Stained Glass Lamps

I have this lampshade hanging in my hall and so many people admire it and ask me where I got it from. I've had it years, I found it in a charity shop and paid £4 for it. Just by chance I found a similar one on ebay and, because it was for sale only a few miles away, I collected it yesterday. I love this one too. Oh dear, that's another thing that I'm going to keep and not put on the website! This buying and selling business is great - I find so many nice things for me!

I don't know where I'm going to put it but it looks really nice with night lights inside so it could be a posh barbecue lamp.

Favourite Things

As I see so many lovely things on other people's blogs I thought I would periodically post some of mine on here. I have had this beautiful dairy jug for as long as we have been married. I just love it especially the crude way it has been repaired. Of course this would have been done before the days of Superglue but I have seen neater rivetting. It is a lovely buttermilk colour and is very heavy when filled with liquid necessitating a handle on both sides. (I have had to put these lilies in the conservatory as the scent is so strong and hubby doesn't like it!)

This 'bust' is not antique- we bought it about 30 years ago when we were first married. I named her 'Rosie' but then I went on to have a daughter called Rosie so this one is now 'Rosie Mk 1'. I swear her expressions change from day to day!

It wasn't until quite recently that I found out that it is a copy of Rodin's sculpture of Rose Beuret.

I have photographed my next 3 favourties possessions together as this is how they are displayed on my mantlepiece. The Victorian shell purse was given to me when I was ten years old and I have always treasured it. The picture is a gold and silver embroidery of squirrels which my mother gave to me many years ago and the boy with the basket of flowers is something she had in her antique shop about 25 years ago and I just had to have. Again I love the rich creamy colour this has acquired over the years.

Sometimes I do get 'writer's block' and wonder what on earth I can write about on here so whenever this happens I can now post more of my 'favourite things'.

It's been a long time....

I realise it is a whole month since I last posted on my blog. I really don't know how some people manage to write so frequently, some even every day!

I was asked by a very good customer of mine if I was going to write about my lunch and barbecue evening I hosted for Breast Cancer yesterday so I've been motivated to get blogging again! Unfortunately I was so busy running round serving food and drinks, packing food into the fridge then getting it out again as people all arrived at different times that I completely forget to take any photos until everyone was leaving. Her are the few that I took.

I tried to have a mostly pink theme and a good friend of mine came and decorated the garden. I made the bunting and she made these lovely green bows so between us we made this old parasol look very pretty. The weather was very kind - we had no rain and at one point people were applying sun screen! We were even able to sit outside until late last night. I think the mosquitos were feasting on me judging by the number of bites I have. A good time was had by all and we raised some money for a very worthy cause.

Since I last posted my son has turned 18. We had a lovely family meal out together but I wasn't allowed to take any photos because he had 2 spots and had run out of hair gel! Here, though, is a photo of him and my only aunt who, sadly, died the next day.

We went to York to her funeral. It's the first humanist funeral I have been to but it was 'lovely'. The only people who spoke were those who had known her for a very long time. The music was supplied by a pianist whom my cousin had seen busking in York and had asked to come along and play music my aunt had liked. She had a wicker coffin and we followed a Salvation Army trombonist to the grave and the only flowers were garden flowers from mourners' own gardens. The whole funeral took a lot of organising by my cousins, it wasn't just like asking a vicar to oblige, and I am sure my aunt would have approved. When her two children got up to speak it was very moving.

We have put our house on the market as we have seen another we want to buy so I'm busy keeping the house in a constant state of perfect tidiness and cleanliness but I will post another blog very soon.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend with plenty of sunshine.

Jane Austen's House

On Wednesday I went with my reader's group to Jane Austen's House at Chawton as it isn't too far away. I have been before many years ago but a return visit was just as enjoyable as I had forgotten many of the things I had previously seen (my age I think!). Photography inside was not allowed so I bought some postcards and will share these and some of my outdoor photos with you. On the right side of this picture is the table which Jane sat at to write. The next picture is her bedroom which she shared with her sister.

This patchwork quilt was sewn by Jane, Cassandra and their mother in 1811. For all you quilters it is English Medallion pattern.

The next photos are of a bracelet and topaz crosses given to her by her brother Charles and a pelisse (silk frock coat) worn by Jane.

This is the chaise that she and Cassandra used when travelling any distance. Usually they preferred to walk.

It is well worth a visit if you live or are staying near here.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend with plenty of sunshine!

Honeysuckle

I love the scent of honeysuckle so decided to pick some and display it on the windowsill of my newly painted bathroom. When I was 14 someone gave me some Diorissimo and a boyfriend said I always smelt like honeysuckle! I have worn it ever since as it has always been my favourite perfume. My grandmother only ever wore Helena Rubinstein's Apple Blossom which, unfortunately, they don't produce anymore. I found this old sample at a car boot.

I should think a lot of us took advantage of the lovely weekend weather and went car booting. I bought 10 copies of '25 Beautiful Homes' and 'Homes and Gardens' for £1 and these 6 pretty pear plates for 40p each.

On Thursday our daughter had an interview to work in the press office where she already works. It's the sort of job she has wanted since leaving university and as she was successful we all went out for lunch at our favourite pub to celebrate. It's an old mill and the ducks and swans were out showing off their ducklings and cygnets.

They were proud of their offspring too!

I have had a very busy day. You know how one job leads to another and another - well, it all started with wanting to give the bathroom a really good clean (bottoming as my grandmother used to call it!). Then I decided that I didn't like the stencils I had painted a while ago anymore so I painted over them and while I was painting over them thought I may as well paint all the walls. While I waited for that to dry to apply a second coat then I thought I might as well paint the kitchen as it is also white and the paint tin was already open. And then, of course, all the kitchenalia and ornaments that had to be moved required washing etc. etc. I think I felt quilty as I have had two days of shopping this week and not for the website but for ME! These are some of my recent purchases. I fell in love with this mirror and had to have it.

I bought this sack trolley on ebay. Apart from being quite useful in the garden it is old and woodwormy and I like it!

This Victorian iron cradle is a project. I need to remove the rust and paint it. I don't want to replace the 'twine' or the canvas base as I still want it to look old but it does need some renovation as you can see.

I hope you all have a great weekend and that the weather is kinder to us than last week so that we can do some car booting. I'm now off to polish my halo and admire my super clean bathroom and kitchen.

Precious Bane

I was awake till the early hours of this morning as I wanted to finish one of the best books I have ever read - Precious Bane by Mary Webb. If you haven't read it please do as I just couldn't put it down. It is similar to Thomas Hardy's style and Mary Webb's descriptions of the Shropshire countryside and her characterization are superb. When I had finished it I was disappointed there wasn't more - I can't praise it enough. It is one of Shropshire Girl's favourite books too and she has written a post about Mary Webb. I belong to a Reading Group and Precious Bane was on our reading list. Next with it being the centenary of Daphne du Maurier's birth we will be reading My Cousin Rachel. On Wednesday we all went to a member's house to lunch and to watch the DVD of David Copperfield as we have recently read this book. Next month we visit Jane Austen's house at Chawton as this isn't far from where we live so I'm looking forward to blogging about that.

Don't be put off by the vernacular, it really isn't too hard to understand and is so relevant to the represenatation of rural English country life. What a shame that so many words and expresssions are now out of common usage. Are there any that you still use? I always refer to making a packed lunch as 'bagging out' which is Cornish and another expression I love from the same county is 'The evening have crowned the day'.

I hope you all have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend.