Thursday, July 31, 2008

Door Stop


Made from the arm of a boiled sweater - filled with rice.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Chairs



Last summer I posted about loving chairs and I said that I was bidding for two vintage Parker Knoll chairs. Well, I won the ebay auction at £15, and we have finally had them recovered in a greeny-turquoise wool. Very comfortable and gorgeous to look at too. Upholstery cost = mega.

P.S. The back door is being propped open with a jar of lentils - working on a better solution for that problem. Will post the result.

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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Slither The Bottle Cap Snake



Another project on the list to tick off.

We used: over 150 bottle caps (saved over a couple of years or more) a jig made by Cully for punching holes, some string, paper clay that I've had unopended for years, some acrylic paint and acrylic medium for varnish. The girl is pretty proud of this one.

Uncoiled, Slither is about 3 ft long.

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Rainy Weekend, Edinburgh








We recently had the pleasure of meeting up with an old friend from the States - Dr. Beaudry from Michigan - in a beautiful, but very wet, Edinburgh. It was lovely to introduce our little bird to such a long standing friend and it brought back memories of Randy and Becky's gorgeous daughter, Zoe who was 6 when we last had a visit.

The weekend was filled with good coffee, bad coffee, lovely meals together, wet trousers and shoes, umbrella shopping, pub hopping, botanical gardens, kite making, lichen exhibit, good art (Rembrandt), disturbing art (Louise Bourgeois), silly made up names (Penelope Poodlesticks) and smiles and giggles. Fab. Come back soon, Randy,and bring the girls with you!

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Oh My Goodness Cafe



Today local council workers were on strike which meant that Georgia's school was closed. So I took a holiday and we spent the day planning a surprise for Cully for when he came home from work. The last item on our what to do without spending money list (the post just before this one) really grabbed Georgia's imagination since cafes figure top of her list of places to go. Cafe was one of the first words she recognised! So we planned what we were offering - she made the menu and I baked the scones. We did spend money, however, on strawberries, jam and cream. Georgia had a lot of fun practising how to be a waitress (although she nearly drove me crazy with impatience for her daddy to come home) and I enjoyed baking what turned out to be fabulous fruit scones (I've never made fruit ones before, I used sultanas, apricots, dates and raisins). Cully was impressed that I remembered to buy clotted cream. The bill came to £2 which was a bargain for such a posh cream tea.

We also read Tim the Tiny Horse by Harry Hill. Georgia got the belly giggles with that one!


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Monday, July 14, 2008

Don't Say You're Bored!



A "what can we do list" of stuff we can choose from when Georgia and I have the week off together at the end of the month. Trying not to spend any cash - hoping for good weather. Click on the list to see it close-up.

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Sunday, July 13, 2008

We Heart Ireland




Father Ted Lives Here


Bronze Age Tomb on the Burren

Back at the end of May we flew to Dublin and then drove west to County Clare. It was my (and Georgia's) first visit to Ireland and we were so lucky to be spending it with the "serious plant squad." These folks are a group of Botanists that Mike knows through his network at work - and what a great bunch - friendly, funny, understanding of the non-botanists and tolerant of a very chatty and happy child. The long weekend was a mixture of eating and drinking and nature walks. Georgia amazed everyone by cheerfully walking MILES over the limestone pavements of the Burren. She even won a chocolate cake prize for being the best walker. The weather was kind - slight sunburns for all - if a little chilly on the tops of the hills. Galway was the closest city and we took a day out of hill walking for day roaming about the town. The Irish really love their colour - Galway has such a lovely atmosphere, but with the exchange rate into Euro from the Pound, everything was VERY expensive. We could have gone to Greece for a fortnight with what we spent for 5 days in Ireland. But...can't wait to go back.


Fairy Ring with Fairy Princess.


It was a long way up.


But Fanore beach was warm and inviting we we came down.



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Buttermere in May


The view from Rannadale Knots overlooking Lake Buttermere in the Lake District. This was a family walk destination back in May. We all poked a little bit of fun at Cully for lichen hunting at the top - but he found a rare one - second record for England, so we had to eat our words!!

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