Beach, Garden, Studio, family. :)

January is a hard month. Cold nights and short days. But it has been very beautiful, with clear sunny days and starry nights. Because I am being ultra careful of keeping Bonnie on a lead we go for walks first thing in the morning, before the sunrise, and at midday, and then at sunset. Usually I take her out in the night, too. It sounds like hard work, but it is worth it, to see these moments of the day. When the sky is blushing peach, or the stars are shining brightly and the trees are dark silhouettes against the horizon.

I have been visiting Milfontes, the seaside town, to go to the dentist and so I've been taking her. She loves to run on the dunes and the empty beach. I picked a few stones for the garden while I was there.

I did a bit of playing around with paints in my lovely new studio. It felt so good to be in there. I lit the fire, then started to open art books, then open paint tubes...

I have been digging over the beds, getting ready to put in some potatoes. The garlic is up, and the broad beans look leafy. Cabbage seedlings have survived the chilly nights and are growing. The soil is feeling good. The compost is excellent.

I have been building a porch around the studio. I feel very proud of the fact that I have overcome my feelings of inability when it comes to power tools, and actually manages to drill and screw in twisty bits of olive branches to make a funny looking thing, but when the plants grow up I think it's going to look gorgeous. It's to shelter the front of the building from the driving rain, and the boiling sun. We shall see.

Started to play with mud! It feels so good!

Laura and the girls came over to help

Mud is safe for anyone to work with!