This week has seen me mainly upright, hurrah!  And once again, thank goodness, mainly holding a paintbrush.  The work in progress is not on a canvas, but the transformation of a room.  Work had been held up for a while, as at the start of the transformation, I managed to transform myself into someone who was unable to do very much apart from visit the osteopath. A sad contrast to my April intention, which was to run or swim 5 times each week.  I only managed to do 9 days of this.

So back to normal now on the painting-front, today has consisted of the application of white satin and candy pink satin, interspersed with sorting out the belongings in the next room requiring a transformation.

During the sorting, I came across my  brochures, from when I lived in Southsea,  in the Pink House.
That was the time when I gained my qualification to be a 'Colour Therapist for Interiors', which involved studying the use of colour  to enhance living and working environments, and also to support the emotional needs and changes of people within these environments.

 

This is the front of the brochure, showing a detail from my bathroom.  Each year when we went on our hot, sunny holidays abroad, Mr Cooper used to emerge from the sea with anemone shells for me.  Almost all of them survived their journey home. 

When I was looking through the brochure today, I smiled to see that my bedroom from the Pink House had indeed been the inspiration for two more.

Here is my bedroom in Southsea, as featured in the brochure.

In fact, made famous by that.

And here is the bedroom that I share harmoniously with Mr Cooper.

One visitor we had thought Mr Cooper shouldn't have to sleep in such a pink room, as it might, and I quote, 'make him gay'.  I don't think we need worry, as for those of you who know Mr Cooper, you know he is already a very jovial chap, and does indeed wear what what Granny Beba would have described as 'lovely gay colours'.

And here is the latest transformation, aided by £10 a roll wallpaper from B&Q, and aided also by my trusty paper-hanger, son John. 

The last time I papered a room, son Sam helped me. The event turned into a slap-stick farce. I don't think many people laugh a lot when hanging wallpaper, or indeed many manage to turn the floor into a skid pan, and use it as such............the end result was surprisingly good.

With John at the helm, we had an ordered and tidy experience, with no elements of Laurel and Hardy creeping in.  I said to him that we was a far more proficient paper hanger than Sam, and his reply, coupled with an almost withering glance was, 'Of course I am, what did you expect?'

 Saturday found me working with John again, this time in the shed with Dan, for another Saturday morning art session.  Last time, Dan painted a really lovely picture, and this time we started by making press-prints.  These are prints made from thin sheets of polystyrene...you impress a line into them with a pencil, and when you apply the ink with a roller, the impressed lines stay white.

I forgot to photograph Dan's work before he left, but here is the page of prints that John did.
Dan enjoyed printing so much that he completed 2 pages of prints.

Again, like my bedrooms, there does seem to be a theme running through John's work.

Here is his oil pastel image from the previous workshop.

And here is some 'fibre art', which heralded the start of his interest in making clothes.

If only Hibernia realised what an inspiration she is, whilst munching away at her carrots and greens.

The endless sorting of possessions continues.  Boxes are being filled, and labelled with 'keep' or 'sell'.  Our new pasting table will also be used shortly at car boot sales.  Some items have been re-homed.   In fact on Saturday I went to see Nigel, to give him some books.  It was good to find him at home with Jennifer, and not out on a recovery.  http://www.winchesteronline.co.uk/info/480/

And I suppose we made progress for I did get rid of 4 items, whilst gaining two more!

Thanks Nigel, mother and baby bowls are truly beautiful.

And to keep a beautiful theme running through Saturday, me and Mr Cooper and son John went to walk through our nearby bluebell wood.  We discovered it by accident 15 years ago, as it cannot be seen from the road (we were on our first ever off-road cycling experience) and each year we return to wander, and to marvel.
Mr Cooper chose which photo to include, and here it is.

After that, we went to The Woodmancote for a reviving drink and salty snacks.  Very good value and as always, exciting surroundings.  http://woodmancotepub.co.uk/
But next time,  I won't choose to have the huge bowl of mixed nuts, or the immense portion of pork scratchings.  Rather, it will have to be the small pork pie, served with salad and pickles, for a mere £3!  Just beat a path to their door!

And I leave you with another recommendation.......
Read this book.

And make sure you also read 'Life After Life".
Not so much a recommendation as an instruction!
Let's just say it is so good that at our monthly book group meeting, we talked more about the book than our own very interesting lives and problems.  What more can I say?

I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend, and also enjoy the week that follows it.

  Keep taking exercise....I am hoping to swap painkillers for regular exercise in the near future.  

And always drink plenty of water.

I'm looking forward to catching up with you again next week.  And don't forget, as it is a

 Bank Holiday weekend, why not keep up with tradition, and drink irresponsibly for once? Enjoy!