Sunrise Walk

I love our daily dog walks. The children often moan about going out but it’s always good. We poke things, smell things, chat in a way we don’t in the house. It’s like taking a deep, healthy, green breath before getting on with the rest of the day.

The Sunrise Walk is organised by a children’s hospice charity. It raises money to support bereaved parents and is a positive way to commemorate a child who has died, whilst making a difference.  By taking part, you can help raise much-needed funds for the charity to continue providing a lifeline for other parents who are learning to live alongside the loss of a child.

With three routes to choose from in a picturesque setting, anyone can take part – whether you’re an experienced walker or enjoy a stroll with your family and friends.

The walk takes place on Sunday 31st May 2015 at 4:30am at the beautiful Ham House near Richmond, Surrey and starts with lighting a paper lantern to remember a loved one.  If you can take part, it’ll be much appreciated.

Travel Brooch

I do love to travel, so when I found this little pressed brass plane in a second hand shop, I knew I'd have to make it into something travel related. I toyed with a bracelet then decided to tackle something I'd been putting off for ages, a brooch. I love brooches and wear them a lot, but I'd never tackled a brooch pin, so it was a challenge. The back of the brooch is sterling silver, with a double steel pin. The lovely blue globe stamp is riveted to the front using tiny silver rivets, soldered to the silver plate. I also used glue, just to make sure, and varnished the stamp three times to protect it from water. The plane is attached to the front using four simple silver posts. It's not perfect. I'm particularly annoyed that I didn't clean my fingers properly when I was glueing the stamp, so it's grubby. But the pin on the back turned out very well and it hangs nicely, which is pleasing. I've found a new source of planes and I've got loads of stamps, so I'm going to try again soon. The next one will be perfect.

Learn a new skill!

Do you fancy trying something new? How would you like to make yourself a lovely necklace like this?

I’m running a silversmithing workshop this month, and you could join me! Together we will make sterling silver tags using traditional silversmithing techniques and tools. We’ll drink tea, eat homemade cake and you’ll go home with a beautiful finished necklace.

“Today was brilliant. My creative brain loves me!”

When – Saturday 28^th June, 2014, 1-4pm

Where – Alfriston Road, London (nearest tube: Clapham Junction/Clapham South)

How much – £65 including silver for the tags, sterling silver snake chains £10 extra. Book directly through me or using the Eventbrite website.

Contact – Victoria Wallop vwallop@gmail.com

#40NewThings or maybe not

Have I done something new if I don’t chose my new activity with purpose?

I decided that in Lent I would do something new each day, and I largely have.  But often I find myself retro-fitting my activities to the mould of newness. I’ll be busy all day then as the evening draws to a close, I’ll think about what I’ve done that day that’s new.  On Wednesday I tried a new spicy chicken thing from Wasabi for my lunch, so I decided that that counted.  Except I’m not sure that it really did.  I only chose the chicken because my usual lunch of teriyaki salmon had sold out, so it certainly wasn’t premeditated.  And more importantly, in no way did it challenge me.  #40NewThings doesn’t have to be hard, I’m no masochist, but I can’t see that there’s much point unless the trying of them provokes some sort of reaction in me.

Yesterday I was part of the team that ran the school quiz night.  Although I’d have done it anyway, it was definitely a properly new thing, something challenging, fun, different.  So that’s OK. But I’ve got nothing else planned for the remaining however long it is, and I think that perhaps I should.

What do you think I should do?

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

I’m not a big fan of inspirational quotes. They mostly make my teeth itch, not sure way. Maybe it’s a stiff upper lip thing, or maybe it’s just that they’re mostly trite nonsense.  But when I saw this in an advert for Not on the Hight Street, I said YES with every fibre of my being.

Partly it’s because I have a very soft spot for Ferris Bueller. I was introduced to him by an American childhood friend who aged 11, I was sure I was going to marry.  By the time I was 16, and we were watching this film, I was still harbouring an unrequited crush, and a combination of this and the achingly cool, only slightly older than me, Ferris made a kind of perfect storm of favourite filmness.  But you know what?  Ferris was right.

I have no idea what our purpose on this earth is, or whether there’s anything else afterwards, but I do know that I don’t want to lie on my death bed regretting that life passed me by.  The best way I know of slowing it down is to grasp every opportunity that comes. OK maybe not EVERY opportunity. I have absolutely no desire to jump out of an aeroplane, but I do want to fill my days with things that are interesting, lovely, exciting, make me think, add in some way to the greater good or are just plain fun.  The more you can cram in, the more time you seem to have.

As well as that, I also want to be present in the moment, not always rushing onto the next thing and wishing my life away.  If you’re having a cup of coffee, make it a really good cup. Appreciate the small things and each day can be crammed with a series of tiny pleasures. This morning I heard a woodpecker while I walked the dog in the blinding winter sun on a frosty common.  Today is already a good day.

Enjoy life. And listen to Ferris.

Not resolutions

I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. There’s something about them that makes my childish brain want to do the exact opposite.   Instead I like to write a list of things I’d like to aim to do during the year, no pressure, just a go-to selection of activities for times when we’re a bit stuck in a rut.  The children have contributed too.

Of course seizing moments has to play a big part too.  Last year we had some brilliant experiences like being on Newsnight and meeting a real life spaceman.  Life without being open to new experiences isn’t properly worth living.

So here’s my list so far…

• Plan a skiiing trip
• Plan a long trip for the summer holidays
• Tate Britain
• Tate Modern
• 19 Princelet St
• Ragged School Museum
• Geocaching
• Downe House
• Kew Palace and Gardens
• Cutty Sark
• Paul Smith Exhibition at Design Museum
• Go Ape
• Lazer Quest
• Swim in Hampstead Ponds
• Long walk based on one of locations in Wild Swim book
• Lots of other long walks
• Sam Wannamaker’s Jacobean Theatre
• Polka Theatre
• The Globe
• Ice Skating
• Climbing
• Swim in new Streatham pool
• Camping

What should I add?

Cool comics for teens and pre-teens

My eldest child loves art. They all do actually, but for a long time, drawing, particularly drawing comics, has been her hobby of choice. She wants to be an illustrator when she grows up. Visiting the Harry Potter Studios at the weekend and seeing all the amazing jobs possible for artists in the film industry, has only strengthened her resolve.

At parents evening recently her art teacher, a gentle, inspiring woman, said that she’s really good, and we should encourage her all we can.

We were discussing Christmas presents yesterday and she suggested a subscription to a magazine, with comic strips, or about art. Like the Beano, except that her younger brother already has one of those.  She’s loved our subscription to Anorak, which has just run out and I highly recommend, but I think she’s growing out of it a little, so I said I’d investigate and see what I could find. I must admit that I was slightly despairing of finding anything without pop stars inside or cheap lipstick attached to the front. These things have their place, but they’re not for an annual subscription from your Granny.

Well one tweet later and I’m excited. So many ideas, some of which are right up her street.  I decided that a blog post was the only way forward, as I can’t be the only parent of an art loving pre-teen looking for inspiration beyond something with One Direction on the cover.

The top recommendation from @keris has to be The Phoenix, which I’d never heard of but have discovered is raved about by lots. And having looked at their website, I can see why. It’s a proper, old fashioned, comic, no adverts just lots of imaginative strips with fab illustrations in lots of different styles, a bit funny, a bit silly. Just as it should be.

The aforementioned Anorak are bringing out a new magazine in 2014, called TeePee which is going to be written by teenagers for teenagers. We love what they do, so I’m excited about seeing what they come up with.

Suggested by @nurturestore and slightly different, is Comic Life, which is a template app, allowing you to create your own comics easily. It looks like it could be a lot of fun, so I’m going to investigate it further.

Unsurprisingly, there are people who blog just about comics, one of whom was particularly helpful, @louiestowell.  Her blog, Stowell’s Cosmology has a fab list of comics for kids. I know that she must be good at this as Asterix tops the list. I think that Asterix books are about as good as it gets, which reminds me, I must add the new book, Asterix and the Picts to my Christmas shopping list.

Louie pointed by to Comics and Cola, which has a fabulous list of comics for kids, most of which I’d never heard of but many of which look absolutely brilliant. I know the children would love loads of these including Guinea PI (about a private investigator guinea pig!) the Hawaiian Shark King and Good Dog Bad Dog. You really can’t go wrong with anthropomorphising animals.

I do love twitter at moments like these. I went from thinking the publishing world was a dull place, determined to push crop tops and fake fame on my impressionable 11 year old, to being truly inspired and excited about exploring all new artistic avenues together.

Happy days.

I love Radio 4

I was a late convert, didn’t used to see the point, but as if often the way with converts, I’m now something of a zealot.

We didn’t listen to it when i was growing up, we were a Radio 2 and LBC household, so I never got into the habit.  I used to think it was just interminable news and slightly dodgy plays.  At least that’s what it always seemed to be whenever I turned it on.  A friend, whose taste I trust, kept nagging me to listen, telling me I’d really like it.  At first I brushed her off, so she started recommending specific programmes, which actually sounded quite interesting.  I found iPlayer on the computer, and had a listen.

What I discovered, was a world full of fascinating human stories.  Once I’d listened to one programme that I loved, an episode of Lives in a Landscape, I needed to hear more.  I spent hours hopping from programme one to another, trying things, discarding some and gobbling others, in the manner of a post-rationing child with a box of chocolates.  Eventually I sorted the series I liked from the things I didn’t.  And there were lots I liked.

I  can’t imagine my days without it.  It keeps me company when I’m working, informs me, challenges me, make me feel clever just for having it on. When I have to go without for a few days I miss it, and I fall gratefully on iPlayer as soon as I am home again.  It has filled a hole in my life that I didn’t know was there.  I truly love it.

Now I’m just trying to work out who is who in the Archers…

 

Hello again

It’s been three months since I last posted here, far longer on my other blog.  In case you were counting.  Don’t know why really, just life I guess.  When I realised that it had been so long, I wondered if it meant that I was no longer a blogger, whether I’d lost the urge.  I haven’t.  The thought of giving up entirely made me sad, so here I am.  I shall be back again soon.

I didn’t know I was having twins until they were born

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Gets your attention doesn’t it?  I’m a sucker for pretty much any birth story, whether written in black and white or in full gory detail on TV, so it was a given that I’d read the article which followed this headline.

The reason the mother in the story didn’t know she was having twins wasn’t that she’d had an incompetent sonographer or midwife.  She didn’t know she was having twins because she hadn’t had a scan or seen a midwife.  At all.

I think I should make it clear at this point where I stand on medical intervention.  I’m overwhelmingly grateful that modern science and the wonderful NHS mean that we can vaccinate our children, treat nasty diseases with antibiotics and rock up at any A&E department after a serious accident and be treated by highly qualified, dedicated clinicians for free.  However, I also avoid visiting the GP for minor illnesses and think a nice long walk in a beautiful place or a hot bath and sleep can cure most ailments.  I’ve never had an epidural and my third child was born in my sitting room without gas and air.  Or a midwife for that matter, but that’s another story.  So I think I pretty much sit in the middle, medical intervention wise.

So as I read about this woman’s pregnancy my jaw grew slacker and slacker.  Now I can kind of understand why you wouldn’t want a scan during pregnancy, I don’t agree but I understand.  If you think the scan might damage your unborn child then you’d say no.  Of course you would.  I had internal wrangles about what I’d do if it was suggested I had an amniocentesis.  Thankfully my wrangles remained theoretical.

And I’m all for avoiding doctors in pregnancy where possible.  Having children is not an illness, so unless there’s a good reason I wouldn’t involve a doctor.  But not seeing a midwife?  I really don’t understand that.  At all.  For as long as women have been giving birth, other women have been helping them through the process.  Midwives are mentioned in the Old Testament.  Our NHS midwives are basically performing the same function as their sisters in ancient Egypt and Rome, but with antibacterial hand gel and the machine that makes the whoosy heartbeat noise.  These women know an awful lot about babies and birthing and they rather wonderfully make it their job to support us when we embark on it.

A midwife would have known that the woman in the newspaper article was having twins just by feeling her tummy and listing to the babies’ heartbeats.  She’d have been able to prepare her for the birth.  Instead what happened was this: she went into labour, she discovered by examining herself internally that her baby (as she thought) was breech, so she called an ambulance and was rushed into hospital where she had a highly medicalised birth.  Of twins.  She is lucky that all three of them are still alive.

It’s weeks since I read this article, and I still can’t get my head around it.  I can’t understand why, or even how, you’d learn to do an internal examination on yourself.  To me that implies that you know you need some form of intervention during the birth process.  Also an experienced midwife doesn’t always need to do internal examinations, she can just tell by looking at you.

The article doesn’t explain her motivations other than a distrust of doctors, and maybe there are good reasons, but I can’t help thinking that her actions could have led to a tragedy.

Am I the only one who thinks this is bizarre?