Such Sad News

 

 

A pioneering woman with an individual style and personality. Sad she is gone.

Merry Christmas Blogging Chums

 

Getting Ready For The Big Day?

I'm not mentioning any names.

 

The Balmoral

 Two weeks into November and nearly every day I have had a thought to write a blog post. I faff around too much and then it gets late and I think, must post tomorrow. Same thing today but here I am.

I must give a mention to a splendid couple of days we spent recently in Edinburgh. We have been many times and always really enjoy it. Last time we were there was to see Dick and Angel Strawbridge in their live show, wonderful folk.

This time we travelled up to experience The Samhuinn Festival in Holyrood Park, which took place on October 31st. What we saw of it was great fun but only had a limited view. Some of the participants had next to nothing on and bare feet, I think some whisky must have been taken beforehand. We were chilly in coats, hats and gloves.

We splashed out and stayed at The Balmoral, money very well spent. It is the best hotel I have ever stayed in.

The Whisky Bar

The hotel itself is super comfortable, the food and drink top notch, but it was the staff who made it the great experience it was.

James Bond in our marble bathroom

A wee gift

I shall be writing to Mr. Forte this week to tell him how much we enjoyed his hotel and to give a special mention to some of the staff. 

Black Cats & Witches

 

I saw this and thought it was so respectful and kind. I actually went into these very cells in the Summer. 

Out of Kilter

 Yesterday was a crap day. If something could go wrong it did. Today will be better. I know this because I'm meeting up with a friend for a catch up and she is full of life, bursting with it in fact. I tend to dwell on things that go badly, but I'm making an effort to try and not revisit stuff that is negative. A few of my fellow bloggers seem to be having similar experiences at the moment, perhaps it is something in the stars.

Feeding The Soul & Body

 

I'm now in what I would describe as the third age of my life. This year I have been giving much thought about the direction my life should be following. What should I be doing with my time for maximum personal benefit, development, balance, harmony and contentment.

 I had been at a loss until visiting a very wise old friend who amongst other things is a pagan and crystal healer. I decided to have a chat with her. Instead she gave me a copy of her crystal book and after reading the first few pages, BAM. I knew what I wanted to do. Well, where to start anyway.

I've started on a spiritual path and have begun to record my feelings and findings in a journal. I have to say I'm enjoying it immensely, it feels right. Most importantly it has made me pay attention to things and people that perhaps in the past I wouldn't have found or noticed.

The Mr and I went to Derby Cathedral last Sunday to see Gaia, in doing so we decided to stay for the service. The choir and music were joyous and one member of the congregation spoke about how words can be transforming. Words like please, thank you and sorry. So interesting and thoughtful.

On a more down to earth note I have been using up all of our harvested vegetables to make healthy nourishing soups. Totally determined to eliminate waste of any kind in our household.

I leave you with a picture of Morgana Mittens and the book that started it all. I like to think she approves.

Time - The Most Valuable Commodity

 In the last year I have had more time because I gave up my paid three day a week post to change to one day of volunteering. Which has made me very happy in many ways.

As you know dear reader I am a thrifty soul, but I do have in the main, expensive taste. So my answer to less income is making the money I have s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

Managing one's money and getting the best from your spend is going to be a lot more difficult going forward. No shit Sherlock I hear you say. Having time to consider the best way of spending or not spending is invaluable. So I thought I would pass on a few tips that I think are helpful and maybe a few of you might want to comment on my blog with your own ideas. Let's see where this might go.

The Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert Newsletter provides a good overview on current costs and economies and has saved us money a few times. It's a cost free way of getting advice from a team of experts who search the web for helpful tit bits.

When money is tight it's normally the extras and niceties that go out of the window. It's easy enough to google free days out and take a picnic etc but going out for a decent meal that delivers on taste, quality and ambience at a good price is more difficult to find. Signing up to receive emails from your favourite restaurants can keep you abreast of special offers and yes, freebees. I'm a huge fan of the Cote Brasserie chain, who thankfully have many branches nationwide. They regularly send me restaurant news and very often offer me free drinks when I dine with them or in my birthday month offer a complimentary bottle of wine.

One of our local eateries has a Fish and Fizz Friday once a month, reasonably priced and the food is excellent. if you order two courses you get a free glass of bubbles each. That can knock about £15.00 off the bill.

With my vodaphone package there is an Eat Local 'Card', which offers two for one meals and discounts of 25% at selected places. I admit there aren't that many places listed but we did find a rather nice fish restaurant recently and used it to take 25% off our bill. 

I also won a £5.00 Sainsbury's voucher in Vodaphone's Very Me Rewards section last week. I teamed that up with £10.00 worth of Nectar points and just under £13.00 discount on their buy 6 bottles of wine and get a 25% discount. So that saved me £28.00 on that shop, with no impact on quality. 

I now mainly shop at Aldis but when I go to Sainsbury's I use their Smartshop system which can save quite a lot if you check the offers when you're actually in store.

My last tip about eating out is, if you do not have a good experience let the staff know. See what they can offer you. Money is hard earned and paying for a sub standard meal is not on. If you don't get any joy from the staff take it further. We had an absolutely disasterous meal at a restaurant in Bath a few months ago and I mean terrible. In the end we were sent a substantial gift voucher, quite rightly.

I hasten to add we do also praise staff and food when we've had a good time. 

Magical Things

 The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is about an hour north of where we live. It is basically a large country garden, surrounding an original 18th century house which is currently under development. The house appears to have been many things since it was first built as a grand private home.

The park is an open air space for a wonderful mix of contemporary sculpture. The church on the estate, which was erected by the Wentworth family for private use is also now used as a gallery. It is a fantastic backdrop for the work of Jaume Plensa. Unusually for me I was VERY taken with his work. The marble sculptures are exquisite. Sadly way out of my price bracket. But a cat may look at a king eh?

In other delights, I received an unexpected small parcel today, full of magical things sent with love. A reminder to be thankful for what I have and to see the importance and beauty of small treasures.

The Queen's Horse Emma With Her Majesty's Scarf On Her Saddle

 

Respect, Admiration and Affection For Our Queen.

 I saw this little film over on John's blog  I felt greatly moved watching Justin Trudeau's tribute to our Queen. I thought I would post it here in case any of my chums haven't seen it.

A Time To Plant A Time To Reap

 

Harvesting as much as we can at the moment, and freezing any surplus for the winter months. We bought a modest chest freezer a while back now so nothing we grow is wasted, well that's the intention anyway. No waste and mindful consumption are nowadays even more important, although I have to say I have always been a bit thrifty. Not "tighter than two coats of paint" as a colleague once described herself, but wanting to do the right thing.

I have made a few Sale purchasers this week, from the Glyndebourne online shop which I'm very pleased with. A few early Christmas stocking fillers and a gorgeous velvet sky blue evening bag for me, reduced from £85 to £22, the website price said £55 but when it arrived I could see it had an original price of £85.  I have a very sweet vintage 1940s evening bag that I used a lot when I was a wee bit younger, that will be sold and hopefully reimburse me for the money spent on the new bag.

We had to lay some turf last weekend to cover an ugly area in our garden. It looks very nice and tidy now and the recent rains have delivered on cue to water it in, which in itself has saved us a lot of money in water fees. We had some excess turf left over so we have given some to an elderly man, 94years, through our gardener, who had layed some turf recently for him, but he had failed to water it and it has died. I suspect it was far too hot for the man to be out watering lawn. The rest we sold to a local couple at a reduced price, they were so happy as it saved them a trip to B&Q and also saved them a good deal of money. 

Happy Days.

Doing My Absolute Best

 

I thought this was a rather lovely, gentle yet positive notion. I saw the same quote on a rather wonderful blog that I follow, Hill Top Pop over yourself you'll see it's rather splendid.

Jacko The Monkey

 

This is the face of love and affection. In the early 1960s I awoke one Christmas morning (early doors), to find a large toy monkey hanging from a shiny bright red scooter next to my bed. My excitement went through the roof and I suspect woke the rest of the house. A most extravagant pair of gifts. 

Jacko the monkey was manufactured for Woolworth's and we had a local branch in Clapham Junction. I don't remember what happened to the original monkey, but this version was recently purchased for me by my big brother. Very sweet. 

Absolute Shower

 

Lovely Ole Terry Thomas

This is how I'd like to feel everyday. 

Scillies

 Dang this hot weather, I do not like it. 

But it has to be endured. 

Today I'm sprucing up the homestead, I have already done the bottom half of the house and when I finish my apple mint tea, (get me), I will make up one of our spare beds and whistle through the top half of the house. We have a couple of friends coming to stay with us next week. 

I thought I would post a couple of pictures that I took in the Scillie Isles, I'm not really one for taking lots of pics, I try to enjoy the moment. My new header picture was taken from our table on a terrace in a small cove on St Mary's.

Lunch time view from St.Agnes.

Robot pussycat waiter's helper at The Quay restaurant

The islands are lush, mainly car less and have the most amazing beaches and coves. I love jaunting between the islands on the low set boats. This time we were rewarded with sightings of Puffins, Seals, Dolphins and other large seabirds. Oh and I tried kayaking, not too bad actually, thanks.

The Pingwings

 

I'm not sure why I thought about the Pingwings today. Just in a reminiscing mood. None of my friends remember the Pingwings, so it's good to find evidence on good ole You Tube. Such gentle, simple times.

Music To Make Pasta To

 

I was in the kitchen making a tuna pasta bake and started to think about Sophia Loren singing Americano. So I asked Alexa to play it for me. Then I had a bit of a brainwave and asked Alexa to play Italian 1950s music. Totally joyous.

Harvest

 

Crops have started to come through in the garden. We had our first early potatoes last night. This year as you can see, I'm growing chamomile for tisanes. My son is a big fan so I thought I would try and grow some from seed. I'm laying the heads in a black seed tray to dry out. Another first this year for me is Okra, again grown from seed. That's still in it's infant stage but coming on.

I'm off now to harvest some lavender and flowers for drying, we've just had two hot days so I think it's a good time to do it.

Enjoy the sunshine my chums but don't get too hot.

Emma Thompson

I'm so looking forward to seeing her in her new film, which apparently only took 19 days to make.

Unwashed Victorians & Up Late With Paul McCartney

 Yep, that was my weekend and most splendid it was too. The Mr was away down south involved in boyish pursuits. I and two lovely friends went to an open gardens day in one of our very pretty local villages, Beeley in Bloom,  a village mostly owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

16 gardens were open, mostly cottage style and all were lovely. The best of course was the garden at The Old Vicarage. Have you noticed that where ever you visit, The Old Vicarage is always the biggest and most aesthetically pleasing building? The views from this garden were wonderful.

It was a fund raising day with everyone doing their bit to help. It felt really nice. Lots of folk chatting to visitors in their gardens, tea and cake at the village hall and a few raffle stalls. I always expect to win when I buy raffle tickets and in this case I did. 3 times.

The icing on the cake though, so to speak, was the presence of The Ragged Victorians . They are a living history group, who walked and worked amongst us as we were admiring the gardens.

 

All in all a tremendous day out. And a very late night followed watching Sir Paul at Glastonbury doing a nigh on three hour set. I can't imagine anything worse than being at Glastonbury, but watching at home was first class. Toilet, food and drink to hand, great coverage of the music and saved £300 on a ticket. Super scrimpy and super comfy.

My Mad Crochet Kimonos

 Okay so I have finished my second mad looking but incredibly cosy crochet kimono. Not really needed just now, scorching weather etc. But finished for my son. I have started another for a friend who loved mine so much he wanted one too.

I found him the quirky hat at a recent boot fair. As he donned the kimono he said he felt like an African politician, I thought a Greek Orhodox Priest, what with his long hair and all.

My next project will be a Tilda sewing one. 3 crochet kimonos are enough methinks.

Sunday Morning Treasure Hunt

 Our local Boot Fair this morning. Always entertaining even when you don't find any treasures.

Where Do You Stand On Dried Flowers?

 I'm still really enjoying the roses I picked from our garden for the Jubilee afternoon tea. They sit there so beautifully and every now and then I get a lovely scent in the air. I really must pick flowers more often.

I saw these dried flowers recently whilst in Brighton at a store called Phohm, now trending at weddings and events. I'm not sure about them, what do you think?

Platinum Trifle & Paddington Bear

 

We had a super afternoon and evening yesterday. Friends arrived at 4.15 for afternoon tea, then we watched the Party at the Palace, with another lot of  lovely nosh and drinks. The Queen with Paddington Bear brought a tear to my eye. We finally got to bed around midnight after a wonderful day. Makes me proud to be British.

Staff

 

The colour in the picture is not terribly accurate, it's a much richer and brighter blue and I'm thrilled with it. The main room and ante room look really fresh and light without being washed out and of course everything else in the rooms has been given a clean and a polish. I'm so glad I made the effort to do it.

To celebrate I ordered myself something I've wanted for years, my very own Carson the butler. So now I have staff too. 

I'm off now to start my platinum pudding for the Jubilee afternoon tea we're having for a few friends tomorrow. I hope you all have a fab weekend.