Resolutions

I hope you all had a good Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year. 

Kev's flu apart, we had a lovely family Christmas with Sarah, Sam, Jo and Paul at Mum and Dad's.  Bess met Jo and Paul's dog, Nellie for the first time and they were soon playing together non-stop. 

Nellie and Bess pose for the camera, bribed by a Christmas treat.

Chester is my home town and I've enjoyed the chance to revisit at leisure.   It's an interesting city with it's Roman Walls, striking black and white timbered buildings and the Rows.  These are a tier of shops at first floor level which are accessed from the street by steps up onto galleries.   Chester is steeped in history but is also renowned as a shopping centre and is always busy.   We found some bargains in the sales but limited storage space prevented excessive buying which is probably a good thing.   

For the last couple of years Mum, Sarah and I have set ourselves alternative New Year Resolutions.   Our resolutions are activities we want to do during the year.  The resolution encourages us to make the time for the activity which may otherwise be just a good intention.

My Resolutions for 2013 are:

1. Read "War and Peace" which is handily on my ereader
2. Draw Bess,  I rarely draw animals so this won't be easy 
3. Knit a garment, I enjoy knitting but so far have kept to simple items
4. Paint with acrylics,  I've tried these before but want to put some more time into practising the techniques
5. Write a short story, developing a plot and the characters will be interesting   
6. Try pen and wash,  a technique I admire but haven't tried myself
7. Experiment with cooking, apart from the cornish pasties we haven't tried any new recipes, 2013 will see the cookery books come off the bookshelf
8. Develop an idea from the creative sketchpad I started in 2012 
9.  Complete a series of pictures, my only unfinished resolution from last year
10. Keep a creative log - the progression of my ideas.


Quite a list but I'm looking forward to making a start and having the time to enjoy the resolutions.

The weather has been very wet and we've been keeping a careful watch for condensation.   We've had one or two spots which appeared behind some of the storage tubs which were restricting the air flow.  Moving the tubs away from the walls quickly sorted the problem.  The warm dry weather on Saturday brought activity to the marina.  The jetties were busy with people coming to check their boats and several sailed out onto the canal.  We opened all the doors and had a spring clean, a much quicker task on a boat than in a house.