Worshipful places

I have just watched a few minutes of a television programme about Wells cathedral. I love Wells cathedral, I can remember being awed by it as a young child, climbing the worn steps up into the towers wondering how many feet must have come before me and taking part in the country dancing festivals on the large green in front of the main entrance. But what grabbed me about this programme was something a visitor said about the building. She came because she could feel that God was there.

Bonfire Night

This is an odd festival. I do enjoy it but you don't have to scratch the surface too deeply to realise that it is a fervent anti-Catholic celebration. Who wants to celebrate that? But I do enjoy what this event has become and that is why I titled this post as bonfire night, not Guy Fawkes night.

Happy feet

First colour

There is colour on my painting! Always the hardest bit for me. Now to find more time to myself to get more detail on there.

Previous posts:
Wellies painting
Jumping in a puddle
Dancing in the rain

Forgetting about the garden

Getting the garden tidied up for winter is what I am supposed to be doing at the moment. But I'm not. I need to collect all the fallen leaves for leaf mould. I keep putting this off. I just want to be tucked up inside the house with I nice hot drink.

Typewriters

I may be struggling with my National Novel Writing Month but my eldest is having no such issues. For his birthday he requested a typewriter and we (just) managed to find one in our budget.

This has been fabulous for his creativity. He doesn't have to worry about his handwriting. He doesn't think about his spelling or grammar. He just types. And thinks. And types some more. He loves it. Something tells me I'm going to have to find some character recognition software soon!

A good quote

Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can.

Arthur Ashe

I think that I have found my next piece of quotation art.

Art week

Day 1: canvas background

I don't do as much art as I would like to with my boys. I'm not really sure why but their total lack of interest definitely plays a part!

Decorating again!

I've not even posted the finished pictures from the bathroom yet and I'm already moving onto something new. Actually the bathroom isn't quite finished though I have completed my bit so I'll have some after pics up soon.

Sewing pyjamas

Pyjama trousers

I do have a tendency to wear clothes until they are falling apart, and this goes doubly so for nightwear. I never used to be a pyjama kind of girl but living in a cold house has definitely changed this for me.

Fudge.

Vanilla fudge

Home made fudge, using the recipe from the good food channel. This took a lot longer than the 25 minutes they suggest for cooking, but then I did double the ingredients. I must remember next time to use my largest pan for a larger surface area to hopefully speed things up. It has a lovely soft texture, instead of beating the mixture with a spoon I took my electric whisk to it for a few minutes. Well worth doing.

Nanowrimo

Writers block?

I mentioned in my monthly review post that I would be attempting National Novel Writing Month. Whilst I have been enjoying this experience it has been so hard. I've barely even started! My biggest issue has been that I have become caught up in my novel, it has become too important to me and I now have writers block. So, in order to keep on writing I have started a second story with the help of some inspiration dice that we made a while back out of old wooden blocks. These have been a great way to get going again.

I'm not sure where I am going to go with this after November is over but so far it has been an excellent exercise on getting me working in the evenings again and I am surprised at just how much I am enjoying the process of writing. If only I could let go of my perfectionism it would all run a bit more smoothly.

Not feeling well

Wouldn't it be nice if all of those nasty bugs would just blast off into space.

Rain

Patio puddle

I love the rain. It makes me feel refreshed and gives me an renewed sense of energy. It is very elemental, nourishing the earth. One of my favourite things is to wrap up in waterproofs, grab an umbrella and enjoy a wet weather walk. I even enjoy getting wet! I just don't enjoy getting cold which is inevitably the case.

Too often when it rains I find myself trapped in the house with low light levels. These are the days that I really need to get outside most. Perhaps I need to revisit the mantra

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing"

and get out my brolly more often. Jumping into puddles is fun!

All my preserves

A fine larder

Dough nuts

Dough nuts

Book review: We are wearing out the naughty step

 

This was one of S's birthday presents. He thinks that he is too old for picture books but this was specially chosen by one of his youngest cousins. The subject matter was an interesting idea for a young audience. 

 

The illustrations are typical Mick Inkpen, simple but colourful. Unusually the storyline is about a single mother who is trying to keep on top of everything from the point of view of her child. I love the image of her on the phone to the doctors about the bead that somehow ended up in babies ear just before the babysitter was due. Result was that Mum misses her class. It is a reminder of how hectic motherhood can be especially with young children.

 

And who hasn't been here? To be honest S simply thought that the mother was a bit silly and couldn't relate to this at all. I, on the other hand, actually felt my eyes water. It is so easy to relate to 'mum'. This would have been a useful story for when my two were younger on those hectic tired days that I was reduced to tears. Motherhood can be so hard at times. Thankfully it is balanced out by having wonderful kids!

Drink!

Wine

We did a quick review of alcohol yesterday. 4 demijohns of wine went down the drain, there really wasn't any hope of them turning good now as over two years old and they take up space. Over the years the only wines that I have consistently succeeded with are blackberry and elderberry, delicious! I'll occasionally experiment with other ingredients but those demijohns then seem to linger around for years whilst we wait for them to mature and hopefully improve in flavour, they usually don't. I'm not making any this year, we've been too busy harvesting our own fruit to get out and find wild berries and most of my demijohns have been stolen by J for his cider.

Halloween update

Pumpkin storage!

Our Halloween plans all changed at the last minute. I had access to a car, an invite to my sister's and two boys who didn't fancy staying at home all day. An impromptu Halloween party!

A ramble through the thorns: money, politics etc.

Some of the currency designed by my boys

"Why can't we all just have our own currency? Then the money will have to stay within the local community." - my son (8) 

Bread: Granary

Granary loaf

This loaf was made using Hovis Granary flour following the recipe on the packet. It was a surprisingly light loaf with a good texture. It was unfortunately also a bit light on the taste side too but I love the chewiness of the grains so this is definitely a flour I am going to purchase again. Next time I'm going to make two small loaves and pop one into the freezer as despite us enjoying it this bread is still going four days later. This is the problem with having boys who worship sliced white bread.

October review, November planning