Are your Teens waiting?...Results day.

If you have teens of a certain age then you'll already know that tomorrow, Thursday 19th Aug is the day they all get their AS and A Level results. So at the moment there will be thousands of 17 and 18 year olds now wondering if they did enough.

I've already seen status updates on FB and Twitter, of friends of friends, teens, all worrying about picking up their little bits of paper with those magic letters on. I've resisted the urge to comment about how the time for worrying is long gone. It's done & dusted.

TD gets her AS Photography result tomorrow. 

Then she gets her 2 GCSE resit results next Thursday.

I really hope she gets the result she wants. But do you know what?

At the moment I honestly don't mind what result she gets. I hope she's done well, if not, does the world end? No. But of course, being a dramatic teenager, it probably does!!

TD is in the enviable position of already having a secured place in September, at a different college, on a completely different course, which is not reliant on her grades this year. So I suppose it would be fair to say that's why I can say that I don't mind, too much, what her results are.  But that wouldn't be the complete truth. As I've been writing this, I've thought long and hard about if the situation were different, would I feel differently?

We all want our children to achieve their best, we want them to succeed in whatever they choose and reach their full potential. And if they fail to gain the 'right' result in an exam it may well be devastating for some of them. Of course we don't want to see them disappointed and upset, as a mum when our children hurt we feel their pain, but things can be learned from all of our experiences. 

So, the answer is yes, in all honesty, I would feel differently. I would be upset for her, and I would hug her, commiserate with her and console her as best I could, as I have done the whole of her 17 years.
I also know, that after letting her lick her wounds, that I'd be able to help her understand that we can always take things from and learn from everything we do, including any of our failures...


If you're a parent awaiting tomorrows results along with your teens, I do wish them every success....and I would baton down the hatches, I've no doubt it will be a couple of bumpy days! 
Just saying....

Gay Pride in Brighton...And a happy Cat

If you're gay you already know about this. If you happen to live in Brighton this is not news. But if you're neither of these then I'll let you know that Brighton hosted Gay Pride last weekend. It's held every year in the summer and stretches back as far as 1992 when it was just a small afternoon event. Since then, it's evolved into the biggest free Pride festival in the UK. 
And boy has it got big. According to reports in my local paper The Argus, an estimated 160,000 attended the Parade through the streets and joined in the party at Preston Park. 
That's a hell of a lot of very happy people. And I say happy because that's exactly what they were, and are every year. Yes they drink, dance, hug people and sing in the streets. But there's never very much trouble, certainly not in relation to the numbers of people involved. It always has such a wonderful celebratory feeling about it. I love it. People really do walk around with silly, smiley faces. 

All my children, as teenagers, have joined in the fun of Pride over the years, walking through the streets of Brighton with friends (you don't really have a choice but to walk if you live here, as they close off all the roads!) and heading to the Park for all the festivities.

And just like last year, I arranged with my TD to pick her up on the seafront at 11.30pm. 

This was not as simple as it sounds.


I managed to not kill, maim or run over roughly 25 extremely happy people who, due to the sheer mass of bodies on the pavements outside all the clubs, decided that the roads would be a much more viable alternative to a dancefloor. But this just made me smile even more, rather than roll out the road rage. I was laughing out loud as I managed to manoeuvre my car  round various 7ft tall gorgeous Ladies and people in all manner of amazing costumes, and rather fit looking men with very little clothing *ahem* on, dancing in the middle of the 'main' roads. 
TD had left the house at 10am wearing various leopard print clothing, with a cute little 'Cat' face drawn on. By the time I picked her up she resembled a slightly bedraggled, but very happy 'Cat'.

Sometimes I just love living in a place where everyone comes to party! 


Wouldn't you?

The Gallery - Nature - My cute little furry visitor

The prompt this week on The Gallery at Sticky Fingers is Nature...and I understand the lovely people at Green & Blacks are giving away a hamper of their scrummy goodies to me the winner, so there are judges and everything...

I have thousands of photos which would fit the prompt, but I wanted to take a 'new' photo instead of trawling through all my folders.

I wandered round the garden hoping for inspiration, as it's full of overgrown, should really be cut back raspberry plants at the moment, but it's still giving us loads of berries so that will just have to wait.

As I was taking the photo above, my TD called out to me 'Mum, look at this on the dresser door'

And just look at this, it's so cute, don't you think?

I know it's not as pretty as a butterfly, but it's still very sweet. 

 
And who knew moths wore little furry hats, I mean seriously, in this weather? Don't they get a little warm?

I'm pretty certain he was looking at me at this point...can you see his eyes? (I'm sure they do have eyes, don't they?)

Personally I think he sat on that glass to show me me just how dirty the glass is, as I was taking photos I was thinking 'Aaargh! NOoo! there are fingerprints everywhere, and I'm taking photos of them! Don't people know how to use handles!'

And what a very clever little moth to colour co-ordinate with the wood on the dresser, he matched perfectly! 

By this time I was certain it (he/she?) was posing for me,  as I gently swung open the dresser door to get a shot of the other side, it stayed perfectly still, and I swear it's *waving* at me.

But it's now gone, and is probably doing the usual headbutting of a light bulb elsewhere.

 

Isn't nature a wonderful thing?

I love it when others love it too!!

Do you get a warm fuzzy feeling when something you've made for someone is perfect? When they let you know that you got it spot on? I do. 

Making a commission item can be a daunting prospect. Have I understood properly? What if it's not quite what they expected when it arrives? Fortunately, so far, that's never happened, and I hope it never does! 

I try to make sure it never happens by asking lots of questions, being really nosy, and very specific. You DO want words? How many? Which words? What colours? Names? Dates...the list goes on. But it does make sure that everyone who has bought one of my  pictures has always got exactly what they asked for.
And that makes me one very happy lady...

The lovely Mary Poppins commissioned a small picture for her soon to be decorated bedroom. I did ask questions, but I know Mary from her blog, and know that she has a huge love of all things Cath Kidston, shabby chic, vintage, and anything Heart related. Check out her Folksy Store to have a look at all the pretty things she makes, particularly if you have little ones, as she makes the most gorgeous little personalised tee's, now I just need some little people to buy them for, mine now all being in the 6ft and above range!

So will admit, it was one of my easier commissions to complete. But I still held my breath until I heard back from her.

So, if you're considering having a commissioned item from me, please, you have been warned, be prepared for the 3rd degree! I promise I'll try to be very gentle with you xXx

The Gallery - A novel Idea..

This photo is for this weeks Gallery theme of 'A novel Idea' over at Sticky Fingers .  A photo to represent a favourite book.

The photo is of my 20yo son's tattoo, based on a drawing by the artist/illustrator Dan Mumford, who creates some wonderful art work.

This is the reverse of the premise for the book I've chosen. My son will mature, grow in experiences, learn from them and this growth and these experiences will all be reflected in his appearance.
Unlike his tattoo, which will remain, more or less, ageless.

One of my all time favourite books is The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

The novel starts with Lord Henry Wotton watching the artist Basil Hallward painting a portrait of a beautiful, young man named Dorian Gray. Dorian arrives to sit for the artist, and Lord Henry tells him 'youth is the only thing worth having' and that Dorian will soon age and lose his beauty. 

'Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. '

When our children are born, they are innocents, they have no idea of how to perceive things. They're naive to their surrounding, dependant on those around to show the way. We teach our values, our morals. We try to set them right if they go wrong, bolstering confidence in achievements and hopefully enabling them to become free thinking and independant adults, who value people for who they.

The job is made so much harder for parents, in the image driven society of today, where it's seen as perfectly acceptable, for some, to 'sell your soul' for 15 mins of celebrity/fame.

And where 'youth and beauty' is often seen as the only currency of any value.

Although this book was written by Wilde in 1890, the morals and values within the story are timeless, so still extremely relevant today. It's a story about sin and vanity and friendships that fall by the wayside, of life and death and corruption. 
The message is that beauty lies within. That change is inevitable and we should accept and embrace it in all spheres of life.

Sound familiar?

The Gallery - Can you see what it is yet?

I've not joined in with the Gallery for the last two weeks. A bit busy, but this one looks fun.

The Gallery prompt this week at Sticky Fingers is 'Can you see what it is yet?'

So can you...?

I think it's pretty obvious...but of course I would...

***UPDATE***

Yes, it's a cheese grater...Well done!

..and just so you know I'm not fibbing here's the whole photo..

A soothing afternoon stroll...with NO Teens.

With the roller coaster of emotions I've experienced in the 10 or so days since OH had his op (much, much more if you count all the time beforehand), I really wasn't in the mood for a drive and lunch out this afternoon. Particularly after a dark and tearful meltdown moment mid week. I didn't want to have to be nice, happy, cheerful, funny or talkative, didn't want to be anything at all really. I just wanted to stay, figuratively speaking, curled up in the corner, licking my wounds (NOT physical ones) hiding from everyone and everything. Waiting until I felt I could be me again.  

But as my Mum and Step-dad were leaving today, I felt I should make the effort.

I'm glad I did now. 

We drove to a little village just outside Brighton called Kingston, it's small you'd miss it if you blinked, it's not on the way to anywhere so I'd never even heard of it. OH had told us it had a very pretty, old little pub where we could have a late lunch.
It may have been the slow, gentle amble the 3 of us took (we left OH nursing his beer at the pub!) through the village toward the 13th century church, past tiny pretty cottages with overblown gardens, with two of us taking lots of photos. 
Or it could've been the peacefulness of the location, as other than crickets, birdsong and church bells it was silent, but I now feel a little better. I'm really not sure why?
Here are some of the photos I took as we wandered.

Very soothing, what do you think?