I think we're on Week 19? I don't know, I think I've given up counting. I haven't been up to much. I've been working a lot.

I finished watching The Great British Sewing Bee, and thought the right person won, she'd been consistently good throughout, whereas the other finalists had a few disasters.

Once I'd finished watching that I started, and soon finished, watching The Luminaries, which I really enjoyed. I kept wondering where I'd seen Emery Staines before, played by Himesh Patel, I knew he was in the film Yesterday recently but it took me ages to realise he used to play Tamwar in Eastenders!

Have you been watching any of the old re-runs of Eastenders on Tuesday evenings (is it Tuesdays?). They're hilarious.

Next on the list is Mrs America and I May Destroy You. Have you seen either of these?

The highlight of the passed few weeks was taking part in A Bloggers Art Gallery, writing the post and then exploring everyone else's art has been really enjoyable, and it's taken me on a journey into the world of online independent artists, purchases will be, of that I am sure.

There has been much garden and greenhouse pottering, I've harvested and eaten our first batch of potaotes, and the only other thing I've been doing is road testing some new recipes. Tonight I'm going to make a Tikka sauce from scratch to make a curry. Since lockdown began I've slipped back into using jars of ready made sauces, and it's a habit I'd like to get out of.

The elastic for my face mask has arrived today so if the prototype is successful I'll be making a few more this weekend.

Other than that life has been very quiet, I've seen my Dad, and my Mum and few times, and next week I'm going to see one of my best friends for the first time since early 2020. We're going to the beach and I think chips may very well be involved.

I've been continuing with Wearing It All 2020, although my hopes that I'd be wearing lots of my summer clothes have been dashed.

The weather has improved since WIA Week 1 but we're in for rain again this weekend, which means summer dresses are highly unlikely.

So that's my ramble for the passed few weeks. Not much to report really, I'm still staying inside as much as possible but I've been giving some thought to the places I can visit over the coming weeks. I've been inspired by how people have been choosing to spend the money they've saved during lockdown, buying art for example, or shopping with local businesses. I think I'd like to visit a few art galleries, a local zoo, and an even more local rare breeds farm. These places have really taken a hit recently and they're the places I always say I'd like to visit but never actually seem to get there. So now I will.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Take care xx

In all likelihood the art on display will be many and varied but I hope to discover a few new artists.

I'll start with the most recent addition to my art collection (which makes it sound far grander than it actually is!).

My Dad gave me this vase by Pat Armstrong for my birthday after we spotted it in a gallery in Aldeburgh. It's utterly stunning. It's created by using a technique called Copper Fuming, which mixes copper oxide with the glaze mixture. The colours are beautiful and I turn it around every so often to enjoy a different view.

My husband and I have very different tastes when it comes to wall hanging art, and this is why we have rather bare walls. He likes Steven Binks, an artist well known for his depictions of agricultural scenes. I think his paintings make wonderful greetings cards (meaning no disrespect, the man has undeniable artistic talent, it's just not to my taste), I gave one to my husband for his birthday without realising he was the artist.

In my office, where I have free reign on what goes on the walls, I have two prints that I adore. The first is a print of a painting by Alphonse Mucha. Mucha was the first fine artist to use his talent for advertising, and the designer in me rather likes this. His work is intricate and romantically beautiful.

When in Prague with a friend we visited the Mucha Museum, I loved seeing his work close up. I would be better informed about the artist himself if I hadn't fallen asleep whilst watching the documentary they showed in a side room. It was dark, and warm, we'd been walking around all day, and might've had one too many cups of mulled wine from the many stalls offering refreshment.

This print sits above my computer and makes me chuckle with it's typographical wit. I purchased this from a website several years ago but I can't remember which. I classify this as art because whilst it is graphic design, it wasn't created for a purpose other than to be hung on a wall and enjoyed.

I hung my Keep Calm and Carry On poster in the kitchen without thinking to ask if Andy liked it (I still don't know if he does) as it had hung in my kitchen before we moved. I know this is a bit of cliche now, but I purchased this a few years before all the cheap and cheesy mimics became popular. It's a piece of classic design, and I'll love it long after the memory of the Keep Calm craze fades.

I purchased this Coleman's Mustard advert from ebay when we first moved in. I'm rather partial to advertising as art (you might have noticed). I'd painted the pantry mustard yellow and it just seemed to fit. It's filthy, I hadn't noticed.

William Bird Watches and Waits by Natasha Newton is the first piece of original art I bought myself. My Dad has one of her landscape paintings in his lounge that I'd always admired. I found her online shop and made a snap purchase. I couldn't really justify spending the money at the time but I don't regret it one bit.

This owl belonged to my Mum and Dad, they bought it in the 70s and it hung above the stairs until they divorced and I kept it for myself. It sits in the junk spare room. It's wooden and is somehow scored and scorched into the wood. I think it's lovely. My brother asked me the other day if I remembered that "hideous old wooden owl we used to have to look at", he was very surprised to hear that I still have it. I'll find a good home for it one day.

The one that got away.

When we'd only just moved in to our current home my husband and I went exploring a small village nearby. We had a poke about an art gallery which was full of landscapes in gold gilt frames, and paintings of horses, but they did have one piece that I still think about today.

It was a massive canvas, probably about 2.5m wide and 1.5 high, of a heard of sheep. It was black and white, using what looked like huge chunks of charcoal using big, bold strokes. We both say that we wished we'd bought it, it would be perfect for our dining room wall, or in the space created by the staircase. We have no idea who it was by, or how much it was but the memory of it remains.

Leave me a comment to let me know you've visited my little online gallery, thanks.

18th July 2020. An early start at 5:30am, a little earlier than usual but I was awake and didn't see any point in staying in bed.

Between the photos - I've finished emptying the dishwasher, topped up the dishwasher salt, and put salt tablets into the water softener, decided on what to cook for supper, checked I have all necessary ingredients, and got what I need out of the freezer to defrost. And I've jotted down a few items I need to add to my shopping list, and caught up with some blog reading.

Between the photos - put a second load of washing in, hung the first load on the washing line, cleaned the cat litter tray, vacuumed the hallway, kitchen, lounge, dining room, the side hallway, and downstairs loo. And yet when Andy gets home and asks what I've been up to I tend to say "oh not much, just a bit of housework".

I'm conscious that when I'm busy with work (and I have been recently) life gets very sedentary, so I'm trying to go for a walk every evening. Some nights I get a stomp on to get my heart rate up but today I just felt like taking a stroll and breathing the air deep down into my lungs. I took the time to look at all the details of the garden, making a mental note of what needs to be done, changes I'd like to make, things I need to Google e.g. why are my forget-me-nots mildewy? But mostly I just enjoyed it, the company of my chatty girl cat, and the early evening sunshine.

I felt that this recipe was missing something, it's part of an 'every recipe only has five ingredients' book and I think it lost something in the translation. I Googled other Jambalaya recipes and found that I could add onions, garlic, spring onions, spicy sausage, and something called Old Bay seasoning. I don't think it's available in the UK but I did find a recipe to mix up my own with a mere 18 different herbs and spices (who even does that?!). I enjoyed it enough to persevere with the recipe, it's so easy to cook - just whack it all in the pan and simmer. I need some new recipes for my repertoire, and the easier they are the more likely they are to be made and served.

8pm

I'm sat at my desk writing this post ready to publish tomorrow, but progress is being hindered by the girl cat. This is what my working day looks like too. I have a very soft and snuggly cat bed on the end of my desk to try and tempt them out of the way but it seldom works. I once lost the use of the spacebar on my keyboard because it was clogged with cat hair. True story.

9pm

Husband arrives home. He eats a cold Jambalaya and says it's delicious but could do with having more prawns in it (he has a point), and I drink a cup of camomile tea with honey. We chat about our day, watch a little news, and head off to bed before 10pm.

I hope you had a lovely weekend. Thanks to Jane and Louisa for hosting #PhotoAnHour.

I'd be heading to Latitude this coming weekend if it hadn't been for Covid 19. I've been every year since 2015, either for the whole weekend or just visiting for a day.

We've always been pretty lucky with the weather, only encountering rain on a few occasions, and even then it was fleeting. Our days fell into a routine of watching comedy acts in the morning after a cheese and ham toastie for breakfast.

Then we'd find some music to listen to whilst sipping beer from recycled, refundable cups, and people watching as much as enjoying the many and varied acts.

We'd often find our way to the literary tent on the first evening, after a wander around The Faraway Forest, visiting the friendship tree, and admiring the art installations in the woods.

I miss the familiar walk down through 'the village', passed the security checks and over the bridge into the main area, which grows with each passing year. The dusty ground, the hum of people, the smells that linger in the air from the many, many food stalls.

I miss the feeling of being free to do whatever I like, having nowhere in particular I have to be at any particular time.

I love the freedom of camping, the simplicity of it. I go with teabags and porridge pots, and a few snacks, and just enough clothes to keep me warm in the evenings and cool during the day - with the necessary garments in case of wet weather. Toiletries are kept to a minimum. It's very freeing, just having just enough.

It's lovely to be outside for so much of the day, and sitting outside our tents at the end of the evening, usually sipping beer and eating biscuits, is such a treat.

The variety of acts is huge, I've seen so many different bands and artists, comedians and performers, some I'd heard of, others that were unknown, all of which take me back to the fields of Henham Park when they crop up in everyday life.

Latitude is different every year but also feels so very familiar. I can't wait to go back...