A Trip to Brighton

Well its that time of year again, conference time, I love conference!! This is what my life has come to, loving conference!! The bonus is that I get to see lots of great places. This time we returned to Brighton. I stayed in The Waterfront Hotel, which was called the Thistle hotel last year! Last visit I was lucky and was put in a sea view suite, it was awful but someone had to help them out and stay there!! This time when I checked in I had a sea view room on a different floor, it was a lovely room, but not a suite. The next day the loo sprung a leak so they ended up moving me back to the suite as it was the only free room!!! I consider it to be MY suite now!!

Nice view of the pier.

The view from my living room (sofa, two armchairs and a window seat, two TVs and a flash coffee maker!!)

There were a couple of lovely sunsets looking over the remains of the pier. We had a good few days. Most evenings we ate out and had an interesting experience in a Chinese restaurant. We went in a group of nine of us and they found us a lovely circular table. What we didn't know was that they had someone else booked for our table in an hours time. So we ordered and they gave is a big bowl of prawn crackers to get on with, we were still eating them when the main course arrived, so they simply took our plates away!!! we were speechless, it was quite funny particularly as we had asked for some more sauce for the crackers, which they delivered once they had forcibly removed the remaining crackers!!!

The main course was very nice and they kept coming over and taking the dishes as soon as they were just about empty. Finally we finished and they came back and made a big thing about picking up our plates, pushing and shoving us to get to them! we pushed back but the waitress was not bothered! The next guests had arrived and were milling around. We asked for the bill and they took forty minutes to get that sorted, so it took longer to settle the bill than actually eating!

Brighton is a lovely town, there always seems to be loads going on. I love all the artist touches. There were quite a few decorated walls, these were two of my favourites!

I always like to try and get a couple of photos in conference so that I can report back, I had no idea that we had been photo bombed!!! Brilliant!

Last night we were out for the evening at a party. We had a rather nice time!! I also had my first time using a kind of photo booth!!

I loved it, had a laugh posing for it!! We have Harry to thank for making the lovely frame!

A sad looking Harry pretending to be Charlie Chaplin!!!!

Last week I launched my 'Remember Me' Angels page and website. I really didn't have any idea how it would go and no real idea how to get my name out there. Well whatever I did it seems to be working! This week I have picked up two orders from clients rather than friends, so I am starting slowly and I hope to build it up. I have some ideas so I will have a play and get it right before launching it onto the world. Please feel free to take a look at my website and tell all your friends!

'Remember Me' Angels

Today was Carl's Birthday, strange for him not to be around, but this year we are missing Laura's birthday as well. :(  October is going to be a busy month in-spite of that. We are taking her out for an early celebrating this week . We are looking forward to late holiday ! 

So have a good week, don't work too hard!!!

Hello October and Hello Indian Summer!!!

Well its been a bit of a shock we have had a week of quite nice weather!! lovely autumn days, bit chilly in the mornings and evenings but beautiful during the day!

Today we went for a walk in Ayot, I love the conker trees. I don't really have any children that need to collect conkers anymore, but there is something about the beautiful colour and smoothness of the conkers that makes me smile.

Conkers also remind me of the Panshanger School fair, when my friend Marilyn made some fantastic baskets full of conkers all glued together! they were very big that particular year, she must have had all the kids collecting them for months!! (I am sure she got an award for outstanding use of  school PVA!!) Nothing says Autumn like a basket of conkers!!

There were a lot of acorns as well!!

I found that some of them had been taken by a hungry squirrel.....

On our walk we found a tree laden with what looked like tiny apples, I am not really sure if they were tiny apples!!

Its also a good time of year for fungi, but I was disappointed that there wasn't that many to see. When we were on the way home Tom said there were toadstools outside our house!! A month ago a tree was chopped down and there are hundreds of them, I hadn't noticed them!

I should have just looked outside!!

This weekend I have decided to 'go public' with my glass angels. I have been fiddling around with them for some while. I have made lots for friends and I think that the time is right to try and spread my wings a bit. So please check out my website - 'Remember Me' Angels . Its been quite an interesting weekend trying to get the website sorted!! Its been a steep learning curve and I am not totally sure I have ironed out all the glitches but I'll keep at it. I have also launched on face book as well, I think that might be even tougher than the website!! 

So have a look and let me know what you think, all support and spreading news  of my venture will be greatly appreciated!!!

Have a lovely week, I'm off to Brighton for a few days I hope the weather holds 

xxx 

Goodbye September....

September has just about left the room, its been a month of lots of  interesting happenings. I tried out my new camera on the moon in preparation for the lunar eclipse and blood moon.

I was so pleased with my practice shots which I took the night before the big event. 

I was encouraged by my shots and set my alarm to get up the following morning at 2.45am. There had been a lot of coverage on the TV explaining the timing of the eclipse and how the blood moon would happen. Its the last time that the particular circumstances come together for 30 years, so I was determined to witness it.  In some ways I was disappointed, there had been a lot of chat about a Super Moon, a moon 15% bigger than usual. As it turned out to me it didn't really look any bigger at all!

So Tom and I set our alarm and headed out to the back garden, I had my camera and tripod at the ready. Once out there we could see that the moon was already greatly obscured. The night was very clear and the stars were brilliant. Because the moon was dark in colour I found it hard to focus on it. The more obscured it became the less light there was, in the end we witnessed the red moon but wasn't able to get a decent photo.

This was the best of a bad bunch. I am pleased that I managed at least one half decent shot. It was also well worth getting up early to see all the stars that somehow seemed much brighter in the very clear dark sky.

I was lucky to be able to go on a trip to the Tower of London with the Social Club at work. Its a great trip which doesn't start until the Tower is closed to the public. We left work at 4.30 and travelled to London by coach. The traffic was awful so we didn't arrive until 7pm! We took a few photos outside before heading inside for the tour.

It was a lovely evening with a rather nice sunset. 

The sky looked lovely and all the offices were lit up.

The Tower looked fantastic at night. We had gone along to see the ceremony of the keys which takes place at 10pm every night. We had a guided tour of the Tower plus a look into the parish church within the walls where four queen are buried. After the tour we had dinner in the Yeoman Warders mess (with a nice cider!!) before heading out for the ceremony. 

I was pleased with the performance of my camera, I still have so much to learn!!

We are now preparing for the autumn, lots of gardening to get that sorted for the winter. We have been enjoying so lovely sunny days but the evening and mornings are chilly. Its hard having to change over from summer to winter clothes!

So hello October, a month of many birthdays!!

I hope you all have a lovely week, I will be sharing some pottery photos next post, I am still really enjoying my pottery in the shed!!!

Busier than ever!

This year is flying by, I have no idea where it is going! I like to be busy but its starting to run away with me! A big part of the business is trying to sort out our trip to Hong Kong, which has been both a nice thing to do and a  bit of a chore. I like to research where we are going but that seems to lead you into all sorts of dead ends and decisions to be made! Thank goodness for Booking.com and Trip Advisor. I feel that I am an expert in all hotels in Hong Kong now. I find one I like the look of it seems to have all we are looking for when you read the description, so I am tempted to push the 'book now' button. Luckily checking Trip Advisor reveals the reason one of the hotels has space is its at the top of a steep hill and the taxi drivers refuse to take you up there!! Well if they can't get up there, I am not attempting it with my hip and my luggage!! Finally I think I have had a stroke of luck, a brand new hotel only opened 6 weeks ago in Causeway Bay, 4 stars and a rating of 9.5 PLUS they are doing opening offers. I contacted them and they have agreed to late check out, free airport transfer and buy one get one free in their restaurant, I have decided to go for that. Being new its at least going to have spanking new furnishings and fittings!! So now I have started on the itinerary to make sure that we get to see all we want to see!

My new camera is going well apart from having a pretty naff strap, I really fancied a scarf strap which is gentle on my delicate neck and has the added advantage of protecting my camera in my bag. I had seen them on Etsy and Folksy but they cost a fortune, the cheapest I had seen was £25 ! So that got me thinking that perhaps I could make one for myself. The biggest issue was sourcing the parts, particularly the bits that attached it to the camera. It had to be man enough for the job because I couldn't risk dropping the camera. So after extensive searching I bought a replacement strap off of eBay and used the parts I needed. The actual making was quite easy I used a scarf that I bought at Camden Market last week. It found it easy to stitch it by hand using the machine holes in the leatherette made by the original construction. I am thrilled with it !! 

Best of all it cost considerably less than the versions that I had previously found!!

I started a new project at pottery, I have a plan in my head and I am not sure if it will come out as I envisage it, but I'll have to wait and see!

I am making a little hamlet on a hill , the plan is for light from a tea light to show through the windows and I plan a slight dent to put essential oil on so that the heat activates it! It was a long more involved that I had appreciated, so I will have to finish it off next week. At the moment it looks a bit derelict !! There is a fair bit of refining to be done, failing that it will be 'rustic'!!!

Yesterday morning I went up to Ally Pally for the paper crafting show, it gets smaller each time you visit!! I am still in awe of all the talented people who have their wares on display! Its full of good ideas! In the end I found my favourite 'pound' stall and spent £12!! bargain!!

Last night started with this......

What can I say??? That bottle went, along with a bottle of port and half a bottle of Vodka :( It got messy, very messy!!!!

A very good night was had by all!! The general consensus is that two thirds of the ladies in the above picture  are far too old for shots and the after effects of shots, still nothing ventured nothing gained!!! 

Still some good news, clearly Christmas is just around the corner Morrison's is stacked with these boxes of loveliness!!

Hope you have a great week, I have another week of 'decrepidness' checking, with nurse, Specsavers and dentist all in the same 3 hours!! can't wait!!

My friend has made it back home along with her extended holiday she has a sore leg to remind her of Crete plus another week or two off work!! Welcome home Sue, see you at the Crooked Chicken next weekend!!

I have resumed my pottery classes.

Well after what seems like ages away I resumed my pottery classes! I was excited about going back because our pots had been finished over the summer and we would finally get the chance to see how they had turned out. I think on balance I am happy with the results but realise that going forward I will concentrate on preparing ideas to take with me. I am happy with the above bits, I like the colour and shape of the plate, but can see a little more effort is needed in the finishing! Its not as smooth as it could have been. The hearts are fine, but again I can see where in future I would refine them. I wanted them to go on my wall and two of the four have actually made it to my wall so that's a result.

Tom wanted a coffee cup which has turned out fine, again a bit 'rustic' and 'organic' (for that read wobbly and uneven!!) It hold a small cup of coffee which is what he wanted and as a bonus in case he forgets his name I have helpfully provided a label to assist him. 

A better shot of the plate, I like the way the frit has bloomed like flowers on top of the glaze. The bowl behind was made from coiling, a technique I am not very keen on, so that a bit wobbly as well. The spotty pot was made with slab work, that was easier to construct but not easy enough for me to consider making two more to make a matching set!!

Not sure what to make of this bowl, I went all free lance on this one combined to death lots of techniques which have given an 'interesting' result!Pink paint, white glaze and some blue frit, mmm not sure that its one I would repeat!!

This candle stick was nothing like this in my brain, it sort of evolved as I went on, as I said previously it was supposed to be an underwater scene with fish and gently waving weeds, it was a 50% success, the weeds turned out looking like earth worms BUT its turns out this is one of those pieces that have improved with addition of a good coloured glaze! 

It actually fits in nicely on my unit, so its a success!

This last week we made weird bowls, not sure how they are going to turn out!!

I think they would not be out of place in an air raid shelter, but I am prepared to be amazed once they have dried out and fired!!

We also did some little free hand dish things, you'd be amazed at how fiddly they were and I am still not sure I actually like the result. I have decided going forward that I will have a project something that i will prepare beforehand and then work on it during the lesson. In my head I have a little ceramic village on the side of a hill, with windows that will light up with a tea light. Trouble is it will not end up anything like that!! I can dream!!

I have still been fiddling with my camera and I am starting to master it a bit better. I was helped no end by a very patient bee like thing that was sitting on a rose, I think it was a bit dozy because it stayed there for ages and let me take loads of pictures!!

I took around 20 photos and all the bee did was womble around a bit and ignore me!!

I have also been back at the flame this week with a remembrance bead commission. It was good to be bead making again, everything else seems to have taken over at the moment.

I hope that they like their beads.

It seems to have been a very busy weekend, Tom is 'enjoying' Sunderland on the telly, I am baking a plum cake for pudding and Beth is swapping her bedroom around, I just hope she doesn't get fed up mid move, it could be a long afternoon!!!

Finally I wanted to wish my friend Sue a speedy recovery, only Sue could go on holiday and delay her return by ending up in hospital with a badly infected leg after a mosquito bite. She has had a few days as an inpatient but has been released back into the wild this morning, they are now waiting for the insurance company to arrange a flight home. Thinking of you Sue, hope you are back in your own bed soon .

Have a great week.

xxx