I have something else.................

to keep me busy...........

AN ALLOTMENT!!!

I have been on a waiting list since last summer and found out last week that I have one! I am quite excited as well as a little nervous as I'm not that sure of what I'm doing with veg growing......no doubt I will learn by my mistakes!

 My allotment has this cute shed on it........it has honeysuckle growing over it!

 Today was the first day that we were allowed to start clearing up.......above is what it looked like before we started.............and below how it looks today!

 Behind the shed is cleared..............there were several bags of horse manure back there.....great for the ground but very smelly......it is now in the new compost bin!

 We made a start on digging and clearing the weeds.......lots of dandelions and grass....I say we cos husband is here and did most of it today but tomorrow he heads back to work so the rest will be down to me.....mmmmmm!!!!

  

A Facebook comment made me realise that not everyone knows what an "allotment" is.........so, in short it is a plot of land that is rented from the local authority for the purpose of growing vegetables.......or flowers if you choose!

I am struggling

to get back to being creative. 

After being out of the studio for so long .......work being done and then on holiday.............I am finding it hard to get inspired again!

 It's not helped by the studio being a darn mess!! 

I have managed to clear the floor more or less this morning..............now just need to tackle the desk!

 There are lots of "works in progress" lurking around.......

stuff cut out for journal pages...............

 a couple of backgrounds......................

 a face mould and old brush for an idea I want to try.................

some egg shells collected for another idea.................

 

 Namibia treasures.......buttons, shells, bits of shiny rock, rusty metal thing.......treasures I call them, others call them other things!

 Boarding passes.............thought they might make fun backgrounds for a journal page!!

Now all I need is inspiration and inclination!

Namibia

 We are home from our African adventure.......we had the most FANTASTIC FABULOUS WONDERFUL time in an incredibly beautiful country.

Above is the vehicle that was our transport for the two weeks......the top opened for game viewing and it had a great all round view. The trailer on the back has a refridgerated cold box that carried our lunch food along with table, chairs, crockery and cutlery.......everything we needed in fact!

We did more than 1800 miles in that truck!

 We stayed in some great places from our hotel in Windhoek (above) to the FABULOUS Twyfelfontein Country Lodge (below).............and yes, it does have a thatched roof.......the sunset  view from the bar on the second floor with a G&T in hand was breath-taking................

 to the old German fort at Namutoni in Etosha game park.........

 

 our room had an outdoor shower. (in addition to the more conventional indoor one)......great fun!!

 our hotel in Swakopmund was right beside the sea................from here we did a dolphin watching trip and we did see dolphins along with seals, pelicans and a tame cormorant......and had champagne and oysters!

 The scenery was FANTASTIC.....................

 .....the sand dunes as Sossusvlei............gob smacking!!

 Waterburg plateau

 We saw petroglphs made by the Bushmen people in Damaraland

 And then there were the birds and animals....................

 Pelicans on the sea at Swakopmund......................

 Cape Fur Seal colony at Cape Cross............there were THOUSANDS of them............be grateful blogs don't have smell :)

 Black Rhino........................

 Impala....................

 Giraffe doing the weird leg thing to drink.......................

 Hyena......................

 Damara Dik Dik..................

 Elephants.............

 Kudu...............

 Secretary bird........................

Hornbill

Sorry this post is picture heavy but what better way to dcument one of the best holidays I have ever been on!!

All the work

 that has been going on at my house is more or less finished so I thought I'd give you a little guided tour!

 All the building work started because we needed to have new windows fitted....the old ones were 20 years old and in a pretty bad state! While discussing the work we decided to have the old back door moved, a window added where it was and a new door put in.......all because we were going to have a new kitchen at some point.....................some point then became a few weeks after the windows etc! This was back in October/November last year.

 While the kitchen was being fitted someone commented that it would look even better if the wall between the kitchen  and the very little used dining room was removed.........mmmm good idea.....so in January we had the wall removed......it used to be just this side of the light in the pic below.

 Moving on then into the living room (just through the archway in the pic above) we had a wood floor fitted, then a new fireplace and fire

 the wood floor was carried on into the hallway.......the stairs were stripped (I did it and it was one AWFUL job that I wished on many occasions I hadn't started) and a new carpet runner put in.....I've wanted one of these with stair rods for years!

 up onto the landing where all the bedroom/bathroom doors were replaced with recycled old ones.....the final stage was re-decorating. It has been several months of hard work but I LOVE the results!

 So, with all this work going on the last several weeks I thought I would have lots of time time to spend in my studio creating but it wasn't to be so my blogging has been pretty intermittent!

It is going to get worse before it gets better, there is going to be nothing on here for the next two weeks as I am off on holiday on Sunday! Am VERY excited as I (and my husband) are heading to 

NAMIBIA. 

(it's in south-west Africa)

See you when I get back..........with lots of pics to bore you with!