Lemonlight

Off with a bang

Well, the day after the night before felt pretty damn good (even if I am very sleepy after staying up till 4am)! It felt very right setting off a few fireworks tonight, and as it's Guy Fawkes night too, that's two birds and one stone.

Fun with firework, camera, lensbaby, star-shaped apeture disk...

Fun with firework, camera, lensbaby, heart-shaped apeture disk...

Fun with camera. sparkler and willing model (part I)...

Fun with camera. sparkler and willing model (part II)...

Bank on the rain

We've just had a rainy Bank Holiday here in the UK. As a nation we arrange our public holidays to coincide with seasonally bad weather, that way everyone has something to talk about when they're back at work the next day. Oh, the moaning about the weather I've heard this week! If you ever come to visit jolly old England, make sure you don't come when there's a Bank Holiday. Unless you like getting wet complaining, of course.

That said, I now know I am a 'proper grown-up' as I have just heard myself make the comment that "all this rain is good for the garden". I now feel the need to do something very un-grownup to compensate. I may have to hang around outside McDonalds for a while and scowl at passers-by as they go about their business. Oh, and maybe I should look as though I could be hiding a blade about my person. That should do it. The only thing is... it's raining. Still. And I'd much rather have a nice cup of tea and a sit down.

Bank Holiday

Up at the crack of mid-morning and came downstairs to be greeted by the most wonderful scent...

Twenty-four hours previously they had been growing quietly away in the lovely garden of my lovely, lovely mother-in-law, but now they are mine!

Out in the garden, tomatoes are lined up, ready for inspection. All looking very good...

Lupins, looking good, well done...

Hang on a minute though, who's that in the marjoram? You look like one of those naughty, alien ladybirds that we're supposed to ethnically cleanse from our shores. You're so pretty though, and you're eating all those nasty aphids, I think I will harbour your illegal little personage and keep my karma feeling good...

It is Sunday

Southampton (the football team), by the skin of their teeth have avoided relegation. I am only thankful that I am not too huge a fan of any sport, as I don't think I could cope with that much stress and emotion in a public arena (literally).

Today we partied, family style, to celebrate Mark's Mum and Dad's 60th wedding anniversay! I sliced the side of my finger off with a scalpel making those cards, but I guess I am not the first person to suffer for their art.

Am itching to get out and take more photos - have resorted to self-portraiture as a medium for the time being.

Boo!

Hello again, remember me? I used to write struff on this blog more than once in a blue-moon! Anyway, here I am, back again.

I've been fiddling with the style sheets of this blog again. Thing is, when I'm not restrained by a client brief or Hiltler-style corporate guidelines, I'm find the blank canvas a bit intimidating! As a result, don't be surprised if this look a bit different every time you visit. I can't make my mind up about anything.

Here's what's been happening in my oh so exciting life...

• The bedroom is being revamed and will include polyester-free, proper grown-up bedding. 300 thread-count and gorgeous. Not that I need any enouragement to take to or leave my bed.
• I am beginning to realise that I can only 'spring-clean' a room by emptying everything out into another room. This means that at any one time the house is a mixture of organised neatness and out-of-control messiness. What I think what I need is a skip to 'organise' stuff into. Or more rooms.
• I have fallen in love with my slow-cooker - it's fab coming home to a house that smells of lovely dinner - all ready to serve up and eat. (Pea and Ham soup tonight).
• Krispy Kreme Doughnuts seems to be taking over the UK, well, Southampton anyhow. I am amazed they're proving so popular, not because they aren't delish, but because they cost so much! £1.35 for a jam doughnut - thats US$2.70. For ONE. Actually that's probably a good thing, I don't see them represented very prominently on my healthy-food pyramid.
• I now have not one, but two Etsy shops! The first is selling photographs - it's unimaginatively called angiemuldowney (didn't know I was going to have my own little shop there one day when I initially registered). My second shop is called PaperPaper and I am utilising my background in graphic design to illustrate prints and cards. It feels great to be creative again, and has helped me cope with my 'day job' which is becoming increasingly non-creative.

Catching up

Firstly, hooray! We now have central heating again. Our relatively new combination boiler stopped working, and in the few days between this event and when the plumber could actually reach us we sampled life the old-fashioned, chilly way; hunkering down in front of a flaming fire (lovely), washing with freezing cold water (not lovely). But now it's fixed and I can have a good long think (in a hot, bubbly bath) about how the warmth in a house is so inviting and liberating and yet taken so much for granted. Everyone who needs it should have it. I am very lucky.

Anyway, all this contemplative thinking was making me hungry, so I thought I'd try out a Nigella recipe (from the new Nigella Express book). I tried Coq au Reisling. It was simple pimple to make and it tasted rich and delicious. I would say though that adding a whole bottle of wine and keeping the lid on whilst cooking makes for a very runny dish. If I made it again I would probably add less wine (and drink the remainder, in case it went off). I have some leftovers though, so I might try whizzing it up for a (hopefully) delicious chicken and mushroom soup.

I went out on Friday night for a friends birthday. I have to say, if given the choice I am a home-cooked-comfort-food type person every time, even if it does mean washing up. This, as opposed to being properly posh and pampered in a restaurant. Having said that, the food we had was lovely, and there was entertainment of the singing and dancing variety, so we had a great time. A little word of advice though; never let slip that you were on the country dancing squad at school - people will insist on seeing your moves, and let's face it, even when they're done well (which they weren't) they look rubbish - especially when the music is Northern Soul! At least it wasn't me who said I could moonwalk when I so obviously couldn't. Oh, hang on a moment...

It's ladies night

I think it must be autumn now as there are actually some good programmes on the TV tonight!

The first thing I'm really looking forward to watching is the new Nigella series! Lovely, lovely Nigella - I can feel the pounds piling on as we speak. This is dangerous viewing as I have issues with being able to resist temptation, especially when it comes to baked items (or any type of food come to that). So, in that respect this will be very much like watching porn... except with a plot and (probably) no nudity.

The second thing the Sky+ box is lined up to record/series-link/keep is the new series of Kath & Kim. Oh, my goodness this is so funny! Mark (who loves it too) says he finds it hard to watch as Kath is SO much like my Mum (agreed, she is) and Kim is like ME apparently (lazy, fashion victim, cruelly sarcastic) obviously he's very wrong there. If you've never watched this before and you have access to BBC2 this evening I urge you and your second best friend to grab a bottle of 'kardonay' and settle in for a night of cooking and laughing with some real foxy ladies!

D'oh!

I love the Simpsons, and this is how I would look if I was one! You have a go too, I'd love to see what you look like!

I think if I turned up in an episode I would be Marge's long-lost English cousin (as I have the hair) who gets addicted to Homer's donuts and Duff beers and ends up having to move away before having to be winched out by a specially reinforced crane. 'ttractive.

Hello, my name is Speedy González (the fastest mouse in the whole west country)

OK, confession time. When I was in Cornwall in March I returned home to find I had a freakin' speeding ticket! I never speed! Except obviously I do (doing nearly 60 in a 50 which is normally a 70 when there's not roadworks). Nearly 20 years of perfect (ahem!) driving and now I was saddled with the threat of 3 points on my license and a £60 fine. So, I filled out all the paperwork admitted my guilt and pleaded for mercy. I spent the next week wandering the streets, feeling the shame and shaking my fist at anyone doing more than 20mph. However, my unblemished record and the smiley-faces I had added to all my letter  O's obviously paid-off as I was offered an alternative to the points on my licence – a chance to do a speed awareness course instead.

If anyone's ever watched the TV series Phoenix Nights and seen the character Keith Lard (the fire prvention officer), then you'll have a good idea of how I spent three hours yesterday afternoon. The location for this event was a wildlife reserve in deepest darkest Wiltshire, a beautiful spot, aimed I guess at calming the spirits of us speedy (but not terribly speedy or we'd have just got the three points) motorists.

Will I slow down? If it means not having to sit for three hours on the hardest chairs in the world to be power-pointed into submission, then probably yes! Seriously though, I don't want to be killed by a speeding motorist, and I'm pretty sure most other people don't either. I have statistics if you need them, but in short – 30 really does mean 30.

The Good Life

I've been in so much pain lately with sciatica that I'm wondering if all that digging and general hard work in the garden was worth it! But, as the pain is subsiding now and as a scorcher of a weekend weather-wise has been forecast, I am a bit happier about the whole thing.

I think I am turning into Barbara from the Good Life because not only am I digging up all my flower beds so I can plant more vegetables, but a couple of days ago I made a skirt!  If I could manage the responsibility (and the poop) I'd go for the whole chicken and goats thing too, but I have a feeling that as soon as the weather gets a bit iffy again I'll want to be snugged up inside with a big mug of (proper) coffee to watch hours of TV stored up on the Sky+ box.

Did I mention at all how good the weather is? Well, I think a new barbeque purchase might be on the cards (us and half the country I should imagine - note to self: consider buying share in sausages v. soon). We lit our rusty old charcoal one last week. The rust wasn't a problem, I like to think it adds a certain mesquite taste. However, I think we were lucky to get away with not having a visit from the fire brigade and/or an ASBO - there was smoke everywhere! Again, apologies to neighbours.