Spring

Well now, hi there! With Spring in the air perhaps it's time for the proverbial new leaf!
I can't believe it's well over a year since I last wrote anything here!  No excuses, just a lack of motivation and a lot of distraction. I have been busy with my bears, and also with planning new building works. We have been living in a glorified building site for decades, it's time to start finishing this never ending story!

To start with, we have commissioned my nephew to install the kitchen, it's going to be a joy to have a place for everything and everything in its place at last. And a staircase! After nigh on three decades of climbing a ladder to get upstairs, at last we will have a staircase! I must say it's going to be weird and wonderful, and perhaps the seats of all my jeans will last longer. (Why's that? I have never been able to walk down the ladder like everyone else in the family, I always bump my way down on my back side, so it will be lovely to be able to make a more elegant descent last)
So, apart from the usual gardening and household chores, my bears have been occupying my time. I have traveled a lot to teach, I have developed new designs and techniques all of which are eagerly welcomed by people from all over!
In a little over a week I'm heading off again. I'll be in London to trade at Hugglets on Sunday week,  I haven't been for a couple of years and it will be good to catch up with some friends I haven't seen for a while. I will be teaching workshops in Germany the following weekend, which will be a big challenge with numerous projects involved (some of which I haven't done in a while)
I have also discovered the joys of mosaic! Smashing tiles and gluing them down is quite Zen like and

I can go hours and hours and lose myself entirely. Whole days elapse with not much else getting done, while my kitchen splash backs grow. I can't wait to see them installed, but I must be patient and wait for the cupboards and new bench tops.
So you see I have been busy, but I haven't felt like writing so this poor old blog has been sorely neglected. I will try to do better, (I can't wait to show you my new kitchen!)