Meaningful Pastimes subtitled Procrastination.

Amble pier and The forth Bridge patterns

We're just about to have the last of our lovely family visits for a while, and then Hotel Ash Cottage will defo be shut for a while... its been a great summer and I personally feel like the sun has shone all the time... apart from the two days it mattered the sunflower party and another time which lurks in the back of my mind but it cant be too important cos I can't quite remember. So another summer - another birthday - the car has had its yearly wash, christmas is looming and we are back to college next week and I am looking forward to it.

I need the routine back as my days are starting to seriously slip...I've always been good at procrastination but also conscious of trying to use precious time meaningfully - not being in a 50 hour plus a week employment anymore means I have more time to do those meaningful tasks and enjoy considering what I do more carefully. Weekends used to be full of chores (ha ha ) recovery time and trying to fit some enjoyable activity in before hitting the rat race again .. now I wonder how did I ever have time to hold down a full time job and have a life... I really REALLY used to value my weekend lie ins.. and I've never been very good at getting out of bed so I am known for wasting the mornings but when employed I had to be in bed early as well as up with the rooks and now I quite happily stay up very late!!! (and sometimes get up late)

So technically my days are much longer and I have so much more energy - mainly because I do things I love to do... Don't get me wrong it was only towards the end of my working life I lost my drive or even will to work...., up to then I was fortunate to work in a job I loved - possibly making a difference along the way, having fab colleagues, meeting really interesting people and generally having a productive if tiring life. However situations change -as do circumstances I suddenly got older and wiser and a lot of variables led me to deciding to pack in regular employment escape a very unpleasant working environment and follow my instinct and ultimately my dream....

Sounds grand doesn't it? Well at first my dream was to not be in the rush hour every day but soon I was able to realise my lifelong ambition of being an art student study textiles so here I am... procrastinating as I should be putting the finishing touches to my summer sketch book... could be worse I could be watching Dexter - my latest box set addiction... (possibly not meaningful)

Of course meaningful pastimes are extremely subjective.. I personally think lying in bed reading educational material even if it is in the form of a scandi crime novel is very meaningful.. proper relaxation, almost as good as sleeping... walking on the beach another of my time consuming habits - also very necessary- I do pick up firewood and other interesting meaningful items... occasionally I do do even more meaningful things - coffee with friends, sewing, baking, cooking, gardening, drawing all things I used to do in a frantic rushed way as I never had that much time in my past life....

Its all rather splendid - and doing my course is the icing on the cake and who knows it may lead me back into employment - now the government have managed to delay any hope of a pension for a number of years... To be honest I thought I'd miss the income that comes with regular daily slaving but that hasn't really happened -its unlikely I'll starve, that would take a few weeks anyway, we still get to do all the things we love especially travelling which brings me to my current procrastination trick at the moment, planning a big adventure for next summer - so basically no time in the foreseeable future to take on the added burden of work!!!!

Just to show my day isn't completely wasted I've included a photo of todays page of the sketch book - patterns inspired by bridges and piers...

ps.. winter is coming - I've still got the last Game of Thrones series to watch but any book recommendations would be very welcome to fill those winter nights just leave them in the comments section

Alesund

Our final destination stop was Alesund. This is a very pretty town in southern Norway built on a peninsula. All the houses are painted pretty colours and a lot of the architecture is all very Art Nouveau based. This is because the town itself was completely burnt to the ground In 1904 by a fire for which they never found the original cause. The whole town had to be rebuilt and this became a huge National Effort and a lot of prominent and up and coming architects flocked to the town to stick there 20 pence in. Consequently the town is very heavily Art Nouveau which was very fashionable at the time. There is this wonderful Museum just off the harbour which is a very beautiful Art Nouveau house. It has amazing panelling, doors, wallpaper, and it's all furnished with beautiful art Nouveau Furniture. It also house a collection of of enameled Art Nouveau Trinkets,boxes, spoons, jewellery, very very beautiful. There is an interesting collection of old books and paintings a...

Isle of Bute

Another Landmark Trust tick - this time Ascog House on the Isle of Bute - stunning as always... a very comfortable warm accommodation for the usual 8 suspects. This time we had a wee tower house for Dr Fred and myself - a lovely bedroom up the stairs with a big window and a bathroom al to ourselves - having said that all the other bedrooms in the big house were large and serviced by two bathrooms so there was no hardship for any visitors! The grounds of the house were very extensive with ponds and secret passages - hidden paths and we even spotted a deer late afternoon - there were lots of old features - ornate staircases and a lovely hidden door which I did a quick sketch of. Bute provided quite a lot of entertainment as well - the weather was kind and we did a a muddy wander down the south of the Island taking in St Blanes Monastery and Kilcannon Bay. The views were spectacular and it was fabulous to be out in the fresh (and it was fresh on the tops) air and we...

Kalamata and random stuff

We suddenly got busy catching up with old friends met on previous cruises - and making some new friends who were working this cruise. Dr Fred got organised arranging Stargazing sessions and future talks, while I'm embroidering a coat! All this takes time and energy inbetween being available for food..... It was formal night in the 1920s style with the Captain's Cocktail party. So we donned our gladrags, smartened ourselves up and went meet the captain and have a to drink in the Neptune theatre before dinner. I have to say I'm quite impressed with the effort that people go to on these formal nights and some people have some amazing clothes And it was particularly good this night because of the 1920s theme They were an awful lot of headbands with feathers in them but they did look good and some of the frocks were just absolutely stunning. They've refurbished the selfservice area. Its now known as the Thistle - and it's very pleasant - al...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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