I came home one evening to find this beautiful creature looking rather sad and sorry for herself and meowing at next doors front door.  It was pitch black and raining and I gaily encouraged her into conversation, she wouldn’t come near but she did tell me she was hungry, when next doors front door opened and out came my neighbour carrying her supper.

During the conversation that ensued I learnt that her owner had been unable to cope with this mortal life and that his family had said they would come and collect the cat, three weeks ago!  During that time she had been living rough, had had two kittens which the foxes got and was looking very upset and thin.  She was completely spooked, won’t go near enough to people to get caught but will eat food and had started to take a shine to next door.  So I popped into the house and came out with 14 sachets of cat food, which my rather spoilt cat turns her nose up at, just to keep her going and talked about the good works that North London Cats Protection League do and how they might be able to help, when my neighbour gets her confidence and can catch her.

And then she started to come into our back garden, so I thought I would just give her a bit extra, see if she wants it.  Three sachets and a couple of handfuls of dry cat food later in 24 hours she stopped eating.  And that was besides what everyone else was giving her. 

Toile lets me know when she is about, I hear this Proowww sound come from her and I know the white cat is within vision.

Bless her, she has got sunburnt ears.

Fully fed, off on her travels.

Since these photo’s were taken I have stopped feeding her as I have learnt that she has now started to go in and sleep inside our neighbours home.  This is wonderful news as they will really start to bond and I wouldn’t want to upset that.  I really hope she has found her forever home.

During the summer I managed to get a reasonably priced ticket (not as cheap as War Horse) to see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesties Theatre.   Again I used Theatre Monkey to check my seat out and found that I needed to purchase one that was nearer the front of the stalls so as not to miss the chandelier scene.  I love the fact that Theatre Monkey wrote about both the theatre and how the seating would affect the play that one had chosen to see. The musical was magnificent, the seats were a nightmare.   Its an old theatre and you are cramped in and my row of seats had this unusual feature where you felt you were tipped back, very weird.Would I go back, absolutely.  

It was amazing.  The woman next to me said she came twice a year to see it and explained how much she enjoys it.  After I’d seen it, I could see why, the sets, the opera, you just never knew what was going to come next, as I said, amazing.

Roast Chicken is a thing of beauty – well this one isn’t, this one looks a very sad sight thanks to the foil sticking.

But nevertheless it was succulent and tasty and was just what I needed.  Having only one leg missing from the bird I have quite a lot of left overs – its never a problem but it can get a bit samey.  So I decided to try a pesto version of a sauce to go with my chicken.  I roughly chopped some mushrooms, fried them off, added some cooked chicken, a couple of good handfuls of Kale and added a small jar of basil pesto, whilst trying not to look at the calorie count.

It was quick and delicious and I served it with some steamed basmati rice.

Here is just another snippet of the recent Campaign for Wool Interiors exhibition in London 2014.  I’ve included just three of my favourite pieces.

and here is the tiny sample of fairisle, (which I will, one day, just as soon as I can catch my breath start on the glove pattern) so graciously taught by Marie Wallin. 

And as you can see, there are plans afoot to have a little play, let us hope that it gets a little further than just playing with the colours – although if that is all I manage this term, that will have been fun too.

At the moment my stitching life is composed of practising samples.  They always take longer than I think they will and I always hope for perfection and at the moment, for my critical eye at least, I’m not getting it.  Some samples get closer to perfection than others, but I need to reliably hit the mark, so that when I am playing with my next jacket pocket I can feel proud and not weep into my tea.

I’d like to say that these were my very own courgettes, grown in my London pad, but they are not.  My courgettes failed miserably, the plants were great, kept producing a huge amount of tiny courgettes, but as soon as they grew they rotted away, I think they were just in a too tight a corner and needed more ventilation – you live and learn.

Anyway getting back to these courgettes.  I picked up a bag for a pound and some cheap feta cheese and wondered what to do with them when I turned to my trusty Greek cookery bible, Vefa’s Kitchen by Vefa Alexiadou who had an excellent idea.  You basically stuff them, or try to, its quite difficult, but you get the idea.  

You mix a dressing of garlic, oregano, salt and pepper with olive oil and slit the courgettes so that they can take the dressing and try to put the feta cheese in and roast covered for about an hour and then uncover to allow it to colour, it will depend on the size and thickness of your courgettes.

It was very pleasant, fresh and pleasing is probably how I would describe it and went very nicely with our home grown beetroot and some plain boiled rice.

The wonderful thing about studying for a creative type of degree in London is that there are lots of opportunities for research.  One still has to do a fair bit of travelling, I work on the premise that if I know where I am going it takes about an hour, if I don’t I’d best allow an hour and a half, it seems to work!..  Getting back to the story, as always there is research to do this term.  We have been asked to look at details of jackets.  Which for me, based on other research I’m doing means taking photographs of suits in a department store.  Which can be easy or tricky, depending on who’s on the floor. 

I have worked out a plan though.  I used to use the honesty method, it doesn’t work.  I still need the research even if they say no and it all becomes exhausting.

So my method of choice these days is to find myself in a space without shop assistants.  The emptier the better.  Start snapping.

The flash gives it away but with a fair wind, bright department store lights and work fast, you can get thirty to forty photos very quickly.  Then I act surprised, apologise profusely and offer up that I am a student in need of primary research from the University up the road and they’ll normally let you carry on and trot off at that point.  Be under no illusion, this is a trap and it is generally short lived.

Keep snapping, do not stop as before you know it, someone more senior will arrive and ask you very gently if you could stop.  By that time you should have more than enough research under your belt and you can smile sweetly, thank profusely and leave.

During the summer I went to see War Horse. I can’t remember where I eventually tracked down a very cheap ticket but I did check out exactly where I would be sitting and if this would be a good seat – it was.  Theatre Monkey have an amazing website that lists best seat info for practically every seat in a London Theatre.  It also has seating plans and day seat information and how to go about getting a cheap ticket at the last minute, not as easy as you might imagine, but at least you stand a small chance with this sort of information at your fingertips.

I loved War Horse, as soon as young Joey clip clopped onto the stage, I knew we were in for a real treat.  He breathed.  His rib cage went up and down as he was breathing – he was alive.  It was wonderful, his ears moved and twitched, he had that new born foal way of trying to control his unsteady legs and he was a lovely, lovely character, in a natural way, not a Disney way.

And when the actors are perched astride the huge horses who are careering around the stage, you are under no illusion that you are watching puppets, they are real horses up there.

I would go and see it again and again and again…  Its an emotional story, the story line keeps your attention.   Its on at the New London Theatre in Hoborn, which is a modern build Theatre, meaning there isn’t really a bad seat in the house, the seats are more than big enough and row E has amazing leg room, although you do have actors racing past,  which can be both a bit startling, but also make you realise how right in the middle of the action your seat is.

After a hard day’s primary research we wandered over to our favourite chinese restaurant in Soho, we haven’t been here for a quite a while.  It was nice to see the place and meet up with the staff we know so well and who know us – thank goodness! 

We had our favourite sweet chilli lobster and had a really nice time.

All I’m saying is this…

there might have been alcohol involved!!!