The Gretel Parker Project

I heard some terribly sad news today.

Two years ago, a friend introduced me to the work of the incredibly creative artist, author and blogger, Gretel Parker, when she gave my daughter one of her lavishly illustrated 3D  Puddletown books for her birthday.

After seeing a video that I posted online of my daughter enjoying the book, Gretel contacted me to ask if she could use it on her website. I was more than happy for this and as delighted as my daughter when we received a Special Delivery from Puddletown by way of a thank you.

Today, I found out that Gretel's beloved partner of 21 years died tragically and unexpectedly.

As often happens when I hear of devastating news, I imagine what if that were me?

It is such a painful thing to even think about losing my husband. My world would undoubtedly fall apart - but I know that I would be reasonably secure financially and I would have the love and support of my family.

For Gretel, there is no family and an artist's earnings are not necessarily going to see her through the difficult times ahead - especially as her partner died intestate. On a positive note, she is well supported by real life and online friends and part of that support has been to set up The Gretel Parker Project - an online giving page.  No amount of money can ever undo the tragedy but it would certainly alleviate any immediate financial difficulties and perhaps help this incredibly talented woman to get back on her feet and move forward with her life.

If you can help in any way, either by making a donation, however small, or spreading the word about the Project, it would be greatly appreciated.

Or why not take a look at the Puddletown Tales: Mrs Mouse's Cupcakes and Peggy's Lost Pennies - both beautiful additions to a child's bookshelf.

I feel so blessed and happy with my life but no one knows when tragedy might strike. It is so important to treasure every day, not to get bogged down with the little things that sometimes obscure the big beautiful picture, to be grateful for all that you have and to reach out to people in whatever way you can - a smile, a chat and of course support when it's needed.

See also Hope in the Cold - Carole Finds Her Wings

A Perfectly Lovely Few Days

One of the best things about having a busy schedule is taking a moment to look back at everything you have achieved and realising that if you can do all that in a few days, the possibilities for the next few years are limitless. I'm having one of those moments right now with my cup of coffee and keyboard and feeling very optimistic for the rapidly approaching new year.

Last Friday was my little Addy's school Winter Fayre. I had volunteered to run a 'Decorate a Cake' stall to keep the children entertained as well as making biscuits to serve with mulled wine as an alternative to  the more traditional mince pies on the refreshment stall. I love baking and I particularly love baking on a grand scale, usually for party food or in this case for a fundraiser. I baked four batches of butter biscuits cut in Xmas shapes and then set about the task of embellishing them with icing.

I had just finished decorating Xmas tree biscuits with royal icing (green food colouring producing a disappointingly insipid shade) using an 'outline and flood' technique and topped with a sprinkling of white glitter sugar when the doorbell rang. It was the postman delivering my latest issues of the Cake Decorating part work I subscribe to which included a Xmas Special. It couldn't have been more perfect timing. I used the snowflake cutters providedto emboss discs of ready roll icing to top circular biscuits and did something similar with star shaped ones. Leftover ready roll icing was perfect for transforming snowman shaped biscuits into proper little snowmen. I also had a go at cutting out delicate snowflake shapes using sugar paste. It was fiddly but effective and could well be used again when the time comes to decorate this year's Christmas cake.

I was pleased enough with my biscuits and although transporting them to the school was a bit nerve wracking (a gust of wind blew the cling film right off one tray), the job was done and another box on my to do list could be ticked.

How much money the Winter Fayre raised has not yet been released but I had the feeling that it was not well supported by parents. A lot of effort had been put in to make a successful event but without the people attending to spend their money, it would all be in vain. My 'Decorate a Cake' stall did very little business because there simply wasn't the steady flow of young people I'd hoped for, keen to roll their sleeves up and drizzle icing and sprinkles in imaginative ways. I am not blameless. My own children stayed at home because they were tired by the end of the week and I knew we had an early start the next day to pay a Xmas visit to the grandparents in Brighton.

As I left the Fayre (in a hurry as I still had packing to do), the lovely 'burger van man' gave me a bag full of unsold veggie sausages and burgers to take home. I enjoyed a little snack on my drive home and handed out warm, meaty(ish) goodies to the family on my return. The 'family' numbers were swelled on account of Taylor being home from Uni for the Xmas break. It was a joy to see her looking healthy, happy and confident after completing the milestone of her first term

I always love going to Brighton. It is where my husband grew up so has special meaning for him. It is where my older sister settled and holds many memories for me of her life and death. And it is where my husband's parents live still.

Addy was especially excited about seeing her grandparents and the promise of staying in a hotel.

A four year old's vision of a "ho-tayal"

My mother in law had a terrible health scare recently which resulted in the need for surgery on her heart so it was a wonderful surprise to see her looking fantastically well. Well enough to have gone dancing with her husband and well enough to have made a raspberry trifle for our tea. My mother in law's raspberry trifle is one of my absolutely most favourite things.

The hotel did not disappoint Addy and I thoroughly enjoyed cheering for James Arthur in the X Factor final on the telly from the huge, comfy bed with a pint of beer bought up from the bar.

It would be a shame to go all the way to the south coast and not visit the beach. We wrapped up warm and took the children for a walk along the seafront. It was cold but the sun came out - bracing and glorious. Unfortunately, Addy got a little too adventurous with the breaking waves and as King Canute could have told her, that will never end well. Soggy shoes, socks and trousers removed, she was wrapped in a warm blanket ready for the long journey home.

Borrowing one of Addy's hats and using hubby as a windbreak to keep warm

Hadn't realised I'd dressed Dylan as a mini dad!

Moments before Addy's soaking

The icing on the cake of a perfectly lovely few days was watching James Arthur win X factor 2012, back home in front of a blazing fire.

Xmas Raffle

It was the Christmas Fair fund raiser at my daughters nursery last night and I had put my name down to help.  I was given the job of selling raffle tickets which was harder than I thought it would be on account of the treacherous task of taking staples out of the stubs before folding (treacherous to my nails at least) and trying to tear perforations that were not terribly well perforated. The hardest job was actually transferring the folded tickets into the over full ticket drum without them all flying everywhere - but I was encouraged by the 'over fullness'. At least that meant that the raffle was making  plenty of money for the school.

I was reminded of another raffle and another school.

Back when the girls from my first marriage were at primary school, I worked as a teaching assistant and was very involved with the Parent Teacher Association. The Christmas Fair was one of the big fund raisers of the year and my sister and I put a lot of effort into organising it and making sure it all ran smoothly with optimum profit potential.

One afternoon when we were up to our elbows in raffle tickets that needed folding, we felt the urge to be naughty. We bought our own raffle tickets and secure in the knowledge that we almost certainly wouldn't win, wrote out the stubs with bogus comedy names. It provided well needed light relief from the stress of organising to make up some suitably silly names - Hugh Jarse being the one that that had us snorting into our coffee.

On the night of the fair, I was still busy face painting when the raffle was drawn. I had a brief moment of panic when I thought about our childish prank but then relaxed when I considered the odds against our ticket being drawn.

The Deputy Head drew the tickets, glanced at them and then passed them to the Head to call out. The Head was a very elegant, well-to-do lady who seemed to revel in the resonsibility of hosting these events, particularly when she took centre stage with a microphone in her hand.

As soon as the Deputy Head glanced at one particular ticket, I knew that luck had played a cruel trick. His expression changed to a smirk and he handed it to the Head with a cautionary aside to 'be careful!' Whether the Head was carried away by her moment in the limelight and had failed to comprehend what had been whispered to her, or whether she really was totally oblivious, I don't know. She announced with her best theatrically projected voice and perfect diction "Hugh Jarse - Is there a Hugh Jarse here?"

The room fell silent in disbelief and then nudges, whispers, smirks and full on laughter radiated out in ripples. I watched all of this from my Face Painting station then hid beneath a towel I had been using to keep my hands clean, mortified with embarrassment. Amazingly, the Head remained unaware of what she had said and why people were laughing. She actually repeated her announcement at which point my sister jumped up to claim the prize saying that Hugh was a family friend.

For a while after, people could talk of nothing else, even stopping me in the street to say how much they had enjoyed the whole episode!

Thankfully, the Deputy Head saw the funny and to this day, I'm not sure that the Head really got the joke. I didn't lose my job and did go on to organise further fundraisers. I never used bogus names on my raffle tickets again!

Aaahooo!

I don't generally take my Hallowe'en decorations down until after we have had our bonfire night celebrations. As this won't be taking place until the weekend, it puts me still firmly in the mood for plastic spiders and vampire teeth rather than advent calendars and Xmas shopping. My teenage daughters have been teasing me mercilessly because I keep returning home from trips to the shops with yet more Hallowe'en stock reduced to clear. If I were a moth, "75% off" would be my flame.

The lateness of our Bonfire party has meant that my husband's birthday has been absorbed into the whole Hallowe'en theme. I'm not sure that coming home from work and dressing up as a werewolf would have been high on his "Top 5 ways to spend my birthday" list but he played along without too much persuasion.
 

I had enough dressing up outfits, courtesy of the 75% off sales, to make sure that everybody had a great costume and we sat down to a special meal which included a somewhat hurriedly put together feta cheese, spinach and potato pie that turned out surprisingly well.

The whole evening was a bit of a rush because Charis had rehearsals for a pantomime she is performing in and being a school night, it was important to get the little ones to bed at a reasonable hour.  Even so, there was real ale and presents and all was good.

As well as all the silly price costumes I have been buying, I was also lucky enough to find Hallowe'en craft sets reduced to 8p in my local Morrisons. I bought enough to give my kids the opportunity to make a huge mess with glitter, pom poms and googly eyes and bought another bagful of assorted rubbers to donate to my little girl's school Xmas fair. I know it isn't exactly Christmassy but I thought they would make fantastic bran tub prizes.

I happened to be in Wilkinsons today when they were making their absolutely final reductions on what was left over after the 75% off sale. My bran tub light bulb lit up again. It made me really happy buying their entire stock of large plastic spiders for 5p each.

I am  hoping that they will go down well at the Xmas fair, raise some much needed funds and put smiles on the faces of the children who take them home.

It has been a good Hallowe'en. And it's not over yet!

      

Face Painting Marathon

After my early start and full day on Friday at Blog Camp Manchester, I could really have done with a weekend lie in. This was not to be.

A family friend runs a gorgeous little rural nursery. On Saturday, they were having a fund raising Summer Fair and I had volunteered to help.

I was up early cooking Raspberry Ripple Muffins for the cake stall and by 9.30am, we were ready to leave.

My husband was organising a reunion event at work so he was not available to look after our little ones. Thankfully, Ivy and Taylor were ready to step in leaving me free to set up my corner offering Face Painting.

I love face painting and really enjoyed reviewing the Snazaroo face paint sets for Toys R Us  but I prefer to take my time. When faced with a queue of small children all eager to be transformed into butterflies, lions, tigers, superheroes, vampires and werewolves - I did feel a bit under pressure to get on with it quickly.

After the first three or four, I found my rhythm and started really enjoying the challenge. I loved seeing the reaction of my customers when I held the mirror up for them to see themselves and I did manage to raise a few pounds to help the cause.

I barely looked up for the duration of the Fair and when it was time to actually stand up from the tiny nursery chair I had been perched on for two hours, I definitely felt my age.

I slightly regret the fact that it wasn't me that introduced my youngest daughter to the wonders of the Bran Tub, Hook a Duck and Decorate a Biscuit but Ivy did a great job and I got to hear all about it in the enthusiastic but limited vocabulary of a three year old.

It was an exhausting morning but it was lovely to be involved in a community project and I was actually quite proud of my Werewolf face!