A Day in my Life

Prompted by Ali Edwards challenge to record a day in my life, I thought I’d record the events on Wednesday this week.  Though the visit from OFSTED means this is a far from ordinary week in that I’m working more than usual, I couldn’t really say what a “normal” week looks like around here and this Wednesday was about as normal as it gets.

Except I forgot!

Half way through the morning, it dawned on me that I ought to have had my camera by my side from the get go and of course, I hadn’t even taken one photo.  So, a quick reschedule to Thursday, yesterday, the 9th February.  I dutifully took photos all day, made a few hasty notes on a timetable and thought I’d put the results together at some point in a very simple fashion.

Today, we got a snow day!

My simple ideas flew out of the window as I found myself constructing a concertina book from the photos and a bit of narrative alongside. With time to spend on it, I did it from scratch and didn’t resort to purchased digital templates or overlays.  But it took time.

Still, the end result is rather lovely and I’m pleased I made the effort to do something with it all.  All too often I take photos, collect the stories and then leave them lurking on my computer somewhere with just the good intentions in place.

This time, I’ve made a real book, completely finished and rather satisfying to read.

 

It’s bigger, longer than I envisaged, though it’s hard to imagine how it could have been smaller.  There are 24 pages in total.

I used Picasa to create some collage pages which I then imported into Photoshop to make the page.  I tried to include as many aspects of our everyday life as I could – the red photos above are of two cashmere sweaters I darned yesterday morning.  One got thrown in the bin before darning, when I saw the scope of work needed, the other went to the same destiny when I’d darned two holes and thought I’d finished – before going on to find another three.  I’m hoping our new wardrobe set up will have no moth problem!

Of course yesterday was a day spent waiting for snow, so there is an element of uncertainty.

The snow did come in the end, whilst I sat in a village hall two valleys away,  listening to the most inspiring woman and mother of an autistic son – linking nicely back to Ali and the stories she records.  Having spotted the white stuff outside, I dashed home and made it back in time, thank goodness.

In the salad section

and prompting much discussion there as well.

Who wears the trousers?

I’ve had a fun morning filling my new wardrobe.  Well, I couldn’t really wait until this morning – the minute the builders left on Thursday afternoon, I began to hang things in there and this morning I’ve been bringing up the boxes of folded T shirts and things which have been living in the garage since last October.

One thing is immediately apparent.  Those who know me won’t be surprised to see the colours are very consistent!

In fact, perhaps one day when I have even more time to play, I should organise by colour rather than jacket/skirt/trousers.

I’m sure there would be clear divisions between the spring green, the pink, the blue and the purple.

The one single yellow shirt I have could hang on its own.  Yes, really, I have one yellow piece of clothing!  But you won’t have seen it because I don’t think I’ve worn it once.

The rest is so very predictable!

But I have a guilty secret which I was told to confess.  See that little pile in the back of the photograph?  I’ve run out of room for my trousers.

I really couldn’t believe it when I came across another box of folded jeans and trousers in the garage this morning, and brought them upstairs fearing the worst.  Never having had all of my clothes in one place before and always having them split between two or three different rooms, wardrobes and packed away according to the season, I have never had to confront the rather curious fact that I appear to own ninety pairs of trousers!

Ninety two actually, because I didn’t count the pair I was wearing and then I found another pair, hanging in the guest room.

My Hero decided that it was a fine time to pile on the guilt but it didn’t work.  I have no shame – they’re all paid for and (I think) they all fit!  But clearly, it is time to reassess just how many pairs of black jeans I need, not to mention the navy blue wool trousers which might just be slightly old fashioned, because some of these trousers do go back quite a while, I’m sure.  So, one day soon (when I get the mirror fixed up) I will have to spend a day trying them all on and consigning some to the charity shop.

I left that little pile on the floor and went to empty the washing machine, to hang the contents up to dry.  I opened the machine door and found two more pairs inside ;-)

More colour

Ava, you are right – the hot colours I associate with Santa Fe and New Mexico look completely different in the cold light of northern Europe.  But having said that, the fresh blue skies and bright sunshine today has lifted the spirits rather, even if the sub-zero temperatures are proving a bit of a challenge!

 

Yesterday I was working with a class of women who were putting palettes of colour together and who came up with this one when I gave them the title “Russian Winter”.  We weren’t sure if the red was the rosy cheeks, the red nose from the cold temperatures or the Chanel lipstick of a Moscow babe!  We’d also have liked to have been able to add a sprinkle of gold dust in there somewhere.

 

Everyone agreed that the flash of a surprising colour in a palette can work wonders – funny that the group who suggested the camellia red were all wearing a similar coloured sweater!

Whilst preparing for this class, I called into the local DIY store to gather a few paint sample cards to use.  Normally, here in UK, they are in the form of a long strip of half a dozen shades of the same colour but whilst browsing around this rather larger-than-usual superstore, I spotted these

I’m fairly sure Valspar paint has been around quite a while, but I haven’t come across these beautiful paint cards before and as soon as I saw them, I knew I could put them to great use.

 

I took a while and collected a few ;-)

What’s interesting is that the picture on the front isn’t really a guide to the palette on the reverse.

We reached the conclusion that there was a little psychology involved – if the photograph on the front of the card appealed, then there was a chance that the palette on the reverse would too.  The teacup and saucer was from a collection of “antique” colours and the colours overleaf would offer a fitting backdrop to a room in classic style, perhaps?

But no sooner had we worked that one out, than we came across this one.  A row of lipsticks – now, what trio of colours might that one suggest?

Bet you got that one wrong, too!

As you can imagine, we had a great day working together, fiddling about and learning how to interpret a theme and stage a display.  One thing’s for sure, everyone has an opinion about colour!