Stanley | The Contented Crafter

Well, I’ve managed to let another twenty odd days slip by without a post. So much for good intentions!

We’ve said ‘Farewell’ to YD’s beloved Stanley

No longer the beautiful chap pictured above just 18 months ago, time had taken it’s toll quickly as it does with our pets. In such a short time Stan became aged and worn out and emaciated – it was time to let him go. It was a hard decision for YD to make and I am so proud of her that she was able to hold him and tend him in his final moments.

Two days later I celebrated my birthday with a five day pyjama party with my daughters. We don’t often get to spend time altogether, just us and this five day hiatus seems to have become an annual event. I love it!

Every winter I go through the same old routine of wishing for something I don’t have. It’s all got to do with independence and stability and even while I know what causes it, it is difficult and challenging to endure the dissatisfaction that rises up with the results of the choices I have made in my life. While in the throes of these unresolved emotions from the past I forget that I am taken care of and have a perfectly habitable home to live in and that I am loved and cared for far more than I have any right to expect.

Then September arrives and the fog lifts as mysteriously as it arrives. When I was young I used to struggle with depression over this time, now I just get somewhat vaguely dissatisfied with what is. It dissipates really quickly. My birthday marks the return of contentment and I can settle into another nine months of perfect happiness. Isn’t life strange!

Any how, once we get to September the urge to nest where I am becomes strong again and I usually have a big move around and clean up and refocus.

Yes, that is the rear end of Siddy lying in his new favourite position where he can keep an eye on the street and growl softly at all passers by. Orlando’s cushion is unoccupied as he is currently sitting in the tiny courtyard garden getting some vitamin D.

As part of my resurrection this year I made the double wall art you see here

I painted the edges of some old unsuccessful canvases, pasted a panel of wallpaper down the centre of them and collaged cut out parts of the wallpaper to one side. The other side is taped with some fancy tape and stippled randomly with a leaf template and some matching paint. It’s quite effective and hides to a great degree the tired interior of this rented flat.

Orlando, who thought the canvas was a splendid new seat, has left his mark permanently beneath one hanging……. After this photo was taken the cat was evicted and another thick coat of white paint was applied and left to dry ……………

I returned some time later to find this

………….. footprints marked his progress over the canvas and the kitchen counter tops and the cooker top and the window sill …………….

So as you can see I have not been entirely idle – it does want to be Spring after all, even though old Father Winter keeps doubling back for a last roar. I’ve started planting my flower garden at the front door.

For those of you who know us well, you know we live in a tiny house with an even tinier out-door space. Last year the tiny courtyard garden had all the press – the even tinier front door garden has never existed before and this is the start of it

As you can see there is not a drop of soil to be seen so everything will be growing in tubs, planters and pots. Most of what is laid out here ready for planting comes from the local garden centre including the planted up and ‘trellised’ jasmine. I love jasmine – I think you can never have enough of the beautifully scented stuff. I am proud to say the ‘trellis’ is entirely the result of my ingenuity fiddling about with a $10 assortment of plasticised tomato stakes. Hopefully it will stay stable as the Jasmine winds her way up it!

Yesterday the temperature was 21 C we went for our morning walk and Siddy checked out the daffodils that now cover the bank between the park and the petanque club.

And I’m so thrilled – I’ve had some orders for light catchers. The next few days are going to be focused on bead creations.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

I know, I know – it’s been a while…. I am a poor blogger, incapable of keeping to a schedule, or even regular posts. But as most of you know, this is supposed to be a blog about my arty-crafty output – and my arty-crafty life has been severely curtailed by a bouncy little fat puppy who LOVES the work room because his mumma zones out somewhere else altogether and he gets to rearrange and change up – or down – all he likes until she eventually becomes aware all is not well …….. usually by picking up on the fact that it has been Q-U-I-E-T for a long time…………

Last time I zoned out and was concentrating on a work in progress he removed all the paints from the shelf at the back of the easel. took them into the lounge and chomped holes through two of them leaving artistic stripes of blue and red – and therefore purple too – along the bottom of my lovely white door curtain……….. Oh, look – another excuse to change up the decor. 🙂

For me it has been interesting to discover that when I’m in the zone, artistically speaking, I hear nothing. I am totally immersed. Totally in the moment, totally zen 🙂 Who knew!

Right now I’m not though. Right now I’m typing this with a little round puppy sitting beside me doing his best Marx Brother impersonation with a chew stick poking out the side of his mouth which he is chomping on most enthusiastically while occasionally leering up at me and giving me a gentle nudge.

Don’t you love this photo? Does it make you smile or laugh out loud?

Orlando is asleep on the table which has become his new residence and which he shows no signs of being prepared to give up. Anything for a quiet life – I don’t host dinner parties any more any way.

Life these days starts with Siddy and me going for an hour long walk, which includes a good twenty minute romp at the dog park. Except for two or three mornings when the bitter cold Antarctic blast sent all us wimpy puppy owners running for home. While our usual claim to be the Riviera of Antarctica suits us pretty well, sometimes it feels like we are right down there at Scott Base!

Due to any outing being curtailed we must then come home and, after his breakfast of porridge, milk kefer, DE and savoury yeast, its a rambunctious game of fetch up and down the hallway. Then I can get on with my tasks – but always constantly accompanied by a keen and eager little pup – ‘Whadda we doing now?” “Where we going now?” “This way?” “That way?” “Where now?” “Whadda we doing? Whadda we doing? Where are we going?”

But I have to say yet again – he is probably the best little puppy in the whole world!

Here are a couple of shots so you can see how much he has grown – I know you want to know! It’s the same toy in both shots, the first one taken when he was about 9 weeks old and the second one today and he is now 19 weeks old.

We have had our up’s and downs since last I graced your lovely reading spaces – YD’s beloved cat Stanley became unexpectedly and quite seriously ill and was eventually diagnosed with feline aids, picked up many years ago most probably in a fight [he always was a bit of a bovver-boy] Stanley is a rescue kitty, adopted when he was grown and therefore most likely spent the first three years of his life living in kitty poverty. Nobody knows for sure. A cat of much charisma, great charm and friendly demeanour, YD had said a while back, ‘He is not the boy he used to be!’

It was devastating diagnosis. Getting medication into this cat has always been claimed by his mumma to be an impossibility. Our slightly raised eyebrows and quiet disbelief in this claim was blown completely away when we found out it took the vet and two practise nurses to hold him down and administer an oral dose. The vet was preparing us for the worst and I was mopping my baby girl’s tears. But Stanley is not a boy to take anything much lying down, including dying. He fought back and after three days was on the mend enough to go home. The vet whacked an intravenous shot of antibiotics into him and since then he has spent most of his time sleeping, waking long enough to eat – and eating more and more every day – then back to bed again.

We got lucky and have more time with this lovely boy.

Recently my dear friend from Serendipity Farm, the lovely Fran aka narf77 had one of her dastardly good ideas and announced that I was to become the proud owner of ‘A Dangler of International Happiness’ This all came about because I admired her dangler in this post. If you go on to read the comments you will see how she ~~coerced~~ encouraged our shared friends to take part.

A few days back I received a wee package from Hawaii with the first items enclosed. It was most fortunate that they got through NZ Customs who are notoriously anal about allowing foreign flora into our country in case it grows legs in the middle of the night and eats us all in our sleep …… and look, an original stick figure sketch from the BO exactly as they appear in this fabulous blog ‘Farmlet’ subtitled ‘Living cheaply and richly on an acre in Puna, Hawaii’.

Christi is a writer, married to the Bearded One, who, it appears, is master of anything that needs doing and cartooning as well. They recently relocated from Washington State to Hawaii and are busily involved with preparing to live as much off the grid as possible. These are good folks with huge hearts – I love them to pieces!

I have more for you too friends – take a look here.

I admired these on The Twisted Yarn ……………..

and next thing I know I am happily cutting threads with my very own pair of stork scissors sent all the way from the UK. Aren’t they gorgeous!! Phil made the pretty cover and I now have a sample of her so neat crochet work 🙂 If you are into things like crazy good knitting and yarn bombing go check her out and see what she gets up to when there’s a break from paying attention to her toddler twinnage, her day job or her allotment! I know you will enjoy her as much as I do!

I am working in my art room, just small projects that can be worked at without me losing track of the doings of one little puppy. I hope to have something to show you next week.

Oh, and just in case you are wondering how the detente is going – I now have a daily ritual of a purring cat on my knee with a quivering puppy trying very hard to contain himself beside us – and last night both of them were cuddled up in bed with me for about an hour. Orlando teases Siddy, Siddy ‘bites’ beautifully and usually gets wapped for his trouble. It’s great fun to observe 🙂

I’ve requested a ‘family portrait’ for my birthday. We’ll see.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!