How Time Goes Faster As You Get Older.blog

I felt very mixed about Goa when I arrived. I was seeking warmth and it certainly has this. But it felt very different from the rest of India. More finished off and it was much more expensive. I have spent more than double here in one month than I did in Rajasthan. But having two kids and flights at peak times does really set the cat amongst the pigeons financially!

But the Goa pace really grows on you and I realised that I really like staying in places for between four and nine days where the owners are on site and there are about five rooms. This means you often eat with other guests but have freedom during the day to do your own thing. I shall be sad to be leaving.

Logo ideas

One thing I wanted to do was design a logo to fit with my theme – not the now morphed purple, spiral and prime one but the original one – How Time Goes Faster as You Get Older. It was going to be in purple or its shades, and it would heavily feature spirals and if I was going to do a series of them in a particular medium then it would be a prime number! I did five or seven in fact.

I started off on the beach in Mandrem, north Goa. This was an easy place to do this as were staying virtually on the beach and our particular part had no deck chairs or cafes on the sand. So, this meant there was ample space for me to do some sand drawings or rather swirly spiral shapes using my fingers in the wet sand once the tide went out. Some people did come up and ask me what I was doing but mostly this was in Russian and so I just had to shrug and say I didn’t speak Russian.

I then did further logo ideas using water colours, acrylic paints and drawing them on the computer. I photographed them around the very pretty place I was staying in Majorda, South Goa at Vivenda dos Palhaços (www.vivendagoa.com).

So, the bottom line. I had fun making up these logo ideas and no I don’t have a preferred one that I could decide is my logo favourite. So, my logo ideas will remain as that. Ever changing.

They have to be free flowing, fluid, purple and spirally often with dots. Because if you can’t draw (and really, I can’t and cannot be bothered to learn) then dots and swirly shapes are easy. Even for me.

Post soap shavings project

I wasn’t sure what to do with the soap that I had shaved and used in the spiral soap shaving project (see earlier blog on 7th Jan). I squished a load of the spirals together and thought I could make some montages using some glitter netting I had bought in Margao. I had bought some new stick on jewels and I still had a lot of my original washi tapes to use up. It is a fun project but it needed special packing with fleece to protect it to return to London.

Spirals

It was quite early on that I realised my understanding of the my them about How Time Goes Faster as you Get Older would embrace spirals as central.

Of course, as it is one thing I can doodle and so being able to draw spirals would be an added bonus. Actually, a necessity when you are as rubbish at drawing as I am! This particular project was started by Amy Russell who is working with Casa Susegad to increase their social media footfall.

She went around taking photos of spirals for me. Oh, and Rory the kitten she has been charged to care for!

Once you start you can go a bid mad seeing spirals everywhere. Especially in Goa where many people have wrought iron gates often with spiral designs.

And spirals abound in nature too.

I decided that as frangipani is my most favoured flower scent here, I could do another project with them if I made them into a spiral and swung them about on a swing. I did also twist up the swing but that video really is too much. Just them swinging backwards and forwards is enough!

And then I met Robb Lawton whilst staying at Olaulim Backyards (and he got the whole spiral thing so I have three links connected to him and his sons). Robb was an engineer but is now retired and a keen cyclist and pianist. Here he is playing https://soundcloud.com/user-489434128/the-windmills-of-your-mind the Windmills of Your Mind – yup pretty spiral I think? Well enough to fit in the theme! One son (Tom) is an inventor and I love his solar powered spiral made from plastic waste dredged from the sea (https://www.tomlawton.com/) and the other (Will) is a musician and composer (https://www.willlawtonmusic.co.uk/). I was drawn to his piece the Golden Ratio. This is found everywhere in nature and here is the simplest explanation I could find. The Golden Ratio (also known as the Golden Section, Golden Mean, Divine Proportion or Greek letter Phi – φ (uppercase) ϕ (lowercase)) exists when a line is divided into two parts and the longer part (a) divided by the smaller part (b) is equal to the sum of (a) + (b) divided by (a), which both equal 1.618. Reading it back through maybe I don’t really understand it! And even if the golden ratio isn’t really a spiral the lower case letter phi ϕ is certainly spiralish! So the Lawton men are very creative but I loved the Lawton women I met (Lynne – Robb’s wife and Katie his daughter who runs Bhuj house where I stayed whilst in Gujarat).

Water and Rainbows

One morning after my run along the nature trail I was having my breakfast when I noticed some the nearby foliage was being watered. It was a lovely sound but when I went closer there were rainbows to be seen and photographed. And as we all know. One of the colours is purple!

I loved the way the camera catches the water and the dashed linear lines of the rainbow.

Next time I will be in the final month of my sabbatical. I will start in Hampi in the Indian state of Karnataka. This has loads of temples and boulders which look like they have come from outer space.

I am staying in Olaulim Backyards with the following….

Savio and Pirkko who own this wonderfully serene place. Then there are their teenage children who often help out (impressive for teenagers!), other guests and ……

a donkey, a goat, a pony, three cats, four dogs. This morning I saw frogs jumping around and I am told there are fish eating crocodiles in the river but they are shy and haven’t been spotted recently. Mantra, the donkey, has a distinctive bray which people often record for their phone ring. Currently I have dogs barking on my phone to distinguish it from the other iPhone rings at work! I think I would quite like a woodpecker actually. The donkey eeey-ooohr would scare people when my phone rang.

Painting and Drawing

I used pens, charcoal, pencils, felt tips, crayons and oil pastels. I tried to copy the designs that I had made from the Spirograph I made originally. I did them all super quickly. Often holding more than one pen in my hand at a time.

Overall, I was very disappointed with these drawings. It brought home to me loud and clear that I cannot draw. It felt I had done too many and that I was careless and not really describing what I want. I think it is bound up in doing things as quickly as possible when I don’t feel confident in them. So, my knitting and crochet are really good and are slow. Anything I have ever made in knitting with big needles and thick wool which takes only a short amount of time, I don’t really like. So, it is really no surprise that I feel I am not good at something, rush it and then get disillusioned.

I even had a try at electronic drawing on my Microsoft pro laptop and was more pleased with this than my drawings on A3. I think I had even chosen such large pieces of paper to do a huge drawing as quickly as possible. Drawing sabotage.

In Boroda (Vadodara) after I had done my washi tape circles, I felt confident to try and tackle the paintbrush again! I did a practice with five different brushes that I bought for applying makeup – I only wear lipstick and eyeliner and because I cry so readily rarely mascara. I drew first round some circular shapes. I used the foam pad (to apply eye shadow) and this worked well. There were small gaps and I used all the different purples I could muster up. I used the djecko felt tip pens which you could blur with water and also worked well but only on this small practice one. I wonder if they have just run out! I also tried with the permanent markers and surprise they didn’t water down or bleed out at all! Silly me. Then I used the applicator most similar to a paintbrush with one colour which I watered down until I reached the edge and this was one of my favourite techniques. Finally, I used the rouge brush but it should really only be applying rouge – rubbish as a paint applicator!

In the end I only did two final pieces – the one with the foam eyeshadow pad and the paint brush with increasingly diluted colour as you reached the edge of the paper.

Feeling slightly more confident and mindful I really cannot continue carrying around the large fixative spray, I did some similar charcoal drawings. Firstly, on lilac paper as my white is running out. I chose which pencil (of the rather inferior ones from Tiger!) worked best and did two finished pieces I think are passable.  

My final pieces were made at the beginning of my time in Goa using a stencil that I had bought in Ahmadabad. I know. Not really drawing or paining but rather filling in!

As it was so hot in our room I moved to a yoga tent and Betsy came with to paint (on paper and herself!). The only problem was when she used acrylic paint on herself which was difficult to remove and I needed her to model in my Tatouage project (see blog 14th January 2020 Getting into Goa).

They aren’t really painting or drawing but I think I have come to terms with my inability to paint or draw. There are some further ideas for a logo which I will post in a later blog. To be honest, I just don’t have the patience!

Scooting about the Place

I knew that we would rent a scooter when Harry came out as he has done this before, is proficient and has had riders on the back. Also, we were staying pretty off the beaten track so getting a scooter was a given. However, Betsy was keen we rent one too. We did it for a day because that was enough stress for both of us and to be honest, we were in the thick of it and didn’t really need one. But I did travel on the back of it to take photos of purple Goan flowers! And we went off to a shop that sold bindis so I could make some more art projects with them. We also went to lunch at Kitty Masala where we had some smoothie bowls.

When Harry came out, we bit the bullet and hired it for six days.

I tried it tentatively once and then Harry suggested we go for a longer trip and he was very encouraging and we made it! Phew. Having a scooter meant when Harry came, we had a lovely time visiting way off grid places and having fun.

Coins

I had decided that the next project to be completed was felting. I had carried along the fleece, felting needles, pipe cleaners for far too long and I was over half way through January and the time had come. But I had forgotten how to felt – well actually I hadn’t but I really wanted to carry on my montages using my method of foil centre and tapes around the edge.

I had a collection of five different Indian coins and so they sung to me more – use me, use me rather than the felt! The coins weren’t purple.

Had never been but they would make a nice centre piece on the chocolate foil pieces I was using. I have made so many of these montages but the foil just isn’t running out! The tapes have and I am now a regular at any shop that says paper or stationary or gift on the outside to buy yet more rather unsticky tape! I managed to make the coin project last a whole day along with reading, yoga and swimming in the nature pool whilst listening and saying hello to the frogs rather than start on the felt. Worse still in my head was, by complete co-incidence, another felter staying there for me to check on techniques. Even worse for my procrastination self. Yes not a usual state but the felt was really getting to me!

Obsessions with Goan Purple

Arriving in Goa with all the colour was magical. North Goa had some purple – flowers and lots of clothes for sale to tourists in my sabbatical colour! But moving to Casa Susegad was like a dream come true. The whole place was painted various of my long list of purples. I shall spare you and not repeat the list now. But some of the words like heliotrope are lovely!

I enjoyed taking photos of the staff who wore a bluey purple uniform. It was unusual as nearly all the staff were women – most places seemed to have employees who were all men. I noticed how the owners (Carole and Norman) had very personable relationships for their staff having known them for many years. They told me best to take the photograph of them at 4pm when they all sat down and had chai!

Other photographs were taken at the time of day when the light can be said to be purple or anything that caught my attention. Nothing too serious. Just an mild obsession!

Over and out this Tuesday morning at the end of January 2020. I am busy with my sewing and felting (I did get on with it in the end!) as well as some more sticking (of course) for my next shipment later this week.

I have moved to the backwaters of Goa. I was staying on a spice plantation in modest accommodation. I loved the frogs in the natural pond the most. Usually I am repulsed by slimy creatures (slugs and snails mostly) but I loved the noises they make. They have a nature trail around the plantation that I have used as an early morning run. On my last day I took a video in a circle. I wanted to speed up at the end so that it would be like a spiral but then I would have fallen off the boulder I was standing on!

Chintamani Al Chemistry

I have tried to curtail my spend whilst in India. I have bought far too much stuff out from the UK and already shipped back two boxes of 25 Kg each and plan to send another soon. But this shop (Chintamani Al Chemistry https://www.etsy.com/shop/chintamanialchemi/) in Mandrem was so beautifully designed and no one was hassling you to buy anything which made shopping there a very pleasant experience.

I would have bought the whole shop but it wasn’t cheap, so I decided on a dress, a shawl/coat/wrap, fabric boots and a bag. Yes, this was rather over the top but I have already worn it loads and will do so in the UK. I love wearing boots and the leather ones I have here from fly London are too heavy to be honest. They are purple though! I bought them before the current obsession started.

When I was paying, the shop assistant gave me some stickers from the shop and I used these in two montages. Seemed like a good plan early one morning at Vivenda dos Palhaços when I was in full sticking and pasting mode. I went a bit mad the next morning and photographed and videoed them in the pool on metal trays used to deliver food and drink!

Rory the Kitten with Purple

Arriving at Casa Susegad was for sure enhanced by having a kitten there.

He was full steam ahead up to all the antics of confident kittens. I am not sure he helped much with Harry’s maths but he did like to play with the purple ball I made him and the purple toy car.

Amy Russell was responsible for him and he loved her unconditionally. Sometimes I would hold him whilst she would escape to her room to have some Rory free time. As Casa Susegad is mostly blues and purples wherever Rory went it fitted my colour theme.

Interesting all the houses in Goa are very different to the rest of India. They are clearly designed using the original Portuguese architecture. Interestingly I thought they were always painted bright colours but this actually isn’t the case but a recent change now that people can afford luscious paint colours now and because of the climate need to repaint very often. It does mean there are a great deal of purple properties.

Mostly Purple Stuff with Betsy     

Betsy and I did a couple of touring days out. Firstly, we went to Old Goa and the surrounds. We arrived at Bom Jesus Church where the remains of Saint Francis Xavier were interred. She had studied about him in her A-level Theology class and was keen to go. I asked her to take photos of me outside by the purple door and there was a rather scary sculpture of Jesus looking rather bloody. She also made me stand by the ‘relics only’ sign. I played along although she perceives me as old and done, with I certainly don’t! We then went to a spice plantation and the Olaulim backwaters to kayak.

Then we went on another trip to the Anjuna Wednesday flea market. Betsy had a necklace with her name made and bought a bag that looked like it came from Victoria Secrets. This was for laundry at Leeds Uni.

One afternoon we did purple face masks – actually only the packaging was purple and the masks were white. And then I found a load of selfies that Betsy had taken on my camera. I don’t even know how to do them! I hope she approves of the ones I have uploaded here. If she doesn’t then that is a usual mother/daughter disagreement situation. Hey ho……

China and Cushions

Apart from the purple I am not sure these really are an essential part of any project here! However, I liked the china they were using at Devpur so I photographed it.

The cushions (purple!) were stacked overnight so they didn’t get wet in the covered banquets and they made for a fun early morning photography venture in Mandrem before anyone was up – well apart from me!

Om

This is actually pronounced aum with two vowels and a consonant at the end. This was something that Anika taught us at the early morning Kitty Masala yoga class in Mandrem, Goa. Om signifies the essence of the ultimate reality and is integral to both Yoga and Hinduism.

Om’, ‘Ohm’ or ‘Aum’ is a sacred sound that is known generally as the sound of the universe. Om is all encompassing, the essence of ultimate reality, and unifies everything in the universe.

I found two packets of eight stickers at one of the many stationary shops I managed to find in Goa. Luckily this added up to my theme of lower prime numbers (except I now know 1 is not a prime – thanks Harry but grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr). So, I did four montages with my foil and tapes. It does seem significant that 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16.

I like what Om signifies……. It can refers to Atman (soul, self within) and Brahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). It is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in Hindu texts such as the Vedas.

I am now at my final Goan destination with the Pirkko and Savio Fernandes in Olaulim Backwaters (http://www.olaulimgoa.com/) and arrived yesterday. I took out a kayak to see the sunset and had to weave in and out of some fishing nets. Lucky I am not a bad kayaker and it all worked out well.

I have now successfully sorted out how to use Goa Miles to get to my next port of call – Dudhsangar (www.dudhsagarplantation.com). This is the Goa version of Uber and much cheaper than other taxis. It can be a bit hit and miss getting it to pick you up and as I don’t have an Indian sim card (trying to keep off devices!) they can’t get hold of me that easily. Having turned off WhatsApp doesn’t help that either but so far it has worked and the pick up place seems to come up ok on their location settings. Here at Vivenda dos Palhaços (http://www.vivendagoa.com/), I have to say goodbye to Charlotte (co-owner with her brother Simon), the lovely staff and the basset hounds Totty (not short for anything!) and Gigolo (NEITHER named by Charlotte she assures me) and the street dog Kitten. I do love their logo.

During my time in India I have been writing in a number of books. I bought the first three in Anokhi (https://www.anokhi.com/) in Jaipur as I love their stationary. I also bought cards there and have used them all up!

1 The smallest is for reflections on animals at one end and for expenses at the other.

2 Next is a general thoughts about what is going on in my head book. This was a substitute for my ‘morning pages’ that I had diligently done since March 2018. Three pages of A4 handwritten every morning as suggested by Julia Cameron in the Artist’s Way. It is like a mind dump and several very useful revelations would come to me through the process of handwriting. But here I have other books and so haven’t written like this here. At the other end are notes I recorded whilst on various journeys.

3 This is a book of all my ideas for what I am going to make including technical details. Quite often I haven’t made some of my ideas but it has been helpful when I am getting stuck. At the back is a list of all the fiction and non-fiction books I have read (or being honest here – started and shipped back).

4 Next is a flowery paisley book I bought yesterday and have decided that I will cut and paste things for the last six weeks. Usually I do this when away but have only decided to start now – mostly because I found this book made from recycled paper with a purple cover now!

5 I bought this book at the airport in Delhi and I didn’t really like the cover so used some very thick acrylic paint in Pushkar to cover it purple. I use this to record what I have actually made and the process – as if I was going to repeat it! A bit like my laboratory methods section for my thesis on linkage analysis for Paroxysmal Extreme Pain Disorder (previously Familial Rectal Pain).

6 I found this marvellous book with 100 pages in my colour theme in the market in Pushkar. I decided I would write all my good and wholesome memories of my long time together (35 years) with Adrian before our divorce. I would not allow myself to go online to jog my memory! It is incredible how reliant we are on google to check things out. I also refused to go on to PhotoBox to jog my memory where I have 1000s of family photographs. I am getting near the end with a wealth of great memories. It has been very restorative and of course sad. But as most of you know. It doesn’t take much for me to cry. Just listening to the theme song of the movie Love Story sets me off!

Bindi and Mehndi

Bindi are used to decorate the forehead for Hindus. They are for sale everywhere (well not really in Goa!) and super cheap. They are fun to stick and I have used them in a number of circular and spiral projects using interesting handmade paper. Most of these projects were done at Devpur where the light was fantastic and this inspired me.

I have always been fascinated by the process and end result of hennaed hands usually for weddings (known as mendhi). When I went to the Anjuna Wednesday flea market (https://anjunafleamarket.business.site/) with Betsy I bought some stick-on pink (they didn’t have purple!) mehndi and we had fun one morning after breakfast applying them to her arms. Once the photography session was over, I had some large A3 paper I had bought at the paper factory in Ahmadabad to place them permanently to return to the UK in the end of Jan shipment.

By then Betsy had had enough of my craft projects so I had to draw around my arms myself. Just then I typed had had. This reminds me of the sentence where you have 11 of the words had in a row. I will change the names from Peter, John and the teacher to make it more Goan.

Joachim, where Salvador had had “had had”, had had “had”; “had had” had had the approval of the teacher Juanita. Brilliant – 11 (prime number!) hads……

Butterflies

When I was going up to Pavagadh near Boroda (Vadodara) with Toby we passed a stall selling some stick-on layered butterflies. Some had purple in them so I bought the packet of five. I was planning to use them in my fabric books but in the end, I couldn’t resist using them up with my tapes on the lovely card Norman and Amy bought me from Margao.

I seem to have come up with a formula that works for me. I make five of a series (see next blog of Om using a similar design and further ones of shells and coins). I stick the central piece on one of the colourful foil pieces that are for those making and selling handmade chocolates. I use some of the various tapes I have brought with me (washi tape) or some of what I have bought here. To make the corners special and sometimes to cover what might not be the best mitred edge I stick shells or gold hoops or other bits and bobs.

In Casa Susegad Norman and Carole had bar stools made and they were all painted slightly different colours of blue/green hues. I took individual and then lined up the chairs and took the group. Then I discovered that Amy Russell who is working with Norman and Carole is a far better photographer than me and so she happily did the honours to great effect.

Goa Lights

Not unlike the photography at night project in the Secret Garden in Pushkar I enjoyed whizzing my camera around at night making pretty patterns with lights in the evening in Goa. I did them both in Mandrem at BeachStreet Eco Resort and then in Casa Susegad. Besides whizzing the camera at full speed, I also took off the autofocus to take some interesting photos of the fairy lights in a bottle so that they were super out of focus.

We spend our waking hours mostly when it is light as we are so visually dependant but blue hour, golden hour and night reveal really beautiful shapes, lights and colours. Sometimes the camera will produce something altogether very different from what we can see. Particularly if the photo is exposed over time or is set to be out of focus. It is like having an alternative control over what is available through your light sensing ability.

Favourite Words with Three Ps which Resonate with me.

Every morning I would run in the mango orchard in Devpur and to alleviate the tedium of running I would make up sentences with the letter p. As all my themes have p in them. Spiral, prime and purple. Then I thought about all the words with three ps in them….

Panpipes

I have always loved this music. It started on a skiing trip to Switzerland where every night a panpipe player would entertain all the guests early evening. My kids would roll their eyes and sigh and I would be in heaven and crying as the music was so haunting and melodious. Here is a good collection https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SFpJ1EkU1w.

Paperclip

This always reminds me of the task from the NHS Staff College Leadership Course – how many uses can you think of. Even now I wish I had some with me here to turn into spirals for some of my projects. This task enabled me to be more confident in just how important it is to think outside of the box!

Poppadum, Pappadum, Pappad….

My still favourite Indian snack. I always eat too many at the Raza (in Stoke Newington, East London – http://rasarestaurants.com/rasa-n16/a) before the rest of the feast comes. I thought masala poppadum here would be the same with a bit of masala spice but it is almost a whole meal with quite a few chopped up raw vegetables. Like a premeal Indian pizza.

Peppercorns

These are superb added to food and I like the range of colours – white, green, red and black which are really dark brown. Now I am staying at Dudhsagar Plantation and have just completed my third spice tour. Firstly with Betsy at the Tropical Spice Plantation (http://www.tropicalspiceplantation.com/) with many tour buses coming in and out with huge long tables to feed everyone (several 100). The tour was excellent and it was cheap – full veggie lunch on a plate made from plant leaves for 400 rupees each. Then I went to another spice plantation (Savoi Plantation http://savoiplantations.com/) with Harry which was much more remote and reachable by scooter. We were the only ones there and had a private tour where I could ask a zillion questions and Harry could sigh! The food was superb and it was more costly (950 rupees each). Now I am staying at this wonderful plantation farm-stay (www.dudhsagarplantation.com) and had a free tour with all the other guests including an extremely exuberant boy of six who got very excited about the dogs and termites!

Peppermint

Such a wonderfully cooling taste and colour. Not in my theme but nonetheless lovely on both counts. Harry bought a lovely peppermint shirt with a Nehru collar here!

Peppy

The word Tharun in Devpur used to describe me – lively and high spirited. He used this having met me for a very short time. Gosh am I that transparent? Clearly yes!

Philippines

This is where I spent a brilliant three months on my elective. I loved the contrast with my time in the capital Manila at a huge maternity hospital with 120 deliveries per day and then staying with a midwife with rudimentary medicines (mostly antibiotics) in the north of Luzon.

Pineapple

A great tropical staple and in pina colada – a fabulous cocktail. I always remember the time on the beach in South East Asia where they would come up and intricately carve an entire pineapple so you could hold it by the base and eat it all with no sharp, spiky bits.

Plopping

A word used so many times in my favourite knitting murder mystery and suspense series featuring detective sleuth Kelly Flynn by Maggie Sefton. Kelly is forever arriving somewhere with her knitting and plopping it down. You can hear the bag with the contents of fine yarn and needles in a special case making this noise!

Polypeptides

My connection with medicine has, until now, been steadfast. But whilst here it has waned. It does leave me with a problem with my title of what to use if I no longer practice medicine! Polypeptides are pretty important physiologically and increasingly now pharmacologically.

Poppers

I have always enjoyed a good session with party poppers. Best were the shows with puppets Neen used to do for my children when they were young from behind the lilac sofa in the front room. The ending always had loads of spray foam and party poppers.

Poppy

A delicate and ethereal flower. I love to see fields of poppies – I have seen roses and marigolds here as they have special religious significance. However, poppies waver around in the breeze majestically.

Poppycock

This is such a great word to describe people talking a total load of nonsense. It is rather less brutal with a hint of humour!

Puppies

I suppose I love kittens the best as I am primarily a cat rather than a dog person. I rather prefer the cat’s attitude that it is all about me rather than the sycophantic dog who loves you unconditionally. I assume the cat doesn’t love anyone conditionally or otherwise. But here in India I have seen lots of groups of puppies and they are great to photograph.

This has been a rather lengthy post because of the long intro. So a short conclusion with a great version of a favourite song. It is the “sound of silence” released recently which I wasn’t sure I would even listen to but did (thanks Norman from Casa Susegad for persuading me!).

well Harry leaves later today to be absolutely truthful and correct!

Once you are over half way it seems like the end is nigh. But I do have just over six weeks left and really shouldn’t complain! And my journey will continue in the hot south but I plan to leave Goa at the end of Jan. I have had lovely and nourishing stays at both Casa Susegad (https://casasusegad.com/) being looked after by the wonderful staff and then onto Vivenda Dos Palhacos (http://www.vivendagoa.com/) with an equally attentive and kind team. They are pretty near each other and close to the lovely Majorda beaches in South Goa.

Purple Shell Mobile

I went with Betsy to the Anjuna weekly flea market. We did pretty well, holding back from any major buys and got a rickshaw back. We bought a few necklaces and other bits. I was persuaded to get a rather horrid shell necklace that I only as much as glanced at for 10 seconds as it was purple and it was thrown in for a song with our other purchases (some cheap fabrics). Betsy also had a necklace made from bright green and pink acrylic with beads spelling her name using macramé. We failed to agree on a price before it was made and were totally fleeced on this! And I still needed to make it into a choker on a comfortable piece of purple ribbon for it ever to see the light of day again. I suspect it will eventually become a trusty key-ring!

But back to the shells. I thought as I still had some copper wire and other beads I could make yet another one of my spiral (prime number) mobiles but to be honest I lost count of the shells and just used them all up (apart from a few that feature in Kali mobiles – see my next blog!). Twisting the wire round and making anything in this heat and humidity is much more intense than in Gujarat or Rajasthan. But there was a very nice setting for the final photos. And I am on the coast and the shells were purple so I shall not be too hard on myself or be negative. I hope it makes its way back to the UK in my third shipping box from Goa at the end of Jan without too many mishaps. Or little creepy-crawlies!

Eating and Drinking Purple

This is another play on an earlier blog post about purple food.

This time I have had either more of it, photographed it differently or had new purple foods.

When I bought the packet of sweets – Betsy ribbed me about it.

Similarly, the purple crisps – in fact they were all time disgusting and despite being hungry I couldn’t finish the packet. I, however, did an extraordinary number of photos with them using the bowls made from coconut I had bought at the very touristy tropical spice plantation.

I think part of it is the obsession I now have with purple and the dearth of food and drinks that colour so when I see them, I am drawn to them in a compulsive manner.

With the crisps I was so disappointed in the taste I filled the bowl with water to see if I could colour the water as I believed the crisps had been artificially dyed. I mean have you ever seen purple sweet potato? Me neither but truly no colour came out in my water wash experiment. Hey ho. You live and learn!

Haberdashery

On my quest for all purple decorations I am often drawn here in India to craft and stationary shops. They sell tapes and stickers and I have lots of other bits and pieces. Getting heavy card helps me with sticking using a pretty wet glue. I think even the word haberdashery holds so much charm for me. I could never ever resist a ‘pop in’ when visiting Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

This has been my go-to place – Brent X – for decades. Fenwicks is just such a messy store and I know where everything is at John Lewis. I used to go so frequently when Harry was little, he once asked me when I was tucking him up for bed if I was going out that evening with John Lewis! I first went to Brent X with my aunt Rosalyn when it opened in 1976 when I was 11. I used to cycle there often but as my purchasing power increased, I usually went there in a car. Betsy liked it almost as much as me. She is more of a charity shop shopper to be honest now!

Back to haberdashery here! Well actually I need to mention that I had brought quite a bit of stuff with me from Slanchogled in Camden Town, London. I will often divert my cycle trip back from central London via this lovely craft haven which is a bit out of my way. I have just looked them up and whilst I have been here in India, they have closed down. Oh dear. Now I am sad. No more diversionary excuses on my cycle trips!

So, equipped with both bits and bobs from here and there, painted or sprayed some version of purple I have a few projects to display. I have used wooden and felted flowers, beaded wire and feathers.

And finally, one project which really is just the detritus from some other projects (see Om in the next blog) and bits of jewellery as well as tape. Enjoy!

String

Despite bringing an entire bag of yarn from Handweavers’ Studio in Finsbury Park with me I was drawn to a fancy lilac string with silver flecks and a good hardy rough jute type twine in deep purple. I feel sorry for string. A bit like odd numbers and other lesser items.

But string is good and I had an idea of a project for them. I have also used them to tie things up. Like the soap I had left over from my lavender soap shaving project.

Bernice from New York suggested I buy these great and very thin pins which are red on one side and peach on the other. I used them to interweave a purple grass I liked. Spot the odd one out!

I am reminded how lots of string is used in Rajasthan and elsewhere in India to tie up liquids such as chai and yogurt and milk in bags. Shame about the plastic though. I was heartened here in South Goa to visit Carpe Diem a gallery with a fabulous exhibition of a Goan artist Mohan Naik – l love his wonderful naïve work (https://www.carpediemgoa.com/photo-gallery/dev-borem-korum) – and visited the café where they a total moratorium on using straws at all. I had a delicious brownie milkshake for 120 rupees – very good value for Goa and drank it from the cup lip. Who really needs straws?

Back to string. It was too rough to crochet or knit. Weaving would work but I didn’t bring a loom or have easy access to one. So, I decided to sew it onto heavy white card. I then had the best fun embellishing it with pins and a purple racing car for the photo shoot!

So today the last of my three kids is leaving. Of course that gives me some freedom to not creep around the room at 0600 gathering my bits to work on whilst they sleep. But I won’t see them till March. And then it is back to reality and the NHS and UCL. FaceTime works reasonably well to keep in touch with most people luckily when I am feeling lonely. But to be honest it is difficult to really feel lonely in India. So many lovely kind and friendly people.

Betsy has left and Harry has arrived. I have switched as they say here rather than moved to South Goa. I am being wholly looked after by the wonderful team of Norman and Carole in their fabulous old property Casa Susegad (https://casasusegad.com/). I feel so at home with the staff and the ability to carry on with my themes. We have rented a scooter to get to the beach and other places but otherwise are tucked away inland in the heat and humidity. More importantly there are three dogs here – Basil, Lisa and Missy as well as countless cats. Most favoured by me are the siblings Ginger and Garlic (fluffiest cat in India to be sure) and totally adoration for the ginger kitten Rory.

More later with his antics with the purple ball I made him.

Kali Works

I have already done an entry on Kali but couldn’t resist buying 10 double sided stickers of the Hindu god Kali at the Anjuna weekly flee market. I gave three to Betsy and kept the rest. One hit the trash bin and one was a practice.

I did manage to count there were a number of primes here. Kali has five heads to the left and five to the right. She has five left arms and five right arms. Each has one arm bracelet and five wrist bracelets. She has three gold necklaces. And then 13 extra arms that function as a skirt! And then five right and five left legs. In her arms she carries seven weapons of destruction including a bow and arrow, a conch, a mace, a pitchfork, a scythe, a sabre and a disk you throw to behead someone! She is certainly successful as she has a necklace of 24 heads and one large one in her hand. She carries a bowl to collect the blood of this latest beheaded victim. But with ten hands there is no problem!

Her husband Shiva is lying down to stop her in her tracks. He has a few snakes and cobras wound around him but the usual complement of two legs and two arms. He is looking rather peaceful and trying to tell her to calm down with all this killing (justified by Kali as they are all bad sorts) but she has got carried away. I mean….who ever gets carried away?

It has the desired effect and she desists from further killing – well maybe not so much killing. In all her heads she has her pointy red tongue on show.

Tatouage

I have always really liked tattoos. The temporary stick on variety and often use them as armbands. I also like brown henna – I have seen terrible allergic reactions with the black henna.

When I was planning my trip I found this book called Tatouage with loads of tattoos (102) many of flowers and lots in purple! So, it seemed like a dream come true. And although “stuff” I had been carrying around from the UK for so many months was beginning to weigh on me I knew this particular project would have to wait for Betsy to arrive to elegantly display the tattoos in Goa in January 2020.

She was game and we had a fun morning applying them to her abdomen.

Then we went swimming in the sea and I rather fancied putting the pink ones all over my arm to see what it might be like to have proper tattoos. I went a bit mad so much so that my other arm ached from applying them!

But they weren’t the best sort of tattoo for this very humid and muggy heat.

By the following morning they had become rather sticky – especially in skin creases and I had to scrub them off. Betsy had flown back home that night and they have lasted very well and still look glorious. Just all covered up in the London and Leeds weather!

Amdavad ni Gufa

Whilst I was in Bhuj (Kutch, Western Gujarat) staying at Bhuj House I met with the interim manager Shriraj who was an architect. He told me about some interesting modern architecture in Ahmadabad and suggested as I had a few days at the end of December that I visit it. On my way back from the The Lokayatan Folk Museum and The Kalpana Mangaldas Balayatan (toy)Museum,  (http://www.shreyasfoundation.in/museums.html), and a coffee and too much cake at 7 Violette’s Café, I went past Amdavad ni Gufa.

My all-knowing auto-rickshaw taxi driver who was forever popping up to serve my needs told me that I could see the structure but that the gallery was open later on. This suited me best as I needed to get to packaging and shipping courier with my next load of stuff to send home.

Amdavad ni Gufa is an underground art gallery in Ahmedabad, India constructed in 1992. It was designed by the architect Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi.

The cave-like underground structure has a roof made of multiple interconnected domes, covered with a mosaic of tiles. It definitely reminded me of watching Doctor Who and the Daleks. Here are some you can buy that talk!

It was very pleasant walking around the structure and there was a neighbouring art gallery that was open and joy of joy – a load of puppies – they are going to be in their own blog!

Dressing up

During my time in India I have been obsessed with and watched the entire 66-part series of the Spanish Gran Hotel on Netflix. I only allowed myself one episode per day and as it was in Spanish there was no knitting or other craft activity as I needed to read the subtitles.

It does mean I am fully engaged because the evidence is that no-one really can multitask! (Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully. Research also shows that, in addition to slowing you down, multitasking lowers your IQ). As I thought and said.

The Gran Hotel series takes place in 1906–1907 in Spain, near a town called Cantaloa. The working-class hero Julio Olmedo arrives at the luxurious Grand Hotel to visit his sister Cristina, who works there as a maid and who has recently been promoted to floor manager. Julio is told by a waiter that Cristina was fired for theft a month before, a story Julio does not believe. He is convinced something happened to her at the hotel and there was a coverup. He takes a job there as a waiter under the name Julio Espinosa to investigate his sister’s disappearance. He soon finds an ally in Alicia Alarcón, one of the daughters of the hotel’s owner Doña Teresa. Alicia, who is being forced to marry hotel manager Diego Murquía, is also suspicious of things happening at the hotel. Together Julio and Alicia work to uncover the secrets of the Gran Hotel. They fall in love but keep their relationship secret (obvs!).

I really liked the character Maite Ribelles who is one of Alicia’s (heroine of the series) best friends. Elegant, distinguished and intelligent, she studied with Alicia in Madrid, where they met. Alicia returned to Cantaloa , but Maite continued her studies until she became one of the first lawyers in Spain.

I decided to do a take on Maite and found some purple trouser braces and a purple tie. I needed a white shirt and bought a second hand one in a market in Ahmadabad. I used the hat I had made (well decorated to be honest) for Chanukah in Ahmadabad. When Betsy arrived we decided we would do a photo shoot!

I am well ensconced in Goa now. I have slowed down to the heat and the pace. Going on the back of a scooter with Harry has meant we have been through some really utterly beautiful countryside and past the most amazingly colourful properties.

I am planning on introducing each of the seven Chakras in the next blog or so. Seems appropriate whilst I am in India for a further (almost) seven weeks!

I have decided to theme this blog to flowers and fruit. Funnily, fruit is five letters and flowers seven so at least that fits the prime obession! And “and” is three…..and some aren’t even purple but red. India is full of the most vibrant colours and this is for sure seen in the wonderful fruit and flowers.

A bit like my previous blog, I don’t know all the names of the flowers I have photographed but at least I do know how to recognise roses and frangipane. As for the fruit; there is a lot of local fruit which is seasonal and never makes it abroad. Like the hairy and mud tasking chico (sapodilla) or the custard apples with loads of seeds – a lot of hard work.

Roses

This is one of my most favourite fragrances.

Ravi, the manager in the Dia Homestay, Pushkar, Rajasthan, suggested we go on an early morning trip to see the roses being picked. They were to be turned into garlands (often with the more traditional bright orange marigolds) for religious worship.

I left with two Australian women who had been friends since school at 0630 to see how they pick them. They were more for fragrance than their physical beauty and I felt I had landed in heaven. Men and women pick them and store them in silk slings on their backs. They only pick for an hour and then return the next day.

Later on Ravi took me on his motorbike to the rose factory. Here they make essential oils, facial tonic waters, syrup for cordials and a special oil to protect the corneas – I did buy a small syringe but never had the courage to drop this oil into my eyes – slightly creeped me out. I did however make lots of rose lassis in the mornings in Pushkar. I made my lassi from my yogurt that I had prepared overnight – gosh now I can make really heavy sourdough bread and yogurt. Anyway, back to the lassi. This is made mostly with yogurt and a wooden twizzler and some water.

Not sure why I don’t make it more often! Oh, I know. Pretty fattening…..

Many of the roses in the UK look very pretty when cut for Valentines’ day but rarely smell. I love to wander around smelling roses in the vain hope some might smell wonderful and often I am rewarded. And nice memories of always receiving a dozen red roses from Adrian on Valentine’s day – a tradition we had for decades! Hey ho. Good (although a teeny bit sad) memories!

Figs

I do rather like a fig.

They are good for that “I cannot wait till my next meal” and they store well in this heat. In fact, the ants really don’t seem to be that smitten.

I bought these ones in Bhuj before a long bus journey and have had them for over a month now and they are doing well. Mostly eaten by Betsy. They dry them, flatten them and store them on a type of string made from banana leaves.

I bought them for 100 rupees so a bargain really as nutritional and good for photographing them. I could put them on trays, plates, towels, motor bikes, on a piece of muslin, by a water fountain etc. The staff in the Mangaldas ni Haveli ii (my final Gujarat hotel in the old city of Ahmadabad) kept helping me with suggesting places that would be interesting to photograph them.

There is no denying why they have become important to me. Although others had to point out the significance of what flattened, dried figs look like. I am not spelling it out. That is one for you to work out!

One of my best memories of our lovely nanny Stephanie from Edmonton (Canada) was her Friday night special – figgy chicken. She made a whole host of wonderful family meals. We certainly miss her. And certainly, my stomach does!

Frangipani

This has to be up there with jasmine and rose as a favourite fragrance. I love it when I am passing by the flowering bush and there are some fresh flowers on the floor. This is what happened when I took this series of photographs. There is nothing really in my theme. No spirals. No primes. No purples (apart from the bedding for some of the photos). But being rigid isn’t always helpful or necessary. It becomes too restrictive and doesn’t allow us open to new ideas. I took these photos months ago and it seems rather a small project to be entirely on its own but c’est la vie!

In Hindu mythology, Frangipani flower is a symbol of devotion to someone. The Frangipani flower is often used in wedding ceremonies, and in every other occasion which symbolises the love and devotion between two people. Buddhism sees the Frangipani flower as a symbol of new life and renewal.

So, this seems to be a good flower to honour. And I love its warm and slightly spicy scent.

Burgundy Wired Paper Flowers

I found a packet of these wired paper flowers in a stationary shop. The woman behind the counter realised I was after pretty much anything purple and found these. Gosh what a bargain. 120 rupees for 160 of them! I have bought and used them before for craft and other projects in the UK. The last one was going to be as the decoration for a velvet bag to store Adrian’s tefillin (phylacteries) as he had lost the last one I had made him! In the end I wasn’t sure how to secure them so decorated it differently.

My first project was to wire them into the new 400 gm white paper/card I had bought. I did two circles and wound the wires round each other at the back. I so enjoyed photographing them using the interesting light shapes that came in the bamboo screens of our eco hut.

Then I thought I would make another prime spiral mobile. This time using a ball of flowers (one) and 41 flowers along the spiral length. Again it was fun to photograph them in the late afternoon as the sun went down. For some reason I made two hanging loops and they reminded me of owl glasses and I tried to get the sun in one of the rounds! Not always but sometimes successfully.

Finally, I was left with three sets of the wired flowers. So, I used a paper straw, covered it with fabric sticky tape and put some felt into a tiny glass holder (from a gel candle present from Avintika – thanks). I made a small Japanese flower arrangement – Ikebana – that I done as a course in the very distant past. All I remember is that it has a number three as central and all the parts are to be at different heights and angles. Well that is what I think it is. This is small lilac and burgundy Carly Ikebana!

Betsy is heading back to the UK and is being replaced by her brother Harry. I am moving inland to a home-stay. I have been on the back of a petrol scooter (like a motorbike) with Betsy for one day and it was pretty nerve-wracking.

I am sure there will be more outings like this with Harry who I know is a more confident rider.

The last time I tried to hire a scooter in Mykonos, Greece (in 2018), I was banned for being a poor driver! It was very hilly too but sometimes you have to let things go.

So I am up at the crack of dawn looking at the beach in an empty restaurant getting together my second blog of 2020. It is a very pleasant setting but for some reason the ants are out in full force. Climbing up my legs, arms, face and laptop screen. It is all rather irritating and itchy! On this blog I am covering soap, flowers, a house and cowrie shells.

Soap shavings

There was a great shop in the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmadabad. I went a bit mad with buying books – about Gandhi (in cartoon form which Toby and I have read). And other books about how to draw elephants and simplistic cartoon people. They also had some soaps.

And yes, I found a lavender one. I have made a lot of lavender soap at home – using dried lavender flowers from John and Stephanie Cooper’s garden to embellish them. And I was going to bring my soap ingredients with me but I decided this was silly. I had planned to bring my knitting machine (too large to fit in the case in the end) and my sewing machine – too heavy and currently being put to good use by Amy Lowenberg who is studying fashion! Also, there are loads of sewing machines here but mostly using a pedal foot without electricity.

Back to the soap. One of my projects was to do some soap sculptures. But this would require a lot of soap and I only had one bar. On one of my mad purple shopping trips I thought I would buy a peeler. But the closest was pink and it was only 10 rupees!

So, I decided I should peel or shave the soap. They ended up as lovely spirals. I didn’t even cut myself.

I put them on a white piece of paper and then put string around them to contain them and squish them in. Ultimately, I had a rather large ball of semi-random shaped soap shavings that is still usable!

House Building

Once in a rickshaw in Ahmadabad on my way back from Gandhi’s Ashram I obviously felt moved by the experience and for some mad reason bought a house building kit from a street girl who accosted me at a set of traffic lights. It cost 100 rupees and was made in China! It was light and I wanted to make it with Betsy as she would be the only one of my three children who would be up for any crafting activity.

We took it to La Plage restaurant recommended in the Love Goa book I had delivered by Amazon to Pushkar! La Plage has seriously amazing French food. (https://www.tripadvisor.in/Restaurant_Review-g1010240-d1993297-Reviews-La_Plage-Mandrem_North_Goa_District_Goa.html).

We had a wonderful meal there and Betsy rather turned her nose up at my joint house building project but as it was New Year’s Day and we had arrived an hour before any food orders would be taken we sat drinking wine (me) and having a virgin mojito (Betsy) making this house.

It didn’t really take that long and we decided as we were going to walk back the 4 km to our hotel, we would leave it there. It was smaller than I had imagined but that is the seductive power of thinking I had got a bargain.

I was originally going to paint it purple or put spirals on but thought – you know what – this is a charity project and I am doing it with my 18 year old daughter so hey let’s just do it as it is!

Cowrie Shells

I have always loved these shells. I found them in a haberdashery/stationary shop in Ahmadabad and at 120 rupees I wish I had bought a few packets but I was about to go on a flight and had only paid for excess baggage of 15 kg so it was time to try and restrict myself.

I used them in three main projects. Firstly, I glued them onto some stiff lilac A4 card. I had thicker white but felt that the lilac would enhance the place colour of the shells. Also, I had ended up with a load of silver bells. My lovely spiral jungle jelabi project had been packaged up whilst I was travelling in Kutch in a bag in Ahmadabad. I had thought to leave it where I made it in The Camel Lodge near Ranakpur, Rajasthan but changed my mind and decided I should ship it back to the UK and then I could display it for everyone to see in my exhibition. Silly me. It was made from plants that weren’t dried out and whilst wrapped in protective plastic the whole thing went totally mouldy and had to hit the bin. I am so upset with myself for clearly not thinking it through. I should have left it in the open in Ranakpur or let it dry slowly in the open atmosphere.

Anyway, I did neither but did manage to retrieve the bells and clear off the black tarnish from the plant mould. I sewed on the bells at each end of the cowrie shells and enjoyed photographing them around the resort we were staying in North Goa – Beach Street Eco Resort (https://beachstreet.in/).

Secondly, I decided to make another felt cuff. Again, using only odd prime numbers like the one I had made before from small violet tiles (see Primes – mosaics, poetry, gemstone fruit trees and spiral mobiles posted Boxing Day). This time I sewed most of the cowrie shells using the bead holes and also put on some silver bells. I made a fastener out of a bead and some purple string. I like the off-centre way it lays.

Finally, I was in another stationary/craft shop and bought all the purple tapes they had. They are rather dodgy to be honest and have a number of patterning faults as well as not being very sticky but they are fun and I enjoyed using my last three cowrie shells. I placed them each at a different angle on my lovely new 400 gm white paper on top of three different foil squares used to wrap handmade chocolates. I then divided up my tapes and made three borders for these foil squares. I keep having to re-stick them but that is part of the joy that they really aren’t sticky at all!

Flowers – metal and plastic

I wanted to use some metal to emboss designs on my theme. The brass I bought (see earlier blog) was too rigid and thick to use and so I thought I was use disposable aluminium foil containers.

I bought eight from Sonu who has a juice bar in Pushkar. I spent ages smoothing them out and getting my hands really quite dirty but they were too thin and pliable for embossing so with the necessity of an oncoming box to fill to ship back to the UK, I decided that I could fold them in the way you make fans, tie them with copper wire and turn them into a flower display. They fitted the prime theme.

I had fun photographing them in the wonderful Haveli I was staying in and they could be packed up pretty tightly and shipped off. Phew their very presence and my inability to know what to do with them was problematic so hey presto they were sorted. The small flowers were made using some small squares of foil I had bought in the Swad hardware shop in Bhuj used by chocolate makers. I still have about 80 pieces left but they take up only a small amount of room and I am sure I will utilise them later on.

I have added in some plastic flowers here as I photographed them at the same time. I got the seven of them for 100 rupees in Manek Chowk one evening. They have now been turned in to decorate a hat (see Half Way Round up on 3^rd Jan – Chanukiah blog) and also part of my dressing up to look like Maite Ribelles in the Gran Hotel – wait for a later blog – I have almost finished the 66 part series in Spanish – this forces me to watch it and desist from knitting!

Purple Flowers in the North

by this I mean Rajasthan and Gujarat!

Having this great camera really can make you go wild and take so many photos. Luckily my colour palate has limited this to purple and related colours and thereby contain my photographer’s enthusiasm.

This is partly due to having a great camera (thanks Adrian) and for being here for a while and noticing them. The only main problem. Really, I have no idea of their names. And I am not sure there is an app for recognising flowers like Shazam is for music.

Silly me. Of course, there is an app. In fact, several. But here is the crunch. I am not sure I want to spend hours uploading photos and increasing my screen time further. Especially as the flowers are on my personal computer and then I will need to send them to my phone and that feels not only irksome but unnecessary. Am I being sacrilegious to not care about the proper names?

I know some are morning glory, there a handful of dark purple pansies and a number of grasses. There are even some which have yellow flowers but purplish seed pods. Anyway, I hope you enjoy them!

I am now off to do some shopping, get a coffee, have a smoothie bowl for lunch and a proper indulgence – a pedicure. Wearing sandals all the time does take its toll on your feet!

I have moved south to Goa to catch some heat. And to meet Betsy and then Harry. Goa is very different from the rest of India I have been travelling in so far. Hardly a cow and only rickshaws in the large towns. It is India’s smallest state and is green, lush and Portuguese. Very much set up for the tourist market with a wonderfully bright properties of historical European interest – well continental and not at all colonial. I love the vibrancy of the paints they use. And they seem to paint them regularly. Nothing seems tatty here like many buildings in the Gujarat and Rajasthan I have become used to.

Also it currently feels much more like a beach holiday and rather odd to be having this type of experience. I am certainly enjoying the heat and meeting some very interesting tourists but are these the type of encounters I was looking for? I have always railed against being yet another tourist – the usual angst with being different. But the great thing is I will have a further six weeks left of my sabbatical when Harry leaves on the 17th and go wherever I want!

Block printing

So, I decided I would use some of my favourite spirograph designs – I had drawn eight perfectly and found Rahul (in Pushkar) to make them for me. But he agreed to seven (auspicious) and did five in the end. For 2,500 rupees (£30).

I tested them with stamp ink and paint (better with stamp ink). Then I did brass rubbings using crayon, charcoal, coloured pencils and oil pastels. Additionally, I embossed them onto paper using a special tool for making dots!

They all worked reasonably well. I tried to do stamp them onto the cards I was making but they were pretty ropey so were consigned to the back of the cards.

I stamped them out and went to Sadri (nearest town to camel conservation centre where I was staying in early December) where I had seen some plain wooden simply carved construction toys. We went to see if we could commission them but to no avail.

On reflection this was not a particularly successful project. I think the idea behind these blocks is you design a series that are complementary and you use them one on top of each other with different colours and parts of the design to make whole. The process is explained here

https://www.unnatisilks.com/block-printing-process-1-indian-crafts.html

and for one overall design you can use up to eight blocks of different colours. I am not sure at the time I had commissioned them I had a firm idea of what I wanted nor was I able to design an entire set. Maybe something for the future. Or not!

Chanukiah

Chanukah is always a fun festival to celebrate and for this you need a Chanukiah – also known as a menorah. I didn’t bring one with so had to make one. Chanukah is a fun festival and gives you licence to eat fried foods like doughnuts. I was going to be in Devpur (Kutch) and Ahmadabad. And for some bizarre reason although all my kids are coming out to see me (separately) not one of them was going to be with me for Chanukah. When I was in Swad household department store in Bhuj getting tea lights for my shabbat candles I decided to get more bits to make a menorah.

This is the eight branched candelabra with a ninth extra branch for the candle to light the others. I got a load of small aluminium pots for the eight regular candles and a metal mug for the lighter which has to be of a different height (known as the Shamash). I decorated each of the small pots with random designs with my permanent purple pen and bought small bindi stickers and Toby decorated the Shamash with these. In Bhuj I had bought some antique hand sewn textiles and found one bright one with a Star of David and used this in the centre of my aluminium tray.

I could only find very lurid and colourful tea lights but that only added to the “Indian-ness” of my menorah. I lit it every night in Devpur and pulled always found a willing assistant to light the candles for me. Sometimes other guests and once the staff and one night all the boys who boarded at the White Eagle School – our homestay was part of the school premises – and taught them a bit about Chanukah. One of the smart boys asked why eight days and I could answer them! The owner Krutarth gave me a card signed by all the staff to wish me a happy Chanukah which was fabulous! Everyone was subject to my faltering rendition of the blessings in Hebrew and then my atrocious singing but they didn’t complain! I also cooked them a load of latkes and served them with apple sauce I made and strained yogurt (a bit like sour cream) that Avintika made. Delicious. They all said so – well they were polite and I enjoyed them anyway!

I was back in Ahmadabad for the final three nights and was invited after the Friday night service for a final night Chanukah party. I asked if I could bring my menorah and light it with them and they agreed.

I arrived to a full house of Jews who had been in Ahmadabad for generations. They all knew each other and were unbelievably welcoming to me. I cajoled some poor boy to light my menorah whilst I said the blessings and took photos of their beautiful menorah.

I met a number of the community including the famous novelist Esther David – I have since ordered two of her books to read on Amazon which have just arrived! They were intrigued by my hat I had made that afternoon. I watched a dance display but the children and the women who were all wearing red! Well nearly all were…..

Then of course onto the food. They are pretty much vegetarian as it is very hard to get hold of kosher meat – the community is 140 people. They speak Guajarati to each other and I had a typical meal there with chapatis, rice, dal, poppadums and curries as well as some Indian sweets. To say thanks for having me I gave them the book I had been using – called 101 things to do in Ahmadabad. – put in photos. This was a really special end to my time in Gujarat.

Hair Decorations

The problem with having a colour scheme is that it can become not only a burden but an obsession. I am drawn to everything purple here. Like toilet brush cleaners, dish pads, cloths and of course clothes. I don’t need any of this. I bought quite a number of hair slides and clips in the market in Bjuj. Later on, in Ahmadabad I was wondering through one of the busy markets – Manek Chowk. Believe you me it is pretty manic and particularly on the weekend. Trying to get through Teen Darwaza (one of the old city gates) I was at at standstill and then a man appeared and got the people queues moving – phew. I was drawn to a load of hair bobbles and some more slides. Of course, purple is not really best seen in my silvery hair – ok it is grey – let’s stop playing pretend.

So best to persuade someone else with lovely, long, black and luscious hair to model. I was planning to ask all the women in Devpur to model them but actually I rather liked the idea of a single model and so I asked Avintika. She didn’t think I was mad and rather enjoyed the experience. She then ran off with my camera and took a load of photos of the staff so everyone benefited.

When I was later on back in Ahmadabad staying at the historic and thoughtfully decorated and designed Mangaldas ni Haveli ii (https://houseofmg.com/mangaldas-ni-haveli-ii/) there was this wonderful silver (or some other silvery metal) and he (or she) did the honours for me to display all the hair slides I had brought.

I did feel a bit bad having to put something with teeth on his trunk but it was all in the name of art. And I did stand him on a lovely silver tray decorated with pretty flowers. Not at all bad really? Better than a sandy floor or dirty carpet!

Red, Gold and Chocolate

So, this is not my theme or my colour scheme but hey. Betsy bought me a Chanukah present. And she knows l love Ferrero Rocher chocolates. This was a giant one and what with the astonishingly melting heat I felt I must open it up the moment she gave it to me. No self-control whatsoever!

And then the chocolate was getting melty so we devoured it.

Totally yum. Wasn’t sure if there was something I could do with the gold orb contained within the large chocolate sphere but it was sticky and painting it was another issue. I had done this recently with a spiral terracotta garden chime set I had bought but it didn’t work. This actually fitted the theme – hand made and spiral but the paint isn’t good enough – or my patience or skill and I left it in Ahmadabad. So rather than wasting time and effort on a fairly non-descript orb I decided it was to go the way of things we don’t want – off to recycling.

But back to the chocolate. It was delicious. At first we thought it was going to be a giant load of air with a few routine sized chocolates. And I had had some chocolate once on this trip to India. It was so out of date or poorly stored it had that white film and was a pretty horrid experience. But the large orb was lovely and melting helped the enjoyment. There were two small spheres for later – well not much later. Thanks Betsy. A lovely treat and some cool photos to boot. She tells me it was on sale after Christmas – well she is a student!

Here I am in 2020 up at the crack of dawn to pull together this blog. I woke up at 0520 and have sat in the empty restaurant at Beach Street Eco Resort looking at the sea. I have always found the waves and the ocean to be so restorative. Over this last hour the day has dawned and some brave souls are doing a yoga class on the beach. I am off now to take some photographs of purple yoga mats I have found!

and purple food from the first half of my sabbatical

Kutch is a fascinating place where you see women everywhere contributing to beautiful textiles. The women squat down for a few hours at a time to sew or tie knots for bandini – they can do up to 8,000 a day if they are experienced. The men are usually involved more in the weaving and dying process.

I so much enjoyed my chilled time staying in Bhuj House (http://www.thebhujhouse.com/) and Devpur home and farm stay (http://www.devpurhomestay.in/). I was able to do my morning yoga outside in the early morning sun, eat well and not really do much in the way of sightseeing. Both places lent themselves to being mindful and going slow. Believe you me – this is very difficult for me! However I was able to not rush around as per usual. In Devpur I ran a number of prime runs. Toby and I walked the first loop in the mango orchard. I then ran increasing prime number loops (2, 3, 5) but by the time I hit 7 I was exhausted. I tried to keep my interest on the runs up by making up sentences of words beginning with or containing the letter P. This was because I was primarily interested in Primes, Spirals and Purple. My favourite one was “Pause; please purchase pancake with paws for the petulant postman who is probably nippy.” I then went on to words beginning with a P which had three Ps in them. This feels like a scrabble brain contest. I came up with

Panpipes Paperclip Poppadum Peppercorn Peppermint Peppy Philippines Pineapple Plopping Polypeptide Poppers Poppy Poppycock Puppy.

I then decided it would be nice to come back down to one on my runs! Yes I know this is cheating really but I am not prepping for a marathon so really it is acceptable – not good but ok!

Dolly Purple

I was on the back of a scooter to get to an ATM to settle my bill in cash. I saw these wonderful helium filled balloons and bought one for 50 rupees (55p).

I have called her Dolly Purple and taken photos and videos of her.

I like her face with her big eyes. She reminds me of the personalised emojis I have made – although I have green eyes.

She is pretty and calming and I gave her to a child later that day.

Dolly was always the term of endearment I had for Adrian and vice versa. It was slightly making the mickey out of Jean (my mother-in-law) who calls everyone doll or dolly. And today I received my decree absolute so it seems fitting to have a Dolly Purple in my room overnight with me.

It is funny because I could think of piercing her but this never entered my mind.

In the UK I feel angry quite a bit of the time (more high energy anger rather than real rage) often connected with the futility of some of the stupidity of the staff and nonsense rules I see at work (both NHS and university) with people ticking boxes for no reason other than they have been told to do this. The computer always seems to say no.

I expected I would worry I would really miss my job and the people I work with. The people yes but the job for sure no.

I realise I cannot just go travelling and making things for the rest of my life but it has brought clear to me what makes me tick and be happy and it was medicine but not anymore.

Looking at Dolly Purple she has already started to deflate. This is a more natural way to go!

In fact I needed to be corrected. This is not really Dolly Purple but Krishna Bhagwan (Lord Krishna) so I had got it completely wrong but all those photographed forgave me my ingorance!

Brass Work

I took one of the six sheets (A6 size) to make into my 13 spirals for my prime number mobile (see previous blog on primes). This left five. I bought these small brass sheets to do some embossing but it was too thick. I also bought metal foil trays (see subsequent blogs) to do the same but this was too thin. Feels a bit like the beds and porridge in the story about the Three Bears!

I loved the purple and blue patina on the front. I had bought the sheets in a metal wholesaler and tried to replicate this purple colour design with the various chemicals I had with me. Sadly shampoo, conditioner and bug repellent don’t tarnish or stain brass!

In Devpur I cut them up in slightly different ways. I remembered that if you cut round and round you can end up with one long piece. One was round like a spiral and the rest were straight – either up and down or around the rectangular edge.

Two of them I spiralled up and felt for the first time I had actually created what I think I meant in three dimensions by “How Time goes Faster as you Get Older”. It was a spiral made from a flat piece that was long, convoluted and repeatedly changed direction. It wasn’t smooth and quite dangerous to stroke as it had sharp edges and often some nicks. I would quite like to turn this into a logo. But I will need to incorporate the light and study the pictures I have taken of them in the harsh midday sun with deep shadows.

At night in Devpur we had a firepit with firewood. I used some of this wood to display my brass pieces and lit some spare tealights I had bought.

The Bhuj House Spinning Wheel

I used one part of an antique spinning wheel to photograph my yarns. It was a way of displaying them and partly an attempt for me to be ready to use them. That is. If photographed they now needed to be knitted! The spinning wheel is a very important symbol in India made particularly famous by Mahatma Gandhi who carried around a spinning wheel to promote Khadi cotton that he spun before it was woven. It is in the middle of the Indian national flag to denote its importance.

I photographed my 19 spools on the floor of Bhuj House.

Unfortunately, I now notice my slipper is in quite a few of them. At least it is a sort of purple (burgundy!).

I then used it again with the items for my prime mobile (see my last blog) with 11 beaded tassels, 7 feathery tassels, 5 dolphins, 3 teddies, 2 fish and 1 angel.

This time I placed it on one of the roofs of Bhuj House. I rather like the way the wood which is clearly old and weathered sets off the newness and artificial-ness of the pieces for my prime mobile.

Purple Food

This section on food covers up to my half way point!

I had two meals at Heavenly Blessing in Pushkar with purple food.

Actually, only one was in fact purple. That was called Blue Fantasy. It was a pasta dish with blue cheese and purple cabbage. The other was fenugreek bread with goats’ cheese, grilled aubergine and caramelised apple. I just used my purple pens as decorative cutlery.

In Ranakpur (Rajpura near Sadri – the Camel Charisma charity) I had salad with beetroot, pomegranate juice, beetroot halva and made them borscht.

In Ahmadabad I bought some purple pan. And went to a cafe aptly named 7 Violettes!

There isn’t really that much in the way of purple food and drinks. I think I have had most of them so far in India.

I am now off to Goa to start the second half of my sabbatical and meet up with my other children – first Betsy and then Harry. I have started a knitting project using three stitch moving spirals to make ankle warmers – they used to very fashionable – well only as fashionable as knitted ankle warmers can be!