Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all!  I don't know about you, but I always feel the post-Christmas lack of sparkle quite keenly - I'm a huge fan of Christmas, and all its attendant twinkly lights, delicious scents and good company, and New Year, followed by cold, bleak January always feels like a real anti-climax.

But this year, I have special memories of a lovely New Year to cheer me up.  For the first time ever, Mr G and I went away and stayed by the sea.

You all know by now that I have an abiding love for our coastline, and to spend a few days there, in winter, was a new and fulfilling experience.  Not hindered by the fact that (for once!) we were exceedingly lucky with the weather.  We had beautiful sunshine for all but one day (New Year's Day), and we didn't get rained on once!  Well, until we were packing the car to come home, but that's quite normal ...

That's not to say it wasn't cold - it was!  But we bundled ourselves up in many layers (and daft hats, in my case, much to the delight (!) of my long-suffering hubby) and did lots of beach-walking.

We made a trip to Cromer - where it really was flippin' cold! - and enjoyed hot chips on the seafront, watching an intrepid surfer with amazement.

And, because we were there at the right time of year for the first time ever, we had to go to Horsey to see the seal pups.  The seals arrive there every year to have their babies - and the humans also arrive there in droves to see them.  It was very busy (we had to queue for ages just to park), but worth it, to see the cute blobs of blubber rolling around on the beach and up in the dunes.  I'm a HUGE seal fan, and I like to think that I might have paddled with the parents of one or two of those babies, on that very same beach.

New Year's Eve was spent barbecuing (yes, really) and drinking champagne, and you won't hear me complaining about that!  So I started 2015 in the most awesome way, and am hopeful the rest of the year will follow suit. ;)  Yes, the house looked rather sad, once it had been denuded of most of its sparkle - but I used some of my Christmas money to buy myself a ridiculously bright rose light tree for my work room, so that will suffice. :)

Why Wire?

Why wire?  Well, that is a very good question.

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know how I fell into jewellery-making and thus wireworking.  But why am I still playing with wire?  Why haven't I diversified into some other branch of jewellery-making?  It seems to be fairly common for wireworkers to move on to working with metal clay, or at the very least to soldering precious metal.  This hasn't happened to me.  I'm still a dyed-in-the-wool cold-connections-loving wire-wrapper.  I did bite the bullet a couple of years back and buy myself a torch to make ball headpins with, but it's never had even a moment's contact with solder.

I think the main reason for my lack of exploration down other routes is that there still seems to be so much to challenge me with my chosen medium.  I dislike using ready-made components in my wire pendants, so it's always a challenge to create the motifs I need from wire and beads.  I have found myself struggling with certain elements, which is tempting me to make the embellishments I need from polymer clay.  To me, that isn't 'cheating', so it would be acceptable, and I'm not averse to the idea of mixed media pieces.  I still haven't stopped trying to find ways to depict the things I want to, using just wire and beads, though.

Wire can do so many different things.  Because of the immense variety of colours and gauges - and the fact that you can mix both of those up by twisting, plaiting etc. - there's so much you can do with it.  I haven't found a way to make very tiny, sharply-delineated motifs yet (although I give it my best shot!) and depicting water is not 100% successful, but often if an idea jumps into my head and keeps insistently poking my brain, I'll find a way to make it happen.

There's no doubt wire is not as versatile as - for example - clay of any type.  There are limits to what you can achieve in the way of texture, form and detail, but somehow, that's part of its charm.

This may have completely failed to explain to you what it is about wire that I find so appealing.  But perhaps the fact that I can't explain it well shows that I really haven't finished exploring it.  That's my excuse, anyway! ;)

What are you grateful for?

I'm as guilty as the next person of occasionally becoming bogged down by the sometimes irritating minutiae of daily life.  On the whole I can make long lists of things I'm grateful for, and if you asked me, I would describe myself as happy.  But still ... those minutiae ... I have been known to moan about things that will not be important in a year, or a week, or maybe even tomorrow.  (As those people I'm grateful for will no doubt attest!)

And occasionally, some heartbreaking insight into someone else's life will jerk me right out of that state of being less than grateful, and remind me how damn lucky I am.  It is easy - and understandable - to succumb to worry.  About your health, the health of those you love, your weight, your job, your looks, the state of your finances.  And sometimes we (I) get so focused on those things, we might forget to rejoice in what we have.  So here are the things I'm truly grateful for.

I have my health.  That's not to say that like many I don't have some health issues teetering on the horizon, but I am generally healthy.  I can get up and go outside and look at the sky.  I can see the sky.  The spectre of cancer - and many other illnesses - looms over us all.  There is no telling if it will one day (soon or not so soon) strike me - or worse, my loved ones - down.  But today I am healthy.  I could do with being a bit thinner (something I'm working on!), but my body is a miracle - like everyone else's.

I have people I love, who love me back.  Without being sappy, this is the most important thing in the world.  With all the pain, suffering and evil out there, love is the thing that redeems humanity.  I still have all my parents (I say all, because I am even more fortunate than most, in that I have 'extra' (step) ones).  I have a husband I've been with for 24 years, and married to for very nearly 12.  To use one of my Dad's favourite expressions, I wouldn't swap him for a gold pig. ;)

I have very good friends, who've seen me at my worst, and are still here.  I may be a bit hopeless at staying in touch (sorry), but I never undervalue them.

For the first time in my life, I'm doing a job I love.  On the 12th October I'll have been doing it full-time for a year.  I don't know what the future holds, or whether I will still be lucky enough to be doing it in a year - or five - but today it's awesome.

I can go outside and touch a tree if I want to, walk barefoot in the grass, paddle in the sea anywhere on our beautiful coast.  Maybe the latter not as often as I'd like, but some people have never seen the sea.  Imagine that.

So today I'm full of gratitude for this rich, imperfect life I lead.  Or perhaps it leads me.  Life can be beautiful, rewarding, cruel and downright unfair.  But it's life.  And I'm happy to be alive.

What are you grateful for?

Early Artwork

As those of you who follow my blog know, I took art up to A level at school, then I put my pencils down and barely picked them up again until a couple of years ago.  Last weekend, I persuaded my long-suffering hubby to drag down my school portfolios from the loft and had a good old rummage through them.  The most surprising thing was how many large artworks there were; I'd forgotten just how many larger-scale (A1) pieces I'd worked on.  I can see it wasn't my greatest forté - and if you follow me on Facebook, you probably know how much I love small-scale!

Sadly, I can't show you the largest pieces, as my scanner is only A4, and I couldn't get them to stay on the door so I could photograph them, so I've just included a few of the smaller pieces, plus an A3 pastel and a photo of my A-level art piece.

This was from my fourth year Communications project (don't ask me what fourth year translates to in today's schooling terms, because I haven't a clue!).  I can see the errors, but it was quite a good exercise in perspective.

These were sketches of my hands for a graphic design project (not my strongest point!) - I included them because it amused me to see my stumpy little paws - they're still the same!  And they're exactly the same shape and size as my Mum's. Definitely not artist's fingers ... ;)

This was an attempt at a portrait of my lovely Grandad.  It's not perfect, but it does look like him.  Brought a tear to my eye, too.  RIP, Grandad. x

A random cat that I copied from somewhere - no idea where, it certainly wasn't one of ours!

And finally, some colour!  Pencil has always been my medium of choice; I did a lot of painting at school, but it was never particularly successful.  This was an experiment with pastels.  I think it may have been a depiction from a character from a novel.  I did a lot of that - still do, in fact.

And finally, my A-level piece.  We had a choice of whether to use Letraset (anyone remember that?!) or draw our own letters, and I chose to draw mine.  Coloured pencils, of course!  It's a photo, so it's not very good quality.  The butterfly's hiding a mistake!  This is on my Mum and Dad's wall - upstairs, thankfully.  It's quite a large piece.

So that's a tiny fraction of my schoolwork, and most of it hasn't been seen in a looong time!  It was a little bizarre looking back at it and remembering drawing some of it.  Where have all those years gone, eh?  The only thing I really miss is the student discount at the local art shop, though!

Book Review: The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams

The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams (urban fantasy ... ish)

I liked this book.  It didn't suck me in and shut off real life until I'd devoured it at speed, but I did finish it, and I do have the next one on my wishlist.  I'm not entirely happy with calling it urban fantasy, as some of it felt more like straight fantasy, although that may be due to the fact that much of the story takes place in the fae realm, not in our world.

McKenzie (I really don't understand why so many characters seem to be given surnames these days, but I can get past it!) is a shadow reader - she can not only see the fae, she can tell where they have teleported - or 'fissured' - to.  A rare talent that the Fae king has been making use of for several years.  McKenzie is in love with his sword master, Kyol, but relationships between humans and Fae are forbidden, so she knows nothing can come of it.  She has never questioned the stance of the king and his soldiers, however - she knows they have right on their side, and she's happy to use her talent to help them.

However, when she is kidnapped by the Fae rebellion - those she assists the king to defend against - she begins to realise that perhaps not everything is exactly as she's always believed.  I liked McKenzie's character.  She's not super-human in any way other than her particular talent.  She gets hurt, she makes poor decisions, but she learns along the way and she's not absolutely resistant to the truth when it's shown to her.  That said, she's loyal, so making a decision that will hurt the king and Kyol, or the rebels and their leader, Aren - who is quite different to Kyol, but noble in his own way - is a terrible choice for her.

There's a cast of interesting, mostly three-dimensional supporting characters, and the premise of a woman who can sense teleportation was unusual.  I thought the book was well-written, although I must warn you it's written in the present tense.  I've read several such books recently, and it doesn't really bother me, but I used to really struggle with it.  I've never in my life written anything in the present tense, and I don't really understand why writers use it, but I'm okay with it.  And after writing this review, I'm actually quite eager to start the next one!

4/5 stars

What would you go back and tell your 15-year-old self?

I saw my best friend at the weekend and she suggested this question for a blog post idea.  And as someone who knew me when I was 15, she'll know if my answers don't add up (so no pressure)!

Firstly, I have to try and remember what I was like when I was 15.  It was 26 years ago, after all.  Much like now, I was very quiet with people I didn't know.  I hated being the centre of attention and loathed being asked to answer questions in class.  I remember the encompassing dread I felt when my English class was told we each had to stand and make a presentation to the class.  Public speaking was not my forté!  I also remember that we never had to do it, in fact, as the class was so naughty and disruptive, we managed to delay the teacher sufficiently to postpone it permanently.

Apart from being quiet, I remember little things seeming to have importance out of all proportion - for example, crying with rage because my fringe wouldn't 'go right'.  Really.

So what would I go back and tell my fifteen-year-old self?  In no particular order:

• Don't sweat the small stuff.  No-one else cares if your fringe is sticking up on one side.  (My hair is never perfect.  I can live with it.)
• You are never going to use matrices in normal life, so don't panic when they try to put you down to the next maths group.  Your maths will be sufficient for a working life spent mostly in accounts (I might not mention that bit, though - my fifteen-year-old self may well have a meltdown at the thought of such a future).
• You are not fat.  One day (26 years later, say) you will look back and wish you were still that size.
• Stop wishing to be taller.  It's not going to happen.
• Don't go to the A-level certificate evening.  The humiliation of your horrible form tutor announcing to the entire hall that 'Louise is currently unemployed - any offers?' will linger for a long time.
• You're right to think your relationship with your parents will be improved by leaving home.  Sad, but true.
• Work harder.  I was the mistress of the 'revise-right-before-the-exam-only' technique.  It shows in my grades.
• Be more tolerant of people who don't grasp what you're saying right away.  One day you will realise that there are far greater qualities in human beings than a quick mind.
• Stop waiting for good things to happen to you.  Make the things you already have good.
• Trust your instincts.  If it feels wrong, don't do it, no matter who you disappoint.
• Don't suppress your creative side.  It will find its way out!
• In spite of what you hope, you're never really going to feel grown up.  But you will have the right to walk away from a situation that makes you uncomfortable.  You may never do it, but knowing you can helps.
• Finally, to myself and my lovely friend - the permed hair.  Don't do it.  Nothing else to add.

I'm sure there are many more things Louise aged 15 needed to know, but I'm pretty sure I'm still learning, so ask me in another 26 years!

(An old, poor quality photo scanned and cropped, of myself and my friend - I'm the one on the left!)


What would you go back and tell your fifteen-year-old self?

Book Review: The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers and City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

First up this week is a novella by Mary Ann Rivers, The Story Guy.  I'm not sure how to categorise this one - probably contemporary romance (something I almost never read).

I'd never heard of this author.  I found her while trawling for new authors (I do this a lot since getting the Kindle - it's usually less expensive to try out a new author, and you can often download a free sample to see if you like their writing style.  In this case, the price was so reasonable, I decided to give the whole thing a go).

In her thirties, living alone, and still holidaying with her parents, Carrie is starting to feel dissatisfied with her life.  Her friends are in happy relationships, and although she knows her life is good, it's also just a little too safe and boring, and deep down she's lonely.  She enjoys reading personal ads placed by men who seem to have a 'real' voice to her - nothing glossy and superficial, just honest, often painful insights into their lives.  She never replies.  Until the day she sees something a little more intriguing than usual.  It begins: I will meet you on Wednesdays at noon in Celebration Park.  Kissing Only.  Before she has a chance to talk herself out of it, she's replied and agreed to meet him on Wednesday.

When she does muster her courage and go to meet Brian on that first Wednesday, to find that he's kind and passionate - not to mention gorgeous - of course she wonders why he's restricting himself to this small window of contact.  And she wants more.  As does Brian, apparently, but he won't allow himself to take more.  And as they start to fall in love - and, naturally, can't resist contacting each other outside of those Wednesday interludes - you find out why Brian can't take - or give - more.  And my goodness, was I ever glad I work from home.  I often read while I'm eating my lunch, and sobbing into my sandwiches with an audience would have been most embarrassing!  I can't remember the last time I read a book that made me cry like that.  Brian's struggle is beautifully drawn, and Carrie is no two-dimensional character either.  I defy anyone to read this, and not be sucked in by the characters.  It is a well-written love story (and the love scenes are fairly hot, so be warned) by an author I'm going to be reading again, and I highly recommend it.

5/5 stars.


Secondly, we have the third in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare - City of Glass.  It's a young adult urban fantasy series.

Again, I can't give much away with my review, in case you've yet to read the first two in the series.  There is still much of Clary jumping into situations without considering the consequences.  She is still only sixteen, so I can forgive her that a little, and the things she has gone through in these three books do seem to have made her grow up and make hard decisions that your average sixteen-year-old probably wouldn't need to, so I'm happy with the development of her character.  Jace is still witty and gorgeous, along with a newly-acquired streak of self-loathing that makes him even more interesting.  And Simon (Clary's friend) has no choice but to grow up fast, thanks to the events of the previous books.  I love the way his character has been drawn, and how Clare uses the plot to put him under pressure and prove his worth.  There are nice little sub-plots featuring the supporting cast of characters and you never feel as if they're just page-fillers.

There's plenty of peril in the book, and you're never sure the characters are going to survive it - something I think is important in a series of this nature.  I used to be a (huge!) fan of the Anita Blake books by Laurell K Hamilton, but she lost me when it became apparent that, in spite of the cast of characters becoming ridiculously large, none of the main characters would ever die.  I don't mean I like my series peppered with painful killings-off of my favourite characters, but if you know Anita's going to save the day every single time, the tension is gone, and tension is the second thing after characters that I value in a novel.  And never mind the fact that Anita turned into an uber-slut at the same time ... but I digress.  (Again!)

This book concerns the villain Valentine and his quest to obtain the third and final Mortal Instrument and his plans to wipe out all opposition when he does.  And of course the quest of our heroes to stop him doing that.  It's fairly standard heroes and villains fare, but it's nicely done and I like the world-building and the characters.  If you don't mind reading YA - and it's not dumbed-down in any way - you might want to give these a try.

4.5/5 stars


It has occurred to me that I'm really only reviewing books I've enjoyed.  The reason for this is that if I really don't enjoy a book, I don't finish it.  Life is too short (and there are too many great books out there) to waste it on less than stellar books.  And I feel that I shouldn't really review a book if I haven't read it in its entirety.  So I may just include a little DNF (did not finish) section, with a few words about why I didn't finish the book and my rating for the part I did read.

This week's DNF:

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler.

I really wanted to like this!  An urban fantasy by a new-to-me author, it's about Jane True, a woman who doesn't know why she's drawn to swim in the sea over and over, although it's obvious from the start that it has something to do with her departed mother.  It started off well, the writing style was fairly engaging and I didn't hate the protagonist.  But I really, really didn't like the 'love' interest.  The moment he entered the scene, I pretty much switched off.  This is a problem for me.  You all know how I feel about tension - including sexual tension - in a novel, and for me it just wasn't there.  Jane practically rolls over for him - there may be all sorts of reasons for this that I had yet to read, but it bounced me right out of the story and left me feeling somewhat cheated.  Yes, I like the odd smutty book, but I'd rather read a well-written story without a single love scene, than have them included just for the sake of it.  I may try and go back to it, but I'm a picky reader - you don't often get two chances to grab my interest!  So my rating is based on about 40% of the novel.

3/5 stars.