Self Portrait with a Man

Lots of thoughts going through my head at the moment - not surprising I suppose. So as I was thinking of Spain I put in a photo which i took on my last trip. It's nice and arty and also shows you some of the impossibly steep and narrow streets that we have in Alhaurin. Streets that necessitate many of these funny little convex mirrors all over the place.

I am packing today - well I have more or less finished now actually, which is why I am sitting at my computer. As you know it is not in my nature to procrastinate. If a job needs doing then spit spot I do it! Of course my tongue is well and truly in my cheek!

But seriously I have finished my packing organisation. There was still quite a lot to organise even though we have already shipped out a lot of stuff (that is my stuff carried out in 20kg quotas by my poor long suffering Victor). I still had my watercolours, pencils, various bits and all my electronic stuff to sort through and decide what needs keeping and what I can let go. To be honest most of that stuff has to come with me, it was really only papers and things that have been jettisoned.

I am amazed at the amount of paper one little household can generate. Even though I have got really good at throwing out - or recycling - paper and storing things electronically rather than in hard copy I still find myself drowning beneath printouts and documents from time to time. In fact I am trying to remember how many reams of paper I have bought since being here. i think i am on my third - admittedly that is quite new, so still mainly full, but still it does give you pause for thought. But then I am an artist and there is no point keeping all those images just on the computer - they do not make sense the same way.

However, i am pretty good at recycling. When I am finished with any printouts they are turned over and put into a scratch pile. This is great for thinking with a pen and doing sketches or when you suddenly get an idea that you want to jot down. Some of the sheets are also torn into four pieces and recycled as shopping lists. And of course once the sheet of paper has been printed and/or drawn on both sides it is either used to light the fire or sent to the paper recycle bin to be turned into something else.

I do try to do my little bit for the planet!

So, Christmas is on my mind too of course - Turkey and Mistletoe, Panto and Sleighs. I do like all the blitz and bling. Here I really like the decorations to be honest - they are very low key compared to Ireland and England, but the simple stars and wreaths hung in the windows entice you to look into the cosy little houses and imagine the smell of cinnamon and apples and woodsmoke. Mmmmmm!

Things on my mind then are, in no particular order: Christmas, moving, Spain, England, Ireland, On-line check-in, paper, packing, socks, Snow, bare trees, the smell of winter, old friends, christmas cards getting places, candles, houses, tapas, children, dogs with wet noses (but i think about them all of the time) and so on and so forth.

Right now though I must nip out to the shops to get a few little bits that need to be got to keep the wheels of this household moving on!

Hope you like the photo

A Lovely Nude for Monday and a little weep

Here is a nice nude study to cheer you up!

It cheers me anyway!

Not that I need cheering. It has been a good day on the whole. Perhaps a bit Monday-ish in the morning, even though there was no alcohol involved for a change. Monday Morning is just that - Monday Morning. Still as it is no longer Monday Morning anymore, then I have nothing to moan about.

The weather last evening and today has been really good. Very warm and seemingly settled. There is a lovely autumnal tinge in the air - which I love. It excites me and makes me cry. Not a sad cry, I hasten to say, but in fact a very happy sort of expectant crying, if that makes any sense.

So over the weekend and today I had a couple of little weeps - for absolutely no reason at all - and I was not in the least bit sad. I could blame the dreaded Menopause but actually I have always been like this, ever since I was a little girl. It used to upset my father quite a lot as he thought I was melancholy. I think I might have been more melancholy then as a matter of fact. But now I am definitely not.

I really enjoy a good tearful outpouring from time to time. There is nothing like putting on a weepy film and opening a bottle of wine and a box of Kleenex. D'you know what is even better than that - watching that weepy film and sharing the wine and the Kleenex with my daughter, who is also a great old weeper!

It is justice I am certain. When I was a little girl I was the only one of us Gregoriy children who had this propensity to weep at sad films and of course all the other Gregoriy children made wicked fun of me when I did - them being children and cruel! It made enjoyment of a good weep very difficult. Even when I was married my then husband and children used to gather around me when we were watching anything weepy waiting for me to crack so they could have a good snigger at my expense - Kate, my daughter, had not yet developed her own weepiness at that stage, or perhaps she could control it better than I. Anyway, she was a child and inherently cruel, so I was just the target!

Apparently my dad used to cry at films - his favourite being "Dumbo, The Elephant" but my mother also used to mock him when he was at it, which must have really wounded his male ego.

Vic has promised me "Love Story", a box of Maltesers and a box of tissues for my Christmas Present to take with me to Ireland for my Christmas visit to Kate. For some reason he encourages me to weep. It must be the real thing!

Anyway - enough of that - I am actually happy today and am not crying at the moment either so I will have no name calling and there is no need for sympathy either.

Just enjoy the nude.