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 ...)

"Wish you were here"

I made these a couple of months ago and was meaning to post about them but they sold before I got round to it. I then meant to make some more so I could show you but somehow along the way I got sidetracked.



Finally today I finished another couple of bundles of them to show.



They're made from vintage linen and are my attempt at mini postcard pillows. You all know how much I love old postcards and my love for the countryside and being by the sea, well I decided to put all those things together and came up with these.



I loved reading all your comments on our recent walk and wanted to create something that in some way captured some of those scenes, all these are of course images of a bygone age, more "Darling Buds of May" than "The Ragged Roses May ramble"
and much the nicer for it! I've put them in my etsy shop if you'd like to take a look.



I even managed to make myself a set to put in the bathroom.



It's been a funny old week, the girls have gone back to school and are really tired - Big Sister told me last night that she needed a holiday!



I know what she means though, she said she was feeling claustrophobic, and I understand that feeling when the sun is shining and you really just want to be free to enjoy it.



Free to go on long country walks, free to sit on a beach and hear the sea, feel the sand or just read a book. For Big Sister, free to run across the Downs with your arms outstretched, Ipod on and be alone with your thoughts.



I bought this book as a birthday present for a friend recently - The Fortnight in September by R C Sherriff. Has anybody read it? I'd be interested to hear what you think. I was so drawn to its subject and toying with the idea of getting a copy to read if and when I get to the mountain of books by my bed. Written in 1931 it tells the story of an ordinary family's fortnight holiday in Bognor Regis on the Sussex Coast.



Of course I'm interested in finding out how much seaside holidays have changed but in a way it's the domestic details that appeal and above all the hope that we all set by our holidays, the desire to escape just for a little while.

I'm not sure if the Ragged Roses will be going on holiday this year but I'm determined to make the most of any good weather that comes our way and I'm lucky to be living in a place that offers me both beautiful countryside and the sound of the sea.



Hope you all have a lovely weekend, we're off Springwatching!

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 ...

Full House!

In my last post I said that it felt more like Christmas than Easter at the weekend and I wasn't wrong. The postman seems to be delivering new goodies to me on almost daily basis this past week! This lovely hare was sent to me by the very kind Lynne who won my giveaway the other week. I had commented on her wonderful blog just how beautiful they were and lo and behold as a "thank you" for my goodies Lynne sent me this gem! Lynne was slightly concerned that I wouldn't be able to control his springiness but, rest assured Lynne, he's settled in very well and has only hopped off his cupboard top twice. Keeping him company on the fireplace is this lovely hare tag that Lynne also sent. My bunnies have taken a while to adjust but they all seem to be getting along nicely.



I sold lots of my spring bunnies on Etsy recently and somebody who bought a bunny bundle was Coralie. It's great to find out where things end up so I was very pleased to receive an email from Coralie thanking me and asking me to take at her blog. There was Mr Bunny showing himself off to some new found French friends, all set to go off on some major Easter egg hunts at the weekend. It was lovely for me to discover a new blog and for all you francophiles out there, it's in French too! Great for polishing up my shamefully rusty French and lots of lovely photos to savour. Coralie also thought she would like to send me a little something and look what I got from her yesterday:



beautiful stamps of the Eiffel Tower. Thanks so much Coralie, "merci beaucoup" - I love Paris and have very fond memories of it. I am still marvelling at the sheer power of blogging to surprise us with its twists and turns and unpredictability. I have come into contact with so many lovely people and followed so many blog trails.



I'm sure that most of you would have read Michele's
lovely blog before and I'm sure most of you would have gathered by now what a warm, humourous and kind person she is. Oh and very talented too. Just before Easter Michele sent the Ragged Roses household a little Easter parcel. A chocolate bunny for me, most importantly, some gifts for the girls, some more of her wonderful badges, Easter decorations and these delightful cards (you see now why I said it's been feeling like Christmas!). Thank you Michele it was such a kind thing to do and we were all really touched that you thought of us. (You may need to click on the photo of Michele's cards to see the badges a little better)



But that's not all! I finished my last Persephone book last week and have been in serious withdrawal ever since. This has been remedied by the arrival this morning of my three new books, all of which, curiously enough, have very similar titles.



"House-bound" by Winifred Peck, a story showing the impact of the war on a household where a woman decides to do without her maid and manage her own house. "A House in the Country" by Jocelyn Playfair, again set during the Second World War but played out in a rural country idyll. "The New House" by Lettice Cooper, set in pre-war Britain and over one day tells the story of a family moving from a large house to a much smaller one. They all sound great and very domestic, don't know where to start.



Of the three previous books I bought from Persephone, the book that, understandably, moved me the most was Cicely Hamilton's "William - An Englishman". Written by Cicely Hamilton while she was working at a hospital and organising concerts at the Front during WW1, this book is one of the most moving I have read in a long time. Two young people, both political activists and idealists, marry and go on honeymoon in 1914 to a remote cottage in Belgium. Secluded from the world for three weeks they emerge one day from a walk in the countryside and literally stumble into the horrors of WW1. This scene has been haunting me since I read it last week. I won't spoil the book for you but by the end of the story William learns that reality has no place for his former idealistic beliefs. William was like so many thousands of men during the war, quiet, without a voice, struggling to make sense of it all. The other day whilst sorting through my old postcard collection I read on the back of one of them a pencil written message from a soldier to his wife, he longs desperately for one of her letters and complains only of the mud that seems to be all around him. When Big Sister went to Ypres the other week I found myself visiting lots of websites to find out more, trying to make sense of it all myself. "William" is a great book.
Anyway my three new books all promise to be of a lighter mood and I'm looking forward to letting you all know how I get on with them. The film of "Miss Pettigrew" seems to be getting great reviews in USA so I'm very excited about seeing that when it opens here.
What a long post, sorry I've been rambling again.

Feeling bookish

Thank you all so much for your lovely kind comments on the last post. I am beginning to feel better and slowly catching up on some sleep. You are all so supportive, thank you!



Our half term started at the weekend with a trip to the British Museum in London (yes another project to be completed during the holidays). I cannot believe how lucky we are to have so many treasures to view in our museums, not sure whether they should still be there or returned to their native countries, but that's another story. I love the British Museum.



The majesty of the building and the magnificence of its contents never fail to leave me awestruck.



As we strolled around the Egyptian rooms it was so hard for little sister and indeed, all of us, to believe that these artefacts had actually been made by the Ancient Egyptians themselves. Learning about the Egyptians in a classroom is one thing but seeing real sarcophagus, mummies and treasure is another.



The museum is in one of my favourite parts of London - Bloomsbury. I could walk its streets for hours, there is so much history around here. When I was a student I loved strolling around the colleges and visiting the careers office just to have a nose round the buildings. Rows of gorgeous Georgian houses and beautiful squares, blue plaques on many of the homes. It is easy to imagine the Woolfs or any of the other "Bloomsberries" strolling around. So many hidden gems behind those facades. It would have been wonderful to have visited in the 20s and 30s.



A few months ago I read about a publishing house in this area of town that I wanted to visit. I forgot the name and had almost given up when out of the blue I received an email from somebody who reads my blog, We'd been writing to each other about the books we were reading and she asked me if I'd heard of Persephone Books - that was it, the name of the publishers! Thank you Jackie! We managed to squeeze in a visit to the shop as well as it was just a short stroll from where we were.. It is everything I imagined, a beautiful little shop, in a beautiful street filled with beautiful books! Quiet and unassuming from the outside and totally enchanting and seductive inside. Rows and rows of beautifully printed and packaged books, mostly by women dating from the early to the mid-twentieth century. Books that have been neglected and overlooked have been given a second lease of life - I wanted them all.



Each book has a beautiful dove grey cover with gorgeous patterned endpapers and matching bookmarks. Some designs are based on fabrics by the Bloomsbury artists for example or a 30s scarf or print dress.



The hardest part was the choosing. I came home with three new books. "Marianna" by Monica Dickens, which promises to be like "I Capture the Castle" so that had me hooked, "William, an Englishman" by Cicely Hamilton which is a novel set against World War 1 and "Miss Pettigrew lives for a day" by Winifred Watson which is described as an adult Cinderella tale. I could have bought them all. You can even buy them ready gift wrapped if you could bear to part with them as presents.



The website is wonderful and the mail order is very fast, but if you get the chance try and visit the shop and see the books firsthand (and the beautiful 1930s dress that's in the window!).
I came home grinning. clutching my beautifully wrapped treasure. I've started Marianna and really enjoying it too. I wish there were more shops like this, it was more than worth the five minute walk from the museum. If you're up visiting a museum and have had quite enough of queuing in the gift shop, I can recommend this detour.