Camping!!!

Our dog Homer loves camping but insists on wearing his fleece pyjamas for bed!!!!

Is it or isn't it?

Seen on a wall in Weston-Super-Mare.....could it be a Banksy original???

What have you done this Summer?

So far my Summer has been bliss. I've done lots of things to make me smile and realise how much I love my life.

I belong to Ambergate WI and this year we had a Tea Party at the home of one of our members. A marque was put up in her wonderful garden incase our Derbyshire weather let us down. We all enjoyed eating dainty morsels and drinking tea from vintage china cups. Everyone wore a hat and for a while we stepped back in time. We took time out to enjoy our friends and the frowns disappeared to be replaced by contented sighs and smiles.
My garden always looks it's best in early summer. Most of my flowers are self seeded and I leave them where they are happy. I planted one small Oxeye Daisy as soon as we moved here five years ago and it has now escaped all over the hill into everyones garden. Most of my neighbours are happy about this!

Has anyone else noticed how many shops have opened recently selling "old fashioned" sweeties? My favourites are Rhubarb and Custard,Rosy Apples and of course Sugar Mice!!!

And what Summer is complete without new shoes ......

They have embroidered flowers and Ladybird buttons on them. So cute.

I hope you find some "smiles" of your own this summer.......

Hang on in there because......

Never stop dreaming....no matter how hard life gets xxxx

Baby it's cold outside!

Has everyone forgotten last Novembers snow now the rain has arrived and it's more like a UK winter?

Our village looked so pretty. This is one of the "jittys" (it's a local word for a path between two streets) looking like a fairytale landscape.

This is our hill! It's difficult to get up on a good day.

Snow just made it impossible.

But anyone who made it was made very welcome.

One thing that seemed different this winter was the icicles.

I cant remember seeing so many before. These are at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

And they were still there in January! Brrrr!

I don't know about you but even though it was so cold I loved this winter and I can't wait to see what Spring has in store for us.

Autumn Walk

I went for a walk around Chatsworth with Mr Homer Stapholopalus

and I thought I'd share some of the things we saw

View from the Kitchen Garden

Stone walls just seem to improve with age

Swiss Chard, one of my favourite vegetables

This sheep was very interested in Homer. I wonder why?

Autumn leaves and Autumn skies

The Cricket Pavillion.

So very English even in Autumn.

Vintage! Vintage! Vintage!

I have had a love affair with vintage clothing since I bought a pair of baby blue 1920's court shoes from a jumble sale when I was 15 much to the amusement of my best friend at the time. The shoes are long gone, sigh. I wore them until they fell to pieces. Now I am always on the lookout for pieces to add to my collection.

These are two of my favourites.

A 1970's floor length gypsy dress with a floral pattern. This dress is so long all I can do is waft about floatily in it! Perfect for picnics and days by the river.

I adore the fabric ...

This is my latest addition. A "well loved" 1950's homemade barkcloth skirt. It has a stiff inner skirt which makes it stand out and is perfect for dancing in!!!

The bow is made from lots of grosgrain ribbon and I love the way it is as long as the skirt.

Vintage clothing may not be to everyones liking but I've always tried to be different! And to the friend who laughed at me for buying "second hand" shoes all those years ago I bet you wish you'd bought them now don't you?