Living in the twilight zone...

image from Clipart Library

Well, that's another Christmas under our belts ~ I do hope you all had a super time, my lovelies, and that Santa brought you lovely things 😊  Now we are in that weird twilight zone between Christmas and New Year, where the days seem to have no definition ~ they just meld into one continuous stream of hours whilst we plough our way through the leftovers, and make vague plans for "Big Changes" in the upcoming shiny and bright new year, whilst vegging out in front of the TV 😄

We had a rather lovely, albeit somewhat bittersweet, Christmas ~ another of those "firsts" since Mum passed away back in April.  Amanda and Liz brought Dad up here on the 23rd, and they all travelled home again on the 27th.  Beverly's shift pattern meant that she wasn't working on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day this year, so she was here too, as was our friend, Phil.  The only person missing was Sam, who didn't have enough annual leave left after his move to Leeds in October, but we video-called with him on Christmas Day 😊  As you know, we only have two bedrooms, so Dad stayed here with us whilst Amanda and Liz booked a holiday cottage just up behind where we live.  Beverly had been going to stay with them in the cottage, too, but in the end decided it was too hot in there so made herself comfy on our sofa for a couple of nights instead 😄

It's been a few years (well, since we moved up here actually) since I've catered for more than three or four folk at a time so I was a little bit anxious.....which was then compounded by our oven conking out on the big day 😯 Thankfully the turkey was actually cooked through when the oven decided it had had enough, and only needed to be browned off (which was rather how I felt at that point 😉).  Luckily we have a double oven, and the top oven was still working fine, plus we've recently bought ourselves an air-fryer, so everything was perfectly cooked and Christmas dinner was only a little later than I had planned!  Next week we'll get in touch with the guy who replaced the element for us last year to see if it's a simple fix ~ we think if may be the thermostat that's gone wrong, so fingers crossed it can be replaced without too much bother.

On Boxing Day we left Adrian at home, pottering about making the lasagne for dinner and watching the sport on TV 😄  Amanda had hired a lovely big people carrier for the few days they were up here, so we went for a little drive around the island and for a walk on Evie beach to blow away the cobwebs.  All in all, it was a lovely few days with (almost) all of us together 😊

As for my new year resolutions.....

😉

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)  

Merry Christmas!

image from Freepik

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas, my lovelies, I hope you have a wonderful day!

😊

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

Little words of wisdom

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

Pottering about

image from Clipart Library

I really don't know where the time goes, especially since it feels like we haven't been doing much of anything since I last posted.  I guess simply pottering about takes plenty of time, though 🤷  And that is just what we've been occupying our time with, getting little jobs done that don't seem to have much to show for them at the end but still take plenty of time to actually complete!  I had been hoping to completely finish the big craft room tidy-up before Christmas, but that looks increasingly unlikely now as I have to start channelling my inner housewife ~ who, as you know by now my lovelies, tends to keep herself pretty well hidden most of the time 😏  Still, hopefully it won't take too long to get it finished in the New Year, and then I can recommence work on Augusta Lodge. 

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the patio roses were putting out new buds.  This variety is Emily Bronte; she has more buds than Sceptred Isle, in the middle tub, who I didn't actually photograph 😯

The two blooms on Eustacia Vye that got caught by the snow did in fact open right up, and there are a surprising amount of buds on the plant too, considering we are nearly halfway through December.

It really is a beautiful rose 😊

One of those "little" jobs was to finally get some more of our prints framed.  I bought the one above as a gift for Adrian way before we moved ~ and we've been here nearly seven years!  He lived in Kingsland Road until he was 13, I think, when he and his family moved out of London to Borehamwood.

These two prints were a gift to myself 😉 They are by Rachel Grant ~ I really like her artwork, but was particularly taken with these two.  How could I possibly resist the gorgeous blue and white chickens in particular ~ two of my favourite things combined together 😄  They are now hanging in the kitchen, replacing a set of four prints that I'd grown out of, just visible in this post from 2020.

This is another print that I bought whilst we were still living in Hitchin.  It's now been framed and is hanging in our porch.  When I finally get Augusta Lodge finished (!) and moved out here, I'll move the print further over to the left.

Another gift to Adrian, of our lovely Nikki and Matty who have both been passed away for a number of years now.  The picture was done by a local artist, Donna Spence, who specialises in pet portraits.  I didn't actually have to buy this frame as I found it lurking in the stuff I was sorting in the craft room!

We haven't taken our prints and pictures to a "proper" framer for a good few years now.  Instead we get the frames (and mounts if we decide the picture would look better with one) from an online company called EasyFrame.  I was surprised at how easy the process was ~ I guess the clue's in the name, eh 😏  All you have to do is accurately measure the size of the image, choose the frame/mount, and they do the rest.  Adrian still has a few more prints he'd like framed, so that makes my gift-giving to him pretty easy for a while 😉

I may well not be doing much posting in the run-up to Christmas.  We've got family coming up this year for Christmas 😍 so as I mentioned earlier, I've had to fire-up the 'ole inner housewife to give the house a bit of a spruce-up ~ wish me luck!

Little words of wisdom

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)    

Little words of wisdom

 

Seeing where I've been

image from Freepik

When I last posted photos of my progress in the craft room it was, admittedly, pretty hard to see what had actually been done in there 😏  I was finding it very frustrating, to be honest, as it seemed that no sooner had I cleared a surface than it was covered in stuff again!  Then suddenly I was clearing a surface ~ and it was finally staying clear 👏  

In our previous home this desk was used for our computer, up in the smallest bedroom.  When we moved here, though, the only place we could put the computer was out in the hallway and this desk was just too wide for the space.  I was able to fit it in my craft room quite nicely, though.  It's now what I think of as my "clean" work area ~ no dolls' house construction/deconstruction on that lovely pine desk top 😉  Having said that, though, I'll be happy to do other "messy" crafts on the desk as I have quite a supply of puppy pads, that I kept when Matty passed away, that I can use to protect the surface.  It's now back to being the ideal space to write down all my ideas and plans for working on the dolls' houses, not least because when I lift my head to do a spot of thinking I have a lovely, albeit distant, view of the Orphir hills 😊

The table to the right of the desk used to be on the other side of the room and was where I had clamped my scroll saw, although it wasn't as stable as I would have liked.  It fitted in this corner perfectly, though, and has made very good use of the space as two-tier storage.  The space beneath the table is now being used for a few things that were a bit large to fit elsewhere, along with my little vacuum cleaner.

The crate and box currently on top won't be there forever.  They contain bits and pieces for Augusta Lodge which will, obviously, be used as the build progresses.  I do have some "permanent" storage beneath the wall sockets, which I've rearranged slightly since I took this photo.  I've now got my collection of buttons there, along with the jar of vintage sewing threads, which used to be on the bookcase near the door.  Moving them has freed up some more shelf space for my craft books, which I desperately needed!

When the crate and box have finally been emptied out, I shall leave the space bare ready for the next build.  It's really useful to have space to keep my working pieces close to the project currently being worked on.  

The work tables are now all set up, too.  As you can see, I moved the crate of wood strips up from the floor so that I could put my heater there instead.  I decided to use this slightly smaller table to store my tools so that they are all close to hand and easily seen.

The larger table is where I will be doing all my dolls' house construction/kit-bashing.  The pieces of MDF beneath the table are all connected to Augusta Lodge, so won't be languishing there forever 😉  Ooopsies, look at all those bits on the floor ~ I must vacuum when I've finished sorting and tidying!    

You may recall that I have a tall set of white plastic storage drawers opposite the work tables.  I sorted through them last year, filling them mainly with small dolls' house-related items.  The drawers were absolutely stuffed, mainly I think because all the bits and pieces were in little plastic bags.  I came across this set of clear plastic storage drawers in a pile of stuff that I was sorting through.  It is actually supposed to be for storing washi tapes, but I bought it earlier this year as it seemed perfect to store little things in.  I decided to use it for all the little dolls' house ornaments ~ and other bits and pieces that could be used as ornaments ~ that I've gathered together over the years.  

I have quite a collection, as you can see!  I've since squeezed in a few more pieces that have come to light during my sorting out exercises.

The things in the rear section of this drawer are more hobbies and pastimes, rather than ornaments.  I've got a few things in this drawer in particular that weren't specifically dolls' house items, but they are small enough to be used in that way.

I wasn't sure if I would fit everything in it, to be honest, but once the pieces were out of their little bags they slotted in very nicely.

It now sits on the white plastic drawers, the perfect place for me to "shop from my stash" for those little finishing touches as I complete each of my dolls' house builds 😊

 

Peace...

 

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)