Andy and Nicola Portrait

This portrait was commisioned by my husband for our friends Engagement present he chose the style of the painting from an illustration he had seen in a magazine, I wasn't sure they would like it as they are not really very creative people, but they loved it.....Thankfully.....x

Pati Portrait

My friend Patrycja is Polish and has her Name Day on August 28th, so this portrait was a present for her. In Poland Name Day is a special time for family and friends to gather, friends and family simply stop by to wish the person celebrating their Name Day 'Wszystkiego najlepszego' ( All the best) usually guests bring flowers and chocolates and maybe a drink of vodka .

Imieniny 'Name Day' is the feast day of the Saint for whom you are named, people over the age of thirteen usually celebrate their Imieniny rather than their Birthdays.....x

Jon Portrait

I have been busy these last few weeks painting portraits for friends, I began my career in painting as a Textile Designer which has taken me off into a few different routes artistically, from designing party invitations to children's personalised canvass, and also to my favourite painting portraits this one is of a friend of the family Jon.....x

Camelot Theme Park, Chorley

My family and I had a fun day out at Camelot Theme Park lots of rides including the Nightmare a rollercoaster which has more G force than any other ride in the UK theme parks pulling 5 G's at some points, the highest point is 87 feet and it reaches speeds in excess of 40 miles per hour, thankfully my husband went on this ride with our son, I opted for the Galleon a swinging sea farer quite a good ride but not for those with motion sickness. Other rides included the Dragon Flyer a roller coaster that takes you around the theme park some sharp turns though, The Log Flume gets you very wet , The Dungeon of Doom a ghost train ride and a Go Kart track (extra charge for this , and a few other activities) lots of places to eat and drink.

There is also a Medieval show with dashing knights on horseback. Led out by King Arthur is the Black Knight Mordred and the ever loyal Sir Lancelot, they performed Jousting at the tilt, Lancing of the rings and foot combat using swords and maces.

A good day out even though it was raining, for which we were given a voucher to return for half price as it rained for more than 2 hours on and off.......x

Manchester City FC Family Fun Day

Yes my family support the Blue side of Manchester and on Friday 6th August Manchester City Football Club held a Family Fun Day at their ground The City Of Manchester Stadium known as 'Eastlands' .

This was also the day the new Manchester City Home kit went on sale and we headed of down there to watch the players training on the pitch, the boy's loved it we got some good pictures and saw a few of the new players just signed up including David Silva and Yaya Toure...the team looked good and we went to see them the next day play Valencia in a friendly it was a good game, City looked good the players played well together, the final score City winning 2-0.......x

Ways of Seeing

I finished reading Love by Design by Nora Roberts and I wasn't impressed, I have though, just read Vision in White by Nora Roberts, book one in the bride quartet series, which was free from Iceland Food Store, and thought it was great.

I am now reading Ways of Seeing by John Berger it consists of seven numbered essays. It raises questions about hidden ideologies in visual images.

My husband a photographer for over 20 years is studying for a degree in Photography and this is one off the recommended reading list. Hopefully it won't be too hard going, as I myself have a background in Art and Design I am hoping it will be very interesting....x

FIL World Lacrosse Championships Manchester

It has been an exciting time in Manchester this last few weeks, we have had the FIL World Lacrosse Championships held here at the Manchester University sports ground, The Firs from the 15th to the 24th of July with 30 nations competing for the title including Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Spain, USA and Wales to name a few.

My family took part in the games themselves on the week before the games began there was a Tournament for all the local lacrosse teams to go to the Firs and compete together at this amazing venue. The boys are members of Mellor Lacrosse club and play for the Mellor Under 12's team. It was a very exciting day,

unfortunately they did not win the tournament but had lots of

fun trying, the veentual winners being the Sheffield Steelers..

On Saturday 17th July my family and I attended a full day of the Lacrosse Tournament we went to watch England play Australia which was a very close game finishing at the whistle 8-8 and stretching into extra time where Australia beat England by 12-8. We also saw USA v Canada two great Lacrosse teams.

Unfortunately we never got to see the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team which I was really looking forward to seeing as lacrosse was created by indigenous North Americans and later adopted by European Colonial cultures, and are ranked number 4 in the world. England refused them entry because

they travel on their traditional papers (as they have done for 2 decades) they refuse to use American or Canadian papers on a point of principle, but because of heightened security fears this has caused immigration officials to be more vigilant and strict, even though America had given them a one time waiver, they were refused entry.

The World Champion Lacrosse Team 2010 is USA beating Canada in a 12-10 Victory!!!!......x