Finn update

What a wonderful dog Finn is becoming. He's really settled in to our life now and seems to be very happy in his new routine. He's very loving and obviously up for all the walking that is expected of him.

It was Gra's birthday last week so we spent the day out walking, beachcombing, collecting and photographing. Plus a bit of eating and drinking too - the perfect day. Below are pictures of paint on the bottom of boats.

East Head at Wittering was very stormy but beautiful. I did a #2minutebeachclean and in the picture of the sand you can see the tiny pieces of plastic littering the beach - all the black and white bits are plastic too. They can be found all along the sand dunes now and this shocks me every time I see it. I also collected some shells and seaweed to draw.

Busy

I've been busy with work lately so here's a pictorial update of what I've been up to.

I visited West Dean Gardens - it's so inspiring there - I must go more often with my sketchbook.

I've been doing housework - as you can see Finn is very settled - when I change the bed he always snuggles into the washing pile!

I had a birthday and a lovely long weekend of dinner in the Horseguard's Inn, a day walk at Firle Beacon, a picnic and visit to Goodwood Sculpture Park and an afternoon in Arundel to go around the art trail and have afternoon tea .... phew!!!!

Blues

There's been a last minute burst of Summer which is fantastic and it's rumoured to last into October - I hope so. I thought I should do a post before September is over - I've been busy with lots of work - making the most of the lovely evenings - and my continuing obsession with instagram. When the nights draw in - which they are doing rapidly  - I will have more time to spend on my blog - well that's the plan anyway...

Here are photos of things I've seen on my walks, an old chest I finally painted, a beautiful bag which is made from the ring pulls on cans - an amazing birthday surprise. 

15

My beloved JRT is 15 today. There were times last week when I didn't think he'd make it to his birthday but he seems to have made a good recovery. I know that as he's quite old anything can happen at any time but for now we are just taking one day at a time and enjoying the fact that Jack Russells are tough little dogs.

something old

Well, what a coincidence, the subject 'something old' was on the day of my birthday - so I had to photograph myself!

Something old ... something new ...

Update

I've been very absent from here recently, helping my lovely mum celebrate her 80th birthday! As you can see from the recent pic in the middle she doesn't look anything like 80 years old - she is amazing. 
I won't say any more or she'll kill me. I made the cake - which was fun but I'm not a good cake maker and it was very dry! There were a series of parties because 2 of my friends had 'significant' birthdays that week too (frankly I'm exhausted). 

So I spent this weekend relaxing. I hadn't been to the Bishops Palace Gardens for ages so it was lovely to wander round, also did some early morning walks to see the English countryside at it's best.

♥ 14 ♥

My beloved JRT is 14 today. ♥ Happy Birthday Bill ♥

♥ 13 ♥

It's My Jack Russell's thirteenth birthday today - 91 in dog years!

perfect day

Thanks to everyone for all your birthday wishes. I did have a wonderful time and the weather turned out to be the perfect English summer's day. Gra and I went to Charleston Farmhouse, the home of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. It is a magical place - I think they must have painted every available wall and furniture surface! We then had an evening of celebrations with my family in my brother's beautiful garden.

Don't forget to go over to Caroline's fascinating blog to get the new weekword.

Guest Blog

It's My Jack Russell's birthday, he's 9 years old so I've decided he can choose the subject matter for this blog today. He's very sad as he cannot see his true love on Valentine's Day - she's just had an operation to remove some lumps. Luckily she's ok although it took 4 hours and she's very sore.
So he wants to say "Get well soon Elle - I love you!"

smooth suave sophisticated!

Happy Birthday to my lovely dad - shown modelling in this photo about 50 years ago - he's the one on the left! This picture is so typical of the era in which it was taken - it makes me smile whenever I see it.

This sums him up for me: modern jazz - good food - jokes - generosity - 'here's that rainy day' - parties - stylish dressing - 'oklahoma' - lobster - silk ties and handkerchiefs - horse racing - garlic soup - sancerre - kindness - french holidays - brer rabbit - card games - frank sinatra - love of life - encouragement - south of france - candy pink shrimps - restaurants - french dressing - love