Decorating

I decided on the week before I went back to work after my holiday, I`d decorate the kitchen, it wasnt in a desperate state, but I fancied a change.

I wanted to do it in a French Provance sort of colour that grey/blue/lavender but I couldnt find it anywhere, well not in the price range I wanted to pay, so I plumped for green again, Chelsea by Crown.

If I`d remembered how awful it is decorating a kitchen, I would never have started, especially as I decided to paint the dresser too, so there were piles of stuff everywhere, and trying to do the usual kitcheny things around it all was a nightmare.

I had several `lows` on the three days it took to decorate it all, especially when I decided I wasnt sure I liked the colour of the walls, but when it dried, I thought it was a nice cosy colour for the winter months.

The dresser, which was brown and varnished, took huge amounts of sandpapering, I never thought I`d get to the end of it! I painted it in Antique white, which I thought was a nice `soft` colour. And I was pleased with the results.

The best part was putting out all my nice vintage china, which I`ve collected over the last months at car boot sales, and hanging my vintage lace on the shelves.

So now I can feel nice and smug!

A magical walk....

We woke to a lovely day of clear blue skies and mellow golden sunshine, so we decided to go out for a walk. We drove to Dartmoor, and walked in our favourite wood.

It was a magical place..hazy sunshine shone through the trees, and the air smelt mushroomy

There were secret hidey holes...

and pretty flowers.

the path wound on and on past ginger coloured bracken, high as an elephants eye..

tucked amongst the trees was an interesting little hut, with a delightful mural, and roughly hewn wooden seats....


it had some very interesting things to look at...

we walked on with birdsong in our ears, a robin with rosy chest thrust out, a wren like a small brown mouse hopping on a fallen log, the silver sound of long tailed tits in the tree tops, past strange fungi encrusted trees..

emerald green velvet mossy logs laid for a fairy picnic

ice cold water gurgled merrily over slatey stones and...

butterflies danced in shafts of sunshine and sunned themselves on bushes beside the path.

When we reached the charcoal burners clearing, we had a rest..

there was something new there, a wooden windchime maybe? I found a stick and played it, Pete didnt look very impressed

On the path back to the car, we stopped at the bird hide, and watched the coal, marsh and blue tits on the feeders

Autumn tints

Its amazing that you dont have to be away from home for very long, and you come back to find lots of things have changed. Although England seemed very green, after the harsh dryness of Spain, theres a distinct colour in some of the trees, especially the horse chestnuts, which have very pretty yellow leaves. I also noticed that the mornings are darker, and the nights are pulling in, which I actually quite like, I find it all rather cosy.

The garden seemed wildly overgrown too, (must have been all that rain while we were away) although the Sedums are lovely now, and I tend to have a wild sort of arrangement, growing flowers for the Bees, Butterflies and insects.

I must share this photo with you, I was unpacking, and had gone to put some things away, only to return and find Abbey nonchalantly sitting in the case, cant help themselves can they, whether its a box, basket or case, they`ve got to sit in it..

On Sunday we went to the car boot, which was enormous, and I found these lovely things, I thought the bowls were rather unusual, with tulips round the rim, its usually roses or the like.

And for just a pound, this rather nice sewing box, which I could certainly do with, as mines rather shabby, so another successful rummage.

Home again

Well we`re back, after having a simply fabulous holiday in Spain, and of course the best part was being able to see my daughter every day. She took us to some lovely little spanish towns, and we saw some really interesting things. The weather was perfect, with the temperatures soaring as you can see, which rather made up for the dreadful summer we`ve had, and we`ve gone from white and pasty, to golden brown.

We had a different apartment this year, as our usual one was fully booked. It was only five minutes down the road from the other one, and we found we were on the twenty first floor, with stunning views across to the lovely mountains

We had some lovely days, paddling in the sea in colourful little towns

And we ate rather a large amount of these

Which might just account for the fact that my clothes seem to be a little snug

We went to a fabulous Antique/Flea market called El Cisne, which was very much like a car boot sale, with ordinary things for sale as well as antiques.

I came across this lovely little Delft cream jug, which I couldnt resist, he`ll look lovely on my newly painted dresser.

Another purchase I made (but not from El Cisne) which was invaluable, was a snazzy spanish fan. My daughter always carries one, and with the sweltering heat it was very necessary, I also thought it would be excellent when I have one of my `hot moments` at work, far better than grabbing an old magazine to wave about.

It was a perfect holiday, but it was very hard saying goodbye to my daughter, but we promised each other at the airport, that we wouldnt be sad, but look forward to our next holiday together, hopefully next Spring.