Stuff Portrait Fridays

This is a dog which my seven year old daughter made for me. The piece I really wanted to share was a clay teddy bear which my son made for me. It looks like a cross between a melting snowman & Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars, but we're remodelling the house & sadly this 'delightful' piece has been packed away.

Check out Random & Odd for more 'creations'.

Miss Dietrich was not amused!

The BBC came up with another scrumptious morsel for me to savour today - the life & times of Mistinguett. If you'd like to listen to an interview with the experts in which you will discover why Marlene Dietrich was not amused plus some suggestions about what Mistinguett & Maurice Chevalier were doing in a carpet, please knock on Woman's Hour's door. Some glamour puss pictures & information can be found in here

Style never goes out of fashion!

Fodder for your Inner Jewellery Hunter

Flower Power Bracelet

This blog is like my life. Full of promises to do things which I run out of time to do! I promised an 'Inner Jewellery Hunter' puzzle which I will do when I've squeeeeeeeezed time for assembling jewellery into my week/fortnight/month.

I didn't finished 100 things about me either- I got stuck. I don't do anything & am utterly uninteresting. I'm like a hamster - I rarely look up & connect with real life. I troll from my bedroom to my study to my Shack & back again. I can do this & completely ignore the house because each of my rooms has a door to the garden. I like to keep the brood on their toes so trying to find their elusive mother is a teeny tiny challenge for them. Just so you don't worry about my cleanliness, I have a wet room so I'm not in need of a good scrubbing, unlike Lula whose face is a grime magnet. As soon as she steps out of the bath, her magnet attracts all manner of grubby things & they cling on no matter how many Wet Ones I use. (This may not be enviromentally friendly, but my mother was a fiend when she had a wash cloth in her hand & I can't bring myself to scrub my daughter red raw! )

I cannot complain. I occasionally played with two little girls who were always band-box fresh & whose socks stayed dazzling white no matter what we were doing. As I spent a lot of my childhood up a tree reading a book, no matter what I did, I went back home at the end of the day with ripped clothes, twigs in my hair and mud & lichen in all manner of places. On one notable day, my mother lost her temper & rounded on me demanding to know,

'Why do you always come home in such a mess? Marilyn & Nicola never do!'

To which I replied in gnomic fashion,

'If I'm dirty, it means I've had a good time. If I'm clean, I haven't.'

This remark is now entombed in family lore & I still adhere to this prinicple, though when we're in company, Wet Ones keep Lula in a reasonably presentable state.

Oh boy, I really am the Queen of Digression.

I have found a website which is tailor made material for your 'Inner Jewellery Hunter'. Check out Klimt02 Community

How to cool down using the warmth of 'Amber'

Amber Stacks Chain Bracelet

I have a poetry habit & I'm not ashamed to admit it. If I've had a bad day, I'll hit the book shelves ( not literally of course). If I'm so happy I could dance, I trace my finger along the spines of my books & hook one of my friends out.

Why? Because a poet will have felt similar feelings & thoughts and what I can't put into words, a poet can. My brain is always trying to explain things to me about myself & other people and poetry is the sieve I use to contract all the words surging through my brain.

Whilst I was looking for something else, I discovered this poem today - 'Amber' by Gillian Clarke It's food for your Inner Jewellery Hunter!

I'm so angry!

Please forgive me but I'm about to rant. It's Tom's birthday today - he's a finally a teenager & he's been dancing on air! Yesterday he went to the Star Wars exhibition in London & he was ecstatically happy.

But...

We've had to collect him home from school because Tom was accosted by four older boys wanting money. I don't let him carry anything valuable at school - fortunately they appear to have believed him. Tom doesn't want to talk about it at the moment. Later on, he will find me & talk - this is our pattern.

There is some good news - he remembered his plan of action & went to Matron who contacted his Head of Year.

He was doing so well! I loathe the little shits that mock him. He knows he is loved & adored here - he is Tom, PDD or not - but he is growing frightened of the world. He believes he is hated and that anything bad that happens is all down to some mistake he's made.

Why oh why oh why oh why! They've ruined one of his rites of passage birthdays!

So help me, at some point in the future, I'm not going to take my meds for a while & then they will feel the full force of my anger. I'm very articulate at first & anyone who stands me in my way will be mentally shredded & pulverised.

Women are tigers when it comes to their children! Even Darth Vader would flee were he confronted by an angry mother!

High Society!

Here in little England, the High Society season is well under way. Wimbledon's on the horizon & thus far, we've had the Chelsea Flower Show, Ladies' Day at Ascot, the opening of the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition & now Glastonbury, the newcomer to the list, is well underway.

At this point I need to sing - I'm no Amy Winehouse so cover your ears & read the lyrics instead:

'Mud! Mud! Glorious mud!
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.
So, follow me, follow, down to the hollow,
And there let us wallow in glorious mud.'

Google Glastonbury to see how well the new drainage system is coping ;-)

Glastonbury is the only one on the list that my Step-Grandmama would not have attended. Were she still alive, we'd be more likely to find her in Burlington House, the home of the Royal Academy. Join her ghost, be curious & pay a visit to the Summer Exhibition.

Can I beat agrophobia before 19th August when the exhibition closes? Not at a chance, so I'll try to work towards next year instead. I've been saying this for blah, blah years now, but one mustn't give up hope. When you have bipolar, anything can happen!

A short postscript to yesterday's entry. I'm working on a another 'Melanie' bracelet which features a set in beautiful shades of chocolate, chestnut & cream. What a treat!

Thomas Heatherwick & Melanie Moertel - the ones to watch!

Clear Vision

Have you come across any of Thomas Heatherwick's work? He's a sculptor, architect & designer and I'm a HUGE fan of his! He's been interviewed for 'Front Row', a cool arts & culture programme on BBC Radio 4. Check this out!

You might also like to pay a visit to the Heatherwick Studio which he set up in 1994.

Drift off & look at all the wonderful, fabulous, funky things he's made & designed. Come back here when you've finished & I'll tell you how old he is. Now go on - shoo!

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Ah, you're back! You're not going to believe me when I tell you how old Thomas is. He's 37! That's right - 37! He's 37 and he's responsible for alllllllll of the extraordinary things you have just seen.

Keep your eye on Thomas Heatherwick!

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Another person to keep your eye on is the glass artist, Melanie Moertel . Her beads are quite extraordinary. I urge you to acquaint yourself with her work. Her beads are blissfully beautiful - a designer's dreams made real! Have a look at Clear Vision or Coral Garden Her work is exciting, fresh & vivacious - it stuns me!