The Ghost of Christmas Present

It's been another hectic week or so. I did find my Christmas spirit watching people whizz around the Ice Rink at Somerset House and then I promptly lost it again at the Moderation Day. Suffice it to say the meeting with AG was not an experience I would like to repeat and left all of us requiring stiff drinks in the bar afterwards. There are some issues I need to clear up with the college but they will have to wait until the new year now as everything hibernates for the next few weeks.
However, I met up with a couple of good friends from the course last Friday and we had a lovely day. First we visited the Aware:Art,Fashion and Identity exhibition at the Royal Academy GSK Contemporary, which was excellent and well worth a visit (or two). Then we had a lovely lunch at a great cafe in Piccadilly and a good gossip. Followed by a trip into Fortnum and Mason's just to drawl at the goodies on show. As I walked down to the station as evening drew in there were carol singers and snow began to fall covering the Mall and St.James Park turning it into fairyland.How could anyone not feel uplifted after a day like that- intellectually,spiritually and literally full up on good things and good company.
And yesterday despite the snow and a multitude of coughs and colds most of the Material Girls managed to gather together for our pre- Christmas lunch which has set us up to start the new year with a vengeance.
So no more 'Bah Humbug' just a great deal of thanks for the blessings I have received. I wish all of you out there in Blogland a peaceful Christmas and a joyful new year.

Bah,Humbug!

I am feeling particularly grumpy at the moment -which is par for the course at Christmastime for me I'm afraid. Most of the year having virtually no family and little social life isn't so bad but at this time of year it seems highlighted and quite painful at times. So I would like to say to those people out there in the same boat its only a couple of weeks and then everyone that keeps telling you how much they have got on,trips out, meals arranged with people, etc.. will go back to moaning about relations again and life will return to normal. You are not alone!
Moan over.
I must admit I have also been feeling quite rubbish as I have had the worse cold/chest infection I have had for years. Along with struggling along the snowy pavements to keep essential supplies coming in it has not improved my mood. But I still think the snow is beautiful- there is nothing quite like a hoar frosted tree to make you think you're in Narnia.
I am hoping though that it will hold off for next week and my trip up to Suffolk. The work is at that halfway stage now- ready to looked at and hopefully approved and then I can go full steam ahead, I'm really looking forward to that part.Discussions with my fellow prospective graduates are going great guns now. We don't always agree but at least we are having productive discussions and things seem to be moving quite fast now- one thing that can be said for my group, we are certainly not passive and I think this will lead to an extremely vibrant and interesting degree show.
Being stuck in with nowhere to go has mean that the cards have been made and posted, the presents wrapped, the house cleaned and tomorrow in an attempt to try and capture some Christmas spirit I am going to take myself up to London to drink hot chocolate and watch the folks skating at Somerset house, I shall then come home and put up the Christmas tree and be thankful for what I do have.

Lifein a bubble

I feel like I'm locked in a bubble at the moment. I am at present drawing together all the work for my final moderation before the BIG ONE. This work has to prove to the powers that be that my concept 'has legs' my tutor tells me so I can proceed onto the pieces for my exhibition. So I draw and stitch and prepare presentations and sketchbooks to show to Anthea Godfrey (the external examiner) in a couple of weeks time. Everyday I begin around mid morning and lay down my needle at about 10 at night when my eyes are going blurry. Its getting through the work but it is extraordinarily isolating.
Of course life has to be fitted in but at the moment its in a very sparing way- I spend more time with the pets than with people, I look out of the window and the world seems to be passing me by-its weird. If I'm not stitching/drawing/writing I'm just ironing or washing or cooking - its a very strange period but hopefully it will soon be over and then I can just crack on with the final pieces. That's going to be a marathon I know- 15ft of needlefelt for the path-all hand stitched with text and four 6ft felt panels again with handstitching but it should be worth it.
until then I'm just a lonely soul lost in the wood.