Moments Of Pleasure....

holidays from home..

2009-09-19T08:01:00.001+01:00

So instead of going far across the sea.. we became daaaay-trippers(one way ticket yeah!)and had mini adventures in the camper.
One adventure was on a brilliantly bright Sunday a couple of weeks ago,when we filled the van with dogs and headed down the road into Kent,heading towards an ancient site,Kent's Stonehenge! Coldrum Longbarrow is a 3000 year old burial chamber,the timeworn stones perched high on the edge of a bank of hills with stunning views across the undulating fields as they stretch away down to the coast. It was one of those journeys where we thought we knew the way but got terribly lost, ambling through the country lanes. Well, that's half the fun of the journey isn't it?

Even the poochies were impressed with the views!

Honeybunch having a happy roll!

And then the excitement was too much for them and they crashed.

It's really a magical place, walking through farmer's fields to reach it and then you come out on top of the hill, to see the view all bathed in the gold sunshine.
There is a tree which is known as the wishing tree where people have tied ribbons and corn sheaves as they make their wish. It was so pretty all rippling in the breeze.

We have a slight obsession with standing stones and these ancient places. I can really recommend a book by druidic pop star from the 80's and 90's Julian Cope called The Modern Antiquarian. When we bought it, we thought we would use it as a guide book to travel the country.The website is great too,full of interesting descriptions and observations. I love this comment about Coldrum. Stones as RockStars!

'Like a rock 'n roll star, the chamber perches on top of the edge of a ridge, so that its stones look for all the world like some Freddie Mercury figure, arms aloft, allowing itself to bask in the glory of its adoring fans. Climb the steps to the left and rise up behind the 'stage' to see the pattern of placement of the kerbstones marking out the depth of the longbarrow. And look over the Freddie Mercury chamber and you see that the the rolling fields of Kent are the audience.'

dahlia days..

2009-09-18T17:14:00.004+01:00

I absolutely adore dahlias!
They are absolutely my flower of choice come the autumn months. Rainbow hued and perfectly formed,I can't get enough of them.
And to think they used to be sooo unfashionable! Piffff what do they know!

I have been filling my house with them the last couple of weeks..
Here are some pink and perky ones brought from Marylebone's farmers market.

Eagle eyed amongst you might recognize a certain gorgeous picture in that last shot. Taken by the lovliest peony of all and her prints are available through etsy,should you be overwhelmed with jealousy and think your life is empty without one(as you surely will!) I think I need another in my life too.

Then only yesterday whilst lost (again) on those pesky Kent lanes(I love it really)I spied a little stand by the road with a bucket full of rainbows. I limited myself to two bunches even though they were ridiculously cheap and took my bounty home!

I'm think these may be spider chrysanthemums, despite my dahlia love-fest. They look as if petal is perfectly snipped.

And these marigold yellow ones are fab with that deep dark velvet dahlia. I couldn't capture the opulent deep colour properly. In real life it is the most decadent blackish red.

summer days.. Part Uno.

2009-09-18T14:30:00.005+01:00

Hello again..
Golly what a slacker! Have you all had lovely summers? Ours was jam-packed with exciting new ventures and escapades..
No exotic holiday for me but lots of working ones, including a trip to Florence. Sometimes I love my job. Transformed into a renaissance lady with a divine long flowing wig of chesnut locks and velvet robes!
But I forgot my camera-can you believe it? Luckily a loan of one saved me before the battery ran out. I took these around the Ponte Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens.

The skies were breathtaking!

I want to pootle about in this car!

I have lots more pics but they are all being held hostage on my phone so may continue the Florence adventure when I can figure the darn thing out!

Arrivederci!

Sky Over Sea

2009-08-07T13:12:00.002+01:00

Like Sky over sea,
so is your love for me.
Our worlds met and wed,
continuing firmaments
of currents and clouds,
stars and sea.
As one woven nature,
we now bless our spirit
with peace and happiness.
The contour of life
covers us two,
like sky over sea,
you and me.

Annie Dougherty

(picture from here)

Broadway Cupcakes..

2009-07-27T20:38:00.005+01:00

Still having net nightmares so do bear with me in the sporadic posting.

This weekend's MEGA moment of pleasure was discovering this you tube Karaoke fun ti me, where I found loads of broadway numbers to chortle when really I should have been baking cupcakes for a pal's party.. I divided my time between weighing out flour and sugar,mixing up icing and then zipping over to the computer to find another show tune to belt out! Oh my goodness me, it was jazz hands - tastic!!
Finding my two favourite songs made my night- and I was singing up a storm..I'm sure it gave the cupcakes an extra zing!
So here they are.. some of my Broadway Cupcakes.

And here are the songs that helped them (and me) along the way. Go on- give it a go! You too can be as good as Babs.
Boo- I can only link to them; Don't Rain on My Parade(so my theme song) and this rip-roarer from Wicked. Even I was feeling sorry for the neighbours I was singing so loudly!

I also tried my hand at lavender cupcakes. I love lavender food so much, shortbread,meringues,lavender and orange cake. A friend even has a recipe for beef with lavender.

And they're so pretty too! Decorated with fresh buds from the garden

I bought the culinary lavender from a farm in Kent called Castle farm. I would love to take a trip there and wander through purple scented fields. But in the mean time the mail order can keep me in lavender supplies.

The recipe is from the Hummingbird cook book, a basic sponge cupcake recipe but the milk is infused over night with the dried lavender buds. It was delish!

The next day I snapped these pics of butterflies on the bunting that's still hanging in the garden,I can't bring myself to take it down after our anniversary party. And now I know the butterflies like sunning themselves there, it may have to stay a while.

Oh I feel another song coming on..
'lavender cupcakes and butterflies on bunting,these are a few of my favourite things'

remember me?

2009-07-23T19:39:00.001+01:00

Oh poor neglected blog of my heart! How I have forsaken you..

But here I am, back from lots of adventures,frollicking around with the pals,giggling and dancing with The Shoe, oh we've had some high times, I can tell you. A spot of traveling and seeing some sights ,as well as shaking my fist at nasty net problems on my return that prevented me rejoining the blog world- boo and hiss! but I hope there are still some folk out there to flick through my ramblings and if not,never mind!

So our anniversary weekend was truly blissful. A surprise stay in a Bed and Breakfast called Thornham Hall surrounded by gorgeous parkland. View from our window.. with elegant peacocks and their not so elegant call sounding the alarm!

Even with the peacocks,the peace and quiet was an absolute tonic..sunshine poured in to the day and we wandered through walled gardens and woodland, it truly was like a secret garden. This little girl was peeking in as we arrived and then it was just us,the butterflies and the bees.

Magical woodlands,felt like we were walking through paintings.

Afterwards we headed towards Aldeburgh,the place where we had got married. Accompanying us as we drove along twisty roads was the music we had heard during our ceremony, Mozart,John Martyn, Elbow, Bernstein.. We both got quite emotional! Once there we ambled through the wedding gardens, holding hands and filled with memories and love,reliving the events of that magical day. We felt so blessed and brimming with happiness.

And on the drive back,we spied a stall on the roadside with little fluttering flags of colour- Suffolk sweetpeas! The Shoe knows me so well, I didn't even have to say anything, he had put the brakes on. I swept up all 5 bunches,leaving the money in the honesty box - it was perfect as we had planned the whole wedding around when sweetpeas would be flowering and lined the aisle with jamjars of the perfumed blooms. An anniversary present of my favourite flowers.

But the real special present was waiting for me in our hotel room. We had brought our gifts up with us to exchange on the day and I had a box waiting for me.. As dusk fell and the light changed to a lilacy pink and blue, I unwrapped the enormous amount of wrapping to reveal this-

I was thrilled and speechless and couldn't quite believe my eyes! Those in the know will recognize those cute little birds as the work of another blog wonderlady Flora. Her blog,Through the Round Window, about her stained glass creations is filled with interesting and pretty things.
The Shoe and her had been a-plotting presents.. I was full of questions - how did,where did.. what???? I am never sure if he reads my ramblings but apparently I had left the puter on with this post and he thought it was just the thing. We have a bit of a bird thing going on if you hadn't already realised from the poem we wrote to go in our invites,there were lots of birdie touches at the wedding. I was very impressed, he came up with the design for the two glass birds all by himself! We really must be well suited as we bought each other the exact same lovebirds card!
So thank you Flora for creating such a wonderful and special gift, we can't quite decide where to hang it but it will be somewhere we can see it every day.

Now I must remember to always leave the computer on when I post about other things I take a fancy to!!

(I do hope I can be back soon, virgin media permitting, but I am missing all my blog pals lots!)

Underneath the tree...

2009-07-02T10:14:00.005+01:00

When we thought of where we would be married,there was only one place that in my heart I wanted it to be, a place were I had had some of the happiest times of my life,a place that feels like my home in my true heart.I had introduced the Shoe to this magical creative place and he had been swept up in it's spell too.

When I would visit Aldeburgh I would stay in a little room at the top of a big house and at all times of the day, early morning,dusk,moonlit nights,I would gaze in wonder at the spectacular view that stretched away beneath massive skies and would be instantly calm.
On a visit to our friends after we got engaged, talk came round to wedding plans and I mentioned something about finding a field nearby when up pipes Lady C 'why my dear you must have it in my garden' My heart almost burst and all the words out of my brain as this was what the Shoe had answered when i asked him where in the whole world would he want to get married.
It was the start of our dream coming true and meant that we could get married in a place that was incredibly special and personal to us..

And we could have our wedding ceremony 'Underneath the tree beneath the swirling skies'

And it also meant we could have a marquee in another friend's garden and keep partying till the wee small hours!

wedding memories..

2009-07-01T13:07:00.004+01:00

Goodness I can hardly believe that it will be our first wedding anniversary on sunday!
How did that happen?? The year has flown by so quickly
So, as I really became involved in the wonderful world of blogging as a result of planning the wedding, I thought I would post a little bit about our day,so excuse the self indulgence! I do wish I had started a wedding blog at the time as I am still adicted to looking at wedding loveliness.. I only plucked up the courage afterwards!

So here you are, invited to our wedding.

As we love and collect classic children's books, we thought that would be our inspiration with lots of pen and ink illustrations of birds and nature.There was so much information to include it soon turned into a small booklet tied with green ribbon edged with gold thread.
Each page was a different chapter and headed with a quote from Alice in Wonderland.

This was the front page

And opened up to this...

We did the do in a beautiful Suffolk village called Aldeburgh so we made a whole weekend of the celebrations.

We designed them ourselves with the assistance of a talented graphic designing pal to do the technical stuff.It was so exciting working on them.
As everyone would be staying in the village we decided to have a map, created by a lovely lady from uxella publicity who transformed our photographs into sweet drawings . We even included a 'chapter' on things to do!

We were having our beautiful wedding ceremony underneath a majestic scots pine tree and used the silhouette outline on the front and back.

And this was the poem that the Shoe and I wrote together.I began it sitting on a crowded tube carriage dreaming of the wedding day and we finished it together that night, back home in our nest. You may have to click on it to read it !

Setting the scene on wedding day!

pics by fwphotography
Will be posting more about everything soon.
It's so lovely remembering it again.

(boo- the colour has come out rather funny but it was a faded sage green in real life!)

Book finds and Bluebirds

2009-06-26T23:48:00.009+01:00

I had almost forgotten to post about the marvy books I found when I was a charity shop tourist on my posh opera trip.. (check out this blog devoted to charity shop tourism!)

But here they are, far too lovely to be passed over.
This book was always one of my favourites as a child. A collection of stories by Joan Aiken with silhouette illustrations by Jan Pienkowski even as a little girl I adored them and are still so captivating even now.
I've always longed to find a necklace of raindrops! Maybe one day..

The story starts with the North Wind getting caught in a tree

Another favourite was Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.. who was flattened by an enormous bulletin board falling on him during the night! There's a warning there! But it was brilliant how he folded himself up in an envelope when he went to visit his pen pal and just slipped under doors. Most useful.

And how adorable is this cover illustration by Janina Ede.. love so many things,the font,the colours and the background dandelion head design- very Angie Lewin.

But the bargain of the day was this Wind in the Willows so sweet- Mole,Ratty and Toad under the green weeping willow.

My latest car boot fair book find was this super cute Mary Poppins book. I love how dark the original stories are.. no spoonful of sugar here! And they are always trying to outvex the park keeper.

And as I mentioned here, an incredible collection of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales with illustrations by Jiri Trnka who might be Czech? They are so unique,I have never seen anything quite like them,such dynamic and vivid pictures,very distinctive. Some very beautiful,some cartoonish and hectic, others surreal. They capture the twisted and dark side to the fairy tales brilliantly.

This is from the Emperor's New Clothes

And The Real Princess (or princess and the pea)

I should post more of them really as they are quite stunning.

It's another one to add to my fairy tale collection.

Oh and one last find.. this great Bluebird toffee tin. I loves it cos it has birds and blossom on it! And it's huge too- fit lots of goodies in.

'I beg your pardon..

2009-06-26T23:37:00.002+01:00

... I never promised you a rose garden'
Does anyone else always sing that song in a really good country and western drawl? Why,yes Siree.

Anyway that wittering is just an excuse to post a couple of pics of the beeyootiful rose garden that is currently blooming in lovely Greenwich Park. It is a vertitable riot of colour and of course needed lots of sniffing.. my nose was worn out I can tell you!

They do have lots of David Austen roses too..

Must remember my next house must come with a rose garden....!

And if you really need to sing a long-

'China in your hand..'

2009-06-22T23:45:00.005+01:00

How much do you love that song? 80's power ballad a go go!

And it's what we were singing on Sunday as the Shoe and I had a most successful time,trying out a new boot fair. It's always a risk as you feel you might come a cropper and miss out on bargains at the old trusted place but I had a lovely time. I haven't indulged my sunday morning love for a while (been working too hard!) and yes I know it's more stuff but I couldn't resist.
There were 2 ladies selling off their amazing collections of ceramics and china,I could have bought it all. Although I had a scary premonition that it could be me in 20 years.. shiver..

Anyways here are me finds..

Lovely retro vase and cream and sugar pourers with yellow plastic lids - perfect for summer strawberries..

50's Wade flower pot holder

And on a separate stand,this little ballerina dish also by Wade. Cute!!

This is definitely going on the wall, think my favourite purchase. Fab colours and design with the pears!

Some more dishy dishes,flower power,man! An immaculate set of 6 from Meakin Studio. I love meakin muchly.

such a great pattern,turqoise and sea green.

2 of each of these stylish side plates again from the 50's.

And this birdy,twirly cake stand. I had to get the Shoe to ask for the price as I use him as my decoy to avoid the price getting bumped!!
So summery!

Will post pictures of a marvellous book I found for a bargainous 50p later.

We tottered around,trying not to clank the china and even picked up a beautiful mauve hydranga as we headed back to the car.
I love sundays!

Little Bird..

2009-06-20T17:16:00.002+01:00

Over on another lovely Flora's blog Through the Round Window, she is giving away this gorgeous stained glass birdie that she has designed and created. Pop over there for a chance to win!

And also admire her wonderful stained glass wisdom- I am always fascinated by her posts and love learning about the process of making stained glass designs and seeing work by other artists too. I am desperate to decorate all my windows now and flood my house with light and colour.Sigh...

dress rehersals and chandeliers

2009-06-20T10:31:00.010+01:00

One of the things I love the most about my pals is when they get me tickets to see dress rehersals for things that would usually be prohibitively pricey and intimidatingly posh! A couple of weeks I had an adventure down to Hampshire to a beautiful place called Grange Park where every summer you can watch Opera in the purpose built theatre.

The Grange is in the style of Greek Revival Temple built in the early 1800's, it is owned by English Heritage so you can wander around without the threat of loud singing during the rest of the year.
It looked so gorgeous with the Indian pavillions all ready to picnic in. The opera starts early evening and then there is a long interval in which everyone spreads out around the grounds and in the pavillions to sip pimms and bubbly and nibble sandwiches. I think people look forward to the picnic maybe even more than the opera,bringing laden hampers,tablecloths even little vases of flowers. Terribly civilized!

I so want me one of those! And the paths were lined with sweetpeas,so of course I was in heaven.

Once in the theatre,my friend and I were mesmerized by the magical chandeliers and all the fabby touches in the decoration. We spent the interval wandering around noticing the collections of bottles,books and trying to get a good look at the chandeliers..
Made from nylon material tied like petals,swavaroski crystals and beads and optic fibre which light up at the tip.

I am convinced you could make something similar at home.. Do you think? With enough material,it could look fab.
Designed by Sharon Marston have a look at her website for some other breathtaking light designs. Definitely show stoppers, I was more entranced by them than the opera.
I also loved the sweet Trompe L'oeil on the stairs.Glass cabinets filled with assorted goodies with a theme,observer books,bottles,soda syphons,and cow shaped milk jugs. And a windy staircase to nowhere.

We even fitted in a charity shop visit in the neighbouring village where I found 3 sweet childrens books with delicious covers and a copy of Wind in the Willows from the 50's for a bargainious £1.50. Bonus!

All in all we left the enchanted setting full of joy.

Finish what I've started..

2009-06-16T21:38:00.007+01:00

So on with the rest of the quiz-

What is your dream job?

Well,tempting as being a flamenco dancer might be(see the comment box to last post) I would love to go back in time and sing in the choir of the MGM studios! Or in this lifetime,a florist or costume designer after my encounter today which involved being dressed up like a Renaissance lady.
My job does have aspects of dream-ness about it but like everything it has it's downsides.Do you think there is ever such a thing as the perfect job?

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

Aside from my darling of a wedding dress,I have a dress that belonged to my Great Aunt Annie from the forties-floral silk in purples and pinks with dozens of tiny buttons down the back. My mother wore it in the 70's and now I wear it on very special occasions like when we announced our engagement!
Oh and in winter time it has to be my pair of pink thick ski socks-my comfort socks I call them,two pairs so I can always keep my feet toasty!

What is your worst habit?

Running late... Boo. I am trying to break this White Rabbit tendency especially as The Shoe is the most punctual person ever.It's the only thing that drives him mad about me!

Do you admire any one’s style?

Maybe all those gloriously elegant ladies of Hollywood days of yore. Audrey,Liz Taylor,Bette Davis,Cyd Charisse.Barbra even, I think she was fabby..Oh to be coiffured and sophiss.

What are your favourite movies?

My Fair Lady,Slipper and the Rose, Little Women(the June Allyson version!)Funny Girl
Girlie aren't they? And all good for a weep. Don't watch this clip without having at least 3 hankies ready..

Your favorite book ?

Cloud Atlas by Paul Mitchell.Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.

What is your favorite fruit?

A luscious ripe nectarine with the juice running down your arm. The taste of summer.

Do you collect something?

Ummm yes. teacups,fabric,birdie things,children's books. It's getting serious.

What is your favorite smell?

Sweetpeas without doubt. Although I could have a favourite scent through each month. At the moment the heady scent of Orange blossom from my granny's garden is perfuming the room.

Cats or dogs?

I love both of course but sure others would describe me as a dog person.

What’s your biggest fashion mistake?

At the height of the grunge era,I would wear massive fisherman's jumpers which would come down to my knees over long black skirts and huge doc marten boots. One such day I was wearing this outfit when I turned up at school and it was the day of school photos which I had completely forgotten.And it wasn't just the usual group shots but individual ones which we had never had before so my wonderful outfit was captured forever- I tried to destroy the evidence but scarily it's one of my mum's favourite pictures of me as she says it reminds her of my terrible teenage years. Thanks Mum!

My question: What do you look forward to coming home to after you've been away?

SO I am going to tag

Emmy
Flora
Hannah
Kerry
Hellebores
Anna
Rosalie
Amber

And anyone that would like to have a bash! Go ahead why wait to be tagged.. For some other of the questions see Meg and Eden's posts.

Apparently you have to link back here and then tag others. Lots of love x x

Zonked..

2009-06-14T19:34:00.011+01:00

from this lovely place

Phee-yoooow... what a weekend it's been.
In a far flung city working, as Peter Sellers would say, 'like a dog' ( I love this clip so much,makes me laugh like a mad thing)
I was away doing things ridiculously late when I should have been tucked up in the posh hotel. And then having to be awake at stupid o'clock, heigh ho,all good fun and what would be a tough ol' slog is made much easier by being in a sun filled land. Sleep has been sparse but the freckles are blooming!
I didn't even bring my camera as I knew there would hardly be anytime for meandering round cobbled streets and just went from hotel-coach-theatre-coach-hotel....

But it was so lovely to come home today to my love and our peaceful home,he'd been planting up the garden and it's looking more and more oasis-ie by the day. And the birds.. oh it's just give me so much happiness that our little patch is a veritable bird reserve. their our pets! I was a sleeping 'not so' beauty so went and had a nap and there were frilly peonies in our room. Clever boy.

Oh coming home is often the nicest thing about going away..I really have turned into a home bird!

Another nice surprise was to find I had been tagged by terribly clever ladies Meg
and Eden Rose so although I am a bear of little brain tonight I will try and provide some witty or more likely silly answers.
Here goes..

What is your current obsession?

Well apart from the severe addiction to car boot sales which makes it hard to pass one by without a whimper(even driving back from the airport there was one just off the motorway and I had to steel my nerve to stop me from turning off.) Oh and my garden and BIRDS!! see above. I've turned into a right twitcher!

What is your weirdest obsession?

Well, I don't know if it's really weird but I am a complete musical obsession,totally,utterly loopy over them and I don't mean any of your Lloyd Webber malarky,no siree, only the good stuff- preferably MGM and with Judy Garland/Gene Kelly/Fred Astaire. And I'm happy.

Coffee or tea?

Does it matter?! All have their place in the world..but coffee from here or a real mint tea in a glass moroccan style or strong builders in a mug or fragrant Earl Gray in one of my lovely tea cups would do me fine.

What was the last thing you bought?

Apart from spanish pop socks(a necessity in my line of work!) a much more interesting buy was waiting for me when I got home - a fabby vintage Bluebird toffee tin. Might post some pictures later in the week. Will be perfect in our retro kitchen I'm planning.

What are you listening to right now?
The Shoe moaning about his bottom... and that he can't get comfy in his chair.Nice.
Although earlier,I was much more refined and was listening to the Cardiff Singer of the world final. It's sort of like the X factor for opera singers.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Don't ask.. I'm on a diet. Boo.
Although last time we were by the seaside I had the most scrummy rhubarb flavour.
oh no.. don't think of the ice cream.....

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you?

Two very inspirational ladies. I am in awe of Meg's ability to transform dull and boring furniture into this amazingness. And I am constantly delighted by the interiors that Eden Rose finds-such a good eye.Like this which might possibly be my dream house

What's your favourite quote(for now)?

Has to be a Billy Bragg lyric but there are so many-
'I saw two shooting stars last night,I wished on them , but they were only satellites.It's wrong to wish on space hardware.
I wish,I wish,I wish you cared.'

Perfection.

Oh I fear my zonkedness has hit me again and I must finish this tomorrow!

Sleep well! Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Antidote to the grouch..

2009-06-11T14:52:00.010+01:00

Have been in a ratty mood all day.So for fear of getting all antsy pantsy here,I just thought what was needed was some pictures of cute puppies to put the 'aaahhh' back into 'ta-daaahh' so the show can go on.

These are the pups of a springer spaniel that belongs to one of my most favourite people in the world, I call him my Honorary Grandfather and I'm his SGD or surrogate grandaughter! It was this wonderful man that allowed us to put up our wedding marquee on his croquet lawn and when the party looked like it was going to carry on into the wee small hours I asked him if it was ok to carry on dancing, and he replied joyously 'Keep going forever!!'
His energetic dogs are a huge part of his life so we were desperate to go for a visit when we heard that a litter of pups had been born.

Here are pics at just 10 days old..

cute little tails!

And a couple of weeks ago we went back and they were at that adorable floppy stage and would fall asleep wherever they stopped.

If only they would stay at this size I would have filled my pockets!

Now that's much better, I hope they've made you smile a little too...

Will be away singing- 'And they call it puppy love'

gathering roses..

2009-06-09T15:23:00.000+01:00

Pink tulle and roses..like a fairytale.

When I was a tiny thing,I spent my days wearing a pink and rufflie tulle ballet dress.
No outfit would be complete without the pink ribboned and gold speckled net dress over the top and copious amounts of twirling.Even then I knew that everyday life was made much more magical in my fairy outfit! Here's my shy ballerina pose.

And it was this time of year that my father and I would play my favourite game of 'Look at Those!!' As he drove me to and from nursery school, in the days before child seats and seat belts, I would balance precariously in the gap between the seats and our eyes would rove around the front gardens for vivid coloured shrubs, heavy with garden roses and shouting excitedly
' Look at those! Look at those! Look at those!'
as we whizzed through suburban streets,spotting roses.
Twice a day this rose appreciation society would make the journey the highlight of the day and if ever I'm in the car with my dad at this time of year we can't resist pointing out things with the familiar cry.

Yesterday,we were back in the street were I grew up, with old neighbours, most of whom have stayed living there whilst we moved away..
It was for sad reasons that we were back there and it was a time to look back on our memories of our friend and growing up as naughty children next door.

The lady that bought our old house suddenly appeared her arms laden with white roses for us, cut from the bushes my father had planted almost twenty years ago.
It was wonderful to take these flowers home,a gift from past and present.
And as the Shoe and I drove up the street as we headed home,the roses along the way were extravagantly luscious. Look at those I said to him...

So as the poem says- 'Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a flying'

(picture from here and by me or my dad!)

Cherry cake and Ginger beer..

2009-06-05T23:54:00.004+01:00

Did you used to drool over all the descriptions of cakes,teatimes and picnics in all those classic children's books? I can remember wondering what on earth the turkish delight that so tempted Edmund in The Lion,Witch and the Wardrobe could possibly taste like.. Or what this mysterious food of bread and dripping could be and what magical ingredients went into the fabulously named marchpane, possets,junkets,jumbles or sugarplums.
The adventures of the Famous Five or the Railway Children were never complete without a picnic basket stuffed full of paper wrapped cake and bottles of cold lemonade or a high tea to come home to with toasted crumpets in front of the fire
Adventures galore were made much more enticing with the promise of goodies and cakes to look forward to. So it was with such excited glee that I finally got my sticky fingers on Jane Brocket's whimsical cookbook Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer.

And it really is Truly Scrumptious,she takes the food that made tummies rumble from favourite books of our childhood and creates recipes so you too can make Paddington Bear's sticky marmalade buns or Pippi Longstocking's Swedish pancakes and wash it all down with lemonade or even Marilla's zero alcohol raspberry cordial which poor Anne (of Green Gables,of course!) should have served to her kindred spirit Diana and not the currant wine that got her so sozzled.

Divided into sections- proper elevenses,picnic treat,school food,kind and thoughtful treats;each recipe is preceded by the excerpt from which it comes, so reading the book is doubly pleasurable. It's like having all your favourite books in one!
They are so many wonderful recipes from the Wind in the Willows, Mary Poppins,Ballet Shoes,Swallows and Amazons and many Enid Blyton tales from the Famous five and Secret Seven to The Magical Faraway Tree and all illustrated with the distinctive pen and ink drawings from each story.
And mixed in there is very practical advice on getting off to a good start with a recipe for hunger as she stresses the importance of working up an appetite!
Ingredients include- beach,park,hills,secret island,outdoor shoes and clothes,map and compass,trees for climbing,binoculars,wild flower and bird spotting books. Jolly- whizz!

Two recipes in particular made me very very happy- Bad Harry's trifle from My Naughty Little Sister,so expressively illustrated by Shirley Hughes where the two little imps set about devouring the special birthday trifle silver ball by silver ball.

Check out the lovely cornishware jar!

And Milly Molly Mandy and Little friend Susan toasting muffins bought from the muffin man.

It makes for wonderful bed time reading! Tripping down memory lane and sending you to sleep with sweet dreams of jam tarts and treacle puddings.
There's even recipes for possets and jumbles so at last their secret is revealed.
Plenty of inspiration for picnics and teas and fun filled times.

I baked this strawberries and cream cake a couple of weekends ago for a birthday party,I bought the silicone heart shaped trays at a boot fair the same morning.Lucky eh?

It's a cake I remember from all the summer birthday parties of my childhood, always stuffed with cream,jam and juicy strawberries.Very messy but most delish!

(top pic from flickr,other pictures from my own books)

Silver lining and English Journeys...

2009-06-03T14:18:00.007+01:00

Well, I had a real 'D'oh' moment today as on leaving the house I picked up the keys to the camper instead of my house keys,only realising when I looked down in the same split second as the door closed behind me.

It probably won't suprise you to learn that this isn't the first time I've done this, the last time when I was all set to take the dogs for a walk, so was resplendant in scruffy mac and wellies. I made a right sight on the train into town with two shabby dogs and not a scrap of make up. It was only by a miracle I had a five pound note in my pocket to buy a ticket to collect the Shoe's set of keys.

So there I was this morning stamping feet and swearing like a trooper on the doorstep but this time more sensibly attired, a change of plans and I headed to meet my rescuer once again but not after giving him a royal telling off for leaving his keys in the wrong place(of course! It's never my fault!!) heigh ho.

But the good thing is that he works near one of my favourite streets in London - Marylebone High Street. It is lined with gorgeous drooly shops of posh and pretty stuff and some tip top charity shops too. So I was more than happy to have the excuse to wander back home along this lovely street.

And many nice things did I see...

In the best bookshop in London, Daunt Books, my eye was caught by this new collection of Penguin books entitled English Journeys. Each one has a delightful cover designed by Nathan Burton in pastel colours. You could almost hear birdsong and feel the summery days looking at them,transported through the years.

Pastoral books reprinted from the last century, telling of times that feel very far from our modern way of life. Books of poetry,gardens,country churches, aspects of country life and lore and one was the collection of English folk songs that Vaughn Williams collated at the beginning of the last century. How many would have been lost through the mists of time were it not for this book.

And the wonderful collection of poems by A E Housman 'The Shropshire lad'
with the poem of spring 'Loveliest of trees, the cherry now'

And I wished I'd brought this one home with me by the Grand Dame of gardening -
Gertrude Jekyll.

And what wouldn't you give to ride side saddle through England? Straight out of a Thomas Hardy novel!

Each book cost less than five pounds and a percentage goes to the Woodland Trust which plant trees and maintain forests. Available from here and you can see more of the illustrations here.

Cutie twosome..

2009-06-02T21:47:00.006+01:00

I was unable to resist this sweetiepie bride and groom at a boot fair a few weeks ago
they've taken up residence amongst the geranium on our kitchen table.

Wouldn't it make a lovely cake topper or nestled amongst some wedding cupcakes?

Where did you get that hat?

2009-06-02T14:56:00.008+01:00

Why Chelsea,of course!

Apologies for filling the screen with more pictures from the flower show.. but I wanted to share these amazing floral hats with you. I think they were competing for the florist of the year prize but each one was absolutely inspired and blew me away with the detail and the painstaking craft in each one. I wandered and wondered around going 'how did they do that? just.... how????'
I loved this one that reminded me of the Ascot scene in My Fair Lady. I'm sure that was the inspiration,don't ya think?

Adorable netting adorned with star of Bethlehem flowers and eucalyptus leaves
All made from flowers and leaves.. incredible.

This one below was the one that won.

zinc hearts were suspended on thin gold chains.

I would have worn them all.

Queen of white..

2009-05-30T23:00:00.003+01:00

After all that colour of the last few posts, I have a longing for pale soothing white.
And the queen of white is stylist, Atlanta Bartlett. The brilliant Decor8 who can do no wrong showed me the light( or should I say white)with this post and I have been hypnotised for the last few hours.

and...breathe...and ...relax....

Wonderful cake stand usage here.. great idea for wedding tables or dinner tables or windows.

She also runs a location company called Beach Studios. This house has me and the shoe all of a tizz as it's similar to our Victorian terraced mansion,the style covers huge swathes of South London.

And this hallway is so elegant with the wood panelling doors.

There are books too for more inspiration.

How could you be anything but serene and calm living here?

My own little study is a work of white in progress,bits still need doing.
It is a wonderful room of peace as it looks out over the park. It was the room that most needed a transformation when we moved in and now it's perfect for watching the world outside your window-which is mainly birds and dog walkers!

We painted it in Farrow and Ball only because it was a small room! I think it was called twine. I do love their colours and the names are fabulous- things like mouse's breath or elephant's back, ok, maybe I made those up but they're very similar!
Looking at this last picture- I think I would quite like a paint called Honeybunch's Ear...!

Lady of the Sweetpeas ...and how I met the Titchmarsh!

2009-05-28T18:04:00.006+01:00

So at the end of the best week of flowers, they ring the bell for the 'grand sell-off' and then all hands to the fore as everything is either sold or given away. The civilized crowd suddenly turns into a mass of sharp elbows shoving, and fear glazed eyes! Queues snake around each stand,with ladies in frilly skirts and straw hats eyeing their chosen plants like Clint Eastwood under a desert sun.. It's rather like that scene in Finding Nemo with the seagulls all crying 'mine, mine,mine'.

Doesn't this lady look delightful? I was trying to take a picture of her for ages.

The Shoe and I were rather laid back about the whole thing. I,of course wanted to come back with some reminder but as we were yet to 'design' our garden, we thought it best just to see what found us. We headed back to the pavillion where the garden nurseries have their stands just to see what was up for offers and then 15 minutes before the bell was rung,I finally found the sweetpea stand.

Now these flowers are my most favourite of all flowers in the world and that's saying something. The lemony,lavanderie,vanilla scent reminds me of summer childhood holidays,and all the best things and make me happy beyond words. For our wedding ceremony we lined the aisle with jars of sweetpeas to scent me down the aisle! Anyway... you get the idea!

There we were,15 minutes to go,in front if the rainbow-hued display and we ask if we can buy any. 'We give them away as they won't last much longer' came the reply! BRILLO!
Say no more, I took up position behind the rope along with a few other sweetpea fans and then ding ding ding, all hands on deck and I was soon rewarded with the biggest arrangement I'd ever seen of beautiful mixed Spencer sweetpeas. Heaven! And I did feel triumphant as they were the most scented and in best condition. They were greatly coveted.

I was getting many admiring glances and smiles of approval as we made our way through the crowds. We even picked up an everlasting sweetpea plant that was going very cheap. We staggered out into the sunshine,what a sight, especially as it made my love looked like he had a lovely green hat.

And suddenly I heard the Shoe shout back at me 'Titchmarsh!' And there just in front of us was the T-man doing a live filming of people with their plants. I edged my way forward trying to get noticed with my sweetpeas saying 'pick me,pick me' under my breath and then through the crowd surrounding El Titchio, I spotted the producer man pointing at me, was he really pointing??..yes he was- pointing... at me! and then next thing I know, a very orange Alan is shoving a microphone in my face and sniffing my sweetpeas...!! Ooo moment of excitement!
I blithered something and then he was gone on to the next flower fanatic with their prized goods.
We rushed home laden with sweetpeas and foxgloves, not the easiest thing to manouvre on trains and later that night we watched the television show at my wonderful Granny's house,full of the tales of the day,telling her what it was like in real life and so came the scenes of the big sell off and what d'ya know? There, almost hidden beneath my armful of purple and pink flowers was me looking very happy!! We screamed with laughter, I couldnt believe it, out of all the people they must have filmed.. Fame at last! Well my 5 seconds worth anyways! It was the icing on the most delicious cake and one of the happiest days I'd had for a long time.

Here is the link to the show on BBC iplayer for uk readers. It's only available till saturday so get it while you can! Scroll through to about 53 minutes and there you'll see little ol'me and my blink and you miss it tv appearance!

( For those you unaware of the tv presenter Lord Marsh of Titch,his name is usually preceded by the words 'housewife's favourite'.Typically English, to some he's warm, gentle,friendly- to others inoffensive,dull and bland but the best word is probably 'nice' and he's well on his way to becoming a very British institution, a bastion of niceness as much of cups of tea and perfectly striped green lawns. Every year, he presents a week of programmes from the Chelsea show... he does know his gardens!)

Courtyard and Urban Gardens.

2009-05-26T23:54:00.010+01:00

The courtyard gardens; small spaces but were so inspiring for us to see how you can create beautiful lush gardens with not much room!

The Kitchen garden, how handy to be able to reach up and pluck your salad from the wall as you prepare lunch.
Like to see that sold in ikea!

Strawberries growing in colanders

The Entente Cordiale garden
A wonderful jardin francaise, eating croissants in front of geranium filled window boxes. All the colours were red,white and blue!

Each garden was more and more breathtaking as I elbowed my way through the crowds.
This one was so calming and elegant,just white and green plants,peonies,rambling roses,foxgloves,allium,silver birch trees, contrasting against the red bricks. Simple and perfect.
I do love a walled garden.

Even a blackbird stopped by to admire it!

A garden for a potter. Again wonderfully wild and naturalistc, alliums echoed the shape of the pots.

This was my favourite, 'the alchemist's garden'. The styling was fantastic, you could just picture a mystical alchemsist concocting potions and polstices amongst the plants and books. Even a beehive!

All the plants and herbs were those that would be used in alchemy. Fennel,digitalis,woad.

The urban gardens were a bit more light hearted. Who needs a moat if your front garden looks like this?

And this was the famous plasticine garden, I could hardly get near it for the crowds.

And the Biker garden. With a real life Ace of Spades!!

Songs for the one you love..

2009-05-26T22:48:00.003+01:00

Sometimes you hear a song and it's like a little slice of perfection.
The words seem to capture what must ring through so many hearts when thinking of their love. And the melody,gentle and summery, perfect for a wedding ceremony,
or just waltzing round the kitchen in your pyjamas.
I can't stop singing it!

If the stars were mine
I'd give them all to you
I'd pluck them down right from the sky
and leave it only blue
I would never let the sun forget to shine upon your face
so when others would have rain clouds you'd have only sunny days
If the stars were mine
I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd put the stars right in a jar and give 'em all to you

If the birds were mine
I'd tell them when to sing
I'd make them sing a sonnet when your telephone would ring
I would put them there inside the square, whenever you went out
so there'd always be sweet music whenever you would walk about
If the birds were mine
I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd teach the birds such lovely words and make 'em sing for you
I'd teach the birds such lovely words and make 'em sing for you

If the world was mine
I'd paint it gold and green
I'd make the oceans orange for a brilliant color scheme
I would color all the mountains, make the sky forever blue
So the world would be a painting and I'd live inside with you
If the world was mine
I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd wrap the world in ribbons and then give it all to you
I'd teach the birds such lovely words and make 'em sing for you
I'd put those stars right in a jar...and..........
give them all...to you......

The Show gardens

2009-05-25T21:48:00.010+01:00

There are three types of gardens at Chelsea Flower Show. The show gardens,urban gardens and the courtyard gardens. The Show gardens are the largest and had the widest range of styles from the most modern,structured and dramatic to romantic cottage style.

These were my favourites:

The Wetland garden that was inspired by the bogs of East Anglia, with undulating wood sculpture and a shimmery mermaid(that's what I decided she was!) and lots of swampy type plants.

The Future Nature garden. A garden for a city, so inventive, it's aim was conserving water, surviving drought or floods, providing habitat for wildlife and planting that looked after itself.

It had storm water basins, wild flower meadow,butterfly mounds and the vertical garden tower which somehow absorbed the water from below.

The other side was full of recycled material like egg boxes,broken pots,newspaper,twigs to insects and birds to live in or make nests with.
Clever huh? A hotel for wildlife.

I think this was my favourite, a real oasis beneath maple trees and foxgloves towering high. There were quotes from Keats and Tennyson carved into the wall. Somewhere you could sit and ponder the hours away.

The Tennyson quote was from 'The Oak'
' Live thy life,Young and old,Like yon oak,Bright in Spring, Living gold.'

This garden was called The Key and was ceated by The Eden Project with the help of homeless projects and prisoners. It was amazing- loads going on,all in a rustic shades of rust,bronze and green. Everywhere you looked there were vegetables mixed in with flowers, the keyhole arch was covered with courgette plants.

And the paths were scattered with keys!

With a vegetable garden worthy of Beatrix Potter illustration, where was Peter Rabbit though?
The wall of tomato plants was a fab idea.

Another garden were water was a central theme. Here it showed how important gardens were to prevent flooding. Water poured down the roof and was collected in a channel that ran through local Yorkshire stone.

The colours were glorious with very naturalistic planting,foxgloves,ferns,flax, cowslips. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in that cottage.

This was the garden that won best in show.
The spectrum of silvers and purple was beautiful.

And I adore these inky purpley black irises.

This was called 'echoes of Japan in an English garden'. Although the Shoe overheard someone say it was like a village pond filled with rubbish! Charming..
It glimmered with glass sculptures

You can see more of the show gardens here.

chelsea sunshine

2009-05-24T22:17:00.009+01:00

As promised some pictures from Saturday's Chelsea Flower Show.
It was a truly glorious day, my idea of absolute heaven,the sun was beaming,the pimms
thirst-quenching(and pricey)
and the flowers...oh the flowers.......

I took a ridicuous amount of pictures, so I will be back with more about the different gardens and how I met El Titchmarsh soon.
Still swooning from the flowery excitement!

(Do click on this last one to see the beautiful quote on the wall)

I'm so excited...

2009-05-20T21:28:00.010+01:00

And I just can't hide it!

We're going to the Chelsea flower show on saturday! Whoop di ding dang doo! I have always always wanted to go and it is just the most perfect time for a visit as we are in the process of transforming our garden from a decking nightmare into a tiny oasis of loveliness. I am ripe for inspiring. But I know I shall just walk around going 'want that,want that,want that' like the pudgiest kid in the sweetie shop.

So here's what our tiny garden looked like when we inherited it.. a shed full of rubbish and slippy horrid decking. Our whole house was like a Changing Room overload when we moved in.

It's just a wee garden but we have the park right behind so it almost like being in the country and is wonderful to watch the trees as the change through the seasons.

From this,last bits of snow on the ground..

Goodbye decking! Look when he started there were no leaves on the trees and now..

First roll of turf!

And hello new lawn!

And quite soon after the grass was down- the first visitor! An exciting moment..
Yes,that is a fireplace in our garden..what? you mean you don't have one? Another street find that needed to come home with us. Not sure where it's going but it's a conversation piece at the moment, who needs modern sculpture.

So now all the fun and planning and back breaking digging and planting can begin and but till then I shall dream of floating around like this pretty lady,sipping champagne in our romantic haven.

I'm sure I'll be posting pictures a plenty on my return. Am full of gardening thoughts.

(pics from here)

Birthday Boy..

2009-05-18T20:58:00.011+01:00

Yesterday was all about the boy and the best way to spend his birthday was with his latest love, Beryl the camper van. A day out was planned, to the sea we were headed but grey rainy clouds almost changed our plans. But first a birthday breakfast in our most favourite of places ,tea and toast for starts.

The teatowel said it all and it worked,we left to beautiful white clouds and bright light.

We hit the road,dogs in the back and headed towards a seaside town but there was a wild wind a blowin' and our little green camper was getting buffeted about like a balloon.

We turned off only to see a sign for a VW festival- 'buglovin'.. And what could be more perfect for my love than a field filled with his favourite things.So we turned around and headed for a bit of camper fun. It was near the end so many of the vans were pootling off, what a lovely sight, multicoloured vans in convoy.

Cue lots of pictures of him peering into vans

Look at the little cutie asleep in the front!

Birthday cupcakes and a cup of tea in the back of our little bug.

And then homeward bound past pointy pointy oast houses for an evening sipping a special bottle of wedding bubbly,toasting each other with our special wedding bubbly glasses. Mine has the splash of orange.. Yum-o!

Happy birthday lovely man. It's always fun chugging along with you and the dogs.

And Beryl,of course!

(sharp ones will notice,the short hair on the boy and the long hair on the dogs in this one! Taken on a sunny day soon after Beryl came to live with us)

The other dress..

2009-05-15T17:11:00.001+01:00

I admit it. I was one of those girls that bought 2 wedding dresses. I didn't intend to.I just panicked.
It was just that I found the whole wedding dress buying really quite stressful. Not so much the dressing up bit and trying on pretty dresses,that was fun. Although it did feel like a cross between tripping round in my mum's shoes and nightie, and a costume drama with helpful ladies bringing you dresses , tying your corset strings while you squished your boobs down.
And then came the flouncing around. I soon realised that dresses that were dreamy on the hanger made me look well, less than dreamy. The fact was that I am 'blessed' with the pale celtic skin that in Victorian times would have been described as alabaster or porcelain, so typical wedding dresses made me look like I was either naked or freshly exhumed when on.
But the stressful part for me was finding something that made me feel like me,not a princess or even a bride(!) but just like the most lovliest version of me. I tried to find vintage dresses but also knew that everyone would be expecting me to turn up in a swishy petticoat fifties number so always a bit contrary I decided to suprise them. I had in mind a very romantic,almost ethereal dress that would be suitable for our bohemian garden wedding.
So after a couple of stressful days,I put it off for as long as possible after some depressing first trips, my mamma and I ended up in a shop that was selling off most of it's stock as it was closing down. I described my wedding and they brought out a couple of dresses including one, a Rosa Clara lace dress in a gorgeous creamy colour.It was beautiful.. it matched the criteria perfectly and my mum loved it.I imagined having a sky blue sash around the waist and loved the delicate lace that fell across my shoulders.As it was a sample,I bought, my mother carried away with it all and didn't want to wait. And I must admit was persuaded by talk of what a bargain it was.

The weeks went by,the wedding getting nearer, something just wasn't right. I couldn't see myself in the dress walking towards my love. It felt like it was a dress for another bride.I would take it out and look at it in awe, but the niggles about whether I would look too pale and ghost-like didn't disappear. Although I was against anything too bridey- I just wasn't feeling I had my outfit to make me into a bride and then something happened which was too change my mind completely.. but that's another story . It had the fairytale happy ending as I did find the dress of my dreams.

And now I am trying to find the home for this beautiful dress, it makes me sad that it hasn't fulfilled it's bridal role and some lucky girl needs to wear it for her day of dreams. An advert was placed and we had great fun,dressing up my sister in law- who is the most beautiful girl I know,one of those annoying types that can wear a bin bag and look stunning..grrr!

We couldn't resist doing a few romantic shots.

Once again this is not me!!

I call this one the bride does a runner!

( in case you take a fancy to the dress or know the perfect person,look here!)

Spoilt little sick girl..

2009-05-14T16:08:00.004+01:00

Well after all the excitement over the weekend, of course it was payback time. What I thought was hayfever turned in to a sneeze too far and soon I was a revolting, snivelling mess and felt very sorry for myself. With all the fear of piggie flu( I really can't bring myself to write the 's' word here, and besides if you had a choice between that and bird flu, wouldn't you rather have the latter? Sounds so much nicer.) I actually had people shuffling away from me in the theatre on monday night which was very funny,ok, it is now I'm feeling tippity top again.
But I was so spoilt,Tuesday the most beautiful bouquet of mauve delphiniums and very strongly scented paperwhites arrived from my love. He hasn't sent me flowers for ages, it was one of the means he used to woo me in the early days and then yesterday the naughty Blonde Bombshell sent me a wee basket filled with goodies,jams and biscuits and a lovely geranium. Definitely worth being ill for.

pals make me happy

2009-05-13T00:05:00.005+01:00

I had a one of the best weekend with my pals. The blonde bombshell came down from oop north and bringing with her sunshine,laughter and a lilac tree for our garden. We met up with the rest of our gang and had one of the funniest nights ever. I can't give you too much information but what I thought was an innocent Neighbourhood watch meeting turned into THIS

And then

And so we played and drank and covered ourselves with inky dabs...

It was brilliant.. although it was bingo calling to make your ears turn blue, no clickety click sixty six here.Frenchie even won something,honestly my sides were sore from laughing. But I hope the men won't come for me in the middle of the night now- for betraying it's deadly secret. Tell no-one you read it here.

The next day was spent recovering, eating delicious barbeque food,the first of the season. Gosh I hope it will be a good summer,we need it after the last two saturated years. The first pimms of the summer also, and the most delicious Baklava sweet and nutty in the sunshine. Hey- that could be us!
It reminded me how I have neglected the adventurous excited times.. much as I love hanging out with the Shoe sometimes it is easy to get complacent and lazy..And then these weekends come round and it invigorates you for new adventures.
As we sat stroking dogs in the sun, life felt top. The Tiny One came round in the evening and we headed off for a spot of bowling and to say farewell to a favourite pal of the Shoe's. I think I was tired and emotional as we said goodbye but I couldn't stop myself shedding some tears. I hate goodbyes and he is such a part of our London life, but on he goes to adventures overseas. And back we went to our home in our trusty camper van and bed as it was up at sparrow's fart for some bootsaling. Is there no greater pleasure than booting with pals? We were all very generous and didn't have to wrestle anyone to the ground over a teacup. In fact the opposite,we each saw things that the other would like. Three pairs of eyes are better than one!

All in all it was a wondrous few days.. Elderflower juleps, tea and toast, singing show songs , bowling shoes and picnics in the park.If only every weekend was like this.

Poet Laureate

2009-05-01T19:34:00.006+01:00

I was thrilled when I heard that Carol Ann Duffy had been named the Poet Laureate as she is one of my favourite poets. It's about time that this almost anachronistic role has for the first time been given to a woman. And one that is openly gay too. I wonder what Queen Victoria and her laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson would have made of that!

She has said that she has accepted it on behalf of so many of the brilliant woman poets of these times and in recognition of them also. Even though she has been critical of the role in the past where one is required to write poems on state occasions, today she said that poetry and royalty share the same midas touch 'the power to transform daily life into something more magical'

Of course gender should really be a secondary thought as what is vital is the quality of her poems.And her writing is witty,passionate and powerful.
One of her most evocative poems is Rapture taken from a recent collection of the same name. A series of poems that reads like a story marking the start of a relationship till it's end.

It would be such a beautiful poem to read at a wedding and was certainly on our short list(which in itself was very long!) I adore the imagery of 'love coming like a sudden flight of birds'. In my fantasy, as the line was read at our garden ceremony, this would have happened far away, a huge rush of birds would have crossed the wide open sky.

Rapture

Thought of by you all day,I think of you.
The birds sing in the shelter of a tree.
Above the prayer of rain,unacred blue,
not paradise,goes nowhere endlessly.
How does that happen that our lives can drift
far from ourselves,while we stay trapped in time,
queuing for death? It seems nothing will shift
the pattern of our days,alter the rhyme
we make with loss to assonance with bliss.
Then love comes,like a sudden flight of birds
from earth to heaven after rain. Your kiss,
recalled,unstrings,like pearls,this chain of words.
Huge skies connect us,joining here to there.
Desire and passion on the thinking air.

pictures from here and here

Oh Elvis...

2009-04-30T22:19:00.003+01:00

When you do that shaky leg, hip rocking, lip quivering, sultry smouldering... ooo- my tum does little flippy things and I get funny feelings in a certain bit of my anatomy...

Caught the end of Girls,Girls,Girls today. Fabby film about Elvis, a fisherman trying to buy a boat and earning extra money by singing in a nightclub, with some truly camp songs... but he never looked better all tanned and toned! The sixties was always my favourite Elvis period, that comeback when he's top to toe in black leather made a big impression on me when I saw it on telly as a young innocent girl - it was a repeat, I should add!

Oh to be his first mate and be serenaded by the bequiffed one whilst wearing a ruffly bikini.

Even though you is long gone(sob sob) and I know you kinda let yourself go a bit towards the end,hey we all are guilty of a bit of comfort eating. But when you look like a god in your rolled up sleeves and little captain's hat.. You'll always be a dreamboat!

Seriously sexy,no?! Although how camp can you get with all the 'never saw such big ones' and a**- slapping!
And the big finale with the title song - brilliantly over the top!

Recent Boot-aay...

2009-04-30T21:33:00.008+01:00

Last couple of weeks boot sale bonanza's haul..

The next couple of pictures , all these items were bought from the same lady's table, I could have bought the entire contents it was all such treasure..

Beautiful Poole plate and Carltonware foxglove bowl.

Perfect for putting sweetpeas in!

And this amazing hand painted tray. The lady with all the treasure said she had bought it in Russia 30 years ago. It's rather loud but I adore it,the rainbow colours and design remind me of Romany gypsy caravans.

And Edward Ardizzone's children's books are always so charming. I love this tale of the rhinocerous that come to visit a young girl and their friendship as she nurses him through a heavy cold! The illustrations are so cheery.

Another copy of Alice, I can never resist them, and some delicately decorated plates..

Check out the little spider- I had to have it!

And I couldn't resist these retro milk bottles. The Shoe needed some convincing of their greatness but they will look brilliant in our kitchen when it has finally been revamped.

Much nicer than tetrapak!

Wallpaper Tree

2009-04-30T01:39:00.005+01:00

Am adoring these wonderful tree decals made up from vintage wall paper snippets. I first saw one in a teeny boutique in darkest Suffolk last week and it sent me on a search, desperate to track it down. Success! They are by Inke Heiland, a dutch designer and can be found in all these various places. I love the variety of colour they can get with all the retro wallpaper.I am so tempted!
They also do animals and bird house lights. Perfect for a nursery, or my bedroom!

And I fancy a couple of birdies too

I was so enamoured of it in the shop, I couldn't resist taking a couple of snaps.

It could look fab over the stairs or in a conservatory. Or anywhere really! Wouldn't it brighten the day. I might have to start collecting vintage wallpaper now... along with everything else I like to find. There's going to be no room left for the Shoe at this rate. Ah well...he'll understand.

Florists Anonymous..

2009-04-29T21:03:00.006+01:00

So you are probably aware of the truly gorgeousness of Sarah from Saipua's alchemy with flowers,creating bouquets and arrangements that take your breath away. Honestly, what that girl can do with ranunculus and fritilleries... I am so making a detour over to Brooklyn if we ever head New York way. Her posts continuously make my heart flutter, the pictures are beautiful,just look at all the shades and textures in the picture above.
And now there is another way to get your fix! Hurrah! ideal for a flower addict like me. And it's a way of bringing some of that Saipua magic into our own bowl of blooms. Over on Design Sponge, Sarah is giving mini masterclasses.. on the perfectly titled Weeder's Digest. For me it's just one more place to drool.. *goes into a trance* look at da preddiee flowers..

Seriously inspiring stuff. Look at those colours and the... oo just everything... ..

Now I can't compare with this beautiousness but I have had some lovely flowers to play with recently. These tulips were chameleon like, changing from pale green to white tipped with purple, almost as if someone had taken a fine paintbrush to them. The thing I love about tulips is that they keep growing even after being picked so in the vase they have a life of their own.
They last for ages and I feel at their most beautiful two days or so before they are destined for the compost pile. (excuse the halfway painted mantelpiece!)

And I'm worried about getting a reputation for being a park pilferer especially as I confessed all about my violets but.... I promise, promise,promise cross my heart hope to die that,yesterday, in our backyard park, I found this big bunch of bluebells all neatly collected and left abandoned under a tree. I couldn't just leave them there could I? to wilt in the sun...so I smuggled them home to scent my kitchen. A wonderfully intense blue.

As you can see the teapot is the favourite vessel of the moment. It's part of my wedding crockery collection and was also filled with flowers on our wedding day. I love having these small reminders.

We walked through a bluebell wood at the weekend- one of life's greatest pleasures.

'When bluebells seemed like fairy gifts, a prize amongst all flowers'

Anne Bronte.

Look up...

2009-04-25T01:57:00.003+01:00

"Stars and blossoming cherry trees:

utter permanence and extreme fragility

give an equal sense of eternity".

-Simone Weil

(pictures from here and me)

Girls in multicoloured dresses..

2009-04-24T22:57:00.005+01:00

When I was a little girl, we would go on holiday to my Granny's house in the beautiful Sussex town of Lewes. If the days were sunny we would head to the seaside and spend the day doggy-paddling in armbands and eating sandy sandwiches and if it was rainy we would get the brollies out and sashay down the high street,popping to the charity shops( my love was formed at an early age!) and ending up at a shop halfway down the steep hill.Without doubt a trip to Clothkits was as traditional as the seaside days.

Behind the wooden frontage, the shop was packed with fabrics and patterns. Rows of dresses for grown up ladies and small ladies. You would choose your style,your colour and pattern then take it home and sew the item yourself. There were even squashy dollies that could be yours all with their own character and outfits.

I would love picking out the fabrics with bold and decorative patterns and remember poring over the catalogues. No wonder I still adore bird and floral prints.But really it was Granny that was in charge, she and mummy,dearest would hold up dresses to us and compare which flowery pattern was better, dungarees or dress? It was all wonderfully hippy and boho!

I had been thinking about this shop recently, what with all the homespinning sewing and crafting,that it would be perfect and what d'ya know... it's back!
I couldn't believe it when I read this article and immediately scoured the Clothkits website with delight and nostalgia, recognizing the old prints and being transported back to those childhood days. The business is now run online and they have reinvigorated it with designs by Rob Ryan such as this fabulous skirt-

Even the pattern is a masterpiece

There are many beautiful things, lots more birdy themed clothes which is always a good thing.

Cute sundresses for wee folk and I have my eye on the birdy skirt below..

As well as this magic tree skirt

Better get granny tied to the sewing machine again!

And the kid's stuff is adorable. Almost worth stealing a child for..

But what really got the tear ducts wobbling was seeing all the old fabric and patterns again. It was truly evocative of that time and immediately took me back. I adore all the bright colours, this green one was a particular favourite. I'm sure my mum had these very hippy dungarees in the print!

I wish they would bring back the old patterns

And we definitely had a pocket storage thingummy made from this pattern.. Wonder where it is now..

There is a whole section on the website dedicated to Clothkit memories, I'm not the only one with a hankering for brightly coloured printed cordouroy.

Fabulous... health food shop wholesome!

(pics from flickr and clothkits website)

Drip,drip,drop...

2009-04-17T20:26:00.006+01:00

It's been raining ALLLLL day today..and yesterday too...

but of course it is, it's April shower time!
Although it's not so much April shower but April downpour.

So of course this has been the theme tune of the day

And again I say... film studio choir= dream job. Of. All.Time!
Oh to be able to sing with those silvery tones..
And that bit where they sound like the wind,isn't it perfect?

It's so lovely sitting here with the tappity tap drumming away on our glass roof of our kitchen. Makes one feel all cosy and snuggled. But at some point I will have to leave the house. So I have been trying to find a stylish brolly for me to do my Gene Kelly impressions with.

I adore these two from La Kidston of Cath. How delightful is the retro London print,
complete with the Eye and Buck House.

There's a matching bag too.

Or seeing stars through this one would be super as you tripped down the street.

Or you could always be walking beneath blue skies with this one!

from Brolliesgalore

A good one for walking the pooches..just like this great illustration from 3lambdesign.
brolly by radley

Yay for the rain and yay for brollies!

So who's for a bit of puddle jumping?

(pics from here and here)

Bootiful Booty..

2009-04-15T23:44:00.010+01:00

One of my greatest loves is waking up early on the so called 'day of rest'and making my way through quiet streets to huge fields filled with folks selling the unwanted detritus of their lives. Never has the statement 'one man's trash is another woman's treasure' been more true when you go to car boot sales. But for me rifling through and working out which stall holds gold is the treasure. As a friend once said to me that if I ever get to heaven, it would be one everlasting car boot sale!

I hit my first one three weeks ago,my excitement at the start of the season bubbling away, wondering what might be out there. And I have been meaning to share pictures of my finds. So this was my haul from Sunday. I went with Frenchie. We are bad influences on each other...

A mirror 1950's/60's? Although looks quite Art Deco- a bargainious 8 quid.
I habe a number of this style of mirror as I plan to hang them in my dark hallway like this

Lovely pottery lamp,with cut outs that cast great shadows(bought at first sale) with other goodies from this week.

duck egg blue tea cup( Frenchie kept one that was green)

Cutest birdy glasses- with the bird names in francais- blue tit is mesange and a woodpecker is a 'pic'! See it's educational too!

A super 8mm cine camera.. Will it work? Hope we can figure it out, it will be a project!

Then we found an amazing box of tablecloths,fabrics,all odds and ends,doilies,placemats random rummaging turned up these...
Stunning antique lace..

Broderie Anglaise collar detail

Chintzy cushion cover and chair back,which could be turned into another cushion cover

Not quite matching but fantastic prints and colours. And then this fabulous bedspread, it feels like silk. Probably for a child's bed as it would be too small for fully grown person..

And another cushion case, hand embroidered, mainly because I love anything with birds and bees on it!

Good eh?! I was very pleased with myself. The Shoe was not so.. 'Where are you going to put all this stuff?' He wailed and looked despondent. Some girls buy shoes, I buy stuff.

Oh, I almost forgot.. just as we were leaving , I spotted this marvellous turquoise vanity case, half hidden under a table. Just the thing for storing all my material. All works out perfectly- as I told the Shoe..

Happiness is a boot sale bargain!

a weekend in pictures.

2009-04-14T19:17:00.009+01:00

Saturday...

Misty morning by the river. All the skyscrapers lost in the fog, vague silhouettes and the river still apart from early morning rowers, the sea and sky melted into each other.
It was murkily Dickensian.
Especially so,as we were at an auction full of forgotten furniture rummaging through books,clocks,clothes from other people's lives. I stepped out for some air and felt transported back in time.

Then a late afternoon walk where, amongst the daffodils,we spied the sweetest ducklings huddled under mother duck's wing!
Little fluffballs. Perfectly Easter-ie!

Sunday....

After some bootsale-ing(more on that later), blossom filled our hearts as we walked around with me getting sneezier and sneezier.

The next day the cold was a doozie,and it was all I could do but moan and demand tea, in alternate sequence. Fortunately the remedy for a poorly girl is similar to that of a poorly boy as stated here. And hurrah hurrah- Annie was on for bank holiday movie. It was brill- with subtitles on it was like being at karaoke.I meant to record me singing along to send to musical buddy but ended up taking this rather blurry pic by mistake. As you can see, it aptly snapped on Miss Hannigan singing 'One day I'll land in the nut house'

(it's better if you click on it!)

I don't say nothing....

Lay a little egg for me...

2009-04-12T22:16:00.001+01:00

Happy Easter day, peeps. Hope it's been a sweet treat.

When I saw this piccie over on wonderful Wee Birdy it instantly reminded me how much I used to love these paper mache eggs when I was a wee birdy myself..

The illustrations are always so delicate and charming,I can't resist a bunny in a trouser suit, aren't they adorable?

From Inspired Room

And this one with all the kitschy chicks... love that one in the headscarf!

here

full of bliss

Next year I must remember to treat myself to some from Blumchen

Or these from SillyStringsNThings shop on etsy ( there's that chick again..)

Super cute..

I could write a sonnet...

2009-04-11T21:21:00.005+01:00

about your Easter Bonnet..

I have been singing this wonderful tune for the last few days. Another fantasy job would have been in the MGM studio chorus! Espesh when they go .. OoH oo ooo oo oo Ooo! Know the bit?

Wouldn't you love to have swished down 5th Avenue in that Easter Parade? Fred Astaire on your arm and a lovely beribboned hat decked out with blooms.. and elbow length pink gloves too!

I finally made it to the exhibition of hats at the Victoria and Albert museum. It was Mar-vay -LOOS! Hats of all sizes,ages, designs,fabrics, textures.Pill boxes,bonnets,top hats,turbans,bowlers,caps, hats beyond imagination,humorous hats,historical hats and hats from famous heads. A whole lotta hats.

(from hapsical)
It was all curated by Stephen Jones best known for creating hats for Galliano and Gaultier catwalk shows and as well as his own collection to choose from he had the pick of the V and A's collection of more than 7000 hats.

And so there are 300 weird and wonderful chappeaux and titfers. From Queen Victoria's bonnet, Marlene Dietrich's beret,a Barbara Cartland pink tulle number,Maurice Chevalier's boater, the fly away creation that sat atop Sarah Jessica Parker's head at the SATC movie premiere,such wonderful creations with feathers,straw,flowers.And pom poms as worn by Bjork..great songs insane outfits!

Terrifying hat,not one for wearing down the high street-

Oo and a whole display cabinet devoted to Cecil Beaton with hats that he created for My Fair Lady. His designs for this film won him an Oscar and included that wonderful Ascot scene where everyone was dressed in black and white ad had some staggering(probably literally) hats!

I swear, I almost fell to my knees and worshipped when I saw this beauty that Audrey wore... in the film.. she wore it. IN THE FILM!! ....faint....

Here are a few more to feast you eyes on. It runs till the 31st of May and you can find out more or just drool at more pics here. Inspiring stuff, I could see myself as a bit of a mad hatter...

To remind myself...

2009-04-07T23:47:00.005+01:00

that the world is a good place..

I close my eyes and remember the glorious happiness I felt this day with my wonderful man.

(waah we're out!)

taken by talented fjona wei-ling.

You say you want a revolution..

2009-04-02T22:23:00.006+01:00

Carnival spirit!

Billy Bragg sang This land is your land

And the internationale..
See him sing it here

Billy should be Prime Minister. No doubt.

It was all very peaceful, more like a festival with lots of music and colour. It felt good to be a part of it.
I just feel sad how the City protest yesterday has been reported as there was no violence or scuffles,none that I witnessed at all. And what was a peaceful protest has been ruined by the behaviour of a minority and without doubt, the police were certainly antagonistic.

We sang 'We shall overcome' on the steps of the Bank.. it was brill

Power to the people! And the trannies.

(pics by anarchist me)

time management problem

2009-03-30T23:28:00.010+01:00

For some, Saturday nights involve wild dancing and drinking till the world spins and ends by crawling into a pit,vowing never to do it again..
But for the Shoe and I, we stayed up till the wee small hours tying knots in ribbon and punching holes and generally cursing my lack of organisation as we prepared for an exhibition the following day.This usually involves me plying my wares whilst the Shoe acts as my pimp, he does it well and I buy him a curry as a thank you in the evening. All fairly good fun but not the perfect way to spend a sunday.

So there we were, clock ticking by,hours of potential sleep getting less, without even mentioning the disappearing hour as it becomes summer time in an instant, when The Shoe asks what time we actually need to be there.. 'Oh ten thirty,eleven' I say vaguely 'well I'd better check' so on goes the interweb and then 'it says here April 19th' EH??? April 19th? Bloomin'eck Flora!

Yup I had the wrong date.Oops...

I swear I have some disease where I get a time or date fixed in my mind as I have done this behaviour before. It's never got me in trouble but can be rather annoying. Luckily I have married the calmest and most patient man in the universe, who,when we realised that we wouldn't have to get up in 3 hours time, just laughed and laughed and laughed. The relief! It was like the world had given us a free day. So the only way to fill it (after catching up with lots of sleep) was to garden! Hurrah.. that is one of the perfect ways to spend a sunday.Happily we wandered round the garden centre, gazing at the plants we want to transform our garden of disaster with. We finally planted the cherry tree we were given as a wedding present(hope it will survive) and whilst the Shoe set about tearing up the last of the horrid decking that covered our tiny garden, I filled window boxes in the sun.

For those of horticultural persuasion, I planted dwarf daffodils(obviously)violas,muscari,saxifrage, some kind of succulent(Oo-er) oh and native cowslips. Love that word - so english!Makes me think of summer meadows.It was a wonderful way to spend the first day of British Summer Time.

Weird weather news..

2009-03-30T14:13:00.002+01:00

So I've had to do lots of driving these last few days and usually I hate driving.
Although sometimes I love it, when there's no jams and no idiots and when good music comes on the radio, you're in your own bubble and sound like Barbara Streisand when you sing along(cars are as good as showers for voice improvement). This weekend was one of those happy driving times, the loveliest part was the incredible weather we've been having, patchwork of dark clouds and bright blue skies, views of pouring rain from one window, blue sky from the other.
Obviously this means it was optimum rainbow spotting weather and there have been rainbows just all over the place, at times it felt like I was following them along my journey. But alas, there was no gold, just my home, which is almost as good! Now I know I'm not such an ego maniac to imagine there were there just for me, or that I have any supernatural power over the meteorological happenings.. but secretly I like to believe they had been sent to cheer me up after I wrote about looking to the rainbows. All the way along the dull motorway and then across the rooftops in the dirty city,I've never seen the skies so colourful.

One of the days, I was thinking of a certain song during work,humming away to myself, and then as I started the long journey home it was the first one that came on the radio. I love radio synchronicities! Spooky!!
It was this by Simon and Garfunkel and contains one of my favourite lines ever-
I can gather all the news I need from the weather report..

Very true sometimes. It felt good driving through the rainbows singing along with Mr Paul Simon. I always try to do the harmonies,badly.
Last night, I was listening to the version by Everything but the Girl about whom the Shoe and I always argue as he hates Tracy Thorn's voice and does ths morose impression of her. Harumph!
But he agreed it was a very good song and was impressed - yay! I felt triumphant.

photo and again

today...

2009-03-26T11:31:00.005Z

I hate this day.. it was the day six years ago that broke my world apart. It started out ordinary but by 4 pm,life had shattered into a million pieces like a fairytale mirror never to be mended.At each passing year,the urge to hide away till it has passed grows stronger.People say that time heals,but whether there hasn't been enough time,or it's been a particularly tough patch since getting married, it seems to get harder and harder. Moving away from when he was present in our lives and as we change,grow older,get married, get new jobs,the sadness grows more acute.

I have been trying to write something for the last few days and faltering with each attempt, so I'll keep it short. But really this is one of the reasons why I'm writing this blog, reminding myself of all the life -affirming goodness that is out there, looking to the rainbows from the darkest storm.So it seemed I needed to say something. And my brother was always one for enjoying life, it seems a cliche about those that live fast lives but with him he did seem to really exist for music, poetry,friends, laughter,learning and so many things that makes life rich and colourful. Often I will hear a song,or see a film and wonder what he would have thought of it, desperate for his opinion.

He did a lot with his short time here, travelled, made good friends,had a loving relationship,was loved ,as George Sands wrote 'There is only one happiness in this life,to love and be loved'
As the big sister, part of me is still furious with him for leaving us. Leaving us, once a little tripod of siblings now with one branch of our tree gone.And it saddens me so much that we have been robbed of the adult friendship we would have had and we were becoming such good friends, leaving behind the many memories of arguing as ratty brother and sister, trying to make sense of family life after our parents split.

Music has been the hardest thing, I couldn't bear to hear songs that he loved for years, even now Nick Drake's songs are impossible to hear all the way through. But he loved them so. Especially this one, From the morning. And these lines make me think of him especially-
'And now we rise and we are everywhere'

A day once dawned
And it was beautiful
A day once dawned from the ground
Then the night she fell
And the air was beautiful
The night she fell all around

So look see the days
The endless coloured ways
And go play the game that you learnt
From the morning

And now we rise
And we are everywhere
And now we rise from the ground
And see she flies
And she is everywhere
See she flies all around

So look see the sights
The endless summer nights
And go play the game that you learnt

From the morning.

This picture reminds me of the millenium morning, we watched the sun rise over these cliffs. Miss you.

picture from here and here

Of fairy tales and ...

2009-03-22T23:03:00.006Z

A venture to my favourite market and amongst all the stalls of china teacups,buttons and clothing was a table full of books. Dusty,worn books inviting an enquiring mind to turn pages that may have been unseen for years and years.
My eye was first caught by an ancient photograph album, faded sepia portraits stuck in amongst floral frames. I saw wonderful children's books- an old Mary Poppins book and then....
a book that was filled with magic,and opening like an ancient magician's tome to reveal the story of The Snow Queen,always a favourite from childhood. My sister and I gasped as we turned the pages and revealed the exquisite illustrations, delicately painted, the colours lucid and bright despite it's great age...

It was a book of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales with illustrations by Edmund Dulac. I have been obsessed with illustrations from children's book for quite a while now, and we now have a small collection of well-loved books. Dulac's illustrations are full of grace and subtlety, without the dark, sometimes grotesque-ness of Arthur Rackham(another fave), and the beauty is spell-binding, it gave me butterflies to be looking at something so enchanting...

I was thrilled when the seller didn't beat around the bush with haggling and gave me his best price which was, surprisingly, very good. Although I am in desperate need of new shoes, this book was going to come home with me.. to bring magic and wonder to our lives. It was too special to let slip away.

Other tales in the book include The Little Mermaid

The Emperor and the nightingale

And this fabulous picture from,of course, the Princess and the Pea!

Perfectly magical... I love finding treasure.

Stolen Violets

2009-03-18T20:08:00.006Z

I was a naughty girl today.
Whilst walking les poochies today in this week of summer during a spring month,I was deep in thought when suddenly I spied a clump of purple amidst dark green. Violets! Tiny tiny flowers that hug the ground and seen only by those with eyes cast down.I was thrilled. They seem so rare I was delighted to find a huge area covered with them in our city park. And... I'm afraid I couldn't resist but like a floral thief picked two plants to brighten the kitchen. They have always been one of my favourites ever since Eliza Doolittle uttered the words 'all me violets trod in the mud' from My Fair Lady.

'O wind, where have you been,
That you blow so sweet?
Among the violets
Which blossom at your feet.

The honeysuckle waits
For Summer and for heat
But violets in the chilly Spring
Make the turf so sweet.'

I left the roots on so maybe if I plant them, I'll have no need to be a park burglar. Normally I would never behave in such a fashion, but every good girl deserves violets!
And besides,they look lovely on the mantelpiece above the vase of pussy willow I picked last week!

I would have loved to have had a violet wedding bouquet like this one, surrounded by leaves,just like Eliza would have sold.

Or This one has a modern twist but still full of parisian charm.

Or maybe bake some cupcakes and decorate with crystalized violets. Here's a recipe to create sugared petals and here, from cabbagerosesandcupcakes,a recipe for violet cupcakes too

Violets became popular in Victorian times, when the symbolic meaning of flowers gave meaning and depth to the giving of flowers. The violet signified modesty and friendship...
I adore the vintage postcards you can find, decorated with entwined violets.

From here and here- with lots more vintage,birdy cards.

Poem by Christina Rosetti.

The Irish half..

2009-03-17T13:05:00.004Z

..of me is thinking of all the amazing music I could post today..It's incredible how such a tiny island has produced such outstanding musicians and songs. I guess it must be something in my genes that in particular the folk music makes me feel so alive and captures all the mournful thoughts and expresses wild abandon so well.
Planxty and Christy Moore are without doubt geniuses of the highest order, a folk supergroup they reformed to do some concerts in early 2004 and lucky me and daddy dearest scored some tickets.. we both sat listening tapping feet and shedding tears in equal measure.
Planxty's songs have meant a lot to me through my life, we even had one of their songs performed at our wedding ceremony and this one The Blacksmith, was sung to me by my mum as she lulled me to sleep.
However this is no lullaby- without doubt the funkiest folk song you'll ever hear this side of the Irish Channel!

flowers,flowers and more...

2009-03-16T13:35:00.004Z

That seemed to be the theme for the weekend.
All started in Greenwich Park on saturday where the combination of camellias and daffodils made the day seem in glorious technicolour..

Kissing daffodils,they're in love

Pooch started running through the patch of daffies like 'The little house on the prairies' opening credits..made me laugh

How to....

2009-03-13T16:46:00.005Z

...waste time on a grey,gloomy friday....

Talk nonsense with pals and plan a springtime tea party just like this...

Try to persuade them to go to this which looks a riot...

Sit in your favourite chair pulling the ears of a fluffy dog..

Decide that my tramp chic look has to go, falling apart shoes and straggly hemmed coats are never going to catch on...

Sit around staring at clouds and dream about living in a country that has more blue sky than grey...wonder if blue sky would get a bit monotonous after a while...

Do some etsy and ebay drooling but be very good and restrain from clicking on buy...

Contemplate playing scrabble with one's self... at least you'd win.
Or with the dogs... might not win.

Worry that your eyes are changing colour and not at the same rate thus potentially ending up in a David Bowie situation..

Start taking photos of the cabbages in the window boxes that are growing in a bizarre but lovely way. Realise that the neighbours have seen you and you look like a snooping curtain twitcher..

Have a disco in the kitchen and dance like a loon to this whilst using a wooden spoon as a microphone....

Yeah... Funky Friday!

And remember TheShoe gets home soon and there are two whole days for us to plot and plan and skidaddle and explore and snore and generally just act like silly-billys.

It's what we do best..

(pretty pic from country living mag)

I almost forgot...

2009-03-10T19:58:00.004Z

..that Sunday was International Women's Day. A day about celebrating inspirations and achievements but also remembering the continued oppression that still exists, from homes to war zones around the world.

For my shame, I only learnt that this day even existed just before Christmas and it was in a rather superficial fashion. I was in a perfume shop spritzing myself with a mimosa scent when the assistant approached me and told me how the mimosa flower was symbolic of this day and in Italy, women were presented with sprigs of the feathery yellow bloom.
Mimosa has recently become one of my favourite things since I lived in a house that was brightened by a tree in a neighbouring garden.It is a glorious sight to see in these grey days of spring- a tree abundant with the eggyolk yellow blossom and my heart sings if ever I pass one by.

So unaware of the connection, I finally bought my own little shrub with sunshine pompoms on Sunday,well actually The Shoe bought it so I can say it was my IWD gift!

I love this postcard I bought months ago, a dress of mimosa yellow with flower trims..it sums up the symbolism so well.

Apparently an article written in the Vatican newspaper to mark the day, stated that the most liberating contribution to women's lives was the washing machine..now I don't dispute that life must be far easier without having to mangle one's drawers and scrub away till your hands are red raw but really, is that the best they can come up with? But as the insightful Michelle Hanson says, the pill and the like aren't allowed over there, washing machines are. I won't rant now...although someone added that the most liberating thing about washing machines might be sitting on them!

So in tribute to women's day and also stealing the idea from fab Sotto Voce's list of inspirational ladies, I thought I would list some of the gals I am impressed by.

Politically minded would be the Pankhurst sisters and other sister suffragettes, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first female doctor and mayor in Victorian England,Germaine Greer- I love her mad rantings..

Writers would be Jane Austen(of course), Angela Carter, Maya Angelou and Dorothy Parker-

'I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
after four I'm under my host.'

Oh and Louisa May Alcott for giving me childhood dreams of writing in an attic.

Musicians, urgh, so many- Judy Garland,Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, Babs,the incredible creative imagination of Bjork and Kirsty. Much missed Kirsty MacColl.

And then of course there's Audrey, with her perfect style. Oh I'm sure there's a million more I have forgotten. Please suggest any of your favourite ladies, won't you?

pictures from here ,here and here

Happy Bunny!

2009-03-09T12:40:00.007Z

Weeheeee!!

The absolute highlight of my weekend was reading my comment box on sunday morning and seeing this from Peonies and Polaroids - 'P.S you won!
Whoop whoop whoop and a dance of glee!
Lovely Peonies about whom I have raved about a fair bit on this here blog, has freshly opened an etsy shop to sell her most splendid photographs and to celebrate this was giving away a print and all you had to do was leave a comment. Unfortunately I can't claim my extremely witty or inspiring words or even the threat of bunny bashing won me the print, as the prize allocation was done most fairly by a computerized doo-dah random number generator. But who cares, I actually won!! Excuse the gloating, and I do hope I haven't upset all the hundreds that had their eye on a print and will be scorned forever by the rest of her readers! But it's just that I never win anything. And it's something I will cherish and look at daily.It is also fortuitous because,Peonies' style has been so inspirational,I'm sure many have been compelled to start writing because of her blog. I know I have been. So the picture will be a lovely representation of this too.
The photos are truly beautiful,I have been struggling to choose which one to lay my grubby mitts on,I set the task to The Shoe last night as I was knocked out by a killer migraine to tell me the ones he likes and luckily they are all the same ones that I favour. Hey,we're good like that!
I'm sure you are well aware how sublime her pictures are, somehow they have this instantly calming effect on looking at them. Rolling skies,waves,orchids,peonies(of course) the visual equivalent of a deep sigh as all the troubles lift of your shoulders for a wee while.
But how to choose? Think I may have to purchase another one, just to make sure it's not lonely..

'Light dances of the silver shores'

'In another time'

'The Remote Part'

'The weight of memory'

'Three'

'Palest pink'

Oops seeing them all together here, I want them all! just takes my breath away and beautiful things make everyone happy. Thank you Peony..

Right,must remember to buy a lottery ticket just in case my winning streak continues!

(bunny pic via here, peony has a bunny thing going on!)

Dreaming..

2009-03-05T22:48:00.008Z

Of holidays in gypsy caravans and log cabins.

Tucked away from the world in a yurt bedecked with turquoise painted furniture and snuggling beneath patchwork quilts as the wood-burning fire keeps us warm.

Or lounging in polyester p-js in a retro pineclad fantasy with egg chair,where's the sauna?

Stealing time with my gypsy king in a Romany caravan, life under the stars imagining a life trudging through dusty roads like in a Thomas Hardy novel( although with a happy ending) romantic,eh?

Holiday porn from this wonderful place.
I need a holiday, can you tell?

I have had lines from Maya Angelou's poem,Still I Rise going round my head today.
These excerpts in particular have been echoing around my little brain, it gives me strength..

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
I rise
I rise

The poem is even more powerful and moving when you hear Maya Angelou recite her words.
Holding fast over the next few weeks.

Art imitating books..

2009-03-03T22:35:00.002Z

The fantabulous Wee Birdy blog which is just beyond amazing(I could actually link all of her posts to here they are so lovely) posted these incredible book/sculptures/illustrations/wondrous magicalness to summon in the spring.
The artist,Su Blackwell somehow cuts delicate shapes out of old books so it really appears as if the books come to life as if in an enchanted fairy world.
I especially love the ones made from classic children's stories such as the 12 Dancing Princesses and Alice in Wonderland. Shoe and I have a mutual obsessions with old books,children's stories especially and find it hard to walk past any dusty, fusty bookshops we pass on our travels.

And these are almost impossibly intricate and fragile,you can't help but be drawn into the flight of fancy. It's as if they will be blown away by the slightest gust of air.

Wild Swans and The Secret Garden

I love how Su Blackwell describes her work-
It is the delicacy, the slight feeling of claustrophobia, as if these characters, the landscape have been trapped inside the book all this time and are now suddenly released.

Much more to wonder at on her website.

'with a mop-mop here..

2009-03-02T21:12:00.008Z

and a mop-mop there....A woman with a whisk broom can accomplish so darn much'

Well, this past weekend we have been mostly doing the cleaning de spring. Of course it helps that this glorious light really compels you to blow away all the cobwebs literally and figuratively. I have been rather cobwebby of late. Da Family( as said in a mock Brando voice) has been making me blue and I will admit that March is far from my favourite month,despite all the beautiful buds and blossoms tempting joy into our hearts but it was so reviving to tackle the mess and make plans for our home and garden as we buzzed around like worker bees.
I always have this song in my head as I tidy and clean.. I am aware that some might find it's dubious title and words a bit dodge but really,it does do the trick! From Calamity Jane,another film that got me hooked on musicals as a child; it was always my favourite song as kakakaKatie transforms Calam and gives the 'cabin glamour'!

'And gosh a-mighty all at once the cabin that we knew becomes a shining castle fit for two - me and you...'
Oh, to have a cabin with a primrose yellow door and chintzy curtains!

PS really and truly,The Shoe is the domestic goddess in our house.. Shhhh...

confession time..

2009-02-25T19:45:00.007Z

I have a crush on our vet... A BIG crush..and it's just been reignited.

I can't help it,it's just that he makes my tum tum flip and it does quivery things to my knees.Wearing that pale green apron/shirt that brings out his deep.. dark.. chocolatey.. velvet eyes. And saving all dose pawr puppies and kitties' lives. What a guy.

Does it count as really bad? Ummmm, I did know him before I met The Shoe and I had almost forgotten him because I haven't needed to visit for a while, not since our last dog (poochie mama)passed away, which was when I first succumbed to Sexy Vet's charms. Although I do always look longingly through the window when I drive past to try and catch a glimpse! But as we have taken over the care of my dad's dogs now,poochie one and poochie two, and as poochie one is diabetic, I've been ordering his medicine from them.
So far I have only dealt with a range of rather weird nurses but yesterday I called up and HE answered the phone and whilst asking me what size needle I needed,I suddenly started choking and spluttering,I couldn't speak thus sounding like a complete idiot. So awful..You see, I am even resorting to teenage state because of this crush!
I called in today to pick up the doggy insulin and when the nurse went to fetch it, out came Sexy Vet. He put down the small box and as I reached to pick it up from the counter, our hands brushed! My heart did cartwheels as he called me 'Miss Flora'sSingleName' and then he disappeared back from whence he came- probably saving the life of a helpless bunny... Aaaaaahhh, dreamy.

I came back from walking the pooches and immediately set about beautifying diabetic pooch. Not just because he really was one 'doirty dawg' but just in case we need to make an emergency trip, he needs to look his best! I don't want him embarrassing me in front of Sexy Vet. Not that I would ever exploit his poorly state to score some time with the crush!!

Also it's an excuse to post some pictures of cuteness..

He hates being a soggy doggy.. despite me singing along to this, one of my absolute favourite tunes that came on the radio just as I washed and scrubbed. As is usual with dog washing, the wash-er gets just as wet as the wash-ee.
But didn't he turn out well? Like he just stepped out of the salo-oo-oo-on.

'No more hair-drying!'

Sporting the Boris Johnson look.

Till next time, my vetinary love...

and further more..

2009-02-23T21:49:00.005Z

.. a couple of divine wedding dresses that would look perfect underneath them there cardi-purs.

This one is a dead ringer for dear Audrey's dress,n'est pas?

This from etsy makes my heart skip..

And all I can say about this is.. hubba hubba

from etsy shop KatieAmazing

Ohh why did I have to get married before I saw this-

ebay gold

If only a gal could have a wedding every year.. kind of like birthdays.That's not too much to ask for, is it?

girl needs cardies..

2009-02-23T18:18:00.006Z

Wouldn't that be gorgeous over a swishy fifties wedding dress?

Stumbled across these beeyootiful shrugs and boleros from etsy shop The English Dept via thoughtfulday, and it set me off a-wishing for vintage cardigans all heavy with beads and sequins, in candy shades. A bit of ebay hunting was in order.

Pop on your petticoats and jive away into the night.

ebay linkage
ebay link

ebay link

ebay link

Bid here

ah well,have to keep 'wishin and hopin' till one can be mine...

Chain of Barbra..

2009-02-22T01:39:00.004Z

inspired by Saipua's posting of La Streisand songs, I thought I should post a favourite. Two divas for the price of one.

Truly the best,you can never have enough Babs in your life...I so want her cute beehive bob too.

Good to sing to yourself as you wander the grey days.

As predicted..

2009-02-21T22:55:00.007Z

in my last post, today really did feel as though spring had arrived.
A meltingly mild day,bright blue skies and the hordes were out in Kenwood park.People watching a plenty. The sweeping lawn was packed, it looked like a painting by Lowry.
And then the Wicked Stepmother announced she was going to a garden centre. And never being one to turn down a trip to gawp at plants I hopped along for the ride. And to try to not come home laden with goodies..
Now, I grew up in this particular part of North Londinium and thought I knew where most things were..however when the WSM said garden centre, I had no idea that she would take me to the Narnia of garden centres. Off the crowded high street we turned and suddenly we were on a country track going behind the brick houses and derelict garages and there high above the london roof tops was a hidden haven for gardeners. A secret place tucked away on the slope of Highgate Hill. London is so incredible,chock full of secret places; I adore discovering them.

The view over the city was fab and I was amazed that this land hadn't been snapped up by evil property developers. I'm sure it would be worth a small fortune. Hurrah for good spirited garden people, seeing that peonies and primroses are more important than profit.

(apologies for my rubbish pictures,was a camera dufus today)

We were on the hunt for vegetable seeds, WSM had come over all Good Life and wanted to plant potatoes and carrots and beans.But unfortunately she was rather a novice,cue much reading of seed packs and furrowed brows as we tried to find the most productive veg for the least effort required. She was rather bamboozled by propagation and thinning out.. I felt quite the expert as I passed on my very basic knowledge. I giggled as she was thrown into panic stations whimpering 'how hard can a carrot be?' Very hard.. we discovered.

I came away with seed packets for foxgloves and columbines. Two of my favourite flowers. My last but one garden was filled with these cottage garden flowers. I was very good and resisted lots of things, we need to get some order on our garden first. But a trip to the flower market might be in order tomorrow. If I can persuade the Shoe.

I saw these and Wicked Stepmother couldn't help a bit of role-playing..

Things I was good at resisting-

Sweetpeas,my favourite summer flower.

And dahlia bulbs, favourite autumn bloom..

Amazing hellebores, so good for brightening up the winter months. I read an article today that said up until 1975 they were considered a weed!

Sweet primroses..

Dear oh dear it was all too much for WSM.... fancy a duck?

Walking and wallpaper...

2009-02-19T19:24:00.007Z

Today was a blue-ish day,and I trudged round like an old wellington boot but I was cheered up by seeing the pink camelias appearing in the park.
It's here, spring's here!

I walked through the trees, listening to Danny Baker on the radio, made me chortle and then got all lumpy throaty as I sang along to this magical song.
Fear I may be turning into a mad dog lady, laughing and singing to myself!

Van Morrison is such a grump-face, I imagine he has removed all the videos of him from youtube but was able to find this version.

And tonight we were able to listen to the concert given by my dear friend last friday with the marvel of technological time travel. Hurrah for BBC radio iplayers what- nots.
Whilst the music glimmered through the air ,I was looking at wallpaper porn. Something with birds or trees,two of my favourite things.. There is much to drool over.

from here, and here,

from nina campbell

and here..

I love the overlaid ghostly silhouettes in that last one. Very apt for our house in the trees.

Looking back..

2009-02-16T23:38:00.006Z

Spent today with wonderful granny sorting through piles and piles of old photos.

Ancient Polaroid of little sister- ceeyoote

Faded snaps of happy times and family closeness, embarrassing haircuts, tufty facial hair and cheesy grins. Sweet memories that make you warm,reminders of how cute/beautiful/ uninhibited we were. Although the pain when looking at pictures of my brother is numbed over.It has to be.
But here are captured moments of pleasure, my grandparents in their wonderful dated kitchen, a retro heaven of mustard and brown. Pomps in his same old dressing gown, hair combed over but with an early morning ruffle, jar of marmalade on the table, Granny by the fridge getting out,what I wonder? milk,marge? A grin on her face as she turns round and the moment is frozen. Or a moment on a bouncy castle,saggy socks and rosy cheeks, standing up only to fall again-ebullient with joy. And another, a water fight in Granny's garden,drenched and screaming, cartwheel in the soggy grass.

I took my own little pile home to keep and treasure. Including one picture which the resemblance between grandmother and grandaughter is so, so clear.

Decided..

2009-02-14T14:10:00.003Z

Valentine

My heart has made its mind up

And I'm afraid it's you.

Whatever you've got lined up,

My heart has made its mind up.

And if you can't be signed up

This year,next year will do.

My heart has made its mind up

And I'm afraid it's you.

Wendy Cope

The first time...

2009-02-14T02:42:00.002Z

Ever I saw the Shoe.

Was this day four years ago. And it has been a riot of adventure, silly behaviour, dancing,singing,exploring,laughing and sometimes tears.But he has always been strong and held me up when I'm drooping,given me sunshine so I can bloom and has always wiped the tears away . Sometimes I can't quite believe I have had this amazing man in my life for four years and that he is so strong in his love for me. This morning, I came downstairs to see a card propped up on the kitchen table, a card so sweet and loving that it brought tears rushing to my eyes. He had listed all the things he wouldn't have done if we had never met.. like become a dog person, driven across France, learned how to love musicals,slept in a camper van.. and I wouldn't be able to tell a triumph herald from a stag or have jumped around to drum and bass music or bought a house, or stood in a field of sunflowers or felt wonderful glorious happiness!

So this time four years ago, we would have been in the Cargo club, East London. And probably we would have just been pronounced the winners of the Karaoke competition and been presented with our trophy that still sits on our mantelpiece. And so the beginning had begun.

I was determined to go out that grey sunday in 2005 as I had been rather rudely dumped the previous sunday so wanted to cancel it out by having a jolly good time. The event was organised to raise money after the terrible tsunami disaster and as well as all the dancing,there was to be auctions of pop memorabilia, snog-a -celebrity and a cast of my favourite djs including one with whom I do have a minor obsession. Mark Lamarr.. If there was to be any snogging of celebrities, he would be mine!!!
Well, I had been ringing round the pals all week to see who was free and luckily Jazzboy was up for escorting me. However sunday morning came and I had a phonecall saying he had a terrible ear ache and wouldn't be able to go. Oh poop, I thought,it obviously wasn't meant to be. Mark Lamarr would have to snog me some other time. So putting it out of my mind,I settled down to a quiet sunday of mooching round the house. It was halfway through the afternoon when the phone rang again and woop-de do, Jazzboy again,the nasty earache had disappeared and he was all set to go listen to loud music and dance like loons!
It is strange to think that such seemingly small decisions direct our life's path. I always called Jazzboy the 'reason' that Shoe and I met, and in the speech I gave at our wedding, I thanked him and his earache for making a recovery!
I remember it being such a special night, it had a very different atmosphere to any other club night I had been to before or since, I guess because of the circumstances for which it had been organised.As you walked in, the entrance foyer was lined with candles and pictures,people that had survived the tsunami had written incredible reports about what they had experienced and seen and pictures of friends and family that hadn't come home. So there was this real feeling of life being even more precious and unpredictable.There before the grace of god...

Anyway the music was brilliant,I danced my little feet off, lost Jazzboy, chatted to strangers and made new friends and somehow ended up in the restaurant where they were having karaoke.
I had never sung at karaoke before and in the spirit of being brave,I put myself down to sing a song. As I was standing there I saw a chap with spiky hair and dark eyes sitting and laughing with a group of friends,we had one of those eye meeting moments and then somehow he was standing next to me,looking at the book of songs. I sparked up with 'what are you going to sing?' To which he replied that they didn't have any of the songs he wanted to sing. So helpfully, I started pointing out that I thought were good songs. As these seemed to be particularly girly songs and included Judy's Somewhere over the rainbow he was a bit confused by this..
He then suggested that we sang a song together, I protested as I had already put myself down for a song but relented after he said he would buy me a drink! What an easy touch! And the drink was a strong one and I'm afraid to say, pushed me over the edge to slooshedness..

He wanted to sing 'Don't you want me baby' but when someone else stood up to sing it, I insisted we chose something else and the only duet I could think of was the Elton John and Kiki Dee cheese-fest, 'Don't go Breakin'my Heart!' So now it was his turn to protest that he didn't know the words and so on.. I was having none of it. Then, I had to go up and sing my song(you're so vain!) and I was aware of him watching, so felling mildy embarassed I managed to get through it. And then pretty soon I was back up there singing our duet.. ho ho! Well, I was very impressed I can tell you -he had a really good voice.And it was so much fun, I remember looking around seeing everyone singing along and sneaking glances at this handsome man standing next to me.

Once the song was finished, he came over all shy and rushed back to the comfort of his chums to hide his embarrasment so I went over to him and we had a laugh at the ridiculousness and then continued chatting away. He was very funny and I recall laughing a lot. We smoked lucky strike ciggies and drank a bit more and listened to other people murder songs until we heard the words 'And the winners are Flora and the Shoe' We had no idea that it had been a competition and yet here we were being applauded and presented with a trophy! He let me keep the trophy in exchange for my phone number and pretty soon I received a text addressed to Kiki from Elton.

I journeyed home on the bus,again making new friends as they asked about my trophy that I was proudly carrying. I think one of them may have asked me to sing and then looked in horror as I opened my mouth, unbelieving that I could have won anything with my weedy voice!

And so as I crashed into bed, I was unaware that I had met the man I was going to marry but all I knew was that I'd had more fun than I'd had for a long, long time.

Happy Anniversary,lovely man.

Or the Anti-Valentine...

2009-02-13T01:41:00.002Z

Seriously, how cool are these anti valentine e-cards? I know I'm all married and full of the joys of newlywed bliss but I would just kill to be able to send these out to all my pals.. Actually what the hey,maybe I will!

The clever invention of Meg Pickard,she has a fab flickr set too.
Like the best ideas, so simple and soooo good.
Get them here. Genius

Unfortunately, this is kinda true..

OK,just one more- a cute one to end on before I really do become eaten up with cynical bitterness!

There are lots more where these came from! And you can order them from Moo cards too

No Hallmark here..

2009-02-11T20:53:00.004Z

Goodness, there's some tat about in the name of Valentine's cards.

The Shoe and I thankfully can avoid being too cheese-tastic as we celebrate the day before,known as Valentine's eve in our house, because that's when we first set eyes on each other in a crowded bar. Story to come later! But it's still an excuse to look for cards..

We have an owl thing going,which came from a card I sent him when I was away with two owls saying 'I only have owls for you' *groan*

But these are too cute.. Get ready for more owl puns I'm afraid.

found here

from here

From here

And I love this owl made with vintage fabric. I recognise it because we had a duvet with this pattern when I was young and I was most excited when I found some curtains in the same print in a charity shop last summer!

From not on the high street.

And I love this, although it's not quite true.. not unless he sent it to me.. oops

etsy love.