Visit to my old home patch

What happened to my frequent blogs? Not entirely sure. I do know that my brain has been doing overtime and that I have not been able to focus but I'll keep all that to myself.

Just watched "The Reader" and as I am so emotionally drained after that I have no energy to think so here we go...

The monkeys and I went on a little trip to London in the last few days and we had an absolutely fabulous time. Whenever I go back I just find my whole time in the capital sheer luxury. The weather for starters is always better than it is up North and is also nice to be "home" and seeing some old friends. The monkeys had a ball in the playgrounds; there was the massive sand pit in Holland Park, the fabulous pirate ship in Kensington Gardens and the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain which they left, completely soaking wet from top to toe.

They couldn't stop going into the Whole Foods Market and walking up and down the High Street and I of course went back to my old favourites Ranoush Juice (my friends!) and the Exeter Street Bakery where they sell sweet pizza : raisins and lots of sugar on a pizza base basically but oh so yummy.

On Sunday we went on a river cruise to Greenwich. We had a fabulous guide who was not only very funny but also very knowledgeable. I should have asked his name because he is worth mentioning. I learnt a lot more from him than in the ten years I lived in London.

The banks of the Thames are absolutely fascinating. The juxtaposition of buildings old and new is at times awe inspiring at others plain ridiculous. It is amazing to think that 10 or 15 years ago a lot of the land was barren. Currently there is still a lot of building work going on.

The guide pointed out all the buildings old and some new....

Then there were the Dutch (effeweg.nl...). They are everywhere. Always.

I loved the red and white polkadot wrapped trees on the South Bank by Yayoi Kusama. For some reason this little group reminded me of the Supremes, must have been the big hair do's (don't ask, the mind has funny ways!).

.... and the yellow stair case of the Hayward Gallery.

More wrapping around the Tower Bridge.....

(detail of Tower Bridge)

One sight that sadly is not wrapped anymore is the Albert Memorial. When I first moved to London it was covered for restoration and I was always very keen to find out what it looked like (had not discovered Google at that point, if that existed anyway). When they finally took the "Christo" off it I was so totally and utterly disappointed that I wished the restoration had lasted a few decades longer. Undoubtedly there are quite a few eyesores in the capital but for me it has to be the Albert Memorial.

Now we are safely back in Manchester, chasing dreams or perhaps I should have said ghosts, as that feels slightly more appropriate.

The first two weeks of the holidays have passed so quickly and yep let me mention it again : before we know it is Christmas time again....

JS Bach/Zaha Hadid Architects @ MI09

I seem to be spending quite some time in Manchester City Centre and the Northern Quarter in particular these days. Today I went to a lunchtime violin concert by Michael Gurevich at the Manchester Art Gallery in the Zaha Hadid installation. Gurevich performed Sonata No 3 in C major. It was very, very impressive. The room was just stunning and the music, well I have no words. What a wonderful performance. The space is truly unique and I would urge everyone who hasn't been to try and get a ticket for these last few days (it finishes Sunday!).

I am quoting the brochure as I cannot top this description: "A ribbon careens high above the performer, cascades to the ground and wraps around the audience. The original, box-like room is sculpted into new, fluid spaces that swell, merge and slip through one another, creating an environment that's perfectly tailored to its purpose."

These aren't the best images but give some idea of the fluid lines of the installation.

My creations are not on my list or priorities at the moment, although I can hardly think of anything else, so I tried to make something today. Whilst tidying up I found a collection of my grandmother's doilies that I am trying to incorporate into cushions. And here is a start :

Mini Masters explore Nikki de St Phalle

What happened to the heat wave? Just got used to this lovely sunshine and now I feel like putting the heating on. Also what happened to the academic year? It has flown by. One more session and it will be the last of the first year of Mini Masters. I haven't been a good blogger recently so I failed to write about the sketchbook session but here are some images of the Nikki de St Phalle workshop. I absolutely love her work, just looking at her works really cheers me up and her sculptures and mosaics are very appealing to children. Most of her well known works are very colourful, bold and shimmery. 

As a starting point for our session we took one of her Nana sculptures and traced around it to form a template for our clay work. We used air drying clay which has a lovely texture and is easy to mould for little fingers.  With the clay we filled the template, building up the 3D figure. 

With a tooth pick we then added texture and/or decorations. 

Finally we painted the sculptures and most of the Mini Masters mixed some glitter into the paint. We used ordinary ready mix paint on the still wet clay. I find that air drying clay can be painted really well when still wet as you do not get any cracks. 

I've got some ideas for the last session but won't spill the beans as I know some mums might be reading this post!

Finally just wanted to mention that my items are now being stocked at Chelsea Flowers in Wilmslow. I am very excited, dropped off brooches, necklaces, bracelets, postcards and a cushion this morning. Do go and have a look if you live nearby. Look forward to some feedback!

Easy Peasy Skirt

A couple of weeks ago I visited a fabulous yarn shop called Button & Skein (which sadly has since closed down) where I purchased a kit to make a skirt for girl monkey. I'd like to think of myself as an experienced seamstress but I couldn't resist buying this kit. I love turquoise, it had a fabulous design on it and the whole thing was kept together by a lovely pink polkadot ribbon. Now who could have resisted that? Besides it is quite nice sometimes to make something without having to think.  

If you've never made anything before then I can certainly suggest a Clothkit kit. All cutting and sewing lines are printed on the fabric and the instructions are easy to follow. However I did find their waistband instructions a little elaborate and would have suggested something far easier for the inexperienced sewer.

The skirt was made in no time and is just lovely. 

The proof of the pudding was in girl monkey's smile when she noticed it in her room. 

Glorious British Summer

Oh the glorious days of summer.... I had to get started very early this morning in order to achieve something today. My sewing machine is gathering dust but on the plus side I do manage to finish my books and pile of press cuttings in this beautiful sunny weather. Enjoy it while it lasts, we never know here. 

I have been spending too much time thinking these last few months and almost felt that I couldn't think no more but found myself contemplating a move to Notting Hill this morning as the local yobs have yet again targeted my car. I never had any love for hoodies but would like to punch down a few here and there.....

I made some random things today. I mended some items of clothing, made some brooches for sale and then made some bunting for girl monkey's cupcake party and for the school's summer fair this Sunday. My friend Liz and I will be manning the cake stall. She'd bring some doilies she said so I thought some colourful circus bunting would be appropriate for this festive event. 

I also made some kneeling cushions for the garden. I've seen them over the years in various fancy shops with hefty price tags and clearly never felt the need to buy these. Some weeks ago though after a lot of potting and planting I realised they could be quite useful. Luckily I had an old worn out pillow and an old oilcloth lying around which I cut up and made myself some practical gardening cushions in suitable print. 

Currently considering Take Three. Just heard that tickets for Wembley this coming weekend have been released at heavily reduced price. Apparently they need more people on the side of the stage for filming purposes. There is restricted view of the main stage but in full view of the B stage...... Now there's a thought......

Busy Betsy's back!

Due to certain things happening beyond my control I have not ventured into cyberspace for a while, it was hard enough to keep it real! Anyway after a period of noise pollution from a screaming baby next door and emotional pollution from someone who should never have put me through all this, I am back. The monkeys and I had a  trip to Anglesey and have spent a lot of time outdoors thanks to the fabulous British weather. We had some nice Mini Masters classes, there were various fairs, festivals and summer parties and above all Take That, Take One and Take Two. I will update on all this soon. Meanwhile I will leave you with some eye candy (obviously I keep the best ones to myself this time...). 

Boy Monkey's Pie Biscuit

It is absolutely glorious here in the North West and we are spending most of our time outdoors. 

A couple of days ago though we went to the local library to get a pile of holiday reads for all of us and a couple of gardening and cookery books to keep us busy on a rainy day. Luckily there do not seem to be any rainy days this half term but as it is the holidays the monkeys still like to do some baking. 

First of all we made a delicious breakfast treat : "Cinnamon Crunch Muesli" from Bill Granger's Feed Me Now! Cookbook. 

Next up was boy monkey's choice from his favourite "Shrek" cookbook. Most of the recipes that we tried from this tome were yummy but this time he chose the ginger biscuits and it didn't work so well. Years ago I got a recipe card for ginger biscuits from the "Gruffalo Club" for girl monkey and we have used this one ever since as they are so scrumptious. Whilst preparing the dough according to Shrek I wasn't convinced it was going to work, very dry and crumbly. I tried adding some milk (this may not have been the right thing to do) and put the lot in the fridge. There appeared to be plenty butter in it and seemed OK when I got it out of the fridge but as soon as they tried to roll and cut it, it all fell apart. Naturally they were very disappointed but boy monkey then came up with the idea of making a big pie biscuit with it. 

Girl monkey then decided she wanted to add some fruit which we mixed with some custard powder. We then put the creation in the oven for 15 minutes and hey presto we had a lovely fruit pie. It was truly delicious and I was very proud of the little ones for coming up with this idea. 

I can certainly recommend this for any dough gone wrong but please do eat it on the same day. We put some in the fridge overnight but I could break my teeth on it the following day. 

On British Mummy Bloggers I read about the Recycle Week starting 22 June which is being promoted through Recycle Now. As you all know I love recycling, upcycling, swapping and everything else that makes my life and everyone else's greener and I love to share a little tip. I am not a fan of dry cleaning, I don't like the chemicals and the rubbish plastic hangers they now use in most places but occasionally it has to be done. Also Mr Betsy tends to bring his shirts to be ironed so we do get a fair amount of hangers and accompanying plastic covers. Our local dry cleaners kindly take the hangers back and I have come up with what I think is a good way of recycling the covers : tie a know at the top where the small hole for the hanger is and use it as a bin liner. Now I can hear you all thinking that I should not use a bin liner at all but just a sheet of kitchen towel at the bottom of the bin and scrub it all out every day..... However in my world that isn't always possible and rather than buying bin liners (which I have NEVER done) I'd rather use what I have got in the cupboard. Any other tips for re-using the covers will be gladly received!