Woman under a tree

Ever since I was a schoolgirl, I have always needed to choose a book or two to put aside for the summer holidays. If I'm going away for my holidays then books in the suitcase are as important to me as the suntan lotion. When I was younger I remember spending days upon days lying on a hammock at the back of the garden swinging to and fro with a book in my hand and a pile of books waiting on the ground below.



This summer's book has been chosen - Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann. I have two books on the go already and enjoying both of them but this book caught my eye in the charity shop and has been on my wishlist for a while now. It is Rosamond Lehmann's first novel and tells the story of an only child, who spends her childhood dreaming in her house by the river, her relationship with a family that move in next door and her experiences at Cambridge after the First World War. It's ticking lots of boxes for me already and the cover of this old penguin edition is delicious - "Woman under a Tree" by Walter Bayes.



This leads me on to my secret little fantasy. It all started a few weeks ago when I found at the bottom of a pile of ironing (no I never reached the bottom, I just jiggled the clothes around a bit) a tub of unopened halva. It must have been left unused from a supper we were having with friends, probably a supper involving wine otherwise no other explanation can be given for it ending up amongst the ironing. As gorgeous, tasty and sticky as it is I always find halva just a tad too sweet on its own (this from the woman who has just written an entire post devoted entirely to sugar and its consumption). I prefer it with grapes or, better still, a cup of peppermint tea.



So in my mind I see myself sitting under my apple tree on a quiet, warm summer's afternoon, book in one hand and tea and halva in the other. A little blanket to keep me warm if necessary. As the photo shows, it's all taking shape. I've even made a new cushion cover for my chair! Not too much to ask for on a summer's wishlist. I actually thought I might bring it all forward and have a little read this afternoon. Just a bit of quiet and calm before the school holidays begin. Just two more days before the mayhem begins.



However, this being real life I found out that Little Sister's school was closed due to strike action, the sun has been playing hide and seek all day and for once, this being the only time I can ever remember, there is no peppermint tea in the house! The garden is full of washing and rugs drying because at some point this morning I had the insane idea to wash them all and dry them in the same day.



Another book I want to be dipping into over the next few weeks is this old copy of "Profitable Hobbies and Handicrafts". I doubt whether it's going to solve any financial worries but it's a fun read and I'm hoping it'll get me going again on the crafting front. If you notice me making things from fish bones, silk stockings and breeding my cats, you'll know that I've taken it all a bit too much to heart.



As I write this in the evening, the rugs are still dripping in the garden, the washing has been taken from the line and there is a stillness in the air that has been absent all day, as dear old Hagrid would say "There's a storm coming Harry". Little Sister and I had a good day together, pottering around, chatting and enjoying each other's company. I think we both needed some quiet and a chance to be alone together. Hope you all have a good few days before the holidays begin , maybe a few moments of calm. As for me I'm psyching myself up for six weeks of trying to translate what my teenage daughter's talking about -
Kitchen table, supper time:
Big Sister: " Oh how nice, this looks like one of those places where they give you lemon"
Little Sister and I look at each other wondering what on earth she means this time
Big Sister, sensing our confusion and her brain just having caught up with what she's talking about: "You know, a restaurant..."

Food for thought

I have had my nose buried in this book for the past few days. I've wanted a copy for a while now and have been waiting for it to be published in paperback. I love Nigel Slater's writing. Here is a book full of the idiosyncracies of the way we eat, the things we eat, the way we shop and the way we cook. But it is much more than this, it's a celebration of our food, our relationships with food and the way we view our food that is so particularly English. (and yes, it does cover our peculiar fascination with afternoon tea). This book has given me so much food for thought (excuse the pun).



After I wrote a recent post about a trip to the beach and the inevitable 99 on the way home, I was emailed by the lovely Anna who asked me to explain what I was talking about. Of course I took it for granted that she would know that a 99 was an ice cream in a cone with a chocolate flake stuck in. How could something that seemed to have been around throughout my childhood not be known by everybody else. I then realised that is these food references that cause puzzlement to us bloggers. I have read countless wonderful posts from Amercian bloggers with passing references to foods I've never heard of, that sound wonderful but I have no idea whether they're savoury, sweet or indeed edible. Isn't it strange that something we take so much for granted, something that has become so embedded in our culture is not universally shared. I remember always buying my 99s as a child from the ice cream van and asked Anna if they had them in USA? A rather naive question perhaps, but I really can't remember reading about them or seeing them anywhere else than over here. Yes was the answer and in a similar way Anna says she vividly remembers the sound of the ice cream van (truck) approaching. During our emails I suddenly realised that most of my childhood summer memories have the sound of an ice cream van in the background. It seemed to be the backdrop to so many summer evenings. You would have eaten your supper, the sun was still shining (it always seemed to be sunny in my memories too) and in the distance you would hear the magical sound of the ice cream van a few roads away. This gave you just enough time to find your mum, for her to find her purse and for you to be given some coins to rush out into the road and wait, sitting on the garden wall for the ice cream van to finally turn into your road. I would queue with my friends who lived in the road and we would look at all the photos of ice lollies, hoping that they hadn't sold out, but it was inevitably to the lure of the 99 that I succumbed.



Just yesterday I was emailing a friend and we were talking about The Famous Five and ended up, as you do, imagining summer picnics and lashings of ginger beer and Aunt Fanny's fruit cake. I can't remember ever having lashings of ginger beer as a child but I am oh so nostalgic about the food that the Famous Five would get through every time they were out on their jollys.
Another favourite book, Milly Molly Mandy is full of reference to home baking, cooking, cakes, blackberry picking and egg collecting - and it's these little snippets that I love. If I'm honest the scenes I love best in Harry Potter are those huge feasts at Hogwarts or the scenes when Mrs Weasley is preparing her meals for all her family. These were all reminders of those Enid Blyton stories I devoured when I was little.



A few weeks ago I watched The Supersizers go Seventies. It made us all laugh, particularly Big sister. It brought back so many memories, not just about the food but life how it was when I was little. Gosh the food was really unhealthy, fresh food was really lacking in this programme, the age of processed, packaged food was dawning. In our home I remember my mum introducing garlic powder for the first time (fresh garlic still scarcely available), chilli con carne (she always overdid the chilli) and my friend says that no camping trip for her family was complete without a Vesta Curry. I loved Arctic Roll, fish fingers, tinned peaches and cream, pear drops, sherbet pips, Blackjacks and my mum's Christmas trifle.



Nigel Slater in his book says that Sarson's vinegar is the smell of Britain. Not sure if I would agree with this as I could think of a lot of other smells that could sit alongside it. But there's no denying it that there was always a bottle of Sarsons in our kitchen cupboard to go on our chips, just as there is in my home today, still taking pride of place on the table when the chips are served. Could you imagine sitting on the beach next to a fish and chip shop without the waft of vinegar mingling with the sea air?



I could go on forever about my food memories and this book has brought so many of them back to the surface again. So if you like teacakes, toast, toffee or tatties, have a passion for sweets, chocolates or cakes or simply just enjoy buying, cooking or eating food I'd get hold of a copy of this book, settle down on the sofa with a mug of tea and a packet of bourbons (or digestives, Rich Tea, Custard Creams, Jammie Dodgers, Club biscuits, kit kats, Jaffa Cakes, Gingernuts - I could go on ...)

Kitchen views

I am so happy that I took these photos last week when summer remembered to come and visit. The views out from the house this morning are too dismal to share - grey, wet, windy and wintry. I have been tagged by Sian to share with you the views from my kitchen window. Our kitchen is at the back of our home and because we're on a hill, our garden is on a gentle slope with our kitchen sitting at the bottom of it. It is perhaps the room in the house that gets the least amount of sunshine and standing at the kitchen sink it is mainly the lower half of the garden that I can see. If you read this post here, there are some more photos too.



On days when the sun is shining and the flowers are in bloom these white painted steps that lead up to the main bit of the garden have quite a Mediterranean feel (good for those Shirley Valentine moments) and are in stark contrast to the softer planting around the lawn and trees beyond. A few weeks ago the poppies were out and their beautiful colours and petals really were a pretty sight.



To the left of the steps is a large flower bed with a wigwam waiting for the very lazy sweetpeas to bloom (have they just given up I wonder). This bed also contains tall foxgloves which a short while ago were standing majestically amongst some peonies and hellebores. Beyond this bed stands the old apple tree which is Little Sister''s favourite reading spot (thank you so much for all her birthday wishes, she had a great day) and where the cats leap up and down chasing after the squirrels.



If I could, I would love to put a window into the wall that stands next to the back door so that if I looked to the right of the sink I would look out on to our patio area. Hidden to the side of the house and below the garden is a suntrap of an area that we sit in whenever we can. My favourite part is this old brick wall that needs rendering but I love it the way it is. This would be my view of choice. I have covered the wall with an assortment of baskets and pots. The tumbling tomatoes are doing well enjoying the elusive afternoon sun, my swiss chard has miraculously survived the slugs and is thriving in some pots. My favourite plants down here are the scented leaf geraniums. Just brushing past their rose, lemon or chocolate fragrant leaves reminds me its summer.



In an old enamel tub the strawberries are waging war against the slugs (ssssh nobody tell them but I think they're fighting a losing battle).



In another corner stands an old painted table that I have placed a couple of trugs full of lobelia. Standing beside this in an old zinc container is some mint, that I use all the time for cooking. Alongside this and just out of the photo is an old chimney pot full of trailing purple busy lizzies that seem to thrive in this shady spot.



Before I forget, do you remember the post about my mini meadow? Well the campions, daisies and ragged robins have now been replaced by toadflax, I've never grown this plant before, it's very pretty.
If you would like to share your kitchen views please do. Any signs of summer sunshine would be very gratefully received.
On my kitchen windowsill I have a little collection of vintage food tins and these will have to be shoved up a bit as the lovely Julia has awarded me with this:




I love reading your blog Julia, so I'm really chuffed you should give this to me. It's now standing proudly to the left of an old tin of custard powder! To the left of an old tin of clotted cream stands this from Mrs Decker.



Thank You!! It's feeling a bit like my birthday. I won't go as far as saying that it doesn't really matter that the sun isn't shining, cos it does matter and that would be fibbing, but I would say that all your kind words and gestures make such a difference to me, thanks. Did you hear that thud? It was the sound of the awards being passed on through the ether and landing on all your kitchen windowsills too (wouldn't it be great to have a blogging tardis so that we could just pop into to say hello to each other? I don't want to get sidetracked but did you see Saturday"s edition of Dr Who? It was fab!). Now you must all go off in search of summer and if you find it please send it back over here to say hello. Have a good few days
xxx

Nine!

Happy Birthday sweetpea!
Wishing you a magical year.



I like your eyes
I like your nose
I like your mouth.
Your ears, your hands, your toes
I like your face
It's really you

I like the things you say and do
There's not a single soul
Who sees the skies
The way you see them
Through your eyes
And aren't you glad
You should be glad
There's no one, no one
Exactly like you

Andra Willis Muhoberac


Love you xxx

Seaside Sunday

M went to visit his father yesterday who's been poorly recently. The girls and I decided to spend the afternoon on the beach. We drove along the coast, away from the city, out and over the Downs. We turned the car radio on to FIP and imagined we were on holiday. Not such a hard thing to do with the sun shining, the sea glistening in the sun on one side and the green hills and hedgerows of the Downs on the other. Little Sister said that it felt like summer, she wasn't wrong.



Ten minutes later we were sitting on a near deserted beach, listening to the waves lapping against the rocks and eating our sandwiches. I do know how lucky we are to live where we do, the coast and the countryside literally on our doorstep. Fortunately my daughters appreciate it too. Big Sister said to me yesterday that if we ever had to move away she would miss the sea so much. Not that we are always down on the beach, in fact in Summer we rarely go the main beach, preferring the grey somewhat desolate winter months to walk between the piers. We tend to pack a picnic and drive out for our days by the sea.



I'm glad they appreciate the beauty of the sea, how calming and relaxing it can be. How you can just literally lose yourself staring out onto the horizon watching a boat sailing past, when the sun shines you could be anywhere. When I was little days out by the sea seemed to involve days of planning. We would always go with various Aunts , Uncles and cousins. We always had egg sandwiches and we were always stuck in endless traffic jams. It being England we would check regularly to see what the cows were up to every time we past a field. Cows lying down were always such a bad sign - and they invariably were!!! Whatever the weather though we always had such fun.



I remember reading my daughters this story by Shirley Hughes. I loved it and they loved it. It seemed to capture all the excitement and magic of going to the seaside and I seem to remember that a lot of time was spent preparing the food to take as well - I have such vivid memories of the food being packed for our seaside days out when I was little, eggs being boiled, oranges chopped and cakes being made. What a lot of packing was involved ...



It was a lazy affair for us yesterday, some sandwiches, fruit, cookies and crisps which resulted in a very heated debate and a lot of reminiscing over favourite crisp flavours!



We took our books, the girls paddled, held hands (a rare occurrence these days) and discovered that they do enjoy each other's company despite the age gap.



Little Sister brought her drawing book, I remember never sitting on the beach without mine either when I was little. Big Sister was determined to soak up the rays and most of all we chatted. Sitting by the sea it does feel that time stands still, there is time to chat, to laugh and play. Us three girls like Russian Dolls (I am no longer the tallest!) spending time together, making memories of a Sunday afternoon. I realised on the drive home how wonderful our blogs are to record these kind of days, to capture days together when, deep down as a parent, you know it won't be long before your children stop wanting to share sunny Sunday afternoons with you. I hope they remember their days by the sea as fondly as I do my hazy childhood memories. Of course, just like when I was little, we bought 99s on the way home, our noses were pink (you were right Mrs Custard), our clothes smelt of the sea and our bags seemed to take forever to unpack.

Treading water

I think this is my third or fourth week of swimming regularly. I can't tell you the difference it is making to me, it making me feel so much better, physically and mentally. This week at home has felt like I have been, to carry on the swimming theme, treading water. Going nowhere in particular, just keeping my head above the water. Some days it has felt like I've literally been swimming underwater, I have felt so unfocused and slightly disoriented. When I was little I would love to swim underwater, darting across the pool, jumping up and startling people. I'm not enjoying the experience much these days.



Today at the swimming pool, for the first time in weeks , I felt completely relaxed and was able to drift off to somewhere so pleasurable that I almost forgot to count the lengths (so very important to Little Sister) and was surprised now and again to catch the odd tune coming over from the other pool where the women's aquarobics class was being held, I had completely forgotten my surroundings and it was just what I needed. We all need a little break from reality don't we and the thirty minutes or so in the pool today gave me just that.



I go to a women only swimming session at the pool and I can't recommend it enough. Women of all shapes, sizes and ages go along and I have never felt less self conscious. Some of the pool has been sectioned off into lanes but I prefer to stay in the "anything goes" section. After just a couple of weeks faces are familiar, women of my age accompanying elderly mothers for a swim (what a good way to spend some time together), younger women and a couple of very elegant older women who seem to go for a good old chat rather than a swim. Today as I swam around them I caught snatches of their conversations - Jack Russell terriers. Sunday roast lunches, Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret, were just some of the topics. It made for a very interesting, and slightly surreal few seconds each time I swam past them. They started off swimming but after a short while they gave up and walked up and down the pool, sometimes waving their arms in the air as if doing the breast stroke. What was interesting was that every woman in the pool had to swim wide to avoid them and nobody minded. We were all as interested in catching their conversation and gave each other knowing smiles as we passed.
Now if only everyone in life was as kind and generous (well I know you all are in blogland!).



Am I alone in loving that moment when you push off from the side of the pool and literally glide across the water - it's a beautiful feeling. The sun was shining through the glass panelled roof and as it hit the water I remembered long hot sunny days when I was a little girl when my parents would take me to an open air pool in the countryside. We seemed to spend days there. picnics on grassy banks, splashing around, eyes sore with chlorine, never failing to fall into the stinging nettles by the changing rooms and that long car drive home where you were oh so tired and yet oh so happy, with the prospect of what seemed like endless days of the school holidays ahead of you.



Ladies I'll be going next week if you care to join me ...

Summer shade

Hope you all had a good weekend. It certainly didn't feel like Midsummer here, any midsummer magic that went on was definitely under the cover of an umbrella. Wet on Friday, grey and dismal on Saturday and gale force winds yesterday. Our poor gardens don't know what's going on.



On Friday afternoon I finished something that had been sitting around for a few months now. I bought this old standard lamp from a junk shop and managed to persuade M that with a coat of paint and a new shade, the new shade being the most important thing as he was not very happy with the frou frou one that came with it, it was just what we needed in the corner of the living room.



Months ago I remember seeing on this gorgeous blog the most beautiful chair made by the very, very talented Niki. It was love at first sight! Florals, colours, pattern and patchwork, serious chair love! It's picture stayed in my mind.



I have been making lots of cushions recently for the living room. I know I'm stating the obvious here, but boy it's so much cheaper to buy some fabric and make the covers yourself and you get to plan what to do with the leftovers. I saved all the scraps, as you do, for a rainy day. This being a rainy day and my heart yearning for a taste of summer, I set to work on my lampshade. It was easier than I thought, newspaper pattern for the panels, quick sewing of seams on the machine and a blast of glue gun for the trims. Thanks Niki and Clare for the inspiration.



I'm happy with it, M's happy with it, the girls love it and the cats are very tempted by those bobbles! Our living room is light and airy and the walls are painted a very soft grey.



We have been slow to put up paintings and pictures in here and I'm happy with the mixture of pattern and florals in this corner - a summer's garden next to the sofa! I'm hoping it's not the only garden we'll be enjoying this summer.

Midsummer's Eve

Just wanted to wish you all a lovely, magical Midsummer weekend (can you believe it's midsummer). This weekend we'll be doing some of this and
this but mostly hoping that the fairies bring their umbrellas! Hope you get to see some at the bottom of your garden too.
xxx
PS If those fairies are just being a bit too shy, you could watch this - it's wonderful!

The return of the magpie or a spot of rehoming?

Somebody asked me the other day if there were any parts of my home that are my favourites. When the sun is shining and the house is relatively tidy I can honestly say there are things I love about all the rooms in the house. Not necessarily everything in every room, I could live without the remaining dodgy carpets that we've yet to pull up, the horrible kitchen window that we'll never afford to replace, the pile of DVDs and videos next to the TV wouldn't be missed and the rather gorgeous pile of ironing sitting in the kitchen corner does nothing to add to the place, but all in all like most of us I love my home and know that my home will evolve and improve (hopefully) with time.



I have always loved home, being at home, coming home and making my home. I love the way our homes reflect our personalities, our likes and dislikes, and in the case of mine, display our magpie like tendencies! With a magpie's eye I noticed the glint of this silver thread the other week at the car boot. A few days later I spotted the old thread box in a street market, perfect!



I couldn't settle on just the one spool of thread, oh no, these three had to come home with me too. Don't they look pretty sitting on the shelf. A magpie has to have a pretty nest you know!



The other day I remembered that the old enamel washstand that we had in the bathroom of our old house. Three years on and it was still living in the loft with all the other paraphenalia that you acquire along the way. M was reluctant to bring it down as there just wasn't the room for it in our bathroom here, unless you agreed to be airlifted into the shower and allowed the washstand to stand right in front of the shower door. It was bugging me though, I loved my washstand when we bought it years ago, and, fingers crossed, bearing in mind that we won't be moving again, it seemed such a shame to keep it hidden in the attic.

So now it's living in our bedroom, yes the furniture has had to be shifted, but I have my washstand back and it makes me smile every time I walk past the rusty old thing!



I even made a new cushion for my bedroom this week to add to the pile on the bed, pink and green, florally and vintage fabric, just what I wanted. Another home found for something!



Ssssh, I'll let you in on a secret. Can you spot the little bin in this photo? I found it at the car boot, it's an old Worcester Ware bin and I love it. It lives next to the computer so I can see it all the time.



The secret is that most days when I'm wandering around the house, the bin comes with me! The rest of the Ragged Roses no nothing of the secret life of my bin, but now they do... It sounds sad I know but I just can't make up my mind what to do with it. It looks so pretty in every room. I never thought I would find such a pretty waste paper basket!




Am I alone in doing things like this I wonder? I love introducing new things into our home that sit beside things we've had for years, that have stories to tell and reflect us all so well. Isn't it good that our homes are constantly evolving, what would the magpie (no I think I prefer squirrel) inside me do if one day my home would say "that's it I'm finished!"

Before I forget I need to let you know about the PIF. Names were pulled out of the hat this morning and the recipients of my PIF are Twiggy,
Lucy and
AThrfityMrs. I do promise that you will receive something from me at some point, perhaps you could let me know your addresses when you've got the time. Sorry to all of you who were unable to be involved in this one, maybe next time.

A big thank you for all your recent tooth love! I'm glad to know that most of you bloggers are as wussy as I am when it comes to all things dental. Perhaps we should all coincide our next appointments and have a moan about it afterwards. I am feeling happier about things at the moment, not because I've won the lottery or the sky has decided to rain chocolate rather than the nasty cold drizzly stuff it's doing at the moment, but because yesterday I went swimming again for the first time in two years! It was GOOD! Having hurt my leg and back when we moved I have been reluctant to swim for a while but I really needed to stretch again and swimming was just so perfect for me. M says I have a permanent smile on my face when I'm in the water and he's so right. I love it, love the feeling of stretching, love the feeling of being carried along and, most of all, love the feeling of having to concentrate on nothing else but the moment, bliss! Just what I needed.
Have a wonderful weekend, and Happy Father's Day to all you Dads too!

The excitement of waiting and the beauty of knowing

I bought this peony last year from a plant sale in the local church hall. The old man selling it couldn't remember what colour the flowers would be. He had a feeling it was a red peony. I bought it anyway. I don't really like too much red in the garden but the element of surprise and not wanting to say "no" to the seller was too much for me. So for a year I have waited. Watched the plant grow, eagerly awaiting the first buds and then trying to judge its colour by the tightly wrapped petals. It seemed as if the old man was right, judging by the outer petals on the bud it was going to be a bright, fiery red. As the buds increased I was becoming more and more excited by the prospect of a burst of fiery red blossom in the corner of the garden. The other day when the sun was at it's hottest the bud unfurled and this is what it revealed. Beautifully crisp, pure white , with the added bonus of those first few tantalising raspberry edged petals. A wonderful surprise, that was well worth the wait. I knew deep down it was going to be beautiful.



This weekend after weeks of frenzied emailing I finally got to meet this lovely lady I knew it was going to be a real treat but hadn't anticipated the flurry of mutual nerves and insecurities that this meeting would bring! A real attack of middle age crisis came over me and as the day approached and our emails became more and more hysterical I wondered where all this was coming from. Having swayed daily from wearing a diving suit, balaclava, and finally full bee-keeping suit complete with hood to meet Michele in, the mid week low came at breakfast:
Big Sister: "Mum you should wear your hair in a really tight pony tail on Saturday"
Mrs Ragged (very ragged) Roses: "Why?"
Big Sister: "Well it's meant to be as good as Botox and less painful than a face lift!" (said in all seriousness)
At which point M chokes on his muesli and I lose the will to live!



I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to let my daughters understand just how important it is not to get too hung up on appearances and here was I not exactly leading by example. Just why this was happening I couldn't understand until Saturday morning when order of some sort prevailed, when I put on my normal clothes, brushed my hair as normal, ditched the pony tail (!) and went to meet Mrs Custard - what I was feeling was sheer excitement (mixed with more than a tinge of not wanting to be a disappointment).



After months of reading each other's blogs and emailing and striking up such a warm affinity and friendship I really didn't want to be responsible for tarnishing any of that. Within minutes of meeting, finally meeting, all of those feelings were dispelled. Both Mr and Mrs Custard were just as I imagined - lovely, warm, kind and gentle people and it was I felt just a few minutes before we were able to continue where our emails had left off.



I am so grateful that they both made time in their very busy, and constantly changing, schedule to meet the Ragged Roses on Saturday. It was so good to finally meet up, to walk along chatting and laughing, to take them along to say hello to Emma and her gorgeous little boy (Emma we have fallen in love, big time with your little boy!). When they left for the next stage of their whirlwind tour, it felt like we were saying goodbye to old friends. I have so much to say about Saturday but in a way can't say it, it meant a lot to me ... not the most profound thing to say but perhaps the most honest. I have at times felt overwhelmed by the warmth and kindness of you fellow bloggers, "strangers" who have become friends. Now and again the line between "real life" and blogworld disappears - Ragged Roses becomes Kim and Cowboys & Custard becomes Michele and Sew Recycled becomes Emma - and favourite bloggers on your link bar have faces and voices and you know that, just like my peony, you were going to like them right from the start!

Off the shelf

The other week when I was having my big sort out I tackled the piles of books on our shelves. We have books piled three deep at the moment and really need to get some more shelves fitted somewhere. I had fun rearranging them and pondering over forgotten titles. At the back of the bottom shelf was my pile of well worn and much loved Virago Press books.



You can see just by looking at this very dodgy picture of a few of them just how worn they are. These books are so special to me - the stories wonderful, the covers delicious - each edition brings back so many memories of when and where I read them. I think I first stumbled upon them while I was at University, they'd been around for a while but my head had been buried for such a long time in set texts that I really didn't have much time for reading books that were not on any given reading list.
After leaving University I lived in a really grotty flat in London that I shared with a friend. I have never had so little money and had so much fun! We seemed to spend an awful lot of time reading and sharing our books, it was such a joy to read a book without thinking about having to write an essay about it. Our reading tastes were very similar and I remember passing the Virago books between us. A whole new world of women's fiction had opened up for us. It was about this time that the Women's Press books were being published and everybody was reading "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker.

One of the first Virago books that I remember reading was "The Edible Woman" by Margaret Atwood. I loved this book and quickly devoured anything else that the author had written.



My flat mate lent me "The Sugar House", oh dear I think this is her copy, which I loved and have put it beside my bed to reread again soon. I remember feeling like I was on some kind of mission trying to hunt down the earlier "Frost In May" and "The Lost Traveller". I remember where I sat and read them and being unemployed at the time I remember having the time to read them all in one go. I also remember being sucked into the trap of choosing books by their covers too.



On some other bookshelves were these books, chosen just for their covers! Aren't they lovely. I will get round to reading them one day too!



Fortunately M is as mad about old book jackets as I am so there's no fighting for shelf space for this lot.



I love this old Elizabeth David cook book that I found in a charity shop.



One of my favourite Virago Press books is "The Diary of a Provincial Lady" by E M Delafield. This and several other titles have recently been republished by the Virago Press to mark its 30th anniversary. It's such a warm and humorous book, I'm having lots of fun rereading it again every night. I love the domesticity of it and although it was written in 1930 I'm sure that if it were a blog, it would be on my favourites list and I'd be checking daily for new posts.. And if that wasn't enough to sway you, well the cover has been designed by Cath Kidston.

I read some of the Diary the other day with my cuppa and a few of these:




Fifteen minutes in a quiet sunny garden, nose buried in a book and eating biscuits that instantly remind me of days spent on a sandy beach in Normandy, watching Little Sister take her first tentative steps across the sand - it doesn't get much better!



Have a good weekend. I'm looking forward to this one ...

Broad beans, bread bins and old tins

I love broad beans. Love the taste, colour, feel and love popping them from their pods. I love them hot, cold, warm, however they come. Friday night we had our first spring broad beans of the year. They were delicious, served warm with a oil, vinegar and fresh mint. Spring on a plate. Plenty of spinach too. Friday nights for us are usually big bowls of pasta, bottle of wine and bars of chocolate in front of the TV. Mr Ragged Roses was not a happy bunny, he was very poorly coughing, aching and feeling oh so tired. Having worked really hard for months on an end to get a book off to print, his precious day off arrives and he spends it under the eiderdown, dead to the world! Hence the overload of green veg. M had been suffering all week and had to go in to work and it seemed very unfair to be so ill on your longed for day off. By Sunday he was on the mend, chocolate was bought and enjoyed and all is nearly back to normal, except that Little Sister is now off school today feeling under the weather. Not sure she'd admit to any green veg craving though!



A bit of a grey Saturday morning spent painting the door knobs of the kitchen cupboards in an attempt to lighten up the room. After 3 I was bored stiff but managed all 20 by Sunday night. I popped into town and bought my new bread bin to replace the old terracotta crock that has now been moved to the other end of the room and now holds the mountains of biscuits we seem to get through. I love this enamel one, it really brightens up the kitchen corner.



Lovely and cheery in the morning, unlike the ragged roses household!



A quick trip to the car boot yesterday morning resulted in a horde of more enamel and tin. Will I ever reach a point when I say "enough - I really don't need anymore" - I wonder ... My only justification is that these were all too pretty and cheap to leave behind. The colours were just too delicious to say "no" to and besides - well actually there isn't a besides, except that I love them. Could you have said no? The enamel jug is the prettiest of blues and the old sugar storage tin (which was given to me because I bought all the rest) is that shade of green that is so evocative of the 30s and 40s.



Anyway this little red coffee pot now is now a flower pot outside.



My little nautical tin will sit on the kitchen window sill and matches a lovely deck of boaty cards I bought a few weeks ago.



M says he can remember these Birds Baking Powder tins, I can't. I can only remember the custard tins. They can't have been that old but the packaging is lovely isn't it.



A little vintage tin of clotted cream (empty thank goodness!). I love clotted cream, not sure what it would be like from a tin though.



So now I've got a recipe for sponge cake, baking powder and clotted cream. Had to have a cake tin to put it in didn't I? Especially one covered in roses too.



And finally not a new purchase but an enamel plate and cup that Big Sister got as a pressie when she was little. Too sweet not to show you.
Hope you're having a good start to the week. I'm off to play nurse to Little Sister. looking at all these photos of sugar and cake tins I have a good idea what she might be craving!

Pillow Talk

Where has this week gone, it must have melted in the sun. I've been playing house this week, washing, cleaning, painting and sewing. Truth be told all I really wanted to do was go out and play. With the sun streaming through the windows I felt the urge to clean and promised myself the reward of sewing at the end of it. Line after line of washing on the line, I knew it had to stop when nearing the end of my spring clean I decided to shove Little Sister's bedroom rug in with the wash. The result a pristine, clean smelling floor covering and matching pink school uniform! Little Sister was amused, Big Sister wasn't.



Our afternoons have been spent playing boardgames at the end of the garden nearest the house. Right up until the beginning of the week we sat on the lawn playing games but the old ash tree has suddenly sprung to life and cast its shade. Nature doesn't hang around does it, those leaves appeared from nowhere. I'm taking comfort from the fact that it's happened so late this year, hopefully a sign that the seasons are running their true course.



So out on the suntrap of a patio we sat and sweltered!



My sewing reward was not as I intended. Hoping to make some new things for my Etsy shop I sat and stared at the sewing machine. Nothing. Sat a bit longer, still nothing. No ideas, no inspiration, I just sat staring at the kitchen chairs and the slightly grubby cushions. Tempted to wash them but choosing not to and desperately wanting to sew. I came up with these cushions for the chair, using fabric I'd already used downstairs.
They brighten up the kitchen and sit like sirens waiting for the cereal, tomato sauce, milk, butter stains that are bound to come there way!



I made another little cushion for a Lloyd Loom chair.



Do you remember this old french fabric that I used to cover my junk shop steps? It's such a pretty pattern I really wanted some more of it around the house.



And finally for the bedroom I made a large cushion from a scrap of Laura Ashley fabric that I had used to cover a chair in there. So that's it, a week of huffing, puffing and stuffing and now I'm free to go out and play it's raining! oh yes indeedy, that's right! Rain, and a lot of it!! IT drenched my darling daughter right through and through. Sad times. eh?
Reader, in case you think I have taken leave of my senses, my blog has been hijacked by Big Sister who wrote the last few sentences whilst I popped into the kitchen to check the pasta. You know it's been one of those weeks when you can't even finish your own blog post! Payback for pink uniform methinks.

... and breathe out

Hello, hope you all had a great weekend. The weather here in this part of blogland has been just wonderful. It's been a time for being outside, for meeting up with people and having fun. Actually I didn't feel like that at all before the weekend started. I think I'm quite a solitary soul - I love my friends and family of course and nothing is better than spending lazy days with them all. However when the weekend seems full of one arrangement after another I start to feel overwhelmed. How would I fit it all in, wouldn't it be all just too much, it's the weekend, when can we relax etc etc. Well the answer is, just to go with the flow, take a deep breath and enjoy!



On Friday night we were invited to Emma's private view at the Open House she is in during the Festival. We had a great time, drinking wine, looking at everyone's work and, above all, meeting up again with lovely Emma. There was a potentially strange moment when Mr Ragged Roses met Mr Sew Recycled, both of them blogging widows caught up in the maelstrom of blogworld. However, we all talked and talked and talked, it was good, very good. So was Emma's work so very pretty. I bought this little textile print for my bedroom and wished I had more money to spend on her other things too. I love it.



While I'm busy doing a bit of show and tell, here's a lovely collage I got from Louise at Beachys Capecodcupboard. Louise seems to be able to turn her hand at any number of things so successfully and I'm constantly amazed at the amount of lovely work she produces. Thanks Louise I'm very happy with it and I'm sorry it has taken such a long time for me to share a photo of it with everyone!



Back to the weekend - Saturday morning I dashed down to town with my neighbour to the annual plant sale. This always happens during the festival but for some reason was unadvertised this year. Just by chance we stumbled upon it and came home happy and laden with plants, grown by lovely old men in their greenhouses and allotments. I planted some up immediately and like the look of this fennel in this olive tin. I'm hoping that the heat and shininess of the container will deter those pesky snails. Can you see what they've done to my artichoke? (I read yesterday that Nigel Slater planted some surrounded by coffee grounds, might give that a go).
I spent the afternoon taking little Sister into town with her friend to see her favourite author who gave one of the funniest talks I've been too in a long time. I really admire adults who never lose the child inside them and aren't afraid to show it either. Little Sister is even more inspired to be a writer now when she grows up!
A barbecue in the evening, a garden full of girls shrieking and somewhere in the house a cat, blithely unaware of what was going on.



On Sunday we had friends down from London. Old friends, good friends, friends who we rarely see but instantly feel comfortable around. It's like rereading a favourite book with some people isn't it, you know you're going to enjoy yourself! These two friends were so kind to me when my mother died, looking after my newly born baby and coming down to visit with food parcels to make sure we were looking after ourselves. Their kindness and generosity is something I will never forget. Sometimes it doesn't matter how often you meet up with people, or even if you ever do (as in the case of our blogging friends), sometimes it's just the acts of kindness, words of support that stay with you.
So a busy weekend, a weekend full of plans, a weekend where I learnt to take things as they come and where miraculously the sun decided to shine from start to finish.



And now I'm off to do some sewing.

Home Tweet Home

I have always wanted one of these. I saw this one the other day in Rottingdean and had to share it with you. A dovecote really appeals to the romantic side of me. The realistic side of me knows that with two cats, the reality would not be as pretty as imagined. Still a girl can dream and while I'm dreaming I would also like this one here
. Of course I would have to spend my days floating around in white linen dresses with a little white dove permanently attached to my finger and my garden would be forever summer but hey ho I could live with it.



One of the real treats of this beautiful, balmy weather we've been experiencing is the wonderful sound of the birdsong in the evenings and mornings. I've sat in the garden a couple of times this week just me and a cuppa and shut my eyes and just listened to the birds. I don't think there is a sound more relaxing or optimistic. I'm always transported back to being a little girl and the long summer holidays, playing in the garden and lying in bed trying desperately to fall asleep whilst it was still light outside, all played against a backdrop of birdsong. In very much the same way I was immediately taken back to my primary school the other day when I walked past a garden crammed with wallflowers. It may have been the sight or the smell of the flowers but it was instant. It's funny how my childhood memories seem to be forever fixed in summer!



Look at this little bluetit sitting at the top of the very highest branch of my apple tree. Doesn't he look like he's having fun amongst the blossom. Sorry the sky is so bleached I had to run and get the camera quickly (perhaps instead of a dove attached permanently to my hand, it would have to be my camera) and point and shoot before he flew off and of course the sun wouldn't move out of the way.



I also spotted this exquisite bird of paradise revising(?) in the garden. Seems like it's all getting a bit too much and a nap and some shade are what's needed.



Listening to the birds on the way to school the other morning I felt inspired to make something for the hall (which is so nearly done, but not quite - I hate painting doors and bannisters), This is the result - my very own little, cat-proof bird house. Well I say it's cat-proof but I caught one of them drooling over the feathers the other day. I'm very happy with it and it looks great on the white walls.



The poor thing has been carried from room to room to find the best place for it. I liked seeing it in the bedroom, M wasn't sure, M liked seeing it downstairs above the hall mirror, I wasn't sure, neither of us could agree which wall it looked best on in the living room, so on the landing it will live. I feel the need to make more - one for the bedroom and one for the living room too as I'm so hopeless at deciding. I've put one in my Etsy shop if any of you would like one as well. (SOLD).




Have a good few days, full of sunshine and beautiful birdsong.