There it was - Gone!

All that time preparing for Christmas and then it seems to pass in a flash.    But I have had some beautiful presents which remind me of that lovely time spent with our family.

I obviously have impeccable taste as the original painting of the above print is in Prince Charles' downstairs loo!   My husband bought me this and allowed me to choose it to be on the safe side.   I love it and if you look closely, in the bottom left corner you will see the Prince of Wales' feathers and underneath is the title of the painting 'The Hare Apparent'!

Among many other gifts was this beautiful Venetian glass pen from our son and daughter-in-law.  I hope you can see the gold flecks in the glass which make it look so elegant.   I am almost afraid to use it in case it rolls off the table and breaks.   It writes very smoothly,  but it would be interesting to try it with a calligraphy nib to see what other effects I could get.  
It has been a glorious day today but we are warned of further stormy weather to come.  So many have had their Christmas ruined by the power failures and flooding - they have my commiseration - I hope they find the strength to cope and that their lives will be back to normal before too long.   The same applies to those who fell foul of colds and flu or other infections.   We kept free of germs but lost our garden fence in the gales, so the first job of the New Year will be to get a new one installed.  I call that getting off light!

Merry Christmas to one and All!

Just a quick post to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.   I hope you are managing to stay free of the germs which abound at present and have not been blown or washed away by the awful weather we've been getting.   A section of our garden fence has collapsed but otherwise we are unscathed.

Have a lovely Christmas and I'll try to be a more frequent blogger in the New Year.  What makes me think that is almost a resolution and almost guaranteed to be broken?!!

Indulgence.

I found the current issue of this lovely magazine on the shelves when out shopping today and grabbed a copy.  It is a firm favourite of mine among the plethora of other new publications which have flooded the market in recent years.   It has the most beautiful photography and is very informative with features on various arts, history, folklore, recipes, crafts and more besides.  It's pages are sprinkled with fitting quotations from poetry and prose by famous writers.  It has a sister magazine called Landlove which will be out next week and that is hard to resist too.   Sometimes I have to be even more indulgent and buy both.  For those of us who don't live as close to the countryside as we would like, they are just the thing.  I hope they don't go down the 'Country Living' path which was once a favourite but seems to have become the publication for those who have weekend cottages in the country and just play at it.

I attended my final meeting of the textile group I belonged to on Tuesday.  It was our Christmas meeting and we hired a local hall, each took a plate of food to be shared and had a wonderful lunch.   It was pre-arranged as to who would provide what, to ensure a balance of dishes, and so much nicer than going out to eat.  I shall certainly miss the companionship of fellow members but am quietly relieved to shed the commitment of producing work to exhibition standards.  

I shall still carry on making textile art and have plans for a couple more books going round in my head at the moment.  Currently I am making printing blocks for the online course I am working on.  I foresee a very colourful and messy time ahead.

All ready for Christmas?   Not long now, and don't panic - you're supposed to enjoy it!