We all have our own little ways, and our likes and dislikes.  One of Mr Cooper's is a real aversion to having anything to do with a rambling group.  Although Mr Cooper loves to walk in the countryside, most often with his mates and sometimes with me, he has an irrational dislike of 'ramblers' as such.  If we pull up to our starting point only to find a group of walkers all prepared to set off and walk in the countryside (just like we are going to do) he gets very cross and swears a lot.  So you can imagine his face when I came home with the brochure below.  I was very excited, but then I am also thinking of joining a rambling club.

 When I looked inside the pamphlet I found 3 activities that I wanted to do, and we actually ended up doing two of them together, and the third in different ways.  There were also a few events that neither of us wanted to do, including 'Walk like a Roman' (1.5 miles) and 'Snorkelling Lesson', sadly limited to 6 places.  Anyway, what did we actually choose to do?

The first activity was to 'Trek the Selsey Tramway' 12 miles, 6 hours.  This has to be an organised ramble!  I am sure there was some initial swearing and crossness when I booked it, but here is
 Mr Cooper, smiling at the start of our sunny Selsey Tramway Trek.

It was a very informative ramble, we didn't rush, and we lunched in a very atmospheric place, the graveyard of Sidlesham church.  I managed, quite by accident, to take a very atmospheric photo
with my phone, of the bench where we enjoyed our 'Tramway Snacks'.  It looks very much as if we were sharing our luncheon spot with ghosts of former ramblers.

Although the main aim of the walk was to follow the route of the old tramway where possible, and become familiar with the footpaths to Chichester, we saw lots of interesting things, and lots of wildlife as we strolled along tracks and footpaths, including what was luckily an incredibly friendly blue octopus which was wandering around the golf course.  Hopefully his aim was to chuck any off-course golf balls into 'the rough'! (You can gather from this that I am not a fan of golf!)

Then we ended up at the canal basin in Chichester after our twelve mile trek on a hot and sunny day.  Now, I do think that learning in the open air, especially on a sunny day, makes you rather thirsty.  When we reached our destination, almost everyone made their way to the cafe apart from 5 of us who had obviously learnt a lot more than the rest.  We made our way to the adjacent pub, where we had a couple of pints and a right good laugh in the sun, before catching the bus back to Selsey.

The next two activities will appear at a later date, but just to whet your appetite..... you have 'Cycle from Selsey to Brick Kiln Garden Centre and Return' to look forward to (I know Mr Cooper certainly did!) and then 'Selsey Open Gardens', which we approached in our different ways.  Me, as a garden enthusiast on a bicycle, and Mr Cooper as a Shanty Singer.

A week prior to Mr Cooper's appearance in a beautiful garden, the Shanty Singers had their debut appearance in East Wittering.  I had had my debut appearance in East Wittering on the Friday evening, where I went to a very moving and thought-provoking play about Dementia, which was presented in East Wittering library.

 Mr Cooper was to have seen it with me, but the Shanty Singers had a last minute rehearsal, and I went there alone. However, we met up afterwards to enjoy a drink in The Lifeboat, but it was a little disconcerting to find, when walking home, an elderly gentleman on the corner of our road, wearing a dressing gown and slippers.  I said 'Are you alright?' as Mr Cooper said 'Hello Alf'.  It was our neighbour but three standing in the road waiting for an ambulance.  Luckily all ended up well, and nobody on that occassion was either suffering from dementia, or had escaped from the cast of the play.

Back to the Selsey Shanty Singers as they prepare for their debut outing.
The photo below might look a strange setting for their first performance, but they were singing as part of East Wittering's festivities, but had to move further down the (closed to traffic) High Street, to escape the noise from the Funfair.

Here they are, just warming up,

And here they are a song or two later, really getting into the swing of things.  At this stage.
Mr Cooper has sadly been forced to put his tankard down and take up the tambourine instead.

Happily, here he is now, re-united with his tankard.
They all sang very well, and a good audience gathered to hear them too.
 I must say, all this singing makes them terribly thirsty. After that, I had to drive Mr Cooper to a nearby pub, for a restorative pint or two, with his Shanty Chums.

Let's leave those Shantymen enjoying some beer in their own tankards, and visit something very important to me.  My garden!
Last time I proudly showed you all my completed first bed, and now, here is the second, featuring the 'Jaffa hole'.  When we had the fence replaced, I asked them to add a 'hedgehog hole' to one of the panels.  And when I got to know one of my garden neighbours better, it was to find that one of her cats, Jaffa, an elderly boy, regularly uses our garden.  So the hole was made a little larger, to allow Jaffa easy access.  Since then, he has written off (aided by Muffin from two doors down) one of my catmint plants, and they are now working to eat and flatten a second plant.  As yet, they have not discovered the third I have in reserve.

Here is Jaffa having a well-earned bask after rolling around on my plants for an hour or two.  Looking more closely at where he is lying, he is also probably responsible for the total collapse of my young rhubarb plant.

In May, me and Mr Cooper celebrate our two weddings.  The legal one, and the garden one, which was really our actual wedding.  This year we decided to go for a lovely long walk in the countryside, followed by a little something in The Pub With No Name.  We had a lovely walk, especially the super-romantic bit through the haunted wood.  In here, you had to make sure you weren't attacked by enormous stick insects,

Or captured by menacing trees.  Luckily we managed to avoid both hazards, and escaped intact to enjoy the delights of The Pub With No Name.  https://www.whitehorsepetersfield.co.uk

Although I have been careering around the countryside on my own, with Mr Cooper, or as part of an organised ramble, artwork has been undertaken too.  Three years ago, four of us enjoyed a weeks' walking based around Malham Cove. At the end of it, I said to Kevin, who organised it all, that I would create an artwork as a thank you present for him.
You just don't want to rush into these creative processes.

Having discovered the delights of the reduction linocut earlier this year, I started work on a linocut based on the view from the top of Malham Cove.  Now, doing an eight colour reduction print is not terribly straightforward.  I started off printing 16, to allow for mistakes along the way, and have ended up with, wait for it, four!  Here is one of them ready for its new home.  The other is to go to Werner, who was there too, and we will keep one, which allows just one for sale.  It sounds more like I have a litter of puppies than an edition of prints.  Anyway, if you are interested in the last one, both parents can be seen, and they are used to all sorts of different prints too.

At the start of this year, one reason why I had found it difficult to continue writing a regular blog was that I had reached a point where I had become very confused by my terribly technical (to me) camera.  So much so, that after a couple of trips back to the camera shop, where they had helped to removed or restore stuff that had appeared on the screen, I just put it into a cupboard, and had ceased to use it since last June.  I was talking about this to a photographer neighbour who came to see me on the Art Trail, and she turned into my fairy godmother neighbour.  'Be sad no more' she cried, as she sprinkled me with fairy dust.  'You need a day's workshop with Ashley Gardner, from Imber court....  And sure enough, I did.  His day's workshop was perfect and not only did I leave feeling happy and a lot more confident, I had all the printed information from the day too, with Ashley at the end of the email/phone if necessary.  But you do have to practice.

When I went to see Mum last time, she was very much looking forward to a trip to Boston.  As was Mr Cooper too, it being a very historically significant place. My younger brother Mark was also looking forward to us all going to Boston, as he wanted to have a telephone conversation with Mum which didn't include the words 'Did I tell you I'm going to Boston with Sue and John?'
So there was a lot riding on this trip, especially as it was my first outing with my camera after the day's workshop with Ashley.  https://www.imbercourtphototraining.co.uk/

I don't expect you to be as excited as I am, but here is a photo taken from inside the church, with no flash or tripod.  As well as loving my garden, and Mr Cooper too, of course, I do also love old choir stalls and their carvings, particularly misericords.
Here we have a photo where the second carving is a little out of focus (on purpose!)

And here the same two figures, both in focus this time.  This was tremendously exciting for me, but not as exciting as what I found when I ventured into the 'Magpies Nest' antiques emporium.

It was love at first sight!  how could I leave such an amazing rocking horse behind?  Another plus was that he was a bargain as well as being very characterful.  Here he is enjoying some fresh air when we got him safely back home to Selsey.

I put a lot of thought into his name, as I wanted a traditional horses name.  But a name like Dobbin did not suit him at all, with his long racing legs and his wide grin.  And then it came to me, in a flash!  (Flash was also in the short-list)  He had to be called Champion, because that is what he is!

 

Me and Mr Cooper are aiming to be, if not champions next week, but at least successful walkers, as once again we commit to walking the South Downs Way in 9 days.  This will be the second time for Mr Cooper and the fourth for me.  So what with that happening, and two more events from the "Selsey Walking And Outdoor Festival' as well, I bet you can't wait for my next blog.  And there is another linocut to show you too, very much Selsey inspired. 

Until then, I hope you have your own lucky find in the next couple of weeks.  Whether it is meeting someone who you feel will become a friend, or finding that certain something you had been looking everywhere for. 

 Or perhaps you too will find your own Champion when entering an Antiques Emporium.

Whatever it is, I hope it brings lots of happiness, both now and in the future, with it.

Until then, take care, have fun, and keep your eyes open for your own special Champion. 

Ps Mum now says to Mark on every phonecall,  

 'Did I tell you about when I went to Boston with Sue and John?'