Beauty

Rolling waves worthy of the Atlantic ocean at Gansey this morning all with frothy white tops as the seahorses gallop in to shore. Gulls soar effortlessly over the bay outlined against the blue of the sky like children's drawings. Just across the road the lambs are all out in the fields now gambolling around their staid ewes with tails waggling behind them just like in the nursery rhyme BoPeep. All too short, this drive in to work each day, as we pass such wonderful scenery.

Rhiannon is busy doing the preliminary work for her Art GCSE and is on target and up to date with all her other subjects coursework, so she is feeling a lot happier - and feels she can concentrate on it now. She came in early with me again today. She is looking at her Further Education Options as well. I hope the school can offer her something appropriate for her. She would like to be with her friends I know, so hopefully the powers that be will put something together that suits them all.

Doug has laid the stepping stones in the garden - we chose a soft pinky sandstone colour which fits in with our mini "patio area"( which is such a small square of sandstone bricks that really can be called a patio at all)Looks quite good now though.

I'm looking forward to starting my Celebration Journal along with my friend Jamie in NYC, and several other like minded ladies. I have picked out my theme (I think) which is to be Time to Celebrate the season, and take the prompts from Jamie and adapt them to this. I have collected together my spring coloured cardstock and aim to use some of my stash that is just sitting around - stuff I bought when I first started scrapping before I had found my own style. I know that now I can mix and match these papers in a way I couldn't when I started scrapping and create something that is going to be in my style. We start on the first of March (tomorrow!! yippee) and go through til April 8th so it will include Easter.
Please feel free to join us - I will post the prompt and my page each day.

This was sent today by a friend - and so share it with all you beautiful women out there.

Audrey Hepburn’s Beauty Regime

 For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
 For lovely eyes. seek out the good in people.
 For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
 For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.
 For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
 People, even more than things, have to be restored, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never through out anyone.
 Remember, if you ever need a helping hand at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
 The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
 The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows.
 The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.

Pass this on to a least 5 beautiful women.

SWAPS - and winning

Manannan has his cloak spread wide this morning and we are drowning in mist – fog even - as I cannot see the sea as we drive by Gansey on the way in to school this morning. I always expect to hear the foghorn on mornings like this – but of course it is no longer operational – I miss it so – such an evocative sound, its deep horn was such a feature of the winter months when we first came here and I liked the way I knew it was misty and foggy before actually getting outside. Just a glimpse of the heron in flight this morning before he was swallowed by the fog and I certainly couldn't see his sentry rock as the mist was so dense here at the bottom of Fishers Hill. I am sure it will turn to real rain later as it certainly looks that way, and what the weatherman has forecast for us.
Life in school is full of vitality though - Our music and drama department are putting on a performance this term and the poster based on a competition we ran in school was printed yesterday and looks great. I have also been playing with a design for the programmes for the Drama department – which was fun for me to do. I have used a little bit from every entry in the poster competition, to make a border for the back of the programme and add a little detail in the inside pages – and though I say it myself it looks quite good! I do love the variety that my job offers me. These are just a few of the little pictures I have used. The are all the children's own work - and all lower school at that.
Came home today to find I won the fun Trendy Tuesday spot on the A Fancy Word for Simple blog. Thanks to a comment by Latharia for the comment otherwise I might not have known - I am totally stunned as I haven't actually posted much - though I did mean to link more to it as I have found the quotes really thought provoking and enjoyed reading others views on the same quote.


One of my mini books which I am sending to Artsymama in exchange for her artwork. I have never joined a swap before so I do hope she likes it. She is a very talented lady - extremely artistic and creative. I have enjoyed making it and took Spring as my inspiration.

SWAP

I'm so excited - I am taking part in my first ever SWAP!! I’ve always been a bit too shy to make comments on blogs etc to join in with this kind of thing but always felt it sounded such fun and until I took a couple of on line classes didn’t have confidence to do this. Just at the weekend I plucked up enough courage to express my willingness to join in and was delighted to get an email this morning telling me where too send my offering. I have made and completed a tiny book to send, so do hope she likes it. I themed it on spring. I will edit this post to add the pics later as blogger doesn't want to play nice!
Had a bit of sad news today - Liz, who was my Head of Faculty when I started at the school 7 years ago is very poorly. She has been fighting cancer since she took early retirement on health grounds some 3 or 4 years ago and has had another recurrence of the dread disease. She has decided now to have no more invasive treatment and is coming home. So very sad, we know that now it is only a matter of time as there is no more that can be done particularly as Liz is such a lovely, kind lady who welcomed me so warmly on my first day at the school - I had made a huge decision to try to improve the quality of life for my family - got a job in a completely new area of work for me, moved to the island, left my family behind whilst I tried to find somewhere to live and was here on my own, so the warmth of her welcome cannot be over estimated. Please may I ask that any readers of my blog add her and her family to your prayers? Thank you.

Crafty Sunday

Doug has been climbing this afternoon which gave me a “craft afternoon” so I have made a few mini books – great fun to do. I should really be adding to my albums and getting some photos in them – but I felt like making little books so that is what I have done. Had a lot of fun this afternoon. Gone completely OTT on making books - I think I have an addictive personality!!
Have had two short walks today one down to the village this morning – the bell was ringing at St Catherine’s as we went down the hill and the parking spaces on the prom were fast filing up as everyone arrived for service. It was quite breezy down there in the village and there was a definite wind chill factor! Just confirms how very sheltered the cottage is as it was so much warmer in my garden.
When Doug got back we took some glass to the bottle bank at Grainger’s car park and decided when we got there that we would do the circular walk. The sky was quite amazing – great golden shafts of light streaming down over the water, making a huge silver lake of the bay out towards Ireland, yet grey cloud over our heads actually meant that the sun was totally invisible and we were treated to odd spots of rain as we walked along the coast path! Looking out over the bay from this angle, the Calf of Man and the hills of the Meayll Peninsula stretch out into the sea like the paws of a huge sleeping lion, brooding and a little menacing in this most peculiar light - all the green of the fields has vanished – yet the sea is silver; turning to head home the windows of the apartments and hotels of Port Erin are all gold and glowing with reflected sunlight from the shafts of light hitting them. There are spring flowers here in the glen already - daffodils and snowdrops in bloom together; how crazy is that? and in the grass here and there a soft shimmer of purple as the crocus start to appear. It's turning colder as well so am glad to be arriving at the cottage and tea!

Saturday Drive - - again

Oh boy did it rain last night!! Water, water, everywhere all the fields are waterlogged and there are mini streams running at the side of the roads as we don’t really have many gutters around the island particularly on country roads. Weather wise it has been a funny sort of day – it was just a grey day here in PE but as we drove over the Sloc it was clear that Manannan was spreading his cloak over the high ground, we drove in and out of the drifting coils of mist turning the whole landscape into the setting for Conan Doyle’s story Hound of the Baskervilles, indeed the last TV version was filmed here just off the road to the left; and there is no doubt on a day like this that it could so easily be Dartmoor in Victorian England.

Climbing higher up Cronk-ny-Eary-Laa it ceases to be mist and has instead become real fog - headlights loom up out of a grey curtain like primeval monsters before turning into quite ordinary cars. Reaching the round table Glen Rushen plantation looms up out of the mist and the larches are covered in a soft green mist of colour – new shoots! Only a touch of colour on them today but there is no doubt that spring is stretching out her fingers to reclaim her sleeping landscape and fill it with burgeoning life. Here on the west the mist is almost non existent, it just vanishes as if it has never been, whilst passing Niarbyl the sea is vaguely silvered as sun breaks through the drifts of cloud, so as we drop down towards Purt Ny Hinshey (Peel) the skies do seem much lighter and we decide to walk round the castle, along the harbour and to my delight there are two seals in the water. I did manage to get a couple of photos – but they are not brilliant.

On to Rhumsaa(Ramsey) for lunch – and the further we travel the better the weather gets so that suddenly, as we drive through Ballaugh there is blue sky and sunlight in front of us! Sadly it lasts only over lunch, but we can see it through the window of the café, and towards Ballaugh the sandy beach is golden in the light. Heading back home the sky darkens again and we encounter the rain as we head back through Laxey and Baldrine. Turning off for Groudle Glen the road follows the electric railway and there are a few ancient monuments tucked away along here, Lonan Old Church with its most amazing Manx Cross(Celtic Carved Cross), King Orry’s Grave(Bronze Age burial) and at the top of Clay Head Road there is a cottage with Ancient standing stones in the front garden!! Finally the road leads us into Onchan (one day I’ll get to stop here and see the Old Village) and into Doolish along the promenade, though we don’t stop but carry on, past the Isle of Man Steam Packet Sea Terminal, along the harbour to the south. Today we stop at B & Q on route home – looking for some more stepping stones for the garden – we found them too!!

Birdsong - -

- - woke me this morning - I think it was the blackbird, and I am so glad he is back visiting me again. I miss him in the winter months when he disappears. All the birds were singing this morning as if there was no tomorrow. I recognise a few birds by their song - but not all of them, robin redbreast is here, as is jenny wren and the sparrows chirrup cheerfully as there are a nice little colony of them. I am sure I heard the oyster catchers too - but I was still half asleep. am off out now - back later.

Misty moments - -

Well it’s another Manannan day here. He has wrapped his cloak around us and we are drenched in mist and rain. The cloud is so low it hugs the hillside, covers the hilltops and hangs just above the roofs of the houses like a soft grey blanket, before it drifts aimlessly up the valley. It stretches out long fingers of ethereal mist like ectoplasm as if to claw in the brightness that the damp always spreads over the green and browns of a winter landscape. What colour is visible in my garden is intensified tenfold by the rain, the deep glossy green of the ivy contrasting strongly with the almost lime green of the new shoots on the montbretia whilst the raindrops hang from the bare, brown fuchsia branches like small pearly globes of light.
When I walked down to the village to see Sarah to get my hair cut it was so quiet – no one around at all and not even a car passed me and even more surprising the wide bay in front of me shows me a rare sight indeed as we have a completely empty beach – not one soul to be seen – not one - even though usually there is a least one person braving the elements walking their dog.

A Scrappy afternoon

Had a great afternoon making mini books. I used the maze book pattern for 2 of them and the other I made using a method taught at one of our crops. So pleased with them all. The maze books are quite addictive, but so cute! I am going to complete them this afternoon hopefully, so will try to post more pics later. Off out now as the sun is shining - and I have to take advantage of it as they have forecast rain again later!
TFL

Trolly Dolly Day

My beads came today!! Alison has such excellent customer service. I have added one to my bracelet, the five fat seals - its so cute and represents my family and the other is for one of my girls, when I can afford another bracelet for her. These are my 2 Dolly beads, marmalade sky and onion, and Troll beads turquoise ribbon, (a charity bead,) blue bud and brown/turquoise flower - the start of a new colour scheme for my bracelet.A couple of girls on UKS have designed lovely little albums for their trollbeads to record what each one means, which I thought a lovely idea, so I am going to scraplift it. I sure hope they won't mind!I intend to make another mini maze book as they are quite addictive and the perfect size to put tiny pictures in.

"Oh what a beautiful morning - - -

O what a beautiful day, I've got the glorious feeling, everything's going my way "
Today my world is sparkling in the sunlight. We've just been for a walk all along the bay from Gansey into Port St Mary on the coast path, along the promenade, across the Cakewalk and right round to the harbour. It just a sparkling day - the sun shines, the sky is blue, the sea is jade and diamonds and alls right with my world.This is lovely walk as it is all on the level & so I don't have any problems with my knee as I do when we do upsy/downsy walks. There is an abundance of wildlife around today, it has to be because it is warmer there are ducks, oyster catchers, and wading birds at the waters edge (redshanks I think - but with the sunlight so bright on the water it is difficult to be sure. We walk past what has to be my favourite house on the island - Gansey Point House - it is in the most fantastic setting, though it is probably very exposed to the weather in the winter, but is so attractive! Round the bend we can see Port St Mary - which is a true linear village, houses and cottages clinging to the shore line all along the bay. The promenade is wide and pleasant and as we head for the harbour the pied wagtails bob along in front of us with their curious dipping flight. The promenade leads straight into the Cakewalk - a raised wooden structure which today, with the tide being in, is like walking along a pier, whilst way above us is the High St of the village and its apartments, cottages and houses, though not many shops - all of which have steep gardens hanging on to the cliff face. Not much colour in them yet - but lots of fat buds!!
Arriving at the harbour is one of the delights of my island home - I think Port St Mary Harbour is the most attractive on the island - still the home of a few fishing boats, crabbers and queenie boats and lots of yachts. The sailing community does indeed like Port St Mary - and so do I!

Mini Maze Book - - -

I made this with entry for the Manx Royal show in mind. It was a link on UKS that I investigated earlier this week an thought I would have a go at making it. It's a dinky little book and I am quite pleased with the way it's turned out. It was fun to make though I did have to think carefully about the way I placed my pages. I adapted for a slightly larger version as well - but made it a concertina of pages in the end as I couldn't quite get my head round the pages fitting inside.
edited to add - the pictures.
This is a little book full of picture of scarecrows from one local villages. The journalling is on tags tucked inside and tells of Laa Columb Killey. This is an agriculture show celebrated in the Parish of Arbory on St Columba's Day in early summer. One of the classes is a scarecrow and many gardens in the villages "sprout" scarecrows in late May/early June for the competition. Many families take part as this is for the children to be involved in the show - not just the best veg and flowers etc and it is very popular and I love seeing the ideas they come up with each year. This are my photos from 2005. So pleased I have finally got around to "scrapping" them.
TFL

A Crafty hour - --

Doug has gone out for an hour or so - I have had such fun, made an exploding box, wrapped Jules gift and made her a birthday card. I can hear the rain outside so I am glad I'm here inside where it's cosy - in the cottage. No sound except the soft crackle of the flames from the fire and the odd sound of movement above my head - both the children are in their rooms. I feel as if I have the house to myself - something I really enjoy as then it feels like my home is wrapping me in its arms and holding safe from the weather.
Thanks to Scrapdolly for the instructions for the box - not completed yet as I need to print some pictures small enough for it, but it was so straightforward to make. i can't share the card as it must go to Jules first so I won't post any pics til after her birthday. TFL

A Manx Monday - -

Strange light coming in to work this morning. The sky was heavy with rain clouds and we did indeed have at least one real downpour over night as the raindrops hammering on the skylight woke me. There is a single cloud in front of us with its edges just tinged with pink and is the only scrap of colour on what is an almost entirely grey sky; very dark to my right over towards Ireland and behind me over Cronk-ny-Eary-Laa but paling slightly towards Castletown & Derbyhaven as the palest fingers of sunlight peer through the grey. The waning moon is in its last quarter I think, a pale silver sickle hanging motionless over the bay. The tide is on its way in this morning, and there must be some wind about as all the waves have white frothy tops – there is an odd kind of mist just hugging the shoreline, giving the impression that the rocks are bubbling in the waves and this is steam rising from them, almost like that from a kettle, and oddly there are no birds to be seen – very unusual on this stretch of the shore.

Have taken the afternoon off today as the boiler man is coming to service the Rayburn, and traveling home on the bus at a different time of day was lovely. The earlier grey clouds have given way to beautiful blue skies coming towards us from Ireland, with just little drifts of white cotton wool tails to break up the blue. The bus whizzes through the villages of Ballabeg, Arbory and Colby – ( having no speed limits on some of our roads allows the drivers to put their foot down at times) all slightly inland and across the fields I can see a sheet of silver on the horizon - the sea -sparkling and shimmering in the bright sunlight. The sun may still be quite low in the sky but it sure is flooding the landscape with gold! And oh such fun, there gamboling in the fields we have lambs!! Now I know spring is really on its way!
When I do finally get back to Purt Chiarn I discover that actually it is quite breezy and facing me is a turquoise & jade sea – with little white tops to the waves. A beautiful colour combination – not unlike the Hockney Bead one in the last batch of Dolly Beads. The breeze is quite fresh as I walk up the promenade and overhead I can hear the gulls screaming and calling as they wheel and glide, oh so gracefully, on the thermals on Bradda Head the white of their breasts and wings showing clearly against the blue of the sky. It’s a beautiful day so I hope the boiler man is quick – then I can go for a walk to enjoy this unexpected bonus afternoon.

Unexpected Sunshine - - -

Rain this morning has cleared to the most beautiful clear blue sky, though I don’t know how long it will last and the sunshine draws me outside so do “my walk” through Bradda Glen. Bradda Head is criss-crossed with foootpaths - along the coast, up to the headland, down to the sea but this that I consider MY walk is a circular walk that goes along the coastal path and returns about half way up the hillside. I love this walk – it isn’t long as I can do it easily inside half an hour – going through the arch, I drop down into the glen to the first bridge, crossing the stream that rises on the other side of the road, comes along the side of the Golf Links, disappears under the road, beneath the cottages in the hamlet that makes up our small community before re-emerging in the Glen and tumbling to the sea. On its way it makes a small pool just below the bridge where mallard come to rear their ducklings – this is a favourite stopping place for me – being above the pool it’s a great “nature watching” spot and there is just a glimpse of Spaldrick Beach and the sea through the trees. I can hear a Jenny Wren, though I can’t see her, and there is also the tick-tick of the robin as he flits around staking his claim to the clearing here. His bright beady eyes watch me when I stop and his little redbreast glows brightly in the sunlight as he flits between the bare branches. When I set off walking again he flew off in front and kept stopping to look back at me with his head cocked on one side, as if he was making sure I was following!!
All down the glen spear like shoots are pushing up though the ground – crocus, daffodils and the white narcissus whilst the snowdrops – brave, sturdy and tough little plants that they are, are in full bloom, and turning the corner golden 3 daffy-down-dillies, crocus and the golden stars that are either aconite or celandine (I always get these 2 mixed up) are already blossoming! So glad I came out!!

Mini Valentine Album

The wonderful onepage album - made into a Valentine. Blonde moments papers, 7 Gypsies stickers, ribbon, Angel Kisses blossoms and various brads. I love this little design - it's not mine - it's Shirley Toogood's and was published in Scrapbook Inspiration last year. Shirley very kindly gave me permission to use it to teach it as a class at one of our crops and later in school to do a Christmas one with Year 8 girls who were interested in crafty things. I have to say it was a great success on both occasions. TFL

Saturday Drive - -

Woke this morning feeling achey and fluey with a tight hard cough and it was really horrible outside – grey skies, raining and cold, then Doug had a call to go and do a job for Will Collister up at Shenvalley (pronounced Shenvalla – ey or y in Manx names is always an a (as in apple) sound )– which is Sound Farm. Doug never works on Saturdays but he has a lot of respect and liking for Will, so went in to do the job for him, as a favour to Will. Makes me so proud sometimes my DH!!
By the time he got back the tablets I had taken had kicked in, so when he offered to take me for a drive I thought I might as well say yes – in spite of the gloomy weather. Off we set towards Ballakillowey and then over the Sloc, up our side of Cronk-ny-Eary-Laa(pronounce the double a as ay) towards Purt ny Hinshey (Peel) and as we climbed the remnants of yesterday’s heavy snowfall on our higher ground began to appear at the edges of the road.

I find the hillside surprisingly colourful through the rain, the damp makes the winter landscape so vibrant, the bracken russet against the faded green of the winter grass, and as for the bare branches of the larches in the forest - think Bournville Chocolate, really dark chocolate brown – almost black in fact! These photos do nothing to capture what I saw today. Manannan’s cloak is sending long smoky tendrils down the hillside - almost as if he is gathering the landscape up into his arms to protect us yet again from invaders.
Talking of Manannan – we went into Purt ny Hinshey (Peel) and stopped, to get kippers for tea from Devereaux’s – Doug just had a fancy for Kippers & Dolphins (as he calls it – he means Dauphinoise Potatoes) and just as we stopped heard an advert on Manx Radio for a free exhibition in the foyer of The House of Manannan (the Manx National Heritage site) here in Peel, so after we had got the kippers we went in to have a look. I am so pleased we did – because one of the exhibits is a pagan ladies necklace – its Viking I think and guess what – it’s made from Troll beads/Dolly beads!!! I was wearing my Dolly bead, which is why I noticed! Just goes to show that some fashions are timeless! The building has these fantastic life size bronzes outside showing Vikings landing on the shore, hauling on Odin’s Raven, a Viking Longship through the glass, a heritage they are very proud of, specially here.Also I found a lovely gift for my friend JJ’s little one. Jules is 2 in March and when I saw this Loghtan soft toy I couldn’t resist. Loghtan’s are true Manx sheep – a rare breed (though not on the island) are four horned, have a beautiful soft fleece in shades of golden brown, which they tell me is easy spinning and is a lovely yarn for both knitting and weaving. It needs no dies as its natural colour varies through caramel, coffee, honey and a warm brown, and makes lovely clothes. The local traditional dance group wear waistcoats woven from Loghtan wool. A very profitable drive today I think, and our day turned out more fun that the weather gave us any indication of

Whiteout on the mountain - - -

No snow again in the south – but lots on the higher ground and a real whiteout on the mountain and they have closed the mountain road - I think in Sulby Glen, buts its really hard to tell from the webcam on Manx Radio's website. Nearer the coast it is just sleet and rain, though it is colder than it was first thing and it hasn’t really got light today. Driving in this morning it felt like I was living in a totally different place to earlier in the week. The weather has such an impact on how the island appears. The heavy grey clouds turn Gansey bay to a grim lake – moody and malevolent --- it could almost be a scene from the film Excaliber where the arm appears and grabs the sword as Gawaine (I think it was Sir Gawaine who had to take the sword when King Arthur tells him) returns it to the Lady of the Lake. I am willing to stand corrected on this though as my memory could be totally at fault – specially as I think I have cotton wool for a brain today – am full of a cold!! The hills are blurry through the sleety drizzle,and Manannan has his cloak over their heads again - though this time it feels as if he means to leave it there!
Rhiannon came in early with me today, to do some of her Art GCSE coursework - I do so hope she gets the grades she deserves as she has tried so hard and put such a lot of effort in to ALL her coursework. She makes feel really proud - she is a real "grafter" this youngest of my children. Please God let Rhiannon get the credit she deserves.

No Snow - -

Not so cold this morning – and no sign of the snow they promised us yet the sky is very heavy – so maybe they have just got the timing wrong. Threatening clouds drift across the sky in all shades of grey and there seems to be no light anywhere – where has the sun gone?? The sea is molten grey steel, rolling and swirling as the breeze skims the surface of the water, so each wave froths white - - those seahorses are galloping in, their white manes tossing and tumbling as they race towards the shore yet it looks so unforgiving and cold out towards Ireland. The water’s ebb and flow is the only visible movement, unusually there are no birds to be seen over the bay, and on the farm the sheep huddle together - for company or warmth?? I don’t know but the sky seems so menacing in the half light we have woken to today.

Only a smattering of snow - just on South Barrule, Snaefell and Cronk-ny-Eary-Laa, and possibly only on this side of them up high, nothing on the lower slopes. Think I might be coming down with the cold that is doing the rounds as I haven't been able to get warm all day and have now developed a dry cough and feel shivery so it's an early night for me today.

Enterprise and Proms

7th Feb
A very busy afternoon yesterday, though very rewarding, as this time of year is the Half Year review stage for the 6th from Junior Achievement (previously Young Enterprise Companies) and as usual I was asked to act as one of the judges to give them some idea of what it’s really like on finals day. It also gives them a chance to practice their presentations with an audience and learn how to deal with their nerves. Julie, Christine and I give them feedback on our observations to improve their displays, stands and presentations and as they have a limited time we use the stopwatch and tell them how long they took. Three very strong companies, this year with real effort and commitment showing and I did feel very proud of our youngsters this year. It did make the judging very difficult though – last year we had only one strong company so it was easy to pick out best presentation, product etc. This year it really has been shared out more as they all had some great products and ideas and were all successful companies running at a profit. Makes me glad to belucky enough to work in education and see so many promising young people fulfilling their potential, as so often they get a real bad press.

Crop night last night, our last one where we could go to the bricks & mortar store for scrappy goodies, so sad that the shop is closing down! I know I can still shop on line but there is nothing like seeing & stroking stash in real life before you buy it!! We had a great turn out - 15 - and it was fun to see so many of my friends again who I haven’t seen for quite a long time. Lovely to see Amanda – I do miss her now she has moved schools. I also told everyone about the Royal Manx Show and having a Scrapbooking class in the Craft section and everyone seemed pleased that this hobby is getting some deserved recognition, and all said they would do at least 1 page, and I have actually got 2 entries as a result of last nights work! How cool is that – such great ladies! love crop night as I go home feeling really chilled and relaxed – and I actually did some scrapping last night. I finished a page,(see my previous post) and almost completed my Valentine for DH.

Driving down the promenade into the village this morning the waning moon was still so bright, hanging there in the sky like a silver ball with broken edges. It reminded me of a Christmas Tree bauble that had fallen and shattered, leaving one half completely intact. Still very cold and lots of frost - mulberry bush weather as we called it when I was a small girl and I have stepped of the car out into a world dusted with icing sugar, everywhere I look is covered in frost. Jack Frost was a very busy painter last night – the only bit he failed on was painting patterns on my windows, but that might be because my cottage is tucked into a fold in the hillside, very sheltered - the Manxman who built my crofters cottage over 200 years ago knew what he was doing, building it here. I expected to see snow on the Mountain this morning - but no sign of any yet, though they have given us a weather warning locally - so maybe tomorrow!

Went with my younger daughter Rhiannon to see (and pay for!!!:)her Prom Dress after school ended today. She has chosen well - it suits her and she looks both youthful and elegant. It needs fitting and shortening for her, so she has to go back with her shoes etc. so will need to make an appointment for her fitting, probably at the end of March. Suzanne, the seamstress, says about a month before the Prom is best. I will enjoy scrapping this!!!!!

Coming up through the village to get home the sky was churning with heavy, grey clouds, swirling and rolling in from the west - so the weather man might be right about that snow! Will await developments.

These Hands - - - -

Have your fingers frozen to the bone? Are they all typed out? Are your hands covered in any of the following? paper cuts? glitter? paint? rasberry jelly? Are you a manicure kinda girl? Do you wear any jewelry? Your hands are a critical part (yet often ignored) aspect of your daily life.

So... for today's Trendy Tuesday Challenge. Take a photo of your hands. (scrap it if you like...) and tell me about them!


The Tuesday fun challenge for this week on A Fancy Word for Simple blog was about hands, so here is my page for the challenge. It is very significant for me as my eldest daughter has a "thing" about my hands - and has had since she was toddler just learning to talk and walk. She has always stroked them whenever we meet,and still does, so this photo was taken with the intention of it being added to her Scrapbook, so the prompt forced the issue and it is now finished. I wrote the poem for her, and it says
THESE HANDS
These are the hands that held you
When you were oh so small
These are the hands you always stroke
Whenever you come to call

These are the hands you always hold
Whenever we go for a walk
These are the hands that you will hold you close
When you feel the need to talk

These are the hands that are filled with love
To share amongst you all
These are the hands that hold you up
If you ever start to fall

These hands are the legacy
That I bequeath to you
May your hands be always filled with a love
That is strong and brave and true

The colours are clearer and brighter IRL, as the pink is much brighter and the mounts are chocolate brown, just brads and letter stickers complete it as the sentiment in the poem is what matters to me most on this LO.
TFL

- - On a cold & frosty morning --

Such a lovely comment posted to my blog from Scrapdolly – to be a highlight of someone’s day is truly the greatest complement I have ever received on my scribbles and today I am walking on air! To think that my jottings have given such pleasure is the most enormous boost to my confidence, particularly as Scrapdolly herself is such a talented lady. Her pages inspire me as she has such lovely designs, I love the classes she posted to UKS and I know I am not alone admiring her work, as she is on Design Teams all over the scrapping world. I only write the descriptions of how I see it, and I see beauty wherever I look, (though will admit to probably seeing everything through rose coloured spectacles) and still cannot quite believe my good fortune in now living on such a beautiful island – even after 6 years here. I would use a canvas, paint and brush if I could – but I am useless at art! So thank you Karen – and also to Jamie for her so kind words about my letter.
A cold night last night, and Jack Frost was out with his paintbrush in earnest as all the fields are coated with hoar frost and the sheep are all sitting down, huddled together for warmth. They look like fat, round, cotton wool balls, just the way children draw them. Gansey Bay is a still glass lake this morning – the sea looks like a sheet of hammered silver or art glass it is so motionless, and the thin fingers of sunlight on the horizon do nothing to lessen this impression, whilst the heron is here today, standing stiffly like a solitary guardsman on a large boulder on the shore. Only a fleeting glimpse of this beauty as we drive past – but such a joy it is to me.
On the other side of the road the hills are still in shadow, outlined against the sky like cardboard cutouts. Here what colours are visible are all muted purple and grey, even the bracken and grass have lost their bright hues, and only the cairn on top of Cronk-ny-Eary-Laa is edged in light, like small coronet on its head. The hills sit here brooding, waiting for the day to lift them into the light and bring life back to the fields. To steal an idea from the Aborigine -this is my Dreamtime, I find my island home so beautiful I have to write about how I see it.
I know I probably look at my world through Rose Coloured Spectacles, my glass is always half FULL and I am the eternal optimist – but so what – my life is what I make it. And I love beauty I firmly believe that it is in” the eye of the beholder” – and I make conscious efforts every day to make my life beautiful, to be pleasant to all I meet, to listen, to smile, be helpful and kind, and try to be happy. I don’t always succeed, I am only human after all – but at least I try. A favourite saying of mine sums it up for me – If you see someone without a SMILE – give him one of yours! I have found that this simple movement of my face makes such a difference to how people respond to me. No matter what I do!
Only a very quick look in tonight as am off out shortly. Have a great evening.

Sun and Stars - - -

So much lighter and brighter going into work this morn, with a mother of pearl sky like the inside of an oyster shell in front of us. The gulls were silhouetted against the rising sun, wheeling and diving just over the bay at Gansey. They look so graceful up there on the wing and yet are such a pest when they are on the ground, that I sometimes wonder if they are the same creatures!!
Well our Steam Packet ferry service came a real cropper this weekend as it was in Liverpool harbour - the Seacat was crashed into by a ship being towed by a tug, and sunk!! All passengers and crew got off safely with only minor injuries, fortunately but there are still over 50 vehicles under water on the car decks. This could cause the company big problems this year at TT fortnight, I will have to "watch this space" as they say.
The day turned out to be bright and cold - real February weather I suppose - beautiful blue skies, completely cloudless and with rays of sunshine dancing off the sea in the harbour so that it sparkles like diamonds. So lovely to see sunlight on water giving a feel of spring in the air in spite of the cold, though they have forecast more cold weather for us! No warmth in those rays though - much too thin and silvery for that, so of course tonight a midnight blue cloth is pinned to the sky with stars!!

Here on the island I can see the stars again and it inspired me to make a patchwork quilt for my cottage when we moved in. I entered it into both the Southern Show & the Royal Manx Show after much persuasion by my friend Brenda, and was over the moon to get a second place! I was so proud - the Shows are an enormously important part of rural life on the island - I certainly didn't think I stood any chance as there are so many talented and skilful craftswomen here.This is the quilt - so maybe I should take a leaf out of Shimelle's book and scrapbook my craft work. Perhaps one day.
It's our monthly crop tomorrow so I am looking forward to seeing my crafting friends and catching up with all their news. I don't have much time in between getting in and having to go out again so it's often a bit hectic on Crop Tuesday!!

Manannan's Cloak again - -

Manannan Mac Lir spread his cloak thick over the island last night with a covering of thick fog! Doug and I went out last night to Erin Arts Centre to a PTA event. They were having a Cheese & Wine Evening with a showing of the film Stormbreaker, a lot of which had been filmed on the island and lots actually in Port Erin on our beach!! After the glory that had been ours in the day, it was quite a shock to step outside our door to find thick mist surrounding us. As we moved out of the lamplight at the top of our steps it became clear that this was really thick fog! We couldn’t see across the road! And it is always so silent – what is it about mist and fog that muffles sound? I did notice though that the sound of the foghorn was missing. Doug says it is because all boats are now fitted with GPS that it isn’t needed any longer so has ceased to be used (he’s probably right as he has lots of dealings with the
skippers in his work) – anyway I missed it – being a real traditionalist kind of girl I think it should still blow its warning!! It was actually quite spooky walking into the village, hearing the sea on the shore and being unable to see it! It is the first time since we moved here that I have been unable to see the lights across the harbour as I walked to the village! And it was so COLD.


Manannan’s Cloak is still wrapped around us this morning and the bare branches of the fuschia bushes are shimmering with droplets of water hanging from them like soft silver beads. And a cobweb necklace of the same soft silver beads, hanging from a rusty lantern - such a lovely combination of colours - another MUST scrap photo!! So glad that I spent yesterday in the garden - I tidied the pots and cleared the border, moved all the dead leaves that get blown down our steps and as a reward for all my hard work – I had a visit today from Jenny Wren! So tiny she is and so busy, she has bustled all over the cleared border this morning from one end to the other – catching garden pests I hope – and has given us a lot of pleasure watching her. I love having the little birds in the garden and we do have bird feeders hanging in our tree to encourage them, and am fortunate to have blue tits, coal tits, great tits, chaffinches, green finches, sparrows, a robin and of course the wren visiting us throughout the year. Living so near the Glen means we are very close to hundreds of nesting places, so the whirr & flutter of little wings is one of the sounds of my home – the Manx Glens are steep wooded valleys dropping down to the sea, usually with a stream tumbling down and are havens for wild life – very beautiful and each one unique in its character.Sometimes I feel as if my garden is just a small clearing within the glen, and am sure that the little birds feel that way as so many visit us. The small hamlet that makes up my bit of the village consists of just 4 homes, and we are the only inhabited building at the moment, making the area a real sanctuary for wildlife.

My winter garden has more colours in it than I thought and I love the shape and form plants create when all you can see are their skeletons.

I have blossoms beginning to appear - my primulas are showing some colour, my snowdrops of course, and the forsythia, so there is a feeling of new life everywhere. My big girl is visiting today as well, so what more can I ask for!!I even think the sun is trying to break through.

Sunny Saturday

I woke today to the most beautiful day. The sky was really blue with no cloud to be seen anywhere and the sun shone in all his glory. The sea turns to turquoise in days like these, (not Caribbean Turquoise – more peacock colour), the hills are green and russet, the cottages white and the sky blue so that it is easy for me to see where they got the inspiration for the Manx Tartan. I had a lovely walk this morning round the glen and down to the village and the snowdrops were out in earnest. Foolishly I didn’t take my camera with me so here are the snowdrops in Lonan Churchyard.

They nestle at the foot of the most beautiful (in my opinion, anyway) of the Manx Crosses and the only one which is still in its original setting. There are some very ancient carved crosses which were scattered in churches and keeils all over the island, which were removed from their original setting to Maughold Churchyard. To be fair, many of the keeils where they were standing were derelict so it was seen as a way of preserving them for future generations – and it is great to be able to see them all in one place, but I have to admire the parishioners of Lonan who fought to keep their cross where it has always stood!! Particularly as the chapel is TINY and only used occasionally – probably like many small churches in rural areas; and here on the island the community it served for centuries has moved and now the chapel is at the end of an empty lane, as all the buildings have gone! A lovely tranquil place to visit – I do love these hidden treasures we have scattered round the island countryside! One day I will do a scrapbook page about the Crosses.

Inspiration form Scrapdolly

Driving in to school this morning, the sky was sort of pearly in front of us and the moon was a huge silvery ball hanging low in the sky – almost like Trollbead!!! (Any UKS members out there?) The light was so beautiful – and as we rounded the bend on Gansey there silhouetted against the pearl of the sky was a hen harrier – suspended motionless just over the beach! One of those moments that takes your breath away.
It was a lovely start to the day – and made me feel that maybe the darkest days of winter are truly behind us, especially as when I went out for the lunches, the sun was shining, in a blue sky with tiny cotton wool clouds scudding by - and they have promised us this for the weekend too!!
It has been a little hectic at work today, as we had no electricity to the power sockets the classrooms across the corridor, (which of course means that the teaching staff can’t use the projector). As the projectors are ceiling mounted now in a lot if the classrooms many staff use their laptops for their teaching – so this was a major problem for the first 2 lessons today! We were rushing round like headless chickens I can tell you – hunting for caretakers, electricians, ladders etc to get to the boards to see what had tripped out and why!!! A much calmer afternoon – and anyway IT’S FRIDAY – my weekend starts here!! So now to weekend things!

Scrapdolly has put a class on her page class on her blog, and last night I downloaded the instructions and have taken it as my inspiration for this page.
My page is 8x8 as it belongs in the Greece family holiday album, so I was unable to use the whole design but I have tried a new technique (for me anyway) of cutting the flowers to overlap the photo and I am so pleased with the way it has turned out.I used the blossoms and ribbon as well but not in quite the same way as Dolly has done.I don't really have room for such a great title or as much visible journalling but I like it and am afraid I might spoil it if I do much more. This is a rare recent photo of my son – he hides from the camera these days – the papers are 7 Gypsies, with Angel Kisses flowers and Dovecraft brads. Hidden journalling gives all the information about time and place, which is Rhodes in August last year on a family holiday.