Making sandcastles on Southwold Beach

Maybe Xavier is re-thinking his career choices – possibly a builder rather than an inventor?
Brushpen and watercolour in sketchbook

Back from hols

This is where we’ve been for the last week. All the joys of a traditional English seaside resort. Overcast every day apart from the last two days. Swimming (for the brave), the pier, the circus, Punch and Judy shows, fish and chips, ice-cream.
Watercolour in sketchbook.

Very busy with holidays and exhibition

Tom, Flo and I have attempted to post daily using the publish later feature on blogger but we have so much on we can’t quite manage it. So sincere apologies to anyone who has left any of the family messages that we haven’t responded to. (We haven’t really been here!) After Wales Tom and I had a wonderful few days at the Edinburgh festival with our dear friends. We saw Joan Rivers, Otis Lee Crenshaw, Nicholas Parsons, Ed Byrne, Nina Conti, Merv Stutter, Rob Deering and countless others in lots of wonderful shows. Needless to say it poured with rain the whole time. Tom is now at the Reading festival and then he’ll be joining us for a week in lovely Southwold. I have sketched whenever I can, but no time to scan and post at the moment as I have a very irate husband with a fully loaded car demanding my company. So see you all in a week.

Lloyd George and the ‘London Eye’

Being a complete wuss about heights I sat on a bench behind the statue of Lloyd George while everyone else went on the ferris wheel. The older ones mischievously convinced Xavier that he was having a ride on the ‘London Eye’.
Pen and watercolour in sketchbook

Criccieth

Another brief break in the rain to visit a beach.

Exhibition

If any of you live in London, do look in the Evening Standard on the 20th ’cause we should be in it, and the very nice journalist promised she’d mention the exhibition. Unfortunately Flo and Tom weren’t able to be here for the photo. This is the poster/flyer that they got me to do for the forthcoming exhibition. I can’t quite believe the madness of having an exhibition in my house! If you want to download a nice higher resolution pdf version of this which has a detailed description of the project on the reverse you can download it here.

Jake’s Bistro

For huge, cheap meals for families on a tight budget this is the place to eat in Caernarfon.
Pen and watercolour in sketchbook

Family on the beach

We’ve been away for a week in beautiful Snowdonia. And it rained and rained and rained. Wales is always wet when I visit and this excelled all the previous times for wetness. To keep costs down we stayed in a caravan and I discovered the delights of being wet all day and then slipping into damp sheets at night, so I think I’m going to abandon thoughts of a caravanning retirement. Despite the horrible weather a good time was had by all. We saw the most beautiful scenery, however I was only ever able to sketch when the rest of the family stayed in one spot so the most beautiful scenes are in my memory not in my sketchbook. This was a brief visit to Blackrock Sands in between downpours.
Watercolour and pen in sketchbook

My right foot

Rather unattractive broad little feet, made to look worse by the fact that I can’t bear the feeling of any length on my toe nails so the nails are cut the minute there’s any to cut. Never met anyone else who feels the same way as I do. There’s nowt so strange as folks.
Brushpen in tiny sketchbook

Art-dealer glasses

Tom, tanned and with shorn hair after the Tall Ships’ Race wearing his new red glasses. This boy has had so many different looks this year. I rather like this one.
Brushpen and watercolour in tiny sketchbook

X marks the spot

All we had to do was walk out the door, turn right, walk past about eight houses, walk across the zebra crossing and we’d be there at the village hall for the meeting about the proposed Sandridge Forest. It was pouring with rain and so we left about five minutes before the meeting was due to start but guess what at least a hundred of us were turned away as there wasn’t room for us all. The funny thing is that the people that couldn’t get in were generally speaking the people who lived closest to the village hall and thus were more likely to be affected by the proposed changes than the early birds who’d come from further afield. Ah well, more meetings were promised. If you live in the area and want to find out about any more meetings the Sandridge Village website should keep you updated.