Good Lord, why hasn't it frosted yet??

 Alrightie, it appears that even though I think I will write more here, I dont.  I will say a good deal of that has to do with the fact that I have been doing quite a lot of drawing.  Something I thought I would do a lot of when I retired, but Covid really mucked everything up.   My brain was in no position to be drawing much, or definitely not for a sustained period.  I literally couldn't make that commitment.  And you think about things a lot when you draw.... and it was too uncomfortable to bear.

I am to the point in the year, where I am begging Mother Nature to just freeze things off already.  I am ready for my obligation to water things to be done.  It is so nice the tomatoes did well here in the last few weeks, and for once the squash are actually ripening and I am just so over it.  I have a long attention span, really, but I am done.  I have a ton of flower photos and I haven't processed them yet, because again, I have only so much time in which I am HIGHLY creative and drawing has sucked it up.  

This month the drawing is intense as the sketchbook group I belong to online has a #selfietember challenge and I have been doing those.  If you follow me on my instagram (@debikayo) You will have seen some of those.  It has been an interesting project for many reasons.  I have to catch up now as I was away for a few days to Bayfield and I am behind.  I didnt have time to draw there, we kept pretty busy.  My sister and I (and her hubby Bill for a day and some change) met my brother up there and we spent Tuesday together.  We had a great time.  I gave them a tour of Madeline island, and then we had Bloody Marys on the deck of the Bayfield inn.  and later ate at the Pier.  Good times!

So I am about to embark on making a digital childhood selfie, so I should stop distracting myself by ordering garlic from Jungs to plant in a few weeks, load the dishwasher, change the laundry and other ways I am trying to avoid my thought process.  Its exhausting.  I need some clarity in parts of my life, and it isnt ready to happen yet so the muddled think throughs are happening.  

Oh and btw, my Seester and I are going on a big old vaca in 10 days....  so if you are an instagram person- I prefer that in a big way to Facebook- you might catch some photos on there...  especially the story section.  I would like to put some discussion about that on here, but we know how that can go.  I know I feel so much less anxious when I travel, so I am looking forward to a big chunk of time that wont involve me dissecting every word I have said for the last 10 days - 10 years....  lol. I am sure most of you know what I mean.

Anyway, ROCK ON my friends.  Have a great weekend.

Travels with Debi: Last Day in London

I left this post unfinished for a few months, life has a way of evolving into things that you so totally don't expect. I have experienced some of these things- some totally amazing :)  and some very sad.  Undoubtedly you will hear more.  But for now, a finish to my trip....

Dingoes in the house!  

The huge greenhouse with some amazing plants.

As I finish off my travel stories, I have to say this was one of the most delightful and at the same time terrifying times of my life.  Lol. I wish I wasn't so tentative, but on the other hand, that doesn't stop me from doing much of anything.  My sanity just suffers for it.

Inside the greenhouse, I believe this is the palm house

And this, boys and girls, is where chocolate comes from

This last day in London involved a super side trip to a marvelous garden called Kew Gardens.  This place is HUGE and we barely got through a third of it I bet.  It was spectacular- the buildings, the gardens, the grounds....  but it did get pretty hot that day- well into the 80's.  Made going into the succulent and desert gardens a bit challenging, but it was all worth it.

I am pretty sure these are lotus blossoms

Part of the Princess of Wales conservatory collection

I love seeing these! A type of water lily I believe

I didn't take a lot of photos here, I really was enjoying my time, plus the sun was so strong the exposure was tricky.  That is ok, it was a wonderful day. Traveling to Kew on the train system was a training experience for me- if you remember from a previous post, I had to take the Tube for an hour to get to the airport....

Serious Japanese maple envy 

The greenhouses were spectacular, as were the grounds.  That is one of those places that I need to back and see again- so much of London I didn't get to experience.

Those roses, though

I wish I had taken more time photographing this

Loved the little vignettes that were everywhere

I regret not writing this post closer to June, but that is me.  I am a procrastinator.  but hey, at least I got my calendars done in plenty of time this year.  And didn't pull any bonehead moves like having it printed with white numbers on a white background.  That I don't even know how it happened, other than I fiddled around with things a lot last year...  I started downloading pictures way way earlier for this one, and paid attention to such things.  Goodness.  I might have a couple "art" calendars left and possible one abandoned house one, so if anyone wants one, let me know.

I can not begin to thank my hosts enough for the amazing trip I had back in June.  I think of it often, and when they post on facebook or Instagram I relive those moments again.  And I am so ready for more travels and I know that I can do any form of transportation I need thanks to the help from my dear friends, Anne-Sophie, Mark and Jonny.  They hold special places in my heart.  

Conquer your fears and find your joy.  Be brave, be ferocious, give it your all and give up control.  Life will give you those unexpected joys when you stop trying to direct it in any one direction....  if you stop trying to control your journey, you just might get where you always wanted to be.

Travels with Debi: Let's see even more of London!

Back to London!  After a few months, things have gotten murky for me, especially since it wasn't all clear what I did when I was there!  

Saturday and Sunday were devoted to getting around to more parts of the city.  I actually am having to consult my phone photos to remind myself where I had gone, since the phone puts location tags on the pictures.  After a nice little breakfast each day, we packed a little food (or bought a little when out) and went on our way around the city.  Seriously, I know we went on the Tube, I know we ended up seeing many things including a big protest against Brexit, I got to another museum and other amazing things, but it is such a blur.  I will try to tidy this  post up into 2 separate days, instead of mashing it all into one incoherent mess.  Incoherent seems to be my mode of operation these days.

My view from the Thames (whilst on the ferry)

In front of the National Gallery

Street Artist

Saturday:  This was really fun because we got to walk through all sorts of places, walked through Picadilly Circus, saw so many double decker busses and arrived the National Gallery, and there are some FABULOUS things at that museum as well.  We were all over the place, I know I saw Big Ben from afar, which is covered for the most part with scaffolding, but meh.  Whatever.  That didn't faze me in the least.  We went shopping at a really cool department store  (Liberty) and I was wowed by some really amazing items for sale.  Mark and I were poring over all the beautiful Persian rugs and of course we both honed in on this GORGEOUS one that was so finely woven with silk and it was some crazy amount of money like 12,000 pounds....  and it was divine and it was of course the most expensive one we saw....  what can I say? We have excellent taste.  In many areas of life!  ;)

Lovely fabrics 

This was a fun little display!

A nice alley we walked through

I loved seeing odd little vignettes like this

Beatles- of course

Picadilly circus

Double decker!

The National Gallery had some stunning paintings - from works by Vermeer to Van Gogh and Rubens to Cezanne.  And the building itself was breathtakingly beautiful. The architecture in this city is generally amazing.  So different from the US, so much character and history in much of it, with sprinkling of more modern and shiny/glassy sorts.

Inside the National Gallery

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger

Van Gogh's Chair

Degas pastel

Hillside in Provence, Cezanne- one of my favorite artists

LOVE all the marble

After shopping and walking and museum-touring we headed back to the apartment, after a stop at their grocery store called Waitrose.  This place was pretty fun- interesting to see the foods there.  I was told it was sort of like Whole Foods.  The evening was then spent have "nibbles" and Sangria in the exquisite company of Mark, Jonny and Lucia.  Lucia is a friend of theirs who I met on their last journey to the US last year.  Lucia and I hit it off really fast and we had SO much fun catching up.  That was truly a magical evening that I don't think will be matched for a while.  Maybe next summer.

I packed these bad boys all the way home

Marksie taking pictures of us taking a pic of him. :)

All the sangria and such.

SUCH good food

What a great night

We had a great night

Add caption

Here we are!

Taking pictures of Mark taking pictures

The drinks were so good and the appetizers she brought were just divine.  I had the most wonderful time in that beautiful little garden with the most delightful company.

Sunday:  

Sunday The Mad Art teacher got more training in the Tube travel and we headed on down to start at Canary Wharf.

Dingos at the station :)

Tower Hamlets

So this Conservatory, for lack of a better word, was somewhere down by Canary Wharf.  It is getting too late in the day to pester Jonny and Mark to find out where it was.  It was very lovely, but according to our resident horticulturist, some parts were not properly taken care of.....  But it was nice to see.

Sunday was the day we went down to Canary Wharf (where we saw a really nice garden/greenhouse in Tower Hamlets)  and then took the Thames Clipper down to a place called the Embankment.  While traveling down the Thames I got to see all those buildings with the creative names, plus old places, and even London Bridge.  

Looking down the Thames

Marksie!  <3

We also then got to see Cleopatra's Needle along with a host of other things that I can't even begin to recall.  But I have photos of a lot of it.  :)  

Cleopatra's Needle

Sunday evening I took my dear hosts out for dinner at a super nice little Italian restaurant- Carluccios.    It is apparently a small chain there and it was good!  A few of us had wine, some really delightful food and then some of the best desserts that I have ever had in my life.  Good, well-made, dessert, not the nasty overly sweet ick that passes for dessert here.  We each ordered something different and then shared.  It was just heavenly.

Pretty little place

See the photo below for my meal here- which was delish 

OMG!

Monday gets it's own post as we spent the day at Kew Gardens....  another spectacular way to spend a day.  I wanted an art and gardens visit and I got that and more during that 5 days.  I can't begin to tell all the stories and places we stopped at and looked into or little alleys we walked through or streets we crossed and at one point almost got run over!  OY!  Lol.

Down the Thames

The pictures help, but really it is an overall feeling of warmth and smiling and joy that I remember the most.  And of course  that is all because of my two favorite people who live in the center of London.  On to the next post.