A new week...

Well I don't know what happened at art today but it is safe to say that my progress looked to be non existent - Sheila has finished her picture of the elephant (yes that infamous elephant with a certain part of the anatomy that foxed her!) and is embarking on a picture of flowers herself.  She and Klaus have some wonderful roses in their garden and she is going to make a picture out of three blooms which she has photographed.  It will be interesting to see how she tackles this subject matter.

Today I was working on the large peony bloom which is to the left of the picture.  Now that I look at it from a distance I can see that it is taking shape but when you are working close up then it is difficult to see how you are doing.

It was a lovely morning - we had a chance to have a wander around the garden before a lovely lunch from Klaus - I wont need to eat again today after the roast chicken, roast potatoes and veggies!!!

One of their 'outdoor' cats has produced kittens - it would appear that there is only one surviving at it is about the size of a small rat at the moment - I caught a glimpse but didn't want to traumatise the mum by taking a photograph.

I am eternally grateful to Mum for letting me have permanent custody of her trusty Singer sewing machine and for our friend John Page for servicing it every time he comes over.

This afternoon I put it to good use this afternoon and attached some curtain header tape to the new curtains I have purchased for the lounge and for this I must thank Paula from our belly dancing group because she found a whole load of the tape and gave it to me.  It was just enough to do the two pairs.

I will need John to hang them because bar standing on the kitchen work surface there is no way I can reach the tracking.  I could tell the machine had been serviced because it stitched beautifully - to be fair it was only two straight lines on each panel but it all went swimmingly and they will look nice and will allow us to move the ones which are there to the conservatory as John has bought some curtain track and in the winter we think thick curtains at the sliding doors will make the room feel much warmer - it is worth a try and it will be nice to block out looking at the grey winter weather.

It was another nice day on the whole - just around lunchtime it came over a bit grey but all was well and looking at the PV generation today was a really good day.

After sewing I went outside to do a bit more gardening - the honeysuckle in Gregoris's garden was in danger of blocking our access to the gate so it got a bit of a pruning but as it will flower shortly I didn't want to go too mad because I love smell as you walk past and brush the blooms.  The asphodel in the garden has almost finished flowering and has become a haven for all the snails in Droushia.  That got a haircut too and I have left the one remaining bloom intact but that will go at the weekend.

My hot cross buns seemed to be enjoyed by all that sampled them so tonight, bored and with a glut of self-raising flour I decided to make some crumpets - the recipe I usually use calls for yeast so I thought this would be interesting to try because if successful would be easier to knock up.  The first few were a bit of a disaster as it takes time to get the pan to the right heat so that the bottoms don't burn and the bubbles break on the surface plus you need to get just about the right amount in the rings - I have learned that less is more in this respect.  Will see what they taste like...

And sorry for sporadic posts over the next few days - I have taken mum and dad to Dubai for their grandson's wedding - poor John is cat sitting in Droushia and I miss him xxx