Janet Brien's favorite articles

As some of you know - my daughter, Mandi, is here with me until the middle of August which is fantastic. She's been spoiling me by cooking my meals, washing up and cleaning etc. It's amazing. When Emily comes on Tuesday, I'm going to ask her if she'll take Mandi shopping. So I have almost 4 weeks of her being here and then - GUESS WHAT....................................!! I'm going back to Turkey with her for just over 4 weeks!!! I'm so proud of her travelling here all alone, considering…

I've had lots of enquiries regarding my daughter who lives in Turkey, about how she and her husband are since the earthquakes, so I thought I'd write a quick article to tell you all how things are. When I heard about the earthquake I was obviously very worried. I immediately called my daughter to see if she had been affected too. As she's around 1,000 kms away, she was fine. She's on a different fault line too. The only problem was that Dogan's family lives over that part of Turkey. They…

Hello folks, well it's been just over a week since I last wrote to you all. I've been making new resin jewellry, as I'd got myself some new moulds. I did this because I needed to take a break from all the news about Turkey. I do have Sky tv and so I've been watching TRT World which is the Turkish News but in English!!! I have been glued to it some days because I was staggered at how many people were still being brought out alive, even after 10 days since the earthquakes. How has that been possib…

The temperatures have really dropped these last couple of days. It's already 7C and it's not 8pm yet. By the middle of the night, I just don't know what it'll be. I'm trying to save on electricity, but not to the point that I'm freezing. As you know my house has high rooms but no central heating!! So my faithful Halogen heaters are facing me and I'm warming up. I do hope you all here aren't freezing too much. The weather though has been very kind to us down here in the South West, these pa…

I'm sure that you all have heard that our Queen Elizabeth has just died. I remember when she was crowned and the whole country celebrated. I was 5 and had great fun celebrating her coronation - but was too young to know why!!!! My mum made me this outfit - it was red, white and blue (of course) and it was a sort of very thin muslin. (Oh I look so angelic here - amazing what a picture can hide!!). What I do remember also, is in and around 1960 the whole family went on holiday to Spain. My…

Well it's going to be Easter this weekend, a time when the Spring is supposed to be half way through and the temperatures warm - what's happened this year, is that the temperatures have plummited and is crawling along in the 40F's or should I say 6C!!!! It's ridiculous - with the cost of the electricity spiralling out of control, I've tried not to have the radiator on, but it's too cold to go without any heating at all - so my halogen fire is facing me and I'm okay now!!! It was rather overca…

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This is a link to a lovely card wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving - enjoy www.jacquielawson.com/ecard/pickup/r8ffb2d3c3729453d943adef0e453e042?source=jl999&utm_medium=pickup&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=receiver

Hiya folks, I haven't been outside since I last wrote, so there's not a lot I have to talk about ...... sorry!!!! Well the weather has been all over the place, as I'm sure you can agree. One minute it's warmish, that the radiator isn't needed, then it's rainy but mild, then windy, then rainy but cold, then dry and very cold. No wonder people are coming down with flu and colds, you never know what to wear. I'm lucky in that way - I don't go out and I always keep a cardigan and a throw nearby s…

My apologies for not being around much at the moment. We have had some bad news, my husband has been diagnosed with cancer. To say the least, our lives are now turned upside down. I know some of my friends on here have been, and are going through the same thing. I will pop in as and when I can, meanwhile please bear with me. Keep well everyone, much love June xx

Just had to tell you about my son who has at last had his graduation ceremony - he got his Bachelor of Arts last year, but was unable to have the graduation ceremony. That was sorted out on Wednesday and I really wish I'd been able to go and watch him, pride would have been oozing out of my pores. So instead, here's a couple of pictures of him in all his finery. I wish he'd had his hair cut - but I've given up asking him - he's almost 52 - so he's his own man and his wife likes it long!!!!…

Well I've finished the frog!!! It was quite something having to stuff the frog. I'd run out of the soft stuffing, so I had to put in some quilt filling instead. It's soft enough, but it had to be cut small first - next time I'll buy some proper stuffing!!!!! So I stuffed it's head after I'd sewn it onto the body. I'm so glad I was awake enough to tack the head into place, in case it was facing the wrong way!... IT WAS!!!!! so it was a case of untacking the stitches and turning it around. I'd…

Wow folks, you are so fortunate - two blogs within two days!!! I thought you'd like to see that I can do other things apart from the jewellry. I used to make soft toys before but had stopped for some reason or another but because Emily (my cleaner and now my dear friend) has now got a grandson - I thought I'd make him a frog. He seems to like bright colours and he's 9 months old and starting to play with toys etc. I enjoyed making the frog so I thought I'd make another one. Well now I know w…

I'm sorry folks for not having written a blog lately - but I've not really been doing anything much, certainly not worth writing about. Anyway I thought I'd just write a quickie here to let you know what's been going on in my part of the world. The other day I woke up to cooler weather and a sort of mizzle (a misty drizzle) and I saw that some spiders had been busy!!! Now I'm not a fan of these 8 legged creatures but you can't help but admire the tenacity of the…

Well folks, I have tried to stop making these pendants, but I am so enjoying making them, but what am I going to do with them? I don't wear any jewellry myself, so making them seems daft to me!! I will get around to selling them, but it's something I don't know how to start or what to say, or how much to charge - it's daft I know - but that roughly sums me up!!! I've got to take an eye test for my driving licence, but as I haven't got a car and unless my daughter comes over here for Christmas…

Well today I gave the frog to Alfred and he kept trying to eat it!!! I think he really likes it as he wouldn't let it go. I was so pleased that he likes it. It was nothing for me to make it for him but if it gives Emily some quiet time while he plays with it. He was awake at 3am - poor Emily. She was even willing to cut the grass for me - before the rains came (but luckily it didn't come). I mean she's supposed to be my cleaner but she'll do anything I need doing. She even washed my…

I know it's a rude word this time of year, but I just thought I'd mention the fact that I do also make tree decorations. I need to go and have a look to see if I can find different moulds so I can vary the designs, but it all costs and not only in time - but also in money. I'm also considering making pendants which can be hung up against the window, which would mean pretty colours shining through onto walls etc. It's an idea of mine - I would quite like to have pretty colours shining on the w…

Well today has been an incredibly hot day - such a contrast to what it's been like up til now. I thought it would be more sensible to go out in the morning to look at the driveway, while it wasn't so hot - er no!!!!! It must have been close to 28-29C!!!! If that was the morning temperatures - I'm really glad I didn't go out in the afternoon - it must have been around 30F which is very rare in the UK. I know you all in the US have had incredible heatwaves, but that is something we don't suffer f…

Oh boy am I happy bunny - Emily felt so sorry for me, that she came over for a couple of hours this afternoon. She's going to come every Tuesday afternoon, and it'll be back to normal. My other lady, Emma, only came that once, because she found herself not feeling too good with her M.E. and it would be wrong to feel annoyed, when she's obviously suffering. It's just that (a) I missed Emily and (b) I need to be able to rely on someone coming every week. Emma was supposed to come last Thursday, sh…