rain. Luckily I had plans for the house too but as it was the study that got the full makeover I couldn't really use the computer (not that I really had time anyway).

The previous owners had painted the small room in a colour which Mr.P described as 'dried blood'. Now, I like a nice dark red, but this was too much for 4 walls in a small room, it was really oppressive and left you feeling all jangly. Luckily a paint job and some wonderful finds in the garage (also gutted the garage so the car can go in now) transformed it into a light, bright spacious feeling room, well on it's way towards the French Rustic style she loves.

Out went the thin metal shelving units, in came the painted wooden ones. Out when the piles of papers on every surface, in came the old faded plastic and painted wooden seed trays to hold it all. I took the metal shelving down to the garage and managed to accommodate most of what had been filling the place, what a bonus. We cleared so much space she could get the car in. It was deeply satisfying.

Even more satisfying was finding the 4 boxes that all the plants pots and garden equipment were in. The looked pretty mucky but I knew they were gems. Turned out they were ancient ammunition boxes (about 1 x 1 x 4ft long, with great handles) and when I cleaned and painted them white they looked amazing. They went upstairs to the spare room and were stacked up on their side to make a gorgeous bookcase for the really old books with lovely spines on them. It looked so good I could seriously have pinched them for myself. I'm always dragging wooden boxes, crates and trunks from skips to paint white for my house.

Anyway this went on for 3 days almost non-stop (I was grabbing 4-5hrs sleep) and if I hadn't been crampy I doubt I'd have stopped at all. It's by no means finished, there just wasn't enough time, but we got a lot done and even inadvertently managed to almost clear the second spare room that was full of things from the house move, as well as creating a but of French rustic in the first spare room ad sorting out some nice displays of her pottery collection in the dining room.

It's so nice to work with someone who has a warm home and nice things, there is so much potential to get a really good transformation happening. I think she was pretty pleased with it, especially her study which is now a room you would want to go into, instead of one you would want to get out of. I felt a bit bad that I never had time to do the last coat of paint in her downstairs loo (which is tiny with not much daylight, yet they had painted it a really dark dark blue).

It was such a full on weekend but I loved every minute, sadly I was so rushed I never got any photo's! In fact, I was so rushed, I never even unpacked my bags!!! I was in the same manky clothes all weekend, covered in mud, dust, slug pellets, paint... you get the idea. And my hair, I cannot wait to see how much dirt comes out my hair. I can't wash it there, they have hard water in that part of England and it does dreadful damage to 3ft long fine hair, as I learned at great cost the first time I stayed with her years ago. Ah, lovely soft Scottish water, I never realised we were so lucky.

Well, I'm exhausted now and I reckon I may not blog much this week as I really need to recover (and I'm off cat sitting quite a bit) so here are some of those buttons I promised to post...

Alicia's podcast

photo courtesy of Alicia Pualson, thanks A.

So many podcasts this week, the latest being one I have REALLY wanted to happen, Alicia Paulson of the worlds best written blog Posie Gets Cozy. Listen to her Podcast here at Craftsanity.

I'm so excited about this that I'm blogging about it while listening, it's a BIG one (yey) and I'm only 5 minutes into it and I'm absorbed by it already. [have heard more since typing that, it's really in-depth, I keep skipping back and listening to bits again].

I was so moved and inspired by the story of Alicia's accident when I read about it here, but to hear it in her own voice adds a new dimension to her already wonderful writings. I always find her honesty and openness about starting and running a craft based business really helpful, even if it's just to remind me not to stat yet (till I have a home I can work in first).

It's really good to get to know so much about her without looking at the computer screen, so I can justifiably learn more while organising my button collection. But wait, didn't I say I had a really busy weekend planned? So many things to do? All a big rush? Well yes, and that's exactly why I am to be found on the flokati rug with thousands of buttons spread everywhere!

In my defence I have cramp today so a lot of the jobs I need to do would be trashed by my PMT clumsiness. But let's face it, playing with buttons is FUN, it's like money and it's like sweets and yet it's totally practical since it's used in my jewellery and collages so I can have fun and be doing something that needs done at the same time. I've always grouped in colour, but I've decided to subgroup by size or retro-ness as well...



Tools of the Trade...

Blossom on aqua car

People watched me suspiciously as I hovered aroung this aqua car with the wet pink blossom on it, fumbling for my camera but trying not to get run over by cars (there was no pavement).

Not been on the computer all day, until now. I went into Edinburgh to scour the charity shops for a suitable gift for MrP's birthday (not much joy but I have a plan). I did pick up some nice buttons which I will photograph sometime soon. But not now, today has been the 1st time I've not wanted/needed to blog. I've been off the computer all day, busy in town, bus in the garden, busy sorting out the house.

A lot of busyness but a really good day, particularly as it had some great visual stimulation, these cow sculptures are all over Edinburgh and have all been painted differently. I'm sure there is a link on the web but I'm too tired to search. Just been informed on comments that these cows are travelling cows! They've been all over. Also, I forgot to point out, if it's not clear, that this one has the world map painted on her...



And this is beside my bustop when I wait to go home, Edinburgh has lovely details like this around every corner in the centre of town...



I may not blog much, or at all, over the next few days. Taking advantage of my urges to organise the house etc. Plus it's MrP's birthday at the weekend and we'll visit his mum and help her with her new house and garden. It's all houses, gardens and food for the next few days. If I don't post, then I wish you all a nice weekend, and hopefully some great weather. And an especially big hello to a certain cat cuddler who made something very sweet to do with me (is it a secret, if not I'll blog it next week).

SPT my travels

I chose this rather drippy photo because it reflects today's weather. I've not posted for Self Portrait Tuesday in ages. This is me aged 13, standing with my brother (11) beside the Welcome to Georgia sign. As you can see we are not impressed at being forced out of the warm dry van into the cold rain for this shot. But it had to be done, it was part of our summer 1984 LA to New York Road Trip in a slightly dodgy but much loved old Yellow Dormobile and Mum & Dad insisted we have our photo taken by each State sign if possible.

Most of the trip was very sunny, like in this shot of us and the beloved van at Lake Mead...



I loved Lake Mead, the water was so warm, like being in a bath, and the sand was so strange when wet and made better 'dribbled' castles than any I've encountered on any coastal beach (cause I guess it was earth, I've only just thought of that, how embarrassing).

We were heading back to Scotland after having lived in LA for 2 years (well, only 1yr + hols for me). Have I mentioned this on my blog before? I know I have in emails to some of you but maybe not here? Anyway, they decided that rather than fly from LA we should drive to New York and then fly from there. What a trip. Lets just say we are not the Waltons, and we had not fully considered the repercussions of cramming the 4 of us into a very small space for the summer to drive through roasting deserts, places about to flash flood and States with more mosquitos and humidity than I thought possible outside a jungle.

There were a lot of tears, there was a great deal of yelling, perhaps some huffing (moi, huff?) and of course, an intolerable amount of mosquito bites. Actually, the mosquitos really only went for me and my Dad, were the ones with the ligher hair and thinner skin. I know, my brother looks white blonde in some shots, but that was the sun and he's turned brown now.

But despite all the fights and bites, it really was the most spectacular trip I've ever been on, especially for a 13yr old kid from Scotland. We were naturally awed by all the expected wonders like the Yosemite, The Grand Canyon, The Washington Monument, the Whitehouse and all that New York has to offer. But the things that really made an impression on me were often smaller things, like going to a ghost town and seeing real genuine tumbleweed, tumbling, just ike on the films.

And the wildlife, things we don't have here in Scotland like fireflies (although with global warming apparently we do now, though still pretty rare I think). I will never forget the smell of a dead skunk on the road. We smelled it 2 miles before we reached it. I knew what it was though cause I had a scratch and sniff skunk sticker. Honestly, who would make such a thing? I don't know who gave it to me but they must have laughed when I sniffed.

I'll post more about this because it'll be nice to look back on when my memory goes.