M is for Musicals

My guilty pleasure

M could also be for Mediocre, Mandarin, Mugs

L is for Lamps

Lamps in my house have a tendency to blow up or go "phut", all except the one I wired myself using the base I created in my pottery class many years ago (top left doodle). Whilst I like innovative lighting around my home I have come to realise that I should really invest in lighting which can take energy saving light bulbs. Although, I still like using daylight bulbs in my work room. I currently have a hankering for an antique/vintage wooden lamp base to replace my half dead lamp in the living room (right hand doodle), for which I fancy creating an abstract silk painted shade.

"Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp"
Sounds of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel

L could also be for London, love, leftovers, laughter

K is for Kitchenware

Where to begin? I like cooking so I have to have the tools to do so. Don't I? Now I just need a larger kitchen in which to store it all.

"You have too much kitchenware"
My husband

K could also be for Knitting, Kent or Karma.

J is for Jam

Apricot - best made from fresh but dried apricot jam isn't too bad, although I am finding my Grandmother's recipe a tad sweet. It is excellent, however, for anything that requires a glaze.

Blackcurrant - My favourite with scones and if it is available, clotted cream.

Strawberry - My mum made loads of this each summer as we lived in the Garden of England and always went to a farm and did pick your own Strawberries. Although in my case if you had weighed me before picking and weighed me afterwards then the farmer would have been justified in charging my parents a little more. Whereas raspberries got frozen, the strawberries, after we had had enough fresh, got made into jam because they never froze that well. My grandparents made a different kind of strawberry jam which was frozen but was too runny for my liking. I prefer it now as it manages to preserve a fresher flavour.

Raspberry - The only jam that M will actually consume - at least he isn't fussy about pips. Also good with scones. I have had a long association with this King of jams - it was a key ingredient in the first "recipe" I first came up with : raspberry jam and salami sandwiches. Yum! Bleeeurgh - what was I thinking? It wasn't even nice salami the bright pink stuff sometimes referred to in British supermarkets as Danish Salami. I am sure the Danes would never claim it as their own. Nowadays, I either make Raspberry and Rhubarb jam or an easy one that Nigella has in her book "How to be a Domestic Goddess" (i.e. heat sugar and raspberries in separate dishes in the oven and mix).

Damson and Apple - a rare pleasure as getting hold of damsons is not always straight forward you usually need to have or know someone with a tree in their garden. My mother started calling her jam, cheese in this instance. Delicious all the same.

Marmalade - not a jam, it is marmalade, but very nice all the same. Yeah, I know its just oranges preserved in a similar way but it is never ever jam. Not in my book it isn't and this is my b(ook)log.

"Ooh, yeah! All right!
We're jammin':
I wanna jam it wid you.
We're jammin', jammin',
And I hope you like jammin', too."
Jammin', Bob Marley

J could also be for Jewellery, Jinx, Jokes

I is for Ink

I remember my first interaction with ink was instigated by my Primary School headteacher's (aka Mrs. Cornflakes) endless obsession with italic handwriting, which to this day has left me with schizophrenic handwriting. For this weekly death by penmanship I had a fountain pen which required filling from a bottle of royal blue ink. Royal blue was chosen over blue-black or black ink as it was, allegedly, washable - the best choice for a 10 year child not in control of a fountain pen.

It was a few years before I discovered the range of colours inks came in. There was one, albeit, short period during my years at secondary school where my teachers were subjected to turquoise ink.

As time wore on I switched to the ball point pen and my relationship with messy ink waned, until I started my C&G course. Now I use it as an essential art material and use it to create washes and splash about on papers for design. More recently, I have discovered sumi-e, Japanese ink painting. I was introduced to it on a small workshop held at a local National Trust workshop, I believe it is being held again this year. Tempting, but I suspect the day job and a little overtime may intervene.

"Money's only paper only ink

We'll destroy ourselves if we can't agree"
Paper and Ink, Tracy Chapman

I could also be for isolation, impatience, introspection, ice cream.

H is for Hampshire

This is a sketch of Farley Mount one of many landmarks in Hampshire. This is a monument erected in honour of a horse. It was originally established in 1734, but it is believed to have been rebuilt in the next century. I was born and grew up in another county, but my mother was born and grew up here and I visited often as a child. I spent some of the holidays and a few weekends at my Grandparents in Chandlers Ford. Sometimes we would go to Farley Mount to walk Bunty the dog and fly kites my Grandad had made out of black plastic bin bags and bamboo canes.

Since those days I have made Hampshire my permanent home with no intentions of leaving. I cross country cycle round Farley Mount these days, as well as a whole load of other locations - no better place for it! My husband is a Hampshire lad too. We have countryside, historic cities, great beer - what more could I want?

" Mother, I can never come home again
'cause I seem to have left an important part of my brain somewhere
Somewhere in a field in Hampshire."
Sorted for E's & Whizz, Pulp

H could also be for Hip Hop, Happiness, Hearts, Health

G is for Garden

"Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life"
Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol

G could also be for guilt, grandparents, ghastly, green