It HAD snowed overnight, not much but I didn't want to be on the roads the moment the garage opened (car going in for MoT). As it happened, the cats woke me up around 6 a.m. and wouldn't stop pestering and by 8.15 my brain was choosing sleep over wake mode, so I had a snooze on the sofa for an hour. My friend Pam was happy to pick me up and bring me home anyway.
I have been feeling guilty that I have not done jobs which need doing since Christmas arrived. So this morning I glued two handles back on my old wooden cantilever sewing box (cost us £16 at Cottees Auction in Wareham nearly 40 years back now.) Then I tended to the ornate frame on a fabulous pre-WW1 drawing of a horse by a young lady called Freda Rickard. She was born in 1899 and lived at the Three Salmons in Caerleon, Monmouthshire. Clearly a very talented artist, who went on to become a Milliner. Bits of the frame had been knocked/broken off and although I had tried to Gesso the design back into a degree of shape again, I'd got as far as I was able. So this morning I dabbed them with black acrylic paint, and will dry-brush stipple it with gold to match the rest of the frame.
This was done in 1913 when she was 14 years old, and clearly a talented artist. It will be going to the Botanic Gardens Antique Fair with me next month.
Those pesky power lines always get in the way, but this is Carneddau and part of Llanelwedd Quarry this afternoon.
To the right of the Quarry, looking towards Gwaunceste Hill, with the end slope of Aberedw on the right hand edge.
I've just had a surprise visitor, a chap who is doing some work on the end cottage whilst Ed is away. He wanted to borrow a tin opener, and we had a lovely chat and I sent him off with a map and the route to St David's Church if he wants to get out and stretch his legs.
The car failed its MoT - I knew it would as it needed a replacement rear numberplate. The water pump also needs replacing too, so I've left it down there overnight and will collect it tomorrow afternoon. Last year it needed new tyres and work done on brake wotsits and cost an arm and a leg. This year a good bit cheaper by the sound of it.
Here is the guest room which I am currently working on. I took a photo of the painted walls but they are still wet and much darker than the finished colour, so you will seem them later. I either need to be a foot taller, have arms the length of an Orangutan or a ladder a step taller . . .
This is the sink corner. We put up the neutral wallpaper (left) when we had the big corner sink replaced with a small one.
Not much else to report. A cup of Earl Grey and some stitching beckons.
