QUOTE

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way-things I had no words for." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Merry Christmas!

Wishing each and everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
If you are travelling have a safe journey


If it is snowing wrap up warm

If you are at home put your feet up and enjoy the love and happiness of your family

Above all have a loving and peaceful Chritsmas

           
                                              Merry Christmas 
                                              And a
                                      Happy New Year!




Monday, December 15, 2014

Christmas decorations up

On Saturday I decided to put my decorations up. I usually put them up on the 1st of December but since I was away I could not do it. So inspite of feeling tired and still a bit jet lagged I put everything up, now I can relax a bit. For the past 2 years I have been putting two trees up. The large one is an artificial tree and the small one is a real one. I love the fragrance of the real tree. It is not strong but I can still get it when I go close to it.

We have decided that once the big tree has served us enough we will just get a small real one like this.
It is potted so I hope it will survive until next Christmas

Over the years I have collected many Christmas tree decorations. I just love them and love the inspiration they give me. When I was working I would take a walk on Oxford street and visit the Christmas decoration section in all the shops. My favourite shop for decorations used to be Selfridges. They used to bring out some amazing decorations. Even though they were a bit pricey I would buy a few every year because I knew I wouldn't find anything like them anywhere else. Sadly those days have gone and the shop has stopped stocking large amounts of decoration. I can understand why though because every garden centre and little shops bring out some nice ones now, and undercutting the big stores with their prices and selection.
Many of my decorations are doll related and you know why but I do have one favourite from amongst them which is this one. Isn't it so very cute? So which is your favourite decoration from your collection?




Sunday, December 14, 2014

My neighbours

Some of my neighbours in India.
This is Mr KF . His favourite colour is blue. His favourite food is fish.

I often see him sitting in this tree contemplating or talking to the crow or just watching the world go by.

Sometimes he sits on a fence waiting I don't know for what perhaps a fish? It really puzzles me because a fish won't go by because there is no river or pond there. Maybe a friend throws him a tit bit so he waits patiently


This is Mr G. He is rather a shy person. I am not sure if he is Mr G the Junior or Mr G the senior. He hides quickly when I am about but when he has had a big lunch or dinner he seems to waddle which is rather funny.

After a few days he became rather bold and let me come fairly close to him



He lives in this beautifully shaded forest

He is a big game hunter and very often I have caught him hunting during dusk.


I do have some other neighbours too but they are not interesting but rather more of a nuisance so I spend my time chasing them away.😄

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Wonderful giveaway

Just thought I would let you all know that Barbara of March House Books is having a wonderful Christmas give away of vintage childrens books. If you are interested do pop over to her delightful blog http://marchhousebookscom.blogspot.co.uk

Monday, November 17, 2014

Who is the culprit?

Who broke the feeder? Was it the magpie, was it the parrot, was it a mice or was it a squirrel? For some reason I thought of a song which was taught to us as a kid. The song  went like this "who killed cock Robin? I said the sparrow with my bow and arrow I killed cock robin" I don't know if any of you learnt this song in school or not. But when I saw the feeder with a big gaping hole immediately I thought the culprit must be the squirrel. I could break out singing a song who broke the feeder and there might just be a tiny voice piping in and saying I said the squirrel with my little teeth :-) sorry I am being a little silly here.

I then put this feeder up and yesterday morning I saw the squirrel again. He looked up at the feeder went up the branch then decided no not that way and went to the tree trunk and made an almighty leap landed on top of the feeder. The feeder being new and shiny was too slippery for him to hold on so he slipped and fell right into the birdbath. That was a great shock for him he bounced out quickly and I could almost hear him saying oh you @&£#$€ . It was so hilarious to watch unfortunately all this happened too quickly for me to run for the camera. For a few minutes he was going around licking his paws, licking his tail shaking himself and I bet scolding himself too. :-) but he was brave to try it. The tree trunk is quiet a distance away. In the picture it looks fairly close. I am sure he will try again and probably succeed the next time.:-) or work out some other way.
I am away again in India end of the week, for the next two weeks to see mum so I might not be able to visit your blogs much during that period but will catch up when I return. Will try and visit when I am there provided there is time. In the meantime take care and enjoy preparing for the coming festive season.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Tiny fairy done

Jhil Mil chattered all the way through when she was being made. Can I have my skirt in this colour ?oh no I changed my mind, I want that colour.  Can I have the blouse made this way , no that doesn't look right, that doesn't look good. Perhaps you should do it this way and I want more bling on me after all I am a fairy. Oh my shoes are too tight and now they are too loose. Maybe I will change my shoes. I don't like my hat. Why can't I have bigger wings . I think I shall put a spell on you and on and on and on she went. For a tiny fairy she sure did have a big mouth :-) whew at last she is done. She will fly away to a far away land in the spring. Hope she won't open her big mouth in her new home she might get chucked out :-)
I might miss her a bit though.





In the meantime she is already chatting away nineteen to a dozen with everyone.:-) 

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Almost there

My  long limbed fairy Jhil Mil that is what I am going to call her, is almost done. She sits patiently waiting for her wings to dry . Then she will put them on and fly away to a far away land. I shall be sad to see her go even though we had lots of arguments as to what she would wear:-)

No self respecting wings can be without glitter:-) in the process I am also generously covered with glitter:-)

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

New visitor


We had a new visitor recently. This is the first time we have had a parrot at the feeders. He was trying desperately to get at the peanuts. There were two of them perhaps a pair. During the summer months there are a whole bunch of them in the near by trees but they seem to move away during the winter months. Since it has been fairly warm they are still around.

Then I spotted this little fellow having a power nap:-) I was watching him for a little while and wondering why he was so still and not moving when I saw his head nod :-) he looked so cute. But after about 5 minutes he got up ran down the tree went about his busy business:-) can you spot him in the tree?


Friday, November 07, 2014

Remembrance

On Sunday we  went to London it was my husband's treat for my birthday so we decided to have a meal out there. The traffic was so bad that our lunch got very delayed. We were hoping to see the poppies in the Tower of London. It was too late to do it so got back home. We had our lunch here in Canary Wharf. It is all changed so much. Once on a time it was a very dilapidated area now it is all posh offices and shopes.


Had a lovely view of the Shard in the evening light.


Today I had to go into London and after I finished my work I decided to go and see the poppies at the Tower. The day was fairly bright even though a bit blustery.


There were lots of people around and once I got there the sight really caught my breath and brought a lump to my throat.




My parents always called me Pappy when I was a kid. One day I asked my mum how it would be spelt and she said Poppy! So I said to her it is poppy not pappy so she said it is pappy  and again with the aa in it. I guess she just could not pronounce it correctly as in Tamil language the 'O' sound is not common. In fact I don't know if it is there. So she always called me pappy even though it was meant to be poppy. I asked her to say Doll and she would say Dall:-)  anyway the point I was trying to make was that perhaps they called me that because of Remembrance Day was close to my birthday. Dad would always listen avidly to the Remembrance Day ceremony broadcast by bbc worldservice and tell us what it all meant. He would always get dewy eyed because he was in the then RAF( now IAF) during the WW11. Even though he was not in the front line he had many friends who were and probably did not come back.
So I am glad that I went.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Windows of my imagination

Do I hear rustle of silk, do I hear tinkle of bells, something small and delicate flies across the windows of my imagination. Perhaps a fairy! 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Wings finished!

I think I am done with the wings. I don't think I need to embellish them anymore even though I am not very pleased with them. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Progress on wings

I took Deb Woods dragonfly wings class but I decided that I have too little patience to burn all those little holes one by one. So I decided to make fairy wings instead which I reckoned wouldn't require too many holes😃. After following all the instructions this is what I got. 


I was not too pleased with the way it turned out 😔, so I coloured it with Adirondack alcohol ink. I am glad to say I definitely like it better now. As you can see when I pick it up and let the light pass through it really pops. Now I shall embellish more to make it look magical. Hmmm.. I have go and rummaged in my stash to see I have the right embellishments.

Monday, October 06, 2014

Back and rested

First of all thank you to all of you for your best wishes for my mum. She is still not fully recovered and pretty weak. Hope she will feel better soon. She will be 89 on this month.
 I am back home now and almost got over the jet lag. I managed to get a better picture of the poster that was intriguing me.  I found out that the guy is a local politician like I suspected but was not sure why there was a picture of a little child. It turned out that the child is his daughter and he was celebrating her first birthday. The rest are all his party members. Sadly in India caste system is still prevalent and he is supposed to represent the schedule caste.


Today I was trying to make these fairy wings

I got a bit stuck because I don't have any glue stick! It is always something as simple as this that tends to stump you😄

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Being absent

I am sorry I have not been able to blog much lately or visit all the blogs lately due to circumstances beyond my control. Hopefully I will get back to it soon. This is where I am but no I am not staying in one of these places!

I have been busy looking after my elderly mum.
Cooking

Buying groceries

And going to and fro doing umpteen little chores and everyday I pass this billboard and wonder what it says. Must ask as I unfortunately cannot read or right Tamil although I can speak and understand it just because I was born and grew up in Northern India. 







Sunday, August 31, 2014

Where is Milli?

Yesterday I had left Milli sitting here. Sometime in the night when I woke up briefly I noticed she was missing from her perch. So I went looking for her. Where could she be? As I came out to the landing I saw this.....
This is what I overheard ...
Pepi " come down Milli!" 

 " but how?" Shouted back Milli "the stairs are too steep I will get hurt". 

Oh just chuck yourself down you won't get hurt I promise said Pepi with her fingers crossed behind her back.
Wait I found a way said Milli
Wheeeeee.............

Pepi"why the hell did I not think of that! You got brains for a doll
Come on I shall introduce you to some interesting people.
Meet Saphire. Milli "why is she that colour, is she dead do you think.?
Don't be silly that's the colour she is supposed to be and don't ask my why! Said Pepi
Oh! said Milli.

This is Rushme, she feeds the birds. Oh the lady from Mary Poppins I am ever so glad to meet you lady said Milli. 
A deep sigh from Pepi come on let's go.

Now let me tell you Milli, don't you come out with some silly comment. This is Poncho Santa's helper. You have to be in his good books or else you won't get a present for Christmas said Pepi.
Ok mums the word said Milli and looked at him in awe.


Time for some refreshments yippee! I say these look rather depleted don't tell me you ate them all Pepi! cried Milli. Well uhum err.. Yes I do tend to pop one into my mouth in passing, but I did not realise I had done that once too often said Pepi sheepishly.
Ok never mind show me where you live.
I live up there on the second floor said Pepi. 
Milli "oh my it seems rather crowded. Yes it is but everyone is so friendly you will like it here. I hope Shashi puts you up with me. 
Now we can relax and let me tell you this this is the most comfortable place in this room. Don't even go near the sofa or chair they are useless said Pepi.
I will try it out before I take your word for it said Milli.
I say said Pepi looking closely at Milli "why are you wearing so much makeup?"
Don't you know we are going to India soon said Milli
No I have not been told anything, I have been totally neglected for years and have had no make up done by you know who, I will NOT mention names said Pepi.
So the conversation carried on till late and I had to retreat quietly into my room