Easter

Easter is proving to be a quiet one for us, just pottering about, Dave is boarding the loft, something that he has been planning on doing for a while, at last he's found the time. It was bright but cold this morning we have even had a little bit of snow! Thankfully it was after we had been for a long walk with Betsy, she had  a run about with one of her friends a Toy Manchester Terrier called Rambo,  an odd name I think for such a little dog. They both chased about the field until Rambo needed to leave we then put Betsy on her lead and headed to  Berwick Ponds. There was lots of bird activity today the swans were very active chasing off the geese I managed to get a couple of action shots. Swans certainly look scary when they open their wings fully I was so glad that Betsy was on her lead and the swan didn't come onto the bank where we were standing.

Swan

Swan

Ducks

Betsy

It was then time for home, Betsy fell asleep after her exhausting walk and after lunch I made and decorated chocolate cake as a contribution to tomorrows lunch. Then it was back to the stitching.......

Betsy and Dizzie on Youtube

Betsy had fun this morning with her friends Dizzie and Monty. Dizzie decided he didn't like her wearing a coat so he took it off her.  click here  to see the fun! I'm sorry I didn't get to film the whole game, but glad she wasn't wearing her posh coat from Jackie  see here.

I'm trying out Graze boxes you can too! If you want to try you can get a free box by clicking here if you do hope you enjoy!

TO DO

Recently I have found my life to be a  TO DO LIST which gradually I'm ticking off, I think that's why I'm not motivated to blog at the moment. We bloggers know that it's not a thing that can be done in just a few minutes, we think about what we want to write. Then we write and probably if your like me edit and then write a bit more and edit again. It is then onto adding images, I'm not happy if my posts don't have at least one image (hopefully more), they have to be edited and with luck they appear in the right place, if not it can take an age to get them positioned in the right place. Oh! there is spell check, and why does blog spell check want to change 'bloggers' to loggers and 'blog'  to bog, log or blag ????

Anyway back to my 'To Do List'

1. Get up to date with City and Guilds Samples and design work- Getting There.
2. Finish work for Seeking Artemis Exhibition - Another three months should do it. - NO GOOD               ONLY 7 WEEKS BEFORE HANGING !!!!!! HELP
3. Pay for holiday in May - Done can't wait...... (hooray some sunshine at last)
4. Book holiday for later in year and decide where to go - Done booked a week in Southern Ireland***.

The list doesn't actually look so bad now I've written it down, I must have left a few things off!!!

A few things that have been done over the last few weeks. Dave and I went to see 'Les Miserables' the show not the film, we both really enjoyed it. I have the feeling that it's a show that's a bit like Marmite some people have said they loved it whilst others hated it, well I don't like Marmite but I loved the show.

Shaftesbury Avenue, London

While we were in London we  took the opportunity to visit the V&A and then the Brunei Gallery at SOAS to see the exhibition of World Eco Fibre and Textile Art (WEFT)  it was one of the best exhibitions I've ever seen. As we had hours to kill we wandered around the Piccadilly area, had dinner and strolled around China Town always a good place for people watching!

China Town, London

I've continued with the cooking of curries, baking bread and trying out different recipes every week. Last Friday the result wasn't quite so good when I managed to slice through my thumb,  it meant a trip to the emergency room, for over an hour it wouldn't stop bleeding! That evening we had take away fish and chips instead of the Mac and Cheese I'd planned. (How did my hands get so old?) No nasty comments to that question PLEASE.

I've changed my shopping habits too instead of having ALL the groceries delivered by Ocado, I've started going to a Butchers, Green Grocer and Fishmonger. I'm staying with Ocado for the time being  it's convenient, but will probably start shopping at the local Waitrose. Going from shop to shop is not as easy as doing the shopping sitting in the living room on the laptop and browsing, but I fancy a change. It has nothing to do with the recent Horse Meat in food situation, I very rarely buy ready meals and Waitrose has not been involved, (I think) but never the less I feel that the smaller individual shops should be used. I can't say local shops where I live since a large T***o opened the two butchers the bakers and the greengrocers have all closed.  I will travel a little way to do the shopping but I'm going to give it a try!

I've  joined a group of people who walk their dogs every morning in the local park/woods/ponds. Betsy is really enjoying it,  until we started meeting this group  I'd not let her off her lead. When I was on my own I worried that she wouldn't come back, so far it's been ok and she comes back when I call her. I think the fact that I have a pocket full of cheese helps. She is having a great time running around with  various sizes of dogs they range from a very tiny Yorkshire Terrier to a Long Coated German Shepherd and a Pointer and of course her best friend another Miniature Schnauzer Dizzie. It has been really muddy and all the dogs enjoy running through the flooded areas she comes home caked in mud and so do I, she then spends a lot of the day sleeping, but very very happy. It's a shame that I can't meet them every morning but sometimes life gets in the way and Betsy and I cant spend two hours running through the park and have a speed walk around the streets, but at least if we meet up with them three times in the week it's good and my walking boots are proving they were well worth their money. Next winter I'll buy some wellies but my boots are warm and I get to wear my hand knitted socks.

Dizzie wearing his coat, Betsy au natural, well she didn't
 want to get her posh coat muddy!

I'm still taking part in the photo challenge I posted about it in my previous post. I do put some of the images on Face book. It is a challenge too, I don't find it easy to keep to the list every day so I don't think I'll carry on into next month but at least I tried.....

*** We had planned to spend a Holiday this year on the West Coast of USA this year travelling up to Canada from San Francisco then to Seattle and finally Vancouver Island stopping along the way. The plan was to spend a few days on Vancouver island so we could visit the gallery where the Material girls and Articulation  will be exhibiting their Bridging Waters work. However we cant spend as much time away as we hoped and so plans have changed.
Be back soon.....

Marching On

The Seeking Artemis exhibition is fast approaching, this week a few of us visited the gallery. I hadn't been there without an exhibition being in situ, the space is very exciting and I really need to get on and get my work finished. Becky my sons partner is one of the group exhibiting and she has designed the flyer, invitation etc.

I'm taking part in this photo challenge if you want to see my images for March you can find them on either my Facebook or on Instagram and no surprise I'm on there as 77belle. I don't think I'll do it for longer than March it is a challenge to find an image to fit the daily title. Oh well off to walk the dog and find something 'scary' to fit in with todays  theme.........