Time flies!

Wow, time flies at times! I can't believe it's Friday already!

I have amazing children....on Monday night my eldest gannet (Caitlin) cooked Chicken ala King for supper, last night the youngest gannet (Michaela) cooked Pasketti Marinara (spaghetti and tomato sauce) and this morning Caitlin cooked the breakfast pictured below! 
(Me thinks I'm going to have to call my eldest a swan and not a gannet soon too!!)

Scrambled egg, bacon, fried mushrooms and toast!

We had a very exciting pottery session last week ...we pit fired our pots...the result of which is STUNNING!! I had no idea what it was going to look like and really love the end result! Tomorrow we are doing a Raku firing (which apparantly looks like a crackle glaze when done...I'll show you next week!)

The black lines are a result of copper wire tied around the pot and the other marks are from coffee, tea, seaweed,salt, copper sulphate and a variety of other interesting substances!

 My weekend away last weekend was such fun...I played with my camera settings, trying out all sorts of things while my husband paddled and the children played on the beach! Some of the pictures worked and others , well let's just say they needed to be deleted :(

I did manage to complete Challenge #45 this week...it was interesting trying the pattern out, because the first one was horrible! I really like the plaited look it gives, and after filling in the bits, I decided it looked better emptier rather than filling it in....so I listened to myself (doesn't happen often!) and stopped tangling. I really like the way it's turned out, thanks Rick and Maria and Laura!

Challenge #45...Punzel

 I have a busy weekend ahead too as my youngest turns 9 on Saturday!! No rest for us moms! 

Have a wonderfully creative everyone

Pennyb

 

Weekend away

Apologies for the lateness this week....it's been an interesting week! I was asked to substitute on Tuesday again, which went well, and it was the same class I'd sat with last week. At pottery on Wednesday, we prepared for a raku firing (I'm not sure myself what that is as I'm a novice at this myself!) I also finished off my sculpture, which now needs to dry. Thursday I went to art and worked on my waterlily....it'll be finished soon...very excited about this one too...and then on Friday we went to another pottery lady for a pit firing! We've been working on these pots for weeks, they were put into the pit yesterday and all will be revealed at 10am this morning (I'll show you next week!)

I haven't finished my tangle challenge this week, I've used florz as my base and tangling the spaces...I'll post it when it's finished.

We're in beautiful Langebaan this weekend with friends of ours...2 reasons...a family weekend away and the boys are paddling in the second race of the surf ski series which is here! Langebaan is on the Westcoast and has the most beautiful lagoon. Being on the Westcoast also means that the water is a bit chilly! (I'll post some pictures later today!)

Hope everyone has a great weekend
Pennyb

Last lap...

And away they go...! The last school term is off to a flying start (as usual)...Sports Awards and Grade 12 (Matric) Valedictory and the Primary School's 2011 school production of Annie! Both my gannets are in the production with evening performances starting last night and ending on Saturday. So much for being a "House Mom"...I'm busier now than I was when I was teaching!! (I'll have photos next week!)

I've also had an interesting week...I was asked to subsitute Grade 3 (9 years old) from Mon-Thurs while the Annie production was done for the local primary schools and old age homes. Seeing as I'm used to teaching "hormones" (age 14 going on 25), it was quite different teaching little people!

Thanks so much to Laura, aka The Diva, for the challenge this week. The Sunflower Fund grows bigger every year and is a very worthy cause. The drama pupils at the Primary School also put on a concert every year with one of the churches in aid of the Sunflower Fund and raises huge amounts of money. My contribution this week is photographed on all the Bandanas I've collected over the years.

The tiny little one is a hair scrunchy!

A closer look at my tile.

The theme this year was Thank you for the Music and was a Musical Road Show. This item was from "Songs from Movies"...Sister Act

"Sport Songs"....Waka Waka!

Thank you all so very much for the beautiful tiles you've all produced this week and all the stories that accompanied them.

Have a wonderful weekend

Pennyb

School Holidays

 Greetings!

Phew, but a lot has gone on since last week...

The beach has been closed (in other words, no swimming, paddling etc at all) for the whole week, as we've had "Bruce" and his friends chilling outside the breakers all day! Wednesday was scary/awesome because we had "Bruce" in the breakers!! These photos were taken by Meds Martin, a lifesaving friend of mine who was walking on the beach when Bruce appeared....

You can clearly see the shape/outline in the wave!

Here you can see the outline and how close the sharks have come!

It will be interesting to see how many Nippers come to training on Sunday...if anything else, Fish Hoek Surf Lifesaving will be beach experts by SA Champs next year! (We do have a title to defend....we won the Nippers (U10-U14), Juniors (U16-U19), Seniors and Masters last year!!)
 
On to crafty things...Laura Harms aka The Diva's challenge this week was Hope - seeing as October is Breast Cancer month...I knew exactly what I was going to do. Mine is done for Aunty Sandy, she passed away 2 years ago, not from breast cancer, but oesophogus cancer and was my 2nd mom for nearly 3 years, a very special lady xxx

Challenge #42.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone

Pennyb

What a week!

Hello again! 

The cars are sorted, thanks goodness! But on Tuesday morning, we had a Shark attack at the beach. The guy is alive, thanks to the Shark Spotters who stemmed the blood loss, he has however lost his right leg. The saddest part is that the Shark alarm had gone off twice that morning already, and he was told that the beach was closed and yet he still went for his swim!! Yesterday (Thursday) the beach was closed the whole daty because a shark was just "chilling" in the bay the whole day! I went up the mountain to where the Shark Spotters sit and for the first time, saw a shark swimiing around the bay. (There are videos on YouTube for anyone who wants to see). Nippers starts next weekend...I think we'll be doing a lot of beach work this season!

Both my girls took part in the Evening of Choir at the Primary School on Tuesday, and as you can see, I was busy during the parts they didn't sing!

On Wednesday I went to pottery and my tiles were finished!! The blue ones were painted with underglaze first, and I then scratched out the tangles with a porcupine quill...the white ones were drawn with an underglaze pencil. Not sure where I'm going to put them yet, but I love they way they turned out!

 

Then....my tile project....we had to make tiles! Obviously I was going to zentangle mine! So we wedged the clay, rolled and cut out our tiles (mine are 10cm X 10cm), I then drew the string and started tangling. Once I'd finished, they were bisqued and then I coloured them....

 ...and taadaa....drum roll please....My tangled tiles!

 

  

A close up of the section with Pepper, cadent and one whose name I can't remember!

Challenge #41 from the Diva had us using only two tangles. I must admit that I enjoy these challenges because it gets me using tangles I don't normally use and it definitely out of my comfort zone! I enjoyed the Opus ones and got some great ideas from the Enthusiastic Artist on her blog.

Challenge #41

And then last, but definitely not least...I finished my pencilled Sunflower! I used watercolour pencil for the background colouring and then layer upon layer of pencil on top! This one is going to be framed!!

 

 

 

My pencil Sunflower!

And that brings an end to my week!! Phew!

Enjoy your weekend!

Pennyb

What a weekend...!

Oh. My. Gosh.  I know it's a bit early in the week for me to be blogging but... 


The bad news...on thursday evening my hubby's car died as he got home. Not a problem, I'm not working at the moment, so he borrows mine on friday morning. The SNAFU occurs later as I'm on my way to pick up my girls from school... MY car starts making funny noises...so I check with my mechanic friend whether it's a drivable noise or not...his face said everything! So we go from 2 cars to 0 cars in 12 hours and I have a hair appointment and children and a husband to fetch...!
Andrew now has a new car battery (R900 later...ouch) and mine is going in tomorrow for 2 days to have the cambelt changed (double ouch!) 

On the good side, spring has finally arrived here at home, we've had the most glorious weather this weekend! So to celebrate Spring (and because I had no car so couldn't go anywhere), I finished my Spring tangle! It was inspired by Shelly Beauch...I just love her tangles!

Spring...tangles used: florz, fescu, pendrills, squid, jetties, munchin (and some others I don't know the names of!)

 

 

 Chat later

Pennyb

 

A Whale of a time!

Spring is in the air and the whales are here!!

It's one of my favourite times of the year... we get the Southern Right whales all around our coastline, but particularly on the Indian Ocean side, calving. It's the most magnificent thing to be driving along or walking on the beach and 100-200m away, are these magestic creatures "frolicking" in the water. I was sitting in a coffee shop on saturday (having coffee, strangely enough...) while my eldest was at surfing watching this whale playing. 

A Southern Right Whale "Sailing"

The Diva's challenge this week was to make a Pinwheel for Peace...and today just happens to be the International Day of Peace. I visited the Pinwheels for Peace site (courtesy of The Diva) and loved all the colourful pinwheels with messages from all the children, so my tangle this week was inspired by these children's creations.

My gannet's school uniform is going through a transformation at the moment...after 60+ years, it's being updated, with the Primary and High School having the same basics. It looks so smart! Here are both my girls in their new uniform! (For summer, the stockings change to white socks..easy peasy...and the shirt underneath is a "golf shirt" worn out!)

Michaela (youngest gannet) and Caitlin (eldest gannet) in their new uniforms!

Have a wonderfully creative week everyone,

Pennyb