Some drawings ..as promised

With plenty of biros, marker pens and pencils at my disposal,and an ongoing supply of tea and Sunday afternoon movies, I managed to come up with some new ideas including treehouses that have expanded into a tree neighbourhood, and portraits of girls inspired by the stories of Metamorphoses. What do you think?

One can never have enough of bechamel

and cannelonni ..how many n's weren't i supposed to use in that word?
The list of things I can rustle up in the kitchen without setting fire to myself is quite a short one (though thankfully, when I mean setting fire to myself I mean the an unhappy finger or two and Mr T sporting his classic 'I told you so' look) I am proud to say that this is a new addition to my list. The filling was cauliflower and broccolli. Filled us up so much Mr T wouldnt have guessed it was...cough coughvegetarian. I have to say this word quietly around here because the Portuguese folk think it's practically a curse. Go to any restaurant and if you ask for a green salad, most waiters look at you like youre speaking Icelandic. Or they swing little objects in your face whilst chanting things from a book. But if you ask for the classic 'bitoque'(which is basically steak with a fried egg on top and french fries) they look at you oh so lovingly.
I love food. It's something I always take time to eat. My problem is to take time to do it. Mr T is a bit of cooking wizard. Thank God I married a wizard. Otherwise I'd be living on sandwiches with strange fillings for the rest of my life. He loves his food and he likes to invent interesting dishes himself because he has an intense dislike of recipe books. Well,in my book, I don't think theres anything wrong with enjoying comfort food and I don't just mean junk food here. Its the food that makes your kitchen smell lovely and your belly warm. Its the food you share with your friends, family, or on your own as you watch a good film. And the best thing about comfort food is the comfort of having your food cooked for you too. Yes darling I'm talking about you.
I will be back on drawing track soon. Promise. I will.

Doing nothing is my middle name

What have I been doing today? Sitting in front of my laptop with yarn all over the place, a missing crochet hook (I bet it fell into a sofa nook somewhere..) and a belly full of sour strawberry candies. And I'm already fantasising about some of that vanilla icecream with the fresh raspberries I got this morning at the local supermarket. I've had the telly on all day eventhough I'm not really watching it. Except when Oprah comes on. Tonights show is about compulsive hoarders. Suddenly the strawberry candy consumption, the piles of dirty dishes in the sink and the clothes that are waiting ever so patiently to be washed, are freaking me out. Everytime I watch Oprah I want to get up and organise myself.
I'm a major slob. But it doesn't really get to me too much because theres always something that distracts me from dwelling on it, like strawberry candies, crochet flowers,the sewing box that was handed down to Mr T from his mother and now its in my studio waiting to be introduced to my sewing machine, and laughing at Mr T whenever he says 'cinanon' instead of cinammon. I know I could be more organised and I know that some of the veg in our fridge are moments away from the veg cemetery, I know that I could have painted more but I did'nt because my mind is still full of things that don't quite fit together, I know that I could have finished off a couple of pieces that have been ignored for months and collecting dust as a result.
Instead I drank tea. I crocheted. I embraced my husband.I thought about the time when we tried to take a photograph of the two of us infront of a sunset. And I wrote this.
Makes me proud of my middle name.

Baby's got the blues....

Guess what I did this fine Sunday morning? I can't seem to stop crocheting! I think it's too cute for a batty old woman like me. At least the respectable shade of blue keeps the girliness in check.

It was a cold lonely night..

 

when all of a sudden, a purple blob landed on my head. I have since been prancing around the house with it like a flapper girl.And above this post (there it is!) is a picture of the aforementioned purple blob. But I like it. Messy hair (and impending conjunctivitus in right eye) included.

Heres how the experts do it.

My recent purple blob was inspired by the blog CreativeYarn Heres a picture of what it should look like:

A picture is worth a thousand words

and more if you can take ones as beautiful as these. My friend Vania took these as part of her work as a designer. The pictures of children were taken whilst working on a creative project with AMI in Mozambique, and the others were taken in the north of Portugal. Shes a great photographer as you can see and I was really moved by these images. Have a look at her blog here, for more and you can also get to see her design work for Amnesty International

Day at the beach

Hope you had a lovely weekend! I spent mine out of Lisbon, therefore very far away from my laptop too. So there hasn't been much blogging of late. I've been thinking about what my handmade Christmas gifts will be,who I'll give them to, and whether I can do them well (so far I have crocheted a hat that didnt fit Mr T's neice, and the body parts of a donkey.....don't ask) Next month I'm going to spend abit more time painting rather than crocheting scary lumpy matter. I may also do another giveaway too. yeahhh!

 

Hope

The things that make me wonder...

I wonder a lot. I wonder what makes us snap at each other for no apparent reason. I wonder what makes us cry and what makes us feel abandoned. I wonder why we go at great lengths to defend our own weaknesses.
I had a pretty tough week where I found myself questioning a part of myself that I had always thought was the essence of me, the part of me that speaks louder than my words. The childlike need to be liked has always stayed with me. Perhaps thats why my closest friends tell me i have a childlike quality. I take this as a compliment of course, I love to learn and discover, laugh and tease. But there is a side to it that I shouldnt be carrying around with me, nor should it be resonating through my everyday interaction with others. And that is the need to be liked. How have I discovered this? I simply saw it in another person. A wonderful person but in her I see a part of what I have been doing and have been unable to control. Ill give an example; when a person is rude to me, or unnecessarily abrupt, whether it be a person who barely knows me, or one of my closest friends who is merely having a bad day, or a person who believes they are 'doing nothing wrong', I never defend my feelings and instead defend theirs. I wonder what made them say that, rather than wondering why I should have to put up with that. I wonder what I did to make them say that rather than wondering what made them behave like that towards me. I go away with that awful question Why did I just let that happen to me? This week was a tough week because it was a great week. I stood up for myself, it was hard and I didnt like the feeling of speaking back, of not apologising, of not saying no. I didnt like the feeling of doing something that was not in my nature. Ive always held the notion that when you speak back youre just as bad as each other. But what I didnt know is that not wanting to make a fuss is a zillion times worse. It's heaven for procrastinators.But its hell for me because it means staring into space during conversations with Mr T (procrastinators do not know how to listen) and sleepless nights ( and they dont know how to switch off).

I have found a peace inside myself which lets me live in a foreign country without the fear of not making many friends here. I can spend lots of time working away on this blog, reading,painting, calling up my sister or my best friend to catch up on life in London, being with my husband and teaching students who appreciate what I do for them (when I'm not staring into space, that is). I used to hate being alone. Could never imagine living alone or being away from friends and family. But I have connected with them much more by not depending on their presence. I have finally mastered the art of liking myself. I realise who are important enough in my life to spend time with, protect and support but now it includes me. And besides, I havent got much time to work on being liked. Im too busy crocheting pink bows.

Every girl needs a pink bow

I could not have done this without the help of the lovely blog Creative Yarn I still took far longer than the average crocheting human being but with some rather hefty sewing, I managed to make it look like a neat little bow in the end. Just don't look at it too close. Please. I shall put a safety pin at the back and give it to Mr Ts little neice. Theres no fear of this not fitting this time like the bracelet.

A starry night

On Wednesday night I was three rows away from this mans magnetic performance with the Count Basie Orchestra. He is Carlos do Carmo, one of Portugals most loved and respected singers. He was possessed by Sinatra that night. A spine tingling performance. There were other Portuguese singers too, like the fantastic Manuela Azvedo and Maria João who both blew me away and the fado singer Camane who managed to overcome his nerves with a stellar performance too. Its not often that you see singers going out of their familiar musical style. It took courage but it also showed how tenacious they all were. And I loved the idea of merging styles. I felt so privelaged to be a breath away from wonderful voices and wonderful music.Mr T managed to pull off one of the best show to date. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am to be married to a man who takes risks, doesn't listen to the cynics, and just follows his passion which is good old fashioned music. He inspires me to no end. As soon as the weekend arrived he started playing My Funny Valentine over and over whilst I destroyed the lyrics by attempting to sing as he tinkered away. He told me to stick to my day job. Good advice.