Planet Ruby Starrs

Autumn is in the air and this week I've watched the farmer plow up the huge field outside our house - its gone from snow covered when we moved in, to lush green and then gold barley, to barren tilled earth ready for next year.  Hares have leapt and jumped around the crop and Curlews, Pheasants and flocks of Lapwings have found sustenance there over the summer.  Now as its being plowed its covered with seagulls - looking like a white cloud settled behind the tractor. and then leaping into the sky I came across another bird while visiting Leeds last week - in a shop window - I had to take the photo through glass so its not as clear as I would like but I was very taken with this stuffed rook wearing a beautiful golden crown.

Very busy week entertaining friends, grand children, neighbors and in between this I've been sewing another quilt panel. There's a sense of summer definitely ending... an almost autumnal bite to the air first thing in the morning and while weather forecasts suggest slight improvement in temperatures later this week it will not be as it was before... I've got some up and coming plans to fit in before I start college.. a London jaunt, a joint birthday party with my eldest grandchild... and a few days of cafe culture in Rome with Dr Fred. I've been busy though flitting about home and Leeds, entertaining, slow stitching, quick sketching, and generally getting on with things. I made a  fleeting visit to Leeds and took the grandchildren to Kirkstall Abbey for a little outing - Its a very peaceful place even at the height of summer and while I have been visiting the Abbey for over 50 years, to me, the ruins remain very grand with some amazing stonework.  I think...

In the interests of local culture we visited the Head of Steam Railway Museum in Darlington today.  It was an interesting and educational experience... if I'm honest I went because they advertised an exhibition of 1950's table ware and it looked fun. Other then travelling on them, I've never been that interested in trains of any description but actually the museum turned out to be very good and there was just enough to hold my limited 'railway' attention span. It was helped by the fact that while he museum hosts the Locomotion Number One - Stephenson first triumphant steam engine designed to carry coal quickly and cheaply - it also houses some relevant social history and artifacts giving a more personal feel to the place and extending the general interest.  The museum is set in the old station building and still had the Victorian gents loos on show  (complete with notice asking people NOT to use them!!) and the displays are well laid out with quite a lot of hands ...

Slowly finding my mojo again - I've felt a little lacking in creativity this summer, I've done some sketching and a bit of painting but not as much as usual - its been quite a hard summer and my energy levels have been low and focused on family issues rather then  art stuff. I decided that I really needed some art therapy to lift me out of the doldrums so I checked out the Row by Row patterns I picked up when we did our road trip around Canada and North America last summer.  The theme for 2017 was 'On the Go' and I felt this was really fitting aa we were on an epic road trip... I wanted to some something 'portable' ie something I could sit in front of mindless television and get on with rather then being attached to the sewing machine so I decided to tackle one of the patterns as a hand rendered piece and immerse myself in a bit of slow stitching - always good for the soul. I dug out the patterns (16 in all) and looked for inspiration - I decided it needed...

More exciting family time. We have had a busy week full of baking, sewing, singing, dancing - I still cant do 'the floss' .. slides, swings and even managed a round of crazy golf.  On Thursday we had a girls trip out to ' the forbidden corner' at Tupgill Estate near Middleham.  If you've not been, do put it on your to do list, its a great family day out and I think appeals to all ages or rather those above 2 years 10 months.  The small member of our brave girls club really didn't feel very brave... right from the beginning as we entered the park though the giant burping mouth.. which really really startled her.. you have to go to experience this it defies further description... and that combined with the bubbling blue Caliban and an extremely fierce water spitting crow sent poor baby into trembling hide under mummy mode.   Big girls screams of mixed horror and delight did rather up the ante and we had to find a quiet corner to calm down, eat che...

My eight year old grand daughter has taken to the sewing machine like a duck to water... I've been meaning to do more sewing with her but there are never enough hours when they visit but this time..with the little one completely engrossed with the play kitchen - endless cups of pretend tea and plates of weird combinations of plastic food - we were able to sit at the sewing machine and have some time for a proper lesson.  My new machine has a speed control and with it at its slowest we practiced really boring stuff like straight lines and joining fabric together.  My personal philosophy on learning new skills is make something you want right at the beginning and incorporate the learning into that project. That way you get a sense of achievement and a skill at the same time.  This is particularly important if you are 8 years old with the attention span of a gnat!!! So we did straight lines to hem a bit of calico and then did a few more staight lines using fancy...

the sun made a fleeting appearance - and the weather forecast is promising - I'm working on being optimistic....

The house is surrounded by weaving and dipping House Martins.  Every window I look out through they are there, dozens of them flying, swooping and catching insects.  Our house (and most surrounding buildings) has several nests all securely tucked under the eaves, we had thought they may be for swallows but instead have been hugely populated by sleek little House Martins.   The bird table gets regular visits from lots of little brown jobbies and various species of tits. The field opposite has been harvested and is now home to a large flock of lapwings who seem to be enjoying what ever the barley has left behind.  Yesterday there were half a dozen detectorists slowly wandering up down yielding metal detectors and spades - no great shouts or gold dances but clearly a methodical evening looking for treasure.  Yes its all happening here in the depths of  wild County Durham!!!!  The sun has very definitely withdrawn but the view is of deep brooding c...

Already I am missing summer... first it rained non stop for about 48 hours, removing  any chance of seeing the lunar eclipse.. we were eternally optimistic and headed up to the hills to see if it miraculously cleared to sit and gaze through hazy clouds and watch the lights of Barnard Castle intermittently appear in the distance to just disappear in the rain again.  We saw some good lightening but poor show for the moon. Then its just been gloomy and windy - not too bad for walking but definitely not condusive to sitting in the garden! Allegedly its a  plus side that there is no more watering the plants for a few days and its considerably cooler for sleeping of an evening... all of which I would trade for continued sunshine!!  Dr Fred is heading for Munros again this week I was looking for ''cheap'' city deals somewhere interesting but its August and they don't exist!  Probably a better idea is to hang out here and get some prep work done for up and loomin...