Lunch With Eve's

Nice day in town shopping and then to Sandbach to to look round the market and Aldi and onwards to the Eve's in Alsager. Delicious lunch and amusing chat ( forgot camera so this is a previous occasion ) and Hazel managed to prize some old work off Tony for the MMU Interactive Arts allumni show. Some wonderful intricate booksworks and maquettes. Got home before it got dark and the wind and rain arrived again. Crackers and cheese for dinner as we are too full for anything more substancial!

Mini Mail Art Symposium

Nice day with Roger Stevens, Jilly Stevens and Joe Decie who stayed overnight with us before we all went off to Manchester the next day to see John Held and his partner Mary who had been in Budapest and now in UK for a few days to give a talk at MMU on mail art. Also a rubber stamp workshop at Special Collections as part of the Curious Things exhibition. Stephen Fowler the renowned rubber stamp carver and graphic designer came all the way from Bristol which was nice. He brought a big box of his latest stamps with him. Nice to meet up at last sincebeing friends on FB for a while. Peter Arkle the cartoonist was their briefly too. Hazel talked to him but I was otherwise engaged. Printed to the jumbo rubber stamp which was fun and Stephen and few other folk had a go too. Nice lunch in the Eighth Day Wholefood Cafe which was very crowded but we managed to find two tables to push together. It all went on until 7pm and then we rushed off to get grab a sandwich and get out train home. Roger and family went off to visit relatives in Manchester. John and Mary had a curry to sample and then back to LOndon and their flight to SF tomorrow. Phew! The rain held off thankfully so wasn't too wet.

Indoor Boot Sale

Back to the non bargains of indoor boot. Nothing did I find but Hazel got some gardening snips, a set of Snakes and Ladders counters in a colourful box plus a cigarette tin. It wasa busy too but some stalls seem to have the same stuff they had last time. O well - we have too much junk anyway! Then to Lidly to stock up on a few bits. Thne through the drizzle to Granma and Audrey's for tea and chat. A quiet afternoon for me watching a French film "The Gardener's Conversations" or was it "Conversations With |My Gardener?" It wasa bit slow and I nodded off towards the end. Hazel in cleaning mode due to guests arriving tomorrow. More anon.

Even More Doodles!

More old toys and junk around the house. I have not done justice to the bright gaudy colours of the tin toys. Coloured pencils are not ideal really for showing how bright and zingy they all are.

More Doodles

More drawings in pen and coloured pencil from my small pocket sized notebook for the "Daily Doodle" group on FB.

Dave Smith's 80th Birthday Surprise Party

|Nice day out yesterday with Tony and Pene who drove us to Marsden in South Yorkshire for Dave's surprise birthday party in a cafe run by his nieghbours daughter Katie. Snow held off thankfully though it was mighty cold - brrrrr! We trickled in to the cafe from the pub down the road so he got a surprise gate crasher every few minutes. Nice food and chats. Got back home around 5 - traffic not too bad thankfully. Hazel would never have driven that motorway route - she prefers the long way round via Glossop but it was blocked by snow apparently.

Katie's cafe and in the pub beforehand plotting our surprise entrance to Dave's party.

Doodle A Day

Inspired by a Daily Doodle group on FB I have been encouraged to return to my little pocket sized sketchbook to draw something with either coloured pencils or pen ( Stabilo point 88 fine 0.4 ). I did have several attempts over the years ( mainly New Year's resolutions)but they often failed and were neglected. Hazel has always been an avid drawer and adds something to her tiny books every day. So here's a few I've done recently - mostly of objects lying about the place.

Muddy Whitegate Walk

Nice muddy walk this morning over at Whitegate Way. Squelch squelch!...........................Lots of runners, joggers and doggies. Some of the big dogs looked like they'd quite like to eat the little dogs! Tempted by the nearby Station cafe but decided to save money and go home for a cup of tea and biscuit once we'd washed our hands of the mud and grot! Thankfully the early drizzle had stopped and it was quite pleasant despite the cutting which hampers onces view somewhat - further along the cutting ( an old railway line ) it broadens out and one can see more of the surrounding farmland and countryside.