Flora and Fauna

I was in Jersey last week, and had rather a lovely time. It was all thanks to Mr Kitsch's generous brother, who was working over there and decided to take me and Mr Kitsch with him. We had a marvellous time. It was the first time I'd been to the Channel Islands, so it was interesting to see this little bit of Not-Quite-Britain. The first thing that struck me was that there are daffodils everywhere at this time of year.

There are fields of them, banks of them, woods full of them. I guess that as they are cultivated there, they seed freely all over the place.

There are also some beautiful, huge, sandy beaches, pretty much empty at this time of year. When the sun shone, the sea was blue, the waves lapped, and we breathed in the tonic of the salty sea smell. 



The flip side of the off-season's wonderful empty beaches,was discovering the number of places that were closed until April. Most disappointingly, the Shell Garden, which looked very enticing from the bits we were able to see from the road.

But it didn't matter, as we were able to visit lots of other places, eat in some great restaurants, and spend time in the hotel's mini spa, swimming, steaming and jacuzzi-ing. Aaah!

One place we visited was the charmingly eccentric Reg's Garden, with an enormous carp pond, and aviaries of parrots, cockatiels, and the very entertaining Charlie the Cockatoo. I have to admit that we spent a ridiculous amount of time chatting to Charlie (admittedly his conversation is somewhat limited - mainly 'Hello' and 'Bye-bye'), stroking his feathers, jumping up and down with him, and letting him gently bite our fingers. I have to admit that if I could have smuggled him home, he would been in my bag in an instant! What a charmer...

 

We also went to Gerald Durrell's zoo, which concentrates on the conservation of endangered species. Again there were benefits to visiting in the off-season, as many of the animals were indoors, and therefore easier to see at close quarters. This little macaque looked rather sad and wistful, though.



These lemurs were all cuddled up, dozing and cleaning themselves. I love ring-tailed lemurs, ever since seeing Dotty on 'Animal Magic', sitting on Johnny Morris's shoulder. I could have watched them all day.

If I can't have a cockatoo, can I have a pet lemur, please?

Giving the Bird

Here's my little bird I'm giving to the Little Bird installation. (See previous post for more details)  In truth, she's more of a big fat bird. I posted her off today. She couldn't fly there, as she has no wings. I'm not sure why my birds have feet, but no wings, but that's just the way it is. Tweety-tweet!

Birds

Is it very naughty to have a blog post called 'Birds' on International Women's Day? Well, it's only because I wanted to tell you about an art project called 'Little Bird' I'm going to contribute to.

A flock of handmade birds by different artists will be gathered together for an installation at the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster from 22 March to 17 April. After the exhibition, all the birds will be sold in aid of  Women for Women International.

I received an email invitation last week, but I gather from the website that it is open to everybody.  They also have a suggested template, but you can use any medium you wish. The birds have to be delivered by 15th March, so there's not much time! I haven't finished mine yet, but will post a photo when I have. It's a larger version of the crochet amigurumi bird in the photo above.

Also, I thought it was a good opportunity to share this video. I can't remember whose blog I saw it on, so apologies if it was yours. It's from a US TV spoof of the creative craftsters of Portland, Oregon

Jumble Sailing

Look at all the lovely stuff I brought home with me from the Vintage Jumble Sale on Saturday! There were so many irresistible bargains. I know the idea was to clear out some stuff, and I did, a bit, but there's always room for a few new things (and a couple more that didn't get into the photo). Especially when they're nearly all in the £1 or 50p price range.

I'm afraid I forgot to take any photos (I don't appear to have got to grips with this blogging lark, at all...). Fortunately, Mr Kitsch took a few photos of our stall. Poor tail-less Dobbin was looking for a new owner, and happily found one.

I can't say the same for all the dollies, but a few of them found new homes,notably 'Lottie' who has gone to serve in a shop with Ingrid, apparently (that's what her new owner told me!).

I must say thank you to Niki for giving me a beautiful old poster I kept dithering over. And big thanks as ever, to Jayne and Michele for their brilliant organisational skills that made it such a success. I gather another Vintage Jumble is likely....

P.S. 'Jumble Sailing' is a wonderful, poignant track by Clearlake, that I thoroughly recommend to anyone who has ever bought a treasure for 10p.

Bargains, Bargains, Bargains!

Here are a few of my latest acquisitions from the Salisbury charity shops and a rather fine table-top sale last Saturday. Believe it or not, I am still being very restrained these days, and limiting what I allow myself to pick up. But I couldn't leave these little dogs behind, and I adore that guitar-playing rabbit tin (which Mr Kitsch found for 10p!). However I steeled myself and said no to the lovely vintage Poole coffee set for £3... And those 1920s plates, which were a real bargain, but I absolutely do NOT have any room for....

But....

 

... Sometimes when you see a bargain, you just have to go for it. Like these boxes of lovely old cotton reels. What is it about haberdashery that makes my heart skip? And I was even more excited to find that they were cheap enough for me to say "I'll take the lot.".  I wasn't sure what I was getting, but about half of them are vintage wooden ones - even the labels are a delight. And then when I got them home, I saw the labels on the boxes  - they once contained 'Fry's Crunchies' and 'Cadbury's Milk Fudge' (with a 'Controlled Price of 2½d').

I have to say I'm rather pleased with myself, as just lately I've been very envious of other people's bargain finds. I had started to think I wasn't going to find anything good any more. 

Of course, the more I buy, the more I have to turn out of the house, so it's just as well that I've booked a stall at the Vintage Jumble Sale at Rangeworthy Village Hall on Saturday. I expect there will be lots of bargains there, as we're all having a good old clear-out. I'd better get on with sorting out! And talking of putting off chores, what do you think of the rhyme on this mug I picked up last week?

Coral and Choral

On Thursday, we had a lovely day out in Salisbury. I know 'lovely' is an over-used word, but it really was. Look at the photo - there was sunshine and everything! After my January inactivity, I felt like a grumpy grizzly bear coming out of hibernation to sniff the spring air. It was warm enough to sit outside on a bench to eat sandwiches, and feed the swans.

It was definitely time to get out and about again, as I find it all too easy to stay at home and go nowhere, (literally and metaphorically). So a day out was ordered, and I chose Salisbury. It was partly because we hadn't been there in a long time (the last time Mr Kitsch and I visited, I think John Major was still in power!), and partly because the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef was on display in the Arts Centre.

I was fascinated when I heard about this project last year, and tried a bit of hyperbolic crochet myself. It can be quite time-consuming, as you double the stitches on each row. This means that even if you start small, you are soon crocheting hundreds of stitches on the row. This creates the ruffled shapes that grow in the same way as coral.

I really enjoyed seeing the display, although I think it might have been more impressive in one large 'reef'', instead of the smaller sections that it was split into. I added my own small contribution (with permission, of course!), and was very pleased to have contributed my bit.

Of course, you can't visit Salisbury without taking a trip to see the cathedral, and we were delighted to discover a wonderful light installation there by Bruce Munro. The cathedral cloisters have been taken over by his Water Towers, large structures made of water-filled bottles, with fibre-optic lights inside. The coloured lights are more visible at night, but I really liked the clear bottles anyway, and thought it was a wonderful response to the space, echoing the columns, and the light. It also had something other-worldly or alien about it, heightened by some eerily beautiful music that was being played.

In the cathedral itself is another light installation (which I didn't photograph). As we sat there to contemplate the art and architecture (but mainly to rest our feet), we were lucky enough to hear some choir practice. Choral music is always so beautiful, and wonderful in the huge space of a cathedral.

And if all that wasn't enough, I managed to find some fun things in the charity shops too. (I'll share those with you next time.) See - I told you it was a lovely day!

Say Cheese!

I can't tell you how much I love this tin I got recently. It's just perfect - a photo of a doll, in a chalet style window, with very artificial flowers. And on a biscuit tin. Love. It. I was so excited when I saw it on ebay, and so delighted when nobody else bid on it!

Here's another splendidly kitsch photo of a doll. I've been collecting vintage postcards and greeting cards with kitschy photos of dolls and toys for many years. I really prefer them if they're quite badly executed and the props are all to different scales.

This mad-looking moustachioed teddy is a classic. Teddies in general seem to feature a lot. Like this card...

I love all the little details in this. I've wanted to try to take some kitschy doll photos for ages. So the other week, I finally did some little set-ups of my own. I posted them on my Flickr photostream, so apologies if you've already seen these. The first one was a Mexican doughnut shop. (Because I like the Mexican doll and his moustache.) Here's one corner of it.

The second is a more traditional afternoon tea. Hmm, I think that wallpaper is a bit too 'busy'. I'll have to change it. I'm definitely going to try some more!

(By coincidence, Jane over at Things to Make and Do has been taking doll photos too, but in a slightly more sensible way!)