Mud Mud Glorious Mud

Yesterday I was showing my messy output to my partner's 18-year-old son. He was somewhat bemused. The mess didn't faze him, but the concept was slightly out of touch. He already thinks I'm a bit of a loony hippy type and I guess I just added fuel to the fire - though he was very impressed by cress.

I think he was fairly comfortable with the fact that I was enjoying this strange hobby until I confessed that I was also leading a band of merry mess-makers across the globe and that you were painting your car tyres and getting snakes involved. I think I may have opened his eyes to a whole new world of crazy creatives in touch with our right brains.

Frankly he has nothing to talk about - what with his obsessions with his hair, wearing trousers that deliberately show his underpants and hanging smelly deodorisers in his car. Youth today eh?

Anyway, we digress... We've been sharing our family's reactions to our Mess as we've gone through the weeks, but I thought that this week we might be braver. How about taking our challenges further afield. Start gently with friends, colleagues... then maybe push yourself. Ask a stranger to join in. Who dares set up camp on the pavement with a pile of chalk and invite passers-by to add their mark to your sidewalk masterpiece?

I may take a page to the supermarket and leave it on a shelf with a pen and a few instructions, returning later to see if any brave soul has listened to their heart's creative whisperings among the tinned beans and washing powder. It might be a good idea to put it at child height - our younger friends are more tuned in to picking up opportunity than their parents after all.

I leave you with this challenge as a starting point. Make of it what you will or simply continue on your own messy journey though the book. Today the sun has come out for the first time in what seems like two months so I am taking my little boy to some gardens and bluebells woods for adventure. Their website warns to wear wellies - sounds like a mess opportunity if ever I heard one!!

When we're back I'll post some pictures here...

Later.... It turned out not to be so muddy after all - so I went looking more closely for me mess and blogged about what I found...