To Paint or Not to Paint

A little while ago the Daily Mail Weekend magazine contacted me to ask if I would send them one of my eiderdowns from my website for a photo shoot. This morning I was very excited as I walked to the paper shop as it was going to be featured today and here it is. Mine is the pink paisley one more or less in the centre of the picture.

The weather forecast promised this to be another warm and sunny day so the dilemma for me on a day I had entirely to myself was whether to paint this old sun lounger I had bought

or whether to have a really lazy day and sit in it reading the paper, magazines and my current book...... I chose the latter!

There's always tomorrow!

May Day (100 Years Ago)

I can't believe it is almost May but we've already been celebrating and welcoming Spring for most of April.

I thought I would share some photos of my paternal grandmother celebrating May Day. She was born in 1901 so these must have been taken around 1907 by the look of the ages of the children. I did have a picture of them all dancing around a maypole but can't find it, unfortunately.

My grandmother was on the far left in the first photo and on the top, far left in the last photo.

This and That

Last week I found two items bearing my initials - the R brooch for Ruth and the four linen Ts for my surname, the latter only costing 20p. I do have several other items bearing the initial R and I can pass these on to my daughter one day as her name is Rose. Do other people collect items bearing their initials?

Today I spent the day at Exbury Gardens renowned for its magnificent display of rhododendrons, azaleas and woodlands....but I forgot my camera so here are some photos of our garden instead! Like many other people's, our wisteria is going crazy and the scent as you walk outside is wonderful.

This is our small pond which was full of tadpoles but they seem to be disappearing.

as are the fish. We have a heron who likes to pay us a visit. One day we found him standing in the pond. This heron made of driftwood that my husband made was supposed to act like a scarecrow but seems to have the opposite effect! His first attempt at constructing driftwood animals was this pig which I asked him to have a go at making after visiting the Eden Project and seeing similar ones there.

I hope you all have a very good week.

Cornwall

The trip to Cornwall was wonderful helped along, of course, by that amazing weather. I did remember my camera so shall share some of my holiday pics with you. We started our Good Friday walk at Rock which leads to Daymer Bay

From there we walked to St Enedoc Church

and saw John Betjeman's grave

Next we visited Port Quin which is a tiny cove, still known as the 'Village that died'. One stormy night, sometime in the19th century, the entire male population were drowned at sea whilst out fishing. The women of the village were unable to continue without their men folk, their hardship became intolerable and Port Quin was left deserted, with the fishermen's cottages falling into disrepair , ruin and the sea. Today most of the dwellings are owned by the National Trust and there are no shops, not even a tea room!

I walked to the top of the cliffs from where this photo was taken. There I found a seat dedicated to Sgt Steven Roberts who was killed in Iraq after having to give up his body armour to other soldiers just three days after the conflict began. Standing there and reading the dedication was very moving especially as I had no idea that it was there.

It says 'I am here. I am that seventh wave, I am the mist that passes over the green fields beyond. I am not far away and will see you again. But not yet...... Sgt Steven Roberts 1969 - 2003. Mourn me, but don't mourn too long. Miss me, but live'. At his request his ashes were scattered at Port Quin, described as his 'favourite spot in the world' This is the view looking out from his seat.

To end this rather sad post on a lighter note here are two more Porthleven cups and saucers which my Mum had found for me to add to my collection shown on a previous post.

Happy Easter

I am going to Cornwall with my daughter to visit my 80 year old mother and stepfather this Easter. She calls herself my runner as she buys me lots of stock and I need to collect it! Having been in the antiques trade many years ago she still enjoys looking at antique shops and fairs etc. so when I launched the website she then had a mission! Every weekend I receive a phone call to tell me what she's bought. Sometimes I get a parcel and it's just like Christmas opening it to see what goodies she has found me. But now there is so much new stock piling up I need to go and collect it all. She lives in south Cornwall but also has a mobile home in north Cornwall so that's where we will be spending the next few days. So Rosie and I are leaving the men to fend for themselves whilst we enjoy some girlie time on our own mini holiday. I must remember to take my camera for some 'blog' photos to post in the future.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter!