start the week stargazing....

Here is the prediction from this week's horoscope from the Daily Telegraph's Stella magazine and written by Caroline Pryce:

"Venus moving into the wealth corner of your chart bodes well for the bank balance. Librans are not known for being big savers, so this extra cash comes just in time. Don't run it so close in the future."

Do you see what she's done there? Given me some hope and told me what I already know, all in three sentences. I would make a rough guess that 2 out of every 3 horoscopes for Librans warns about spendthriftery and general financial ineptitude. Why is that?

I will review my week in the light of these three sentences and analyse whether they have reflected the activities and events of the next seven days. Just to see.

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On a more terrestrial level, I am reading 'The Great Gatsby' at the moment. For book club. I am sure I did it for 'O' level, possibly even 'A' level. It's kind of brittle. I love the way the characters talk to each other with their eyebrows and their head tilts. I'd forgotten that it moves between the country and the city, too. I have to make myself finish it tonight. We're looking at Sebastian Faulks 'Engleby' tomorrow, too. I am not sure we will be able to compare and contrast very easily. I'm not too anxious about it as we are not requred to discuss the book(s) for very long. Sometimes I wish we were.

I read about a book club recently that themes their discussions. So, for example, they might do 'power' and everyone can choose a book they think reflects that theme and then talk about it at the next meeting. We have a list, everyone gets to choose a title and we read through them over a period of months. It's been a really enjoyable exercise. Most recently we've been alternating classics and more modern fiction. I'm a bit of a modern girl myself. I dragged my way through 'Wuthering Heights' and didn't get further than the first paragraph of 'Frenchman's Creek'.

There are a rolling number of about 12 members. Some always finish the book, no matter whether they enjoy it or not. I am of the other persuasion. If I don't like the first chapter, I don't persevere. I am far too old and impatient to waste my time reading something if I can't find something enjoyable within its pages.

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I am very excited to be spending the weekend at a workshop with Julie Arkell and am looking at the materials list I need to collect together. I am a little concerned that I won't be visually compatible with my fellow students. I have done a couple of Embroiderers' Guild workshops recently and my pieces never quite look like anyone else's. This workshop will involve vintage buttons and carefully sourced antique textiles. I am not sure my motley collection of items will pass muster. I suppose all I can do is take and see. The experience of working with a real-life textile artist will outweigh any potential anxiety about showing and telling of my bits and bobs.

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transformations

According to my stars in last week's Sunday Somethingorother, I am to turn into a pumpkin this weekend. I've never been on time. I believe this is something to do with Saturn.

I read every astrological prediction that passes before me, sometimes taking it all quite seriously. I have no understanding of the logistics that result in the predictions, nor do I understand what most of the terminology. Indeed, I can't participate in what I would call proper astrology as I can't remember what time I've been told I was born. I'm sure I used to know but that little part of information has been put to the bottom of my mental filing cabinet.

However, I read every inch-long prediction that appears in relation to Libra and the 12th of the population (including myself) that must be Libran.

Starting this weekend I am going to keep these predictions and see what happens, just in case they are actually accurate. I am sure that the more scientific readers of this little blog will make me aware of the pointlessness of this exercise. I'm sure it won't last long. I think it might amuse me until Christmas and we shall see how we go.

To give you a sense of that I think will happen, most of my predictions involve being bad with money, procrastinating and seeing things from all points of view until it is too late to actually do anything about them. Now Saturn is on the horizon, perhaps this will change.

ghostly appearances

'Spooks' starts in about four minutes time. It has been one of my favourite TV series for a long-time but, as usual, at the beginning of a series I can't remember who is alive, who is dead, who is on our side, who isn't, who has been cavorting with Russian lovelies and which of the leads has been the most lovely

I am hoping to be made a nice cup of tea as I watch our fictional heroes run about combatting anti-establishment-global-terrorist network with their surveillance wotnots and their speedy running arms.

fun (guys) in the woods

The short red wellies are mine - a birthday attempt to become a proper country girl - they're Hunters you know!

A skyscraper of welly-proof mushrooms.

A chipped mushroom, love the edging on this one - is it magic?

The only puffball I've seen that isn't a skirt.

I've discovered photo-cropping. I know, it's taken me a while to catch up with the rest of the blogosphere. I do like a mushroom, more to look at than to eat. I like the undersides better and recently treated myself to a mushroom guide. Of course, I haven't looked inside it yet but it sits on my desk, waiting patiently for attention.

The sun is shining today. I am not, in theory, working today but as my car is being serviced and MOT'd (total so far £249 + VAT) I am gathering and collating my week's working necessities so that I can increase the possibility of a good night's sleep before I go back into school.

My early wakening continues - this morning at 4am - a record! I did notice, however, that a milkvan drives past our house at 5.30am which may have been the culprit in my pre-hour-going-back early awakening. That's one mystery solved then.

Why 4am? I do not know. I have made a conscious decision today that I will embrace the extra hours in my day for as long as it takes for my biorhythms or whatever is going on rights itself. It seems to me that if I am going to be awake at ridiculous hours in the morning, I might as well do something enjoyable, like knitting or writing or sewing. Perhaps I have just tripped into older-person's sleep patterns where I just don't need as much sleep anymore. Perhaps my well-known capacity for sleep has topped my sleepbank up so much, my hypothalmus or whatever is self-regulating.

Another tactic I am going to employ is 'mood mapping' which I read about yesterday. Written by a Dr. Liz Miller 'Mood Mapping' looks like a very sensible approach to thinking about and recording daily moods, activities, energy etc. I need to buy the book really but, as I said, am housebound and I don't want to go on Amazon as my MOT/service is going to wipe out any ad-hoc purchasing power I have for the month.

To go back to Sussex....I loved this water carrier that was hanging in the scullery of one of the tudor houses. I love the elongated shape and the neck would make a great clasp mechanism. Oh to be a handbag designer.

a grand day out

I never manage, quite, to take the most relevant photographs, the following should be of historical buildings and abodes....I returned from the trip with a selection of random snaps. I hope you enjoy them....

The blacksmith's collection of rusting rings....

Definitely textile inspiration - can't remember what they're called....

A barrel of laughs (sorry leaves)....

Unidentified, decaying, Tudor fruit...

Back to the blacksmiths for some interesting window arrangements....

We took a trip to West Sussex to see family last week. They live in a beautiful house in a beautiful part of the country and being invited to stay with them has been a privilege for me ever since they moved there which was about the same time as I got together with G. As well as regular visits over the years, we were lucky enough to be able to live there while we were between houses a few years ago.

This time we went to see the newest addition to our extended family, O. He is a charming baby and the older members of the party (myself included) were struck by the fact that our daughter is now official playmate to O as O's aunt (now 22) was official playmate for our two babies when she was younger.

We had a family outing on the Thursday to the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum which is an amazing outdoor display and museum of old, reconstructed houses, a kind of architecurally educational walk. Sussex looked its best as we drove to and from the museum past Petworth, Goodwood and another great country estate whose name escapes me. We passed lots of chocolate box cottages and amazing gardens, all looking beautiful in the autumn sunshine.

I have many more photos - I do love a ravaged, textured wall, door or floor and there were some amazing leather water carriers and jugs that will appear here if I have time next week.

In the meantime, with a view to making a monthly list hereafter....here's November's....
- go to see Pharma's Market at Cirencester Brewery Arts
- go to MISI in Bristol next Saturday
- enjoy fireworks next door to Granny's on Saturday night (no mud-quagmire required - see last year's post if you can find it)
- enjoy my workshop with Julia Arkell in a couple of weekend's time
- prepare for and enjoy E's birthday
- panic about festive arrangements as I won't have time to do anything before E's birthday and then it will be 5 weeks until the festivities begin (did this last year but for different reasons - Christmas happened anyway)
-do a bit of wintery projectforty on the food/exercise front...there is maintenance work to be done....I'm thinking soup and hearty walks with the occasional body balance session.
- fit in a little bit of spa-ing as my previous voucher was topped up on my birthday, facials are half price at the salon in town though so will be going for body maintenance methinks

tree-mendously busy.....

Who knew trees could be such a tourist attraction? It was trunk to trunk pushchairs and wellies at Westonbirt yesterday afternoon. The acers were divine, the colours magnificent.

Granny's first trip there and we are now all fully-fledged members so we can observe the seasons on what is one of the greatest collections of trees in the world.

A small collection of photos (taken by E, mostly). I love the colour wheel made from leaves.

I am already planning a return visit, after half-term and during the week to soak up the autumnal mistiness and impending winter.

watching the clock

This week has been a little tricky. I celebrated my birthday on Monday and I mourned my Dad on Friday. I'm not very good at all this emotional stuff. I'm a bottler, covering my true feelings with a thick layer of dark humour and grudging acceptance. This results in a general glass-half-full view of life and others and random explosive episodes of trauma and tears which only one other person ever gets to see.
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As I have turned 42 this year (the meaning of life, you know), I have decided that I am going to stop this unhealthy behaviour and find ways to deal with these emotions in a calmer and more positive way.

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It's been a year since Dad died and I have spent much of the year waiting for various anniversaries and timely reminders of him to come and go. We ate fish and chips and played cards last night. Tonight I am going to have a very large vodka and tonic in his honour whilst watching 'Strictly'. Tomorrow, Granny is going to rustle up a Sunday dinner in her new house up the road whilst we help build cupboards, do a bit of upholstery and take a stroll in the fields.

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It's time to look forward.