Getting Back The Feeling....

It's been a stressful year what with one thing and another (can I mention the porch?  Still not finished, we are entering month 5...) and I have not felt much like painting unless I have to.  This is most unlike me, I live to paint and having it taken away just adds to the stress really. However, with the summer holidays upon us and at least the strain of the day job suspended for a few weeks, I have felt the urge to wield a paintbrush again!

This painting I started some weeks ago,and is of the grounds surrounding Old Basing House.  I am using acrylics and aiming for a real chocolate box feel to it as the scene was so quintessentially English.  Lots more to do, but I am very happy with it so far.

I'm finding the time to squeeze in a little personal knitting as well - I love this simple scarf pattern and how it can be adapted for any yarn.  I was really happy to find the perfect matching wooden beads to use for the edging.  The way the yarn is knitting up, it reminds me of the ripples formed in the sand at the sea's edge, with the water trapped between.  Not sure if I will be keeping or selling this, but I have ample yarn to make another!

Sunny Saturday Morning...

For the past week I have been without a car (curse you Japanese manufacturers, why are spare parts so difficult to source - and five times more expensive?) which has meant I have had to walk everywhere.  Not so much fun when you have to carry a ton of shopping a mile home, but you do get to see some pretty scenery.  This is Basingstoke canal this morning.

We found a couple of ducks to throw bread at, and admired all the gardens on the opposite bank.  We walked home a quicker way though - bags of vegetables from the market to carry!

Hopefully with the better weather, my tomatoes might improve.  Despite their weedy appearance, I discovered we have some flowers on one of the plants.  I do know that down in Devon at Soggibottom cottage there is a tiny tomato however  - I may have already been defeated in our competition this year!

Tempting though it was to go outside and potter in the garden, I chose to get on with this repair that has been hanging over me since last week.  The bracelet belongs to a colleague of mine at the day job.  I have never re-strung pearls before but figured it would be quite simple.....  Actually, once I worked out that I needed two needles and thread in order to tie the little knots between pearls it went quite smoothly.  Very fiddly however and not something I would want to do on a regular basis.

But it is almost as good as new - I hope she is pleased with it.  I'm getting paid in red wine for this - no complaints from me about that!

I saw this pattern in a magazine last month and really wanted to try it out. It's a Waspinator - the theory being that if you hang up a fake wasp nest in your garden, the wasps will think they have a rival colony to contend with and go elsewhere.  I do hope it works as I hate seeing wasps dead and dying in the glass wasp trap we have used for the past few years, plus other bugs and even butterflies get stuck in there as well.

This had been crocheted in a combination of yarns to get the stripy effect - I stuffed it with plastic bags as per the instructions so that if it gets rained upon nothing dire will happen to it. These can be removed from the opening underneath which ties up with a drawstring.  I shall keep you posted as to whether or not it works!

Canal and Castle

We live very close to part of the Basingstoke Canal and often walk the dog beside it.  However, if you drive a few miles you can join the canal at it's start in a place called Greywell.  The mouth of the canal is at the base of this bridge and is very narrow and shallow.  Inside the tunnel is a colony of bats that fly out at dusk every evening.

It is a beautiful place - for some reason we haven't been here for years though!

The water is crystal clear with a blue tinge from the clay bottom of the canal.  It is full of waterweed and fish, safe from boats as this part of the canal is too shallow for them to pass.

If you walk for twenty minutes or so down this pretty route, you suddenly turn a corner and come fact to face with this:

It is the castle of King John, built in the 1200's and still here in the middle of nowhere.

This is the view from the other side and you can see it used to be three storeys high, with wooden insides held up by beams fitted into those holes aorund the walls.  The walls are made of flint and are incredibly thick:

To the right you can see the remains of a fireplace at the top of the building - the risk of the place burning down must have been very high!

When we first came across this castle many years ago, it was on a cold and frosty morning and the place was untouched.  Since then it has been 'done up' for visitors with railings, a protective roof over the entrance in case you get bashed on the head by any falling flint, and some little information boards.  Not too keen on the unsightly railings and roof, but the information was worth a look.

A lovely peaceful walk which tired the dog out nicely and soothed our souls!