Turning over a new leaf...

Hello! I'm still here. After weeks of frantic busyness, sewing, restocking the Emporium, visits to schools, old and new, applications to Sixth Form Colleges and new Secondary Schools, endless tumbleweed moments in the post office queue and neverending cups of tea, I cleared the decks and decided that I would sit down today and write a new blog post, apologise for my absence, tell you what I've been up to and get back into the swing of blogging and visiting you all again.
Well, hey ho, perhaps I was being a little optimistic. Last Monday morning in November and there was I expecting sunshine to take some lovely rosy photos in!!! Ha ha! That'll teach me. So forgive me if I change my mind about the subject of today's post but I'm unable to accompany it with the photos I wanted. For weeks now I have been giving myself a very hard time about neglecting this blog, and more importantly, not having the time to visit any of you. I have been walking round composing blog posts in my head (and believe me there are quite a few stored up there). I haven't even had the time to visit your blogs, have a quick read and leave without a comment, how bad is that, when I haven't even found the time to lurk. As the weeks have past the thought of writing a new blog became something akin to that dreaded piece of homework, the essay that you know has to be written, the one that makes you sit down and get on with it, and the one, ultimately, that will leave you feeling oh so much better for having finally written it.
Well this is it. I'm really sorry. Please excuse my absence. I owe this blog and my blog readers so much and feel very bad about having temporarily turned my back. So I promise, when the sunshine returns, however temporarily, I will snap those photos and tell those tales...



In the meantime, here are some photos of some of my favourite books that I have recently been able to hunt down and add to our Library at the Emporium (we've also been busy decorating the front of our Emporium, my goodness it was hard not using up all the snow from the roof in our snowball fights, a rather wet and soggy Dottie and I returned to the stockroom much later!).



Back to the books - I do try to find my favourite titles to add to our library. Books I have read myself, and can recommend. Old, original editions that smell like books should smell! Of course, my all time favourite would be "I Capture The Castle" and I have been lucky enough to find an old edition with dustjacket.



Recently, Mr Roses, Big Sister and I have been rewatching the BBC DVD of "Love in A Cold Climate". I can't tell you how happy I was to stumble across a first edition of this book to add to our shelves. "The Pursuit of Love" and "Love in a cold climate" were written for wet, rainy days like this, I'm sure of it!



At the beginning of this year I read "A Game of Hide and Seek" by Elizabeth Taylor, when it was republished by Virago. I must admit I knew very little about the author and had not heard of the story before, I was, I have to admit, attracted by the book cover! Having read the Virago edition and fallen in love with it, I set out to find an early edition with book jacket. Oh the thrill of the hunt! Nothing lovelier than finding a book unexpectedly when you've almost given up the search! What a scrumptious jacket too!



And there's more! The icing on the cake - not one book, not two, but four lovely stories in one book with original dustjacket too! The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield is one of the most amusing books I read last year. After reading it, I found an original copy of another in the title "The Provincial Lady in Wartime" and want to write more about this in another post. But here, in this edition of "The Provincial Lady" are four of her books. A real treasure that I am finding it hard to part with.
If you fancy a good read, or want to give a book at Christmas they're all on the library shelves.
I shall be back as soon as the sun appears with some photos and tales of 1940s Christmases, Horlicks, dried egg and woolly knickers!
x

Milly and Dottie say "Thank You"

Thank you!!! Milly says "Thank you". Dottie says "Thank you" and Michele and I shout out "thank you" at the top of our voices. Thanks to all of you who have visited our Emporium. have left such generous, kind, encouraging and supportive comments. We have been overwhelmed by the number of visitors we've had along to our little shop this week and have been busy in the Stockroom with our piles of brown paper and string (not to mention a fair few packets of biccies and cups of tea).



Over a year ago Dottie and I had (notice it's not Michele and I, the alter egos do take over when we talk about each other) a little idea that lived in our emails and went floating through the ether from one side of the country to the other. We just can't believe that as of 5pm last Saturday our shop was no longer just part of our many daily ramblings and that we are "playing" at shopkeepers for real.



It has been nerve racking and exciting. Our confidence has waxed and waned and oh the nerves last week when we pressed the "publish" button. We have known from the beginning what we wanted in our Emporium and how it would look, we have also known that Milly and Dottie would be in charge. This all felt very safe within the confines of our correspondence and flights of fancies are to be welcomed on cold, rainy days. Making those flights of fancies real on a bright sunny afternoon and going public with Milly and Dottie and our little dream was a huge leap of faith ... I for one was just not sure what the reaction would be. Minutes before "going live' I was found pacing the hall, shedding a tear clutching the phone and talking to Dottie.
So we sat down in front of our pooters, synchronised our actions and hey presto!



This week life in the Stockroom has been good. Confidence has been restored to Dottie and Milly, shelves are being restocked, biscuit crumbs are being constantly swept up and the kettle seems to be permanently on. Milly and Dottie are still dreaming and planning and I know for sure that those two little minxes will be taking more of a centre stage at the Emporium over the next few weeks...
So "thank you" for visiting, joining in the fun and most importantly, thank you for your support!
xxx

PS Thanks to lovely Emma for the gorgeous plants she gave me for my garden earlier on in the year, the gorgeous daisies in these photos are a pressie from her.

Red, amber and green (ish)

I want to be looking out of my window and seeing baskets of flowers enjoying themselves in the sunshine. I want to be in my garden reading a book under the shade of the apple tree. I want to be sitting round the garden table eating supper on a long hot summer's evening. Unfortunately, what I have been doing is sitting at my computer gazing out through the window at grey, wet days and soggy washing. If I turn my head just a little to the left I can find some colour but it's not coming from the garden - in a corner of the room is this motley collection of bits and bobs that have been the only sources of eye candy the past few days have had to offer.



I haven't taken many photos recently, but, it's strange to see that those I have taken, all seem to have similar red, amber and green colours in them. A sort of "stop, get ready and go" collection of things I've been up to and enjoyed over the last few days.



Last week I was round at Emma's house again. That magical old preserving pan of hers that had produced vats of elderflower cordial was calling us once more. Emma had been given pounds of blackcurrants by her mother to make some jam. Again we struggled with our measurements and calculations and again (oh dear what will my dentist say?) we trundled down to the supermarket to buy more kilos of sugar.



So we stood and poured and stirred and giggled and waited and waited ... when would we reach sugar boiling point? We managed the most beautifully coloured scum covered brew. We skimmed it and found a jewel coloured potion lying beneath but the sheer quantity of liquid jam made it far too scary to allow it to come to a rolling boil. So we stood and waited and waited. Fear of being covered by molten jam like some kind of sugary volcano erupting led us to take things slowly. oh so slowly. Two hours later, with the crack of some almight thunder and lightening and the reminder that we had to go and collect our children from school we decided to call it a day.



Later on that evening Emma rang to say she boiled it once more and eureka we had jam! Not just a bit of jam, not just a scraping of jam on your toast but jars and jars and jars of the stuff (I told you it was a magic jam). Delicious tasting jam, sweet smelling jam, gorgeously jewel coloured jam that gleams when you hold it up to the sunlight (but this being July in England there is no sunlight, so you'll have to take my word for it).



One rainy day last week on the way back from the morning school run. I popped into the local shop and saw a packet of Fruity Liquorice Allsorts on special offer. I couldn't resist ... but they were too, too sweet for even my tooth and not nearly liquorishy (is that a word?) enough. But they did look so bright and summery next to my nasturtiums that were growing outside the kitchen window.



Finally my green photo, my favourite. Oh I do like this photo for lots of reasons. Not because it's a good photo (it aint) but because I love the green and creams of the enamel tin holding the basil and the vintage bread tin that I found at a local street party. I love the greens and scent of the basil, the smell and taste of summer. I love the pattern and shape of artichokes, I'm fascinated by their leaves and design. I love the fact that for a few short weeks during the year you can find them fresh and cheaply at the local greengrocer and if you put them together with that basil, some bread some olive oil you get my perfect summer's meal. What I really like is that in my "traffic light" colllection of photos, this one says "go", enjoy summer while you can.

PS If Devon Dumpling would like to email me with her address, I'd love to send her a few little goodies to say 'thank you' for her elderflower recipe, eton mess with elderflowers and gooseberries (Emma and I were drooling over this one) - find me some eggs and cream quick!!!!

Sunshine on a rainy day ...

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend. Ours was good, somewhat tempered by the weather. Fortunately the sun shone when we needed it to most and it ran away and hid for the rest of the time.



We were able to watch our youngest dance outside during the Fringe Festival and join the heaving crowds of people visiting the city for the day.



We were able to go to a grown up birthday party, dressed in our summery finest but were unable to take our coats off ...

We were able to catch half hours of sunshine in the garden



and drool over the promise of strawberries



the blue against the white.



I picked a posy of white flowers in between the showers. The flowers being at their whiteiest (!) after the downpour and the air smelling the sweetest.



My little red teapot now sits on the kitchen table, a floral fragrant reminder that the sun is just a cloud away.



I was able to pick some rosemary and smell the scent of summer and close my eyes to the sight of dreary winter through the windows.



Whilst sitting at my computer just now, I looked up and saw a rainbow on the bookshelf



and a pot of gold at my side.

A glass half full kind of morning

It's a grey, wet day here today and I felt the need for pretty.
I felt the need for some calm amongst the chaos
Some peace amongst the piles of paper,
and the angst filled evenings fuelled by the oncoming weeks of exams.



The brighter quilts have been replaced today by softer hues



My sewing has been discarded whilst I play with some pretty threads.



My mug of tea sits to one side whilst I tinker with some pretty china.



I decide not to notice the sticky tape mark on the top of this old tin



To admire some beautiful old handwriting and remember how glad I am not to be back at school...



In short, I take some time to smell the roses.

Those darling buds of May

At the end of April I picked the first peonies from our garden. Beautiful, blowsy blooms greeting every passerby as they walked past our front garden. Heralding in, what I hope will be, a lovely May. Here they sit on a table in my living room enjoying the sun from the bay window.



And then on Friday along came May, perhaps one of my favourite months of the year. A month that is full of excitement, you can almost smell the hint of summer on the horizon, the garden bursts into life. In many ways this photos shows exactly what I love about May, the beautifully soft pink of the apple blossom against the green stems of the angelica and the wonderful angelica heads, perfect in their symmetry yet sitting somewhat higgledy piggledy in the corner of a blossoming flower bed and petal strewn lawn.



There is a sense that things are returning to their natural place,



Little Sister regains her favourite reading spot in the apple tree



and here by the sea the Brighton Festival begins.



Saturday morning bright and early we walked to an almost deserted seafront before the children's parade begins. A chance to savour the very short stillness of the place. Just a few moments later, the city is heaving with visitors, families, schools, samba bands as the children take centre stage and parade through the city to open the Festival.
For us it is always a chance to catch up with old friends. We've had a weekend of fresh air, walking and coming home with friends to eat and chat with them.



With very rosy (sunburnt) faces we drove over to here on Sunday. We met some friends and walked over the Downs, saw plenty of these



More of these than I've seen in a very long time




Walked tentatively through fields of these...



And spotted the reddest, handsomest fox going for a Sunday constitutional, we hope not in search of his lunch.



Picnicked on the cliff tops, took deep breaths and admired the view.



A lazy day at home yesterday, feeling tired but good. I looked over at the somewhat bleached peonies and



oh how they reminded me of those crepe paper decorations we used to have at Christmas when I was little, the ones we would put up in our classroom and watch them fade over the weeks - the rolls of crepe paper that you would still find in the local sweet shop months after the event, sitting tiredly in the corner sunbleached, colour fading and yet still tantalisingly attractive.



I want to thank you, yet again, for all the lovely, kind and supportive comments I've been getting recently, it has made a real difference. I am going to make a determined effort to get back into some kind of normal blogging routine and am so looking forward to visiting you all again. In the meantime, please pick one of my peonies to put beside your computer. the roses aren't yet blooming so I can't pass you a ragged rose to share, just yet...

Enchanted April - Part 2

I seem to have taken an unconscious blogging break. It could be the Easter Holidays or the mountain of sewing that might serve as an excuse. Deep down I know it is because the happy words have been hard to find these past few weeks. There are many things I could be writing about and would not wish to spoil them by a lack of enthusiasm or tinge of sadness so I shall say that hopefully in a few days normal service will be resumed...



I've just been sitting out in the garden with my cup of tea (where would we be without our cups of tea) and thinking just what a wonderful month April is. Sitting outside you really get a sense of just how enchanted it can be. A month of feverish growth, overnight surprises:



Morning greetings from the first poppies



My lovely wild celandines have forget-me-nots as new friends



The wild garlic sits happily behind the geranium nodding its head



And up in the apple tree a bluetit plays amongst the blossom, completely unaware of its beauty against the Spring blue sky.



On Saturday a parcel arrived for me. A complete surprise, one that had me guessing. A box full of sunshine and kindness from somebody who reads my blog. She does not have a blog of her own (although I keep trying to persuade her) and has read mine since I started. She has bought many things from my Etsy shop and we have shared many enjoyable emails and much news together. She is a very busy lady in the middle of a house move and yet, after emailing me last week, she sensed that things were not all rosy and sent me this. Yes of course I cried when I opened it!!!!!!! Thank you Jackie.

Thank you too to everyone that leaves a comment, sends an email and writes a post, for all the happy (and sad) words we share.



So, yes, now is the time to go and find those happy words .... I'll be back soon.