We Did Nothing Today

but I still took pictures

23 November 2014

The rain let up some time after 2 p.m.  We took a bus into town to do not much of anything.

The two winter craft shows in Oxford were a bust.  They were tiny and very high-end.  I gave up and bought several pounds of chocolate instead.  None of us needs more stuff anyhow.

For sale at the Firehouse Gallery:

At the Oxfam book store:

Sunset, 4:15 p.m.

We stopped at a food store so that we could make dinner at the house.  Weighted down with bags, I still wanted to walk all the way home.

At the halfway point is a pub called the Magdalen Arms.  Outside sits a black cat.  We've seen her from the bus. I haven't pet a cat in a week and a half.  Jack has gone longer than that (but not entirely cat-less, having made a few feline friends near the house). We needed to meet this kitty, and meet her we did.  Weaving between table legs and ours, she wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a picture of her, and photographing a black cat in the dark is tough enough as it is.

The pub has a meat-heavy, upscale menu, but we'll probably be back for dinner with one of Jack's friends in a few days. I look forward to more feline fuzz.

I did make major beading progress today, nearly finishing a complicated piece (the rest of the parts I need being at home).  I also put together the Make Me Something Red! necklace for Michelle from the beads I bought in London.  It turned out very Christmas-y.  I used to do this sort of beadwork decades ago, before I started working with art glass instead of mass-produced beads, before I had a full-time job. 

not representative of my current work

I still have sticker shock, not having paid retail or tax on any supplies in a very long time. The beads alone cost me more than some of my favorite artists would charge for a dozen beads.  I can't possibly charge her for this.  It feels wrong, paying so much for so little. Instead I'll leave it for her on my last day.  I've stayed here for free, after all.  It'll be a bargain for both of us.

Tomorrow will be cold and sunny, so we're heading to London again.