Tuesday 28 May 2013

A walk in the woods…

Saturday was a stunningly sunny and warm day so we got out of the house and went for a walk in the woods. This little nature reserve is a stone’s throw from my house and is lovely this time of year. There are huge old rhododendrons and azaleas so now is the best time to go.

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Although there are paths, it’s a bit more exciting to go off-piste and find your own way around. Every so often you get glimpses of amazingly green and fresh farmland through the trees and (slightly spookily) you can hear sheep but not see any.

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Every so often the wood opens out to a pond or a clearing. I love woods like this, managed but not over-managed. And although there were lots of other people around it’s very easy to lose yourself so you feel like the only ones for miles.

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The birdsong is constant too – although they keep themselves well hidden you can hear them all the time.

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This tree is the only one in the whole wood that has writing scratched into it, it goes all around the trunk and fairly high too. It’s quite lovely and romantic really.

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A rare photo of me - in case you’re wandering, I was falling out of a tree. I like climbing!

Beccy

Thursday 23 May 2013

Late Springtime!

I love late springtime – not quite as much as snow but I love it all the same.

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The butterflies are all waking up…

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More aquilegias than I can count flowering in the garden…

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Fresh lilac on the table (my absolute favourite spring thing!)

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And, erm, freak hailstorms. This is Britain people, and I live in a valley so we have crazy unpredictable weather! Honestly it pours down and then it’s blistering hot, so we usually end up having to water everything anyway.

In other news my pleurisy went away which is good, but I once again haven’t had much time for sewing. I’ve managed to shorten some jeans into capri-jeans which were great for the two really sunny days we had, and I think look pretty cute!

I’ve also been tarting up refurbishing a cabinet which involved totally re-glazing the doors and a painty makeover. Not finished yet, but watch this space.

Also, we had our friendly neighbourhood squirrel raid the bird feeder today. The only thing is, he then proceeded to bury the seeds all around the garden. We’re going to have a bumper crop of strange grasses this year!

Stupid squirrel.

Beccy

Sunday 12 May 2013

New things from the workshop…

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… I’ve been making teacups! They are slip cast and altered and they are really fun to make.

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I make my own plaster moulds and the cups, saucers and handles are all separate so I can mix-and-match. When I have all the bits I want I join them together and while they are still wet I use a scalpel to shape them.

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The best bit is applying the decals though. They go on last so when all the firing and glazing is done I have these beautiful white, shiny things that I get to decorate.

lots of decals

Aren’t they lovely? I’m a bit addicted to them, especially the chintzy floral ones. They come on a large sheet so you cut out the bit you want, soak it in water and then apply the thin film that floats off to the work. When you fire it on it’s dishwasher safe and there forever.

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If you’d like to see more of my ceramic work you can go to www.beccyridsdel.co.uk or find me on facebook!

Beccy

Saturday 4 May 2013

Beware Wesley Duckworth! (and Hetherington Parton)…

I just wanted to share a little warning with you lovely chaps. I received an email today from a chap in Fiji who apparently wants to buy ‘some items’ from my ‘store/gallery’. It immediately rang alarm bells, I mean, Wesley Duckworth? Really?!? NOT PAYPAL! Plus, he can’t even be bothered to address it personally to me and this particular email address is my name! A quick jaunt around Google told me all I needed to know.

Anyway, I thought I’d copy the text for you just in case any of you get the same one. Apparently the same email is sent under the name ‘Hetherington Parton’ too.

From: Wesley Duckworth (wesleyd2003@gmail.com)

Date: Wed, 01 May 2013 07:49:56 -0700

Subject: ORDER TO FIJI

Hello, I'm Wesley Duckworth and I'll like to place an order for some items from your store/gallery but before we proceed I'll like to ask the following questions.

Do you ship to Fiji Island? Do you do Mail Order? Do you accept credit card as for Payment (My US Master and Visa card to be precise)? NOT PAYPAL

I'll be waiting for your response so we can proceed.

Warmly Regards, Wesley

Apparently if you reply they ask you how much it would be to ship so-and-so to an address in Fiji. They then send you their credit card details and instruct you to take $700 (reports vary on the amount) more to forward to their ‘logistics operative’ (!). They then tell you some lies to get you to pay that money very quickly, and untraceably, via moneygram after which you discover that their credit card either doesn’t exist or is stolen, and you’re $700 out of pocket.

So there you go, watch out! In other news, I’m just recovering from pleurisy of all things (I honestly thought that was a disease confined to Victorian workhouses) It hurts! So I have been spending my days on the sofa playing Resident Evil 4 not exerting myself because I get shouted at if I do! I’ve done pretty much nothing for two weeks – so boring, but just breathing was really painful so I didn’t have much choice.

Hopefully I’ll get to do something creative this coming week though!

Warmly regards,

Beccy