booty shots....

.....just wanted to show off yesterdays treasure after they had a bath this morning!Sorry I can't stay to chat,I really should'nt be here,so much shopgirl preparation still to be done......x

dusty day.....

.....a  crisp,frosty day with the most glorious luminous light-perfect for photos without a flash.Also perfect for exposing a winters worth of dust,did I get out my feather duster? Did I heck I got out my trusty old camera instead! These were taken around my workroom,in the tidy spots! So many treasures....

Open all hours.....

....tonight I will be dreaming shop-girl dreams again! Seeing an empty shop & those immortal words 'To Let' is what triggers the most delightful daydreams.....serving in a shop,standing behind a counter,wrapping things in tissue,putting them in paper bags,tidying shelves,folding,displaying....simple aspirations,considered a fairly low rung on the career ladder I guess,but what a joyous vocation & to have your very own emporium-can you imagine? I can.....& I do,I have been imagining ever since I can remember & I have a terrible memory,but I can picture all kinds of shops from my very earliest days....the fabric shop with the scent of fresh cotton & the lovely sound sharp scissors make cutting cloth,tubes of buttons,paper patterns & pattern books,reels of rainbow threads......ironmongers shops all metal & wood,bristles & iron,balls of twine,buckets,mousetraps,fly-papers &  a smell like a garden shed on a sunny day.....the gruesome butchers shop with the sawdust floor,Mr Idris Stone hacking away with his cleaver & wrapping trimmings for the cat......post office counters,brown paper,ancient greetings cards,colouring books,the wet spongy thing for sticking your stamps & a pen on a chain.....the wonderous cave of a village shop,dark & enticing,penny sweets (halfpenny even) white mice,sour cherries,shrimps-sweets lined up in jars-aniseed balls,cola cubes,sherbet pips,pear drops,rainbow dust,coconut mushrooms-little tastes of heaven in a white paper bag,cards of elastic,shoe laces,combs & fuses......& as for the bakers,surely cake counters were made for little girls like me,to press up against the glass so that you could smell those synthetic concoctions of coloured sponge,hundreds & thousands,pretend cream & fondant-my granny worked in such a shop & smelt like that all the time! Is it any wonder I fell in love with shops at an early age & love them still,though the shops of my memory are just that,replaced with their modern day lack lustre counterparts-just somewhere to buy things with none of the ceremony. The shop in the picture still stands-the tales it could tell,my father in law worked there several years ago during its stint as 'Victoria Wines' & he says the upper floors were still full of remnants of its glory days as a grocers,tin signs,crates & display cards-all unceremoniously dumped!! The vacant shop I spyed today had its original spirit,lovely curved windows & pillars,floorboards,a proper doorstep too,the stuff of dreams & I'm sure I heard the ring of a till.......      

That was the year that was.......

.....2009,is fast departing us,time to reflect maybe or even just sort out the photos on my computer,same thing really!Here's some of my 'best bits'.......
In February,we got what we like to call snow,sorry to be a killjoy-but really it was more like Slush Puppy or the ground ice made by a Mr Frosty machine!But it was enough to create a picturesque landscape & more importantly to make a mini snowman,Ruby's 3rd (in 10yrs),Georges 1st!

In May we lost a dear old friend,our tabby cat Mog-aged about 16.Mog came to live with us not long after we had left the mainland & moved to our island home,she had been living with an old lady & a blind Yorkie dog-Mr Magoo-having turned up on their doorstep one day,looking for a new start!So the 3 of us started our life together,all learning as we went along & readjusting with each new addition to our family,kittens & babies-Mog disliked both in equal measure!She was quite the celebrity,spending her days with the tourists,having her photo taken & even letting them pick her up,her daily diet was supplemented with titbit's & clotted cream! Each evening with the lowering of the castle flag she would return to us with a round belly,fur smelling of the perfume & cologne of her adoring public!At home,it was affection on her terms,she barely tolerated her 3 furry brothers,let alone her 2 legged siblings & was a very fussy eater,but how we loved her & we treated her like a little person.By May our elegant feline had become a little old lady,thin & bow legged,seeking out the sunny patches as always,but mostly spending her days in her igloo,head always poking out-keeping an eye on things!How enormous is the gap left in our lives when these little creatures leave our side.........

......so,in July we decided our 3 furry boys needed a new mistress,enter a scrawny little tortoiseshell cat called Honey age 2!We all know the Internet can be dangerous,in this case it was fatal-do not google your local re homing centres unless you are prepared to have your heartstrings tugged at most severely!The animal equivalent of an NSPCC advert,these websites are not for the feint hearted or recently bereaved!So it was that Honey found her way into our hearts & our well used cat basket one rainy afternoon this Summer.She had been brought to the RSPCA,a stray with newborn kittens,long gone by the time we met-thank goodness-else we would've come home with 3,no doubt!The little scrap of tortoiseshell has blossomed into a rotund ball of fur,despite her idyllic surroundings she prefers to stay at home & eat,like the previous mistress she dislikes the fur boys & is not keen on our 2 legged rogue & his noisy,light sabre wielding ways!We are honoured with the odd knee sitting session usually as a means to getting fed,yet how grateful we are for these moments,on any terms!

Sometime in Spring,I finally sorted out my workroom.....

We moved back into the fully restored lodge house,that is our home,in the run-up to Christmas 2008,this was the 2nd time in 3 years.....since we had first moved in we had aquired a boy child,boy toys & a mountain of-stuff!I hold my hands up,mostly,my stuff-mama,I place the blame for this firmly at your door-brought up as I was amid the glory days of the jumble sale,village bazaar & best of all,flea market-where mama often had a stall!So the seed was sown,fed & watered,until a bumper crop of stuff had been harvested,packed in boxes & moved from house to house,loft to loft!This time however I was determined it was not going back in the loft,it had to be sorted-by me-& so,as it had its own room,I shut the door & left it!However the room it was occupying was also to be my workroom/studio & I had ambitious plans for it,having bought 2 lovely old shop counters-crying out to be filled with haberdashery & well,stuff!The room was originally used as a Parish Room,for parish meetings & social gatherings & is full of character,granite windows & an enormous fireplace,oak beams & an original parquet floor,in the half of the house that is in the castle grounds,it looks out on the gardens-away from the tourists!Like a scaled down version of rooms in the castle,it is at the same time filled with light & best of all,birdsong-perfect as a studio.So having ignored the skyscraper boxes for months & being without a workspace,I took courage & locked myself away ....several weeks,several trips to the charity shop,recycling bank & skip later,I realised my dreams & my drapers shop-workroom was born!Here I am surrounded by my treasures,one counter is used for storage (it holds lots of-stuff!),the other for displaying my collection of vintage haberdashery-gorgeous lace,ribbon,buttons,so many buttons,sylko threads,doilies,table linens,more buttons-all the lovely materials for my work.It is a very inspiring space,for which I am eternally grateful....& no more boxes.......well,just small ones.....