Where I would love to live…

Marloes beach in Pembrokeshire.

We have not long come back from a lovely break which included in no particular order:

• Lots of gorgeous beaches, some sandy, some pebbly, some rocky, some deserted, some with other dogs to play with.

Freshwater West

• A boat trip round Ramsey Island which Floss seemed to really enjoy (her second boat trip ever!) We saw seals, razorbills, guillemots, fulmars, blackbacks, gannets and a buzzard.

Boat trip from St. Justinians around Ramsey Island

• A game of rounders on Barafundle beach with Flossy’s tennis ball and a driftwood bat. Great fun, especially with our lightning-fast furry black fielder!
• Over-sized food… in the form of a giant ice cream that Mr P accidently ordered to the amusement of the queue behind him. I laughed so much I cried and Floss somehow ended up with it all over her head as it dripped through the picnic bench. There was also a giant hot chocolate drank in a breezy beer garden at the Druidstone Hotel (a mad, arty, laid back place if ever there was one!)

Humongous hot chocolate at The Druidstone Hotel

• Stumbling across an exhibition at a fab gallery in St Davids of one of our fav artists, Chris Neale. It must have been fate and a painting was somehow found room for in the car for the journey home.
• A fab holiday house in Little Haven called Regatta Cottage. We fell asleep to the sound of waves breaking on the beach and there was a great spot on the terrace to watch the sun setting over the sea. It also had an ace shower in the ensuite.

Little Haven

• Beautiful wild flowers everywhere, the bluebells and red campion looked so beautiful against the bright green of the cow parsley flower buds on the tall banks down the winding lanes.
• Seaweed! On one beach in particular I found so many different types of different shapes, sizes and colours that I went a bit mad with the camera and ran the battery down!

• A couple of good drenchings. Well it wouldn’t be a proper British holiday without it and as long as you’ve got the right clothing and a pub to dry off in afterwards there’s no reason not to get out there.

Looking out towards Skomer Island.

• Strolling round the little harbour of Porthgain and eating fish and chips at The Shed.

Porthgain

• Buying some sea thrift from the perennial nursery as a souvenir so I will be reminded when I’m in the garden.

Traeth Llyfn

I think my one ambition in life is to live here one day. Can’t wait to go back again soon!

exciting parcel

It wasn’t my birthday, but it felt like it when this came through the post! Gorgeous wrapped goods from vintage squirrel! Look at that lovely ceramic button!!

And inside was the lovely woolly flower brooch I have had my eye on since I saw it in this blog post.

The only photo out of about 30 that I managed to focus on the flower!
I’ve been wearing it constantly since I received it. Thanks Katie! I really think you should charge more for them. I am very tempted to buy another in different colours.

lovely aberdovey

Wanderlust led us to Aberdovey on the Snowdonia coast this weekend.

We travelled through the dead of night and found ourselves winding our way up the side of a mountain, bumping over pot holes, around hairpin bends to a little wooden cabin. The moon was so big and bright it lit up the whole of the estuary below and the hills beyond.

The next morning the sun shone as though it was summer and we ate our breakfast outside a cafe wearing our sunglasses and later relaxed in a beer garden overlooking the estuary. The golden sandy beach stretches on for miles, backed by sand dunes and with glorious views we walked and played with Floss, kicking her ball for her to fetch. It was so good to spend some time together.

There is nothing like exploring a new place to refresh your creative spirit.

a thoroughly English afternoon tea

On Sunday Mr P treated me to afternoon tea at a posh hotel. When we arrived a table had been all laid out for us in a quiet lounge next to a large window overlooking over the gardens. We settled down on a comfy sofa and soon the table was filled with tea, cakes and finger sandwiches. After being on a diet (admittedly on and off but mostly on) since October and finally hitting my target weight, I almost squealed with delight to see mini chocolate éclairs and scones with clotted cream. The scones were so light they would have blown away had the window been opened! Everything was delish and we almost managed to polish it all off.

A woman who saw me taking photos offered to take one of the two of us and this was the result. Isn’t it posh?! We both had a giggle at it as it’s really not us at all. But a lovely reminder of an exquisite couple of hours away from the norm.

painted pebbles

I got a bit fed up with the dust from engraving pebbles recently and decided to try painting them for a change. So much easier to clean up afterwards! The beautiful piece of wood underneath is a piece of yew branch that my friend cut and sanded for me. It’s so lovely that I’m struggling to take my pyrography pen anywhere near it, although my friend is insisting that’s why he gave it to me. I am ecstatic to have some local wood that has come from a tree surgeon who is very passionate about trees. He always tries to find the best use for every part of the trees he works with (if he can’t save them) and does his best to make sure the wood won’t end up in a landfill in 30 years time by becoming cheap veneered furniture.


Anyway, back to the pebbles… birds and foxes, I think my favourite is the owl. I’ve come to realise that if I draw them straight out onto the pebble without using my sketchbook they have more spontaneity and better lines. All these pebbles are quite tiny and I had to use a very fine brush.

Did you hear the good news about the forests?!!! I was so relieved to hear the announcement that after the immense public response our government have decided to drop their plans to sell our public woodland!!!!! How brilliant is that?!!! Thank you so much to everyone who signed the petition or wrote an email. People power really does work!!

toadstools

Yes, I’ve been at it again and I’m still lost in the woods but with the mushrooms this time. I enjoyed trying out some more pen and ink type hatching on this woodburning. Although I wish that I’d made the toadstool a bit more jaunty looking. Maybe I’ll do another one. I’ve been using Danish oil on the previous woodburnings to finish them off although I’d like a more environmentally friendly oil finish if there is one. Any ideas?

If I’m not burning bits of wood with my pyrography machine or out walking Floss I’m to be found curled up somewhere with my new kindle, a present from Mr P. I downloaded Jane Eyre as my first book to read, never read it before and really loving it. Although it seems paradoxical to be reading a book written in the 19th century on an electronic device and I am feeling a bit sentimentally lost without the feel of paper and the smell of a real book, I also love the fact that I never lose my page, my arm never aches and it’s just so easy to turn the page or look up a word that I don’t understand, I can read in bed without waking Mr P up too. I’ve always been a bit of a night owl. Also, I love the random pictures of authors which appear when you turn the device off. Has anyone else got one?

Right, must go and walk Floss in the forest before it goes dark. Bye for now.

green deep woods

Here is my latest offering… a piece of sycamore burned with a bird in the rain. I changed the wire ‘nib’ on the wood burning machine for this one. It has a sort of spoon shape and is good for shading.

The woods are on my mind a lot at the moment. On Wednesday the government, after a heated debate followed by a divided vote and then a further vote behind locked doors, finally opted to go ahead and sell our public forests and woodland. This isn’t the end of the road though, as the Save Our Woods campaign journey will carry on to the House of Lords and the House of Commons. You can still sign the petition here… it will make a difference. Over 450,000 people have now added their names! During the debate a number of conservative MPs also expressed concern about the amount of letters they were receiving from their constituents… write to your MP here. It’s made very easy for you and only takes a few minutes depending on how much you want to add.