Outside My Window... it's only just getting light, all I can see in the dim light is the workshop wall because this window does not have a view to the outside world!
I am thinking... it's getting chilly in the morning and I wish I was still at home curled up in the arms of my husband.
I am thankful for... my children
From the kitchen... someone has began to emulsion the walls of the bathroom. It's very cold in the kitchen.
I am wearing...black pinstriped trousers,a black jumper, and I forgot to change my footwear so I still have blue converse on. 
I am going... to try and get to life drawing class as much as possible.
I am creating... panda hats which need finished off, 30 little owls for wedding favours, rabbits and a bear which need limbs etc attached, a series of self portrait drawings.
I am reading... Fern Britton, New Beginnings which I bought so I had something to read at work when it's quiet. I have read the cover so far and nothing else!
I am hoping... that my son is going to be okay and at the end of the day love will conquer all.
I am hearing... the hum of computers and the fridge with an underlying current of distant traffic.
Around the house... there are a million jobs needing done, I keep hoping I will come home and someone else will have done at least one of them.
One of my favorite things... is seeing someone else smile.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: at some point, I need to get the house in order, do the messages, tidy the studio and take photos for my Folksy shop.
This month's picture thought I am sharing...

:) Jogging Memories

Earlier in the month I received an email from one of the yarn companies advertising their new patterns for this season. When I clicked through to the website I checked out the free patterns first and there was this guy.
Almost 13 years ago, I knitted this dinosaur as a present for my daughters from their, still to be born, baby brother. 
He was a much loved dinosaur, cuddled so much that his stuffing had been flattened and he was decidedly floppy in comparison to the one in this picture. Ours also had a tshirt knitted into the pattern but it is the same pattern and instantly recognisable to my teenage daughters. It brought a smile to everyone's face and it's lovely when unexpected things turn up and do that.

The Original 52 Projects - Yamaguchi

I can't remember when or how I first came across these but last week something made me look them up again.

Thus far I have completed

• No.52 - List projects and begin doing
• No.1 - Write an old friend a letter.
• No.36 - Stay up all night
• No.17 - Wake up at 5am and take advantage of the hour.

Okay so four in a week may look like significant progress given there are 52; one for every week of the year. However No.52 is cheating, No.36 was completed because I was nightshift and No.36 because I get up before 5am EVERY morning for that very reason. It's the only time I can justify having to myself because it isn't eating into the hours others are awake, and it always feels special because no matter what I do, it's just me. I might take forever in the shower just because I can, I might go for a walk and see things no-one else is up to see, or most often I go to the studio and work until the rest of the world wakes up.
Today I drove to the studio and there was a rather large dead animal in the middle of the road, so it's not always good. :(

No.1 - Rather than a hand written letter, I looked up a pen-pal on Facebook, found her and sent a quick message.
This is no ordinary pen-friend though.
My grandmother, long since gone, had a French pen-pal when she was at school. They wrote to each other regularly and established a true friendship which lasted until the 2nd World War got in the way.
At some point after the war, my granny's pen-pal decided to try and find her and sent a letter to the last address she had.
By some miracle it found it's way to my grandmother, now married and living elsewhere and the friendship grew from strength to strength. They wrote regularly, and on special occasions I remember there being family phone calls.
That was back in the time when not everyone had a house phone let alone a mobile.
There were visits with each family driving from the middle of France or Scotland to the middle of the other and then obviously back again. A journey that I can vaguely recall taking days.
One day it would be nice to take my own kids on this journey, be it driving, flying or simply sharing a little bit of someone else's life. We all get too caught up in the here and now and forget how important read friendships are.

Season

It's raining. Heavy. Again.

It was also dark when I left for the studio this morning (in an anorak and wellington boots) and I had to take the long way around because the road was flooded (again).

Something feels different. It feels like Autumn is creeping upon us, it doesn't feel like a wet summer's day.

Life Drawing



Agnieszka

Wednesday was life drawing. I could easily have spent another 3 hours. :)