Four Boots

Four boots this Sunday much to our delight. The first was in Hartford and it turned out to be the largest and busiest as expected. I didn't find anything though and I don 't think Hazel found much. A bit too crowded and jostling for our liking. It was hard to get near some stalls. Afterwards we picked up Archie's chum Jack from Weaverham who was coming over for the day. Came back via the boot at Anderton which was mostly indoors. Nothing of interest here either despite the boxes of old records I sorted through. Hazel bought some pansies to put in the garden. Then to the boot sale at Witton which was a measly half dozen stalls. Picked up DVD's of "How To Get Ahead In Advertising" ( about a talking boil on the neck of Richard E. Grant ) and Clockwise with John Cleese for 20p. The last boot sale was even more pathetic with only two stalls inside the community centre at Lostock but I did find a hard back copy of "The Melancholy Death Of Oyster Boy" by Tim Burton for 50p.
So you see- size doesn't matter, even the smallest boots have big bargains.

Yesterday I had to go and have my haircut and then have my photo taken in the library by a tiny lady from the Northwich Guardian. Both were relatively painless though the hairdresser did try and engage me in a conversation about the weather. The photo should be in this weeks edition so that will be interesting to see. I did the interview over the phone so I expect a few inaccuracies.

Art

American version of Creature Comforts by the brilliant Aardman team.

Library Photos

The historic Brunner Library and Salt Museum where my exhibition is in Northwich. The Salt Museum bit has since moved to an old workhouse two miles away by the River Weaver.

Posing with the art. Quite hard to get back for an overall view as there are things like a security gate and bannisters in the way but Hazel did a good job taking these pictures

Library Exhibition

Put up the exhibition of twenty small collages in the Northwich library foyer yesterday with Hazel's help. Some of the work in this slide show above. I will try and take a photo of the exhibition today sometime. Pleased the way it looked considering the size and peculier aspect of the space. My thumb aches now from pushing in all those pins holding the descriptions of the work.
Afterwards we did some shopping. Hazel found some interesting knitting paraphenalia in nthe nearby Age Concern shop- needle gauges, needles and patterns etc. Also a hexagonal glass candlestick that reflects the light like a prism. Her grandad used to have one similar apparently.

Spotty Vs. Snotty

Find more videos like this on OPEN Fluxus

Both Archie and I are at home today with nasty colds. sniff sniff. I went out for a walk into town to get some bread and a screwdriver. All our screwdrivers are either blunt or gone missing. Cheap and nasty ones made in China usually. You can't buy decent tools anymore.
sniffle. Its cold out but sunny. I also bought some CD sleeves. I'm in the process of decanting all my CD's into thin plastic see-through sleeves- this will help with space. Coincidentally interesting programme about Stephen Hawking and black holes and beginning of the universe etc. on last night. I didn't understand a word of it!
You can probably be baffled again if you missed it - see BBC's iPlayer or maybe it was C4 , in which case the 4OD site is what you want. Lots of good stuff in the archives there including the Adam&Joe show from the 90's and complete series of Father Ted, Black Books, Comic Strip etc. etc.

Holy Grail Of Rhubarb

Quite a busy weekend what with one thing and another.
Last night we went to see a travelling theatre group as part of the Cheshire whatsits village touring thingy. It was at Plumley Village hall where we saw the amazing Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain a couple of years ago before they hit the big time. The hall was packed again and we had to sit around tables which makes the back ache a bit after two hours. The seats are'nt meant to be sat in for longer than two minutes really!
Anyway it wasa darkly comic "clown noir" about some postmen who stumble upon some murderous goings-on. Some very loud bangs from starting pistols made me jump out of my skin despite the warning notices!
Today was Mothering Sunday and so I popped down to the Co-Op to get some flowers and the papers ( free Scrabble CD-ROM) but it was closed due to its first break-in. You could see it coming a mile off really as its isolated and just a muddy track and timber yard round the back.
I got the papers and bunch of daffs further on up the road. Hazel's Mom and sister came for a fish and chip lunch and Archie entertained them with his guitar twanging and flights of remote controlled helicopter. Granma had a go and nearly drilled a hole in the ceiling. She also managed to cut some paper using my 5 bladed scissors ( for cutting up receipts and bills ) and get a sliver of white paper stuck to the inside of her spectacles.

Next Day.
Awoken with a nasty cold so had to postpone dental appointment. I am due to have two fillings re-done so quite relieved in a way but I'll have to find some courage at a later date. I hate having my teeth drilled. I expect most people do!
A quiet day of sniffing and sneezing ahead.

Art Gallery Tips

Find more videos like this on OPEN Fluxus

Here's another silly animation using the Crazy Talk software I bought the other day. I'm just using the pre-programmed faces but you can put your own images on to animate it says but I haven't figured out to do it yet. I'll have to watch the tutorials again .

This morning we went out to get some shopping for the weekend. Hazel has a nasty cold so we dint stay out long. She's gone back to bed now. I got some pins and screws to hang my collages up in the local library next week - fame at last!
Also cheap DVD's and Cd's- the sort they give away in Sunday papers. Among them were Baghdad Cafe, Battleship Potemkin and 5 tracks by The Strokes. Also was given a big book of Horror Films in the Salvation Army Shop as they said it was too horrible to sell! It has a nice photo of James Whale's Frankenstein's monster on the cover. There are some gruesome photos inside but you see far worse in the tabloids these days.

It's pouring with rain now so glad to be home.

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Find more videos like this on OPEN Fluxus

Woken at 1a.m. by strange and disturbing vibration of corner of bedroom. We thought it was a poltergeist or alien articulated lorry landing outside. Hazel looked out the window but could see nothing. We lay in bed wondering what it was for ages before dropping off again. This morning discovered it was a rare, 5'3 on Ricteur Scale, "earthquake" - the biggest for 25 years. The epicentre was miles away in the Fens. Nice to know we didn't imagine it all!

Went to town today for a nice walk. Quite warm - hot in duffle coat. I found an amusing bit of software to play with called Crazy Talk in a charity shop for a couple of quid. I made the above animated cat reading one of my cut-up poems with it. Chortle!

Archie had a go when he got home and I almost had to drag him off the PC he was enjoying it so much.
Popped in Co-Op for bread on way home. Its getting more popular- I had to wait in a queue of three!

Barb & Des Visit

A week seems to have flown by without much bloggage. You havent missed much although we did have a nice visit from my sister Barb and her other half , Des. Who are still here in fact and will be going back via Nottingham today to drop in on Des' Mum.
The above was taken outside the candle shop at the Craft Centre who's name escapes me for the moment. This is as exciting as it gets! Hazel managed to find some cheap automatic candle snuffers to put on her blog. We tried them out last night and they work too. A pound for set of four.
We also went into the crafty shops and the sweetie shop and Archie bought some Green & Blacks.
The day before we showed them the delights of the new Co-op and a walk round Shakerley Mere to feed the ubiquitous ducks. We had a nice take-away curry ( I cooked the rice and nibbles ) and we watched a bit of a dull film about wine tasting in California "Hilarious" and " Extremely funny" say the blurbs on the video cover, but they must have been watching a different film!
Bumper crop of free DVD's in sunday papiers this week including "My Left Foot" with Daniel Day-Lewis who coincidentally won the best actor at the Oscars last night. Also Fellini's "La Dolce Vita".
Nice to see so many Brits get oscars including short animation and costumes and special effects etc.
Below is a corner of the "Garden Gnome" compound at the Craft Centre at Blakemere. Nice to see Andy Capp make an appearance after many years in the doldrums.

First Boot Sale Of Year

Brrrrr! Its cold- too cold really for standing around at boot sales but amazingly quite a few brave souls at the Witton Albion FC boot yesterday. Hazel bought this great brass whistle complete with wooden pea for 50pence. The green mould was free! I didn't find much, loathe to get my hands out of my warm pockets! In the end I came away with the second series of The Peep Show on DVD for 20p. Archie bought a quoit/frisbee thing for dogs to catch? Maybe he is training Wilf to fetch things.
Later we went for a walk around Shakerly as it was very sunny and had warmed up a tiny bit. Watched the ducks slide across the frozen sections of lake trying to avoid the flying crusts that Archie was flinging. BRRRrrrr!

Antiques Fair

Archie has been burning the midnight oil and made this silly video last night. Too many late nights taking their toll!
Just back from an antique fair at the crafts centre in Blakemere.. Not many stalls really but enough to make the pound entrance fee worthwhile. Hazel bought some old ciggy cards of the wartime home guard and home defences etc. also some old battered Beanos from the 60's for Archie. H'es still sleeping ofcourse after his late night of creativity.

Later. They've gone out to get some groceries. Archie got up at 2:30pm and had some soup. I made a big pan of leek,carrot and potato. We had awarm pretzels with it and cheese. Yum!
Watched some of the FA cup on the telly. Good to see Bristol Rovers get into the quater finals. Its Man. U. and Arsenal on later.

International Yo-Yo Day

I hope you all have your yo-yo's ready? I've got mine. Hazel gave me this one for Valentine's Day - also a collection of Snap card games and some useful CD sleeves. I gave her a collage and some chocs.
Just back from a walk into town. Got a nice book about snowballs by Andy Goldsworthy in the library sale for 75p. What a great idea- rolling snowballs down mountains into the town and leaving them in sunny snowless streets to melt. Some were stored in deep freezes in winter and bought out again in summer to confuse people. Thats soemthing we didnt see much of in Norway thinking back on it- no big snowballs or snowmen? Maybe they have so much snow they got bored with all that business a long time ago!

Oh Mr. Porter!

"I got a train to Birmingham.
But they dropped me off at Crewe"

Something like that. I forget the exact words of that old song. A great film by Will Hay too. Not sure what came first - the film or the song?
Anyway, a nice sunny ride with Hazel, Archie and Audrey to nowhere town. It used to be somewhere back then- a big railway town and it still is in some respects though the railway is less important now. The flea market is the main draw for me personally and today it was buzzing- crowded with punters, shunters and old junk.
Hazel found lots of weird metal stuff for her blog including some "pudding charms" on their original card. I doubt whether Health & Safety would allow such a thing these days- spoiling our fun, choking on tiny bits of sterling silver- how dare they! Also in her gander bag were some knitting implements, stitch holders, pins of various sorts and weird nickel silver container with hinged lid that looked like it once contained a miniature bollard.
My finds were less esoteric - DVD's of latest King Kong and extra disc of stuff, Wizard of Oz with extras and jerry Lee Lewis in concert in the 80's when he was still "The Killer" with all kinds of guests- Van Morrison, Dave Edmunds, Brian May etc. Also some books including american photographs of the every day, and one about books with strange titles , "Kipper Racing For Fun & Profit" was not one of them.
Archie moaned continually as all teenagers are wont to do. "I feel so depressed", "I hate this town" "Why did I come?" etc. for two solid hours. We will leave him behind next time!
Not sure what Audrey bought but she had bags of the stuff and was sweating profusely when we caught up with her outside the Oxfam shop.
Hazel beeped quite few cars and lorries and white vans on the way home as they were determined to cut her up. They obviously see her car as something very slow and unthreatening.
Home now and a quick lunch of pancakes, egg and beans. They have been out in the garden as it's so springlike. Archie has been weeding and sweeping path and Hazel burned all the accumulated card in her mexican stove.

Book Sale

Walked into town this morning despite the frozen pavements. It wasn't as bad as it felt - not as slippy as last week. The library book sale was still on so I got a few things including some world music from Kenya and Spain on CD and a DVD of a strange film called Milwaukee Minnesota and described as "hilariously funny" on the cover- we shall see. Bruce Dern is in it but not heard of the other actors. It also has some extras including a directors commentary with Alan Mindel and "Catching Fish" game that sounds intriguing!

Not much else in the way of bargains. Nice sunny day- it soon warmed up and felt rather overdressed in my duffle coat and snow boots.

Archie eventually got up in the afternoon. He's becoming a bit of a night owl since half term hols. started. He's been making flash turorials for You Tube.

Better make some gravy as Hazel will be home soon and the sausage rolls and whats left of the nut roast need a bit of liquid.

Leek Man Strikes Again!

Look at that silly hat. Even the Norwegians thought it funny and they wear some odd headgear. On holiday it's fine but never in England! Unless it really gets cold but it seems to be warming up. Another lovely bright sunny day today. Ideal boot sale weather, unfortunately there wasn't any around here. The first of the year is next week when I expect it will be p***ing down!
Hazel de-frosted the fridge and freezer today and a chunk of ice that could sink the Titantic dropped out of it and had to be manuoevered into the garden with a fork lift truck. No, not really - a slight exaggeration. But a thrid of the fridge WAS ice so we had loads more space afterwards and so Hazel had to go out to Aldi and get some more stuff to fill it up. Even Archie was lured out of his bedroom and away from Rune Scape to sweep the garden path and go into town for some new slippers.
I stayed in to add some Highlife from Ghana to the blog and watch part of the African Cup of Nations( which Egypt won ). I also made a nut roast for dinner using the weird rubber "tin" I got for Xmas.

Ooh Me Eye!

Very amusing animation just found on a blog. Not sure who made it but will infestigate further.

It's from a blog called Wonderhorse.

Barry Wenden Visit

Delighted to find an e-mail from old art school chum Barry waiting for me yesterday morning saying he might pop over as he was nearby in Stockport at a meeting. So busied myself cleaning up and tidying a bit ( not that he'd notice ) incase he did show up. Eventually he did after a few TOm TOM diversions. It was like terrible sit-com , trying to give directions over the phone and Barry nowhere near where I thought he was! Anyway, eventually he got here and we had a nice chat as I cooked the dinner ( spinach and egg bake ) and caught up with the last 12 years or whatever it's been. Barry said he met Archie when he was a baby so that goes back a bit. Barry is still the same and he said I hadn't changed much either which was nice of him - a bit more snow on the roof but a boiler full of clinker. He told us some amusing stories about his travels in France and Clochemerle and the village life where he is head of the committee which brought The Vicar Of Dibley to mind.

Thankfully Hazel arrived home early and so was able to distract Barry while I finished off the vegetables and lay the table etc. Archie showed him his latest animations and we talked about the pro's and cons of the digital age.
It was very easy to get drawn into misty eyed reminiscences of our student days in Manchester and Archie must have been thinking " what a couple of boring old codgers!"

Around 7 he had to head back to Northampton - a good 2 and half hour drive he said. We promised to visit in the Summer but can't see Hazel driving that far!

Marbury Walk

Went for a nice walk in Marbury yesterday afternoon despite the biting arctic wind. The usual duck feeding frenzy with the remains of a stale loaf. Mad dogs and englishmen and women with sticks in their mouths diving in the icy lake.
The bird hide was very busy with tits, finches, blackbirds, a woodpecker, two sqirrels and a rabbit. We expected them to break into a Disney song and dance routine for our benefit but they didn't. A cheeky robin came up very near and I was able to take a few close-ups of him.
Then to the pet shop to buy a log stuffed with goodies for Wilfred. Hazel went in the "interiors" shop next door to buy some candles and laugh at the weird ornaments that they expect you to buy - garden gnome lamps, Liberace's candle-bras and other hideous kitcshy stuff.

On Saturday we went to the cinema in Knutsford to see "I Am Legend" which Archie wanted to see on the recommendation of a school chum. It was two hours of sheer torture- don't go even if you are a big Will Smith fan, it's awful!

Hazel went out this morning to clear the car windows of frost and mistakenly sprayed herself in the face with noxious de-icer - she said it made her smell of cat wee.

National Potato Day

I think Monday is National Potato Day so in celebration of this wonderful versatile vegetable I have chosen this collage "Couch Potato" as the start of todays bloggage. I do hope you will all tell me about your potato adventures . I plan to roast a few tonight and tomorrow maybe some mash with lots of butter. Yum!
Hazel has dusted off the folding potato stand from the shed in readiness. Oh no- it's the stand for Archie's keyboard. His piano teacher Bruce has told him that having the keyboard on the floor isn't really conducive to practicing ones scales and chords etc.

It's pretty icy this morning and the pavements are tracherous- reminding me of the slippy walks in Norway recently. The overnight snow has melted and re-frozen which makes things worse. Even so, I slipped along to the newsagents to get the Guardian which has a free DVD of Eisenstein's "Battleship Potatokin" inside! This ofcourse is the Russian classic film made in 1925 about a riot by sailors when their potato ration was cut. It includes the famour scene on the Odessa steps when the helpless citizens are shot with spud guns by the Tsarist police.

Comics

I used to make comics back in the 80's and 90's, mostly for mail art 'zines or projects. Seeing Joe's nice cartoon/drawings at webcomics.com ( see previous posted comments ) I tried to upload some of mine too but the computer kept crashing so I have given up and will add some to my blogs instead.

Norway Film

Hazel took all these film snippets and Ive just cobbled them together and added a soundtrack as the original seems to vanish for some reason I can't quite fathom!
In it you see a clip of the train journey ( not steam ) to Lillehammer passed the frozen Lake Mjosa then a candlelit Esther's house which isn't that gloomy and lots of laughing and giggling- more trains and then a mistake as Hazel attemts to snap Esther's lovely pizza she made on our arrival.

We can't quite imagine that we went now a week or so later - seems a bit like a dream. Back to reality. Hazel has been washing and ironing like mad to catch up with the back-log from our week away. Archie is back on Rune Scape. I have been catching up with a few blogs but not this one. Some new pages on Boot Sale Sounds. Have been to town a couple of times to check out the charity shops and market but no bargains to be found though everything seems so much cheaper after Norway.
Found a DVD about Hannah Hawkswell and her lonely life up in the Yorkshire Dales running a sheep farm on her own back in the 70's.She became quite a celebrity and her fortunes changed after that programme and she wrote book of her life and went to New York etc. Nice story.

It's been quite mild here - sort of grey and overcast today. Might go and feed the ducks as Archie has bought a whole white loaf from Aldi to fling at them.

Kunstbanken

Hazel Jones posing at the entrance to her exhibition at the Kustbanken gallery in Hamar, Norway. She only expected a small room and found she had three small rooms to fill and eventually by some clever arrangement and deviousness got a further room with a TV to play her DVD she had taken along! Not bad considering the work just took up part of a suitcase ( the 17 photos were sent ahead by air ).

Here's Hazel with a selection of her "found objects" used for inspiration - the icing nozzles, the string cutter, the padlocks and keys, the pipe cleaners etc. mostly all found in charity shops and flea markets and some sent by kind friends overseas.

Archie demonstrating a tin foil compactor I think?
Or it could be a pea polisher!Hazel with the box of "string too small for use" that was the main inspiration for latest sets of gadgets and metal objects for holding, storing, winding string. They all sounded very exotic translated into Norwegian for the leaflet and amused the gallery staff no end as they tried to figure out what words would be appropriate!

Norway

Just back from a nice week in Norway, helping Hazel put up her exhibition in the Kunstbanken Gallery in Hamar. We stayed with our good friends Esther and family nearby. It took longer to put up the exhibition than Hazel first thought but despite the setbacks were able to enjoy some days out in the beautiful Norwegian countryside. We had previously only experianced Norway's natural wonders in the summer and this was out first visit in the depths of Winter. Around Xmas it was apparently 15 below zero so we had taken many layers and stocked up with thermal underwear and appropriate gloves, scarves and other woolies but it turned out to be one of the mildest January's ever and raining! The rain froze so the pavements were quite trecherous! It's a wonder any of us didn't fall over during our stay but managed a few nifty dance steps!

Above is Hazel on one of our "days off" at the end of our stay up in the hills around Hamar where it was snowier and more like what we imagined it would all look like. We spent a lovely day sledging and careering down hills on various toboggony craft. Below Archie is building a snowball from part of a glacier!
Two days before we went to Lillehammer by train which was similar and very cold but crunchy underfoot. Went to the Art Gallery or Kultur Haus or whatever it was called but they were changing exhibitions so we got in free so see some amateurish daubs from the permenant collection. Hazel bought a nice folk art looking tapestry from the only charity shop in the area for her Mom. I looked through some old Norwegian records and tapes but none caught my eye and they were rather expensive.
Hazel also found some metal gadgets for her blog - some old xmas tree candle holders.

The exhibition looked great and Hazel was surprised to find she had four rooms to fill and not the one she expected! Somehow with devilish cunning and inter-active enginuity she managed to fill the space very well. Some more about that tomorrow. I have earache due to cabin pressure so better add more when I feel less jet- lagged and deaf!

The Dancing Pea

A new animation by Archie hot off the press.

Limbo

The last few days have been a bit of a blurr. I can't remmeber much about them except that the weather has been very dull and grey, drizzly and depressing. Archie went off to Durham on a school trip overnight and stayed in a creaky house just after going on a "ghost tour" of the old town in a hailstorm. Trying to illicit anmore information is like trying to get blood out of a stone. One is confronted by Kevin the teenager. Due mainly to tiredness- staying up til 4 in the morning talking.
Hazel is back at college and all the drama and stress that involves. The stories she tells make your ears curl and I couldn't possibly tell them here which is a shame as they would liven up this dull blog quite well!

Went into town yesterday and tried to exchange Hazel's new ipod for another as this one seems to freeze up every five minutes. The Mr. Bean type character in Currys said it was easy to fix - juts go to the Apple website and download the relevant software - he made it seem so easy and we were idiots to be bothering him with this small matter.

Found some old silent movies on DVD and video in a charity shop. "Birth Of A Nation" by D.W. Griffiths and two features by Harold Lloyd "The Freshman" and "Safety Last".

Ukulele Orch. OF Great Britain - Wuthering Heights

Fun & Games

The Timberwise chaps came today to rip out our mouldy skirting boards and squirt some gunk behind them and drill a few holes etc. which disrupted our quiet morning somewhat. Everything is covered in a fine layer of dust now and it took ages to put the book shelves back and try and remember where everything was. Typically ended up with a few books left over and no spaces! Now Archie is tidying his room and sorting out stuff for the charity shop to make way for all the xmas stuff.
crash bang!
There is a smell of plastic filler and sawn wood in the air. Hopefully now the damp will be banished from the corner behind the TV.. I painted the wall again to cover the mouldy mildew stains. Nice.
Above is a collage I made for a theme of "games" at Scrapiteria but too late I am. New theme of "Goddess" already stated it is. I seem to be turning into a Star Warts character I am.
Feel a bit in limbo in this period after New Years and before all the decorations and lights come down this weekend. Looking forward to everything being normal again.

First Day Of New Year

Woken without a headache after several glasses of rum and coke which is amazing. All I remember from last night is the drizzle and looking out the front door to see copious explosions and rockets at midnight and Hazel in a conga line going down the street with some drunken neighbours. I quickly retreated to the safety of the living room and the last of Jools Hollands Hootenanny. Seasick Steve being the stand-out this year.

Hazel has gone into her workshop today to finish off a few things. Archie slept until the afternoon and is watching some animation. Uploaded some new tracks to Boot Sale Sounds using my new toy.

Looking back in rhyme to 2007 with the aid of my diary I see that-

January started similarly with rain.
Now the months come round again.
My resolution for a collage a day
Started well but faded away.
It was the Regal's last show
Our cinema closing was quite a blow
Extras at end of month for zombie flick
In the old Regal before it got sick.

February started badly
No Regal auction lots sadly.
Nasty flu' attack which lays me low
Hazel off to Berlin she goes
Now really feeling rough
Not sleeping well enough
Up and down like a yo-yo
Crying and then a big ho-ho!

March is very much the same
Someone has re-wired my brain!
Thankfully help is nearly here
Sleeping pills take away the fear
Writing lost and lots of lists
Nearly sent me round the twist
I tell the ducks on Shackerly Mere
The fisrt boot of the Spring is here!

O dear! I can't keep this up for much longer! I think I'll stop while I'm ahead. Other highlights included getting book printed at LULU which was a tortuous affair I'll not repeat in a hurry! Archie started piano lessons at Bruces down the road. I tried to learn but realised I was incapable of playing any kind of musical instrument- even the ukulele ties my fingers in knots! Going to see the film "Dead City" in Knutsford was good too- mainly because we were in it but if you blinked you missed us!

It's been quite an eventful year thinking about it but traumatic at times. Hoping for a less stressful 2008 for all of us!

Goodbye 2007

Won't be sorry to see the back of 2007 as it was pretty ropey , especially in March when I was ill for a while. Some highlights though were our 10 days in Llandudno and seeing Ken Dodd, seeing all the family in the summer in Basildon and at my neice's wedding and seeing Archie's latest animation at the Cornerhouse on the big screen. I'm sure there were other things too. Oh yes, and meeting up with my old chum Trevor in Stafford after a gap of eight years and visiting our old friends Roger and Jilly in Sussex before they moved to London.


This week we have been to the sales but didnt find many bargains. Northwich isn't renowned for its shopping experiance!
Archie has gone over to his old friend Jacks today to clump about his allotment in big muddy boots. Hazel has been in a cleaning and tidying frenzy as we have visitors tomorrow - some friends of hers from Walsall and Cardiff coming down for the day for dinner and a chin wag.

I have been playing with my new toy - a USB turntable which sits ontop of the PC and you can turn your vinyl into MP3's and put therm on your blog - or MY blog. It's great and a lot easier than the CD recorder used to be though can't hide away in my room like I used to.

Good Elf To You All!

Merry Crumble and Good Elf to all my readers! All three of you! I should have a photo here but I'm busy stuffing the nut roast and boiling some sprouts to a mushy pulp.
Maybe add one later.

Tony and Penny gave Granma some novelty crackers to pull today. They had numbered whistles inside and here we are trying to play "Jingle Bells".

Slippy Ducks

Zombie Crimbo!

Had a fun evening last night at the premiere of the zombie film, "Dead City",we were in as extras last year at a small bijou cinema near us in Knutsford. We parked next to a graveyard too which seemed appropriate! We thought of dressing up for the occasion in some zombie make-up but luckliy we didn't as nobody else had come as a zombie so we would have stuck out like sore thumbs!
It was a charity ticket event so lots of people in bow ties and suits and party frocks. We shuffled in and sat at the back with a free orange juice and poster. The film was great for a first effort by a 22 year old and fun to see us staggering around the old Regal cinema - a good shot of me looking rather like Quasimodo!
A few "zombies" lurching about afterwards at midnight as we returned to the car , mostly drunks from nearby pubs! Luckliy none of them wanted to eat our brains. We drove home through the icey mist shrouded Cheshire lanes looking out for odd figures lumbering and groaning into the headlights.

This morning we braved the cold to venture into town for some ear infection drops from Boots as Archie has been complaining of a sore ear these last two days. The lady in the chemist gave us a phone number to ring as they didn't like to advise us. Got some extra bread and Sunday Times. Then to Shackerly with a whole fresh loaf to feed the skidding ducks and ice-breaking swans on the lake which was mostly solid eccept for bits of a channel round the edge where frantic water fowl had broken it up into slivers. The baby swans took the lead being chivvied by the parents who pecked their offspring from behind in a most nasty manner. Some amusement when the ducks slid about after the bread chunks. Ah the simple things of life!

Xmas is Upon Us!

Archies animation for Xmas is HERE. You must be warned though it's not for people of a nervous disposition! I added a soundtrack to try and cover Santa's groans.

Teenager's eh?
Meanwhile the cards have all been sent out and the presents wrapped and the cake stirred and mince pies eaten and another load made and they were eaten too! Its not even Boxing Day yet and I feel bloated and unhealthy. Goodness knows what I'll feel like next week!
We popped into town this morning to get a few "bits" and I got my Christmas haircut. I look rather chilly round the old lug'oles. My neck feels itchy with all the clippings. Then to LIDL to get some de-icer for the car but they didnt sell it but managed to fill a trolley with all manner of junk- biscuits, those german cakes, beer, wine, custard, pickles and not forgetting the baby cheeses.

Archie is just home from school complaing about his teachers. The one that made them watch half of "TROY" on video yesterday and then didnt play the rest today but made them watch "Friends". Very educational!
The house across the street where Mr & Mrs Mather used to live is being gutted by a builder. Sounds like he will do a good job and restore the old windows and improve the look of the place which was pretty awful. Its been empty for years so rising damp and leaky roof need to be seen to. He's just filled one skip full of MDF and crappy kitcen cabinets etc. and another has just arrived to be filled.

More Ducks!

Hazel wondered why I hadn't uploaded some photos of the ducks and the walk the other day so here they are. Actually this is more sticks than ducks! Choosing pooh sticks for the bridge a bit further along. Hazel is wearing her new coat made from an old duvet. She says it's incredibly warm- just right for those freezing train journeys to Manchester.

There was one very tall and lanky duck which made us laugh but it seems to have wandered out of the frame. There was also a huge baby swan which seemed to be eating everything he could get his beak into- dogs, squirrels, small children etc.

Walked to town and back yesterday to try and post some cards and packets but the queue was coming out of the PO into the street so I gave up. Will try again this morning. It was the last day of posting abroad I think so some people might get there cards a bit late. Sorry!

Duck Feeding

Here's the wonderfully anarchic Killer Rabbits that sadly broke up about ten years ago. We never actually got round to seeing them live which is a constant regret in my life. I think about it every day - if only I'd gone to see them when I had the chance!
Luckily we have this snippet of their act that Roger Rabbit just sent me.

Went for a walk yesterday as it was quite nice day for the most part. Went to Shackerly to fling our unwanted dry crusts at passing mallards. The seagulls usually grabbed it, followed by a goose and then a swan and then a coot, until eventually a weird daisy chain of feathered creatures flew off into the distance. I made that bit up.
It was good to get out into the fresh air. We were going stir crazy inside- trapped for two days by the constant rain and wind.
Trapped wind can be very nasty.

We finished off enveloping most of our crimble cards so will have spend a fortune of stamps today to post them all. We made all the cards- maybe we should have made all the stamps too and saved some money!

Turner Prize

A day trip to Liverpool to see the Turner Prize exhibition with Hazel and some students from the 1st year. They went by train from Manchester but we made our own way there via Hartford Station. It only takes 35 minutes. It wasa horrible blustery wet day though and thankfully the journey there was pretty good despite the odd shower. Hazel bought herself a coat/duvet from Gap. It was for Norway really but it was so cold she decided to wear it straight away! I wish I'd bought one too as I was freezing and my old coat smelled like a wet dog by the end of the day!

The Tate was pretty empty- not surprising with the cost a cuppa and a not chocolate being the better part of a fiver! Ate a our sneaky sandwiches under the table like felons. The Turner Prize gallery was incredibly dull and cheerless - rather like walking into a prison. I hated it all and all the students , bless 'em, hated it too.
It was a releif to walk downstairs and look at some more interesting stuff in the other galleries. Even the Bridget Riley's looked more lively after the stuff upstairs.

Came out to be blown back into the Maritime Museum by horizontal hail and biting wind. My umbrella turned into an origami vampire bat and nearly flew away. My face felt like it had been slapped with a frozen haddock.

Good to get home after running the gauntlet. Dodging the Liverpool traffic was bad enough. The place still resembles a giant building site and every other person we passed had a Wimpy jacket and hard hat on!

Exposures

Our annual trip to Manchester's Exposures Student Film Fest. yesterday where Archie had one of his animations shown on the big screen which is always a thrill. Got the train into Manchester at some unearthly hour when it's still dark. Sun just coming up as we got into Piccadilly station. Had a naughty breakfast in the college canteen. Archie piled a big mound of beans onto his toast and added scrambled egg and two fried potato wedges! He's a growing lad.
The film showing lasted about an hour which is just long enough. Interesting mixture as always with plasticine animation from schools and documentaries from older students etc. Archies stood up well and got a good response and they all laughed in the right places. He was a bit nervous but enjoyed the spotlight I think. Afterwards went for dutch pancakes and chocolate sauce in the open air Xmas market. Shame about the drizzle!

Hazel went back to work but we looked round the shop s for a bit. Archie was keen to drool over the Mac's in the Mac Shop in the Arndale Centre. Had fun looking at Wilf on the iPhones and leaving his twitchy nose on the desktop for others to find. Asked about microphones - chap was very helpful and even looked on the web for us to see if they had cheaper ones elswhere. Got 1-30 pm train back intime for tea and toasted bagel.

WEakly Doings

Another week zipped by. Just back from the Lostock church Xmas fair. Got a bag of junk including some old videos for 20p- a complete Flash Gordon serial from the 40's with Ming The Merciless! Hazel wasn't impressed. Also a DVD of Three Amigos with Steve Martin etc. Also 20p- silly prices. A battered paperback I bought of Black Dwarf scripts was 30p ? Barmy!
Archie won some awful gifts on the tombola stall which I suspect Auntie Audrey will find in her stocking this year. I had a go and got 5 blank corks and one had 47 written on it- this turned out to be a pair of gloves made from mouses ear'oles ( as my old Dad used to say ).
Hazel won the "higher/lower" card game with some other chap standing in for Bruce Forsyth who had a prior engagement.
Granma found some tawdry postcards and Audrey bought a big cream cake which we ate later with some tea. Very nice it was too. Freshly made this morning.

Earlier in the day I went into town for a walk but didnt find much - some stocking fillers I can't mention here and collected the photos from Boots for our Xmas card. 7p each which is pretty good. Cropped rather badly though which was annoying. My fault for not measuring the sides properly.
I folded and cut 60 cards on the dining table. Padded ofcourse with some card. Glued on all the photos. 40 more for when we get more card.

Watching the recording of "Later" earlier with The Who - who were o.k. and Reverend and The Makers who were good and a great banjo player called Bella Fleck? Nice to see Robert Wyatt on there too being interviewed.

Fickle Flickerings

Another week nearly gone and not much to show for it. I rejoined Flickr again which was probably a bad move. Nice to share some new photos though and a few old ones from the Leigh Jones Archive. I'll try and get a Flickr widget or whatever they are called at the side here to click on.
Went for walk into town this morning. Very frosty but lovely bright sunshine. I didn't find much just a video of some strange puppet animation with Prof. Stanley Unwin as a vicar who fights evil secret agents and spies. Sadly he doesn't do any of his famous gobbledegook talk - not in the bit I watched anyway. I can see why it never caught on! It's by Gerry Anderson who made Thunderbirds, Super Car, Space 1999 etc.
Made a chilly bean pot crossed with a curry tonight. Also we had chinese vegetable spring rolls that Hazel bought at Morrisons yesterday. It was a weird mixture but seemed to work.

Happy Birthday Wilf!

Its' Wilfred's birthday today, or the anniversary of the day Hazel and Archie bought him from the pet shop - a year ago. He celebrated by dragging a seedy cake topped with a slice of banana down to the slope to his little house.
Otherwise it's been a dreadfully dull, wet and miserable day.

Yesterday was better and we went for a walk to Marbury and fed the ducks. A new bird feeding station had been built nearer to the hide so we got a better view of the robins, tits and finches flying down for the bits of crust Hazel put on the platform.
Afterwards went to LIDL to get some groceries whilst Archie went in the pet supermarket to get hamster treats. Fascinating eh?

Behind With My Doings

This week seems to have whistled by and here it is- Friday again.
Winter really has started this week with very cold frosty starts to the day - mostly in the mornings. Hazel had to scrape ice of the windscreen yesterday but today wasn't so bad. Too cold to point and my efforts to smash a hole in the concrete for a new gate post came to nothing. Really we need a big sledge hammer or a pneumatic drill - throwing large rocks at it was pretty hopeless!
Today I did some shopping in town- found a great Popeye DVD with some really old Fleischer Brothers films. I think we have some of them already but a couple I dont remember. Also Lee & Herrings "Fist Of Fun-Live" on video which isnt as funny as I remember them being in the mid 90's. Alright for 20p though. Got a pile of books and CD's from the Salvation Army shop which was having a sale. From the market book stall got a great old 60's "HOMES" magazine with lots of collage material in - ugly rooms to fill with strange people and perculier objects. I have a head start here!

Discovered , after a few phone calls, that DHL will charge 94 quid to send a parcel to Norway ( door to door ) but only 31 quid at the post office, which I thought was expensive anyway!

Seasonal Artistic Disorder

Hazel took this photo of the woodpecker on our nut feeder. It's a bit blurry but these digital cameras are useless at distance shots through slightly grubby windows. We've not seen him since. The bouncy squirrel came again yesterday and was doing all kinds of acrobatics on the bird feeders- hanging by his tail etc. He managed to chew through a bag of peanuts and they all cascaded to the ground and all the birds swooped down and carried them off! Doh!

Good news about the zombie film we were extras in - will be shown over Christmas at local tiny cinema in Knutsford - a charity premiere no less. I expected it to go straight to video so a chance to see it on the big screen will be a treat ( I think?)

Went for a walk yesterday before lunch to get rid of a bag of mouldy bread rolls at Shackerley. The ducks,geese,swans, and sea gulls were apparently starving and quite a feeding frenzy went on 'til the whole lot went in about 5 minutes - feathers flying everywhere! I think some of those ducks are zombies as they have a funny look in their beady little eyes.

Charity Market

It was the annual charity market in town today. I went with Hazel despite the drizzle. It was a pretty dissapointing affair with mostly ticketed prize stalls ( what the devil are they called? ) and old tat decanted from the charity shops. I bought a CD of music from South Africa. Not sure what Hazel bought. She had her eye on a folding cake stand but I sneered at it -later it had a price label of twenty quid which seemed a bit steep. Hazel went off to get a smaller folder for her photos to send to Norway and I did the rounds of the other shops- Help The Aged, Oxfam, Age Concern, Red Cross, Scope etc..

Hazel took loads of photos of the fireworks in Verdin Park- this is one of the best.
I painted the rest of the bathroom as it was drizzling again when we got home. Will have to do the "pointing" tomorrow if the weather is better.
We are back onto "Grim Fandango" on the PC. Archie is further on than me. I got stuck half way through last time I played it.
Hazel is in her workshop this afternoon - bashing some bits of metal into shape.
Archie said his day at school was dull but not as horrible as he feared. He's off on a school trip to Liverpool tomorrow so hopefully that will be a bit more fun. He's really down on school at the moment. I felt the same when I was his age- couldnt wait to leave.
Time to go and make a fish pie.

24th Anniversary

I can't quite believe it's nearly a quarter of a century that Hazel and I have been together, well since our first date at a bonfire party in Alsager. It was a couple of years later that we actually moved in together and that as we say is history. Archie thinks it was ancient history ofcourse- all those new romantics and the miner's strike - when they still had a thing called conductors on the buses! Those were the days!

Hazel gave me a lovely "string collector" badge/brooch thingy to put on my lapel made by her in her workshop. Its brass or copper or nickel- not sure which and stamped with the words "Bear Feeding" which is what we soppily called our first date for some reason - long forgotten in the mists of time. Hazel will no doubt remind me - silly old duffer that I am!
Also a box of chocs. I made Hazel this card. She said "Are you going to shoot me?" No reason for the target on the head - just a nod towards one of my heroes Joseph Cornell. I also gave Hazel a weird metal gadget I found on the market- a pipe cleaner in its own tubular metal scabbard.
Tony Eve took this nice family portait at my 60th. although I do look rather mad!

Bonfires and Sparklers

It's that time of year again when we re-enact the Somme and the long nights are filled with the barrage of cannon fire and the smell of cordite! Last night it was the Verdin Park spectacular with a big crown gathered in the bonfire light to see 5, 000 quids worth go up in smoke in 15 minutes. It was worth every penny for the guy mister. The addition of some half dozen tiny hot air ballons made it even more charming as they followed each other up into the starry sky and lot lost amid the flashing lights of planes landing or leaving Manchester airport.
We stood a bit further over this year as not to be deafended by the roundabouts and swingthingy fairground ride blasting out drum and bass.

Today we went to Sainsburys to get some stew making stuff and nice poppy seed bread to dip into it. We usually go to tescos or Aldi but Sainsburys made a change of sorts and was very busy. Thud bang whizz fizz! and that was just the items falling off the trolley into the back of the car.

Granma and Audrey came round for another bonfire and smaller display of fireworks at 5 today. they boguht most of them and the bread pudding. I made the stew and the sausage rolls ( from a packet actually ). It was pretty nippy but the rain held off long enough for the roman candles and raindrop clusters etc. were let off and sparklers waved and the guy that archie made got burnt. Poor old Guy. he didn't last 5 minutes. Archie melted a plastic soldier and then we went in for food and hot drinks.

Woodpecker!

There was a woodpecker on the birdfeeders hanging in the garden this morning. Hazel could hardly get the words out as she gazed transfixed out of the window whilst typing something- "It's a a a thingy!" I didnt even know they ate peanuts? Must be a shortage of weevils to peck for- or whatever insects they eat. We see them and mostly hear them in the woods when out walking but never dangling from the garden shed! I tried to take a photo but alas they all turned out blurry in my haste and no tele-photo lens. hazel took some too but she's not uplaoded them yet. Hope she had better luck. I shot out the bathroom window too but they were even worse - atmostpheric glimpses of leaves and twigs.

This is another of Archie's collages from the lovely "Architecture" book he is making for school.
Yesterday I wandered into town for a walk and got a few things including two videos- Clerks and Come back Jimmy Dean by Robert Altman. Hazel borrowed an interesting DVD from a fellow tutor called "Tin Tin Et Moi" by a Danish director about his meeting and taped interview in the 70's with Herge- Tin Tin's inventor/illustrator. The whole film has been constructed around the audio tape with animations, illustrations, photos and interviews with people close to Herge a bit like the film about Ray Johnson.

The Timberwise chap came and looked at the damp patch and said it probably was something to do with the gate post outside that was leeching rain water in- along with poor pointing. He promised to get the skirting board and behind it replaced if we did the poiting and gate post. Not sure if we get our money back for the survey though as it seems to be only partly their fault under the terms of the guarentee. Fingers crossed. We might try and do the jobs ourselves as pointing seems easy enough if rather tedious.