tania howells

Mum needed me to be a witness signature on a document yesterday at the American consulate. She needed some form notarized. I naively brought my normal purse with my normal things in it and was told I had to leave my camera and ofcourse knitting OUTSIDE! Anywhere across the street. They had no where to put it so I had to hide it under a bush. This is my first test shot after being reunited with my camera and knitting and being relieved it was not stolen. Also the x-ray security machine discovered I had a packet of cheese for my snack later and -horror- an APPLE! These things I also had to trot across the street and leave on the curb. My cheese was stepped on after but the apple was fine after a wash. I don't need to tell you I got all furious but had to push it down lest I be suspected a person of interest. How tiresome! and rather stressful!
Here is me and mum reflecting on our morning over coffee. Ahh that's better.


..and here is a bag I bought after that because I was early for work. Curses to the cheap and cheerful shops! I probably could have just made this myself but I didn't and I like to think about a line from Amy's book where she says - "It's ok to have long periods of being "uncrafty". That's often when you can get the most inspiration- when you aren't looking for it." Thanks Amy! Permission ! On that note I am working away on the book so that is sapping up most of my creative impulses. I am cautiously optimisticly nearing the end of it. I imagine there will be various things to re-do but I can see the light at the end a little bit! Deep breath.
In boy cat news, he is stable I guess, skinny as a rail and not super interested in food but still eating a bit and purring and sitting on our laps. I fear I may have to make a decision soon about his pussycat future and whether to send him on to the big cat grass patch in the sky... I am trying to prolong that sad decision because, well, it is horrible.

clothes pegs

It has been rainy on and off for a while now which is good for the ground.
On the weekend I decided to paint the back patio and for some reason it caused me no end of stress! The cement patio was chipping and horrid, I mainly wanted to seal it up for the winter months. I swept it, hosed it down, scrubbed it with TSP, hosed it again and then had to wait for it to dry which never fully happend. We tried to dry it with a hairdryer and then a blow torch (care of our sweet neighbor)! I painted it anyway and it has rained so I can't coat it with sealer yet. I wonder if this coat will even last the winter? Anyway, I of course I had washing out drying at the same time and had to gingerly take it down halfway through, leaving the clothes pegs where they lay. In the rain I thought the pegs along the wall looked so nice.

It is nice to think that many of us share a few favorite things, that are comforting or homey, cozy and pretty.

-clothes pegs all lined up
-a cup of tea and a nice tea pot
-family
-a cup of coffe with friends- fika!
-cats curled up
-lovely books to read
-pretty baked things
-wonderful patterned fabrics
-a cozy husband and a place to call home
-silly wiggly dogs
-fresh notebooks full of promise

These things are basicly what my whole blog is about! and judging by my flickr favorites, it is all I think about. More truthfully, they are the things I cling to when I need a bit of comfort. It doesn't take much!
Time for another cup of tea and perhaps a nice biscuit!

candy before halloween!

I am a lucky duck. Look at this box of loot I got in the mail from E.Marie! It is a bunch of candy which I am thrilled about because I am too old to pass for a kid on halloween and am not allowed to trick or treat. Second, I am too mean to go to the store and really buy myself candy becasue I feel I had better eat a carrot instead. PHooey! Candy me want! Also some little cool tags, a great wind-up snail, a special tea bag and some jelly pens!
But the very best part is the main part- this little collaged box using a quote I had on my blog a while ago. She thought it was funny! Which was great because it is a quote I have always wanted to use but never had cause. Now I have a constant reminder of how funny weasels are and I have this cool little handmade box to put special secrets into.

thank-you e.marie!!!!

jam tarts

This picture is awful and ofcourse, I ate all the jam tarts and could not take a second one so you will just have to take my word for it. I made them in a fit of busyness last night before knitting night. I love jam tarts! I have not had them since I was little and my mum would make them with the leftover dough from a pie. I have been thinking about them ever since...MMM!
Yestreday on top of havnig a lovely , long overdue lunch with Krissy and buying myself a new expensive british elle deco mag as a treat, there was a box on my desk when I got to work. It said "fabrics for Tanya". I have no problems wiith my name being spelled wrong if those 2 words are in front of it. They were from the amazing woman who is my co-workers best friend. She is the one who makes remarkable quilts and who I talked about here. She is moving and clearing up and thought I might like these. This table runner had me leaping up and down and embarrassing myself at work. It is FAB. The One on the left looks like IKEA and the right is vintage- I love them. There were 2 more- one a kitcheny-scandinavian one with maps overlayed with fishes and foods and another more modern kitcheny one. I took a photo of the first one but it was all blurry. WOW- how kind- I was so grateful and exited to get this stuff. yay!

Kniting night seems to be a permanent thing and I am loving it. Last night we all had a good cackle over a movie we had all seen - 2 days in Paris. I had no expectations going in to see it and boy was I impressed. It was just so funny and so familiar somehow. I really loved it. And I believe Julie Delpy did it all on her own steam, directing, acting , producing etc- impressive!

In case you were wondering, I didn't do anything crafty over the weekend like I thought. We did switch our main floor rooms so that the red center room now has the tv and couch and the front room is more open with two comfy chairs. It feels so much nicer this way!
We also went to see The Darjeeling Limited which I just loved ofcourse. I haven't read any reviews of the movie and I don't really want to. I don't care if it was panned or whatever because I just love to sit and watch and get totally immersed in a film. Visually this movie was amazing. It was also really touching and human somehow and I just think Adrien Brody is great. If you get a chance see him in "Dummy".

history of howells

This is my dad and his mum on the streets of Barry ( Cardiff? ), Wales around 1948. I love this shot- it is so candid, almost like a paparazzi picture!
My mum is moving and clearing out stuff so I received a pile of old photos from my dads side of the family. How amazing! Some, my dad had written descrpitions on and some were blank. Some still my mum was able to identify. The rest shall remain a mystery because no one on my father's side is still living.
On this group shot, my dad had written - "Granfather, Grandma Howells with Cissy, Jack and a friend C. 1908, in garden in Jenkin st. (?), Barry, Wales. Where Jack was born." My great great grandfather and mother... So I can imagine that the little girl in the tomatoe greenhouse ( what an operation! So many tomatoes! ) was Cissy? Perhaps my great Aunt? I love this shot too.

it's finally fall!

Image taken from Knit simple .
There is a lovely chill in the air and it is really putting a skip in my step. It is making me FINALLY finally feel crafty again. I love this time of year with brilliant sunny days shining through golden leaves, wearing scarves and socks. I am all exited to rummage in the basement and find my bag of hats and mitts, and the box of winter things. Paul and I got whomped with the inaugeral cold of the season and though he has been home sick all week, I have been able to limp through my normal schedule, if not a bit dopily. So, I treated myself to the latest issuse of Knit simple because there is a great mitten section - see pics above. It is a nice chart for mitts of all sizes. I love the idea of a basic adaptable mitten pattern using a basic yarn, not some crazy expensive one I am too mean to buy.
I also finally feel rather exited about crafty happenings. Jen over at TCA has done a great job as usual, of rounding up all the cool stuff to do. I am exited about this because it is near my house. I would love a neat crafty place to hang out so close to home! Maybe it will be like the secret club I started in my basement as a kid...Maybe I will actually go OUT for a change...
I totally have to check this out!! It looks beyond exiting...
So I hope you all have a lovely weekend and get down to some creative crafty business. I hope I do too- :)

silliness

Here is silly some youtube flim- flammery-


Owl / 貓頭鷹 / mao tou ying / cat / bird Please tell me if you know what on earth this is about. It is so funny!

fantastic graphic

I've always loved La Vache Qui Rit cheese. So campy, so cheerful! Nice spread on a cracker as well.
I have treated myself to a morning off today, I baked a banana cake and toasted up a nice big batch of granola and I have been reading a big fat juicy novel I grabbed at the library yesterday. I think it may be time for another tea, a slice of cake and some more reading before I head off to work. My crazy fall/winter schedule at my job began this week and I don't go in till later, giving me tons more time to work here at home. I kind of overdid it tuesday and now my wrist is a bit stiff. All the more reason to enjoy a bit of down time.

mitten galette tea

This weekend I knit a bath mitten! How cute. It was a pattern on the label from some yarn and was super easy. Also, this weekend I made a pie! A galette really. I have wanted to make a pie for oh, 9 years, and finally finally did it! I went the galette route after seeing Amy's yummy version. I have been eating it for breakfast. Is that wrong? We also managed to squeeze in a baseball game! Paul got free tickets so we didn't feel bad only staying till halftime. It was fun, just don't ask me who won. I have no idea. This is actually a tea picture from last week, a tea break mid morning on my messy desk. I will likely re-create this scene over and over this week too!

Happy Monday to you!