How Time Goes Faster As You Get Older.blog

It is funny as I expected to spend my entire time in Jaipur. I had been many times before and love this pink city with its Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds) and Jantar Mantar (Royal Observatory). But the pollution was overwhelming and I realised that the place I stay in is probably more important than the city. I stayed in 47 Jobner Bagh ( https://www.jobnerbagh.com/) when I first arrived in Jaipur which was a perfect retreat but way over my budget. Then I stayed in the wonderful mosaics guesthouse (http://www.mosaicsguesthouse.com/presentation-mosaics-guesthouse-english.php). I loved this place with the wonderfully adaptable and attentive staff who serve delicious Indo-French food but there was a commercial and very busy wedding venue next door as well as as a load of waste and very stagnant water every time you stepped out to get to the road. I moved to the Dia Homestay ( http://www.inn-seventh-heaven.com/Savera.html) in Pushkar which I totally loved but staying there for nearly four weeks seemed about right. It was getting colder by the day and I really fancied staying for some time in the Camel Conservation Lodge ( http://www.camelsofrajasthan.com/ranakpur-camel-lodge), Rajpura, near Sadri next to Ranakpur. It was magical and I loved every moment there.

Felted Jewellery

I really needed to do something with the felt I had brought with me via London from Purl Soho in New York (https://www.purlsoho.com/). It was weighing heavily on me and this isn’t the best way for creative juices to flow. There were 16 squares of pinks and purples with many hues of blues and greys.

My original idea was to cut strips of about 1.5 cm x 18 cm and twist them round and turn them into about 11 or 13 (prime – urggghhhh) bracelets leaving out some of the colours that I neither liked nor fitted with my purple theme.

But they looked very amateurish. I then twisted 4 at a time into a spiral and added more colours on. This was getting there but was too bulky to control and it would have ended up with a multiple of four which I didn’t like!

So, I started with one of the pinks and wound it into a very tight spiral and then continued with a further 10 colours. I really liked what I produced and I used pins to make the joins look pretty seamless.

I then backed it with the outer most colour – a pale pink using blanket stitch.

I wanted to use a leather thong to turn it into a necklace so that I could alter the length. I did this by stitching two small rectangular pieces on the back and hey presto it worked!

For the earrings I cut squares of each of these 11 colours and threaded them on a straight silver pin interspersed with pearlescent grey beads left over from my mystery blanket and some purple beads from a bracelet that broke.

I liked the way the squares would not stay lined up and gave a feeling of a spiral. In the end I was really pleased with both jewellery pieces and now can send them and the felt back in a shipment so I don’t need to look at the spare felt and feel persecuted by its presence!

Window Art

I was always rather variable at executing this well. At home, I copied the provided shapes and had lots of colours so I could choose the pots where the paint was flowing freely.

But in India I had only brought one pot of each colour and they were continuously blocked up despite my repeatedly pricking them with a pin. At least the black outline colour worked well!

I decided to use the three larger and less intricate designs I had made in wooden blocks and drew them out as larger designs freehand.

I found even this hard and had to make measurements on the paper to be able to know where I would put in a loop. I did three large ones which are reasonable enough to photograph and had to bin some as they I couldn’t put them on the glass windows.

I also made seven small designs but found this quite frustrating. To be honest, I only did these small ones because I could and I had brought the materials with me. I left the window art in the Camel Lodge and most of the paints were finished. Phew. Done that and can tick it off.

Does remind me of my therapist from this year – Limor – who said at the end of our first session that my task for my therapy (there were many more later on!) was to be less task orientated. Well I totally failed with the window art task. Thank goodness it is over and I have left it behind. I have the photographs though!

Stencilling

I bought some spray paint with me and thought it would be fun to do some stencilling and to use up this spray I had had for years.

I think it was the same as our first front door colour in Bloomfield road (from 20 years ago!) To do some touching up but really you have to move on. It took several devices just to prize off the lid and once I used it I wasn’t going to take it further on with me.

Firstly, I used the spray to coat some smaller pieces I would sew or glue into my fabric books I intend to complete later. By default, these became stencil pieces!

I also used some white lace I had brought with me purely for the purposes of stencilling.

I liked how the same paint through the same lace on different colour card really changed what you saw.

Tassels

I have made loads of tassels over the years principally in fours for each corner of a challah cover or often a challah duvet.

I consider myself an expert simple tassel maker! I have always understood the challah (two white loaves like brioche) are upset you bless the wine first so you cover them……

I made 24 in one day in Rajpura (at the Camel Conservation Charity Lodge). 23 of purple (must continue with prime number theme) and one silver.

And all the same length and at least 200 strands. I listened to the podcast of Sue Perkins interview Mary Berry (both of the original BBC Bake Off). I then photographed them on the long wooden pole of a shisha pipe, then on a ribbon and as there are so many and pretty dense, they can stand up if.

They show off the diversity of the yarn well which was bought at the Handweaver’s Studio in Finsbury Park, London.

I have made a single crochet flower out of each of these yarns and a pompom. I may well display them eventually as one giant tassel. We’ll see.

They are going in the next box to be shipped back

Modelling Clay

I am not sure why I actually bought this modelling clay. It was really cheap (75 rupees [80p] per packet) but it didn’t have any instructions about how to fire it. I really think it is just Plasticine.

And it had a lovely purple so that must have been the deciding factor and that money was burning a hole in my pocket in the stationary shop in Jaipur. I did buy really nice paper there which I am pleased I bought and some crayons which are well, to be honest, just normal wax crayons. Hardly very inspiring – rather childlike but dependable I suppose. And some oils pastels but clearly, I had already got some from Tiger but forgotten in my stationary buying frenzy!

But I used the modelling clay in an attempt to reduce down my luggage. And I tried to make my clay into something fun at the very least. I made two further purples with a pale blue and red (this was a dark aubergine) and a darker blue and pink.

But this last mix was essentially blue so I added a load more red and ended up with a pretty pleasing violet. I also rolled up 3 balls of white clay.

I rolled out my three purple balls into long snakes, spiralled them around, reworked them with a ball of white each and did the same thing again with them.

I used a knife to cut them across to see if there were interesting patterns – there were and then turned it into a cake with (11 – you guessed it – prime number) petals and then cut it into pizza triangles.

But by then I really had run out of ideas and so turned it into one large purplish ball and left it on the table for those visiting the Camel Lodge further opportunities for fun and play.

Camel Leather Pots

I also took up all the pots which are decades (possibly over 100 years old) which are made from camel leather from the Camel Lodge.

I was going to photograph them on a very bright striped and colourful piece of cloth but they looked better on the plain concrete in the sun.

They are traditionally made to carry water, oil and perfume in the smaller ones. They are super light and very gnarled as old and used.

I have spent a wonderful five weeks in Rajasthan and some of my projects were finished off in Gujarat. Rajasthan will always hold a very special place in my heart from the first time I came here when I was 21 (34 years ago!).

So far I have spent the longest time in Pushkar. I really loved being there, not only for its feel but the people I met and the food I ate! I did some quite fun photography projects there (six) and I will dedicate this blog to all my Pushkar photos.

Photography

I think this has been my most creative and successful outlet. I wasn’t really expecting it to be such fun. When I first when travelling to the developing world with Adrian in 1985 I was very embarrassed about being a tourist and taking photos but he encouraged me and I wouldn’t be without a camera on any holiday. Over the years I have made probably about 100 black flip albums and 10 traditional albums before digital photography came in. Right up until the mid-2000s when we bought our first EOS camera. I then went onto making albums with PhotoBox online and the products are of good quality and are fantastic memories of lots of happy times and travels.

I have an EOS with me here today as it is light and just what I need to catalogue what I have been up to.

Chai Pots

I really liked drinking out of chai pots. They are considered disposable and we first had them at the top of the road watching the elephants returning from Amber Fort whilst staying at the Mosaics Guesthouse. I kept them as I wanted to grow my plants in them – well at least some of the flowers I would raise from seedlings. I drank coffee and collected a load of used chai pots around the Savitri temple after my early morning climb to get there for sunrise.

But when I realised that this wasn’t going to be possible and I was not allowed to send them in my first shipment back to the UK I decided to photograph them before leaving them behind in Pushkar with Ravi in the Dia Homestay.

Felt Flowers

I realised I was going to need to send a shipment home as I was overwhelmed with bags of too much stuff. I did manage to get from Highgate Tube to Heathrow via the Tube but this is because. This included a load of things I had brought with just to photograph or make myself feel inspired and would also be comforting to me.

This meant it was time to photograph the wonderful felt flowers I had bought in my colour theme (lilac) from the Folk-Art Museum in New York. I visited this compact museum in September 2019 and brought these serene felt flowers. https://folkartmuseum.org/

I then tried to photograph them in as many interesting ways as possible including; in the sun, in my room, in a ‘vase’ and tied to the back of my chair like a wedding posy.

Everything was themed purple. Funny as I had dried flowers for my wedding posy and these were equally not fresh nor made of felt. Some of the shots were really over-exposed which I really liked and some were under the sun umbrella I had bought in Jaipur for Betsy which I was going to post to her.

But that was going to cost 2000 rupees and the umbrella only cost 200 so I thought I would wait and give it to her in person.

Fire and Lights

At night in the Secret Garden I had fun trying to take interesting shots of the fire we made (to keep warm and heat up the pizzas!)

and also the lights in the garden by swinging the camera round in spirals to complement my theme.

The Secret Garden was a wonderful oasis of calm – well you still could hear the weddings – just outside Pushkar. With respect to my photography.

There were some terrible results but some really interesting ones. I wonder with a smaller camera I could have spun it round faster.

Or maybe I needed less bright lights before the exposure was finished. Anyway, all trial and error. Certainly fun.

Adult and Baby Personas

I had brought out a number of items that I specifically wanted to use in photographs which would need to go back in my first shipment.

This included my stethoscope, my rabbit Benjamin who needed quite a bit of repair work and went for several coffees with me in Pushkar to do this, cuffs (which I wish I had kept as it is often cold at night), hiking boots as my trainers will do as well as some felted baby slippers. I enjoyed arranging them into an adult and baby personas and seeing if I could make them sit up.

However it was very difficult to photograph them in the whole so I did lots of detailed photographs and planned to print them off and show them as a collage.

I was inspired to do this by David Hockney’s fabulous work. He also inspired me to get a pen to do electronic drawings. However, I am no Hockney!

Amlas – a very sour fruit indeed

I know that Ravi (the Dia Homestay manager) liked to use amla (a very sour fruit indeed) in pickles and his nephew Sonu in his juice bar.

So when I stayed overnight at the Secret Garden with Marie and Anoop I picked loads to give him climbing up trees and using it as a counting system for my runs.

Anoop suggested I run either seven or 19 times round the garden. But I couldn’t keep count so on every round I collected an amla.

Then I put these 19 in my top and twizzled it around to go back to my room. I took a self-timer video of them all spilling out. Here it is – Kerry Robinson said it was ok to use it. Something about emptying yourself out!

Ribbons and Stone

I had a really successful morning getting 92 photos from 3 tied up purple ribbons and the stone I was given at the end of the Bridge Retreat.

Contentment was my happiest childhood memory and it was making coffees out of mud in our garden under the apple trees. Another fun memory was having a bath with my sister Sukey and turning hair on the side of the bath into interesting shapes and telling her it was the Japanese letter for x for instance. She did believe me for a while!

It was fun, not just taking the photos, but also thinking of ways to display them eventually at the installation I want to hold after my sabbatical.

One way was to display them digitally on a loop with 0.5 seconds per picture and for it to make a click like an old-fashioned slide projector as each slide is changed. I saw this recently (without the click) at an art show. It reminded me of the days of getting slides printed out and using carousels. I once entered a competition at the Royal Society of Medicine for the Paediatric Registrars Prize in 1994. I insisted on using a double carousel which I warned against – as you can get them out of sync but I managed and I won! My mum was there to schep naches (from Yiddish שעפּן נחת means ‘derive pride’).

The end of Pushkar Photography.

My next blog will cover what I completed in Rajasthan before I came to see textiles in Gujarat.

I stayed for a week at the Chamel Charishma Lodge https://www.camelcharisma.com/camel-experiences/. It is committed to supporting the welfare of camels as they are dwindling in numbers. They support local herders by buying the camel milk from them at a much higher rate than the government prices (three times). They only milk them once daily and they have their calves with them for a year.

I was the only guest there which meant I was looked after on an individual level but also escaped all trappings of making polite conversations with other tourists. There was limited WiFi by the main office and every morning I woke to the sounds of deer, cows, dogs and lots of monkeys. Early morning yoga on the roof with the sun rising was sublime. I only do this for 10 minutes because as you know I don’t like to get too bogged down with commitment – well other than knitting which I can do for hours!

Santa also hennaed both my hands and feet.

And she made a purple dessert for the first time – beetroot halva and I made borscht for all of us. And there was pomegranate juice too!

Now on with my stuff…..

Jungle Jelabi Mobile

A group of six of us went out for lunch towards the end of my stay in Pushkar. When we were leaving the hotel we had been to for lunch, Leo pointed out the seeds of the Pithecellobium Dulce known locally as Jungle Jelabi seeds because he knew I was on a spiral quest.

I collected about a dozen but returned the next morning to collect enough for me to have 19 strands each with 7 spiral seed pods. I bought another dream catcher hoop and painted it dark pink with the pen ink. That was a waste of time as I covered the whole of it with the special tape, I had bought out recommended to me by Renee from our knitting holiday in January to help keep our place with knitting patterns. It is called Washi Tape.

I made 9 strands with 14 seed pods attached via a slip knot. There was a longer gap in the middle to hang over the hoop. I fixed each end with 4 small silver bells and a crimp. I then made a final single one of 7 seeds and bells and used the other end to make the mobile hang up from 4 sections (12 o’clock, 3 o’clock etc).

I locked all the strings in place with the Washi Tape and used it to separate them out roughly evenly and hey presto a 19-string jungle jelabi mobile.

I photographed it all over the camel conservation place and took videos too.

Plasticine

I was going to give the two packets I bought here away as I just didn’t know what to do with it. It only cost 75 rupees for each packet (80p). But I decided in the end to take the purple out of the packet and mix up turquoise, red and a light flesh colour which made a murky aubergine colour.

I then rolled them into sausage shapes and twisted them round this way and that. I fixed the breaks where I had got carried away and over twisted it.

I then slowly twisted the two colours round each other. Firstly, it looked like a pair of chromosomes coming together to replicate.

I then repeatedly twisted them round each other and then then I squished them together and turned them into a new, fatter murky purply aubergine spiral.

This could stand up. I then squished the whole caboodle onto 220 gm white paper. First, I used a glass as a rolling pin, then my right palm and finally my right middle finger to make a gerbera type flower with 23 petals.

Of course, prime rules. I have placed this ‘creation’ on a piece of heavy white paper and will bring it home.

Small purple beach balls

This has been more of a photography project but I really enjoyed both the spontaneity of buying them, blowing them up listening to BBC History of 100 object podcasts in the sun as I couldn’t crochet because of my extremely swollen finger (a combination of a bee sting that I had madly scratched – so self-inflicted really).

I enjoyed photographing them with the people working here, in the sun, in water to see the reflections. I bought two flower ones and five stripy ones to continue the prime number theme.

One evening we played a bit of volleyball without any rules or a net!

Then Gelabi who is a cook and cleaner brought her one-year old grandson and he totally loved the balls.

He kicked them about and threw them down. It was wonderful to watch his wonder and I gave them and all my spare colouring stuff to him on my departure.

Feathers

Feathers

I decided to write a poem about feathers. A while back I wrote a poem about an impenetrable gun metal emotional box of all my vulnerabilities and imperfections.

I wanted this gunmetal box to metamorphose into feathers. As usual with my poetry, I did a mind map to get the creative juices going. It was easy even for me to draw a feather! One section of my feather poetry mind map was human uses of feathers. I had picked up a number from the five chickens here and interesting it was possible to make or illustrate all of them. The poem will be released in the poetry section later on – well I need to write it first!

I didn’t have enough for a feather pillow but I did photograph the small fluffy ones.

I knew that there aren’t feather pillows here in India and brought two with me but this (again) was over the top so I sent one back. I prepared some purple and black modelling clay and inserted all the large plain feathers as a headdress which I will leave behind.

I displayed the prettier feathers with lace and ribbon to represent feather fashion accessories.

I finally made a very elegant feather duster which I have left here as an embellishment in a camel leather vase and will probably never be used for its intended purpose!

I think this will have to do for this blog although I did quite a bit more in Rajpura but there are already 30 photos, two videos and one rather heavy poem so I will spare you more!

So being in one place for a few weeks with the most inspiring room really helps things to get going. This was at the Dia Homestay in Pushkar where I stayed for three weeks in November 2019.

I am going to write this blog through four completed projects!

But before I start a really wonderful set of four videos about Charlie the Unicorn. Enjoy.

Bulbs and Seeds

In the UK just before I left, I cycled to a garden centre in Kentish Town and bought every purple or lilac seed and bulb packet I could lay my hands on. I brought them to India with the idea of settling in one place and planting them out and watching them grow. I wanted to set up my phone to video them for 1 second each day. Betsy did this for about a year and produced a very interesting 365 second (just over six minutes) documentary of that year. But I realised early on I might want to travel. It seemed that planting them in the Dia homestay in Pushkar would be a good idea.

Anoop, the owner, was both obliging and keen but he thought they would be better off in his secret garden. I went there on the back of the manager Ravi’s motor bike.

We bought 11 x 15 cm pots for the grand sum of 220 rupees (25p per pot!) and I helped the gardener and Ravi to plant all the bulbs and most of the seeds. We worked out the pet tortoises were eating all the plants that Anoop and Marie had recently had planted so the pair of them were moved to another garden behind a gate.

The only problem for me was trying to get regular photos of how my bulbs and seeds were doing. The people who worked there only had old Nokia bricks (like my Dad!) and so couldn’t take regular photos. But you just can’t control everything!

These bulbs went into pots

Grape Hyacinth, Anemone, Iris, Crocus, Standard Hyacinth.

And these seeds were sown

Flowers; Blue Angel, Cornflower, Lobelia, Blue Cushion, Pansy, Phlox, Nigella, Crane’s Bill, Baby Blue Eyes, Poppy, Sweet Pea.

Vegetables and herbs; Kale, Carrot, Chives, Basil, Borage, Verbena, Broccoli.

We returned a week later. Nothing doing on the bulb front but a number of the seeds had germinated. I fear this is another complete disaster. Not on the global scale but on my journey where I had imagined everything I had brought with me would be wildly successful. Not that I am driven (thanks Mum!) but tolerating disappointment doesn’t come easy but I am learning to celebrate even things that fail.

Yarn bombing – well wrapping really – like a bandage

I brought loads of yarn from the Handweavers Studio – I pretty much bought every shade of purple in as many yarns as they sold. Once I realised I would stay in Pushkar for a while I suggested to the owner of the Dia Homestay that he might like me to wrap his vines in yarn.

Anoop readily agreed and his girlfriend Marie gave me some extra supplies (purple acrylic twine and a tassel made originally to decorate camels.

I thought I could do about a foot of wrapping a day. It is quite back breaking work as much of the yarn I had was pretty thin.

It is also pretty tedious so I listened to a set of BBC podcasts. On the Crypto Qqueen, Murder at the Lucky Hotel and Ratlines. They were fascinating, informative and really well produced.

Anoop put a rather scary wooden mask in the tree and I gave him a rather bright purple moustache, beard and headband. He put it there to frighten me but I thought it was rather funny to be honest.

I am thrilled he has let me loose on this amazing set of vine trunks in his garden and it is a way of finishing up all the excess yarn from my 2019 mystery blanket and make a start on the stash I lugged here.

Besides taking lots of photos I have threaded each of the yarns I have used into a bracelet and made a pompom too. Stupidly I bought a fancy pompom maker from Purl Soho (very upmarket knitting shop in New York with particularly icy staff) when I should have brought my tried and tested kit from London so the pompoms are naff to say the least!

I also brought some fairy lights and wound a blue set around another trunk. But like Adrian, Marie doesn’t like this very artificial colour so I switched it for a yellow set! I was delighted that Anoop and Marie not only allowed but positively encouraged me to do this. It was a great project for me to do at the beginning.

I returned to Pushkar 5 years later (October 2024). Ravi was delighted to show me what remained!

Dream catchers

I made my first ever dream catcher having looked up some videos on YouTube but also Babu at the Paka Wala shop in Pushkar.

Babu was very patient and loved to use superglue to stiffen the yarn rather than using needles. In the first one I used the feathers I had gathered outside the Anokhi Textile Museum near Amber Fort and some stones I had bought with me.

For all 4 of the dream catchers I used hand spun and vegetable dyed yarn from Peru.

The subsequent ones I made using all beads I had but bought the hoops and feather from Babu. Lily who I met at Dia Homestay gave me some earrings which I broke up to use at the bottom. I used beads left over from the mystery blanket 2019 and mother of pearl buttons that came from Hazel (I think).

Besides photographing them on my balcony I took them down to the swing near the trees I had yarn bombed, covered the swinging seat with my purple sarong and videoed them dancing as the swing swung

This is the first new skill I have learnt here.

Cards

I brought with me 10 card and envelope blanks. I tried with my first commissioned stamp but it wasn’t really of good enough quality to be the feature of my cards. Or maybe I am just not a very good stamper? I think the man I commissioned to make them has waltzed off with the 2000 rupees and hasn’t been seen since and I had checked on him daily. Actually, he did deliver! I think he might have been busy doing my stamps and going to college – whoops…..

So, I put the stamps on the back and on the front lined all the cards at the top and bottom with Washi Tape. I then put the first paper cyanotype prints I had made at Trowbridge all guillotined up on the front. I had decorated them with puff paint. I did it as the Traveller’s Boutique Café and left them to dry under a seat. Then the café seemed to have closed down for two days. I went with my torch at night time when someone was lying on an adjacent bench on the phone and said nothing to me as I rescued them! It felt quite surreal entering a closed property and fishing around under a bench for some papers.

I cut them all at an angle and put between one and three on a page with a wooden butterfly sprayed with purple plasti-kote spray paint on each one. Or some painted with a pinky purple ink I had brought.

Addendum on calligraphy

I really don’t think my calligraphy is up to much. I left the set in Pushkar that I had brought out following a lovely class in Islington with wine one evening. You cannot be good at everything. The nibs don’t work and to be honest I just don’t have the patience. Interestingly in the 6^th form where we could choose an art option and I knew painting wasn’t my forte I chose to do calligraphy and I wasn’t that bad!

Next time there will be camels and things that I made in Rajpura, near Ranakpur.

I think I have thought a lot about my design. And there are many conceptual possibilities and limitations. I don’t see this as failings on my part in how to carry them out but rather physical impossibilities such as the materials I don’t have or know how to use. And of course, there is a time constraint although with four months here this seems an old adage used to excuse myself from being truly creative. I am not, for instance going to do intricate embroidery although of course I could. And probably not large floor loom weaving as I am unlikely to have access to one. Or fine figure painting because I can’t.

Of course, there are things I do have time for and aren’t any good at like drawing or sculpture but as I bought the requisite materials then I will have a go and be satisfied I had a go and failed – you should see my drawings I have done based on my initial spirograph drawings. Truly terrible.

But part of you has to fail to know that you really aren’t any good at something. Even if others think you are actually good at something if it doesn’t spark joy in you (thanks Marie Kondo who wrote the celebrated “Magic Art of Tidying” – one of my new bibles) then I cannot really celebrate it. I am also scared. I have been very clear and repeated this almost as a mantra before I left. I wanted to spend my time here being as creative as I truly could be. I find my work in London hugely satisfying but limiting in the creativity I am allowed to do both in my clinical work and my teaching. There is a carte blanche with true material creativity (painting, drawing, musical composition etc) that there really are no rules. But the health and university system are tied by so many rules most people cannot even remember why they are there!

I laid all the things out in both places that I have stayed for at least a week so that seeing them can inspire me to be creative. Going around with my eyes open has led to purchases – like seven purple small blow-up beach balls bargained down to 300 rupees (50p each ball).

And having a decent camera makes me place things in as many different ways as possible. That really does fill me with joy. I have managed to delight in spending time photographing different arrangements of ribbons and a stone. The ribbons were purple, lilac and violet. The stone said “contentment” on one side which is the most memorable feeling I had a child. This was given to me at the end of the Bridge Retreat I did in July this year in Frome, Somerset. Before receiving it, I danced to Karl Jenkins Palladio ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqmbz8W1-tA ) flinging my arms high into the sky in a yurt on a wooden bridge beautifully decorated with flowers. Freddy gave me the stone at the other side. I took 92 photos and could have gone on.

It reminded me of an exercise I did on Staff College. This was an amazing leadership course set up with the Army and NHS by Aiden Halligan. We were asked once to write down all the different uses we could think of a paper clip. Most come up with under 10, some 10 to 20 and occasionally people came up with more – that was me. Its is just the way my mind works. Always whizzing about thinking about things. I find meditation and mindfulness so painful. Not constricting just impossible! Yoga is fine though – phew as it really helps my back.

I had been keen to design a logo that sums up my theme and this may still be possible. But this might come later. I feel I am still at the exploratory phase.

Here is what I have been working on and considered completed….

Spirograph

So, the spirograph helped me unleash some creativity but I did do it an orderly way. Using the smallest of the 6 cogs till the largest and methodically going through all the points of each cog. The largest went up to 34. So, in total there are well over a 100 spirograph examples. I had the idea of some order but did need to decide where to move on the next drawing to start it. And I also had to decide when to change direction with the spirograph and then it got very busy. I used very thick paper (lilac 220gm paper) so it wouldn’t get any holes and it didn’t. I thought I might not get all the spirograph entries on one side and would need to insert a hole to get to the other side but that wasn’t necessary but maybe I missed some of the starting holes out (oh dear the problems of hyperactivity).

The Spirograph was invented in the year of my birth 1965 by Denys Fisher and sold in a Department Store in Leeds – Schofields. I used the 6 cogs which fit in the larger circle you have to hold to keep still. Each cog has between 10 and 34 settings. But they are produced different shapes which gradually change.

There are nicks where the cog jumps and the whole drawing then can become mal-aligned. I mostly turned them clockwise. It was a purple HiTechPoint pen on lilac paper. Nothing like sticking to the theme. Actually, the paper was chosen as it was the heaviest and Spirograph drawings tend to make holes in thinner paper. The bends and corners were most compressed – a bit like life when you make twists and turns it feels denser. I knew it wasn’t neat or particularly predictable but I also knew that in reality I just cannot draw so this was a great way to start and feel that I was being true to myself and my sabbatical. It is as much about realising your limitations and going with the flow of what you have and what you can do.

Lavender bags

The lavender was bothering me. It spilt all over my case and so I made 19 little lavender bags using the material I had bought from Anokhi. I had chosen only 2 designs as these were plentiful and I liked the designs (flowers).

So this was my only (well probably although I did buy some frangipane perfume oil later in Pushkar) foray into smell. And I decided to make 19 of them. For the year (2019). To commemorate what a hard and emotional year it has been for me. And it being a prime number. I tied the bags with the lavender yarn left over from my 2019 mystery blanket I had just completed.

They smell heady and comforting. I photographed them all around the room with different backdrops and with all different lights and using twists so that I could video them https://vimeo.com/377514037. I like the way they fall from a single point and all are different lengths and twist and unfurl on each other. Twisting takes time and get multiply tangled like life. I spent my last day untangling them which took well over an hour and I photographed them all nice and untangled. But this is a temporary respite from their normal state of getting re-tangled all over again!

Lavender isn’t a very pretty plant but it is characteristic with a very special smell. From fields in France to gardens in the UK. Especially lovely was the day I spent with Tracy at Hitchin Lavender with the wonderful lunch and a great time spent picking and taking fabulous photos. A truly wonderful memory. There is a photo of Hitchin Lavender on my first entry on purple.

Cyanotyping

I had a wonderful day of cyanotyping in August 2019 in Trowbridge. In the morning I joined a class of other women and did the cyanotyping using 2 light sensitive chemicals (potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate. We did paper and cotton and I brought along some taupe silk. All my results worked well there but when I tried to reproduce it on some baby vests the edges were a murky dark green and it didn’t have sharp blue edges.

I took both chemicals to India and decided to try it out on a thin piece of white A3. I prepped it in the shower part of my bathroom in Pushkar (Dia Homestay) and put it under a stool covered in towels but they got wet and the whole thing was one soggy mess. The A3 was too large to dry between applications (usually 3). I did expose it on the balcony but it was too blowy. I also only left it for 10 mins to expose it which again wasn’t long enough.

The subsequent pieces I did (5 white A4 and 1 lilac A4 – all 220gm heavy paper) worked well. I prepped them in the dark (easy as it is dark between 1900 and 0700. I kept them in a felt case and once the wind had died down in the afternoon but the sun was still strong, I used them to make a whole pattern using bracelets, rings, earrings, findings from jewellery box, felt and wooden flowers. Essentially, anything that was round went on the paper. This worked really well.

Next up will be yarn bombing (wrapping to be precise), dream catchers, a jungle jelabi mobile and cards.

I have thought about this a lot over the past year. Part of coming to India was to see if I could be truly creative. Life at work will only tolerate a certain amount of creativity and then the hammer comes down and ‘Computer Says NO!’

I knew I needed some limits to be creative and thought that this theme might work. Certainly no one had bought the domain name – but it is not very catchy and rather long! I also limited my colour palate to purple (see earlier blog on this). At school when you are asked to write a story about anything it is really hard but when you are given a title such as The Woman with the Glue on her Fingers (me now!) then it really is much easier to get started.

Since I have been telling people about my theme I have been worried about how I really can see it panning out. Let’s be really clear. I just cannot draw. My copying skills are limited and my impatience overwhelming. I had thought of this. I suppose it has some connection with seeing something like How Time Goes Faster as People Get Older between my career and love of medicine and something I can imagine in space, in 3D but really it is about the 4th dimension and as my son says – time only really changes when you go to a different planet. Oh yes India can feel very different but I am firmly placed here on earth.

So the idea in my head was to start with a nearly perfect circle – no one is born perfect – I should know – I am often referred babies as a paediatrician whose deluded parents pick up the most minor aberrations and expect me to do something about it! But I do like a first opening circle. Full of promise, life and curiosity.

The circle then becomes a spiral in time and space. It twists and turns and has some nooks and crannies. It may break and be re-joined. I wasn’t sure what to do at the end. I could have made it become an every decreasing circular size but I am not sure as I get older that the circle I am on should get smaller. And should the end circle be like the first (birth) circle? Or should they even join up and look a bit like a doughnut?

I like the idea of using the gut as my organ of choice as it the place of most interest. Of course I love eating – and here are 2 purple meals I recently ate at a wonderful restaurant called Heavenly Blessing (with 103 amazing reviews on google!) It is next to where I am staying ( http://www.inn-seventh-heaven.com/Dia.html – I am in the room that has windows on all sides just below the roof terrace!) .

Back to why the gut is a great organ to model my theme. So besides eating, the gut is where we experience all sorts of emotions. Funny my spell checker wanted to put in the word emoticons! I have actually designed a load of personalised Carly emoticons. She has a purple face and grey hair!

So back to the gut and emotions. It is a repository for feelings such as anxiety and manifests all manner of feelings by experiencing pain, diarrhoea, constipation, indigestion etc. I rather like the duality of clearly the necessity of processing food (but eating is enjoyable to ensure we fill up our guts) but also where many emotional states and reactions are expressed. The joy of food, birth and living are all wondrous, joyous and fabulous.

Here is a pictorial representation. It is from a website (unsplash) where you can download free images. It is an image from Adrien Olichon.

So this is something I would like to express through as many media as possible. I have always maintained that I am a Jack (or rather Jill) of all trades and a master of none. My knitting is good but I am no expert. Before I left I made a list of all the ways I could explore my theme. There are 133. This is a multiple of 7 x 19. 19 is my special number this year and of course besides being the year we are currently in, it is partly in recognition of how much I have struggled this year. But I love prime numbers and and 7 fits with days of the week. Again fitting with the time theme. And my love of numbers and how they fit together.

My list of possibilities to explore my theme in reverse alphabetical order.

1. Yoga
2. Yarn bombing
3. Woodwork
4. Window art
5. Weaving
6. Water colour painting
7. Walking
8. Video
9. Travel journal
10. Toys
11. Textile art
12. Tattoos
13. Tatting
14. Tassels
15. Stencils
16. Stained glass
17. Spirograph
18. Soap
19. Silkscreen printing
20. Silk painting
21. Silk flowers
22. Short story
23. Sewing
24. Sellotape
25. Sea shells sculptures
26. Sawdust hearts
27. Sand stone sculptures
28. Rug making
29. Ribbons
30. Quilting
31. Quilling
32. Pressed flowers
33. Pompoms
34. Poetry
35. Podcast
36. Play writing
37. Plastination
38. Plasticine
39. Plaster
40. Planting
41. Photography
42. Pets
43. Perfume
44. Patchwork
45. Pastels
46. Papier-mâché
47. Paper marbling
48. Paper cuts
49. Paint
50. Origami
51. Oil paint
52. Mosaics
53. Mobiles (not phones)
54. Mindfulness
55. Millinery
56. Metalwork
57. Meditation
58. Massage
59. Marquetry
60. Mandalas
61. Macramé
62. Luggage tags
63. Lino cuts
64. Lighting
65. Lego
66. Leatherwork
67. Lavender
68. Lapidary
69. Lace making
70. Knitting
71. Kites
72. Journaling
73. Jewellery
74. Ipad drawing
75. Installation
76. Ink
77. Hair design
78. Glass work
79. Gemstone
80. Fused glass
81. Furniture
82. Food
83. Flowers
84. Flower arranging
85. Fish
86. Fire
87. Fimo
88. Felting
89. Feather decorating
90. Fascinators
91. Family
92. Fabric painting
93. Fabric design
94. Fabric books
95. Embroidery
96. Embossing
97. Drink
98. Dressing up
99. Dream catcher
100. Dancing
101. Cyanotype
102. Cutting
103. Cushion making
104. Crochet
105. Composition (music)
106. Comedy
107. Collecting
108. Clothes making
109. Clock making
110. Climate
111. Clay sculpture
112. Charity
113. Charcoal
114. Cards – playing
115. Cards – commemorating
116. Candle making
117. Calligraphy
118. Cake
119. Bread
120. Brass rubbing
121. Botany
122. Board game
123. Blog
124. Block printing
125. Birds
126. Beads
127. Batik
128. Bath bombs
129. Balloon sculptures
130. Aquarium
131. Animation
132. Animals
133. Acrylic paint

I feel sorry for the z’s and y’s of the world as everyone has given up by the time they have got to the end of the list!

And clearly I cannot do all of this and I am not even sure what I mean by some of them. This final video shows what I have brought with me to start off!

https://vimeo.com/375809864

I have done some research on my theme and here are 2 useful links

https://qz.com/1279371/this-physicists-ideas-of-time-will-blow-your-mind/

https://qz.com/1516804/physics-explains-why-time-passes-faster-as-you-age/

And I have been a bit of a tourist.

Next time I can start showing what I have been making…..

So I wasn’t always Carly. In fact until a few months ago, I was Caroline. But I went on a course to get a brain transplant – note not a personality transplant as I am  happy with that aspect of me but I realised that having a nickname was something I’d always yearned for and so took one. It is a known diminutive of Caroline. Take out the o and turn the ine into a y. Then I rhyme with my kids – Harry, Toby and Betsy. Rather uncool – yes. No it is actually completely naff (do you know where that comes from – not available for f—ing) – how useful is the internet?!

So why would anyone chose to start using a nickname at my age? Well I have always wanted one. Of my siblings, only my sister (Susanne -> Sukey) had one that I gave that to her whilst she was a baby. It was from this nursery rhyme. I rather like to compare these two YouTube videos of ‘Polly put the kettle on’. Funny how YouTube knows where you are as the first one is clearly recorded in India!

I did have nicknames at school but neither Fert nor Fart are particularly nice or kind names so I dispensed with them after school.

So what did possess me to change my name at the ripe old age of 54? Well for one I told people that why not now? Actually I used much worse language to be honest. Like the final f of naff…..

Clearly having a change in marital circumstances was part of it. Also, I had been on a course that did change my life – the Bridge Retreat in Frome, Somerset. The one for the Brain Transplant I mention above. Amazing course. Everyone should do it.

On the last day of the course, I decided I was Carly going forward. But we had no access to the internet otherwise I might have chosen one of the other nicknames names listed below. Carly for sure is a known diminutive of Caroline.

It isn’t that I didn’t like Caroline. I just wanted a change.

Caroline is the female variation of the name Carolus, or Charles (which means “freeman” or “full-grown man”). The name is also interpreted to mean “Beautiful woman” in Latin, “Music” and “Strong” in Italian, “Song of Happiness” in French, and “Joy” in American English.

What I could have chosen.

Nicknames for Caroline

My comments are italicised at the end of the explanation.

1. Caro – The most common nickname for Caroline. This is my Mum’s name for me
2. Carol – If you think Caro is too out there or grownup, try Carol. Never did like this name – sorry to all Carols out there!
3. Callie – Is Callie a nickname for Caroline? Seems so.
4. Caddie – Caddie Woodlawn was named Caroline – Caddie is an old nickname for Caroline. Now this is one I think I would have like more than Carly but too late now. Can’t change it again!
5. Cal – A shortened form of Caroline. Sounds like a boy’s name
6. Car – Short form of Caroline. For real – a car?
7. Cara – A sweet short nickname for Caroline. Agreed
8. Cara Curls – For a Caroline with naturally curly hair – well I don’t!
9. Care Bear – Perhaps, the sweetest Caroline nickname. Vomit
10. Cari – A sweet nickname for Caroline.
11. Carla – Another popular nickname for Caroline.
12. Carly – A cool nickname for Caroline; iCarly made this nickname cooler.
13. Carolien – A Dutch variant of Caroline. Hardly a nickname
14. CaroMine – I do quite like this one too.
15. CaroWine – A funny Caroline nickname. Suitable for a Caroline that cannot do without her bottle of wine. Yup that is me. Particularly in dry Pushkar!
16. Carrie – Another common nickname for Caroline. I know quite of lot of them and also reminds me of Carrie’s war. One reason to choose a more unusual nickname is that there are sooooooooooooooooooooo many Carolines.
17. Cat – Some consider this a stretch, but it is a legitimate Caroline nickname. And another one for a cat lover like me.
18. Cathy – Another nickname considered a stretch, but it works. I disagree – it is a nickname for Catherine really.
19. Cawol – Suitable for a baby girl named Caroline, because if she could talk, this is exactly how she’d pronounce her name. Oh dear – going to vomit again……
20. Caz – More popular in New Zealand and Australia. And of my lovely friend Caroline M.
21. Coco – A cute or funny Caroline nickname, it depends on your tone. And always reminds me of Coco Channel – I should be so lucky to be so famous!
22. Cora – A less popular nickname for Caroline. And no really very nice!
23. Leena/Lina – From caro-LINE. Yes we get it but rather silly.
24. Lennie – A cool nickname for Caroline, culled from Liney. Always reminds me of Lenny Henry so wrong gender. Are we allowed to say that still?
25. Line – Not a very creative nickname, is it? Or at all attractive – Line – just no….
26. Liney/Linney/Linnie – A sweet and playful nickname adapted from the original name Caroline. Better than Line but not much
27. Lollie – Another example of how nicknames evolve. Quite a bit to be honest!
28. Arrow – From (c-ARROW-line) mad mad mad!
29. Ina – A nickname for Caroline with Danish origin.
30. Joy – From the literal meaning of the name (interpreted as Joy in American English) for a happy soul named Caroline.
31. KaroLie – A funny nickname for Caroline, especially if she knows how to spin a lie or two.
32. Olie – Another stretch, but it’s an adorable stretch. No it is silly stretch and I have a nephew with that name! Interesting both he and his sister have nicknames – like their mother Sukey – all my doing!!!!
33. Roe – If you have Caro, Carrol, Line, Liney, you are bound to have “Roe” as well. Well maybe but far fetched.

Things I have done since becoming Carly.

I have learnt to make sourdough bread – I had to leave my starter and hope Sarah and Lizzy feed it well.

I learnt to make yogurt last night – so simple and yummy.

I haven’t really learnt to respond that well to my name – even when no one has called me Caroline (as in Limnisa, Greece or here in India). Leonie came running across the street and physically touched me as she had been calling me Carly several times yesterday with no response!

Kali

A lot of people in India say my name Carly pronounced Kahrli – and it is a bit like their goddess Kali. She looks a bit scary.

Kali’s earliest appearance is that of a destroyer of evil forces. Kali has been worshipped by devotional movements and tantric sects variously as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, Adi Shakti, or Adi Parashakti. Shakta Hindu and Tantric sects additionally worship her as the ultimate reality.

She is also seen as the divine protector and the one who bestows liberation. Kali is often portrayed standing or dancing on her consort, the Hindu god Shiva, who lies calm and prostrate beneath her. Kali is worshipped by Hindus throughout India.

Kali’s most common four-armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trident, a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

Gosh all a bit powerful and scary!

This video really appeals. It is about medical art and reminds me of the fascinating a exhibition I went to with Elle Wilson recently – Body Worlds in London.

A very famous Carly

Carly Simon is a wonderful singer who’s song “You’re so vain – I bet you think this song is about you” is fab.

Other famous Carly’s are the app for cars and the American teen series iCarly

Carly app

iCarly

is an American teen sitcom that ran from 2007 for 5 years staring Miranda Cosgrove and it tells the story of Carly Shay, a teenager who creates her own web show called ‘iCarly’.

This is the end of the self-indulgent Caroline becomes Carly blog post. Next up is going to be about some of the things I have been creating.

This includes yarn bombing (wrapping actually), planting bulbs and seeds and taking lots of slightly weird photos. Oh and cyanotyping if it works out!

I have decided to ground myself by undertaking regular rituals. They aren’t rituals in the true sense and I also think some of the things I think of as rituals are actually ceremonies. There is a useful website (https://www.differencebetween.com/) which helpfully differentiates the two. “A ritual refers to group of actions performed for their symbolic value. A ceremony is performed on a special occasion.” None of my repetitive actions is really either a ritual or a ceremony but anyway here they are.

I am not really very good at yoga but I do try! Here is a short story I wrote. Interesting my kids had different opinions about it. Harry enjoyed it, Toby thought is was very dull and boring and Betsy thought it was good but need to a greater climactic ending. See what you think?

Carly does yoga

Carly knows yoga will be helpful for her wellbeing at this moment in time.

Everyone knows yoga is helpful when you are going through a difficult period. Yoga teaches you to relax. Carly knows she needs to relax more. She investigates. She thinks a simpler, slow version of yoga is best and an early morning yoga class will be best of all, as she will start off the day calmly. Calm Carly. That sounds good.

Carly last did yoga when she was pregnant and that was a very long time ago. Carly thinks yoga will help her develop her inner core – that’s what people say. Carly considers her inner core for a minute.  But Carly gets bored very easily and worries that she will let her mind wander during the yoga. Also, Carly is not very bendy. In fact, the last time she sat crossed-legged was in primary school and now Carly prefers to sit like a duck with her feet sticking out to each side. How will Carly be able to get her knees below the level of her hips? She may need a mountain of rubber yoga blocks under each knee to achieve this. She is worried there won’t be enough blocks left for the other participants. She spends most of the class thinking about these people. Is anyone less bendy than Carly? She thinks probably not. She is correct. No one is less bendy than Carly. She makes a miserable face but she carries on. Carly tries all different yoga animal poses. She has to be a dog, a cow and a cat. She wonders if there are chicken, lizard or rabbit yoga poses? She tries to bring herself back to the present by concentrating on her breath. She listens to the yoga teacher who tells her to be a baby. Carly makes a sulky face as she has remembered she hates babies. That is odd as Carly is a paediatrician.

Once she has completed the animal section of the yoga, Carly does some sun salutation dance positions and repeats the sequence three times. She likes the number three. In fact, she likes all odd numbers as she feels they get a hard time compared to even ones. By nature, Carly likes to support the underdog. Even underdog numbers. Then she does some warrior positions. Carly is surprised there are war-like yoga positions. But she goes with the flow. She does warrior 1, warrior 2 and finally warrior 3 . This last one is a side angle warrior which can be extended to expose all your organs to the elements. Carly thinks of a crow pecking away at her left lung and spleen as she stretches up towards the sky.

Then Carly is instructed she needs to find a partner. Hmmmmm… she thinks. Who is the same size as her? She surveys the heights of the other yoga participants. They are all taller than her. Last night she went for a walk with Wendy after drinking a lot of wine and they farted the entire way home following the consumption of some vegetarian moussaka for dinner made with lentils. She smiles at Wendy who agrees to partner her. When she bends down, she mouths silently to Wendy to desist from farting and they both erupt in giggles. This is not very zen at all.

Carly is relieved as she can finally start the last pose. This involves resting flat on her back with her palms facing upwards in submission. It is called the corpse pose. Phew! Carly can do that well. She closes her eyes and concentrates on her breath and what she would like to eat for breakfast. She keeps her eyes shut to savour this part of the yoga class and bring her attention back to her breathing. The teacher carefully draws symmetrically around her face. Carly is overwhelmed and cries. Yoga has been good for her.

Carly does yoga.

Carly knows yoga will be helpful for her wellbeing at this moment in time.

Everyone knows yoga is helpful when you are going through a difficult period. Yoga teaches you to relax. Carly knows she needs to relax more. She investigates. She thinks a simpler, slow version of yoga is best and an early morning yoga class will be best of all, as she will start off the day calmly. Calm Carly. That sounds good.

Carly last did yoga when she was pregnant and that was a very long time ago. Carly thinks yoga will help her develop her inner core – that’s what people say. Carly considers her inner core for a minute.  But Carly gets bored very easily and worries that she will let her mind wander during the yoga. Also, Carly is not very bendy. In fact, the last time she sat crossed-legged was in primary school and now Carly prefers to sit like a duck with her feet sticking out to each side. How will Carly be able to get her knees below the level of her hips? She may need a mountain of rubber yoga blocks under each knee to achieve this. She is worried there won’t be enough blocks left for the other participants. She spends most of the class thinking about these people. Is anyone less bendy than Carly? She thinks probably not. She is correct. No one is less bendy than Carly. She makes a miserable face but she carries on. Carly tries all different yoga animal poses. She has to be a dog, a cow and a cat. She wonders if there are chicken, lizard or rabbit yoga poses? She tries to bring herself back to the present by concentrating on her breath. She listens to the yoga teacher who tells her to be a baby. Carly makes a sulky face as she has remembered she hates babies. That is odd as Carly is a paediatrician.

Once she has completed the animal section of the yoga, Carly does some sun salutation dance positions and repeats the sequence three times. She likes the number three. In fact, she likes all odd numbers as she feels they get a hard time compared to even ones. By nature, Carly likes to support the underdog. Even underdog numbers. Then she does some warrior positions. Carly is surprised there are war-like yoga positions. But she goes with the flow. She does warrior 1, warrior 2 and finally warrior 3 . This last one is a side angle warrior which can be extended to expose all your organs to the elements. Carly thinks of a crow pecking away at her left lung and spleen as she stretches up towards the sky.

Then Carly is instructed she needs to find a partner. Hmmmmm… she thinks. Who is the same size as her? She surveys the heights of the other yoga participants. They are all taller than her. Last night she went for a walk with Wendy after drinking a lot of wine and they farted the entire way home following the consumption of some vegetarian moussaka for dinner made with lentils. She smiles at Wendy who agrees to partner her. When she bends down, she mouths silently to Wendy to desist from farting and they both erupt in giggles. This is not very zen at all.

Carly is relieved as she can finally start the last pose. This involves resting flat on her back with her palms facing upwards in submission. It is called the corpse pose. Phew! Carly can do that well. She closes her eyes and concentrates on her breath and what she would like to eat for breakfast. She keeps her eyes shut to savour this part of the yoga class and bring her attention back to her breathing. The teacher carefully draws symmetrically around her face. Carly is overwhelmed and cries. Yoga has been good for her.

The end of Carly does yoga.

and the end of this blog. The next one is on Becoming Carly.

The camel festival

This happens yearly at the beginning of November. The room rents triple and unless you arrive right at the outset all the quality camels have gone. However you can still buy some beautiful stud reared horses.

When you arrive at the Mela (the festival marketplace) you can take a ride,

Probably the most memorable stall was the camel welfare stall run by Camel Charisma who look after camels near Ranakpur. They were selling camel milk, soap, wool products and paper made from dung. They do a lot of conservation work as camels are dwindling in numbers. https://www.camelcharisma.com/

The camel fair meant there was a lot of noise and religious shrines belting out prayers 24/7. But I loved the feel of Pushkar so returned for a longer stay.

Next post is about rituals.

At home I had 2 cats and 2 dogs to look after for the last year mostly by myself with help from others – so it is odd to give them all away – either temporarily or permanently – not sure yet. So of course I looked to chat and talk to animals in India. And there is no shortage of them. Here are my thoughts about them in my first week. So as not to show favouritism I shall list them in alphabetical order.

Camels

As I have come specifically to buy one I will have a dedicated camel input once I have done my Pushkar International Camel Fair Blog. As they sell horses I will include them also!

Cats

Cattle

In India they wander around everywhere. Many are willing to be stroked but not all of them. You often see them being walked along by women who I presume milk them as this is a very dairy culture.

Chipmunks

These are the Siberian variety and a rodent. They zip around all over the show. They seem cute as have stripy backs and furry tails. I have only seen one rat. However my all time favourite poems is about mice by Rose Fyleman

I think mice are rather nice;
Their tails are long, their faces small;
They haven’t any chins at all.
Their ears are pink, their teeth are white,
They run about the house at night;
They nibble things they shouldn’t touch,
and, no one seems to like them much,
but, I think mice are rather nice.

Dogs

This is Pipo – an German Shepherd/street dog puppy at the Mosaic’s Guesthouse. Loved my trainers. Total sweety. And lots of other dogs to stroke for the brave. If they sniff me, I stroke them. Not the very mangy ones. But the normal ones with nice coats.

Elephants

They are returning from taking visitors up to Amber Fort. This one is highly decorated and the one below has a man on a scooter driving around them! Seems some local charities have been involved in the past in ensuring none of their drivers use metal sticks any more and provide veterinary care. But I wouldn’t ride one…..

Goats

This goat keeps trying to take food and goods from vendors outside Amber Fort.

Monkeys

Ubiquitous and very naughty. This one is eating a marigold holy necklace and one came into my room to see what he fancied taking. But I was having none of that and showed him the door PDQ.

Pigs

Quite a lot of pigs wandering around eating rubbish. Here is a family in Pushkar. Opposite the cafe run by Manish – where you can actually get a decent cappuccino!

• 

• 

over and out from Carly and a few animals…..