Melting in the Heat

How does that happen? Blink your eye and two weeks go by. I certainly never intended to stay away so long but somehow writing seems to be elusive. Occasional thoughts of blog posts have drifted by, come and gone again so that I forgot what I was ever going to write about and I wonder if my blogging days are coming to an end. Meanwhile life goes on, busy as ever. I have taken on another little income stream... at least I'm hoping it will be an income stream as other sorces of income seem to be dripping rather than streaming at the moment.

I have become an ambassador for Tropic skincare. Selling doesn't sit easily on my shoulders but I really do love these products - totally natural skin care - so I'm hoping my enthusiasm sell will rub off and I can make a success of it. I don't for one minute believe I will sell much on line but should you be interested I do have an online shop here.

My daily 15 minute drawings seem to have turned into weekly efforts as I still struggle with motivation. I was encouraged last week when I did a quick copy of a Japanese plate design featuring three pots. I was inspired to interpret it into a little collage using some previously printed papers and I tentitively hoped it might be a spark of something. But I haven't opened the sketchbook since... so much for that!

I'm finding time to read, mostly slowly and have finished these three books over the past couple of months. I quite enjoyed His Bloody Project despite its guesome triple murder, enjoying how well it conjured up life in a rural Scottish community in the 19th century. Bill Bryson's Little Dribbling was a light but entertaining read that made me laugh out loud and I have thoroughly enjoyed Olive Kitterage which is a collection of inter related short stories that all somehow involve the afore mentioned Olive, a somewhat prickly retired school teacher from Maine.

Tomorrow we have our monthly bookclub meeting and the choice this month is Vermeer's Hat, a collection of essays that examine the objects in six of Vermeer's paintings and relate them to trade at the time. I received it as a Christmas present a couple of years ago and never got past page 14. I did try again this month and actually completed the first chapter before I decided life is too short. I love the paintings and think I'm quite intetrested in history but I realise I have absolutely no interest in 17th century trade whatsoever.

Instead I picked up this Jo Nesbo from the charity bookshelf in our post office after clocking the name here and read it in three days. I don't often read crime drama but when I do I can't put them down. It felt like being on holiday, sitting outside in the evening heat reading for hours. I have a hunger for more Harry Hole especially having started with the seventh book in the series, but no doubt the current heatwave will end and I'll put down my books and pick up my knitting in front of the TV instead.

Of course there have been cakes too and I've managed to turn out all these in the past couple of weeks. I seem to know lots of people with birthdays  in June! The chocolate one in the middle melted in the heat yesterday and slipped off its board onto the kitchen counter but fortunately that one was for us not a customer! It was scooped up and rescued and put in the fridge.

This was yesterday's haul... a week's supply for the coffee shop carefully avoiding anything chocolate that might melt.

And this was today's... ten Victoria sponges! That's it for this week which is a relief as it really is too hot for baking. At this rate I'm likely to melt onto the kitchen counter

Too hot for very much at all really... except perhaps for a slice of this gin and tonic cheesecake which is utterly divine, even if I do say so myself. Healthy eating habits have gone clean out the window and frankly my dear I don't give a damn!

And so that's it ... pretty much everything I've been up to over the past couple of weeks. I hope to be back again before too long but I'm making no promises!