a little ivy

I just finished watching the BBC drama/documentary Vincent van Gogh: Painted in Words. It's really very good. Such a sad story and the combination of it and the nostalgia it awoke in me left me in tears. I used to paint and draw. Years and year ago. I had an amazing teacher who inspired and provided freedom and space. When we asked her opinion about a work or what we should do to improve it she always said, "You are the artist, what do you think?" I learned later that such a teacher is a rare and precious gift.

But we moved away and besides leaving this amazing teacher behind my time was also taken with school and work and a long commute to both. And we lived in such a little house that we were all on top of each other and there was no space for creativity. So all my art supplies stayed in boxes. Every once in a while I'd pull out a sketch book and some pencils, when the urge grew too loud to ignore. But after time it became easier and easier to ignore, until it was hardly ever there. And now I go years at a time without even sketching.

It's been nearly 13 years since that move and in all other respects it has been one of the best things that ever happened to me individually and to my family as a whole. But there still is, locked away inside of me, an artist. An artist who longs to feel the swirl of oil paint on my brush and smell linseed oil and follow the curves and lines of my subject and blend just the right shades of colour. An artist's whose eyes still know how to see.

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The closing shot of the film is of van Gogh's grave in France which is covered in ivy. At my last lesson my art teacher gave me a clipping of ivy. She had a large, lovely plant of it grown from a clipping she had taken from his grave and smuggled through customs in her bra. I don't have much of a green thumb and my little clipping thrived for a while but died about four years ago. But I still have a little sketch I did of it when it was young and green and I will never forget what it represents.

veg box

It's so much fun to receive my fruit and veg box that I thought I'd make a little feature of it here on the blog. What I got and what I made with it. This is my box from two weeks ago as it's been rather busy around here. I had cabbage and cauliflower and grapes and all kinds of goodness.
A conversation with someone at my new job at Debenhams inspired the idea of stuffing my beautiful red pepper. I haven't done a proper grocery shop for a while so didn't have rice or ground beef or the typical ingredients for stuffing. No worries! I cooked up a bunch of veg; carrots, cauliflower, onion, garlic, cabbage, mixed it all together and stuffed it with that.
Pretty tasty!
There was plenty of extra "stuffing."
Which I had for lunch one day with oatcakes and for dinner another with sausages and the last of the sparkling pink lemonade which I bought as a 4th of July treat.
Nothing too exciting or fancy. Just simple, hearty, healthy meals. That's good stuff!

like a popsicle on the 4th of July

Just thinking about fireworks, and fireflies, and freedom...

Source 1 & 2 Source 3

front garden: before and after

Our front garden was quite a site. The whole house is rather neglected by our landlady which is a shame because it could be wonderful if properly looked after. When I came back in August and directed the taxi driver to the house he said, "Are you sure?" The hedge was overgrown and the garden full of rubbish! The boys trimmed the hedge back to a more respectable length during the winter and I do my best to keep the rubbish picked up (the wind seems to blow it all right in our gate). But with the warmer weather things had gotten somewhat out of hand. So first, a trip to the £ Shop where I spent £3 on supplies:This is the garden beforehand:

And this is it after:
We don't have any sort of a rake to get up the dead leaves and I've put about as much work into it as I really want to already. But still, I think it's a vast improvement!
I cleared one big bin bag of rubbish and two of weeds. I aerated the soil by hand and planted flower seeds along the path and under the windows. It was the very end of the planting season and we're moving out at the end of August so we'll see if anything comes up/if we get to see them bloom. But it is a very satisfying thing to have accomplished anyway. And I have a very satisfied feeling going in and out now!

I think the garden would be so lovely if the rocks were taken out and grass planted, the hedge tended to, lavender and other lovely plants grown in the borders and a lovely bench away in the back added in. If all the improvements I've imagined for this house were carried out it would be such a lovely, cozy home...

teacher gifts

It's been a long time since I've given teacher gifts... that's not exactly what these are, but it's a close enough description. I made them for the ladies who work at the nursery where I've been on placement this year. They are tulips and citrus leaves from 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet and I made them into brooches. I wasn't 100% happy with how they turned out, but I'm pretty fussy and I rarely am with projects like these. Time, thought, and effort went into them so hopefully the ladies will enjoy them.

I have really enjoyed my year on placement. The children are all wonderful and the ladies have been great to work with. I'm not saying goodbye to them all as I'll be working there over the summer which I'm greatly looking forward to!

Today was the last day for most of the students so they gave us our thank you cards for the year. They know that I like butterflies so the card had a butterfly, they gave me a butterfly magnet (not knowing that I also have a thing for magnets) and one of the classroom assistants I've worked most closely with gave me a lovely glass candleholder with painted flowers and a butterfly. Like I said, these ladies are wonderful.

I mentioned that I had something for them but decided to wait till my last day next week because the teacher in my room has been off sick but should be back next week. I wrote out the card with her in mind and hopefully I'll get to give it to them when we're all together instead of everyone scattered about the building like we were this afternoon.

It was the end of the year prayer service today and it was so lovely. The children brought in their amy files (binders filled with pictures of them and artwork they've done which shows all the progress they've made this year) to be blessed by the priest. It was almost like an offering. I thought it was lovely. It's a Catholic nursery and I did feel a bit of a sore thumb being the only one who doesn't know the Hail Mary. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about all the focus on Mary, but I do love the rituals and rhythms of it all. Anyway...

I'm kind of just rambling on as I'm tired and should really go to bed... just seems a bit sad as it's 9:30 on a Friday night. I was supposed to go out for drinks with some friends to celebrate things like the end of the school year and chapters of dissertations and theses (is that the correct plural of thesis?) completed and my new job, but when it came to it I wasn't feeling well and it was cold and rainy out and I'm whining now but I just didn't feel like getting fancy and going out. It's been a long couple of weeks and I've got a long day ahead tomorrow. I just need to suck it up and go to bed.

All right, going now.

fruit and veg

Recently a friend gave me a lovely present... a gift voucher for a produce delivery service. I've been wanted to get a "veg box" for a long time now but just never managed to get around to it. I really do want to be someone who eats seasonally and locally (within reason, if that's okay to say) and I think a box scheme is a great way to do that.

This particular company supplements the seasonal/local produce with a few not quite so local things and you're always guaranteed to have staples (potatoes, carrots, onions, apples) in your box. All in all I think it's a fabulous scheme. For £12.50 I get enough fruit and vegetables to last me for two weeks delivered to my door.

This was my last delivery. (I think it's pretty safe to say that the bananas and pineapple were not grown in Northern Ireland.) But I'm pretty sure that the carrots, spring/green onions (I can no longer remember which is the American and which the British term) and broad beans were.
Also, hiding way down in the bottom were some absolutely delicious Comber potatoes. They were definitely grown just a few miles down the road and they were lovely!

This is one of the meals I made: I boiled the potatoes and then sautéed them a wee bit in butter. I had never had, much less cooked, broad beans before. In the States they're called fava beans. I just shelled them and lightly boiled them. You can take the whitish skins off if you want and then they look just like edamame (and taste pretty similar) but that seemed like too much effort for too little return. I had the salmon in the freezer from a time I found it on clearance. I marinated it in soy sauce and lightly fried it. Yum!

Last Tuesday evening I was rushing out the door for my Irish class just as it was starting to rain with big, heavy drops. I was struggling to get my umbrella up when something in our neighbour's dumpster (or skip as they're called here) caught my eye. They are having their house redone. Based on how long the builders have been there and how many loads of rubbish have been carted away I think they're totally gutting it and redoing everything! Anyway, I noticed that the builders had put a bookcase in the skip. Now, I've been wanting a bookcase for ages but haven't had the do-re-mi to purchase one. So I rushed right back inside and had my housemate help me pull it out.

It really was probably not a bookcase but a set of bathroom shelves... I don't care. I cleaned it up, which took a while it was filthy, and set it up in my room. All of my books just fit and there's even space in the bottom cupboard for my baby sewing machine and a bit of yarn stash that didn't have anywhere else to go.

Here it is. I was going to say my first dumpster rescue, but that's not true I once rescued some fabulous wooden folding chairs from the dumpster in my apartment complex... But this is definitely my first "skip" rescue! And my books are so much happier now that they have a proper place to live instead of in stacks on the floor!

saturday

Today I woke up at four o'clock am. I worked from five until eleven, opening for the very first time. (Also, I had pancakes for breakfast.) I accidentally left my wallet at home. I found lots of goodies at the £ Shop, Tesco's, and Boots (after having gone home to retrieve my wallet). Incidentally, one of the hardest parts of living in another country is having to figure out all new brands of toiletries.

I participated in World Wide Knit in Public Day. Which, I have to be honest, didn't seem that much different than a normal Stitch 'n Bitch gathering, just we were in the museum cafe instead of Starbuck's. But we had a lovely time anyway. I came home, put all my shopping away, and made dinner. I had an orange and a grilled peanut butter and nutella sandwich. I ate it in my pyjama bottoms... in my bed... while watching a chick flick on my computer. (Don't hate.) It is now almost eight o'clock pm. I'm going to do my dishes and probably go straight to bed.

"Faith is believing that one of two things will happen. That there will be something solid for you to stand on or that you will be taught to fly."

I've been pretty quiet on here recently. I'm juggling school, work, and some other personal things and it's gotten to be quite a lot the last few weeks. I'll be back soon. Just wanted to share this quote which I read on a friend's facebook page. Seems to be where I'm living these days...

cherry cola candy sticks

For the last half hour I've been staring at the following sentence:

"The work of Lev Vygotsky has been hugely influential to early years practice, especially in understanding the role of the adult in supporting children's learning."

I am apparently incapable of adding anything to it. I have even put Mozart on in the background in hopes of helping my brain focus...

I feel a bit like Kevin, except instead of "Squirrel!" I'm being distracted by snacks, facebook, my own train of thought, and generally everything. Blaming my inability to focus on my allergies...

friday night and saturday

I was rather domestic this weekend. After working at the nursery on Friday I came home and crashed. I had plans to meet up with friends but they fell through. So I caught up on all my American Thursday night shows and then I made a big pot of what turned out to be amazing vegetable stew.It's onions and leeks and peppers and chilli and mushrooms and peas and carrots and sweet corn and celery and canned tomatoes and I served it over couscous and it was very happy.
On Saturday I met some friends at the market which is always fun and had lots of samples (hello Toffee Apple Bread, I love you!) and some freshly squeezed juice. Then I went into town and purchased an amazing find at the pound shop.
Look at these jars. They are nice and big and pretty. (I love glass!) and they were only £1 each! I've been wanted canisters for a while as flour and sugar stored in their bags does not send me to my happy place. I started with five, but I'm sure I'll be heading back for more!
Saturday afternoon was spent cleaning (boring) and baking (fun!). I made a double batch of banana bread and one half made a proper loaf (hiding in the background) and the other half made banana chocolate chip muffins. So happy! Saturday evening I babysat. Great to be back in the saddle again. British TV is just as bad on a Saturday night as American... Phineas and Ferb anyone?

my week

Monday: Woke up feeling poorly. Wrote up a language observation. Went to class. Made cream of broccoli soup.

Tuesday: College. Lunch at Bright's with girls from college. Answered lots of questions about America and shocked them with the realisation that I am "almost 30!" Class dismissed early. Locked out of house. Afternoon spent in coffee shop. Book group to discuss The Pickwick Papers.

Wednesday: Did Laundry. Used Microsoft Access for the first time in IT. Made play dough. Class dismissed early. Knitting group.

Thursday: Out on placement. Built lots of spaceships and had a picnic in the house corner. Knitting and audio book in the evening.

Friday: Out on placement. Trip to W5. Was a shop keeper in Tesco for much of the trip. Knitting and audio book in the evening. Still feeling poorly.

Saturday: Interview at McDonald's. Ran errands. Went to market. Knitting and audio book. Watched The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Sunday: Feeling a bit better. Church. Lunch with friends visiting from England. Prayer group. Church.

couldn't resist

I shouldn't being doing anything more than window shopping right now as I have yet to find a job. But I saw this on Etsy (for a good price even with international shipping) and I absolutely couldn't resist. I haven't bought any new clothing for months and months. And it's so gorgeous and wearable and very, very me. Thank you Sally Jane Vintage! I'm already planning outfits!

the books of 2010

Here they are, in no particular order, the books I read in 2010. It's not quite as many as I usually manage, but considering all that's happened in the last year, that one of them is War and Peace and that I'm studying I decided that 47 is a perfectly respectable number!