The posts…


  • All the pens

    The first 16 of my Inktober drawings were done with my blue Lamy Safari (medium nib), but I’ve been itching to try some other nibs and pens. I hold my pen slightly oddly – I rest it on my ring finger on my right hand, not my middle finger – and the shape of the…


  • Daily drawing challenge

    In 2023 I have been using the Happier App to do a daily challenge called ‘Go Outside 23 in 23‘. I ended up with 275 entries out of 365 possible, which isn’t too terrible. I used the photo log which was literally just a photo. So I reached the end of the year and I…


  • 2023 Makes Round-up

    I’ve been making things, particularly recently, and just not getting round to blogging them. So I’m going to just do a quick round-up post so I get them on record! First up, the cushions that I bought when I bought my first house back in 2002 (I think?) finally gave up the ghost. They were…


  • Belated Barcelona

    This is a really late post! We went to Barcelona for my birthday, back in November, and it’s taken me this long to… um. Not sure, honestly. Upload the photos? I like them in Flickr, but my phone auto-uploads them to Google Photos and then we can share the album and both upload, so there’s…


  • Inktober 2023

    Having had a go at Inktober last year, I tried again this year. I was a bit anxious, honestly. I didn’t do so well last year, and although I was only ever going to aim for alternate days again I wasn’t sure I’d make it this year either. Then a couple of days before the…


  • Portable drawing board

    I’m still working on getting my drawing habit back on, so of course yesterday I got totally distracted making something instead. My MIL bought me some A5 sketchbooks from Hobbycraft for Christmas, and the paper has surprised me by taking ink quite well. They’re good for putting in a bag and taking out, but they…


  • Disappointing potato harvest

    I just harvested the first two tubs of patio potatoes. It’s not terribly impressive. It is about what I expected from these two pots, unfortunately. They are two that we’ve had for a while now, and they have internal water reservoirs at the bottom. Usually that really helps the plants to survive my sporadic watering,…


  • Experimental growth

    This year as part of the window ledge growing plan, I appear to have accidentally set up a weird experiment with my basil plants. I potted them on in clumps, into three pots – two of my self-watering ones, and one that I used with great success last year. I didn’t pot them on very…


  • Oxford by bike

    I’ve been meaning to go into Oxford for a few weeks now. It’s been ages since I’ve been to the Ashmolean, and I’ve also been trying to get to Cardews of Oxford to get some different types of tea to try. Especially since my previous tea-making kit met an unfortunate end and I bought myself…


  • Let it grow

    Spring is a busy time for a lazy gardener. It’s the time of year where I need to do a certain amount of prep work if I want to be able to harvest things later in the year, or just to sit and enjoy the lovely garden without feeling guilty! Last weekend being Easter was…