radio 2, stew & a rainy day

As we are sitting in the kitchen, I am listening to Radio 2 via the wonderweb, the first in a series of programmes this week by Radcliffe & Maconie, they are walking the Jurassic coastline and this particular episode they are interviewing Billy Bragg who lives on the beach, he says that his writing has been influenced by his new surroundings, I agree listening to this song! Try and listen if you haven't listened to this pair before.

The reason for sitting in the kitchen is that Flo doesn't like being left alone and after her walk this afternoon we both came in soaked, she is curled up on her cushion with her back against the radiator (unfortunatly we do not have an Aga) drying out.

Dinner tonight, the first of the season, is a beef stew, or casserole if you like. I don't usually bother to put cookery on my Blog, apart from Tom's 16th Birthday meal of course, however I wanted to let you know, if you didn't already about the usefulness of an enamel roasting tin (vintage of course).

I cook loads of things in it and it is especially good for slow cooking/steaming meat. If I am doing a roast, very rare at the moment, it keeps everything succulent, take the lid off for a quick blast to crisp up and "Bob's your Uncle"! I do hope that I am not stating the obvious but it is a great piece of equipment.

I noticed today that I have gained four new followers, hello and thank you.

T

ps Florence is looking forward to some stew for tea.

How 70's fabrics conjure up childhood memories....

I came upon this fabric at the weekend, it is a barkcloth with printed images of original traction engines, basically steam driven machines that were the fore runners of tractors, combines etc.

I was immediately taken back to my childhood, I spent a great amount of time with my Gran & Grampy, and with them most summer weekends we went off in "the Merc", packed with fold down chairs, flasks of tea & egg sarnies, to a steam fair. I haven't been to one since Tom was little, I think perhaps I have had my fill, but I know that they are thriving and if you have never been to one I urge you to do so.

My Gran, Trixie, (I have been thinking of changing my name to Trixie), photographed next to possibly "Supreme" which is a Showmans engine, more ornate than the working engines, with polished chrome & gilt & lights, used in the fairgrounds to power the rides.

I have always dreampt of owning a ginny horse (galloper), but the lovely wooden painted & gilded ones cost a fortune, hey ho!
As I was looking for the last picture I found a few of Gran & Grampy hollidaying in Mallorca in the 70's.
The one of Grampy stood by the coach always reminds me of "Del-boy", as both were dealers in this and that, Grampy mainly in vehicles, however stories from the war lead me to believe that my Gran never went short of nylons!

I just love this picture, it looks like a still from one of those lovely technicolour films
very Burton & Taylor!

I don't remember having a lovely nylon quilt like this one which is probably why I am having a hard time putting it into stock, I did wonder if I should keep it for when Tom's girlfriend Christine comes to stay & put it onto her bed so that I have a reason to keep it?!

sounds luverly

On the comments on my post asking "should I or shouldn't I?", I had a reply from Elaine, http://www.tedandbunny.blogspot.com/ , having a mooch on her blog, I noticed a link to the above, mmm interesting, so Michael & I are venturing across to Dorset in November to have a stall at what looks like a lovely venue, obviously we will have to have a stop over, so near the sea it would be rude not to?!

Take a look at http://www.vintagevillagehall.blogspot.com/

In fact we will be very busy that weekend with Bridport Rag on Saturday, Vintage & Handmade Chipping Sodbury on Sunday and then backdown to Pamhill on Monday, I think I need to get used to camping!!!!

My usual Saturday haunts were not very forthcoming today, a few of the bits that I did buy are pictured here, a lovely green/white/tan Harris tweed riding jacket and strings of beads. I did stray off the vintage with this lovely Lipsy, looks like vintage crepe floral mini ra-ra skirt, I think that I will be displaying them on dolly like this at my upcoming fairs, she may not go to Honiton as I have to use my car and she will take up too much room, unless I put her in the front passenger seat & leave my Mum at home!

I also bought a couple of little leather satchel bags, some welsh wool purses, vintage tin fish toy and this very old pouch for tobacco or money, it came from near the Northern border of Pakistan, from an ".....istan" that I haven't heard of, it is lovely and tactile and with the addition of a strap/handle would make a lovely bag.

Not much but some nice bits.

autumn fashion -can I ?????

I always say to Tom "don't follow fashion, set a trend! try to be individual", however at his age he has found labels, one of which is Jack Wills. Although I don't do labels & certainly couldn't afford to, as we know it is good to keep an eye on fashion as it generally has an effect on interiors. So having been mooching on line, this season at JW I am drawn to the look and have found some outfits that I love the only question is "can I or can't I?"

Dresses do not suit me and these looks have always been the sort of clothes that I have worn since I can remember, I live in cut off jeans in the summer & have been known to live in them with tights & boots (years ago), so I have a ready supply, I have seen a pair of tweed shorts in M&S, I just need a few fair isle style cardis, I have a rust/orange/tweedy biker style tweedy cropped jacket, so it's just a case of mixing and matching. (I did buy a couple of vintage tweed hacking jackets recently however the one is for a child and the other a fitted size 14)

The only question is am I too old to go short short?

Without the skinny jeans I think that these looks would suit Michael, he has a lovely pair of vintage brogues, and vintage tweed jacket, again I have been looking for ages for a vintage fairisle tank top for him, and it seems that the way to wear a tweed jacket is with a hoody.

So although my inspiration comes from, JW, Joules, Whitestuff(I love their shop fittings),Toast, Cabbages & Roses, etc,etc, I will be re-vamping & re-mixing my existing clothes with a few new items, and a new pair of boots & a pair of brogues, I would wear vintage but it never fits me!!!!

So do I take the plunge?????

a little bit of shopping...but where?

There are not too many places in England that don't all have the same shops in the high street, we all know that there are few towns that are full of the individual shops that we all crave, so this shopping trip was a little different - welcome to the Egyptian spice bazaar in Istanbul. more of a bazaar for everything, fancy fish , fancy lighting,artistic vegetables,
pretty pomegranites,

beautiful beans,

antique finery,

shake it baby,

turkish delight

obviously I bought Michael a little something, honey & pistachio turkish delight, I think he was secretly hoping for the belly dancers outfit!

Thanks to my Mum taking me, I had a lovely weekend visiting sights that I haven't seen since I was 15, it was great to sail on the Bosphorus in the heat & sunshine.

Flo & Michael stayed at home & held the fort.

p.s. To Cecile, Tom is thoroughly enjoying himself, handing work back in on the day that it has been set, etc,etc, however I did recieve a text whilst away that he had broken his laptop & cold I sort it out?! Mmm not totally independant.

Flo & Toby Twirl

Florence loves to chase apples, and we have a lovely orchard nearby, the apples are for cider and I think are sent to Bulmers.
I have collected Toby Twirl books for years as I used to read them as a girl, they are far superior to Rupert, the illustrations are lovely & the stories can be a little bit scary, I used to lie in bed at my Gran's with the blanket pulled up around my chin when I read them - just to be on the safe side!

the view from my bedroom

This was the view from my bedroom window a few miutes ago, a magnificent intense sky, and now a few minutes later just grey with a few grey clouds!

new - old shoes

really comfy Italian leather 1973, orange, ochre, cream, size 5 1/2.

On the way to Lizzie's house, (but with errors on page!)

Are we at the seaside yet?

No sea Flo but plenty of sand to run on
Now then Flo, "who owns a barn like this?"

I apologise, I have a new laptop and am having trouble using the mouse pad to drag & drop the pics, in fact I can not do it, therefore these pics are all in the wrong order and I accidently hit the publish button, it has taken ages to upload these pics so I am loathe to delete this blog, so stick with me and hopefully you will be able to follow our lovely day out......

These pictures may help

Who has a lovely French style jardin with washing line?

Well that was Lizzie's, what a beautiful place
the barn was like an Aladdins cave, if you didn't get there try to the next time!!!

Before we got to Lizzie's we stopped in Watchet, a tiny little place but with a little harbour/marina &.......

Heartfelt of course.

Our first stop was here on the fourth floor

these very small sculptures are beautiful, made by a very talented lady, who also happens to be a friend of mine, the sales go to help poor abused greyhounds, so if you would like to help and own a lovely piece of art, get in touch......

This is the unit of my freind Jacqui, lovely seaside faded paintwork on handy pieces of furniture.

the view from the 4th floor window is fantastic

more prettiness

where I hope to be on the 4th floor

Do you recognise it?

Keep your fingers crossed.......