Home is where I park it

i thought i was too busy while back in the uk to visit the beltaine horse drawn gathering, one of my favourite little gatherings. a beautiful friend rang me on the friday night to say they were on their way there and encouraging me to come too. i was able to juggle a few things around and so got my ass in the van and off to the gathering. i am so glad i went, some great music and beautiful people made for a great weekend and even the sun shined down on us all weekend. i didn't take that many pictures but here's a few... thanks for looking :) xxx

i came back to the uk for a visit which was lovely. walking round my home town of gloucester i noticed that a prolific stencil graffiti artist has been around. i thought these were cool pieces... thanks for looking :) xxx

we had a lovely visit from some beautiful friends last month. simon did some tattooing and i did lots of cooking :) the river near where we are parked up, my friend went swimming in it but i wasn't brave enough... it was freezing!... new tattoo by simon on jack... pizza we made, it was massive!... new tattoo by simon on ben... thanks for looking :) xxx

i have been doing quite a lot of drawing this winter and have discovered the wonders of coloured pencils since simon was given some good quality ones. i have been drawing lots of goddesses and have made some greetings cards with my designs on. the next stage is to print some of these pictures to stick onto blank cards as drawing each one individually takes quite a lot of time. i have also learnt to knit, i knew the basic knitting stitch from when i was a child but could not cast on or off, didn't know any other stitches and didn't have any needles or wool! a friend sent me some needles and wool as well as instructions so i am now a knitter! expect amazing knitting creations next time i blog! triple goddess picture... goddess picture... my first knit :)... goddess picture... goddess picture... thanks for looking :) xxx

we are so lucky to have the countryside all around us. the dogs can run free and we are forever catching sight of birds, insects, amphibians and even a few mammals (ok it's mainly rabbits!). we also notice the changing of the seasons so much more than when we lived in the city, it has been lovely seeing the flowers come out as the winter ends and spring begins. i'm not sure what this pretty little yellow flower is... the brambles that grow here are a pain for the landowner/gardener but actually whole eco systems live in amongst the brambles...  there is a lot of broom bush that grows here that is also a nuisance for the landowner/gardener, pretty flowers though... there are a lot of the fast growing silver wattle or mimosa tree here, beautiful when in flower... i love the cobwebs covered in morning dew...   thanks for looking :) xxx

this winter was quite long, dark, wet and cold but it gave me plenty of time to get the creative juices flowing :) i made lots of jewellery and wind chimes last year, (i have got photos of but haven't sorted them out yet!) this year i've been drawing, painting, making things and have even learnt to knit! a dangly thing i made from old broken bits of plastic covers from car lights, it got ruined in the high winds though :(... water colour painting i did, inspired by the front cover of the book 'cold mountain'... 'goddess tree' water colour painting... 'burnt trees' water colour painting... 'the many names for our dogs' water colour painting... 'the ball is mine' water colour painting... thanks for looking :) xxx

we feel very lucky to have met a wonderful couple who have let us park our rusty old home on their land near gouveia in central portugal. the area is gorgeous, set in the foothills of the serra da estrela the highest mountain range in portugal and near the rio mondego the longest river in portugal. the area has stayed fairly untouched in the countryside, there are quite a lot of old ruins from when people lived here before moving into the towns and cities. the area is teaming with wildlife and has stunning views of the forests, mountains and huge granite boulders that are everywhere in this area. the downside is that the area is prone to forest fires that sweep quickly over the land destroying everything in sight. not so bad for the nature as it adapts and the fires can actually be quite a good thing for the land, not so good for us though whose home is very flammable! read more about gouveia HERE . 360 panoramic view of the land we're staying on... our van amongst the...

so as you know if you are a irregular reader of this blog i don't get to always update it very often but as i have written before i do always come back and add things. usually i just add photos with brief descriptions as its much quicker to catch up that way but now and again i do post some in depth writings. i was getting fed up with the look of my blog so have updated the design and changed the name. it doesn't mean there will be any more posts but after over 3 years of it looking the same i thought it was time for a change! please do let me know what you think :) thanks for looking :) xxx

in the summer of 2011 while we were parked up at the ridgeway near avebury, wiltshire i was busy writing some words for a book that was going to be published in 2012. alan dearling a lovely friend of mine who has written traveller books before had asked me to get involved, he wanted me to write some words on music and festivals within the new traveller community in the uk. he also asked me to contribute some photos to go with my chapter. at the time i didn't realise how many people were involved and the impact it would have but at the end of the summer 2012 the book was published to critical acclaim. i am so proud to have been involved in this project and would love to do more work like this in the future. please go to alan's WEBSITE to buy the book :)   Travelling Daze - Words and images from the UK's new Travellers and festivals, late 1960s to the here and now - Alan Dearling, with Traveller friends A real 'wow, amazing' kind of book. A4 landscap...

we got into portugal in october, the first place we stayed was a neolithic site called alamendres. the next morning we found a storm had blown a tree over the track. simon had to get the saw out and cut it away so we could leave... freek out festival, portugal, a pretty wet and muddy weekend (a bit like a uk festie really). me and a friend had a craft stall there... the stall next door had some interesting guests!... a really cool old army truck i saw at the festival... our little camp at the festival...       one of the first nights on our friends land near gouveia, portugal... i found this amazing looking fungus growing on a tree stump... some kind of beetle i found, it was a really metalic colour... fairytail toadstool, the good old fly agaric mushroom... the small town of avo, central portugal where we stayed for a week...   pretty butterfly i spotted... craft stall we di...