I spend far too much time in cafes.
When I go travelling I tend to gravitate towards cosy, welcoming places and love sitting with a steaming coffee watching the world go by.
This picture is of one my latest discoveries, in Oia on the Greek island of Santorini.
***
What about you? Where is your favourite cafe and why do you like it so much? Recommendations are always very welcome…
***
(View of Bressay lighthouse through the crooked stone window of an abandoned croft house)
Staying in a lighthouse has always been a bit of a dream for me, so when I found out about a book making workshop taking place in a lighthouse on the remote Scottish island of Bressay, I knew I had to go.
It is so exposed to the elements that there wasn’t a tree to be seen. There were just seven of us, with the sound of the sea, and sheep for company.
These lovely seals flopped on the rocks and kept a curious eye on me as I scrambled over the rocks looking for pebbles
Each morning I took a walk through the fields, along the shoreline and past abandoned crofts, hiding tales of lives lived long ago.
… and past cosy-looking crofts still home to islanders, who wake up each day to such a beautiful view.
It was a little wild, and quite eerie with the light swooping over the cliffs at night, but I loved it.
More posts from this trip:
***
Taking a moment to think about everyone in Japan affected by the overwhelming destruction
It is heartbreaking to see this country I love so dearly suffer so much
There are dark days ahead as the extent of the damage to lives, hearts and minds begins to reveal itself
I have managed to make contact with many friends, but not all of them
Hoping beyond hope that they are all safe and well
My heart goes out to everyone affected
***
Do you remember I told you about the Campaign for Real Mail?
It’s where my brothers and I send each other silly things in the post, no envelopes allowed, just for fun.
Well it looks like someone else randomly decided to join in…
I received this toilet roll in the post(!)
It came from my little brother, but all he posted was this little piece of cardboard.
However when it arrived, it had a newspaper rolled up inside it.
And not just any old newspaper.
‘The Arnold Sentinel’ serving Custer County, Arnold, Nebraska, USA.
It might make sense if I lived in Nebraska… but I live in England!
We have absolutely no idea how it got inside the toilet roll.
I wonder if someone at the Post Office had a little chuckle to themselves?
I love it that someone else had some fun with this too.
I got to read a lovely story about deer in a Nebraskan snowstorm, the local Arnold Public School receiving an art grant, and that the ‘Good News Club’ will resume meetings soon.
I like the sound of the ‘Good News Club’.
Might be worth a trip to Nebraska…
Are you doing what you love?
Whether the answer (right now) is yes or no, we all have a story to tell.
In celebration of the Do What You Love e-course launch, I am putting out a call for guest posts for this blog. It attracts four-figure weekly traffic, and I want to open up that platform to share your stories with the world.
I am starting a new series shortly, capturing the essence of what it means to do what you love, warts and all, and I’d love it if you would be part of that.
What’s your story? Are you doing what you love? If so, what changes or sacrifices have you had to make along the way to get there?
If you aren’t (yet) doing what you love but want to, what obstacles are standing in your way, and how are you tackling them?
Please contact me if you are interested in having your story highlighted, and sending more readers to your part of the blog world.
You never know, your story may end up in the book proposal I am secretly working on…
(PS If you have no idea what you love, it might be an idea to sign up for the Do What You Love e-course!)
What is it about water that
relaxes the mind,
calms the soul,
opens the eyes?
***
Sent with love from the Lake District
My big discovery this winter has been fingerless gloves that are not connected between the fingers.
Do you know the ones I mean?
Like a long sleeve you can pull down over your hands and keep you toasty?
My mum made me these lovely ones.
Such a treat.
***
(Taken at Monmouth Coffee, Covent Garden, with hipstamatic on my new ipod touch)
One of the best things about not working a ‘normal 9-5 job’ is being able to sit and discuss life and art with friends over coffee and apple tarts*. The funny thing is, sometimes it is when you switch off from your work that you get the most inspiration for it.
Do you find that a-ha moments turn up in the strangest places?
***
* Today’s lovely friend of choice was illustrator Tanja Wilmot
Christmas is nearly upon us, when anticipation and preparation gives way to celebration! I love Christmas Eve – there is snow on the ground and magic in the air. I am spending it at my parents’ house, with young nephew and niece as the perfect little Christmas helpers. Today will go something like this…
– wrapping up warm to go last minute shopping for new christmas cake decorations (the old santa has last year’s icing stuck on his boot, and the collection of little green fir trees we have used since I was a child has dwindled to just two trees – we need a few more tree friends to make a snowy forest)
– cake decorating with the help of some little people
– watching ‘Miracle on 34th Street’
– taking my parents’ dog for a walk in the frosty park
– posting the neighbours’ christmas cards
– gathering round a huge tree for a candlelit children’s carol service
– cooking up hot mince pies and mulled wine
– putting out some sherry for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolph
– reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ to the little ones before they fall asleep ‘with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads’
– putting out all the presents under our tree
– trying to get to sleep, which is as hard now as it was when I was five…
Merry Christmas to you all!
We haven’t had snow like this in England in November as long as I can remember. Down to minus 20 in some places and eight inches of snow expected in the next 24 hours.
I know it is nothing like you get in other parts of the world, but somehow snow seems to always take us by surprise here. On the news they keep talking about the travel chaos everywhere, but I am secretly happy about the quiet magic that falls over the countryside when snow comes.
We shuffled downstairs early this morning, before the rest of the world woke up, and sat with steaming mugs of tea looking out over the whiteness.
View from my studio early this morning
View from my attic office skylight
What’s the weather like where you are today?
