It's time for a new post!

Let's get straight into it, shall we? No waffling about how I haven't posted in over a month - I've got news and pictures to share and don't want to waste any time.

But first - lambs!!!!

Happy Spring, everyone!

Now, in our last episode, I had just met some creative people in Hay-on-Wye. That led to my joining the Marches Book Arts Group (MBAG), which meets monthly in the beautiful little town of Clun, near these fine gentlemen.

sculpture by Jemma Pearson

The group is preparing for an exhibition in Hay-on-Wye in April, the Hay Book Arts Trail, which will have displays in shop windows around town. It'll be up in time for Bookstagram 2017, a weekend of events celebrating Hay's 40th anniversary of 'independence'. It is going to be amazing!

I'll have some work in Timeless Treasures, an antiques shop. But if you can't make it to Hay - maybe you live 5,000 miles away - let me show you my little treasures.

The first one is Alt Album. I made a little photo album using scans of my own travel photos circa 1990. I cut and pasted, analogue-style, little pictures of my grandparents into the scenes - my grandfather is carrying a suitcase, ready for their journey.

cover material taken from old Larousse French encyclopedia - Je seme a tout vent means 'I sow to all winds'

at the White House

in Rome

by the Parthenon in Athens

The next one returns to one of my favourite mediums - an Altoid tin.

I made another Petit Bibliotheque. I really love this one!

The other two are simple small journals. This one is dos-a-dos style with two sets of pages.

The next one has a bird theme and uses repurposed papers for the pages, some with little pockets.

So, that's what's been keeping me busy - and sane and happy. That, and long walks in beautiful scenery, in all kinds of weather.

See you in Hay!

Val

What the Hay?

(Has it really been a month since my last blog post?)

(Yes, Val, it really has. You've just been too busy with your smarty-pants-phone and Insta-booyah-gram to notice anyone else.
Sniff, sniff.)

My egotistical Id has just informed me that I've been neglecting my blog, so let's have a little wrap-up of me and my life. It's been an eventful - some might even say crazy - month in the world, but in my little corner of Wales the sun always shines and there's no heavy traffic. Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, lambs are gambolling and the coffee is always delicious!

Roberts Coffi Siop in Dolgellau

It's not always perfect here, but even if you're standing in a graveyard with a cold wind clutching at your throat, the views are incredible!

I made plans to go to Hay-on-Wye to meet someone from Instagram, and that expanded to include more people from Instagram as well as from a book arts group. I didn't have any calling cards - and I wanted to impress everyone - so I finally got around to making some Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). Ta da!

I used cut-outs of old family photos (scanned and printed). And then I decided to make some little books.

The one at the front has thumbnails from the back of a calendar.

And then I went to Hay-on-Wye and met these cool people!!

That's Kelly on the right, another American in Wales (on IG @torch.song.tango and fedoras.and.pearls). On the left is Anne, co-owner of Addyman Books (@addymanbooks), a fantastic shop on many levels with nooks, crannies, steampunk stair rails, and so many books I couldn't even begin to browse (too much chatting!).

miniature books - squeeeeee! 

So, life is SWEET, as long as I don't watch the news.

in Chester

Well, that's probably enough for now, don't you think? Here's one last one from a recent walk near home.

Val

Another decadent decade

I have a birthday coming up, and it's a BIG ONE. It's hard to even say the number because it SOUNDS SO OLD. It's the beginning of the decade that includes words like 'Social Security' and 'pension' (on the plus side, it also includes words like 'retirement' and 'senior discount').

down a local lane

So, yeah, there's that.

I first moved to the UK when I was 39, and I had my 40th birthday at an old pub with my friend Tim, who has the same birthday. I'm being a very bad blogger because I'm not going out to the garage to dig through a box of old photos so I can scan a picture for you. Sorry. Instead, here's one of me in Liverpool a couple of weeks ago.

in Liverpool with the Fab (and huge) Four

We moved back to the States when I was 49, so my 50th was spent in Oregon. Ah, yes, I remember it well. It was Friday the 13th. I wore black. Sadly, I have lost or deleted all pictures from that birthday weekend, which included wearing a big wooden fish head at a local restaurant. It was a thing they did.

in Shrewsbury

So now we've moved back to the UK and I'm about to have another big birthday. I have no major plans for this birthday other than a nice dinner and catching up with some friends on the weekend. And then applying for my BUS PASS!

another local lane

Rather than go on about ageing (British spelling) and various aches and pains, I thought I'd mention all the positives in my new life, and share some more photos.

our view with a room

First of all, the neighbours are all really nice here. Our little close has a mix of people ranging in age from late-8os to three weeks, and (almost) everyone gets along. There is some tension between a couple of families, but that only gives the rest of us something to gossip about.

in Montgomery

Also, I've met some outgoing women who meet to speak Welsh and also have organised folk dancing and craft get-togethers. Again, they're all so nice! And since we're in a village, although spread out we run into people we know pretty regularly now.

If you live in a place without blackberries, what a shame!

And I'm going to a yoga class. I've been wanting to do yoga for years, but it was never convenient. Well, now it is, and although it is a challenge (jeez, some of it is damn hard!) it is also blissful.

Lake Vyrnwy

I'm restarting my proofreading/editing business, and I've been making paper products with the thought of selling them, possibly on Etsy, possibly in a local shop where I've already met the very friendly owner.

Oh, and I've been doing a lot more driving, so I'm not so anxious about that anymore.

Liverpool - a city of contrasts

So life is good! Okay, enough about me. After all, I'm just a boring old bat.

Val

Teddy Girls

Blazer, jeans, scarf - sounds like my ideal outfit.

February 2015

Throw in some comfortable shoes and a bit of sass and I'm infatuated.

Photos of the Teddy Girls are by Ken Russell - yes, that Ken Russell - circa 1955,
and were sourced from the two websites mentioned below.

Meet the Teddy Girls. I first read about them awhile back on Messy Nessy Chic, and there's more about them on AnOther.

Who or what are Teddy Girls, I hear you ask. Well, they are the grrrl equivalent to Teddy Boys, who were British guys wearing dapper, pseudo-Edwardian clothes back in the 1950s. With a reputation for causing trouble, they instilled fear in the heart of a very young Mr. S when he saw them in his childhood days in London. (I asked him if he'd ever seen Teddy Girls, and he said he didn't really see any girls on the streets in those days. I suppose they weren't allowed out much.)

Source

What a cool style! Dressy but rebellious. Church clothes with an edge. The girls, though, would have been kicked out of Sunday School for wearing jeans. Like they would care.

So I made my own Teddy Girl. Her name is Eleanor, but her friends call her Lee.

The paper in the background is what I used for Lee's body, which is why she has gingham on her face and leg. I like the mix of traditional and new, an English rose nurtured on nihilism in post-War London who kisses her mum goodnight, then sneaks out the window to go running through the rubble with her mates, smoking fags and snogging blokes.

Source

I wonder where these women are today?

Val