She shoots, the lightning ridge opal gets it.

I'm back.

after the absence of a few days from the shed and a few weeks since I could work it regularly, today has been pure bliss.

A whole day dedicated to jewellery. I decided that I would set the opal into a delicate pendant. I don't always do delicate but today was special. I wrapped the lightning ridge opal in 18ct yellow gold and suspended a sparkly white sapphire underneath. It works like a dream.

The photo is of the pendant in it's raw state before polishing as this one is gonna need a hallmark.

A chink in the clouds, the promise of sunshine.

Tonight I'm dreaming about spending a whole wonderful day in the shed. This week has seen me shovelling all manner of superfluous items to the tip/charity shop/friends in an effort to make the small terraced house feel palacial. To my credit, it now echoes in the kitchen and the front room!

The estate agent paid us a visit and is due back on Tuesday to take the pics......if you fancy a lovely little house in the heart of sunny Coventry....

Back to tomorrow. I feel like a kid in a sweet shop, so many stones, so many ideas, what shall I do first? I have some delicious rose cut oro verde lemon quartz which are begging for setting. Tiny peridot cabochons or fab opals.

Answers on a postcard.

Selling your soul to a man in a field.

I was going to tell you how we were up bright and early this morning to catch the early birds at the car boot sale, but as Mr Lemur isn't given to early rising, we made it at 7.45. The LAST sellers to arrive onto the field.

That wasn't such a bad thing though as we had more room to s-p-r-e-a-d with no one on the other side of us.

We usually manage a boot sale per year and as I stand behind my stall I always feel a little exposed as all the things which make me tick are there, displayed on my second best wallpaper pasting table for all to see. As the first few people find stuff they like , they start asking the prices. When told that the beautifully embroidered denim shorts cost all of 50p they drop them to the ground as if scalded. Maybe it's me who has to hand over the 50p? A beginners error!

Then there's our collection of vinyl records. Eclectic? Definitely. Tasteful? Maybe not always. I didn't listen to the Falco and Brigitte Neilsen single more than about twice. I did have to have an inward cringe every so often when a bloke thumbed through the entire box of LP's , found nothing to buy but looked up at me deadpan. They didn't actually enquire after the state of my mental health, but you could see the thought did occur.

Have you ever done one of these sales? Isn't the worst thing when one of your friends suddenly comes into view and you have to do the swift mental reccy, making sure that none of the unwanted things was something that they bought/gave you.

Two thirds of the things we took along were sold, but the hard thing after that is to bring all the unwanted junk back onto the house. If my hubby had his way, we would have swung by the tip on the way back, it seems so wasteful to do that.

So that's my next job, decide on the final resting place.

After spending a couple of weeks in France, nobody wanted to return to blighty. We have been intending to make a move to live in our house there for two or three years but waiting for the 'right' time to happen is so hard. The conditions are never right.

There is always one child or another attached to a best friend or the fact that the house isn't actually finished ( minor detail that one) that makes it easier to stay where we are in the relative safety of the UK.

In the immortal words of The Butthole Surfers 'it's better to regret something you did than something you didn't do', It's time. So , we are getting rid of lots of the chattel that you seem to collect throughout life, especially if you are natural born hoarders like us.

I find it hard to part with some things, for instance my old record collection. Some of the records are absolute rubbish but the memories that are woven into the songs are very much a part of me.

When I return from the car boot sale tomorrow I'm hoping to feel cleansed and uncluttered.

I'll let you know.

Back To Life

Just spent a glorious two week holiday in France, the weather was hot, the company was great and we travelled around the Normandy countryside discovering little pockets of perfection.

The one thing that really rings the changes for me between the town and the countryside is the wildlife that seems so abundant in the places that mankind leaves alone.

The 300 year old barn that has been our ongoing renovation project for the past four years is a veritable sanctuary.

Sitting quietly in the half light in the barn, you notice that you are no longer alone. You can hear the soft flapping of wings taking flight in the eaves above your head, then the bats move out from the shadows and you can see them against the squares of light that are fading fast from the windows.

Just a quick glimpse, tantalisingly close then disappearing as fast as it came.

This is the moment that I write a quick mental addition to my Christmas list for night vision goggles....so Santa, if you're reading this.....