the changing character of the studio

If, like me, you spend far too many hours in your studio then it becomes more than just a place of work.  And, if like me, you make/design/collect for a living then your surroundings will be that of a happy place.  

Every flat wall, every corner, holds so many memories.  

I take a lot of photographs of the studio to document its changing faces...Every few months it changes in character and in appearance and purpose.  This suits me.  I am not too good at routine, similarity from day to day is not my ideal, rooms have to change in layout, hoardings come and go, and furniture dances around the house in turn, particularly as a new piece arrives through the door.  

I suppose it it why I have adapted to working from home so well and have a family, that either don't mind, or, have become so used to my ways that they now do not even notice......

gathering and listening

Last Friday was my birthday.....Year No.46

I don't know why but I find birthdays a tad emotional....I don't think I will ever understand why...I am a chirpy girl whose glass is always half full and never empty (normally with a good red)...the slight tearyness that greats me at the start of every birthday arrives unexpectedly and slips away quietly - never staying around for too long to be a concern...new year has the same effect....

This year was exceptionally special...Mr Hunter took a day off work and we went exploring while the kids were at school - it is rare that we spend time away without our little brood, so days like this day are precious ... Sleights-Egton-Sandsend all in four hours - I love our little nook of North Yorkshire.

We then had our thrice yearly night out at a friends cocktail bar The Sitting Room in Saltburn - you haven't been?? Then you must... our Becky makes the best Earl Grey Martinis in the land....

I love travelling through my forties...everything feels comfortable...calm...contentment covers me like a good old durham quilt....however I do look at the number 46 and can't quite associate it with myself...but hey-diddly-ho aren't we all like that...the years are whooshing by quickly like the wind....I still have the giddyness and livewireness of a twenty year old and hope that remains for a very long long long time... ;)

So I wonder what the next year brings....love these yearly journeys...

and taking this with me into year No.47

and cannot stop listening to this wonderful album

Beth Jeans Houghton

A stones throw away...

....Yet again, this Summer, we have holidayed a stones throw away from home.  I am lucky to live on the very tip edge of the top of  North Yorkshire..... carved coastlines and beautiful beaches, seductive palettes of the dales and moorland, dappled lit humid forests and woodlands, bustling towns and pretty pockets of quiet village life all bring a sense of calm.  

The twelve months of the working year only allow the odd gap to go venturing and so towing the caravan, to sit in the middle of all this beauty, was a perfect answer to popping ones feet up for three weeks.  And, for once, I have done just that.  

Walked, pottered, meandered, explored, sat, daydreamed, stitched, read, slept well, ate well, drank well, enjoyed the sun on my face, time with Mr H. and most importantly sat back from a distance and observed how grown up our girls now are....so many changes in a year.  If I wasn't such a terrible hoarder I would live in our caravan all year round.

books I read that I can highly recommend...