It's been a while since I've posted on my blog, a lot has happened. 

Grandchild number two has not only been born, but also celebrated her first birthday and grandchild number one has started school – already. 

 

I had a go at dying – big hint if you are going to go into anaphylactic shock do it when you have already been admitted to A & E. Turns out I’m allergic to a certain type of anti-biotics and now have to carry epi pens with me. Don’t knock the NHS in front of me, the quick action of three people in three different settings saved my life twice. I followed that up a few months later with another emergency admittance to hospital for something I’d never heard of but now make sure I stay well hydrated and watch what I eat. 

That about covers the highlights from the start of Lockdown to the end of 2023. 

I did manage some stitching, two Shepherd’s Bush stockings for my grandchildren. 

 

Shepherds Bush Stocking - Thomas

 

 

Shepherds Bush stocking -  Parker/Emily

Much of the rest of my time was taken up either reading, exercising, or gardening. We managed two big garden projects in 2023 and I finally got my greenhouse back into action. 

 

Now that I don’t have stocking to complete, I have picked up two cross stitch projects I abandoned to concentrate on the stockings, Apache Wedding Blessing and Celtic Autumn. The plan is to finish them both this year so I can move onto some other BAPS I’m keen to do. I’ve been doing the BAPS at the start of the week and setting myself a point to reach. Once I’ve reached that point, I’ve moved onto some small projects. 

Apache Wedding Blessing

Celtic Autumn

 

I’ve kitted up two of the Petites by Little House Needleworks and have two finishes from Winter Petites. I’ve also just finished Shepherd’s Bush Dashing Through the Snow. So far it is working well. 

Little House Needleworks Winter Petites & Sweet Petites

Shepherds Bush Dashing Through the Snow

 

I have also subscribed to the Cottage Garden Sampling Little House project, but I’ve yet to receive anything yet. Other cross stitch plans include starting a smallish Little House Needlework design, either The Library or The Bookshelf. I’ve had the patterns for years just need to decide which one to do and then kit it up.

Elsewhere the garden is springing into action, and I need to get seeds sown in the greenhouse and if it ever stops raining some weeding done. 

One final project I’m working towards is having a go at the Summer Spine - Challenger South. I’ve always wanted to do the Pennine Way and after my adventures in A & E realised, I’d better get on and do it. Rather than do it the easy way I’m going for the daft way which means getting very fit first is required although I'm aiming for 2025, not this summer. Fitness wise I have some exciting plans for 2024 although they have been pushed back a few weeks as my delighful granddaughter shared a rather nasty virus with me and it stopped me getting outside for almost a fortnight. I'm back out walking now, but currently only up to 3 miles a day, not the eight miles I was doing before she shared her germs.

Finally, here is my rather belated (by a couple of years) post for the TUSAL. The small jar probably contains all my orts for 2023 but at least half of them are from the last month. Since emptying the small jar into the big jar I’ve already got some orts for the next full moon. 

 

TUSAL Feb 2024

Perhaps more interesting will be to see if I actually have any readers left.

When Lockdown Stops Your ARPS Panel .......

......... then you just have to adjust your plans.

My ARPS panel has been in the thinking about, developing ideas, stage for a while and I hoped to start working on it this year but one essential requirement is the ability to get to my chosen locations numerous times per year and preferably without a lot of people about. 

1. With the current Lockdown rules, travelling to any of the prospective locations is forbidden as it wouldn't be for a permitted reason.

2. Until Furlough ends and/or people can do something other than visit the countryside the odds of several locations being people free for the amount of time required per shoot are highly unlikely.

My planned final images will hopefully combine the techniques of the photographers Pep Ventosa and Stephen Wilkes.

Rather than waste time kicking my heals for numerous more weeks/months I have decided to explore the techniques I plan on using in the studio.

Tulips Day 1 Hour 1

 

Whilst the final image from this session probably won’t end up in my panel, as the other shots should all be landscapes, it should at least give me the opportunity to develop my Photoshop skills. It will also give me a chance to work out how I’m going to start to compile the hundreds of photographs that I will be taking just to get the one final image that will make up one of the 15 images required for the complete panel.

 The image above is just the first session of several that I will be doing to end up with my hopefully final images showing the tulips from when they first arrived in the house to when they die. It also currently only comprises of ten layers, but I still have another potential 36 layers from this shoot to add before I start deciding how many layers and at what opacity I should start working at.

Steep learning curve ahead.

Let's Move Another Holiday

I'm sure we weren’t alone in having to cancel and rebook holidays last year and I really hoped that now we have a vaccine that having to move holidays was coming to an end.

Last year we rebooked one holiday 4 times - it is now planned for October 2021, having originally being booked for March 2020. In fact maybe I should issue a national alert for Lockdown 4 to begin in October 2021 as so far every time we have rebooked it the start date of this particular holiday has coincided with the start of a Lockdown. We also cancelled or rearranged a further 2 trips last year. We did actually manage to squeeze two short 3 and 4 days breaks away into September and October but that was the total holiday time we had in 2020. The October one was extra interesting as we were stopping in a hotel and actually got sent to our rooms at 22:00 as instructed by Boris I hasten to add, not the hotel. That’s an experience I hope to never enjoy again.

Hope to enjoy views like this again in October

We normally camp in the summer but I didn't even want to attempt risking that as campsites at the best of times, no matter how well maintained, aren't the most hygienic of places, add Covid into the mix and no thank you. I'd rather live to camp another year.

This year we were looking forward to three of the cancelled 2020 holidays taking place and also adding in another short break at the end of March. The break in March isn't looking too hopeful now, it looks like we will be cancelling that one soon, but never mind we have optimistically booked a replacement holiday in November. 

 

One of the views it looks like we will be missing in March

Camping, which I was hopeful may return this summer, is now debatable it will very much depend upon how much the Covid figures drop and if everyone who normally goes abroad does so instead of filling up the UK campsites they normally go nowhere near. I suspect at best we will get to camp in September or more likely in 2022.

You have to love the game of spin the holiday booking, makes getting away on the actual holiday feel like a real achievement.