Daylight robbery.................

The clocks went back one hour at 2am this morning. Aside from allowing an extra hour in bed today, it also means that it will be dark by about 5.30pm.

So we are now in freefall towards winter, with gloomy, grey days and dark early nights. My least favourite time of year.

I think that hedgehogs, dormice and like, have the right idea. Find a warm, cosy nest, snuggle down and go to sleep till spring, neatly bypassing winter, and waking re-invigorated and refreshed in late March, when the clocks are put forward again and it is still light at 7pm, with the promise of warmer, longer days just around the corner.

Can't wait...........

Inaugural mobile workshop outing.........

At last my plan of spending time in the 'mobile workshop' has come to fruition. We set off in the campervan on Thursday afternoon and have spent two nights away, on a lovely little campsite, set in the woods, not far from home but blissfully internet/telephone/interruption-free.

Not only that, we did both manage to get a full day's work done yesterday, which is a bonus. Not to mention clearing the creative log jam and setting the ideas flowing again with notebook and pen, rather than on my laptop, which inevitably leads to displacement activity of one sort or another.

Not only that, the woods themselves were full of ripe sweet chestnuts, which were quite delicious after they'd been roasted. Needless to say, small dog had a wonderful time, mooching around the woodland paths, watching out for squirrels, rabbits and other assorted wildlife and generally immersing herself in the camping experience. While we worked she either kept a lookout at the windows, or curled up on her fleecy blanket to catch up on her naps, so the experiment was voted a success on all counts.

Looking forward to the next working trip now............

High maintenance............

And so another weekend bites the dust. This last one was spent busily putting our house in order for the winter, and battening down the hatches, much in the manner of the three little pigs.

Only without the straw and sticks.

Having already repaired our shed roof the previous weekend, there still remained the job of replacing a pane of glass which blew out in a recent storm. This was successfully accomplished with only the minimum of cussing at the point where, when trying to fit the new pane, one of the others fell out and narrowly avoided smashing to smithereens on the flagstones.

DIY........dontcha just love it?

However the major job, which we had been planning to tackle since the start of this year, was repainting the front of the house, outside the dining room, which is clad in softwood, and so requires high maintenance repainting every so often. As it faces south, and downhill, it takes the brunt of the weather... sun, wind and rain. Not a huge amount of wood to paint, but as with everything DIY, preparation is all.

So, as Saturday was warm and sunny, we reluctantly girded our collective loins and set to, scraping, sanding and mousing all the flaking, peeling paint.

Mousing?

Yes, well, we have a small electric sander in the shape of a mouse. That is, pointed at the front and bigger at the back. Sort of triangular shaped. In the way that a mouse is sort of triangular if you look at if from above. It's supposed to get easily into cracks and crevices and the like. Again, very similar to a mouse.

Small dog perked up her ears at the mention of mousing, and sat attentively waiting in her basket, which we took out front so she could relax in the sun while we were hard at work. She was sadly disappointed when the mousing activity yielded nothing but clouds of dust and lots of noise.

Strangely however, the racket did not deter her from enjoying a lengthy nap soaking up the sun.

So, all the prep, scraping, sanding and filling took about 3 hours. And the first coat of paint took 1 hour. After which we were fit to drop but at least we could see where we'd been, which is always a bonus.

Yesterday (Sunday) was much colder and windier, but nevertheless, the second coat had to go on. Due the drastic drop in temperature, small dog declined to join us outside and stayed in the cosy warmth of her basket indoors, while we, bundled up in jumpers, battled the elements to complete the job, swearing under our breath as gusts of wind deposited tiny specks of dirt over our pristine paintwork.

Still, it's finished, apart from a few bits of touching up, so all in all a job well done.

So hopefully, even the worst of the winter storms won't huff, and puff and blow the paint off the front of the house.

361 days to go.............

I've just put another countdown timer on my desktop.

This one counts down to 16 October 2009, when THE film of the century will be released.

G-Force will star Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Bill Nighy as some of the voices of a team of trained secret agent guinea pigs that takes on a mission for the US government. The squad of guinea pigs is dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire, who plans to taking over the world with household appliances.

Abso-bloody-lutely brilliant and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best laid plans...............

Yes

Well

The mobile workroom failed to get its first outing today, due to a combination of pressing things which got in the way........ having to wait in for a delivery, appointment in town, stuff to deal with.........

You know how it is.

However, I made a virtue of necessity and did several hours of casting, having belatedly realised that as of tomorrow, there are just 7 weeks left till Kensington. This means that I have just two weeks to get a last batch of casting in progress if I have any chance of having the porcelain completely finished, ie bisque fired, strung and painted, in time.

In other news, small dog has rolled in something disgusting but unidentifable which smells very much like rotting fish. So she is shortly due her second bath this week.

Mobile workroom...........

So having had the cunning plan of setting up a mobile workroom, or 'a campervan with a view', we have been waiting for a day of clement weather to try it out.

The plan that is.........not the van.

Tomorrow is forecast to be just such a day, with lots of sunshine, so all being well we will pack a workbox and set off for a day of work by the sea, picking up a delicious lunch en route.

Might not even feel like work.

And in an major eBay coup this week I snaffled a lovely little 12v mini iron, just perfect for pressing mini seams, which will run on the van electrics without us being hooked up to the mains. A steal at 99p.

And I don't even LIKE ironing!

The joy of research...........

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of my dalliances with the displacement goblins.

Sometimes it's out and out displacement activity pure and simple. However more often I start out by trying to find some specific information, or image, or source of supply etc.

This morning, on a foray to find information related to a particular historial period costume, I came across this little gem, entitled Women in Art.

Aside from being technically amazing, it is also a very useful pictorial record of styles of hair and headgear through the ages.

Thus it in no way counts as displacement activity.