A Little Cottage in the Country

Sometimes I feel like I can't bear to open my eyes and look at the world because I'm so deeply ashamed to be a human being and worried about what's going on. Much as I try to believe in the goodness and humanity in people I am finding it hard to hold onto that faith right now. I think most of the scientific community, barring those who've received a nice sum of money from the fossil fuel barons, agree about climate change. I certainly would never call myself any kind of expert, some of my degree was about planetary science, but like a growing number I feel climate change has probably been vastly underestimated and will be quicker than people think. There are an awful lot of people thinking "it won't happen in my lifetime" who are probably going to be surprised, and not pleasantly so. We actually live below sea level here so I'm very aware of our vulnerability. But it's not just about me, I feel very powerless when I read of people in other part

I'm just getting back into making some bits of jewellery for myself as my tools and wire that survived the destruction of my studio had been stored in boxes for some time. Really I left them there as we packaged what we could from the wreckage and it was so painful for me having to throw things out some boxes I just left as I didn't want to face it, and it's been over a year. However I enjoy regular breaks from drawing so did the last boxes and it got my making bug back. These earrings are simple hoops made from copper wire and carnelian stones. Most of my stones come from Jewellery Maker TV, they guarantee authenticity and to be honest on eBay, and even other shops, stones are frequently mis-sold, a lot of carnelian is actually dyed agate for example. They're very transparent about any treatment the stones have had as well. The other thing I like about Jewellery Maker is their ethical sourcing, mining is not only environmentally destructive it also employs poorly

If I were to pick one downside of living where I do it would be the need to own a car and have to drive. I'm around 20 minutes away from the nearest town, and sadly in the time I've lived here the village has lost all it's amenities. We no longer have a shop, post office or pub, so even a hermit like me has to venture out into the wider world. I've been driving for around twenty years and honestly I think the standard on the road now is appalling. I'm not just talking about the cheap, infrequent maintenance either. The way people drive is downright dangerous. Until two years ago when I got injured I used to run 10km on the roads three or four times a week. Being responsible I always wore HiVis and ran towards the traffic as there are no pavements. It was always blatantly obvious when oncoming drivers weren't paying attention and hadn't seen me. Many times I was forced to jump into the bank to avoid being run over, and they looked surprised when they did se

I would really like to reduce the number of single use plastics in the house, as although we have a recycling bin for plastic and card I'm sceptical of whether it actually gets recycled. The bin lorry for that collection looks strikingly similar to the black bin lorry, that crushes all the waste together. Looking for viable alternatives in your local supermarket, with aisles full of plastic bottles, is not easy though. I've made melt and pour soaps for a little while so thought I'd try a melt and pour shampoo. Its made by Stephensons and I bought a 100g to try it. I know purists will argue melt and pour soaps aren't proper soap making, but I do a ton of crafts already without venturing into cold process soap. Since myself and Him Indoors would be using it I fragranced it with lemon essential oil, added after melting the chunks in a microwave. It's then a matter of pouring it into a mould and leaving to set. I wash my hair each day, as apart from smelling lik

I'm currently in the midst of the equine version of Love Island, and it's not much fun! I keep Star on her own as she can be food aggressive, plus I only have funds to give one horse a good life. However my neighbour also keeps horses so Star can see them over the fence. For the past 11 years Star has been having an on/off thing with Ted, a very handsome ex eventer. Star's normal MO when I take her to see Ted is make an almighty fuss snorting, puffing, and generally being a bit difficult with me to get Ted's attention, he comes to the fence and says hello, whereby Star then totally ignores him apart from looking coyly under her eyelashes. To say she's a bit of a madam is an understatement! Last year a stallion got loose from the village and found Star, her idea of flirting was to show him her bum then when her went to sniff her she tried to double barrel him in the chest, taking out the electric fencing. The local police were called to that particular incident

I know it's random, I'm away with migraine then back with a meerkat but bear with me, I haven't lost the plot just yet. This is for my father in law, every year I have to try and surpass last year's card which is getting tricky! He's absolutely mad on the Compare the Meerkats, I think he has all the toys and the book, so I thought I'd do him a card. Obviously meerkat stamps aren't available (to my knowledge) so this is my drawing in pen and ink, coloured in with pencils. All I'm saying is little bits of art take as much work as big ones and I know this card will be kept with the others. One of the reasons I make cards is because in all honesty most of the ones in shops are awful, particularly for men. It's either an outdated watercolour of a cricket bat or something not very funny. This one took several hours so I only get time to do them for people I care about, but at least I know they're getting something much more personal than if I'd