Welcome to Melanie’s monthly journal – January reflections. The New Year and January has been quite the whirlwind with lots of things happening here. Although we currently have taken a week or so off work as both Nicholas and I have succumbed to ‘flu. Nicholas caught his first and I looked after him, mine came after and so he has been looking after me. It worked out quite well as there was always one of us that could be bothered to cook!
We rarely get ‘flu, so it has hit us both hard and I have found it quite annoying this week to actually have to rest. I am normally an ‘on the go’ kind of person. I like to get things done! But it has made me sit in our lovely little cottage with the log fire, watching the birds out of the window on the bird feeder and generally taking in life at a slower pace. I sometimes think that we are so busy with ‘to do lists’, that we very rarely sit and really soak up the amazing atmosphere here and be in the moment.
I hope that we can remember this. To take some time not just because we feel under the weather, but that we can ‘just be’. To look around and feel grateful for everything you have in this moment, here and now. My little New Year’s mantra.
Between Christmas and New Year
Christmas came and went quite quickly and we enjoyed a few days with friends and neighbours. I have to say though I did take the tree down early so that we could spring clean the cottage and oil the slate floors. I had this job planned for a long time. It’s one of those jobs that needs good organisation and a nice day to do it. I started early in the morning and moved all of the furniture to the edges of the rooms or outside and started scrubbing the floors. With all the doors and windows open, once they were dry, I oiled the slates and the hallway tiles. It is not easy oiling a floor with a Tibetan Terrier who follows your every move! But by the end of the day the job was done and everything looked so much better.
Oiling the slate flagstones enables them to repel water so that when I wash them, they dry extremely quickly. It has been a number of years since they were oiled and they gradually became more porous over time.
All the slate flagstones are really old and have had a life before they came to us. I know Nicholas sourced some of them from what once was a Gentleman’s Outfitter about 30 minutes from us just opposite the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. We can’t begin to imagine who the many people were, all dressed smartly with hats, suits and coats that walked across them. I would imagine this would have been in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of them have small divots in and I often wonder what this could have been from, general wear or tear or?? Truly fascinating.
Melanie’s Monthly Journal – January Reflections
The photo below shows the furniture kind of back in without the rug and the floor was still a bit tacky. At least we could go between the three rooms on the ground floor without our socks sticking to them! The following day everything had completely dried and I was able to put everything back where it should be.
Birthday Cake
We celebrated that evening with a birthday cake as it had been my birthday the day prior and we hadn’t been able to have cake. So it felt really good to have a lovely clean cottage and to celebrate. You can’t go wrong with a Thornton’s chocolate cake, unicorn candles and unicorn sparkler! The sparkler just about to be lit.
Snow, Hail, Rain, Wind and Storms
I think we have had the full range of wintry weather patterns this month! The New Year hit us with some hail and snow flurries, a few storms and quite a lot of rain. We have come out of January with some mild weather though and some beautiful sky’s and sunsets along the way. You can see from the puddles in the photo below we did get caught in a heavy shower. It was raining even though the sky was so pretty. Oh and yes I was walking Lily!
The view below is looking towards the moreland hills, the sky’s over the high ground are often quite exquisite and are forever changing.
And then a few days later we were back to clear blue sky’s and beautiful sunsets….
Then back to misty eerie days! I think Lily here is looking as if to say… why are we stopping? Weather is quite dreary….let’s go home!
To the naked eye the early morning sun looked normal, albeit a little hazy. However my phone picked up an amazing lens flare. This again was on one of our Lily walks along the lane.
Garden Sunsets
We’re very fortunate to live in a place where you can just about see a good view through the trees in the garden looking to the west where the sun sets. Lily decided to come out and see too, you can just about see her with her ponytail on the top of her head! The top cottage garden is feeling very neglected at the moment, it needs a good days work to tidy to remove all the winter leaves. Definitely for when I’m better!
Melanie’s Monthly Journal – January Reflections – Groomers
Lily has also been to the groomers this month and the photo of her in the mountain background is superb. I love all the backgrounds that Dylan our groomer uses for his backdrops. It must take some time to keep thinking of new ones and sourcing the supplies. Can’t wait to see what’s next!
I always take a photo of her in the windowsill when we get home. It’s about the only time that she looks properly brushed, clean and tidy.
Back to Work on Monday
The only consolation about having a cold and not really being able to work properly is that I have been able to write a business blog post about The Best Drawing Paper for Pencil Pet Portraits. Although I don’t feel like drawing at the moment, it doesn’t stop me pondering work and tapping away at my laptop. I have lots of blog posts in the pipeline along with posting all the artwork that we created towards the end of last year too. I will endeavour to do those in the coming weeks.
Both Nicholas and I are really busy with portraits booked in over the first half of the year. I need to do our 6 month schedule and try to work out how many portraits we can fit in this year. I think that we are limiting the number again for us both. We work on a first come first serve basis. So if you are reading this and really want a portrait for a particular date this year, do get in touch as soon as possible so that we can arrange it for you.
We hope you have enjoyed our Melanie’s Monthly Journal – January Reflections. If you’d like to see more of our artwork, explore commission options, or learn more about our process, take a look around our website at Pet-PortraitArtist.com. Keep well everyone and try not to catch the winter ‘flu like we have!!
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