It's
going to be Heni's 21st birthday next week..... a very special milestone in hers, and our lives...... AND it's also a day that I never
pictured or envisaged we would ever reach. To celebrate and mark the
occasion, one of the things I wanted to do was to give her a gift in to which had gone a little
thought... something that required some sweat equity, some time and a
lot of love.
......and
so for the last few months I have been dreaming up ideas, planning
away and working on a project that I thought she would really like.
Last year we transformed an old trampoline in to a swinging teepee tent, and this year I had ambitions to make over another section of the
garden that has been unloved and neglected.... a deck at the back of the house that hardly gets
used and has a boring brick wall at the end of it (a by product of our neighbour's extension). In my minds eye, I
had a plan to hide the ugly wall and in doing so make it a fun bright area for
Heni to go outside and use and enjoy on nice weather days.
Hubby
helped me with the first part of the project (today's blog post) and a
friend of mine helped me on part 2 (coming real soon!)
I enlisted Hubby for his wood working skills (and of course his state of the art power tools and truck to collect materials!)
This week has been a busy one...I've not had the time to write a (proper) blog post as I have been occupied finishing a few projects I've had on the go..... but mainly my week seems like it's been spent on maintaining lots of things.
The paint has been peeling off the deck and so it got a new coat of paint....
The weeds are growing like.... well ...weeds.... and I've been trying to keep on top of them....
The shower sprung a leak upstairs and damaged Heni's bedroom ceiling below and we had the plumber round trying to fix it....
...and I've also been striving to keep on top of exercise and health matters... hoping to maintain the ground I have managed to achieve and not go backwards (given the lack of energy I have had to put in to it).
It seems like this weeks lesson (for me) has been one of "continual upkeep".... so hence a few last minute ramblings about it!
It is a natural occurrence for things to start to decay and go backwards. It doesn't matter what subject you can think of...(homes, bodies, relationships etc).. without continual effort, conservation, nurturing, preservation of whatever we come across ... most things will begin to fall apart.
I has been just over a week since the historical result of the Referendum here in England..... and all week long I have been listening to radio shows (airing peoples opposing opinions) news programs, (reporting daily events) and people posting contending views all over Facebook. It seems that every person around the world has a view on this subject and has a judgement as to what is right or wrong, or what should or shouldn't have happened.
Many people can't make sense of what just played out here and are either confused or angry as to why the majority of a country would vote to leave from a union of countries which was initially designed to bring economic and political stability to a large part of the western world.
The media of course has also done its part in twisting, hyping and stirring every conceivable arguement... warping opinion and making what is already a highly sensitive matter even more divisive and inflammatory.
A small percentage of the people who voted "remain" are petitioning and rallying forces for a second referendum and even smaller number of the "leavers" have reared their ugly heads and have exhibited appalling racist behaviour in and around Britain. Many people in Europe are feeling let down by the decision to leave the E.U and are angry at Britain for making such a choice.
I'm no politician... but when I take in to consideration everything I have heard and seen throughout the months previous to the referendum, and since, I would like to offer an alternative way of perhaps explaining or thinking about it to those of you who are still reeling in the wake and wondering why the majority of the populous decided to vote leave.
I've been working on a number of projects just recently.... literally just yesterday I finished working alongside a friend on Heni's birthday mural... (blog post coming up soon!) I've also had a project going on making some planter boxes for the area near the mural on the deck to name just a few.
It seems like I've been on a creativity adventure...
Today
I hope that you will forgive me for putting up another "Sanity Space"
posts about one of the projects I finished a little while ago.
About a month ago I had the chance to go on a free hand machine embroidery and applique course run by Katie Essam. I came across her work at the Knitting and Stitching Show
at the beginning of the year and decided to get a few girl friends
together for a fun morning of receiving some tuition and learning a
new skill/craft.
Unfortunately
one of the group broke her wrist a few days before the workshop so it
ended up with just me and one other friend participating. However... we
had a great time and learned lots and below are some of the steps that
Katie showed us during our time with her.
To go on an outing with Heni, there are a multitude of factors that all have to intersect at the same time...
...a few of them being ...
...she has to be healthy and feeling well.... the weather has to be reasonable... we have to have a free day... we have to have the energy and motivation to get everyone organised... AND we need to have somewhere accessible to go that will be of interest.
If I find a good place to eat...I usually like to share it on the "Eating out with food intolerance" section here on Henibean. Two weeks ago during half term we found a fab venue during our day out at The Sculpture Park (see last weeks post ...The Sculpture Park)...and today I'd like to tell you a little about it.
Bel and The Dragon is a cosy classic country Inn, nestled between the
historic town of Farnham & the Devil’s Punch Bowl...not only did we think the Bel and Dragon had an apt name... after seeing the magnificent Dragon at the Sculpture park .... but it was in the ideal location too.... a mere stones throw away, and short wander over the road from the park entrance. This meant that we were able to walk around half the park, have lunch, and then after refueling, walk (or should I say roll) back again to do the rest of it....
I don't know if you have any sensitivities to food (possibly if you are reading this)... but if you do and you are anything like me, you may get rather tired of going somewhere and feeling like there is either only one item, (or no item) on the menu that is suitable to have. If there is something, then it is a rare place that has the ability to make that one thing appetizing and a real treat to eat... and make the whole process a pleasure to dine without making you feeling like you are an "inconvenience".
At the beginning of this week on Bank Holiday Monday (a National Day off here in England) we decided to spend some respite time away from Heni and head further down south to a place called The Sculpture Park. The idea was to not only spend some quality time together as a family, making memories and creating traditions..... but also to get some ideas to incorporate in to my next project that I'm working on for Heni's birthday in July.
The Sculpture Park is the world’s largest all year sculpture exhibition which covers 10 acres, and houses hundreds of sculptures that are being exhibited there before being sold...and as a result... the park is constantly changing.
There are over two miles of trails that meander around...
