Happy to be back home

Last week I must have driven 700 miles in 3 days, as I agreed to take Bert back to Cheshire and visit my mother. We started out by putting the dogs into a local kennel at 09:00 then headed for the M5, the M6 and points north. The weather was glorious until we reached Stoke and then deteriorated quickly into heavy rain. I dropped Bert off in town and headed for my mother's house, getting there about 14:30 and unloaded all my presents for her, and after an evening meal we watched 'Taken', a DVD my sister had left for us - quite a powerful film. The next day we went shopping and found her a lovely coat for the summer in a curious shade of yellow/green; it fitted her beautifully. We had lunch at the local Beefeater and that night watched a film called Australia which was not really my cup of tea, but quite entertaining.

The next day I headed home at 06:20, getting to Birmingham and the usual stop/start conjestion at about 07:30, but once on the M5 I was away and steaming towards home. I cannot describe the feeling of passing that DEVON boundary sign on the way, it is like everything drops off my shoulders and leaves me feeling happy.

I was unable to concentrate much on the Friday, and although I had many project ideas they would not gel into anything useful, so I gave up and read my book, watched TV and had a good night's sleep. However, Saturday was different, I had some zing in me and managed to get going again. I looked at the IMT challenge which was FAMILY and looked for pictures of everyone, trying to decide whether to use my immediate family or my children and decided to go with mine. I found some plant sticks in the local supermarket and printed and cut pictures of everyone and stuck them to the page using brads. I put red brads for Dad and Vivienne as they were no longer with us, and the forget-me-nots for rememberance. The house that surrounds us was made using gesso, moulding paste and acrylics.

Lastly, I had this idea of making a Hug Angel for my friend who is feeling a bit down at the moment. I find this with people who garden, the winters are long and they cannot get out into their garden and weed etc. There is no planning to be done or plants to nurture, so they spend the time indoors, not good - Mum is like this. I wish she had more contact with people, but she is very hesitant and the initial effort is great, so she doesn't bother. Hopefully this will give Jean a lift when she feels that way again. I also made her a laughter booklet for her birthday.

Well, I have to get back to making waistcoats as I have 3 orders to fill and only 3 days to do them in. The sun beckons but is still cold in the morning so that is a great time to work and to sit in the garden in the afternoon, finishing off.