Happy Easter

 As it is actually Easter now I thought it was about time I took down my Christmas door wreath. I usually buy it from my local Chatsworth farm shop, and honestly it stays good until at least March. Keeping the porch lightly scented. In the past I have simply recycled the greenery and thrown the rest away. This year I have been a super scrimper and took the time to deconstrust it.

So the tiny pine pieces were put into the compost, the larger twigs and pine cones have gone as fire starters for our log burner and the rest has been put away for me to make my own Christmas wreath in December.

In its place is a very pretty Easter wreath that I bought a few years ago.

Happy Easter to all of you my blogging chums. I leave you with two little Easter gems.

Little Scandi witch from 'Scandinavian Kitchen' Newsletter.

Moomin Easter, Tove Jansson.

How To Fika Like A Swede.

 

A friend of mine shared this little film on Facebook and it was so joyful I wanted to share it with you, my blogging chums. It is worth watching to the end. A reminder that taking time to share a cuppa and a decent bit of cake with a friend, is time well spent. We could (should) learn a lot from the Swedes.

Their coffee houses are so charming too. I wish I had a local meeting place like this one.

The Thrifty Plague House

 Hello chicks, how is everyone doing? 

The Mr and I have at last succumbed to the dreaded Covid. We're now on day 9 of isolating indoors. Now I'm not going to moan about it, because although we both feel a bit unwell it really has not made us feel terrible, which I'm thankful for. 

The Mr picked it up at his 'very blokey' gym, where men wander around coughing but don't cover their mouths, not macho? Anywho, as soon as he felt unwell we more or less split the house in two, but to no avail I still caught it.

On the plus side, it means my trip to Sussex in May with a girlfriend should be safe now, as she also caught the dreaded a couple of weeks ago. 

And a very nice man brought me a goodly delivery of provisions this morning, so we won't be going without. It's the first time I've used online grocery shopping and I got a generous £15 off the shop. Also, said store (Sainsbury's) have their good value deal of buy 6 bottles of wine and get 25% off. Which I happily spied flagged up on the website.

In recent months I have discovered Cremant as a fine and dandy Champagne alternative. 'The Taste The Difference' Cremant De La Loire at Sainsbury's is a very nice drop, still at £12 a bottle not cheap. I noticed it was on special offer reduced to £10.50 and of course with the 25% off on top, it comes down to a very reasonable price for a good glass of bubbles. You heard it here first. Just for the record I bought 4 bottles of Cremant and 2 Rose.

With the extra home time I have been busy freshening up some of our spaces. Fortunately I bought the chalk paint I used a few weeks back. 

Our shower room stand, which is in fact an Edwardian sideboard was last painted when we moved in 5 years ago. It has lasted well, but was starting to look a bit tired. I originally painted it in an old white chalk paint. But decided I fancied a very soft pink, Antoinette is the colour and it matches our pinkish marble hand basin very well.

I was super pleased with the colour so decided to paint my desk in my office/craft room too. It looked so nice it encouraged me to have a big spring clean in there, and it is wonderfully sparkly now. At the same time I sorted through a lot of stuff, surplus to requirement which I will now sell at our local boot fair. This should gift me some additional funds for my May trip.

I'll leave you with this gorgeous piece of embroidery, so pretty and a little bit of joy.

St. Lawrence's Church Snarford Lincolnshire

 

I stumbled across this image a few days ago and it really sparked my interest. The casual way they are depicted pleased me greatly, not really dead but rather just resting for a moment from a busy 16th century day.

He, Sir George St Paul, depicted in full armour and she, his wife Frances in a black farthingale (such a great word) and white ruff.

Directly underneath them is a small figure of a girl, Mattathia their only child, born after twelve years of marriage and sadly dead before she was two. What sorrow they must have felt.

The small medieval church where they rest is tucked away in the Lincolnshire countryside with not much around it at all. It is believed a Viking settlement was here and it had a thriving village in the 16th century. The building itself was started in the 12th century and the nave has been dated to the 13th century. This depth of history just blows me away. Currently it is classed as a redundant church, but is grade 1 listed and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Thank goodness. 

It is a little gem that I will be visiting.

Costume As Art

 A few years ago I obtained a very old, linen covered French mannequin. Ever since I have desired to find a pretty 18th century dress to display on it. Something like this.

It is not an easy thing to find. Something authentic with the right look, in good condition and within budget. I will keep looking. In the meantime, I thought it might be a good idea to have something a bit more modern to put on the mannequin, as it has been bare for about ten years. Edwardian would be great as it would fit the age of our house. But alas I still couldn't find anything that caught my eye. 

Then I found a rather lovely early Laura Ashley prairie dress, made in Wales. The design of course is based on Edwardian costume. 

I remember buying something very similar in the early 1970s from her first shop in London. And as I also worked for Laura Ashley for a number of years, I felt this dress was a good fit. (Forgive the pun). 

It gives me great pleasure every time I pass it, especially as it has stopped scaring me after dark. I will keep searching for my 18th century dress, you never know, the harder you try the luckier you get.