Ruby Week 1 - "you brang the mices"

This blog is getting refurbished and moving address soon to www.limetreesstudio.com - see at the base of this post for more details.

(Now for a little indulgence blog-wise, for our Ruby Week)
When we heard that we couldn't get all our families together to  celebrate our 40th anniversary, we decided to make it a "ruby year". So we started in Singapore in February with our son, his wife -Andy and Anna and our two little Swedish granddaughters, Elva (5) and Nomi (2). This week was our celebration with our daughters, son-in-laws (Tessa, Megan, Richard and Will) and T and R's three, our grandchildren, Nicky (9) Isabel (6) and Hattie (4).

Below is the view of Dartmouth from our bedroom, morning and evening. Taken by Tessa.

We'd brought the mice and a few bits and pieces for the girls to play with. Both Ms Mices (the spinsters)  are about 50 years old and their ears and tails were disintegrating. The little girls love them so much that I traced the pattern off and then gave Ms Mices operations on the way down. I also stitched two new mice, Missy and a rather effeminate Fred Mouse. It's quite a classic pattern so if anyone would like it, please e-mail me and I'll send it as a pdf. (as a gift) Here they are with the best tea set with teacups smaller than my pinkie finger nail, having their own wee celebration. Hattie and I made the miniature cakes together a few weeks ago. She was very happy to see the mice in Dartmouth and said happily "Oh, you brang the mices"

Dave promised (on my behalf, thank you, Dave) that I'd read the kids a story in bed every morning at 7am, so they crept into our room for juice, their daily 50p and a story. I thought £1 a day would have been good as it was a weeks' holiday but no, that would destroy the household economics, so it was 50p each. Dave made me tea to wake me up and get my voice in gear and Tessa went for an early morning photography foray while Richard had a run. The other two wisely slept in!

I 'd love to tell you about the book I read them because it was new to me! "Peter Pan in Scarlet" by Geraldine McCaughrean. After 6 days the story got too complicated for the little girls but we'll finish reading it to Nicky who loved it.
You may know that J.M.Barrie gifted the copyright of Peter Pan and Wendy to the Great Ormond Children's hospital, which has proved to be a valuable gift with a continuing legacy. The hospital trust had a worldwide competition to have a sequel written. This is it and it's excellent. Adults would enjoy it as well if they are Hobbit or Narnia fans as I think its on a par. It's cleverly written so that instead of a weak continuation, its a whole new story for a slightly older readership. It starts when the grown up original lost boys, Judge Tootles, Dr Curley etc. all have nightmares about Neverland and wake up finding that the dreams have leaked out. John finds a cutlass in his bed! Neverland is in trouble, so they meet in their London Gentleman's Club and Sensible Mrs Wendy realises that they have to shrink back to children to fly there. They manage to catch just one fairy for fairy dust - Fireflyer (Remember Tinkerbell who was jealous - well she's not around; but Fireflyer is a preposterous liar, converses in a font at 3pt and is very greedy and demanding.) And so it goes on... Oh and the calligraphy in the book was by our own Stephen Raw. www.stephenraw.com

And that was the start of the holiday and the dawning or each new day.
Here is some of Tessa's early morning photography - for more see: 
http://tessacase.wordpress.com/

Blog Update: This blog is written for people who like to think creatively and enjoy visual information. It's filled with things I find inspiring and "behind the scenes" info and tips. Obviously it's biased towards my interests of lettering arts, printmaking and watercolours.  Because I'm a real person you'll also find it seasonal, celebrating feasts, holidays, family and friends. 
We are changing the look slightly and the address to www.limetreesstudio.com. Early next year we'll be launching the Limetrees Club, where members who join can download pdf's of tutorials, created by me and some other professional tutors. We'll launch with calligraphy, bookbinding, alphabet design, watercolour basics and Creative Inspiration (Find your artist). There'll be a members' gallery and forum. And the blog will still continue as usual for members and non-members.

Then there will also be a professional gallery which will sell artworks and letterworks by artists.
Hopefully this will be launched by mid-November, in time for Christmas

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