October writers group

Wow what a turn out!  Its amazing what a little bit of advertising can do.
So on one hand not so good as less people got to read their work out - an hour isn't very long; but on the other hand we had some really good discussions, which I think can sometimes be more helpful.  After all although the group is here to help writers write better it is also here to help writers not feel quite so lonely.

The best past of the session, after all the good writing, was the comment from one lady who said she was stuck writing the big thing she's working on and starting to hate it.  But after the last session she started thinking about the homework and all these ideas came to her so she wrote them down and remembered how much she enjoys writing.  Hooray!  Now that is what the group is all about.

This months homework:  Use the following as either the starting line or the inspiration for a story or poem: And the blood red poppies flowed from the window and filled the moat…

Onion skin bookbinding

This weekend I did this year's craft course - Onion Skin Bookbinding.  I've promised myself that I can/should have one craft course a year, be it a day, a weekend or a week and this weekend was a real treat.

It look place at Otter Bookbinding where the lovely Marysa looked after us, while Ben of elbel libro bookbinding showed us how to create these amazing bindings.  With a small group of 4 and with everyone else being professional bookbinders I could have felt a little out of my depth, but everyone was lovely and happy to help if there was something I was unfamiliar with.  I even got to have a go with the beautiful guillotine - it made trimming the books effortless!

I had a brilliant weekend and as you can see produced some lovely little books.  I've learnt so much and its given me lots of ideas on how I can continue with my own books.

The square binding is my favourite and I can feel a project coming on - although I think I'll need a bit more practice before its good enough for that.

It's a shame it's back to work again tomorrow - I would happily stay home and make books...

Things to do with carrots

On Saturday 'im outdoors dug up all the carrots which have been busy growing all summer.  There were a lot and it felt like it took me all day to scrub them clean!
First I made myself some sweet carrot chutney although I cut this recipe by half as I wasn't sure how it would work out.  It smelt wonderful as it simmered, but I will have to wait a couple of months to try it at its best.

The rest have been turned into soup, an old recipe from one of my Dad's old cookbooks, or they will be by the end of the week.  Even my huge vat couldn't deal with all the carrots, and to be honest there isn't room in the freezer either.
There is something very satisfying about cooking with your own grown food.  You know exactly where it has come from, what has gone into it and it just tastes better.  I would have used home grown onions in my soup but we'd already used them all.  So one bag of potatoes and some beetroots left.