Gas Street (From the Desk of the Supreme Leader)

It is 36 years ago today since David and I had our first "date" - dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Berlin. Seems like only yesterday!

The boom has been fitted across the canal to stop any nasties bringing a boat in to blow up our Supreme Leader - there are policemen (and women) everywhere and the boat and crew have come up from Dorset. Apart from that it is very quiet. We have been promised thousands of delegates to this conference, but they don't seem to be coming this way.







My brother's second grandchild has arrived (that's 2 in 2 months!) - another boy, though as the family is a bit vague we don't know the name of this one yet.

It took me 2 days to get some inspiration and I finally came up with this one. I don't think I have copied anyone this time (well not consciously anyway). I started with a white card and then added a blue background. Gingham ribbon and some toppers that I bought, though I did mount the nappy onto the yellow tag.

I then printed out the insert and added a clip-art nappy.

Hope you like it.

Gas Street

Such a lovely sunny day. There was, apparently, an earthquake here very early this morning. Didn't rock our boat. Slept through it all.

The whole area here is swarming with police and workers. The road by the James Brindley has been closed off already, there are barriers up everywhere and this picture shows the revolving barriers being constructed outside the ICC. Some of the "larger" delegates will have fun getting through!

I have managed to "blag" a couple of wire card holders from Joe which were removed from his shop when it closed down. I am now angling for one of his "A" frames too. Might come in useful.

This card started with a lilac square card. The shoes are made from yellow handmade paper and lined with a pretty Japanese type paper. I then added ribbon, a sentiment and lots of little plastic flowers. I also made a box which I decorated with the same flowers and ribbons.

Gas Street

Jason came at 0915 and opened up the paddle and the water started to fill up the dock. It took about half an hour and on the way out I noticed the old pump that was used to pump the water out last week.



We had a uneventful trip back (David only went down the weed hatch three times!!!) and we were back by 2pm. There were lots of signs of spring, at last.




Not much news from the moorings. Tess has left us and set off up North so we have another mooring for someone to tender for.

Another "pretty" card. Pink pearlescent card, a bought topper with a flower in a vase, matted onto lilac mulberry paper and light turquoise paper. Simple, but effective.

Tardebigge

This is probably the reason that I have spent the last three days on the boat (apart from there being nowhere else to go). The "gangplank" was very shaky, there was a 7' drop and it was difficult to get off the end onto the well deck.

Still, all the work has been done so we are just waiting for Jason to come and let the water back in.

A pretty card which has tiny pink and silver star confetti behind acetate to make a shaker box. I used "music" paper as a background and a pre-punched sparkly card frame. Then I added the plastic ballet shoes

Tardebigge

Sarah came to see about repainting the coachlines and said that the sides will have to be repainted first - so we are booked into the wet dock at Stoke Prior in May. This is going to mess up our plans for the K&A - but never mind. Ian managed to get the old batteries out and the new ones in - we will need some more work done to fit them in properly. The painting has been finished and we await the fenders to be fitted tomorrow. Then we just have to wait to be released from the dry dock.

Another of those lovely Australian stamps. The sentiment says "Thought I'd drop you a Lion". Matted onto black and gold card and then onto camouflage type paper.

Tardebigge

What is going on here? We have just had several days of freezing weather and this hawthorn bush is bursting into leaf!!!

We had trouble with the internet connection after we moved into the dry dog. On visiting the Vodafone shop in Redditch they said nothing was wrong, but misterously it was working again when we got back to the boat.

The hull has been washed and repainted once, Kevin came with our new batteries (which are bigger than the older ones!) so we are almost ready.

I have to admit that I have copied this card from an American blog. But I did draw the figure and letters myself. I started off with a gatefold card and covered the bottom with spotty paper, using a gold peel-off line to cover the join. The sentiment was printed on the computer and matted onto gold card and I made the pregnant lady stick out over the opening.

Tardebigge

The ice in the canal at 0800 this morning. We waited for the ice to melt a bit and at 2 o'clock a boat went past breaking all the ice so we set off to do the last 4 miles to Tardebigge in glorious sunshine. We are now moored up opposite the basin ready to go into the dry dock tomorrow.

A birthday card for someone who has been ill recently, the sender was there for him on several occasions which is the reason for the message. I found the clipart on an old CD of clipart and did the rest on the computer

Alvechurch

Finally, we are off. David P fixed David's chair yesterday so at 0745 this morning we set off down the Worcester and Birmingham Canal en route to Tardibigge to get the bottom blacked. We got all the way to Edgbaston Tunnel before we found the ice! There were lots of boats about and it was really lovely in the sunshine.

The North American Wood Duck made it into The Times this morning.

A spice stall in Marrakech

Some of the spices inside the shop. They promise to cure everything!

I feel a card coming on here. Just give me a little time to think of it.

And finally, a card for Amy. It was from her Grandfather who a little forgetful at times and he suggested the wording inside. The boot and handbag came from Lakeland, all the
wording was done on the computer. I added some jewels to the boots and bag, and a touch of ribbon to the bag too.

Gas Street

You read it here first!! A few weeks ago I mentioned seeing this duck, which I thought was a Mandarin Duck. This evening on Midlands Today they reported the sighting - though it's been around for about 18 months now. It turns out it is a North American Wood Duck and for some reason lives with the Canada geese rather than the Mallard ducks.





















As you can see, we are back from a few days in Marrakech. The weather was lovely, the Riad was lovely, the food was great and we had a super time.





























These men are recycling tyres - they have made some really intreaging items using the "treads" as decoration.





























Inside the souk

































Dried fruits of all description - the fresh dates were out of this world!





Fishing boats in Essouria



























David celebrated his birthday while we were there and I made this card without using scissors and borrowing some glue. I tore a picture of our courtyard, a business card from the spice shop and a boarding card. The two flowers I pressed slightly and the earphones came from our bus trip.

Gas Street, Birmingham

Here's John Jackson delivering coal to the boats in Gas Street. As he is also on the front cover of Canals and Rivers this month, I thought he could be on the front of my blog too.

We are off to Marrakesh early tomorrow morning. It's only taken my 40 years since the Hollies song made me want to go. We are taking the laptop - so I may be able to post from there - if not, back next Thursday.

This is a very pretty card (the holographic border is straight on the card, honest!). I used a blue pearlescent card to start with. I covered a large red foam heart with purple handmade paper and added a fabric rose and pink organdie bow. This was then stuck onto the pink handmade paper. I made it a blank card so that it could be used for lots of occasions (wedding, engagement, birthday, love etc) but it was sold as a Valentine card.

Gas Street, Birmingham

Not your usual mode of transport on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal - but the gondola was here for a short while a year or two back. Unfortunately the Italian restaurant moved into town so they cannot now get the boat to it!

Another Saturday, another Premiership football team walks down the Worcester Bar. This time it is Derby. Can't wait for the day it's United.

This Valentine card has lots of lips stamped and embossed onto pink card and then matted onto gold card. There are peel-offs for decoration in 2 corners, a large hart and my trademark chocolate heart were stuck to the centre.