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I missed my wee friend last night......

scurrying under the foliage in the back garden. Mmmm but I LOVE my new space!

Not a traditional valentine day couple.....

Bevan & I don't make much ado about Valentine's day.....once upon a time many years ago it seemed more important but not now. However, I felt his love last night as he patiently trundled furniture and "little precious things" from my scrapbook room (and before I feed him too!), to their new home....the room beside the front door. It made sense as it is slightly larger, has a jac point for my computer, all the shop stock is packed in that wardrobe and now I have two bedrooms that are ensuited on the other side of the house solely for guests. Plus in this room I can have MORE paper trays! I am wanting to set those up for pulled class stock etc and not have so much sitting on the floor.

Off to clean up the rest of the house now, putting furniture back into other rooms, having a throw out, re-sort, & making a few changes.

Thankyou Bevan for knowing how important this was and just nodding when I asked you to help....it was the best Valentine's present ever!

 

I hear rustling under my scrap room window.....

I think we have a resident hedge-hog in the garden. The scratching sounds begin about 9pm in the same place, then it quietens down for awhile as he wanders away in another direction...but the other day he was perhaps lost or trying to find another home. When I wandered down to the letterbox, he was under the oak trees in the driveway in the middle of the day. I might sound crazy,  but for one who is night blind (Bevan has to hold my hand tightly as I cannot see without light at all) I would love to have eyes that see in the dark for just one night. To witness the activity of those little critters we rarely see. Mmm....I should be in bed right now instead of talking nonsense, but have been so excited today and trying to unwind.

My trip to Japan keeps getting more exciting. My german girlfriend will be there with her family to celebrate her hubby's grandad's 100th birthday and we have a few days overlapping. She will collect me from the plane when I arrive (thank goodness I don't have to find my way around that night!) and we will have a short 24-36hrs together before I fly to Fukuoka to cuddle this new baby of Chie's, and she flies home to Germany.

Plus I asked Akiko if we could visit Hiroshima, and she has found a place nearby that makes the brushes we use for calligraphy. She is very excited as she didn't know about this factory, so is writing to ask if we can visit to watch brushes being hand-made. We will be visiting, other towns, where ink is made (I will be learning to hand-grind my own supply before our three days of classes in school), inkpots are made, the paper is made (yippee for me) and also for my sister the quilter in our family the shiboro district for fabric.  All our accomodation is booked, and the extra 2 weeks I will be there on my own, I will be staying with friends.

  
I am starting to think about creating a paper/fabric journal to take with me to house all the bits and pieces I collect plus photos and large places for journaling in.......we are using trains to crisscross the country and from the age of 11 when studying about Japan in school, I have always wanted to ride the bullet train (shinkansen) so will have a few hours every few days to fill the journal on my travels. I will also create large (acid free) tags to use as postcards, sending home with journaling done on the day, ready to add to my layouts. Can't wait!

Handwriting letters....

This year I have changed my morning routine. No longer do I go to my computer with my coffee.....I start the day writing in my diary a short memo of the day before, then roll out the yoga mat for 40-60 mins of practice. I am loving doing this in our bedroom in the sun with the doors open in the morning, so some days I have started sitting with a coffee after that, handwriting letters. So far this year I have sent 8 postcards, and 4 letters...It is such a good feeling to have thoughts spilling from my head and seeing it transferred onto the page, knowing it will be well received at the other end.

I do think learning Japanese calligraphy has helped me pick up the pen again more easily, as this year I am spending more time practicing, before going to Japan in July to learn from the Grand Masters.....in Asia calligraphy is more revered than art work so the discipline of learning correctly is an important part of the process and particularly for me!

One of the other reasons for enjoying letter writing, is it keeps me away from spending too much time on the computer in the mornings and finding my day half gone before doing anything constructive. I keep reminding myself, when I find another gorgeous must look at website, is Annie Dillard quote....'How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.' And I have too many things I still want to do to spend too many hours online!

Poetry.....

Amidst all my wishes Kerry's husband gave me something very special too.....he has a great way with words and here's what he wrote:

While musing one day Lyn thought to herself, I'd love a shop full of wonderful things on the shelf. With lots of friends, I'd have paper and glue, buttons and bows and heaps to do.

I'd love to create a new kind of fun, that involves all my friends each and everyone. Trish and Kerry and Jackie and Joy, We would all be like kids with a brand new toy.

The shop would be full of trinkets and stuff, but with all my friends we would never have enough. With love and passion we would give it our all, even in weekends we would run a wee stall.

I love my friends and my scrapbooking fun, WOULDN'T IT BE COOL IF IT WENT ON AND ON, whenever we talk of another creation, the only boundary is our imagination.

Our menfolk are so patient and caring and wise. They stand by our playtime with their funny wee sighs. We often wonder if they took up scrapbooking, would they win first prize?

Pete.

This will definately be decorated, put in a frame and hang proudly on my scraproom wall. You rock Pete and thanks for understanding our need to escape with Kerry often, for creative time!