We've got an allotment!!

Woopy dodah! Finally collected the key for our allotment on Friday and with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, Manu and I surveyed what will soon become our home from home (especially when we get a proper shed!) Our excitement was almost uncontainable when we thought we'd found our plot - with veg patches already planted. We knew it was too good to be true when we spotted some very contented looking chickens at the far end. No, ours was predictably wilder than wild with nettles towering above me and rampant to the point of covering most of the plot. This minor (hah!) blight aside we did discover some globe artichokes like thistles - some of them had already gone to seed, but we did cut a few heads off and will have try them for lunch today.

Yesterday, our first proper day on the allotment, we got a bit giddy at the fun of it all! First we got to meet our neighbours (two very lovely couples called Chris and Lou + Ellen and Nathan) and then we later made a very fortuitous discovery - a tayberry bush!!! Goes without saying that we had a good old munch to make sure they were in fact tayberries - cross between a raspberry and a blackberry! Never expected to be eating fruits from the allotment this early on - definitely given us a taste for it!

I'm now trying to persuade Manu to start a blog otherwise I fear I will have to change the name of this blog the the Gardener of Gardnerville! (And yes, that is me running through the wilds!)

FCF Zine...

It was Norwich School of Art's Private View this evening and quite synchronistically, I finished the pseudo-stalker (!!) map I'd been working for the FCF Zine today which includes a sketch of the art school (top right). It was strange being back at the place that brought me to this *fine* city - it felt like a different life time that we were at the school, even though it was only a couple of years back. There seemed to be the very same throng of people packing out the street, except this time it's all been pedestrianised - which is darn great! The lovely weather all made it feel quite Mediterranean - everyone just standing chatting in the street - top evening!

Awww *blushing*

I got a really sweet message the other day from a lovely lass called Coki asking if she could post about my antics and here's what she said about me: - http://milktoothrain.blogspot.com/2008/06/zazar-bazaar.html

Thanks Coki for such a lovely write up! ^^

Exciting discovery...!

This morning I got really carried away with excitement having stumbled across this luscious crafty site: - http://www.allthingsoriginal.com - go there now for your instant crafty curiosity fix!

Otherwise will keep this short as have an allotment key to collect (wey hey) and a Fine City Friends meeting!! Before I dash off I suppose I could confess to breaking the emotional attachment I had to my wee moineaux (sparrow in French!) and finally got around to putting him on etsy - not before one last perch on my shoulder though...!

Tash tastic!

Managed to persuade my sister to don my 'tash and patch combo - I hardly recognise her!

Happy father's day to my owl fan of a Dad who would have received the wee brooch in this pic by now - hope you like it!?

Jemima montages ...

I've been persuading my new handmade friend Jemima to strike poses for me! It was dead difficult getting Jemima to look as if she was actually in the painting. Nothing worse than that super imposed look unless of course there's a reason to want to create that impression - in which case it's gotta look deliberate! I'm hoping I've made the images look like they are an organic whole. Anyway, there's still one left to do with a bird in it (well of course!) ...

Cigar guitar!

Just came across my next instrument of choice (once I've mastered the ukulele that is!) - especially because it's only got 4 strings... check out this incredible guitar! You can see more of this stunning musical masterpiece at: kwithrow's page on etsy (don't let the photo-shopped arm hair
put you off!!)

Arrrr!!!

Just finished making some radical pirate 'tashes and patches to go in my new pirate packs for all those aspiring to look like the handsome gents below! I've discovered there's a real advantage to the the fake 'tashe for the ladies (apart from the disguise thing) and that is that they double as philtrum warmers!!!

This all started because I made one for a friend of mine last weekend and on the night out to celebrate his birthday everyone ended up trying it on. It was hilarious watching everyone larking about for photos so I thought I'd take the idea a step further and make super colourful ones - that are reversible to boot - arrrrr!

This is the swashbuckling fellow really pulled off the look!