Sunday 26 April 2009

All in the mind....

I think Blogs should come with their own Government Health Warning.... 'This blog can make you feel woefully inadequate'...!
I spent a solitary weekend.. boys off doing boyish things ... so my faithful Pickles and I have perused a few blogs together and it has not escaped my notice since I started this blogging business, that many of you have beautifully co-ordinated homes.. in pastel shades of this and that.. and are paragons of Fanny Craddock and Constance Spry virtues... Oops.. showing my age a bit there for those of you who remember those icons of domesticity.. everything was tweaked to perfection..
I am rather like a weather vane about my own abode ... veering from .."I love my home".. to " I wish I had a different colour scheme with different furnishing.. like so and so".. It is so easy to become complacent with our lot and the vast amount of choices we have on offer.... though of course it always boils down to money and what we can and can't afford...
However.. the human condition will thrive and the 11th commandment of ..." I shall not covet my neighbours patchwork quilt or French armoire"... will live on!
Programmes like 'Kirstie Allsop's Homemade Home' only add to the feelings of inadequacy if we are not able to knit a three piece suite or decorate the garden shed in our own hand-blocked wallpaper.... Oh dear am I sounding a wee bit bitter...?
Not at all... It is a great pleasure of mine to watch all the house improvement programmes out there.. Grand Designs, Restoration, Extreme Home Makeover.. but they do all contribute to my ongoing neurosis about the way I could have done things differently.. A true Virgo.. always the perfectionist but rarely satisfied...
I work from home every day and take my surrounding very much for granted.. but this morning .. with the recent feeling of unrest... I took myself around my home and garden and just snapped some of my favourite corners...
Starting with the kitchen which is my domain for 90% of each day... so a very important room to feel comfortable in..The Aga keeps me nice and toasty in the winter.. and slightly hot and bothered in the summer..
My mother gave me this needle-point pot handler many years ago and it is one of my most treasured possessions....it's the simple things in life...


Moving upstairs... I love my bathroom... small and bijou...but big enough to cram in some more of my vintage collections... especially these Victorian shell frames....The landing is one of my favourite spots in the house.. I always wanted a landing.. it was part of being grown up.. when I was young.. to own a landing.. meant I had made it to the adult world!!
My French chiffonier.. houses some of my rambling family of vintage teddies and toys..My bedroom is my haven of peace... I love the uncluttered space and pale blues and whites of this room... it is the antidote to the rest of the house which is heaving with clutter...Even this simple cupboard door.. pleases me..Of course no home is complete without a cat.... and even Pickles looks happy with his home..Let's go and get some fresh air.. it is getting stuffy in here..
This little plastic box at the back of our house was added by the previous owner.. I would love to rebuild it in wood.. but then it serves it's purpose and is a good place to sit when the rain is pouring down outside...This is the month that the garden goes bonkers. and I love the new arrivals that appear each day.. but more than anything.. I love my rose arch... It might not look much to you.. but it is going to be smothered in blossom this summer..
My father once called me a 'roses around the door kind of girl'.. I can think of no better compliment..and though these are not around the door... I am so chuffed that my rambling rose has smothered the arch and will be ablaze with colour in a month or two...Even Valerian which some consider a weed... pleases my eye as it fills the gaps...I have to admit to not being a big pink fan ( oooh I can hear you gasp!) but I do love these pink tulips..Now I can feel a bit of chill in the air so let's go inside for a cup of tea and some of these...
The following morning....
P.s.... Thank you for all your comments...
I must be honest and admit that this blog post left me feeling most uncomfortable and I was sorely tempted to delete it but that would be very rude considering your kind comments.
In hindsight I can see that it sounds as though I am complaining about my lot in life.. but that couldn't be further than the truth.... I know how fortunate I am to live in a beautiful home in a beautiful city and this truth is never far away when I think of the poor homeless souls who queue up outside the night shelter in town each night for some refuge..
My intentions for this blog post were to say that our dissatisfactions in life are fed by the society that we live in... and I am sure we all at some time are seduced by the shallow aspirations of a material society. I also realised by reading this post again that my garden gives me the most pleasure and nature does it all for free!



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Sunday 19 April 2009

Half way there.....

O.k... Hands up who of you start blog posts and never get around to finishing them..?
How many times have I started to tell you about recent events, outings.. general musings, storing them away for a time when I can write them down.. but ending up with a drawer of half finished blog posts that never quite make the grade..
The last few days.. have been a series of half finished memoirs... I have been in contemplative mood and not only are my days filled to the brim with thoughts about this and that and everything else.... but also are my nights as I seem to be a regular visitor at the 3 a.m witching hour party.. mulling over the worries and general lists of the day ahead..
This weekend has been no exception and a busy one in the mind department...
My son has been absent from home... roaming the wild and rugged moorland of Dartmoor as part of his Ten Tors training... I in turn have been a bundle of nerves and worries as endless nightmare scenarios have played out in my mind... will he suffer from hypothermia, will he get struck by lightening.. will he be the latest supper for the beast of Dartmoor...? Well he will no doubt roll his eyes at me and my crazy fears when he returns to a hero's welcome in a few hours and I will be faced with the more sobering task of a muddy pile of washing... though it is always possible that he has lived in the same clothes for the last three days.
Mr Custard and I hurtled down to Dartmoor in the wake of my boy.. to stay with a good friend at the village of Drewsteignton.. our regular destination.
I knew it was folly to think that I might just bump in to Master Custard on our travels across the moor from Totnes ( where I was to meet up with some lovely ladies..( more about in a blog post coming your way soon) to the beautiful valley of Fingle Bridge along the river Teign.. but it did not stop me peering like a hawk at every little matchstick figure that we saw on the moor.
As we approached the huge stone mass of Haytor.. we saw a group of figures ... ant-like.. upon the top of the Tor.. and my heart skipped a beat.. could that be my boy in the distance.. surely not.
Well on closer inspection we found evidence of his party in the car park below.. a mini bus with the name of his school....
I had to hold on firmly to the coat tails of Mr Custard to prevent him from racing up to the top of the hill and greeting my boy which would have resulted in one very red faced child and one mortified mother....
We tore ourselves away and I took a snap of the group just in case he was amongst them.. to show him on his return. It helped to ease my worried mind for a while.. feeling that we had seen him.. possibly!

To while away the time today... and divert my neurosis elsewhere.. I have pottered.. and pruned and planned and made a Pavlova...
It never ceases to impress me how nature plays 'What's the time Mr Wolf' ... by creeping up behind me.. the plants in our garden have blossomed and bloomed and there is plenty in bud whereas a few days ago they were just small shoots..
Would you care to join me for a short stroll around my garden.. as seen this afternoon in the sharp sunlight of a beautiful day...
I will stop prattling on now and let you roam in silence amongst the flowers...
Please excuse me whilst I go and look at the clock and pace up and down until my boy returns...Apple blossom time....Tulips and cherubs....
Milly Molly Mandy as we like to call it.... Alchamilla Mollis...with diamond dewdrops...Pickles ..... my under gardener...Shuttlecock ferns... fresh green coils unfolding...Tulipmania.. comes to our small plot..Forget me not....Down the garden path....Over the hills and far away..

Saturday 18 April 2009

In the Pink!!

I have just had a mad dash to Devon.. 24 hours to be precise.. not enough to soak up the beauty and peace of my favourite corner of Britain.. but long enough to discover that even in the darkest depths of Dartmoor.. one can pick up a copy of the Financial Times.No I was not checking my stocks and shares of Smarties tube tops ... but was eager to read the latest article by Caroline Taylor in the House & Home supplement... front page no less!
A very interesting article about the diversity of blogging and the enormity of this on-line labyrinth with Caroline particularly focusing on the interior design blogs of which there are many...
Caroline herself has recently opened her own on-line boutique called Patchwork Harmony Home Accessories at Patchwork-Harmony.co.uk which is linked to her blog.
I have to confess that there was a vested interest in buying the FT this morning.. not my usual weekend paper....
Caroline very kindly has mentioned the Vintage & Handmade Fair in her excellent article...
This is a wonderful boost for our event and who knows.. maybe one day you will be able to buy shares in our event.. and check them out between the pink pages!
I am certainly tickled pink to be mentioned on the pages of this publication...

Friday 10 April 2009

Thoughts and sentiments...

Flowers courtesy of Mother Nature... Bunny courtesy of Milly..


"The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before." - Vita Sackville-West

Oh I couldn't agree more!

I wish you all a wonderful Easter weekend ... some time in your gardens to just sit and enjoy.

XX

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Extreme makeover....

This little chap went under the knife yesterday.... He was in desperate need of a makeover and a mouth...!

I do hope my cosmetic surgical skills did him justice.... only problem is .. now he won't stop talking!
I have been having SO much fun collecting items for the Vintage & Handmade Fair on May 30th.. just in case you had forgotten!!!!
This is just a wee morsel of what I will be taking to the fair... Mr Custard.. very generously made me these sweet set of shelves made from an old pine drawer that he scavenged from our local skip.. tut tut! Painted in a clotted cream colour it is the perfect display for my seaside theme...

I had better go and scrub up now for another makeover... who's next?!