Busy, busy, busy.

I've just finished this stained glass panel and i'm waiting for some more pieces to come out of the kiln.

These two are waiting to go into the kiln.

So busy,busy,busy.

I still have Christmas presents waiting to be wrapped. I'm trying to do the wrapping in the evening' when the light is not good enough for working on the glass.

As an antidote to the early darkness I have been lighting candles in the evening. I love the light that candles give but I can't be trusted with an advent candle. I lit it last night and I was determined to keep an eye on it and oh dear I let it burn to the 24th.

TRIP TO BRUGES.

What a beautiful place Bruges is.

We spent many a happy hour mooching around the streets admiring the pretty houses and popping into cafes to sample the delights of hot chocolate and waffles.

The photo above is of the ice skating rink in the centre of town.

We didn't try the ice skating but we did try the yummy beverages on offer nearby ( hot chocolate and Baileys tasted very festive )

We stayed in the Hotel Patritius a fantastic place right in the centre of town.

So many chocolate shops!!

In the evenings we would find a bar and try some of the beers.

Bruges is definitely worth another visit.

AUTUMN BLACKBIRD.

This is my latest panel I finished it last night after dinner.

I do all the messy bits in the outhouse and golly its started to get cold in there!

I've been putting my stained glass on BerylPressPrints Etsy I've not had any sales yet but I am starting to get some favourites which is very encouraging.

I must get on now as I'm starting a new panel featuring a chicken.

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HARE AND RUNNING RABBIT.

Finished my glass panel today.

I loved making every part of this.

The flowers are Hares Foot Clover and Harebell.

With a sitting hare and a running rabbit.

I have cut the glass ready for the next project so will start that on Monday.

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A DAY WITH DARWIN.

Yesterday we visited Down House in Kent to visit 

the home of Charles Darwin and his family.

My favourite room was Darwin's study which was full of papers, books and his old horsehair armchair to which he had fixed wheels like a modern office chair.

My favourite object was the wooden slide that Darwin had made for his children so that they could slide down the stairs.

Sadly photos inside the house were not allowed.

The gardens were beautiful and practical.

I do love walled gardens.

I loved the glass house sitting within the walled garden.

We walked along Darwin's sandwalk ( Darwin's thinking path) and then through a wooded area back to the house.

The trees were looking glorious in their Autumn colours.

What a great place to be a squirrel.

Today I'm putting this glass panel together.

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Lovely Lyme Regis.

We love Lyme Regis. 

Over the little footbridge sitting in the sun is our little camper van on the Hook Farm campsite.

We have visited this campsite a few times and we love it because there is a very pretty walk into Lyme Regis

Lovely countryside until we emerged into the town and its gorgeous colourful houses.

I love this bright orange front door.

We had a wonderful time walking into Lyme Regis and into Charmouth.

One sunny day we drove to West Bay to visit the Hive cafe.

I had read about Lucy's visits to this cafe on Attic 24's blog.

It is just as good as she describes. We both had some delicious cake -very welcome after a long walk on the shingle beach. 

Hive cafe in photo above.

Shingle - a great work out for the legs!

Beautifully clear rock pools.

These cliffs are full of fossils.

We met a wonderful man tap, tapping away at some rocks, He had found a huge pile of fossils  -mostly Ammonites. 

As you can see we were very lucky with the weather.

This is Cannington viaduct.

We had a jaunt over some fields to have a look at this as I do like a viaduct -I don't know why I just do.

What a lovely holiday.

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BACK TO REALITY.

I've just had a fantastic ten days taking part in the Arundel Gallery Trail. 

After a long time preparing my little works of art it was suddenly time to show it to the big wide world.

I was very lucky to be in St Wilfrids Priory Gardens, the photo above is of the high street taken from the gardens.

We had beautiful views of the castle.

It was a pleasure to be in the gardens for ten days with the humming of bees and visits from a very tame blackbird.

I met some lovely people and had lots of positive comments.

Altogether it was a great experience and I would love to do it again next year.

Now its back to work,

back to looking after my grand-daughter ( iv'e missed our days together)

and back to reality - PHEW!

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