What am I bid?

When I am Rich, I’d love to have beautiful, original artworks in every room of my house. And perhaps a few sculptures for the garden …

But even if I had £115 million to spare, I wouldn’t be tempted to buy a painting by Picasso, da Vinci, Turner or even my favourite, Van Gogh. I’d rather use my money to support living artists than give it away to secretive collectors, dealers and auction houses.

But, at the risk of being hypocritical, I can’t help wondering how much Christie’s would be able to get for this masterpiece:

Do I hear 50p?

Up in the clouds

When I am Rich I want to live in a house with panoramic mountain views.

Until then, I’ll have to improvise with clouds ... and my imagination.

I live in the Cambridgeshire fens. It’s certainly not the worst place on earth, but it is very F L A T!

What would you like to see from your window?

Hunting hares

When I am Rich, I’ll invest in a really good telephoto lens for my camera in the hope of getting a photo of a running hare that shows more than a brown blur.

 Until then, I’ll just have to try snapping them when they’re still.

 Trouble is, they’re very good at playing hide-and-seek.

  

You win some, you lose some …

Not a good start to 2015.

At least, that’s what I thought when I saw my entry to MagicOxygen’s short story competition hadn’t made the shortlist.

Trying to be optimistic, I decided to look on this not as a failure, but as an opportunity to find another home for that particular story. It might do better in a different competition. Perhaps a paying magazine will accept it. Who knows, one day it could even catch the eye of a top agent or publisher!

And then I noticed an even brighter silver lining.

One of the things that persuaded me to pay the £5 entry fee to the competition was that Magic Oxygen pledged to plant a tree in a Word Forest in Kenya for every entrant.  

Look, they’ve sent me the GPS coordinates so I can see where my tree will grow.

View Larger Map

So now I still have a completed story ready for submission – and a tree in Africa!

I plan to go and visit it When I am Rich. 
   

Christmas birds

I did enjoy my Christmas pheasant.

I watched him through the window as he strolled about in the winter sun and then joined his friends to feast on the sugar beet left behind after the field was harvested a couple of weeks ago.

The sparrows helped themselves to their usual snack of peanuts.

This little chap visits the garden most days, but seeing him on Christmas Day is always a bit special.

And my Christmas dinner? A very tasty cashew and mushroom roast with all the trimmings.

A present to give

It’s that time of year again, when you’re desperately trying to think what to buy for those ‘difficult’ friends and relatives. You know, the ones who’ve already got drawers full of socks they never wear, those who still haven’t used the perfume you sent three years ago, the people who say you really shouldn’t waste your money on them but who will take umbrage if you don’t …

Here’s an idea for a gift that will make the recipient feel good about themselves, won’t cost you a fortune in postage, and can be given again – and again.

Some rainbows are too big

So there I was, exploring Aladdin’s cave (otherwise known as my favourite art shop) and thinking that When I am Rich I’ll be able to buy the best quality paints, pastels, inks and pencils in every available colour and shade.

All those purples, violets, mauves and magentas!

    
         Yellows!
              Reds!
                  Browns!
                        Blues!

But if I had all those colours what would I do with them?

I’d probably spend the whole day admiring them while I tried to decide which one to use first.

I think I’ll stick with my little paintbox for now.

It’s got all the colours I need for teasels and trees.