It’s Time To Take A Break…

With July just around the corner, I seem to have failed dismally in my promise to bring you two blogs a month and for that I do apologise, it’s just that there’s been an enormous amount going on in my life lately!  I also am sorry it took me so long to respond to your lovely comments  – I’ve rectified that now – but it was lovely to hear all about your life, the family and the things you’ve been getting up to, and thank you for your kind words and compliments about my recent artwork! 

When I last wrote, I was just gearing up to join my colleagues from QVC in London for our second Medical Detection Dogs fundraiser.  What a cracking day it was, and such a joy for me to meet some of you and put faces to the names that always pop up in my comments box here on the blog.  It was also a pleasure to spend time with Debbie Flint, Lorna Ko, Patrick Hoy, Marie Francoise, Gabbie Bradshaw, Tracey Kreiger and Tiffany! The event was very well attended, and Deb had managed to organize a raffle with some cracking prizes.  In all, we raised two thousand pounds for the charity and the promise of another event in early autumn this year.  Not sure quite where that will be, but I will let you know once I do.  

Because I spent the Tuesday in London, I missed my art class but my lovely friend Jo who runs it, invited me over on Friday that week and taught me the rudiments of water colour painting.  I didn’t realise you actually wet the paper so that when you paint onto it the colour just seems to bleed down. There are all kinds of different brushes including round brushes and flat brushes and they all have their specific uses. It is quite complicated to begin with but I enjoyed using the rigger which is really thin, and the fan brush too which enabled me to add in the finer detail.    It was certainly a far cry from the lion’s face I drew the following week, struggling as I do with perspective, but I really enjoyed it and remembered most of what Jo taught me. What do you think?  I always said I couldn’t draw, and the only artistic thing I did was making novelty birthday cakes and arranging flowers! I feel now that maybe with guidance I could become a little better than I thought at it. I did get a chance to arrange some of the roses from Jo’s garden too so that was nice.  There’s still oil painting on canvas to go before the end of term, and I think I may well sign up for the autumn class too as it’s done me a power of good to step out my comfort zone but also to have to concentrate on each painting for at least three hours without interruption.   There’s been too much going else going on in my life that I would share with you if it were my news but it’s not, although it has definitely impacted on us all as a family.  

But on a happier note, Colin and I managed an event of our own here at home with virtually all the children and grandchildren to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Granted it was a week or so early but we were absolutely blessed with the weather and were out in the garden all day with a fabulous barbecue for lunch.  Colin is really a dab hand when it comes to cooking the food and I’m more than happy to prepare it so I can sit back and enjoy being cooked for. Crazy thing is we took no photographs except this is one of Florence propped up in the paddling pool!

And talking of little people, I’m delighted to tell you that my niece Verity gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Beatrice on the 12^th June – my sister Jenny’s first granddaughter.  We’re all thrilled for Verity, and her sister Emily is really chuffed that there is now a little girl to add to the three boys within the family. I can’t wait to meet her once she is settled and has her feeding regime in place.  

Before that I have a week’s holiday with my lovely godmother Edna in the sleepy Dorset village of Lulworth Cove.   With sunshine promised all week, I was all set to go for a swim in the sea until Jo told me that sharks have been spotted along the Jurassic Coast so I think it may be just a paddle!  Colin is coming down to join us for a few days too, which will be fun and hopefully give him a much needed rest.  We’re almost at the finishing line with the exterior work to the house, and he faces the mammoth task of shifting 12 tons of gravel tomorrow – he’s definitely going to need a break after that!

Today is Colin’s and my 10^th Wedding Anniversary but because of the tight schedule he’s on we’d decided to postpone our celebratory lunch until another time.   And I’m very glad we did, as I ended up in A&E with bad tummy and chest pains which turned out to be gastritis.  The staff at Wexham Park were so kind, and ruled out everything else it could have been, and so I’m now on Lansoprazole and Buscopan for the next five days, and off fizzy drinks, fried food and dairy for a bit longer.  They think it’s been brought on by stress, but hopefully I should be feeling much better in time for my break with Edna.  Colin and I will definitely celebrate our milestone another time when I’m feeling 100%, but we both feel blessed to have each other. 

Because of this I’ve decided to take a break with the blog over the summer, but very much hope to pick it up again in the autumn.  Life really has got in the way of life for me but  I know from speaking to some of you at the MDD event you really enjoy reading the blogs and so I’m sorry to let you down. I will probably continue posting on Facebook and Instagram in the meantime so if you wanted to keep up with me that way please do follow me on these highlighted links.  

Before I go, I just wanted to say that I finished watching Ted Lasso and absolutely loved it would highly recommend it if you’ve not seen it. And Colin and I also enjoyed The Gold – a drama devised around the possibilities of where the Brinks Mat gold actually ended up! Very well acted and quite plausible!  I’ve still not finished Yellowstone.  It is extremely good but has become very violent so I watch it during the daytime so I don’t have bad dreams!  Seriously! ☺️

Thank you so much for your loyalty to the blog and for keeping in touch with me here and I shall look forward to catching up with you again in the autumn.  Have a wonderful summer, 

With my love

Ali xxxx