Pie’s face smells delicious
And my ancestor (maybe) built a lighthouse
Some random facts and happenings from Chez Helen 🏠 this week:
My daughter Pie is 16. Sweet 16. Sigh. I can’t stop staring at her. Or, much to her annoyance, sniffing her delicious face. It smells of watermelons because of the incredible toner she wears. She knows all about skincare. And hair. And getting brilliant exam results. How? I am amazed and in awe.
We have a new front door, no more indoor puddles when it rains, no more ‘snail discos’ (as
calls those sparkly snail trails) on our living room carpet. No more indoor frost in the winter. No danger that someone will lean on our door and accidentally fall in to the house.I’ll miss it, it was original to the house and that felt important. Plus there are the all the doorstep pictures we took to document Pie growing up. But we found a good local joiner who made a new door that’s almost an exact copy (without the warp, the snails and the frost) and we’ll take new doorstep photos soon. It needs weathering in a bit, and we need the local kids to kick a few balls at it, but it will settle in.
I changed my Insta name from @helenstephenslion to @helenstephenspal.
My Glaswegian partner has always called me Pal. The first time he said, ‘Awrite pal’ I thought it was hilarious. It made me think of old Glaswegian ship builders. It quickly became our nickname for each other, and anyone who becomes a friend automatically becomes a Pal too.
Hence this Substack is Pencil Pals, and now my Insta name is helenstephenspal. I hope people think I am a Glaswegian ship builder 😂 I need to get some nautical tattoos ⚓️
That reminds me, the other day my Mum told me that an ancestor on my Dad’s side of the family built Portland Bill lighthouse.
‘What did they do? Were they the architect or a bricky?’ I asked my Dad. He couldn’t remember.
I found these beauties at a local antiques market at the weekend. That blue candle holder washed up to look gorgeous, a really punchy blue. And I put a yellow candle in it for complementary colour zingyness.
The ship will go here, above our wonky door, once we decorate.
And we bought this beautiful wee drawing from Bjorn Lie a couple of weeks ago. It reminds me of our house.
After a long hiatus that started in lockdown, my partner (not a ship builder, but an artist) is making his famous whale prints again. He will be selling them soon, we’ll keep you posted.
In other news,
and I have been meeting at my kitchen table or her garden bench for regular writing sessions. We’re writing some stories about Salty Sea Dog. Remember Salty? He is the Good Ship Illustration’s Picture Book course mascot.I can’t wait to show you more when we’re allowed!
How has your week been? Smelt any delicious faces? Had a snail disco? Had a nautical tattoo? Drawn any nice sketches? Let me know, I am nosy.
Love Helenx
Gorgeous door! It does beg the question, where will the snails party now? I’m sure they’ll complain of gentrification. “This part of town used to be cool…”
My kids are quite young so they do have delicious cheeks but I’m still better at skincare than them, by a narrow margin.
My 15yo said Good Luck, Babe by Chappell Roan sounds like “mouse karaoke”. I feel like that would pair well with a snail disco. Top night out!