Stories from my Sketchbook . . .
Wishing a very happy and safe Christmas to you all.
Mabel, Maude, Molly and I hope that every single one of you discovers a new favourite thing this Christmas . . .
Monthly Archives: December 2018
‘I was always the last one on Facebook, Instagram—everything.’ Lele Pons.
Sorry Lele, I beg to differ. I reckon that’s probably me . . . but I have been on a mission to set that right . . .
I have recently been informed that I am probably ‘wasting my time’ with my blog (how rude!) and would make it much easier for friends to follow me if I posted directly to instagram instead. Instagram. Really?
Well I knew what the gist of instagram was of course because . . . well, you’d probably have to be living under a rock not to . . . but I had never felt the need to look into any further. I honestly thought it was just another form of social media with lots of celebrities sending out their favourite makeup tips for the day etc etc . . . but after a little bit of research (and a couple of hilarious ‘how to’ lessons from Megan in the office) I have discovered it is actually so much more. There are so many fabulous artists I can follow (and steal ideas from) . . . and amazing photographers I can follow (and steal ideas from) . . . and seriously mad doggie-people (because who doesn’t want to follow the antics of seriously mad doggie-people . . . )
How did I not know about this before?
But seriously—although I now realise why people like instragram so much, I wasn’t so enthralled about the process of setting it all up. ‘Download the app here’ sounds easy enough but in reality I had all sorts of frustrating fun and games trying to link my new account from my mobile to my tablet and then to my Facebook account. I tried putting some older sketches up to get me started and sometimes they appeared on my phone . . . and sometimes they didn’t. And sometimes they appeared on my tablet and sometimes they didn’t. And sometimes they turned up on my Facebook page . . . and sometimes they didn’t. Sigh. Just about did my head in. However . . . (although not saying this too loudly in case I jinx it) it does all seem to be working properly now. So folks—the long and the sort of it is . . . drum roll . . .
sallyinthehaven is now on Instagram. Ta Da!!
(Well—that probably doesn’t really warrant a ‘Ta Da’ to you but it certainly does to me!)
Anyway, from today I am on holiday and away from the college for three weeks (woo hoo!) and I have been promising (as I often do) to get some serious sketching done during that time. The wifi and internet access where I live is sporadic at the best of times and made even more so by the huge influx of holiday-makers we get at this time of year so I am hoping that posting to instagram might be a way forward.
Wish me luck—and hope to see some of you there!
‘Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.’ Dave Barry.
It’s that time of year again folks (can you believe it?) and I assume many of us are now knee (neck??) deep into their preparations for the fast-approaching ‘silly season’.
We’re making our lists (and checking them twice) . . . and then we’re re-writing those lists (at least four times) because the dog ate the first one and the second went astray somewhere . . . and then we had to make absolutely-positively-and-for-sure nothing whatsoever was left off . . . and then we had to do it all over again to make sure it was colour-coded in order of priority . . . We even delegated some of the jobs to friends and family (why shouldn’t they get to join in the fun?)—before waking up in a cold sweat at 2.00am the next morning to the perfect certainty that none of those jobs were ever going to get done unless we did them all ourselves . . .
And the party lights and sparkly decorations and (slightly worn and wonky) Christmas tree need to go up, like, right now! (preferably out of reach of next door’s cat . . . ) but we’re not quite sure where they are. We know we packed them all away safely last year but they’re not quite where we remembered they’d be. Maybe they got moved into the garage?
And the food! Oh good grief—the food! All the food needs to be organised and prepared—and taste tested (can’t possibly be anything other than fabulous for the visitors. OMG the visitors! Did we all add ‘scour the house’ to our lists??)
And then, of course, there are still those pesky gifts to be sorted out . . .
Okay—I’m teasing. Well, sort of. I admit I don’t spend a lot of time or energy in preparation for Christmas. I make one list and then it’s done. I haven’t put up a Christmas tree in years (although I do have a rather cool tin Santa which sits on my dining room table) and decorating the house itself and then leaving the dogs alone in it seems to be just asking for trouble. Nor do I cook—but if you have been following my blog at all over the last few years you already knew that!
But I do like to shop and I do love to buy presents for friends and family so there’s every reason to celebrate right there. And I know Christmas is supposed to be all about giving rather than receiving and I’m all for that . . . but, you know, I reckon if I am out and about looking for that one last perfect gift to finally cross everything off my list and I just happen to come across a pair of shoes that would go perfectly with my new blue dress . . . or some spunky new cushions for my living room . . . or those new paints I saw on-line . . . well . . . I can’t see that it wouldn’t be so very bad to treat myself to a little something too.
Would it?
(The wanna-be minimalist inside of me spends a lot of time sobbing in a corner at this time of year.
Never mind. She’ll get over it . . . )
‘Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.’ Benjamin Franklin.
Stories from my Sketchbook . . .
Enough said really . . .
Sally says . . . eat, sleep, work, read, play, draw, bark . . . 