August 31st

Here I am, back in Blogger mood. It has been an amazing summer and family visits have made it speed along. Now it is August, feels like Autumn and I am well and truly back in card mode.

Mum and I have been busy working in our studios and, thanks to my sister Penny and husband Janis, we now have half the garage set up to display our wares. I am lucky enough to have sold several cards since we set this up. Although you cannot see it in this photo there is a wooden elephant money box on the table so people don't even have to talk to us to pay for the cards.

Since I added Mum a Facebook page for her works of art she has sold two to Australia and one silk screen print to a family member in England. It is working better than the gallery, but my brother and son are coming to visit at the end of September and we hope to sort the garage out a little more, brighten it up and make it more attractive to visitors.

There seems to be a trend for Owls this summer, I have an owl purse and owl back pack, so I bought the Sizzix Owl Die and have made some cards which i think are rather lovely.

My card making takes me a long time because I find myself going through all my stash to chose the right papers, looking through all my dies to chose ones i think might work together. Once i have made one card i very seldom make more of the same because i am keen to get on to the next. That's why i am going to take photo's of my cards just so that i can keep an eye on what i have made in case someone asks for a card of a similar ilk.

I have had a couple of commissions for cards and they have been very well received. On top of that some of Mums neighbours have bought cards. Now i just need to find a more regular outlet so that I can at least try to sell more than I spend.

Retirement is turning out to be busier than work was. I go to Mums every day and work in my craft room while she works in her studio or office. We meet up for coffee and lunch and compare notes and sometimes even manage a cup of tea in the afternoon.
I would like to say that i end up making cards every day, but some days i spend so long looking through what I have that I end up with nothing to show for all the hours spent hiding in my craft room.
Never mind I enjoy what i do even if I am sure that others could do a far better job , and as long as others like the cards enough to buy them I think I have chosen the right thing to do in my retirement.

I recently bought the Roald Dahl CD's to go with my Serif Card Making program. I have made a couple of cards and have a commission for another and i am sure i took some photo's but there were so many on both the cameras i think it might take me a while to find them. Next blog perhaps.

June 22nd

Such a busy time since I filled this in last. Moving to Cornwall was, I thought, supposed to introduce a slower pace to our lives, help Janis recover etc... Well Janis is so much better but our lives are certainly not slow.

We had an amazing week with Martin and Nat and Harry. The sun shone and we made as much use of that as we could. In fact it was hot and even slathered in sun cream I burned if I didn't move quickly enough. Of course in Cornwall you sit on a beach and the breeze comes in from the sea, a little fresh, enough to make you put up the wind defences, and those uninitiated in the ways of the coast find themselves burning more quickly whilst moaning about the chill.

We went to Maenporth beach and Harry and Martin splashed in the sea and tried to get the boat to float in the waves. Well it didn't sink, but it didn't really float either. Instead is spun and danced wherever the waves sent it and made Harry laugh out loud.

When it came time to try and get some feeling back into frozen limbs the cups of tea came out and limbs were stretched and a general air of sleepiness descended. Of course there has to be the inevitable selfie to record the moment.

Harry zonked out and spent half an hour dozing in his buggy in the shade.

Awake again the ball games came out. There was a party of German tourists alongside us and amongst them a young man who seemed to want to join us because he hovered watching the play for quite a while. In the end though he went back to his own family without ever joining in. He seemed most impressed with the throw and stick ball game that Nat and Harry were playing.

We went to Newquay harbour and took a boat trip out into the bay. It was a very small boat when we hit the waves which tossed us here and there. I am not normally very good on the sea when it gets a bit rough but for some reason I didn't suffer until nearly the end of the trip by which time it didn't matter if I was turning green because I could see dry land ahead.

Harry came prepared for the day dressed as Jake the Pirate

Before we could go looking for a boat though he had to do a bit of gardening with this pink lawnmower.

The purpose of the trip was to have a go at catching Mackerel. Other than our own party there was a young couple with three boys. They had a line for their party and Martin, Martin and Janis had a line each. A seagull followed us hoping that we would be successful but he was disappointed because the four lines only snagged two mackerel and both were caught within minutes of one another by the other family.

There was a lot of talk about what to do with the two fish we caught and in the end the children all decided that the seals waiting in the mouth of the harbour should be fed rather than saving them to go on Martins barbecue.

On the Friday Martin and Angelica threw a barbecue for their friends and we were invited. It was, again, a lovely sunny day.

It was a lovely evening despite my throwing a ginger beer down mum and soaking her through early in the evening. There were children for Harry to play with but on the whole he was happiest being flown around the garden by his father. Its easy to forget how exhausting it is to have a three year old, but once you see your children with their children it all comes flooding back. Good training for the Iron Man Martin....

On Saturday we went to Mawgan Beach and tried to pretend it wasn't the last day of their holiday.

The boat had sailed happily up the river but eventually it got stuck on the rocks and Martin and Harry waited for it to free itself, but it didn't,

so they threw rocks at it to dislodge it. Sadly this didn't work very well and the boat was damaged beyond repair. Think there will have to be a new boat bought before Harry is next down on holidays.

After lunch Martin buried Harry in the sand

and then Harry buried Martin in the sand...

June 16th

Wow. Such a lot has happened since my last post on here. For one thing we have had the most amazing weather - such a nice break after all the wind and rain of winter and spring.

On Monday 9th June we drove to Somerset, Burnham on Sea, in scorching weather. Of course the air con on the car has stopped working so it was rather a hot and sweaty trip, you cannot have the windows open too far on the Motorway or its like being slapped in the face.

We got to the Haven site and had to queue for a while to book in, our fault for being there just on booking in time, at least it was still warm and dry.

Our Caravan had three bedrooms and a bathroom and cloakroom and a television and a DVD player, now thats real luxury. The bed had a mind of its own. It looked as though it should fit into the frame on the floor, but actually it hovered on Janis' side so every time he sat on the bed or moved it made a loud banging noise. As Janis said hardly the most exotic or romantic of beds, but the mattress was super bouncy so that should make up for it.

Tim and Jo and Lily arrived just after us and they were in the caravan next door to ours, poor things. It felt like ages since I had seen them all. Tim brought Lily round on a visit and she looked as though she might just remember us, but was hedging her bets in case she had the wrong people. That wore off the next day and for the rest of the week i had a lot of Lily hugs and cuddles and even some kisses. I think being a grandmother is the best thing in the world because i only got to see her when she was clean and changed and ready to play, all the nasty up at night, dirty nappy, dirty face things happened to someone else.

 Tim and Jo had lots of fun making sandcastles on the beach at Weston Super Mare (I think they were hoping Lily would join in but she took exception to the feel of sand on her hands); but then the clouds built up and the wind blew so we decided it might be a better idea to find somewhere indoors - perhaps the aquarium. Janis and Tim spent some time trying to pack the windbreak away but every time they thought they had it the wind whipped it away again and in the end it just got stuffed into a corner as there was no way it was going back in the bag. Just as we got everything packed into the buggy we discovered Lily digging for gold in the sand having apparently got over her aversion to dirty hands.


We didn't avoid the rain. It came down in buckets and we dashed into the shopping centre looking like drowned rats, all but Lily who was safely stacked away in her waterproof buggy..

On Wednesday we celebrated Jo's birthday with a trip to the Noahs Ark Zoo and Farm outside Bristol. As you can see, Janis and this chap were getting on really well together.

Lily did a lot of racing around despite the weather, hot, and there were lots of places for her to run.
Most of the time she had either Tim or Jo attached and trying to ensure she stayed upright.

This chappie was having a great day rolling around in a mud bath. Someone told me he came from Brazil, and was part of the largest breed of guinea pig - interesting - and that he had once eaten some but it gave him food poisoning - perhaps I didn't really need to know that?

while Tim and Jo took Lily for a swirl on a tractor tyre I wandered over to the giraffes in time to catch this intimate moment on film. It was soooo sweet.

It was a great day and we all loved the layout - lots of play areas for children of all ages - and the cleanliness of the animals and their pens.

On Thursday we celebrated Janis' birthday with a visit to the crazy golf on the camp site. Can I just say that Tim did the scoring and Tim won and leave it at that? Even though I got a hole in one. Yes, without cheating. It might be something to do with the fact I got maximum points on most of the other holes I suppose.

It was a terrible course and there had to be a lot of discussion around each hole.

So Lily came up with her own version of the game - buggy golf. Think she would probably have beaten us all had we let her loose on the actual holes.

Friday being our last day - boo hoo - we walked through the caravan site into Burnham on Sea - although there wasn't actually any sea, just lots of wet sand. In the end we decided not to build wet sandcastles and had a cold drink and ice cream instead.

Lily really liked my sticks. perhaps she thought she would be able to steer her buggy with them and make a great escape?

We had a lovely week thank you Tim and Jo and Lily and good bye to our caravan.

June 1st

On Sunday 25th May we went to an open garden between Port Navas and the Budock Vean. We actually missed the turning the first time and went for a little trip along the narrow lane that so frightened my brother in law from America the first time he realised it was meant for two way traffic. We managed, in the end, to find a turning space and the house itself.

The gardens stretched for acres and all i could think was how pleased i was that I didn't have to mow all the lawns. Rather than walk for miles because it was warm and there were a lot of people, we found the garden around the house and conservatory and had tea and cake and talked to people or listened to them talking. I wanted to butt in on one conversation about a place called Dorridge outside Solihull and say "I went to junior school there" but thought better of it.

Mum is a member of the Constantine Community Choir and they gave us a lovely half hour of Cornish music and a bit of laughter when the men forgot to do their Umpah's or Do Dah's or whatever they were supposed to be doing.

The hostess' dog was much more interested in having someone play ball with her.

On Monday Mum went down with a horrible tummy bug. I left Janis to do the housework (yes!) and spent the day being there, making her drinks and making sure she was warm enough. It was horrible to see her looking so frail. On Tuesday we did her shopping as well as our own and spent the afternoon with her.

Tuesday evening I came down with the bug and on Thursday Janis succumbed. It is not a nice bug and if you get the chance to avoid it, do. We are over it now but my stomach still has moments of being a bit unsure.

Anyway we are better now and back in the world of the living.

On Friday we went to Gweek to see the Amateur production of a play adapted by the company originally written by Godfrey from Dad's Army. Ghost Express took place on a disused station in Gweek and there were a lot of jokes such as Gweeks bearing gifts - My big fat Gweek wedding etc.
We were told by the producer/ writer at the end of the play that it was the worst they had ever performed but we liked it. As well as the play there was wine and cake - what more can anyone ask.

On Saturday (yesterday) Mum and I went to the Tolmen Centre to watch something called Major Tom. Its a one woman (and dog) show by a young lady called Victoria Melody (and Major Tom her very lazy/ very large basset hound). I wont tell you what it was about because i would hate to spoil it for you if you get chance to watch it, all I will say is that i would definitely go again and laugh as much as i did last night.

If you get a chance have a look for her blog or video's. Here they are together.


We have bookcases in the house now and bought some padded throws for the beds. All the boxes have been opened and emptied or chucked into the garage. Janis looked at the gates of a car boot sale and it is only down the road so fingers crossed for next Friday!

Yesterday we watched some of the Red Arrow demonstration ending the Pendennis Cup from the comfort of our own house. I cannot believe how amazing they are. Once or twice they banked directly overhead.

Anyway i am sorry i didn't update my blog last week and i hope you understand that i was still sleeping off my tummy bug and feeling very sorry for myself, and Janis.

We are back from The Black Swan in Gweek (known to many as the Gweek Inn) now after a wonderful Sunday lunch. With entertainment because the people a couple of tables away were having one hell of a row over their meal. She was furious and he was looking more and more uncomfortable. Sadly for us all someone sat at the the table next to them so the argument went and before too long there were smiles and some chatting between the tables. Probably better for their digestion than the row but nowhere near as much fun for onlookers.

This is the centre of Gweek, just a short stroll from the pub.

This week I need to make a lot of cards and finish a photo frame i started ages ago. We need to sort out all the stuff for the Car Boot sales and hopefully on Friday we will do our first one. Keep your fingers crossed for us.