I have just watched 'Carols from Kings' which was beautiful, as always. Now I am definitely in the Christmas spirit and wish all of you and very merry and peaceful Christmas. Here is a photo of our tree, rather late in being put up, and some daphne picked from the garden this morning - the scent is gorgeous.
This step is outside a shop near here, one that has been well patronised by the look of it.
A very old tree trunk.
Original and authentic crackle glaze.
Hopefully it won't be too long before I can show a photo of the end result with the pitched roof with velux windows and glass doors all along the back.
I much prefer hand sewing; I find it very calming and therapeutic whereas sewing with a machine can have the opposite effect! I have turned part of the upstairs loft room into a sewing area. This is the view this morning from the window where I sit. In the distance can be seen the Isle of Wight and you can just about make out a trawler and the search and rescue helicopter.
A great deal of painting was been done in these last months and we are in the midst of decorating our other living room. I have been preparing the walls for some Laura Ashley wallpaper I bought recently and we have ordered a gas fire for this room. The builders start work on the back of the house next week knocking the kitchen, dining room and sunroom into one room. This will have a pitched roof and windows and doors all along the back of the house. Not a good time to be having a kitchen ripped out but I am assured I will be able to cook Christmas lunch (lucky me!). This is the kitchen we are replacing.
This was once someone's pride and joy but it has to go! What isn't obvious in the photo is the bright green textured walls! Not quite as bad as some of the houses featured here though http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/!!!!
Tomorrow night I am going to see 'The Changeling'. Has anyone else seen it yet? I've also just finished reading Margaret Forster's 'Diary of an Ordinary Woman' Do read it if you get the opportunity, I couldn't put it down.
Have a good week.
I just love it, the detail in the stitching is just amazing. We bought it at Goodwood Antiques Fair and it turned out that the lady from whom we bought it is the same person we bought these shoes from a couple of years ago, such a coincidence. She has a lovely antique shop in Petworth.
See you again later in the year. xx
AFTER
As you can see we have used the fire surround that my friend had had stored in her garden for the last seven years, it is so beautifully sun bleached.
We recently stayed with my cousin Jane who has the prettiest cottage right on the edge of the river in York. Look what I brought home with me!
Jane had bought this dressmaker's dummy made by the French Bust Co. Ltd. many years ago before they became so popular and had decided to give it to me. I have wanted an old mannequin for ages and just love this one. I haven't dressed her yet but have decided to call her Loveday!
It is just over a year since my aunt died and we visited her grave nearby and took some photos of other graves.
No visit to York would be complete without a photo of the Minster.
Changing the subject completely, I was really annoyed with what I consider to be stupidity on our Borough Council's part this week. Where we previously lived we were supplied with three large canvas bags in which to deposit our garden rubbish which was collected every fortnight and the bags were re-used. We now live two miles away in another borough where I had to travel several miles in order to buy green plastic sacks at £1.50 each. When they had been emptied I couldn't find the sacks so I rang the council who informed me that the whole sack is removed and discarded but it's ok because they are biodegradable!! I am going to write to the council to ask how long it takes for these sacks to 'biodegrade', how much it costs to actually manufacture these sacks and, because most people refuse to buy them how much petrol it must have cost the lorry to collect my two sacks. This is nearly as ridiculous as Southampton council who had paid a company to manufacture small plastic purses (beautifully made) and were giving them out free in the shopping centre for people to deposit their cigarette ends in!! Sheer lunacy! Has the world gone mad or am I just getting older?
Moaning over, have a lovely weekend and I hope it doesn't rain wherever you are.
