Summer break

Dress down for the allotment? Oh no!
My sister shows how to pull off allotment chic ...
pre-orangen-saft henna!

Decided to take a bit of a recess for summer on the old blogging. We so rarely have a reasonable run of good weather in Blighty that I've been trying to make the most of it down at the allotment and getting out and about on my trusty 'cheval de fer' (Rupert). I thought August 1st was as good a time as ever to get back on the blogging bandwagon!

As it's been a while I'd better just give you a quick roundup of what's been happening in Gardnerville of late, in no particular order ...

***NEWS IN BRIEF!***
⇒ Spent a week in Nantes (France)
⇒ Stayed in Sam & Mark's flash new Cambridge pad
⇒ Had my littlest Sister to stay*
⇒ Sold handmade goodies at 'Clutter City'
⇒ Got a new job as an Arts Technician
⇒ Worked for 'Kidzone' as a face painter
⇒ Acquired a bike trailer + baby bongos!
⇒ Ukulele practice significantly up!

Also nearly worked as a steward at Latitude but was in France when training was on - *boohoo*! But France was actually better than ever this time round ...here's some pics from Manu's mum's retirement celebrations ....


We were lucky enough to be in France for the Bastille Day celebrations. We were completely blown away by some great live music and fireworks, not to mention delicious crepes and cidre brut!

My sister Libby and I had a really fun week and this pic shows her admiring the new (perfectly working + completely wondrous!) typewriter she picked up from the car boot sale we went to mid-week. We talked about sharing it and so I'll get to use u it whenever I go home ....

At last Saturday's Clutter City (at Norwich Arts Centre) craft fair there was talk abound about Fine City Friends starting a house band!! I'm dead excited - suggested a bit of a skiffle affair as not many of us play 'poper' instruments. It was a scorching day so the turnout wasn't too great early on but picked up later on after lunch. There's lots more pictures of all the fun stuff on show at the Fine City Friends blog . I've got plenty of stuff which is wating to be uploaded to etsy and dawanda - best be getting onto it, I suppose!

*Made her turn orange - her hair that is ... she's now a carrot top like me and proud! We almost look like sisters!!

Last night I went to an Independence Day Party and a dressed up as a Native American


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Also forgot to mention that we set up another blog last week... http://finecitygardening.blogspot.com/
When I say 'we' I mean: Manu and I, (Oxford Comma - love that song!!) and I'm hoping that Monsieur Frenchy will get stuck in as I will struggle with keeping three blogs going I think!
Go on Manu - don't be shy!!

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Carnival & Music Festival Fun!

Had such a top weekend that I feel rather elated today! I've been working as a Steward at the Music Festival in Norwich's Chapelfield Gardens as part of the Lord Mayor Celebrations. The weekend long event went without a hitch or a punch up(!) and even though it rained a lot on the Sunday, everyone was completely determined to enjoy themselves - Dunkirk spirit lives on! Not that much determination was needed really - the music line up was so impressive that you couldn't fail
to have fun!

Here's a picture of the procession - the carnival festivities were in full swing by the time the headliner - incredible Rio (flown in from Brazil especially!) band Monobloco were joined by the samba group - the rammed stage was throbbing and we were completely entranced! The audience were enjoying it so much that buzz was electric! One of the best music experiences I've ever had and to think I'd been working as part of it - feel so privileged! ^^ I met so many lovely people (*gush!*) over the weekend and I'm now really looking forward to being a Face Painter at the up and coming KidZone events!

Wish I could do this right now...!

I discovered this great site the other day and got rather excited about designing an altogether different kind of bird - a nani! Anyone fancy joining me in making a geometric birdie too? It's got to be worth a go! Better than playing rubik's cube (darn that alluringly colourful yet infuriating cube of frustration!!!)

Here's where you can have more fun playing with paper an scissors instead: http://www.nanibird.com/

This extra lovely one is called Mamy and is designed by Natascha S Rosenberg

I'll stick all the pics of the end results on here so just give me a shout if you're game!

I really have too much to do this week, so I'll have to wait till next till I get going on this
*big sigh* :-(

King Fisher crazy

Ok, so I may have gone a little King Fisher crazy of late but I put it down to mild desperation - it's been ages since I've seen one and I'm
getting withdrawals!

To remedy my predicament I made another plush bird brooch - of the king of bird's himself!
Guess he'll have to compensate for seeing the real thing for now. I look almost trance like in this picture (I wasn't actually meant to be in it!)- I think it's all the happiness of literally making a new friend ^^ Embarrassing as this picture is (zero make up, freckles and all) I like the way it captures my little elfin ear and contrasting honk - the latter being so big it didn't even fit in frame!!

This is the colour illustration for the card I think I mentioned in a previous post...

Bird zine has taken wing!

Finally got my batch of Zazar Zine's printed, folded, packaged and up on Etsy! Now alll my bird doodles that may never've seen the light of day have a fun outlet! Having said this the cover illustration is poised to become a full colour greetings card. So he'll be more than just the electric blue of the card cover!

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!