Tag Archives: news from the mantelpiece

A Message from the Chimney, and a Tale from the Cupboard

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He sent a rook – no, not a chess piece – A ROOK. It landed in my wood burning stove yesterday morning after scrabbling away at the flue liner and making a right racket, the baffle was removed and there he was staring at me from the back of the stove demanding that I write a blog post this weekend. There wasn’t time for idle chatter as the bird was off via the conservatory window before I could whisper a question, or offer it anything shiny. Only Mr Devine would have sent a bird to do his bidding!! And obviously I have been downgraded from Cormorant to Rook. Then again I’m not sure a Cormorant would fit in the wood burning stove?

So where have I been?? What have I been doing??? What does my mantelpiece look like now??? That’s easy to answer, it looks like this….

….it’s now a cupboard. The cupboard is Rook-proof. Ha. Though my shelves are not…


Anyhow, the upshot is that I can no longer continue my thrilling series of posts entitled: News from the Mantelpiece. Instead I will excite my readers with: Tales from the Cupboard – I know – a truly inspired title! And here is the first:-

I only wish that I looked as calm and serene as Edna when I was dealing with a storm; or rain; or acres of mud; or a rook down my chimney.

P.S It is Mr Devine’s birthday on 22nd March – Happy Birthday if I don’t see you again before then!

News from the Mantel….oh!?

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Remember my thrilling series of posts called: News from the Mantelpiece??? Well, I am no longer able to continue the series, as this is what the mantelpiece looks like now…

The mantelpiece is no more! I have been busy. The decluttering has moved on to redecorating, and about time too! I have loathed the lilac walls for about a decade, and the disproportionate mantelpiece. I’m not sure when my room will be ready for reoccupation – a new floor is on order and won’t arrive for at least 8 weeks, so hopefully I will be back in there, and have an ‘after’ picture, before Christmas.
For the time being I am camped out in a much smaller room, and I don’t know where anything is, and The Instructions on Page 11 have been packed away and are no longer accessible. Apologies for that.

News from the Mantelpiece….

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Yes, a new post! How scary is that? What am I thinking? Surely my readers have a month to wait before I pop up again in their blog readers? Blame Jon. And Dinah. More on that later.

Meanwhile, I have news from the mantelpiece [the chair is having a much needed rest, probably sitting somewhere], and it looks something like this:-

my-studio-mantlepiece-2019

Mantelpiece

Oh wait, what is that interesting, yet sophisticated, picture? Oh my goodness! It’s another collage! Let’s take a closer look….

close-up of items-on-mantelpiece-in-calligraphy-studio-uk

Looking closer…

…and look! There is a gilded ‘d’!!

close-up-of-collage-with-gilded-letter-and-modern-script-calligraphy-uk

Shiny d!!

No? Then can I interest you in an orchid? I have kept it alive since March. Remarkable.

Orchid-on-mantlepiece

Still alive!

Well that was exciting wasn’t it?

Anyhow, Jon and Dinah have been talking about blogging and have been saying that only a few of us, in our little niche, post regularly, ie. more than twice a month, so I thought I would try to post more frequently. I know, I have said this before, but I am feeling in the mood to connect more often, AND I’m a collage behind, meaning I have pictures that I haven’t yet posted. I even have a post that I haven’t posted that isn’t related to the aforementioned pictures. So expect more. Especially on Sunday. There may be a coup.