From my series Animals in chairs

The entire piece:

I haven't been able to make a new piece yesterday and today I was off trying out the buses, so I figured I'd share a popular piece from my series 'animals in chairs'.

And as this is a busy buying season for Christmas it's always good to look at things that have done well in the past.

With monday being 'cyber monday' we artists who do sell online have to consider such things. Though I am hopeless behind in such matters this year, as my partial move to England has taken up far more of my time than really considered.

As my home here now in England is shared with my two dear friends, one of whom is also an American, we decided why not have a Thanksgiving of sorts. I wasn't bothered one way or the other, but when all was said and done, it was such a nice day.

We wanted to get a naturally raised local turkey, but they are not really available until closer to Christmas.

My suggestion was then to use some local game, which is so easy to come by this time of the year in the English countryside. I decided on pheasant out of our various choices of partridge, quail, pigeon, duck, and goose.

Here we see a little photo montage I made of it.

We are very lucky with our weather here in South East England. Though it was considered 'cold' by the locals that day, to me it felt like New England Spring April, so I was out in my shirtsleeves in the garden with Ivan the dog cutting fresh herbs from our lush green herb garden.

I pan seared the birds for about 5 min on all sides just to really seal in the juices.

Pheasant can be dry if not done properly, so on top of the searing I well oiled it in olive oil and of course streaky bacon just for good measure.

I also pan friend the veg and herbs first in butter to prepare them for roasting with the birds. This also gave a good flavour to the birds, as I did that prior to searing them.

They turned out lovely and juicy and a fine time was had by all.

We were a small party of just five, but two of our guests were new local friends, also expats. One from Turkey and the other Germany, but both have called England their home for some years.

We were also happy that our table (antique but just won at auction) was in place in time for dinner. We have first been living in an empty house and now one with furniture wrapped and boxes full of possesion, but it still feels very like a home.

Now, I have been SO busy with all the things it takes to set up a new home in a new country that I have not even tried out the bus as of yet.

I decided today would be that day and we are lucky as we live on the High in a little village just outside of the small city of Canterbury.

The bus ride was SO quick only 10 minutes.

I was happy to see we do get double decker buses even for this short trip, though I didn't sit up top, which was foolish as it would be good for photo ops. However, I shall be on the bus rather frequently so no worries about that.

Canterbury High street is getting festooned for the coming Christmas season and little huts selling wares have been set up.

I love the Christmas season and am overjoyed that in the cafe they are playing Christmas music mixed with Jazz standards

I've settled into Cafe Nero, as I do like them overall, their coffee being quite good and this one here on the High in Canterbury is three floors of great space to drink coffee and work.

It is a lovely old building.

And I've nabbed a good spot by the windows, despite it being a busy Satruday. But, they do say the early bird gets the worm and I am definitely an 'early bird'.

You can just see the Christmas lights outside the window, as it is a grey day today.

However, I don't mind the weather at all. And yesterday it was almost 60 F here and sunny all day. Ivan and I spent a good deal of the time in our garden and went for a lovely afternoon walk. While I had a weather report from Toad Hall back home that is was below freezing, so I cannot complain.

The English weather just suits me.

Particularly the south. The mix of cloudy day and sun and rain and mist are really just the sort of changeable things that rather keep my mood even. I might actually suffer 'seasonal effictiveness disorder' more if I were suffered to 80F temps and sun non stop every day.

It's funny how there are places all round the world that can suit a persons desires for weather.

I don't even mind that the days are so short here, as we've such a lovely little snug village home that you look forward to coming home to snuggle away in a favourite chair ( which I recently bought here )

My next adventures are going to include getting the trains down. It is either a 50 to one hour fast train ride into London, or a slower 2 hour train ride into London. I am going to try both and see which I prefer, as I have heard the slow train is quite comfortable, with good wifi, and I could see myself getting some work done and reading on the train into the city.

I have yet to decide how much time I wish to spend in London.

I'm torn between a week a month solid or simply going more frequently through the week, giving myself weekends staying put in our village. We shall see.

For now, I shall close here.

I am anxious to go out amongst all the shops and see what wonderful things are on display for Christmas and maybe browse the bookstore. I've got to get some sketching done as well, so I should do that before heading out of my comfortable seat here in the cafe.

I hope you all are having a lovely Saturday and enjoying some creative time no matter where you are.

Check out my other posts, if you like, and by all means upvote, resteem and yes leave comments!

• A study of Ivan the Dog in my studio. American Thanksgiving in England.
• A painting of Sheep in my English Landscape and ruminating on Artists Studio Space and Size on Creation and Workload.
• A black and white drawing for a rainy day.
• Walking our Kentish foot paths to Tea house and local duck eggs.

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