Salisbury Art Trail.... Preparing madly!

Salisbury Arts Trail has come around again and this year I'm playing host to a local artist (who I model for) and a new young photographer. I shall have more to 'show and tell' about them and their work once the week has started.
I have always wanted to run my own Gallery and until the money comes in, this is my only chance!
I love the energy and excitement of hanging pictures for an exhibition and testing my skills by giving a really good Private View party. Having my house open to the public for 10 days is challenging and oh boy does it make me do some housework!
I spent last weekend getting the outhouse ready, so all my books and things are looking their best - that is, boxes have been emptied and everything somehow crammed onto the shelves and into every other available space. I hadn't realised how many things I have collected, as they are often left boxed up from one fair to the next and my books have not be re-shelved since I had a huge cull last year. Although it was hard work, I really enjoyed it and now keep sneaking out to have another look at the results. One of my neighbours caught me standing on the threshold and smiling beatifically at everything and has since teased me un-mercifully...
It's rather a small space for taking photographs but these should give an idea, even if they are not as artistic as I could wish!

The Books

The Bits and Pieces

Looking through my photographs I realise just how lucky I am to be able to spend my days working with things I love.
These old eiderdowns are my special passion at the moment...

There is something about the covers of old sheet music that appeals to me. I can imagine a young lady's delight at being bought a fashionable song by her devoted swain...

My lovely man collects maps, so he always gets first choice!

Then there are the oddments that don't fit into any catagory but I just couldn't resist buying them...

Old bell, books and flour sifter

Just right for Tea for Two

cornucopia, pastry cutter, pearls and sugar thermometer

The blanket was knitted by a friend of mine

Emily coverts this bag!

Copper shelves, washing dolly and biscuit tin

And there are always some buttons and lace...

I enjoyed sorting things according to colour, it does help bring some order to chaos!

In the end, tho' I'll always be a Booklady at heart and my books give me constant joy.

I love to read them, look at them and sell them to people who share my passion-

No wonder my business is called 'Kiss the Book'!



The Private View is on this Saturday evening, it would be brilliant if any of you were near Salisbury and wanted to drop by...

ps. I've even beautified the loo



Completely Content

Earlier this week I gave a talk about my beloved Antiquarian Books and life as a bookseller for some ladies who meet for lunch near Christchurch. Afterwards, I was planning to go shopping in town and head for home. It had been a happy morning. My talk was appreciated and the ladies had been so interesting and friendly over lunch but I felt a little jaded and on a whim, instead of shopping, I turned the car and went instead to nearby Avon beach.
It may not be the most beautiful of English beaches but I have a great affection for it, as it is the place where  the urchins and I have spent many happy hours. I grew up in Buckinhamshire, miles from the sea and when I arrived in Salisbury and found there was a beach only an hour away I was so excited! I have had many wild winter walks and happy, sandy summer picnics there.
This afternoon the beach itself was deserted and the weather blustery and sunny.





I'm happy to watch waves for hours and so I strolled up and down, listening and looking.
It was so mild the wind felt silken agains my arms, contrasted to the sting of sand blown against my legs.
I love details in nature, rather than panoramic views, and there is always so much of beauty to see on a beach. I like to wander slowly looking and waiting for my mind to calm and my senses to take over. I find it takes a while to look and listen properly.

Sea Foam

Great piles of seaweed had been blown up by the recent rough weather but it was fresh enough just to smell of the sea. Oh, how I love that wild, salty smell!
As I walked, taking everything in around me I realised, for that moment, I was perfectly content with who I am and where I was.

Am I not lucky?

Favourite Days

Perhaps it's a little childish or pagan maybe but I have two favourite days in the year.
September 1st and December 21st.
I love December 21st as it is the solstice and from that moment, the year has turned and the winter days are getting longer.
September 1st is a special day for me. To me this is the first day of Autumn and I love Autumn so. August so often disappoints (unless you are in the hot, herb-scented Mediterranean) and now I can relax into the enjoyment of this most beautiful of seasons.
So although I'm a little late, here is a poem and a picture -

There is a quiet comfort in an Autumn day

that rests so kindly with my tired soul.

The fields and hills made gentle by the mist

take from me any thoughts but of the here and now.

The past is slowly gathered by the turning year

I feel my spirits rising with each yellow leaf.

It lacks the strong and questing beauty of an April day

yet owns a subtle harmony and grace.

When to the next life I am called to go

I hope it greats me with an Autumn face.

  ps. I'm at the Vintage and Handmade Fair at Alderholt tomorrow, I'm looking forward to it !http://www.vintagedorset.co.uk/alderholt-vintage-fair/

Return from the Great Adventure

Last weekend, my son Sam and I had the lucky chance to have a share in my daughter's Great Adventure. The girls were ending their European Tour at a friends' house in Britany, so we all crammed into Terri and Robert's car and met them there for a few days.

Sitting round the breakfast table, they started to tell us their stories. Out poured a jumble of tales. As they talked, interrupting each other and often collapsing with laughter, the girls' vivacity and sense of friendship gave us a hint of the fun and excitement of their last few weeks.

I knew that Emily's adventures had been varied- my favourite text messege from her reads-

'Drank Absinthe, went to a Goth bar, was asked out by a sea captain and arrived back at our hostel at 6 in the morning. I like Berlin. xXx'

The mind boggles!

There were gentle moments too. Emily told of a happy hour spent in an English bookshop in the Jewish quarter of Budapest, drinking coffee and eating biscuits bought from a local market.

Becky reading

Some places moved them

Looking down into The White Room, Berlin

Others uplifted-

The John Lennon Wall,  Prague

They loved the sense of fun in Amsterdam-

And the famous Bolognese sauce in Bologna

They even made time for their music!

Rosa on the Ukulele



Emily busking in Lucca

So.... we're all back home and together again for a short while and then...

watch out world because they're on to

The Next Great Adventure!

 With thanks to photographs from the albums-

Rosa " When our time was spent on Trains"

Clare " Messy hair, dirty clothes"

Emily " A Very Big Adventure"

And to Terri and Robert for lifts, cocktails and hospitality...

A few days happy pottering

I can hardly call my wanderings an adventure when compared to my daughter's travels but I have had a very happy week.

First there was a weekend gathering of old school-friends in Suffolk-





Where the day started in sunshine and ended late as we sat out in the evening singing songs and toasting marshmallows around the fire.

On Sunday we went exploring and stayed in a lovely, old fashioned B&B

Which we found by accident, after visiting a local Church

 I loved this stained glass window

It was a busy, happy, sociable weekend.



I then took myself off to the West Country to spend a few days by myself.

I love the chance to wander at will, to explore just as the mood takes me and to indulge in some of my favourite activities- beachcombing, following winding lanes and 'treasure' hunting in car-boot sales and antique shops.

The view form my window

I pretended that this was a 'working holiday and have come home with a few interesting finds-

Old fashioned til pencil sharpener, pot, tape measure and thermometer

I'm especially pleased with this little French Thermometer, it's so quirky and it still works!

However, I still managed to spent hours peering into rock pools and collecting pebbles and shells-

I found that by visiting the beaches early in the morning  or in the evening and walking just that little bit further,  I could find solitude and space, even in this busiest of months-

August is not my favourite month for the countryside, I prefer the early summer or Autumn but I have seen some beautiful views, hidden down corners of Devonshire lanes.

I was so pleased to see the old fashioned corn stooks.

I'm back home now and feel very lucky to have had such a perfectly English summer holiday!