Pretty Pomanders

Hi there

Last weekend we spent a day at the Hay Festival and the next day explored a little of the Forest of Dean. The Festival was lovely, relaxed, interesting and in beautiful surroundings. We listened to a talk by Alex Bellos (a journalist with an interest in maths) about people's emotional responses to numbers, which was fascinating. But we were mainly there to see Jim Al-Khalili, president of the British Humanist Association, giving a talk about humanism and atheism. He was very eloquent on the subject and it was lovely to feel the response of the audience to his talk. Next year I think we should try and go for longer. There are so many interesting things going on at Hay.

We drove slowly home the next day, via the Forest of Dean. It was one of those lush, warm sunny days when everything looks full-on, green, abundant. We stopped off at a craft centre and I picked up a collection of pretty vintage pomanders from a vintage shop.

Faded blooms and faded scents - I love these ceramic pomanders. I'm tempted to keep a couple for myself but I've started listing some in my Etsy shop. 

Hope you are having a peaceful and happy weekend.

Melanie

Springish!

Hello there my darlings! Hope you all had an enjoyable Easter. I had a wee break from work, which I spent at home with my sweet man. We kept to our new 'tradition' and treated ourselves to some delicious chocolate from our favourite chocolate shop in Henley. Of course, we just had to indulge in a cup of steaming hot Madagascan chocolate while we were there too! Absolutely yummy, and all the better for being served in dainty vintage cups. I also spent a little time making some truffles to take to my work chums before we went on our hols.

 

I made up a simple ganache of cream and chocolate and piped little blobs onto a tray when it was beginning to set. A short stay in the fridge and they were ready to roll into balls and cover in toasted coconut, toasted nuts or cocoa powder mixed with icing sugar.

 

 

Needless to say, they didn't hang around long!

 

I also dusted off my broom and gave the house a thorough going over - and then stood back to admire my handiwork.

 

 

We added some Spring flowers and almost convinced ourselves that Spring had actually arrived!

 

Great news! Today I went to my first boot sale of the year! Hurrah! The sun actually shone and, although it was a little breezy, I had lots of fun browsing the various stalls and unearthed some wonderful treasures for my Etsy shop. Some are in there already so why not pop over and take a look?

 

Have a lovely week!



  

Happy Holiday Weekend!

If any of you live in England you'll probably appreciate a bright, sunny picture to cheer up your Bank Holiday Weekend. We've been sitting under a blanket of grey cloud for several weeks now and even going into May hasn't brought about any change. We're famous for talking about the weather in England - which isn't really surprising given its unpredictability. March was hot and sunny (most unusual), April was grey and wet (instead of sunny and showery) and May has so far been chilly and damp (instead of sunny and warm) and is apparently likely to remain that way.

Mind you, we needed some rain - we had already been told that hose pipes were banned in many parts of the country and the drought that has brought our rivers and reservoirs very low looked like continuing. So as much as I dislike the grey skies, the rain was much needed and is bringing out the beautiful fresh new leaves on the trees and encouraging the grass to sprout lush and green. Even if it rains for the whole of May, we will still need a steady drizzle throughout the summer to end the drought. Whatever we have coming - I hope you enjoy some photographs of sunflowers that I took last summer to remind you of the colour of sunshine. Have a happy weekend!

Life through a lens

As well as planting sweet peas and pots of hyacinths and daffodils this weekend I found a little time to try out my new camera. I've long had an interest in cameras and photography but never been lucky enough to own an SLR. I remember a little Box Brownie that used to live in our garage when I was young - I wonder what happened to that? An Olympus Trip was my favourite for many years and more recently I switched over to a digital Lumix but somehow I can't ever get used to taking photographs without a viewfinder. Peering at a screen just isn't the same. I like my eye to be close to the view - the camera to be an extension of me not something I hold at arms length. My new camera - a Canon 550D - is something else altogether. It won't slip into my pocket like my Lumix but it's a wonderful thing. It needs a bag of it's own, with lots of pockets for all it's bits and pieces. It has dials and buttons, a zoom lens and best of all - a viewfinder.

Of course, I don't know what most of these bells and whistles do yet. My first attempt at macro photography is this orchid (for the technically minded it was taken on the AV setting, ISO400, with auto focus). There's a lot to learn and in a few days Photoshop Elements will be arriving too. Somehow I don't think I'm going to have much spare time over the coming weeks...