I Quietly Observe

This graffiti caught my eye as I was on the way home from greenwich today. I think it is a line from a Massive Attack song. Not sure if Kure wrote it-it does not look the same in style. This is the underpass where the graffiti is-my road is the other side through the light and a bit further. We once saw a burned out motor bike in here but it is not normally that dramatic. It gets graffitied regularly and cleaned up just as often.

I have a mystery plant in my garden. It first caught my attention a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was probably some kind of weed, but because it was on its own I thought I would let it grow and see what appeared. It has suddenly got much bigger. It has prickly leaves. Today when I went out to see it, I noticed a tendril curling towards the chamomile, and suddenly had the idea flash in my brain that it is a pumpkin! Is it? Do you know? I really hope so. It could be a stray seed from the few that have lain around quietly rotting over the last couple of seasons-it could have been tipped out of a redundant pot where one in particular lay for ages. As it has quite a lot of room I think it will do ok if the weather stays hot. We shall see!

I am intending to go for some kind of walk every day this holiday and so far have kind of kept to it. Today I walked to Greenwich, through the park. I chose a different route and so ended up walking past the beautiful long border outside the museum. I love this fennel en masse.

I got enthused over cooking today and made delicious beetroot soup from Sophie Dahl's book, and fruit cakes-the small one is to take to my Dad tomorrow as I am visiting. I had a slice after my soup tonight, and it has turned out ok. It is a simnel cake recipe with fruit soaked briefly in brandy, flaked almonds and mixed peel. I have been listing things on Ebay which is quite a lengthy process but I am enjoying watching what is happening. I am very good at buying things, I hope this transfers to my selling ability!

Quick and Easy

A scrap of chintzy cloth fell out of my fabric box the other day. I put gesso on it in a rough face shape, and later used inktense pencils to draw a quick face. It was really quick, which makes me think-should I take more time over things? I do often take more time, but get just as much enjoyment out of the quick doodly things too, so maybe not! Inktense pencils are very intense colours-hence the name I suppose. The wet colours are so lovely and you cannot tell from the dry colour.

More quick and easy-this time in the garden-primulas for £1 each from Morrison's-where I also bought some ready grown sweet pea seedlings for £1 each-bargains! I love these primulas and also love sweet peas-but never have much luck germinating them.
Below is some greek basil-with the added colour of a ladybird. This basil is so delicious. It is stronger in flavour I think than the larger leaved basil. These two plants were supermarket basil and completely pot bound and dying because of it. I split the plant and re-potted them and they are thriving. It makes a delicious addition to a cheese omelette-a quick and easy tea!

Two more quick and easy recipes-carrot and coriander soup-a bag of carrots, a stock cube, an onion and a bunch of coriander. Cook the onion in a little oil until soft, add the dissolved stock cube and the chopped carrots. When the carrots are cooked, add the ripped up coriander, blitz in the blender-done-delicious!
Fruity milkshake-handful or two of soft fruit of your choice, enough milk to make it as thick or thin as you like it, a bit of vanilla syrup if you are being bad! Blitz in the blender-yum!

Tomorrow I might lay around and read a book

Holiday manicness (is that a word?) has taken me over. It is nearer to the end than the beginning and I have had a bit of a doldrums and am now having a manic spurt, where I can't decide what I should do first, and so have started all sorts of things at the same time. I have goals in my mind for my artistic endeavours, which, in reality may not all happen as there are too many. In other words I am in a mild state of panic and why? Because I have decided, with no pressure from anyone else, to do all these things. You would think I would learn but somehow I don't.

On the plus side though, I have knitted a scarf, learned to knit on circular needles and knitted some wrist warmers and am onto another pair, used some of my second hand fabric on some birds I am working on, made some tealight holders, reorganised the DVDs, filed and saved a lot of my photos (freeing up much needed space on the hard drive!), watched three films I wanted to watch ages ago, nearly made a doll for an Art Doll Quarterly magazine challenge, and baked a banana cake.

Having written my list I feel a bit better actually, that I have achieved something but I also worry about the Jack of all trades phenomenon. Oh well.

Second wooden face. I might stop here with this one, as I like it like that.This is the doll I mentioned-well her head. I found this piece of drift wood, with nail attached, on Sheppey. I gessoed it at first but the clear gesso dried white so I sanded it and discovered a beautiful soft grain in the charred wood. I applied the gold leaf ages ago and added the face today. The ADQ challenge is to make a wooden doll-or at least the head must be wood. I am making a cloth body.This is my scarf-very easy to make but I love it-and it almost makes me look forward to winter-almost. Speaking of knitting I enjoyed looking here today-have a look-it is lots of fun! (Thanks Anne and Tracy for knitting inspiration!)These are the tealight holders-not finished yet-idea from here. (Thanks Vanessa!)The sketchbook project-the very beginning stages-I will explain more when I have done more!A self-explanatory though not particularly exciting picture of the neatened DVDs! I watched Slumdog Millionaire today-one of the films I have been meaning to watch for ages-I really liked it.The birds-they will be stuffed and the other side (white sheet material) painted. Not sure if they will hang or stand yet.

I used fresh bananas for the cake and it tasted a lot better than when I use old ones!

Ridiculously Labour Intensive Coffee Cake

I bought a Woman and Home, Feel Good Food magazine at the weekend, tempted by the delicious pastel cupcakes on the cover and the coffee cake recipe I found when leafing through.

I rushed home from work tonight to make the cake. It involved four separate processes-the mixture, the syrup to pour onto the baked cake, the butter icing and the glace icing. It took me ages! It is very moist and delicious though so it was worth it. I think the syrup is the secret. You are all invited round for a drink and a slice! I often choose this cake in tea shops and then have the dilemma of should I have tea or coffee to accompany it? Hmmm!

The cake in the magazine is below.

We have a school trip tomorrow and Wednesday, going to The Horniman Museum, mainly to see the aquarium. I can now not worry about whether I can get a cup of coffee as I can just have a slice of my cake at lunchtime!