Planet Ruby Starrs

Last week I wrote a ranting against covid post but decided in the end I had got most of the frustration out of my system by just writing it so haven't bothered to bore anyone else with it - this is a tedious business though and I think we need to learn to live with it rather than bury our heads ....... I have no answers so I'll leave it there! My frustration last week was entirely personal and in the scheme of things minor - I have started my weaving class - I went one week and then it looked like I couldn't go again due to local lockdown restrictions and I was greatly saddened.  I did a weaving class a couple of years ago before I went back to uni and really enjoyed it so I was really excited to be back... - from lots of different aspects - the creative side - actually making cloth - the design involved, using glorious colours, and the lovely soft shetland wool.  Then there's the learning a new skill and the camaraderie of a class and also in my fairly hectic life and ...

 In Between doing all this domestic goddess home improvement stuff I have been exploring my garden by night!!! For my birthday Dr Fred bought me a wildlife camera - a fab pressie (one which has scuppered my christmas present plans for him)!! Some weeks ago we went outside in the vain hope of spotting some Perseid meteors - and found a hedgehog snuffling about on the lawn - I was quite excited - I am so loving the variation of wildlife this garden is giving us.  I looked for him every night when I wandered to look for our frogs Grayson and Phillipa and the newt Isaac - who incidentally are very evident along with a quite a few yet unnamed froglets - but I only glimpsed the hedgehog once more so I started feeding him with scrambled egg and every morning the food was was gone and there was some vague evidence of hedgehog snuffling - but no further sightings... I couldn't be sure what might be eating the food I was putting out - cats - rats - do newts like eggs? ...so I built a he...

While in Lancaster at the fabric shop I didn't have much luck searching for curtain fabric suitable for our bedroom - but this is a very much evolving project - having painted the walls a florescent pink - slightly out of kilter with what I actually wanted - I will redo it at some point but its low on priorities at the moment- the rest of the room is settling into a mish mash or more is more in true 'slamitinrubystarrs' style.  I found some rather bright yellowy orange bedding which didn't go but I loved and then I decided to take the plunge and revamp our perfectly serviceable but bland ikea furniture.    I love the Tigris Flame wallpaper by Emma Shipley but I'm not a fan of wallpaper on walls - its a bit repetitive for me and I'm very fussy about the actual pattern itself -  I see odd wallpapers I fall in love with but its rare so I've been ruminating for a while as to where the tigris would sit in our house.  Its found its home and now adorns our wardrobe...

Yesterday I had a birthday so I'm one year nearer my official state pension - then I will be able to spend it all on brandy and summer gloves - I already wear quite a bit of purple and have had a red hat for many years - and have ruined many slippers going out in the rain - anyway I digress - for my birthday city break this year we went to the great metropolis of Lancaster -  and very pleasant it was.  I didnt however take any photos - we had a little explore and a lovely lunch in a off the beaten track cafe and the real reason we went there was so I could investigate the Designer Fabric Outlet shop.  I have been on a quest for curtains for every room ever since we moved into this house but determined not to succumb to any thing unless I really loved it - so we have been making do for over eight months now and I really wanted to at least sort out something for the sitting room out before winter sets in!!  It was an immensely successful expedition - and now we have am...