Ahhh. Venice. I didn't really "get" Venice before going. But now I have been I totally get it!! Wow. A whole town with no cars! No bicycles even or mopeds. Boy did we sleep well at night. And everyone walks everywhere. How healthy is that? We chatted to an 83 year old man who showed us the way somewhere (Venice is a maze) and there he was, 83 and up and about as if he were 60. So we walked. A lot. But that is what we do, B and I, when we travel. We walk, we talk, we eat and we drink. Sometimes a token gallery or museum but not always, it's all about the walking. Venice has a slightly Disneylandish quality (or should I say default) to it. You really get the impression that the main reason you are there is to buy buy buy!! 10 minutes on a gondola, some rubbishy mask or badly made glass necklace or a lace bookmark, or pigeon food... that side to it really disappointed me. The most amazing creative talent is there to be seen but of course is unaffordable to most people. But since most people want to possess things, they would rather take home cheap rubbish than nothing and so the rubbish is right there in your face for the buying. That for me is the shame - the dilution of expertise into touristy rubbish. I can't believe I am ranting about Venice!! Venice!! So beautiful and romantic and arty and creative and wet and yummy!! So full of amazing buildings, streets, bridges and also so full of colour. The smells too! It was quite a surprise to me to smell the sea. Somehow I had always thought Venice would smell of rank water but no. The sea. I think it will take a while for all the impressions I have of Venise to settle and for me to find out which ones will be for me the most evocative. I have an inkling that they will involve the evening mist, bridges, the sound of feet on cobblestone, the lapping of water... Ihad felt as though I had found a personal Venice but what I just wrote is so cliched. Aah. I guess sometimes you just have to live the cliché, dwell in it, wallow in it (and then buy some of it to take away with you...?). 
Ahh Venise! Quel endroit de rêve! J'en reviens ravie. Une ville où les voitures sont inexistantes, où il faut marcher, où il faudrait presque se faire guider par les étoiles pour ne pas se perdre, où une petite ruelle miniscule peut amener à un endroit bien utile (station de traghetto par exemple) ou une rue bien large mener à un cul de sac sur le grand canal. Une ville tellement historique mais qui reste jeune, au moins je le pense, dans l'esprit. J'étais surprise par l'odeur de la mer (je m'attendais à l'odeur de l'eau morte). J'étais surprise par tellement de petites choses finalement (les bateaux de fonction- "Telecom Italia", La Poste italienne; les barques des éboueurs; la présence de vies normales - les pressings, les supermarchés) et d'autres plus grandes me laissaient sans réaction (la piazza san marco - quelque part bof). Bref... un voyage complex et simple à la fois. J'en suis sûre que j'y retournerai, avec les enfants, et donc j'ai le luxe de pouvoir réserver jugement! Là je fatigue. B regarde Mort à Venise de Visconti et je pense que je vais me concentrer sur les derniers airs mélancholiques de ce film avant de me coucher. Ciao ciao!
Another wahey!! The first time I dropped the feed-dogs and used the darning foot on my sewing machine was exhilerating. Hence the heartfelt wahey!! I quilted this cushion cover all over quite meticulously and I am so pleased with the result. What do you think? I am working on a third in similar colours. It's difficult to work out something different but complementary. I don't want to over do it on the whole patchwork/colour effect but I can't seem to stop.
And then today I was knitting a square that I am going to felt to apply to another cushion cover (obssessed) and I realised that the greeness of the experience needed to be documented. The jumper I am wearing was given to me by a friend. His aunt had knitted it for him but he saw the green and thought of me. 
In other creative fields... these are D's legs. Who says you have to stick to face painting? Of course the advantages of painting faces, rather than say feet, are immediately obvious once you have spent an afternoon following red footprints with a damp cloth around the house.
And in a New Yeary, lets get creative effort... and to try out a Christmas present (thanks Bec) here are two pictures that I drew of me as a mermaid and my friend Hsiao-Yi as a mermaid. I am very proud of DOING them. But ahem not quite so proud of the results. 
And that's you just about up to date on the year so far. B is taking me toVenice without the children for five days starting this Friday. Yup this is my life not a dream!!! Wahey!!!!Coudre en écrivant est franchement à conseiller. J'avais un sens de liberté que je n'avais pas eu jusque là avec ma machine à coudre. Deux de mes lignes de patchwork étaient en homage à ma fille, qui est dans sa phase où tout doit rimer (?). Une ligne française: chou, fou, loup, doux, nous et une ligne anglaise: zoo, clue, phew!, who, you. J'adore. J'adore aussi le coussin et j'en fais un troisième dans un style et des couleurs similaires mais différents - pas si facile à réaliser.Et puis aujourd'hui je tricotais un carré pour en faire... du laine bouillie (?) du feutre (?) et il fallait que je documente l'effet. Et oui j'aime le vert. Un peu trop vous dites? Impossible!!! Mon ami m'a donné le pull que sa tante lui avait tricoté - quel cadeau.
Sinon, chez nous on ne peint pas que les visages... mais on devrait! Pour éviter les empreintes sur le canapé, le sol, les draps....
Et dans un effort d'être plus créative encore (et pour essayer un cadeau de noël) me voilà en sirène. 20/20 pour l'effort. 9/20 pour la réalisation! Mais le 20 vaut le 9 ou vice versa, en tout cas je me comprends!!
I have my computer back!! And they mended it!! And all my stuff is still on it - it wasn't wiped!! Obviously I have missed the Christmas - New Year blogging period which is a shame since it is a nice time of year for reflexion but I have decided not to play catch up since I want to move onwards not look backwards. In any case, the whole period was marred by sickness and so really is best forgotten. 
We did spend boxing day at the beach in Clevedon near Bristol and we took a walk along the pier - the oldest pier in the UK. And we ate hot crumpets at the end of it looking out to Wales. And, as my late Grandmother would have said, a good time was had by all !!
Je suis de retour! J'ai enfin pu récupérer mon ordi et le bonus était que tous mes fichiers ont pu être conservés. Il reste à déterminer si le problème a été résolu! J'ai raté toute la période de noël, fêtes de fin d'année... pour poster des messages optimistes, analytiques, etc. C'est bien dommage mais en réalité je pense que mes messages auraient tournés autour de mes histoires de gastro, de rhume, d'angine donc au moins vous avez été épargnés ça!
Nous avons quand même fait une excursion à Clevedon près de Bristol pour contempler le Pays de Galles du bout du "pier" (structure en photo -je ne connais pas le mot en français). Contempler et manger des "crumpets" qui, j'étais ravie de découvrir, se trouvent au rayon pain-emballé-en-plastique à Monoprix, rayon que j'évite généralement mais qui est devenu aussi incontournable que des crumpets pour le petit-déj... Ah la plage, ça fait du bien.
Ahhh. Venice. I didn't really "get" Venice before going. But now I have been I totally get it!! Wow. A whole town with no cars! No bicycles even or mopeds. Boy did we sleep well at night. And everyone walks everywhere. How healthy is that? We chatted to an 83 year old man who showed us the way somewhere (Venice is a maze) and there he was, 83 and up and about as if he were 60. So we walked. A lot. But that is what we do, B and I, when we travel. We walk, we talk, we eat and we drink. Sometimes a token gallery or museum but not always, it's all about the walking. Venice has a slightly Disneylandish quality (or should I say default) to it. You really get the impression that the main reason you are there is to buy buy buy!! 10 minutes on a gondola, some rubbishy mask or badly made glass necklace or a lace bookmark, or pigeon food... that side to it really disappointed me. The most amazing creative talent is there to be seen but of course is unaffordable to most people. But since most people want to possess things, they would rather take home cheap rubbish than nothing and so the rubbish is right there in your face for the buying. That for me is the shame - the dilution of expertise into touristy rubbish. I can't believe I am ranting about Venice!! Venice!! So beautiful and romantic and arty and creative and wet and yummy!! So full of amazing buildings, streets, bridges and also so full of colour. The smells too! It was quite a surprise to me to smell the sea. Somehow I had always thought Venice would smell of rank water but no. The sea. I think it will take a while for all the impressions I have of Venise to settle and for me to find out which ones will be for me the most evocative. I have an inkling that they will involve the evening mist, bridges, the sound of feet on cobblestone, the lapping of water... Ihad felt as though I had found a personal Venice but what I just wrote is so cliched. Aah. I guess sometimes you just have to live the cliché, dwell in it, wallow in it (and then buy some of it to take away with you...?). 
Ahh Venise! Quel endroit de rêve! J'en reviens ravie. Une ville où les voitures sont inexistantes, où il faut marcher, où il faudrait presque se faire guider par les étoiles pour ne pas se perdre, où une petite ruelle miniscule peut amener à un endroit bien utile (station de traghetto par exemple) ou une rue bien large mener à un cul de sac sur le grand canal. Une ville tellement historique mais qui reste jeune, au moins je le pense, dans l'esprit. J'étais surprise par l'odeur de la mer (je m'attendais à l'odeur de l'eau morte). J'étais surprise par tellement de petites choses finalement (les bateaux de fonction- "Telecom Italia", La Poste italienne; les barques des éboueurs; la présence de vies normales - les pressings, les supermarchés) et d'autres plus grandes me laissaient sans réaction (la piazza san marco - quelque part bof). Bref... un voyage complex et simple à la fois. J'en suis sûre que j'y retournerai, avec les enfants, et donc j'ai le luxe de pouvoir réserver jugement! Là je fatigue. B regarde Mort à Venise de Visconti et je pense que je vais me concentrer sur les derniers airs mélancholiques de ce film avant de me coucher. Ciao ciao!
