Workshop - Success!

I love doing and making and designing................. and children.  Put all these elements together and today's Hallowe'en workshop (with very simple designs) at the Tam O'Shanter in Bidston was right up my street.  I was a bit apprenhensive because they said there could be between 20 and 100 turning up, depending on weather.  In the event it was between 35 - 40 so that was fine. I did panic a bit but then I remembered that I'm a woman and so multi (multi) tasking (more stereotyping) should come easy! The children were so sweet and the parents did as much folding, sticking and glueing as their offsprings. They want their own 'grownup' workshops too, so more opportunities to start those Creative Hubs I keep waffling on about.  Procrastination............The Art of Delaying Action............who me?  I'll keep more on that for another blog, another time!

I haven't taught workshops like this for a while but after today's fab response, I think I'll start to for look for more venues ..............and Christmas is coming - yeahhhh!!!

All a bit of a blur......

Well, I forgot to take food photos, didn't charge camera, only saw the ghost biscuits when everyone had gone (after all my efforts).  Remember the bit about school reports in last blog!!  Apart from that it was a great night though, with everyone getting into the spirit of things - bad pun, too early in the day......... Here is one very blurred photo of some of the witches (I'm the one without a hat). Mollie (on your left) even had two plastic rats hanging from a belt - very funny.  My head is telling me to lie down so see you soon and have a nice day!

                                

Start of Hallowe'en Weekend!

Once the children were grown up and no amount of coaxing could persuade them to forego dating for duck apple (as if!), I fell out of love with Hallowe'en for a time. However.......for some reason I have re-discovered it in the last couple of  years and love it again.  Tonight I'm having a coven with a load of wizened old witches (former friends and family after that!) and it should be loads of fun! 

I thought I should make a bit of an effort for them so I have been a self indulgent, domestic witch today and made ghost biscuits (although bits keep falling off - all the better to eat!) and instead of having normal flowers, I have swapped for dead leaves, decaying foliage and a few spiders - gross!  There is a goosegog crumble in the oven, steamed pud still to do and home made burgers and bits in fridge.  Add a few bottles of vino and with a wave of a wand and a twitch of the nose, it should be a spellbinding evening - groan!  There might be more photos tomorrow and Sunday, depending on whether or not I have a hangover - betcha can't wait! Wish I could really fly off on a broomstick............well, that wasn't a nice thing to say!  Do witches get hangovers???

Interludes

Bit preoccupied this week, sorry! In the old days, the BBC used to have 'Interludes' which really meant that they didn't have a programme to show, so instead we had a 'Potter at his Wheel' (pre the Ghost movie, sorry to disappoint) or cute kittens playing with a ball of wool.  So, along the same lines for now, here a few photos for you to see, the first couple taken yesterday with the new (to me) camera which I am starting to master - I heard that laugh! Anyway at least you can look at these with a brew and a biccie for five minutes - your very own interlude!

Taken at Red Rocks in the morning (below) and the evening (above).  I love to capture patterns, textures and reflections.

Oh, and I found some kittens - 16 there were, to be precise!

So many of my school reports said 'Could do better'..................nothing changed there then - ha!  x 

Friendship

I know that this week is going to be a bit manic and my creative blog juices just aren't flowing!  I am surrounded by paints, paper, spiders,bats and all things Halloween ready for a small 'do' on Friday (decided 'eyeballs' on toast is not a good idea!) and workshops on Sunday.  I do know that I want to write a piece on friends, old and new, soon so I would like to share this poem with you. For me, it probably sums up the best type of friend, especially when you have one of those 'verbal diarrhoea' days - not that I ever do of course! Enjoy.

                                            Friends

            Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe

            With a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor

            Measure words but to pour them out, just as it is

            Chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand

            Will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping

            And then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

                                         George Elliot

                                  Time to have a ponder ...

Spooky Customer Care!

It's great when local shops take the time and trouble to throw themselves into a festive season, especially if it's the boss who is teetering on top of the step ladders. This is what I was met with on a visit to my local greengrocers, Colin Lunt's, in West Kirby today.  Colin seemed to be taking instructions as to how to hang up all the spooky decorations, very well! He is a bit camera shy but I did my best to grab a shot or two!

Lunt's have been here for many years now and we very lucky to have them.  Their fruit and veg are always excellent quality; as local as possible whenever possible; frequently cheaper than any supermarket (or the produce is well worth any difference) and the staff are lovely - what more could a customer ask for! 

Well done to you all and here's to selling loads of pumpkins and toffee apples over the next couple of weeks!

'Eastham' Ferry Cross The Mersey

If you have been reading the blog for a while, you will know that one of the things I want to try and do from time to time is review and (hopefully) enthuse about different areas of the Wirral.  If not enthuse, then at least provide some historical background and perspective. 

So, as there is so much to do on this, the west side, that I rarely go over to the other (but not dark!) side of Wirral, on Saturday together with Kathy, a good pal of mine, we meandered over to Eastham Country Park.  It was a good choice, no doubt helped by glorious weather and we were both very impressed!  

Eastham is cited as one of the oldest villages on the Wirral Peninsula and has been inhabited since Anglo Saxon times.  Since the Middle Ages, a ferry service operated across the River Mersey between Eastham and Liverpool, run by monks from the Abbey of St. Werburgh. In 1846, the owner of the ferry, Thomas Stanley, built the Eastham Ferry Hotel and shortly after the Pleasure Gardens (now gone), were added to attract more visitors. The gardens were landscaped with plants, ornamental trees and fountains. Attractions included a zoo with bears, lions, monkeys and antelope, an open air stage, tea rooms, bandstand, ballroom, boating lake, water chute and a loop-the loop roller coaster too! In its heyday Eastham Ferry was known as the 'Richmond of the Mersey', but its popularity declined during the 1920s.  There is still a part of the woods known as ‘the bear pit’ so now I know why!

The Eastham Ferry Hotel looks pretty ordinary now and I was trying to explain to Kath how, as a little girl, I remembered a 'conservatory' on the front (again, long gone).  At the time, I lived in Rock Ferry and was taken there with a friend (Marita) and her dad.  Marita shone at Irish dancing and I used to watch her, mesmerised!  Anyway, I had ginger beer and remember picking bluebells in the woods – ah, bless!  I have just found this old photo (not in my album, I'm not quite that old but on the web) so I know I wasn’t dreaming but I don’t remember the other building at all. How splendid it all looks!

                                                         

The other pub, The Tap, was clearly a biker’s weekend rendezvous with masses of bikes of all makes and sizes on show.  Of course, as a biker at heart I had to have a good ‘ol nose and may even go back……………………

We walked along the river bank for a while and came across quite a few fishermen who were just as happy to have hooked a few hours sunshine

                             

as a fish – ha!  I doubt the scenery along the banks was much different years ago and I could just picture the sailing ships and pirates (okay, so as a child I watched too much Long John Silver, maties!).                  

We then stumbled across the most idiosyncratic café I have probably ever seen, all differing levels of garden with plastic animals, artefacts and a great profusion of plants everywhere
you looked!  The Mimosa cafe calls itself ‘A haven in a hectic world'

                              

and that is just about right. They did a great cappuchino though, even better!

After this pleasant interlude and a bit of a gossip (of course!) we walked up into Eastham Village which is just beautiful.  The church, the pub, the cottages and shops are all so atmospheric and take you back in time in a jiffy.  We talked about time travel, intuition, premonitions and lots of really interesting stuff!

To be continued……………………………………………