Art Farty Spotty Delights

Where to begin. The nice stuff? Yeah of course! But no.... then you would all be skipping to the BAD stuff cos hey, thats human nature!

Bad stuff - Been in hospital with Molly. Bizarrely she contracted Shingles, which is quite a major deal for her. So off we went to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (which I must say was SUPERB. Very very clean, excellent friendly staff, excellent Registrars). In isolation from Tuesday to Saturday - poor Molls! The I.Vs as per usual were difficult and painful but she was SO brave. No magic cream or spray for her! Gutsy little thing.

She is home now (phew) and in fact has just popped into school for a couple of hours as she was so lonely. She is very tired (she is still on Aciclovir orally, which is taking it out of her) but doing well.

End of bad stuff! First time in 3 years - thats not bad going at all! Bit out of practice and it took me a tad longer to pack than it would have done, but I forgot nothing!

Nice stuff is Art College - signed up for a BTEC diploma at Saltash Cornwall College and loving every minute. Its very different, very challenging - we have all had "wobblies" and "I can't do this!" moments, but its all good - some of the pieces I have done you can see on the link on the left.

Missed last week - it was the first 3D session, but hopefully have caught up and am looking forward to this week!

No funny stuff guys - still feeling a bit out of it after the hospital run.

Horatio and the case of Sickly Sussex

Hooray! Hornblower has arrived!

Courtesy of Freecycle, that wonderful invention, not only did we rehome Pretty Boy Floyd, but now that Shaun has made a new chook house, we rehomed a little cockerel who had his harem depleted by the foxes - we welcome Mr Hornblower (Horatio to his friends).

He is minus a few tail feathers due to catching error (not me!!) but I am sure they will grow bag. He is extremely, er, vocal..... good job we like it! The girls can't beleive their luck. He is a bantam cross, smaller than 6 of our girls, but a perfect match for our non-laying bantam. Marvellous stuff!



Off on hols next week - hooray! Going to Centreparcs. Easy with the kids, especially Molly, not too far to travel either, Longleat Forest. And a WEEK, a full WEEK away. Thank you thank you thank you, Family Fund for helping us get away.

Yay!

Had a houseful of visitors this last month, and its been really nice. Escaped unscathed from the various bugs they brought from Sussex (sicky yuk bug and glandular fever, all which had to be checked with the hospital for Molls sake).

So theres another reason not to go back to Sussex!!!!

Bin Painting...

But not BIN as in rubbish, cos I am quite pleased with the results! Lots of sheep (amazing I don't fall asleep really) and the life drawing classes have been excellent. If anyone wants a look, have a look under the LINKS as I have a separate blog for artwork so no-one gets bored!

Comments would be great so I can tell everyones faves. That way I can improve!! Ta!

SHEEEEEEEEPPPPPP!!!

Good lord! I am going away AGAIN! Woolly Shepherd has invited me to go to WonderWool Wales - its on over a weekend at the end of April. So I need to get PAINTING a bit rapid! Lots of sheep piccies need to go with me....

It looks to be an excellent weekend - complete with hog roast! And of course 170+ stalls of YARN and SHEEP related wooly stuff.... how exciting!!!! I am sure that any money I do make will be donated to the highly important "Wilby Wool Stash Fund". It is quite well funded already, but I feel that any excess is only providing a safety net for the future....

The Woolly Shepherd's site is well worth having a look at - her yarns are really exciting.

For links to both look under the Links section on the left.

chucks.... dogs.... cars.... logs....

Sorry, sorry, sorry... its been AGES again! Where did the year GO?!??!?!


We shall start with chucks and then progress rapidly to dogs... (sounds ominous? Yep, it is!!)

We gladly inherited Pretty Boy Floyd and his harem of 3 girls. They settled in beautifully, being free range and cooped at night. Picking over our veg plot and generally following us around(hmm, we thought, thanks for eating the slugs, might have to fence the veg plot in come spring!!! They like tomatos thats for sure!!)- they are gorgeous!!


Then came the addition of Blossom and Pip just before Xmas. 6 month old brother and sister terriers. Poppy (our other Jack Russell) was over the moon!

All was well - until Blossom found her feet. Pip, well, he's a bit more laid back, crap at jumping and generally can't be arsed to escape. Blossom? Soft, cuddly and a complete nightmare! Escaped... and killed a chicken. NO!!!!! So, Shaun reinforced the fencing in the back garden.

Following week: Escaped.... killed 2 chickens. Could I have killed her? Probably. So, Shaun reinforced the fencing in the front garden (she actually broke the fence).

Next day: Escaped... terrorized Pretty Boy Floyd. I am SO sad! She removed all his tail feathers and he was so scared. Luckily, Freecycle came to the rescue (what a great site that is) and Pretty Boy Floyd has been rehomed on a small holding in Cornwall and he has a new harem of 8 girls. I was SO sad to see him go but so relieved he is going to be OK.


So we have no chickens.

Then to add insult to injury, Blossom actually jumped OVER a fence today and buggered off! I thought we had lost her for good - and in fact, I was so wild I didn't care! But, amazingly, she came back within the hour...

So whats Shaun doing tomorrow?..... Fencing AGAIN!!!

Anyone want a terrier? (no, I am NOT joking!!!!)

On to CARS. GROAN

I hate cars. I love my little Freecycle Micra - its brilliant. Small, economical, pretty green all things considered. BUT, we need a works vehicle for Shaun that doubles as a family car (Micra bit tight for that) and that can tow the caravan. NOT so green. Its always been a landrover. My lovely red landy. But Molly has grown and we couldn't pack around Daisy in the back, so it had to go. And we got a good deal, we thought. A bigger landrover! Ta Da!!! Back seats and all that... luxury!
(^ not our landy, but might as well be.)
Nope. Crap engine. Can hardly tow Shaun's trailer, let alone the caravan. New engine or new car? Save save save save save save.....

The good news? logs! Our wood burner is WONDERFUL, we are warm, toasty warm in fact (phew, it was hot last night!! No? oh, just the woodburner then, not the menopause!!!).

Enough news for today...... See ya!!

An Apple A Day... provides numerous health benefits.....

Its been a while, so this is a quick post to start the ball rolling again....

I was reading an article in my gardening mag about how x amount of kids thought pasta, tomato ketchup and bread counted towards their "5 a day" total.... scary, I thought and turned to my children to start a discussion about what was fruit, vegetable etc.



Apple? FRUIT!
Potato? VEGETABLE!
Celery? VEGETABLE!
Bread? No Mummy, thats a starchy carbohydrate

I don't think I should have worried!!!!!