Sorry about my non-appearance of late, I did leave you all saying 'see you next week', and I didn't.  So let's catch up on nearly 2 weeks worth of events,  and I am sure you will soon understand why there has been an absence.
Me and Mr Cooper don't go out a great deal, apart from to our local watering hole, so we decided to take the plunge and venture into Chichester one evening.  We booked to dine at 'Amelie and Friends', for an early-bird deal, on a Wednesday. http://amelieandfriends.com/  So with that in the diary to look forward to, we carried on with our normal lives; packing, sorting, working, swimming, painting.... and Mr Cooper watched TV and went to the gym.
 Then something amazing happened, which will change our lives forever.  Mr Cooper's eldest beautiful daughter, Rachael, went into labour all as planned, going into hospital on Sunday night,
 the night before her baby was due.
But babies and planning don't go together, they have their own agenda!

 So Rachael and partner Ben went into hospital, then out, then back in, and ended up having their baby delivered by emergency Cesarean section.  Henry was delivered safely, on Wednesday afternoon.  Here they all are, suddenly a family!

 We are so looking forward to seeing them all in a couple of weeks, when Ben returns to work.
Our intention is to be very helpful, and to do what needs to be done, which must involve cuddling Henry a great deal!











 So there we were, just setting off for our night out, with Mr Cooper suddenly having become a Grandad, and me a Granny Sue, or a Sue Granny, or something like that.  A planned night out, but now with something very important to celebrate!

If you ever want a good night out in Chichester on a Wednesday, take the train and arrive there at 5 o'clock, have a quick one in the refurbished 'Foundry' next to the station (most impressed) http://www.foundrychichester.co.uk/index then another one on in 'The Cross Keys' and then over the road and into Amelies for a truly delicious 3 course meal.  Each course was superlative, and the desserts were exceptional. We were out by 7.30, then back on the train to Nutbourne, calling into 'The Travs' for a quick couple on our way home
 (only a couple, as we know we have responsibilities!)

 Then up at 6 the next morning, ready for an 11 hour session in a hot kitchen.  I showed Juliette the photos of Henry..... the chefs didn't seem too interested, but Juliette was.  In fact, looking at them was the highlight of a very long, hung-over day.

New belongings also arrive, and older things are put away.  I realised that I have been keeping my first ever pair of Dr Martens in the bottom of a wardrobe, all broken and dusty, because I loved them so much.  And now they have to go at 27 years old.

  Along with my also much-loved cheap boots, which have been steadily falling apart since I bought them, 3 years ago.  It is a long time since I could wear them in wet weather, and now I can't even wear them in dry (the uppers are no longer connected to the sole.)

On a more positive note, there is a hole in my life to be filled in the future, by a pair of shiny red boots.

Mr Cooper and I went on a mission to buy some wool, to knit something for Henry.
 Here is the new book I have been reading a lot lately.

When I finished the first garment, from above,  I decided to knit another to go with it,  and found a pattern in a much-loved book, one I used a great deal when my boys were small.

I thought of my Granny Beba as I sat knitting.  She had 9 grandchildren, and would often knit in the afternoons.  When she had finished the garment, usually a jumper, she would line us all up to see which one of us it would fit best.
Anyway, I found a pattern that would suit the type of wool I had left over, and started to knit.  A little intricate, bobbles were involved, and a few raised stripes.  After a while, I realised that my knitting did not look like the photo in the book, and, horror of horrors, that this was because I had not read the page numbers properly, and was knitting a completely different pattern!  Not too different from Granny Beba after all.
 Looking at my results so far, I think you could say that there will be 'room for growth'

Packing and sorting continues, as does wallpaper stripping, and hole filling.  It is not always easy to choose what to keep, or discard, and on a Saturday morning, ten days ago, whilst lifting crates of books in haste, I twisted suddenly and my back became agony. It then became a very painful weekend, producing meals being a major achievement, whilst surrounded by all the work that needed to be done, that I couldn't do!  And then, after a trip to the osteopath, clad in sensible knickers and a sports bra, I found that I wasn't able to go to work that week, either. ( I did wear outdoor clothes for the trip to and from Mr Butterworth, in case you have a disturbing image in your head of me limping round Southsea in my underwear.....) http://osteopathicsolutions.com/

And sadly, no work for me means no money,  double sorrow.
 It also meant being under 'house arrest', triple sorrow!
But now, the clouds are lifting.  I am able to dress myself once again, and work is beckoning.
Here is the windowsill art from the last time I was at work, nearly 2 weeks ago.

A crouchy, sniffy be-ribboned animal.  Hints of a cat in there somewhere?
I think a glimpse of the plunger provides a 'grounding' element to the composition.


One the plus side, Mr Cooper and I have caught up on a whole lot of recorded TV....... and I have re-discovered how lovely it is to knit in the evenings.  And also how amazing it is to find out the next morning that you have 63 instead of 65 stitches on the needle, and the pattern is a little awry........perhaps best not to knit, and watch a complicated film, and drink Shiraz.

And just before I depart, to catch up with a little more knitting, here is a painting that would like a good home.

  You will have seen the early stages of it in past blogs.  Here is a memory jogger of it in the planning stages.

 Would suit a cheery kitchen!

Which reminds me, I must hasten towards my own cheery kitchen to transform a bag of kale into a delicious, nutritious feast, for when Mr Cooper returns from yoga.
I hope you have a week ahead of delicious feasts and treats, and I hope to be with you all again in around a week's time.
Till then, have fun, but avoid lifting and twisting at the same time. I wish I had.............

Spring is definitely Springing.  Easter always seems to be the turning point in the year, when parts of winter are left behind, and more and more wild flowers adorn the countryside.

This week, Mr Cooper and I decided to actually discover what we had in our garage, apart from all the boxes we keep putting in there, labelled 'keep' or 'sell'.
We have more bikes than we realised, including an electric one. (When Mr Cooper rode that into Emsworth one evening, it was the only time he arrived there before me!)
I have more paintings than I realised.  And, like saying goodbye to winter, some of the paintings are not going to be accompanying us on our move to the next house.

This painting, 'Daughter of a Great White Hunter' has been water-damaged, the canvas has rotted at the bottom.

I painted it a long time ago, when I lived in Southsea.  The idea of it came from even further back in time, when I was living in Stockbridge, and the boys were not yet at school.
Each week saw a group of us mothers meeting at different houses, and in the summer, always in the garden.  We used to chat as the children hurtled round.  Then after an hour or two, we would drag our overtired, crying offspring homeward.
In one garden, there was a little Wendy house.  The 'head' of that household (or so he thought he was) was an avid sportsman (or so he thought he was).  His hobby was shooting birds and animals.  Above the door to the Wendy house he had added a goat's skull, but not just the bare bones.
 As we chatted, and played, it was in sight of a skull that still had flesh and fur remaining, and flies buzzing through the eye sockets.  It always struck me as a truly incongruous item to be in any garden, not least attached to a child's playhouse. It became the inspiration for a painting which was created many years later. Thank you Frieda Kahlo, for your help with the sky.  Much appreciated.

Again, a childhood theme with this painting, 'Hey Diddle Diddle'.  And again, water damage to the bottom of the canvas.

This was a painting I started in a different way than normal.  (And yes, us artists do think that painting leaping cows and smiling spoons is a normal thing to do!)
When we were on holiday in France, each night I sketched out a composition for this piece.  The next night, after having thought about it during the day, I reviewed the composition, working over 7 nights to get the composition how I wanted it to be.
Then, home to paint it, with an accurate plan.  Bleep and Booster remain unfinished, but waving from the top right hand corner.

And now to the last painting, again painted in Southsea, and inspired by summers spent camping in Cornwall, in Polzeath.  As well as spending a long time in the water with my wooden body board, each day I aimed to walk along the coast path, and one day it was to see basking sharks in the bay below me.  It was such a tremendously beautiful and moving sight.

In this painting, I used decoupage as part of my work for perhaps the first time.  The larger flowers in the foreground were painted in watercolour, then photocopied and added on.  This one is not water-damaged, so if anyone wants it, let me know as it will be culled soon, along with the two above.

Time now to talk about art works for the future.
Years ago I made my parents some photo frames, and pictures for the grandchildren were placed inside them.  Time went by and the grandchildren grew older, but not the images in the frames!
 In fact, 3 grandchildren never had their faces smiling from the 'cousin wall', as it became known.

So this Easter, I decorated 2 new frames, and the 3 of us planned to supply up-to-date photos.

You saw the photos of my two last week.  Here they are, all framed.

This frame features a normal Easter bunny, and also a guest appearance by Hybernia, John's 'Californian Giant' rabbit.

And here is the frame ready for Rowan..............

This features Rowan's fox, taken from her illustrations. https://myspace.com/foxanddad/photos‎

As I am organised in fits and starts, this was taken before Rowan's photo was added. I will take a photo of the completed frame on my next visit.  Rowan is looking particularly beautiful.

Easter is always a busy time for me, and a happy time too.  This is when we all descend on Mum, with as many children as we can muster.  This time, Sam was present only in his photo, as he was having to work.  I don't think most people realise how 'not normal' the working conditions of chefs are.  Happily, he has booked the week off to join us all in Sunny Hunny.

And when we all get together, Mum expects Simon to 'be silly', Mark to 'be practical', and me to 'be helpful'.

Here is Simon 'being silly' in Pizza Express......

............having fun with the stickers that are designed to entertain children.

And here is Mark being practical.

Mark will always don an apron before attacking a takeaway curry.

And as for me, I escaped from food preparation (thanks Nik and Si, excellent party food!) and did what I do a lot of in life......washing up.


After a hectic long weekend, we returned to settle down for an evening in, just the two of us.
Or was it?
We thought about eating an ear or two of our golden Easter bunny, but decided to leave it a while.  We went to bed, leaving it on the floor, by the settee.
The next morning, we both were surprised to see some foil had been removed, and a largish bite taken out of the bunny.  I was thinking that Mr Cooper must have been pretty hungry to come down in the night to do that, and Mr Cooper was thinking it was a bit mean of me to be eating chocolate all by myself, when..............

........we both looked more closely, and realised the one who had nibbled the bunny had small sharp nibbling teeth, and a long tail.
I wonder how long we have all been sharing the house together?

Back to work, and back to the 'Windowsill Gallery'.  Flowers courtesy of Juliette, ceramic head, George Hofman, and new utensils, courtesy of Nisbets. www.nisbets.co.uk/‎
When we unwrapped the utensils, head chef Chris remarked that they themselves were rare works of art in the kitchen, being shiny and undamaged.  A fish slice becomes a very precious thing indeed.  We also thought that they might remain undamaged for a whole 12 days, until the chef prone to outburst and general damage returns.
During the day, sometimes I put the head facing outwards, to symbolise 'Captivity', and sometimes she was just smiling into the kitchen.  Either way, I don't think there was much going on in her head.
In fact Juliette remarked that she reminded her of someone she knew, somebody friendly but dim.

I think next week's art might have a food slant.

I hope next week includes some enjoyable food for you all, made with love and undamaged equipment.  And some enjoyable evenings in, or out.
We shall have to ask the mouse if it has any viewing preferences, for when we all settle down in the evening.  Probably intellectual rather than the soaps, as it did so enjoy Lindt dark chocolate!
http://www.chocolate.lindt.com/shop/easter
See you all next week.