Planet Ruby Starrs

I sort of lost my creative mojo, it just waned for quite a long time  - but it didn't stop me going to pottery. for almost a year.. I've currently stopped classes for now but I will return once I'm back from the big adventure and potentially solvent again!   I will never be a potter - this much is true - I really enjoy the process but it takes a lot of practice and patience neither of which I have...  - I love Loveheart Workshops where I have been taught the basics of producing ceramics - first I made a mug (which someone asked if my 11year old grand daughter had made!!) then a rather messy coil pot - a slab jug - all these could gladly go to the charity shop except - of course I MADE THEM - so they are reprieved and will languish somewhere in out general mish mish of eclectic junk - I made a storage jar and this I quite like.  a mug in the making While I enjoy the fashioning of the clay - I like the tactile nature of building something - and I love how somethin...

Everywhere you look Christmas trees and decorations are springing up - it started even in November!!! I think its a sign of the times, people are looking for some joy and colour in a world which feels very hard and austere at the moment... and its true - life for a lot of people is hard, and I worked for many years in a social welfare setting that often sent me home appreciative of what I had - especially at Christmas time.  The television is still full of adverts for luxurious presents and supermarkets showing tables groaning with food - totally unrealistic even in a good year - but this year, while every bit of press scaremongers us into thinking the world is ending- we will all die of hypothermia or starvation - we are still encouraged to buy buy buy.. and celebrate this festive season with greed and gluttony -  it feels obscene - yes this is a rant - and I am well aware that many - too many- people are in fuel poverty and food prices have escalated beyond commonly acceptab...

Being retired seem to be a full time occupation - I have no idea how I had time to have a job - of course there are some disadvantages - loss of income but compensated by late mornings and no rush hour traffic.  I am however, prone to losing sense of time and routine so I have to have a few bits in my week that remind me to get up at a sensible hour - and believe me whats sensible to me is very late to most people - and to keep track of what day is what. One my forays in to time management is a stint volunteering at The Auckland Project (TAP) - I started out invigilating in the Spanish Gallery in the market Square of Bishop Auckland but soon decided that for various reason I preferred to chat with visitors about the Castle - also known as the Bishops Palace.   Bishop Auckland was the home of the Prince Bishops - a long convoluted piece of history which warrants further investigation, but essentially in about 1066 the king couldn't quite control the north from the deep sou...

We have just had a really lovely week with visiting friends from down south... the weather mostly held and the southern softies managed to cope with a bracing walk on the beach at Hartlepool.  The next day a visit to the big city of Newcastle - I haven't been actually into the toon since pre covid but even this time, due to unforeseen actions we were running late and only had time for the The Biscuit Factory - very lovely art works, jewellery and other interesting items on display and for sale- and then an educational evening at Cosmology Night held in Ernests Bar in Ouseburn.   It was an interesting evening - Dr Fred gave an excellent well received talk about the James Webb Telescope and Dr Dave gave a fairly - to me at least- in comprehensible talk about science of the Terminator.... to be fair the audience enjoyed it but I wasn't even aware that there was more than one terminator film although I suppose hasta la vista is a bit of a giveaway... anyway most of it went st...

 Dr Fred and I ran our autumnal star weekend - it was, as always, a great weekend, good company and we were lucky with the weather.  Its a year since we had done a weekend and last years event coincided with storm Arwen leaving the Ninebanks youth hostel we usually book without power for almost the whole weekend.  It was quite an adventure requiring cooking on on stove and using candles and the wood burner fire for light and heat - although we did get some spectacular night skies on the Saturday - as if the storm had blown away all the clouds.  This year it was a little bit simpler - we kept the numbers low to accommodate everyone comfortably due to covid risk and we were a small but elite group.   The weekend always runs pretty much to the same format, lots of interesting talks given by Dr Fred and steaming plates of carb loaded food provided by me- if you are stood outside in October stargazing you need plenty of calories to keep warm... there are always ...

This weeks project included more market place finds... although I think Facebook market place has had its time - nowadays it seems to be full of rip off sofas and cheap nasty furniture sales and more and more 'underwear' sales which I haven't clicked on as I'm pretty sure they are special services sites.... I've had a few scam messages when I've had stuff on for sale so I'm steering clear mainly but every now and again I have a gander... So this time I was looking for, and found,one of those glass topped Ikea tables which you display stuff in.  Since we emptied our storage in Leeds we have got so much more stuff which needs a home - we have got rid of quite a lot but also we have discovered new treasures so I've been looking at inventive ways to give them a home.  As usual I forgot to do a decent before picture.... The coffee table I found was quite tatty and very white - but cheap and shouted ''buy me buy me I can be beautiful I'm a potentia...

I'm really useless at taking before pictures so this isn't very representative of the grey space this room was.  We (I) in a fit of madness decided to updo the 'utility' room - better known as junk room of doom......  most people have a drawer of doom - we have one of those too actually, but we also have a room of doom ( and a shed).. Its not like we don't still have other more important rooms to do but this felt manageable unlike the hall - and we had had to empty it a bit to make room for more 'treasure' coming from our storage which we are desperately  (and have almost succeeded) trying to empty.  Also we had a downstairs loo fitted and this is the way in so it needed to passable and a bit tidier. We have a fairly fair division of skills for decorating - Dr Fred mainly does prep and wallpaper stripping and the hard painting bits - i.e. those that require patience - and I hang wallpaper and big painting spaces....  Dr Fred stripped the never ending anaglyp...

 As I chatted on about the Ruin I thought I would add a post about a visit to another Landmark Trust building we went to in February of this year.  Every year a small group of friends meet up and enjoy the luxury of a comfortable gaff to eat, drink, be merry ,do jigsaws, some bracing walks and generally catch up and blow away post Christmas blues.  So far we have always met up in a large Landmark Trust house and this year was no exception.  We went to Shelwick Court  in Hereford.   Another amazingly grand house - rescued from total ruin - saved by the fact it for no evident reason has a medieval hall as the upstairs room.  This room was not original to the building but it is believed it must have been moved there at some point to recycle, reuse and reduce building costs - who knows - it was discovered when the building was about to be demolished because it was so derelict the owners were living in a caravan in the grounds... Each Landmark trust bu...

This week saw a friend and I make a glorious road trip across country to Fairfield Mills in Sedbergh to look at a very interesting textile exhibition.  It was a great day out - the weather was very kind - eventually - the sun came out and the drive over was just glorious scenery with hills that looked like they were made out of velvet and ever changing skies going from dark and brooding to brazenly blue with scudding fluffy clouds.  All the way there and back we were treated to natures own art show and once there we enjoyed some first class textile art.   Sarah Waters was showing a collection of felted pieces... wonderful earthy colours - using nature for both inspiration and materials.  The exhibits were really well presented and each piece had a story to tell - it was very difficult not to touch as all the pieces looked so tactile.... I just wanted to stroke then all or try and put my hand in the inviting curves.... The other exhibition was a collective of dif...

So this commitment to reopening the blog isn't going so well... after a crazy busy summer with various adventures - autumn is upon us and suddenly life has ground to a quiet standstill.... its mainly about tidying the garden and readying the house for the colder days coming.   Not a lot interesting happening to ramble on about! more than 180 but less than 360 pic of Ruin and view We did have a little outing on Sunday to Hackfall Gardens at Grewelthorpe, North Yorkshire, to look at a Landmark Trust building open day.  This building is called 'The Ruin' and that exactly what it is- but in the form of an intended ruin - a folly on the estate of John Aislabie - a small  rather beautiful space planned as a 'banqueting hall' to showcase riches and more importantly the amazing view. It has one small living room with to smaller side rooms one being a compact bedroom with log burner and the other a very swish bathroom area. All three room only open onto the stone terrace - t...

We are having a few days away up in bonny Scotland staying with friend in Edinburgh.  Our friend  has a very fab gaff top floor high up with tremendous views both across the city and the hills.   We had G&T's in the roof garden and then a lovely evening drinking wine, watching a beautiful sunset and catching up on events over the last covid years...   After investigating all climbing opportunities up the side of our friends building as one does... we went to have a mosey around the Scottish National Portrait Gallery which is a beautiful gallery and houses some really good art.  We have been before, but the exhibits change, but mostly its the stunning building  that is the most striking. After lunch in the gallery we did an afternoon matinee of the film 'Fall' - interesting tense but totally slated by the 3 expert climbers I was watching with as technically it was ALL WRONG and TOTALLY UNFEASIBLE ..  yes all those things - irresponsible, u...

Solfest - fabulous return to music festivals... superb tunes, fantastic weather and lots of dancing under the stars.  And... Dr Fred in his space suit for fancy dress shenanigans...

Camping with the best girls at Creekside Campsite in Anderby on the East coast.  A fab week - sea, more sea a lot of sand, Aquarium, dinosaurs, beautiful sunsets, fields to play in, friends to make - tiring for little legs and sometimes not quite what a nearly teenager needs but we all had a very enjoyable break in glorious weather - couldn't ask for more - Little legs sobbed her heart out when we had to come home😞😞😞   

Grayson Perry Exhibition at Sunderland