Why I’ve Been Absent

since December 9th

The clutter on my work table in my studio will give you an idea of how hectic the last 10 days have been.

Apart from the normal craziness of getting ready for Christmas I decided at the last possible moment to take a table at the Holiday Market at the Inn. Initially I was just going to sell our art and photo cards and display some of my smaller pieces of art but then I got it in my head to make a few of my sock gnomes. A few turned into 28 and 9 gnome ornaments.

Sadly on the day of the market a snow storm descended on the city and the turnout was definitely affected. Many people chose to stay home and a few of the vendors were no shows as well.

Since that day I made a few more sales at my hair salon and through friends. Most of the gnomes are now gone and 25 more cards have sold.

On the home front we’ve been busy putting our Rumtopf into jars and labelling them to get them ready to give away. I made up 9 bags of gifts for the volunteers that I’ve worked with most closely this past year at Montgomery’s Inn.

Last Wednesday we had our last bake for the year and will be on a break for about 6 weeks. The staff at the Inn hosted a lovely luncheon for the volunteers as a thank you for all their hard work and dedication to making bread every week to sell at the Farmers’ Market.

So this part of the reason why I haven’t posted as regularly as I normally do. I’ll bring you up to date with what else we’ve been up to in my next post.

Cheers!

Trios of my Christmas Gnomes

for this week’s Thursday Trios

Last week and this week has been super busy for me. I was burning the midnight oil to finish making my gnomes for the Holiday Market on Dec. 10th. I also assembled over 100 new photo cards. The actual market was a little disappointing because the bad weather kept a lot of people home, so the attendance was low. Despite that I did make sales that day and since then I’ve sold more cards and most of my gnomes.

Thursday Trios – The First Christmas Decorations

I always start out slowly

If you have any trios to share, your choice, please copy my link and paste it into your post. When I get the pingback I’ll be sure to leave a comment. Have Fun!

Number 222 – What Photos Will Show Up?

you won’t know unless you play Judy Dykstra-Brown’s Number Game https://judydykstrabrown.com/2025/11/24/the-numbers-game-100-please-play-along-nov-24-2025/

Haven’t Played this for Awhile – #220

thanks to Judy Dykstra-Brown for hosting The Numbers Game https://judydykstrabrown.com/2025/11/10/the-numbers-game-98-please-play-along-nov-10-2025/

This week’s number is 220.

School Pick-ups and Ballet Classes

One of our favourite things to do in London was pick up our granddaughter from school, walk back to flat with a stop at the corner store to stock up on drinks and snacks and on one occasion we got Sevin ready for her ballet class and walked her over to to the community hall for her lesson.

A Special Day at The Storehouse

a private showing curated by our son, Brendan

One of the unique features at the V&A Storehouse is the private showing of items that members of the public can request to see up close. You simply go into the on-line catalogue of items stored in The Storehouse and choose up to five items that you would like to see. There is about a two week wait so you have to book in advance.

Brendan curated our pieces for us based on our interests and family history. Last Friday we arrived at the Study Room, washed our hands, donned purple gloves and read the rules for handling our chosen items.

Kevin’s items came up first. The first item was a silk screened poster from 60s of the band Buffalo Springfield, the second a 1970s Canadian made telephone, the third a pair of trainers made on the 70s for Marks and Spencer’s, the fourth a 400 year old celestial globe made in Iran and the final item was an Irish bracelet made in the 1800s from horsehair.

My items included a theatre poster from a child’s puppet show held in the town of Magdeburg, where my mother came from, a bohemian glass vessel made in Schlesinger where my father was born, a pewter coffee pot made in Frankfurt, Germany where I was born, an 800 year old beaded banner made in Germany and one of the first pieces ever housed by the V&A over 150 years ago. My final piece was a large roll of screened fabric for household items made in Germany in the year I was born, 1952.

If you are planning a trip to the Storehouse I would highly recommend that you do some research in advance and book one of these free showings.

Dinner and a Show

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025

After walking around Trafalgar Square and enjoying the art in the National Gallery, Kevin and I headed to the Steak and Co. for dinner. We chose this restaurant because it was down the street from the Harold Pinter Theatre. It also had a good rating.

It was a nice meal even if I did have to send my steak back twice. Kevin and I both ordered medium rare steaks and his was perfect but mine was blue and difficult to cut. The chef cooked me a new steak but it was also blue. After sending it back for more grilling the third try proved to be the charm. The staff were quite embarrassed and they kindly discounted our final bill. The appetizers and the dessert were outstanding and the service was exceptional.

After dinner we took the short walk to the theatre. The Harold Pinter Theatre is an ornate 19th century theatre with three tiers of balconies. It opened in 1881 as the Royal Comedy Theatre.

The play we watched was The Weir, starring Brendan Gleason. Kevin summed up the story line as a crash course on rural Irish culture. It took me a few minutes to get used to the Irish dialects. Here is a summary of the plot.https://www.haroldpintertheatre.co.uk/shows/the-weir