Finally, some sun in the garden

The weather has perked up which makes it even more pleasant to spend the weekend at home after a trip away. It was great to return to find my zucchini plants had at last produced appropriately sized vegetables. (I'd been kidding myself that the tiny ones I had harvested thus far would classify as "baby" in the supermarket and were therefore desirable). The picture above shows a courgette worthy of the name.
Even Sakura spends time outside chasing butterflys and climbing the smaller trees once there is weather worthy of the season. She is very taken with the vegetable pots on the patio. (Perhaps jealous of the attention they get). Anyhow, here's a picture of her in front of the prize worthy cabbage.

learning creativity

Recently, I have been going to a few weekend courses run by our local art gallery. When I booked I was of the opinion that these days in a studio would provide welcome relief from the frustrations of the working week. This has turned out to be an unimportant part of the experience, somewhat surprisingly. Even though I am not sure I will continue with some of the new techniques or continue to explore the work of some artists I have been introduced to, some element of the experience has been apparent in completely unconnected projects I will discuss later.

time sink

Recently, much of my time has been taken up supporting Noo who has been creating a wedding dress for one of her best friends. It's been interesting discovering how much of what I do I didn't learn from her. If I say "That's not how Gran did it." She retailiates with "Susan Khalje says." For those without a background in couture-esque evening wear, no one argues with Madame Khalje.

It's been a revelation to both of us to produce something to order, as it were. The bride had her own ideas about what she wanted (unsurprisingly). There was no way on earth my mother was going to turn her hand to producing a lace-up back for a gown to be worn for a nuptial mass. The compromise is a modest, interesting gown which tries to combine elements from the "traditional" white dress with the red and gold of a wedding sari.