Barbara Gray Blog

Hi there. Thanks for popping in. Grace and Mark are both winging it back to the States today,   after a wonderful Christmas family break.  So.  There are three things I MUST do: Be GRATEFUL for the super time we spent together (tick) ACCEPT that they live where they do, and are happy (tick) GET BUSY – SEEK DISTRACTION. So here we go… YOUTUBE TUESDAY!! You know we already have an extensive Youtube Channel with over 15,500 subscribers and an extensive…

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HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!! Thanks for popping in. Just spend a good hour reading and responding to every single comment on yesterday’s blogpost. And am now chuckling away to myself here, in my little artroom. When I started, there were about 5 comments. Easy, I thought. There’s only ever about 30. I felt the need just for once, to respond to those good people who take the trouble every day to comment.  That was last night, when I had one…

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Hi  Thanks for popping in. Thanks also for reading every day, if you do, thereby giving me a reason to blog every day. 1,552 consecutive daily posts. In real time, that means I have written a blog every day since  13th October 2013. Blimey! How times flies!!! That’s substantial! And so much has happened in that time, at a personal AND global level! From Obama to Trump, From Europe to Brexit, From Create & Craft to Hochanda (hahaha. Nothing like a…

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Hi there! Thanks again for popping in. Very late! Our guests have only just left. Paul and Jim from Clarity came over this afternoon with their respective partners, and after a buffet of turkey, ham and good old German potato salad, we settled down to a games session…. Here we see Paul and Earle, partners in crime, and Jim and Claire, trying to crack the mystery. Our Jayne from Clarity kindly gifted us the game for Christmas, and we actually took…

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Hi there. Thanks for popping in. Felt the need to express myself in a little canvas today. Been spending essential time with the kids. Good talks. Theirs are not my stories to tell, but boy! Have I listened. And I remember how hard it is growing up, finding your feet in business, making a living. Do you? Do you recall?  Hats off to my two for making it so far so good –  Especially in New York and San Francisco!  …

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Happy Boxing Day ! Thanks for popping in. Has it been raining where you are?  Or have you enjoyed a white Christmas? It has been pouring all day here – except for the point at which Grace, Mark and I decided to go for a walk through the woods to the pub.  Just at that place where it’s too late to turn back and you may as well keep going, the heavens opened.  But whatever. It’s only rain. So we…

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Merry Christmas Everyone! Thanks for popping in. I do hope that all is well with you, and that you are enjoying the festivities. It’s been pretty hilarious here at home. If you haven’t played Mouthtrap, you haven’t lived.  I KNOW there are several of you who are at home alone,  who are struggling with this day. And that makes my heart heavy. All I can do is tell you I am thinking of you and wishing you lived closer. This…

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Hi there. Well, here it is. Christmas. Today is the Big Day at our house. We celebrate this evening. The family will arrive late afternoon. We will eat a traditional German meal:  Bratwurst, Sauerkraut with mashed potatoes and onion gravy.  It’s modest, working man’s fayre.  None of your lobster thermidor under this roof!  Delicious though. Then the kids will clean the kitchen, the grandparents will retire to the living room with a glass of port or wine, and the ones…

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