Tea and Cakes.....

This week has been about tea and cakes and rekindling friendships.

If you ever visit the South West, try and stop off here for a some refreshments.

They do things a bit posh, but its amazing!!!

I've also been brewing an idea and baking some plans.....

It all starts with a small idea

I'm going to be getting on that Wild Donkey again and riding off into the sunset.

So I'll be donning my cowboy boots and hoping not to get too saddle sore!!

YeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaa!!

xxx

Be Happy........

This has been the theme this week.

Don't blame it on the sunshine

Don't blame it on the (super) moonlight

Yeah, you know how the song goes.....

 I've been a bit creative this week

Not sure where these are going quite yet, they're a work in progress

I've been pondering this video a lot this week too....

Enjoy...

and be happy!!

xxx

Summertime......

and the living is easy...apparently??

Finally the garden is springing into life.

Do children still use these to tell the time??

Exploring the shadows

Looking north you can see Wales

Looking south you can see Dartmoor


Get out there and enjoy the sunshine peeps.....

xxx

Revisiting......

For what ever reason, this week I was called to revisit my old sketchbooks and work from my unsuccessful attempt at a degree. (To get a quick background into the nightmare that was college go here)

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, I've decided that it was actually pretty good. The whole college thing busted my confidence in the work I was producing. It made me doubt everything.....

In a world of my own

The project I was working on when I did my Dear John email to college was quite powerful stuff, very different to how I would usually work, very different subject matter....

This project was full of strong ideas and meanings, it's a shame it didn't reach it's potential.

Looking at it with renewed, less weary, less defeated eyes I think that I'm going to push this project on. 

I'm going to give it life again  

(And at this point I'd like to point out that I don't regret the "dropping out of college" thing..it was the best thing I did. If I had stayed I'd probably be writing this from Prison after murdering either a tutor or fellow course participant.)

A quick landscape paintings from a previous project (told that they were crap!!)

So onwards with some renewed vigour....

xxx

Cloud Appreciation.....

I've been doing a lot of cloud watching and navel gazing this week.

Sometimes you need to just get out into nature and experience it.

Feel the sun on your face (being careful not to burn it).

It becomes so easy to forget how beautiful the place where you live is.

Focus on the good stuff.

Focus on the small stuff....look at the amazing rock formation going on here

Focus on the fun

See the journal? Way over there?

(Wreck This Journal)

Focus on the things that make you happy.

Tony Plant

I've been doing my bit for art and philanthropy  this week, as well as my regular donations to various charities and my Kiva donations, I've pledged the artist Tony Plant some money to help him get some important equipment to assist him in producing more amazing works like the one above.

Please go and check out his work here and if you like what you see go pledge some money here.

Go on.....it'll make you feel good...I promise...

xxx

Sunshine......

....my only sunshine..

I know, typically British to talk about the weather, but how nice is it to feel the warmth of the sun???

It just makes such a difference to the mood.

I've actually done some crafting in between smiling at the sun. 

Some glass beads from Ikea

Became a beaded tealight holder...just need to finish it off

This was part of a art/craft gift swap I signed up for.

I got a jar of yummy chilli jam in return

This morning I woke up to sunshine and Grandmother Moon

So I stood there and watched her for a while, whilst Hula-Hooping I may add, listening to the birds

The birds were loud and proud today!!

I believe this little chap may have been responsible for a lot of birdsong today


In typical Explorer style, I set out for an adventure....






Primroses have taken over the garden this year

Finding a home in the most unusual of places

The beautiful old conker tree, just stating to burst in to live (we were beginning to worry that it wasn't going to recover from the brutal hacking it received during the winter from the local electricity board..that's a whole other ranty blog post to come)

And the swallows have returned, a sure sign that summer is coming!!!

Get out in the sunshine and enjoy

xxx

To mull.....

"To think about; to consider; to ruminate about"

Still doing a lot of that this week.

Hmmmm....maybe someone is trying to tell me something??


I've been listening to my Yoga of Work CDs this week
and then doing some pondering and ruminating. I'm sure I'll elaborate more once I've considered it.

I've had some crafty time:

A Turquoise Fairy

Not a planned thing, just something that I woke up needing to do. I've become more aware of the pleasure I get when I am creating. It's a kind of meditation process, I lose myself in the moment, before I know it 4 hours have passed by, I am freezing cold and starving, but I am content.

It wasn't long before she got a friend

I made time for tea with a friend this week.

Little bit of people watching

Sometimes you need to make space in your life for tea, putting the world to rights and making plans.

I also seem to have made a "new friend". Those of you who know me well, know about my bird phobia....my screaming, running, flailing arms and legs phobia of birds.
So, to find that this little fella appears to have taken a liking to my bedroom window has displeased me. It's like I'm being stalked!!!

"I'm watching you"

He spends his waking hours tapping on the window....not so good at 6am!!

Maybe I need to face my fear??

xxx