Blackberries and mild days of Autumn.

....and as another week ends and we are a day nearer to the onset of Winter, we are still having very mild Autumn days and nights, last night reaching 18 degrees C still at around 8/9pm and did mean that Izabel panted her way through the early hours of this morning before either she, or I, nodded off to sleep in exhaustion.

 

I am still remembering Autumn, the berries and golden vines.

 

 

This bead is one of my favourites of the week, its a big bead with layers of glass, gold and silver leaf and lots and lots of hand pulled canes in which I can mix the colour to get what I want.

Its not always easy to mix glass colours as they don't mix like paint, blue and yellow don't always make green and red and white don't make pink, its a lengthy process of layering the glass and pulling into canes which can be used to 'paint' onto glass.  I am really enjoying this painting style of bead making it both relaxing and meditative and I have found that I prefer to work without the radio on so I can disappear into my own world for hours at a time.

That Friday feeling.

I woke up this morning, after a long wet and windy week to a beautiful sight, my little cat Gordy was curled up in the middle of the bed, between the husband and I, with Izabel, he had his head tucked under her fluffy tail and she was snoozing with her head over his back, they were as snug as a bug.  It was a lovely sight to see first thing.

The sun was out this morning, Autumn is keeping Winter at bay for a little longer, after the wet, cold and grey week its a welcome sight, which made this afternoon's funeral a bright affair.  The church is the beautiful one at Breinton where I live and dog walk past each and every day, a old Norman church that has been added too over the centuries, I believe the earliest date for there being a church on this site is around the 14th Century. 

 

 This is the side of the church and the entrance we used today, us dog walking friends, to the right of this picture is the site of the Motte and Bailey, a fantastic raised mound that towers above the orchard in which the church stands.

These photos are not from today, you could barely see the church today, the car park was full, the lanes around the church were full, it was standing room only and a beautiful service to celebrate the life of someone so young, I know on our row a few tears were shed, but it was lovely to come out into the sunshine and see late afternoon dog walkers go by and see life continuing on as it always has and always will.

Now, to cheer myself up and bring myself back to the world of 'me', I am off to photograph a few beads that I have made this week, and will be sharing photos tomorrow.
 

Misty mornings; cobwebs sparkling.

For someone that hates spiders, their skin crawling at the mere mention of the word and finger nails tingling, like nails being drawn across the blackboard at the thought one big hairy black eight legged monster might walk into view; I love cobwebs.

 

 

I woke up this morning to a really misty dawn, the view down the drive and onto the lane, the field beyond lost in the mists of time.

 

Behind me the old gateway into the back of the garden was decorated in fine silk fibres in delicate patterns, created by a true artist of the night.

 

The other side of the falling down gateway that the rambling honeysuckle, once scented with flowers of yellow now supporting last nights masterpieces.

 

 

The kayak kit left out and forgotten by my son when he cleaned out the shed and decided to air his kit on the line, now shrouded with webs off set by the dark background of the black helmet.

The bamboo, its swaying fronds waiting for sunshine under the layer of mist.

 



The sights and smells that take me home.

As much as I miss the long hot summer days I do love a walk first thing in the morning when the ground is dewy and the sky is blue, when its not too cold so that you have to wear a coat but its cold enough to feel your nose tingling and be snuggled in a big old jumper and wear wellington boots to walk through the long damp grass.  I love wellington boots.  This morning was that morning.

I walked my normal walk down by the river with the dogs, but we were early this morning, no one was around, no fishermen, no other dog walkers, no joggers...no one, just the birds in the trees and the squirrels scampering around in the orchard, even the sheep and the cows were still lying down and snoozing.  The spiders had been busy in the night and their creations of silk stretched between hedges and long grasses the dew droplets glistening like jewels.

The sun wasn't quite up when we walked, it was still burning off the sleepy dust that is the mist over the river and fields.

 

 

From behind me it cast my shadow long and almost lean in the grass that's now turning from deep Hooker's green to limey yellow.  The smell of wet grass reaches my nose and takes me back to when I was a child.  That old damp smell that was always in the back of my Granddad's sheds and workshops, I could almost smell the old tobacco that he used to smoke and the old wooden benches that he used to work at.  The damp dog smell from his dogs I don't have to remember as mine, I know, will stink for most of today whilst they are drying off, but its a smell I both loathe and love.  I can imagine the big silver pans on the stove in the kitchen of the house my Grandparents lived in, the newly podded peas scenting the kitchen with a sweet vegetable smell whilst the roast in the oven smells warm and delicious; potatoes newly dug that morning, their earthy smell heavy and rich now bubble on the stove.



The fruits of my labour.

 

 

My internet is still playing up, our connection now being the talk of the house, nothing else is more important than who is going to tether me to their phone so I can get on line.  Its going to be at least another week and as its now a long and rather boring story so I have given up lamenting.... almost ... and decided to be positive with the time, oh so much time when I come away from the laptop, and have been busy finishing the decorating in the living room.

Its not quite magnolia but I like it.  Its more a shade of sand and once I sand down the window sills and the wood that surrounds the hearth and the mantelpiece and stain them to the same colour as the window sills, all that will be left is glossing the skirting boards.  I like wood and have always wanted a big chunky wooden cabinet for the TV, I would have liked one of those cabinets that the TV hides in, but the husband likes his big TV so we compromised, its taken several years to compromise but we have.  He found this one for me on eBay, it was from a charity shop up in Birmingham and ticked all my boxes.   

 



 I just love the hinges they are all handmade and aged with that lovely patina of something used and I really love the handle, its like a pair of old scissors and opens a lovely big cupboard that will hide lots of 'stuff'.

You can see from the next picture that our current table for the TV is a glass and chrome affair; I have always hated this thing it attracts dust and living in farm land and with dogs, cats, kids and husband it is always covered in a fine layer of dead skin cells and hair.  Unfortunately my daughter and I between us are too weak and feeble to lift the enormous TV on to my lovely new cupboard, so I have to wait until either my son or my husband returns.... so much for women's lib in this house!

Husband would like me to up cycle this and make it more modern but I just want to use beeswax to seal in its old-ness, so we had another compromise and I put my foot down, its staying as it is, he compromised by knowing when he was beaten!

 

There is something about the onset of Autumn when the sloe berries start to come out in the hedgerows around where I live that makes me want to play with wool in the evenings.  During the day I am in the studio melting glass and getting quietly addicted to listening to Women's Hour and the Archers on Radio 4 followed by the drama of the day, but when the evening starts to close in and end the day, I want to still create, my fingers never really being very good at staying still, my backside being excellent for sitting down for long periods of time so crochet is my Autumn/Winter go to project and this year I am determined to actually use up some of the yarn I have stashed in the wardrobe upstairs.

 

 

It matches the walls!!  This is a nice project a poncho style shawl that is made up of individual squares that are then joined to the main piece on the final row of the square, I am creating about 3 an evening, I am not the fastest hook on the planet, but at this rate with 96 squares to crochet and only 30 done so far this is going to take a while.

 

 

Saturday, Blogtoberfest Day 5

So after spending all week on the sofa, sniffing and being totally miserable and bored watching the weather from the rain splattered window, it was a lovely surprise to wake up this morning and be able to not only breathe through my nose - its the little things - but also hear with one ear, the other still being blocked, and although my head is still woolley I don't ache and the sun was shinning, so I popped on my trusty wellies...(I do wish Google wouldn't change the word wellies....you have to remember to read through and correct it back from wearing w.....man parts!) 

I took the dogs down to the river for our daily walk, just look at the blue skies

We kept to the back of the fields today, didn't want either dog to go into the river I fancied a dry dog walk, best laid plans and all that....

 The wild rose hips are out in the sunshine throwing up some colour in an otherwise green landscape

And after all the rain we had this week, even though its still be warm, the mushrooms are sprouting up everywhere these ones are quite small I have some whoppers on the lawn at the moment...

 





Remember that dry dog walk I had planned?  Well Defi found the mud!

This is Iz with a muddy patch on her back where Defi jumped on her to play, so off to the river we go to have a swim and clean up, good job its a warm day!

 



We did have the swim and we did clean up, back home again now, the sun is still shinning and I am off into the garden to cut back the bushes, got to make hay while the sun shines eh?

Laney

ps all photos are taken on my phone, its not a bad camera but some shots are blurry :)

Autumn at the river

 

Well its only day 3 of Blogtoberfest and I am already flagging, not for blogging so much but for just feeling completely and utterly pants with this virus.  This is my first virus of the Winter season, or should that be Autumnal season?  either way the weather has changed from sunny skies to damp mornings and the leaves are no longer green and glossy on the trees but turning the russet reds and golden browns tinted with lime greens, the Autumn colours.

 

I was walking with the dogs down at the river (River Wye) this morning and found some lovely ripe blackberries, which I was picking and eating, blackberries are good for a sore throat right? and decided to take a couple of Autumnal pictures for my blog post today, seeing as work in the studio has come to a halt due to lack of energy, rather than playing with glass every minute I can during the day I am counting the minutes until my next lot of pain killers to top up my levels in my blood stream, which I am sure is gloopy green and slimey reflecting how I feel..me whine at being ill.....never!

 

 

 

Beautiful red berries dusted with dew

 

Blackberries, you can see how many I ate!  I am sure they have healing properties.....

 

Dewdrop, this was actually taken the other day on my phone, all my photos at the river are taken on my phone, its not a bad camera really.

 

Right off to the settee, I feel a day of nothing and crocheting socks coming on will take pictures...on the phone...for tomorrows blog......

 

 

Laney x

Autumn in the garden, the giveaway and the beadathon update.

 

What a beautiful afternoon.  So Autumnal, bright and colourful.  This is the view towards my back hedge and beyond, the willow in the foreground is around the chicken coop, still lime green, contrasted against the deep red and russet colours of the massive tree that stands over my glassy studio, you can just see the top of the roof.  Behind the hedge the fields sweep upwards, showing the lemon greens, dark greens and orangey reds of the trees behind.  The sun is out casting an autumnal golden glow over everything so that even my unkept veggie beds look nice!

 

 

Defi is here, in this picture to the right, he is basking in the sunshine, surrounded by the bamboo and now fading rose bushes.  We had the first frost last night, it was only a light frost but enough to start to turn the plants so the leaves are now hanging down, ready to drop in time for winter hibernation.

I thought I would use the sunshine to take photos of my giveaway for October.  The giveaway date is the 31st of October, all you have to do is put your name, a comment and a contact email address, in the comment box on any blog entry this month and I will select a winner at random to send the giveaway to.

 You can choose from any of the four drawings I have photographed here, from top to bottom, there is a graphite drawing of a Weinmaraner - those beautiful dogs with the light eyes, a coloured pencil drawing of our Izabel as a puppy, a coloured pencil drawing of a collie dog and a coloured pencil drawing of a spaniel.

All of these drawings are prints and have been mounted with a single mount and are in cellophane envelopes, the originals have been sold, back in the days when I did pet portraits.  I have been renewing my passion for my pencils, I used to draw so much before glass and got them out again.  My beads are based on my drawings and I have never stopped doodling, just stopped large scale commissions.

Finally.  What a weekend!  What a blast!  What a fabulous, exhausting but wonderful time!  Its was the beadathon.  Months of Jolene organizing us all into 24hours of continuous lampworking, making beads for Beads of Courage children and teenagers living with cancer.  The event was done, not without its hitches and laughter, and we reached our target...WHOO HOO..in fact we surpassed our target of £500.00 how wonderful is that?  All thanks to Jolene, we invaded her studio, we used her tools - and there are a few there that certainly got me wondering what she does on her own ;o) - it was a fantastic time and money and awareness was raised for a wonderful charity and cause.

Don't forget to leave me a comment, I love to read them.

Laney x

Autumn sunshine and missing bumble bees!

It all started with this hollyhock.  A massive great big bumble bee was nosing around and getting covered in pollen.  I dashed in the house to grab my camera, and by the time I came back out - which was straight away - he was gone. Shame would have made a great picture.

This afternoon, I decided to head into the garden and do some tidying up.  I haven't been in the garden much this year, what with the weather, lots of bead fairs and life getting in the way, the garden is definitely looking unloved.  I didn't even grow veggies this year.  The dogs had a bone this morning after the river walk, so they still had something to do whilst I was enjoying the bright autumn sunshine.  This is Defi, growing into a handsome boy now, happily nibbling away on Izabels left overs.

Even our Meg came outside for some sunshine, here she is doing the 'hind lick' maneuver, not bad for a girl (cat) in her early 20's (human years), bet I couldn't get my leg that high anymore!  ...and yes my car is that dirty, the downside of living rural when its been raining and the farmers have been in and out of the fields with the tractors.

Seeing as I missed the bumble bee, I took some time off from the gardening - it really doesn't take much to persuade me - and wandered around, deliberately ignoring the weeds, and concentrating on the movement in the garden.  I love flowers.  But.  I love my chooks and cats and dogs more, so I don't have any flowers.  EverReady Looky Likey (the name stuck!) was caught on the old picnic bench that serves as a potting bench in a good year and a dumping ground this year - its all been tidied up now though - she was investigating the many bugs that were lurking in the discarded pots.  She had quite a feast!

I haven't been home alone today, my son had a day off and was ...and still is...cleaning his van, always nice to show off what I have actually grown from seed. Planted in well rotted manure and left to fester, this long legged triffid matured into a rather large nearly 19 yrs old!

Oh Izabel....Izzy...bell...bells....

She did come round to the front with me and Defi eventually!

This picture was one of those...oh good I have the camera moments.  Megan had moved to a sunnier side of the garden and two of the new girls, EverReady Looky Likey and one of the Marran girls tooks to sunbathing with her, I think the chooks are settling in nicely.

Another quick snap shot of the three girls.

Autumn Fruits

 

Finally, the beads of the day, beautiful autumnal colours, Poppies, acorns, blackberries, blue berries, Poppy heads and sculptural leaf shapes, all available in  my Etsy shop.

 

Hope the sun shines tomorrow, I do really need to do much more tidying in the garden!

 

Laney x

Looking back with Iz

 

 

I have been feeling a bit down these last few days, possibly even as much as week, I dont know why, the change in the weather?  Who knows?  I came on here to blog today, not really knowing what to blog about and found a button - I just love buttons!  its been there for ages but I haven't pressed it before, so I did.  Its the picture button 'from this blog' one.  Up came all these pictures I had forgotten about and they made me smile.

Before Defi came to live with us, it was just me and Iz (and the rest of the crew, the mogs, kids, hubby and chooks but the daily walk was just me and Iz) our walks were definitely quieter then! Defi doesn't like the car rides much, so we tend to go to the river now, which is just a five minute walk from home, but back then, Iz and I used to drive the kids to school (going back a few years both have now left school), then carry on to Dinmore Woods, near Leominster.  Only about 15 mins from us.  But Iz had lots of doggy friends there, some of whom I still chat to via facebook.  The picture above is one of my favourites of Iz and reminds me of the quiet watcher she really is.

The beautiful Acer trees turn to gorgeous reds and goldens in the Autumn.  This morning walking by the river, I was wrapped in a big fleecy coat but the sun was shining, I love Autumn, that snuggly in a big coat feeling but still with a cold nose, floating leaves and winter sunshine.  Its a beautiful season.

 

Before glass, I used to draw, and, like my beads, my favourite subjects were my animals, or any animal I saw, but mainly my animals.  I found these coloured pencil drawings of my Izabel when she was a puppy, I remember they took hours of work and were a real labour of love, just as she has been, growing from a bouncy puppy to a spoilt teenager and finally, now she is six, a lovely lady dog - ok lady might be pushing it when she rolls in mud and jumps in the river and stinks to high heaven, but she is, and has been, a definite labour of love!

Just lately, my artistic muse seems to have left the building and I have been floundering around like a fish out of water, perhaps I need to go back to basics and just make the things I love the most?  I think that could be a new plan!

 

I haven't forgotten about the give-away at the end of the month and I will find something this weekend to show off and give away, just leave me a comment below and I will put your name into the woolly bobble hat, for a chance to win....whatever I come with!!

 

Laney x