the garden

Instead of scrapbooking pictures I thought potatoes would be better. These were dug up in my garden a couple of days ago. Still to come are carrots, leeks, courgettes, runner beans and rhubarb. The family are coming to Sunday lunch tomorrow. We will have the potatoes.



This afternoon we celebrate Sam's birthday with a party at the farm. Alison and Sian and Harry are coming up from Brighton. Hooray.

A new kitchen!!

It will be great when it is finished. In the meantime I'm full of anxiety about making major expensive decisions. The project doesn't start until next month so I have plenty of time to enjoy my angst. For instance, today I am driving all the way up to North Hamptonshire to choose a slab of granite for the counter tops. What fun.

Jane and Catherine come back from Ireland tonight and Sam arrives tomorrow. Then the family fun and games will be in full swing. I know I said I would post some pictures of the scrap booking weekend but I've been busy.

A Weekend with Jane

We came back from Earnley on Sunday having had a wonderful weekend. I started two scrapbooks; one on family dating back to my grandparents and another on my trip to South Africa. I will concentrate on the South Africa one so that I can send a copy to Colleen and Eric who were so very helpful in showing me around. It gave me a bit of insight into Malcolm's early life. I can well understand now why he was so keen on living in Southern California. SA and SC are remarkably alike physically and climatically. As you may guess, Little Orphan Annie is back with a vengeance today. It is pouring with rain and Jane has gone off to Dublin with Catherine. I hope she enjoys her mother daughter time as much as I did. I don't think it will be very pleasant to go outside today so I shall concentrate on cleaning the house and setting up a scrapbooking location. I think for now and while Jane is here it will be in the dining room/study at the back of the house. This is where I have tables to spread out on. Eventually I will go to the shed with this and other artistic endeavours.

Earnley (again)

Jane and I are off to Earnley in a couple of hours. The last time I went I left a nightgown behind so I won't have to pack one this time. Jane and I are doing a course on scrapbooking. Ha ha. It was the only one available this weekend which is the only weekend that Jane is here before the children turn up. I have been printing old pictures for a family album and I will do one about my trip to South Africa. Later...

In Sheffield

Kate and I sitting on a bench in her garden. This garden is totally wonderful. Is it because she has a PhD in botany? Probably not. I think it would be beautiful anyway. She is an archetypical English gardening lady. It's a wonderful breed. I had a great visit with her in addition to the horticulture. She is such an excellent friend. She lets me go on and on about things on my mind and it is a tremendous relief. All I can say is, "Thank you, Kate".

Sheffield

I'm off to Sheffield today to visit my great friend Kate. I've known her since 1962. She is probably my oldest friend in England. I'm going by train which will be a change. I usually do my travelling by car or coach. I've booked myself a seat in the "quiet" car (no mobile phones). I will be back on Wed then Jane arrives on Thur and she and I go to Earnley on Friday for a scrap booking course. Should be fun.

I have found a third person living inside me. This one is called "Stormy Creature". She is angry all the time. She shouts and howls and makes a nuisance of herself. I don't hear from her too often but when I do, there is no mistaking that she has turned up. "Little Orphan Annie" tolerates her and she is a better companion than LOA. Of course I still prefer ACR (see previous blog). She's the sane one. The other two are all over the place. Speaking of sanity, you may want an assurance that I'm not crazy. I simply find it useful to categorize my moods.

July 11

Today would have been George's birthday. He would have been 72. His death is still a great mystery to me. He had no vices.

I was at Ruskin today for day 4 of my drawing course. It didn't go very well today. Drawing from a cast is more difficult than still life. I felt very depressed and sad. Maybe it was because of George but it felt more like "Little Orphan Annie"* making a visit. "ACR"** was not much in evidence. I hope she comes back tomorrow. She was with me all day yesterday. "Little Orphan Annie" won't leave without a fight. Tomorrow is the last day of the course and I won't be sorry. I would rather accept that I can't draw than suffer through another course like this one. Next weekend at Earnley will be much better. I have homework to do now. UGH!

* "Little Orphan Annie" - the name I have given to one of the people who lives inside me. She is very dependant and sad and pathetic and needs constant looking after. She's a pain in the 'you know what' but she has no intention of giving up her hold on me without a terrific fight.
** "ACR" - that's the big grown up person who is determined to have and enjoy a new life. She also lives inside of me. She would like to see the back of "LOA" and who knows, she might manage it one day.

Ruskin

I'm off to Ruskin this afternoon for a five day residential drawing course. I have no drawing talent or aptitude but I like the idea of five days, a single room, all my meals and total cost = 86pounds. Also, I'm trying to become a Sunday painter and I will need to be able to make a stab at drawing a flower or a landscape.

I've just had my introduction Pilates class and I've decided to sign up for a series. This is the serious stuff with torture machines but with the advantage of one on one teaching. It should help my stiffness and improve flexibility.

Like Alison, I gave up drinking a week ago and I feel much better for it. Mine is a 3 week program (makeover). In addition to the 'no alcohol' thing, I also have had to give up red meat and salt. The red meat part is fine but I miss my salt. You are supposed to lose 10 lbs in 3 wks. I started at X.2lbs. I lost 3.6 in a couple of days and then I went to Earnley for the weekend. Instead of alcohol and Salt, I consoled myself with two puddings at each meal. I gained back 2 lbs! I lost that 2 lbs by this morning so I hope I can keep at it. I'm hoping the Ruskin puddings will be inferior so I won't be tempted. I'll post up again on Sunday when I get back.

Receiving Flack

My favourite male offspring commented on and disapproved of my new name. I think you can figure out why. He and the rest of the tribe plus several friends have been trying, not terribly successfully, to get me to erase the 'Cecil' person from my consciousness. They can't seem to accept the godmother link. So would you like it better if I gave up 'Cecil' and changed it to 'MacDougall'?

Earnley

_________________________________________________________________________________



These are a couple of my early efforts (I got better).
__________________________________________________________________________________


This is Tony, the Tutor - a talented and gifted chap
___________________________________________________________________________________


This is where I spent the weekend and started learning about watercolour

_________________________________________________________________________________

Earnley

I have been at Earnley for the weekend. This is a residential course running place. My course was beginning watercolour and it was terrific. It turned out that there were only two of us in the class so we had the undivided attention of the tutor who was excellent. We spent the first day learning about the brushes, the paper, the type of paint, colour mixing and how to do colour washes. Then we moved on to pictures. Watercolour differs from other types of painting because there is so much water involved and you do things a bit backwards. There is also a lot of stuff about negative space. Anyway, I brought home a few of my little efforts which I will post up when I get my camera and art works unpacked. I'm going to like this genre.

First Blog

I will be changing my name to Anne Cecil Richards after next year. I'm going to run this blog in the meantime as a way of getting used to it. The Anne is because that's me. The Cecil was my godmother's name and also provides a memory of my late husband. Richards was my paternal grandmother's maiden name.