'It doesn't quite feel like I am on holiday yet', I said to Mr Cooper, whilst assembling a lasagne to take to my Mum's to eat later that day.  'Oh don't worry, it soon will', replied a relaxed Mr Cooper.
We were heading off to Mums on Tuesday, in order to catch the train to Glasgow on Wednesday, to help celebrate Olivia and Jon's wedding on Thursday.  As we were taking Mum, we were travelling first class (a first for me and Mr Cooper) and as Mum is now 84, we were providing the evening meal.
Son John was coming with us, so I was beginning to feel like I was in charge of a small school outing but with the possibility of complications.

It was good to arrive in Eye, and to complete stage one.  Luckily the lasagne survived the journey, and soon I was busy preparing a salad and rosemary roast potatoes to accompany it.  Mr Cooper kept shouting from his position on the settee, firmly clutching the remote control, and I kept leaving the kitchen to find out what he was saying.  Mr Cooper: 'I was just asking you if you needed a hand' (said with eyes fixed to the screen) Me: Sorry, I didn't hear what you were saying as I was busy chopping/washing/roasting/preparing'.  (I still wasn't getting the holiday vibe.)

First class train travel, it is so worth it, and when you book in advance, it is only fractionally more expensive than cattle class.  I sat with Mum, and we enjoyed our free food, and wine.  Mr Cooper sat with John and they also enjoyed their free food, with wine and beer and whisky.  Si met us in Glasgow, a very excited father of the bride, and after a little rest in the Premier Inn, our home for the next 3 nights, we went to have an evening at Nik and Si's.
The evening before a wedding always has a chaotic excitement of its own, and this one was no different. No sooner had Si given us a brilliant Glasgow gin to try, adorned with crushed rosemary and sliced green chilli, than he had to rush off to help with the food preparation for the reception.  Son John went too, and I was in charge of the evening meal.  Despite having a gin top-up, everything came together, and we enjoyed the first sitting, with Si, John and Rowan rocking up later for the second sitting.

After a busy day, we were all looking forward to our respective beds, but the taxi driver had a very hazy idea of how to get us there.  A two mile journey took half an hour, as we explored many dead-end roads, and even a road blocked by an overturned lorry!  I was feeling many things by the time we were back at the Premier Inn, but not as if I were on holiday. 

After our breakfast, the next day felt much brighter.  Mum got ready to go to the wedding ceremony, and we began our preparations for the evening reception, starting with a walk to Waitrose to buy our drinks for the evening.  Then we did a lot of resting to ensure we were ready for dancing.

Here is Olivia, all beautiful and ready to be wed.

And here they both are, the new Mr and Mrs Lennox, obviously delighted to be wed.

This was all taking place whilst my other brother was in the air, flying up with his children, and it was great to see them all that afternoon.  We then ordered a seven-seater taxi, and transformed ourselves into well-dressed and happy wedding guests.  This taxi driver knew where he was going, but also used the 30 minute journey to try to convince us to book him for a day's sight-seeing, castles optional.  Well, it helped pass the time.

As I was on 'Mummy duty', I knew that me and Mr Cooper would not be having a late night.  It was such a lovely reception, filled with friends and family that were all so happy for Olivia and Jon.  The speeches were good, and the food was excellent.  The cake was beautiful, and the playlist was great.  I did my best to condense a long night into a short time and I think I succeeded.  When Mum announced at 10.30 that she was ready to leave, I was happily dancing with new friends and some Prosecco.  We had to leave when Mum took position standing on the dance floor as a reminder that she was ready to go, and I then demonstrated that there were several different ways to get into a taxi, other than the more conventional one.  Head-first was fairly successful, and sitting on the floor of the taxi is another way forward, too.


Friday was a day full of happy reflections, and lots of fresh air and water drinking.  Mark and his family had left the reception at 3.30 that morning, followed by Si at 4.30.  Just think of all the dancing I could have done!  We all enjoyed a lunchtime drink sitting outside in the sun, one of the few occasions where lime and soda was chosen over beer!
Mr Cooper and I explored Bearsden later that afternoon, and instead of our usual pub exploration, we went into a teashop to enjoy a Fentiman's Rose Lemonade.  I know, what is the world coming to?

What better way to end a stay in Glasgow than to have a curry?
And what better way to get ready for it by sharing a huge bottle of Prosecco?  Although tentative at first, it perked us up no end, and we set out to enjoy haggis pakoras as well as many other delights.  Nothing wrong with our taxi trip this time, apart from us thinking we had left someone behind and stopping the cavalcade to have a quick head count.  All was well, and everything was delicious, from the first poppadom to the last mouthful of pistachio kulfi, a rare treat.

Saturday morning saw us getting back on the train, with a parting gift from Si of Haggis-spice chocolate.  We did get a bit of a surprise on the train.  The menu was a lot smaller, and we were told that if we wanted wine with everything, you had to purchase it, at the weekend!  On the plus side, you could eat as many sandwiches as you were physically able to, which kept Mr Cooper and John happily occupied for most of the journey.

Then back to normal life on the Monday.
On Monday afternoons I work as a volunteer at Trinity in Winchester, and this coming Monday we are having our summer art show.  Which made me realise that I needed to work towards completing my painting which had food as its starting point.

It has become more of a study for a painting for the future, and my initial idea has evolved into something else.  That is one good advantage for when you take a long time over a piece of work.  In between doing the actual painting, your ideas grow and change, and the painting almost takes on a life of its own.  I will also be wearing an artwork also for the exhibition, and I will show you what in the next blog.  Let's just say that I will be a work of art from head to toe.

Now, I hope you are sitting down, for I am about to show you the idea for the first illustration for my cookery book.  I am so excited for not only am I pleased with the composition, but I also know how I want to make it.  I didn't want to produce a painting, but will be making a layered collage, which will include painting, paper cut-outs and printmaking too.  I think also that red and white checked fabric, plus green donkeys and blackbird pie-funnels will abound throughout.

In fact, I was so much on a roll that after getting the idea for the 'pastry' chapter, I came up with the beginnings of the 'small cakes' design. Yes, I did say it was only the beginnings!

Well, I must away now to do my preparation for Monday's art session at Andover mind.  I am off to spend a happy hour in the shed with PVA and tissue paper, which will hopefully provide a visual inspiration for tomorrow.
Good preparation is usually necessary for a good outcome, so aim to put a little extra into your preparations in the week ahead.  It should result in not only a better outcome, but less stress in the long run, always something to aim for.  You don't have to use glue and coloured paper in your preparations, but what fun if you do!
So until next time, be prepared for what you can be, and be ready to be receptive to events you can't plan for.  Just embrace those changes, before applying pink tissue paper to them.
See you all soon, take care and have fun.

Being a busy person, and having many different meaningful activities each week, I make a lot of lists.  Looking at my today list of 'things to do,' a lot of the bigger events are nearly over, meaning that writing my book is rising steadily to the top of the list!  Well, let's continue to focus on those things that are stopping me starting, a lot easier than actually starting.

The first of the major events that has taken up a lot of my time was the Annual South Downs Walk.  Not just the 9 days of the actual walk, but also all the training walks beforehand.

I was fully expecting to be walking this year on my own, as Mr Cooper was adamant that he was not going to do it again.  In fact, just to make sure, he had taken himself away to the Lake District with his chums, one of whom had walked with us last year, returning home just after the start of the walk.

It was a lovely surprise to realise that Dawn, John's exceptional yoga teacher ( and saxophonist as well as many other things) was walking on her own too, so we joined forces and walked together.

Here we are looking happy, if a little apprehensive, at the beginning.

The English landscape is incredibly beautiful, and last year I saw parts of England that I had never seen before.  Although the Seven Sisters are a taxing start to the walk, their beauty more than makes up for that. (This is very easy to write about a couple of weeks later, I probably wouldn't have scribed this straight after the end of day one.) This picture is a little deceptive....it was so windy that if we had stumbled going downhill, the wind would have flattened us back onto the steep slope, we were in no danger of falling forwards, apart from perhaps over the actual cliffs.  So the first part was spent fighting the headlong gale-force winds, and making sure we were not too near the edge.  It was a relief to reach the end of the Seven Sisters, and turn inland into gentler weather conditions.

Each day brought its own highlights, and memorable sights.  It was great to see the marker for the Meridian line, but a trifle bizarre that such an important and much-photoed landmark had a huge manure heap behind it, a lot higher than the hedge,providing a really picturesque element to the composition.  It's a good job that this photo does not provide the smells too.

Not all of the memorable sights were to be found in nature.  At the end of the walk on day four, having completed 49 miles, this was a memorable sight that impressed us both, in the garden of the Frankland Arms, in the incredibly pretty village of Washington.
There is no better drink, after walking many miles, than a pint of beer (or cider, in Dawn's case)

The next day provided us with another very welcome drink.  This refreshment stop marked the halfway point for the whole walk, and lemon squash at that moment was the best drink ever, teamed with a fig roll biscuit.  It is the simple pleasures of life that bring a smile, and add a spring to our step.

All in all, it was a much more pleasurable experience this year.  As I had done it before, I knew what it felt like to walk continuously for 9 days, and had made sure to do a lot more regular walking (including lots of uphill) beforehand.  We both knew it would be a long, hard slog, and Dawn and I just settled into a rhythm, and got on with it.  And we talked about many things, topics ranging from our schooldays, to life after death, and almost everything in between.  That really made the miles pass by extremely pleasantly.  Thanks for that, Dawn.  In fact David Bowie came to help too; talking animatedly about him as we scaled the last steep hill on our way towards Devil's Dyke made the experience almost pleasurable (and thanks to you too, David.)

Another worry for the long distance walker (I can say that now that I have repeated the experience!) is the wear and tear to the feet, and the fear of blisters.  Last year, my oldish boots cracked, were a little too tight, and my waterproof coat of the same age gave up being waterproof.  This year I set out armed with new boots and coat, plus Compeed plasters and suncream. Here I am, applying a precautionary plaster just after Cheesefoot Head outside Winchester, only 3 miles from the very end.
Yes, it is really me, under that hat.  You are not so worried about your appearance whilst walking, a fact that had been noticed by one of the leaders.  And my blue bag full of essentials really did weigh between 4-5 kilos each day, one essential being plenty of water, which is really heavy. The last two days turned out to be very hot and sunny, ideal for nearing the end of the walk, but thanks goodness we didn't have 9 full days of it.

It was really exciting to reach Winchester, but also more than a little sad.  We didn't want the walk to end (a very different feeling from that of the previous year) and I didn't really want to return to what is called 'normal life'.  Walking for a long time really gives you a lot of space in which to think about your own life.  To slow the pace of your own life down for 9 days is a remarkably meditative and
head-clearing sort of thing to do.
But here I am, happy to have reached the end and achieved my goal.

But not as happy as when we were able  to get into the air-conditioned toilets at the Guildhall and to change from our walking gear into dresses, release our hair from its confines, and even apply a little light makeup.
One of the walk leaders told me that I looked so very different,  (what sort of sad sight had I been for the last 9 days) and that I 'scrubbed up really well'.
I will drink to that, and seriously think about repeating the experience next year.
But looking at this photo, I might have to do more a lot more work on my arms before then!

But after all, who doesn't like a colourful certificate?

Before I started the walk, I had visions of myself returning home to do a little artwork in the evenings.  What I did do most evenings was have a bath, eat a meal, get my packed lunch ready and then try really hard to stay awake until 10, before happily going to bed.
It wasn't until after the walk that I was able to continue with my significant artwork.
The studio room is now complete, as is the bedroom.  Out of consideration for my children, and non-arty friends, I am not showing you that room.  You can come round and see it, if you so desire.
You would be very welcome, and I will also make a cake if given enough advance warning.

And now, with the deadline only days away, I must complete the last two rooms, one of which will be the hardest for me to do.  That I will show you in my next blog.  Then, when all has been entered for the National Open Art competition, there are no more major obstacles to me starting my book.  The last obstacle being that I actually do need to start it, instead of thinking about starting it.  Does that sound familiar, all you writers and artist out there?
So I am off to swap the office for my shed, and aim to complete the last two rooms before teatime.

Why don't you aim to complete a task this week, that you have been putting off for too long?  Usually the thoughts of it are much worse than the doing of it.
 Then you will be one step nearer to doing what you know you should be doing, if it weren't for the fact that you've got too much other stuff to do.
Looking forward to seeing you all again in a week or so's time.
 Don't forget to have a little fun as well, or a lot, if you have manged to clear your list of boring jobs.
Or, keep your list the same length, and re-define 'boring'.