Remember this?
Have a lovely Easter weekend.
The blossom of flowering currant is white if you pick it in bud and bring it indoors.
So pretty.
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Remember this? Have a lovely Easter weekend. The blossom of flowering currant is white if you pick it in bud and bring it indoors. So pretty.
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 Thank you Oh Amaryllis for the little burst of joy I get every time I look at you! Thank you Oh Larch Branches (actually I think they may be alder!) for falling just where I could find you, and bring you home to adnire fully your twiggy lacy cone-scattered decorative loveliness. I was reminded by my friend Julia of thanking our things (a la Marie Kondo). I had rather got out of the habit, and it is such a fun habit - it makes me smile every single time I do it! Try it. Go thank you favourite things. Did it make you smile? To celebrate completing our path (see here) we had a barbecue on the beach this evening.  Venison sausage, thyme and butter mash and baked beans. A glass of clean sharp vinho verde.  A ripe peach on the dying embers with a chocolate placed on top to serve, and I always save a little wine to have with dessert. It was mild and still, the only sounds gulls, eider ducks, oyster catchers and the haunting sound of the curlews...   We stayed a couple of hours. September's looking good. I hope your September has got off to a good start too. for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.... 
I wasn't there, but my husband was! 'Very impressive' he said.
I bought a pad of bright coloured paper from the gorgeous Tate Modern shop (you can get it online here) and am having fun getting Matisse Cut Outs out of my system! Picasso said - 'I go for a walk in the forest of Fontainebleau and I get green indigestion. I must get rid of this sensation into a picture. Green rules it. A painter paints to unload himself of feelings and visions.' 
I don't really want to be Matisse of course (and neither did Andy Warhol) but I would love some of his vitality and courage! What I've learned from doing these is what a master of composition he was... Will you be going to the exhibition? ..on the No 91 bus. There was a tube strike while we were in London and the first 91 bus was packed so tight the driver didn't even open the doors. Just as we were considering what to do, out of nowhere it seemed swayed a vintage London bus with 'No 91 Special Service' on the front and a large avuncular conductor leaning off the back of it waving us all on with a big smile..  I was vaguely wondering how I could use my Oyster Card on this, and did I have enough change if cash was required, as we climbed aboard and sat at the front of the top deck for the best view as it sped down to Aldwych with a ding-ding of its old fashioned bell. (Was it my imagination or was there really hardly any other traffic on the road?)  'Here we are!' cried the cheerful conductor and we all piled off (no-one had been asked to pay) and the bus swung off to rescue another bunch of mildly bemused customers. We all looked at each other for a moment as if to say 'Did that really happen?' before setting off in our different directions to carry on with our day..
It still makes me smile.  I've found my buy for Autumn. (See post here.) Not the sweater or jacket I set out to find, but this unlined coat from Topshop. It's just the right weight, is beautifully cut and detailed and the finish is remarkably good (all seams are nicely bound, an extra button inside to make it hang well, the collar sits perfectly..). (Sorry the photograph isn't of the same standard! It's from Topshop's website)  Perfectly put together, and roomy enough for a warm layer underneath.  I thought the price of £79 was terrific for the quality, and because the popper fastenings were loose they took £20 off. Nice. Love it with these shoes. Have you bought anything new for the new season? Fun is simple, mostly. Photographing something that amuses, making things - sea monsters, tin can decorations. Even minor mishaps can be fun to relate (if not fun at the time). See under Simply Fun if you have a little time to browse - there are just a few posts surprisingly, considering how much fun I have.. Fun is an attitude of mind. Fun is writing this blog. Fun is reading your comments. - thank you!  Nine for a seasonal lunch..  And more fun than I intended with the baking! I borrowed a mixer and couldn't detach the beaters which were of course covered in the cake mix, and raised out of the bowl.. 'I wonder if it only works when it is switched on?' I thought....  and switched it on! I can't believe I did this! We had to change our clothes and clean the kitchen down - walls, cupboards, floor. I'm laughing now (but I wasn't then).  The children transformed this...(spot the robin!)  ..to this zany character with wild tomato eyes and leery gummy grin! Two year old Scott calls it a 'Punkin' - a name which will probably stick in the family now. Have fun tonight....  Inspired by the sculpture park....  a sea monster,  and a headless child! Making, photographing and writing posts about all these candles, lanterns and pretty things is a lovely escape from more urgent matters such as emergency plumbers, the computer screen message 'your hard drive is about to fail', avoiding fallen trees and salting icy paths, ordering and stacking more logs, replacing greenhouse glass broken in the gales....winter here is hard work at present! I blogged about these lanterns last year, but that was before the 'blog hop' www.thriftyhousehold.co.uk so I hope it's worth repeating.  You take a few tin cans, fill them with water and put them in the freezer till solid (or just out the back door here today). Then with a hammer and a nail you punch holes in a pattern, which you can mark with a felt pen first. I found the easiest way to manage this was to sit on the doorstep holding the can between my feet. Nine year old Ross helped make these ones.  The photographs were taken in the bitter cold, so are slightly out of focus! If you were really patient and had saved up lots of tin cans, you could put a letter on each to spell out someone's name or a message....  Making something on the beach or in a park or a wood with what is already there is fun, and creative. I sometimes make 'North Points' (essentially arrows pointing to the north) when on holiday or out on a walk. This is part of one. Sometimes if you go back to one you find that someone has added to it. Simple fun.. |
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