I've just been on' Come Dine with Me'...

This is just the quickest of notes to explain my absence.
 I've been on the television show ' Come Dine with Me'. It was manic, exhausting, exciting and I  have laughed more than I've ever done in my life.
The other guests and the crew were amazing...
I can't wait to tell you all about it properly when our episode has come out later in the summer.
Apart from the week's filming and dining and, of course, cooking- I seem to have spent the last few weeks desperately tidying and de-cluttering my house.

It does look nice now though, so it was worth it. Now I just have to catch up with everything in my life that was put on hold!
I hope to be back to normal very soon.

A very stylish affair

Last weekend was  a thoroughly English event. The Vintage Nostalgia Show at Stockton Park was the perfect cocktail of vintage stalls, cars and that special added ingredient, so rare in England... sunshine!

I had my helpers-




Emily in her favourite boater

David in his favourite hat

Everything  looked so bright and cheerful in the sun



There were some beautiful stalls

It was especially nice to have Sophie nearby

And lovely people

Don't our dresses go well together?



These are some more of my favourite things...

This made David laugh!

We all entered into the spirit of the weekend, I even had my hair done by a 'travelling hairdresser'

It was a lovely weekend. Although I decided to bring less stock with me next time

At the end of the weekend, by the time we had packed everything  in the van and then taken it out again when back at home...

We were only fit to sit in the garden and drink a very large gin and tonic!

The Colours of Happiness

I am lucky enough to have four jobs and one of the happiest is being organiser of a local Day Centre or The Hudson Road Friendship Club, as we prefer to be called. Trying to keep our days filled with activities that are enjoyable for all is one of my greatest challenges. This week, however, it was easy!
Alex Grant of Toozalii Art, is running an amazing venture - The Sunshine Project, where he plans to fill the Cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral with huge Batik banners painted by hundreds of older people in Wiltshire.

He is an inspirational artist and soon managed to convince us all that we could create a thing of beauty.

Because of the use of raised wax in batik even our blind members could feel the lines and paint between them.

My wonderful volunteers had as much fun as the guests! I certainly did...

We decided to paint two banners, filled with the things that make us happy. One is a house in in the countryside, beneath the bright sun

The other tea, cakes and... champagne!

Please be impressed by the bottle, my own particular addition!

 Once we got over the fear of making mistakes and the strange nervousness that overtakes adults when faced with painting, it was such an exhilerating feeling-

The air of concentration was palpable

In a very short time the banners were done

They look truly beautiful when hung up, with the silk rippling in the breeze. I can't wait for September, when the whole collection is shown together.
It taught me once again, that you are never too old to learn something new. Making the banners brought us all together and lifted our spirits and our hearts.

I think the smile on Phyllis's face sums it all up.
Thank you Alex.

ps. Apologies for my lack of visits to my blog-friends' posts. I miss your thoughts, stories and photographs. Its just that life has been more than ususally hectic...

Take a newly laid egg...

In the manner of all traditions, this one has grown until it has become a vital part of our Spring celebrations. We usually combine it with an Easter Tea Party but the weather and the general muddle of life delayed things a little.
To explain...
Every year we ask a strong, lusty man to throw a fresh egg over our three storey terraced house to ensure good luck and safe keeping for all who live beneath its roof.
The second part needs two women who stand face to face. They each take a step back and throw a newly laid egg to each other, then take a further step and throw again. Each step and successful egg-catch ensures a happy, lucky month.
We had gathered and eaten the all important sandwiches, cakes and cream tea which prepare us for the rituals that lay ahead.

I explained the rules-

The Egg was chosen and approved

It was a serious business

It was the first year that Teddy was deemed old enough to take part- what a test of man-hood!

It was a great throw

 an anxious moment

Not quite over the top this year but a noble first try!

Then Jonathan tried...

Mikol tried...

David really entered into the spirit ...

with a worthy throw

But to no avail....

It was finally Ian who took the honours this year-

with a magnificent effort

There was great rejoicing all round

 Emily and Freya were the chosen women this year.

They had skillfully managed to bring us 11 months of good luck when....

disaster struck!

Eggy hands are just the price you have to pay for a happy home!

It was an afternoon  full of laughter, teasing and good humour.
Thank you to all my friends and neighbours and especially to Sam, who took all the stylish photographs.



Loveliest of trees, the cherry now



I have a passion for blossom. Every year I watch for the first buds to break





Blackthorn is the first and this year it has been particularly sumptuous.

But today I'm talking of the apple, the plum and the cherry blossoms that froth and spill over the trees in such abundance that it makes me gasp with delight every Spring.

I love blossom so much that I decided to spend a whole day looking at and photographing all the varying hues, from pink so dark it's nearly purple-

Through the beloved (and slightly kitch) double pink cherry of my childhood-

One grew in our road in front of our house. I watched the tree through all the seasons.

This slightly more elegant pink cherry is so fluffy it that makes me think of a ballerina's tutu-

Whereas this one is delicate and ethereal

I have always wanted to own an orchard, so apple blossom is a particular favourite-

Maria " went on to the door in the east wall, unlocked it, and went through into the orchard. She had not been there for some while, and she gasped with delight when she saw the pink-and-white blossom that made a canopy fit for a queen over her head"
 ('The Little White Horse' Elizabeth Goudge)

A. E. Houseman's famous poem speaks for many in finding perfection in the single white cherry



Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,

Twenty will not come again,

And take from seventy springs a score,

It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom

Fifty springs are little room,

About the woodlands I will go

To see the cherry hung with snow.

I have very happy memories of playing with the fallen cherry blossoms at my primary school.
Two tall, beautiful trees shed their flowers on the bank at the edge of the playground. All springtime we would collect these and make nests in the grass full of the choicest petals and blooms and then thread these onto long blades of grass making necklaces that were much treasured.

Perhaps the double white cherries are a little over-the-top in comparison

But I love them too!


As I walked through the orchard

I have tried through my photographs to capture the abundance of blossom-

 the individual beauty of a single bud-

and the subtle patterns and grace of the flowers

What fascinated me was the subtle variation of colour from pure white to deepest pink.

I decided to try to create a piece of art from my photographs to show this.

It has turned out far to big for me to be able to photograph it successfully...

I added the words " Fifty years are little room" spread out throughout the piece.

It nearly works, I think!