The equipment!

Is it really sad to get excited about your new drawing board? I am still trying to figure that one out.

I used to get very excited about cars, engines, new suspension, the perfect corner apex, a tenth of a second off my time....What has happen to me? A very lovely new shiny counter-weight drawing board - that's what!

This week has been a whistle stop tour of the history of gardens from the Stone Age to Modernist movement. 4 hours in total. I hate to admit it but I learnt more in that time than years of snoozing through history at school.

I have rediscovered my love for drawing and smelling of graphite. I come home happy and grubby. I just hope that this enthusiasm gets channelled into my homework. This weeks tasks are to figure out time management and make it work, create a drawing of a courtyard garden and start a history timeline covering 3 centuries. Oh, and come up with some inspirational title for an essay on 20th century gardens.

Task 1 - Not too hard I think....I do manage kids, dogs, house and school, plan holidays and keep everything running smoothly.

Task 2 - No problem - just need to make sure it's recognisable and accepted by the masterGD himself.

Task 3 - Cutting and pasting....fingers crossed.

Task 4 - Now that is where things start to unravel. Having blagged my way through most of school and successfully got A in French (only spoke it for 3 years) and rather more unsuccessfully got D's in English having spoken it for ever........Here lies the problem. How the hell do you "construct an essay"? Let alone reference it. Back to the proverbial Drawing Board!

Confident? Nope, blissfully ignorant at the moment.

I shall sit here admiring my fantastic new shiny board and ponder..........wasting my carefully managed time.

Baby Steps

Well this week has been the start of a great new adventure for me. Juggling children and endless 60th birthday celebrations and starting a fantastic new career. I never thought I would actually find a path that suits me in every way. But Garden and Landscape design it is.

We all met up this week in Oxford Brookes and embarked on an intensive year long post-grad course. We will be the best of the best, elite, top gun designers by the end. Watch out.

The thing I have loved most so far is the fact I am cutting, gluing and sticking squares. I should rope in the girls to help. They might be my inspiration as I really think children have an unadulterated view on life and simple is the key to great design.

Now all there is to do this week is finish my Ben Nicholson inspired art and attend yet another 60th bash at the gherkin, do the corporate wife thing again, and then knuckle down to some work. My head is ready for a challenge and for once my heart is following suit. All I have to do is figure out how to do it!