One of the most hated jobs...

Mum's off to Tai Chi this afternoon. They pick her up, drop her off afterwards. I used to go with her but she is OK on her own now, though she does ask me to come sometimes; I judge it by mood- if she's a bit low or wobbly I'll go with her. Otherwise I am FREEE till about 5ish.

So! What am I doing today, with my free pass? Shopping? Arting? Relaxing with a book? Nope. I am defrosting my frost-free freezer.

Yeah that's right, frost-free, you read it right there.

I think it should be the other way 'round- free frost. Or free-for-all frost. I have spatulas and fish slices at the ready, a towel on the floor, food packed up in cool-bags and, if desperation strikes, a hairdryer.

Whoever came up with the phrase 'frost free'? The same person, I bet, that is resposible for the phrases 'fun size chocolate' and 'pain free period'.

Strooooooooooooooof!! Well, it has to be done; we've been having trouble shutting the door!!

52/4

MOAB IS MY WASHPOT

by Stephen Fry

"I shan't tell you," said Mr Kett. "It's a secret. See? That's how good I am at keeping them."

  **** **** **** **** *** ****

This is the first chunk of Stephen Fry's autobiography, leaving him at age 20. It's very funny, and very candid, too. 

I absolutely LOVE Stephen Fry. It's OK to say that without upsetting Luvbug for obvious reasons- first, Fry's glorious gayness, and second, Luvbug enjoys QI almost more than I do. He also knows how much Fry's documentary about Bi-Polar helped me, airing as it did for the first time just 2 weeks after my diagnosis. I'd thought I was BP for a long time, found patterns that weren't explained by 'straightforward' uni-polar depression. To have a psych-doc agree, and the art therapist, and to see it on my notes, well for some reason that hit me. For a long time afterwards, I thought -though it sounds corny- "If Stephen Fry can have this and manage, cope, LIVE, then so can I."

The title of the book confused me for a while. It's from the Psalms and is repeated in Psalms 60 and 108:

“Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Shout loud, O Philistia, because of Me!”(Ps.60:8)

The psalm isn't quoted in the book so why the title?

Here's one interpretation, which I found on Yahoo! Answers, of all places!-

Old Testament Jews were extremely concerned with cleanliness. Wearing sandals in the hot and dusty environment, their feet would become filthy and upon entering a home, would be washed. In their cleansing and purification rituals they used poured water. They would not put their feet into the bowl, but instead hold their feet over the bowl and pour clean water over them, and the bowl would be used to catch the filthy water. The washpot was therefore a symbol of disgusting filthiness.

The phrase "Moab is my washpot" alludes to God's contempt for the enemies of Israel. The nation of Moab found displeasure with God because of "her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart." God brought Moab low because of her futile insolence, yet He promised to "restore the fortunes of Moab in the days to come." So young Stephen Fry considered that he was a disgustingly filthy, proud, conceited and arrogant young man who, rather like God's promise to Moab, eventually amended his behaviour and excelled.

Wow. I wonder how many writers put that much thought into the title?!!

**** **** **** **** *** ****

BTW...

Equilibrium- The Bipolar Foundation  Stephen Fry is their Special Ambassador. There is a letter from him on the website about their work: here.

The best medicine

The Alzheimers Society website has a forum for carers, family members and suffers re. alzheimers and other forms of dementia. I go there when I can, now that I've remembered(!!) to bookmark the page.

This evening I had been low after One-Of-Those-Days.
Roll the day up and put it to bed and try again tomorrow.... then I read the following on the forum.

I thought it ok to publish here, as no names are mentioned. I wanted you to see how, although at times this caring thing can make you want to chew your own foot off, other times it makes you laugh till you wheeze :)

This is the conversation i had with mum yesterday morning....

ME...it was really foggy out on the roads this morning mum ('im a taxi driver on the school runs)
MUM...you should take some margarine for that
ME... eeerrrrmmmm margarine mum, what do i need that for ?
MUM...for your cough
ME...i don't have a cough mum and if i did i wouldn't take margarine for it anyway
MUM...you said you were really coughing in your taxi this morning and i said you should take some medicine for it, and don't be so stupid, you know margarine isnt for coughs.

Then today whilst we were driving home from shopping, the car in front of us threw up a stone and it hit my windscreen with a real sharp crack. Mum jumped out of her skin and said "What was that?" i said it was just a chipping that had come up off the car in front of us.

"Oh my god!" she said "its probably dead now after that"

"What's dead?" i said "it was only a chipping"

"Don't be so nasty" said she, "what if it was one of yours, you wouldn't say that"

A moment of silence followed while i tried to unravel this one, "Mum," i said, "it was only a chipping, you know, a small stone... "

"Oh bloody hell!!!" she shrieked "i thought you said it was a chicken that hit the window!!" we laughed so much she thought i was going to crash the car, ""stop it now!" she said, "if i laugh any more i'll pee myself and i havent got any clean slippers with me!"     .....like i said YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH.

Brilliant!! LOL!

4 X 6 ARTWORK EXCHANGE- but be quick!

The same people who organise the Sketchbook Tour occasionally have other projects on the go, usually for a fee. But this one is FREE!

You make any kind of artwork, measuring 4 x 6 inches, send it off with a postage-paid envelope, and they'll send you someone else's :)

They are collecting 20,000 artists worldwide for this project. I've just signed up- THERE ARE ABOUT 100 PLACES LEFT so if you want to join in, be fast!

DEADLINE: you have to complete your artwork this month: the postmark on your submission has to be 31st March.

HERE IS THE LINK! 6 x 4 Project

They are doing some work on the website, so you may have to 'refresh' or 'resubmit' a couple of times as the 'can't find that page' message came up a few times when I did it. Went through in the end though, so don't give up!

*** *** *** *** ***

My sketchbook is still being 'digitised' so isn't on the site yet. However, it is on the shelves at the Brooklyn Art Library with shelf ref. 148L.5-3 :) Strangely, I received an email from someone who had read it. He said he works in Mental Health and wanted to use it. He thought it could be helpful and asked if I had copies to buy :0

Good Lor! I had to sit down!

52/4

A bit more history this week-

AGINCOURT 

The King, The Campaign, The Battle

by Juliet Barker

The plot was to capture the king and his brothers by disguising himself and a group of his fellow conspirators as mummers for the annual Twelfth Night celebrations at Eltham Palace in January 1414.

If you liked Henry V you need this book!

Snow Patrol- "Run"

Sort of suits my mood at the moment.



What a beautiful song.

52/4 week 10

I completely forgot about this last week- I blame the anit-biotics, steroids, coughing and general bleagh!! Sorry for the confusion.

 Pure

by Andrew Miller

A draught, finding its way up the stairs, ripples the candle flames in the drawing room and a few moments later Monsieur Monnard appears.

A NOTE ON THIS BOOK:
I had trouble putting this book down. It's so well written. The story revolves around a man who is tasked with the terrible job of removing the cemetary and church of Les Innocents, now overflowing and a health hazard, in central Paris. This timeline is a few years before the French Revolution begins. In the background, barely touched on, there are rumblings, nighttime meetings and anti-Royalist graffiti keeps appearing round the city. But these are background details. We, the readers, know what is up ahead, but the people in this book don't. I found myself wondering, would this person survive? would they be killed? The book stops before the revolution begins, so we're left wondering what will happen to the people we met in its pages. The sights and smells and atmosphere of a crowded city full of miscontents is brought alive.

Is that really a Kindle version????? A KINDLE????
Ah yes, I have a Kindle. My apologies to purests eveywhere! LOL
This was a gift from Luvbug at Christmas. I wasn't sure of them myself when they first came out, especially as I love book fairs so much. But after seeing someone use one on the bus, and seeing how clear (not backlit) the screen was, and how you can increase the font of any book, I began to be a fan.

Since Christmas I have literally lost count of how many books I have read, whereas before, I was struggling to get through one book over several months. I can't fully account for the difference, I just know it works. Lots of free classics available; I've just started Les Miserables which I downloaded for free...

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

As before, if you'd like to join in here's how-


* Pick any book,
* go to page 52
* give us the sentence that contains line 4. -Can be more than one sentence. (e.g. You may need to go   back a few lines to find the beginning of the sentence or continue a few lines to complete it.)


Leave your results in the comments. Or, if you want to put it as a post on your own blog, just leave us a link to find it there!

I WANT THAT STAMP!

A new stamp from Stampendous!
Awww!
I may have to find a reason to treat myself.
What funds I have spare(ish) for craft at the moment need to go on boring stuff like glue, though, so puss will have to wait a wee while. But isn't he lovely?!

PS: thank you for all the nice comments on my last post. 
I've actually done answers! Don't faint ;)

SKETCHBOOK

Heard of The Sketchbook Project?
I know some of you have, as I've seen links to it on your blogs ;)

Well I sent off for my blank sketchbook last June, so it will be of no great suprise to any of you that I started it 2 weeks before the 31/1/12 postal deadline. HAHAHAHA!

I actually completed it.

I abandon- through sudden and distinct lack of interest- so many things half way through (that scarf I was crocheting for Dad's Christmas present stopped half way through - keep it till I finish it, or send it and tell him to wear it lying down? What do you think?).... so I am amazed and pleased that I actually got this done.

The project, based in Boston, sent out nearly 20,000 sketchbooks, and from April all the ones returned to them will form a sketchbook tour round the USA and then Melbourne and London.

I opted to also have my sketchbook digitised so it will soon be available to see online. I'll put the link on here when it's done.

Till then, I took some photo's of it. See what you think.


You had to pick a theme, and my choice was "Along The Line".

My thoughts were that my life is lived along a line of peaks and troughs caused by bi-polar, and the sketchbook described what it this is like....

Here's the cover.
I painted it in white gesso, which I thought would accept any media on top, but it didn't like my pen or my watercolours. So I peeled some of it off and drew a picture in the gap left. I like it. Looks like a peep-through:

PAGE ONE & TWO- oops didn't copy these sorry ;) They said -

"Hello my name is Helena and I have Bi-Polar" and then,

"Notice I said I HAVE bi-polar, not I AM bi-polar. It is not what I am, it's like this......"

 "I am the ship... life is the sea..."

"...Bi-Polar is my co-pilot..."

I hope you like the little co-pilot 'black dog' shape!

THIS LINK will take to info about the 2013 tour. Registration starts in April. There is also a little video link you can click on to get general info on how the project works.

ENJOY!!!

Valentine's Day surprises and fun :)

After our first few years together, Luvbug and I decided to put a £5 limit on Valentine's Day gifts, so that it would be fun. Just something small and silly, we thought!

This year I bought him a chocolate Bear and a box of chocolate hearts. The hearts are individually wrapped in red foil and there were 18 in the box. I put one inside his card, and hid the rest round the house. So far he has found about 10, I think :) they're not well hidden, just in places he will come across eventually- it's fun to hear shouts now and then of 'FOUND ONE!!' :)

He went over the £5 limit as he took pity on me being curled up not well- he bought me some snug pyjamas with a hearts on, and a picture of the blue-nose 'Me-To-You' Bear on the front :)

*** *** *** *** *** ***

I also received a beautiful suprise from Stardust!
Look at this!

The photo doesn't really do this justice; the top half is filled with swarovski crystals and sparkles and glints as the light catches it. DId you spot the 'Miss Kitty' charm?

Also, she sent me this flash drive- she knows I love Miss Kitty. (It's because I grew up with Miffy, and this like Miffy but a cat!)

I had been searching for my little flash drive recently as I wanted to move some photo's onto it and get them printed in town. I couldn't find it, and then this new one arrived! Perfect!


Stardust's parcel took just two days to get from Japan to Ipswich, 15 miles from me, then twice as long again to do those last few miles! Ha! Isn't that typical?

It included a lovely handwriteen letter, too. It's a treat to get letters nowadays, isn't it?

THANK YOU STARDUST!!!!!!!!! You've been so busy and yet you thought of me! Thank you so much!



PS- thank you for the lovely, kind response I've received for my request for die-cut shapes :)