Wednesday 11 December 2013

Evenings and mornings...


We've been having some beautiful sunsets, but no shepherd's delight in the mornings - it's all grey and damp round here at the moment, with mist magically swallowing up everything beyond the garden walls.


I took the first image at 11pm on Monday night, and Mr Drookit took the second one this morning at around 6:15am.


Left the house yesterday and found everything festooned once more with dewy spiderwebs. I know they must be there all the time, but it always seems as if the spiders have made a special effort to take advantage of the effects of the weather.




























































































































































    

There's still colour to be found, out and about - and it's interesting seeing this tree (right) from yesterday, as I don't even remember there being a blue sky...


And the log store was filled up! There's already a substantial dent in it, so we'll see how long it lasts...

Friday 6 December 2013

Brrrrrrrrr...

It's really starting to get chilly around here, although we're fortunate not to have suffered the storms and flooding of other parts of the country. My niece has been here for the week (she's off to London for the weekend, and is back again next week) so we've all been hunkering down in front of the wood-burner in the evenings, only venturing out of the front room if absolutely necessary! She's studying for exams, but we took yesterday off to head into Lavenham for a wander, and lunch.


We went to Munnings tea room in the Crooked House, same place we took some friends last time. Carrot and orange soup, enormous warm cheese scones, cheese and chutney on the side... Delicious.

Not the Crooked House, just one of several others...


The sun came out just as we arrived, so we ambled around quite happily, and I tried to sound knowledgeable while trying to remember anything we'd been told when Mr Drookit and I took a guided tour of the village a year or so ago.


We even wandered past the house where Harry Potter was born (well, in the films!) which I didn't realise until I got home and checked!
Harry Potter's 'birthplace'. No, really!
The famous Suffolk Pink looks as if it might be usurped by this beautiful orange/yellow wash (also featured on the Little Hall in the top picture).


Waiting for the bus to go home, with 10 minutes to spare, a chum stopped and offered us a lift, so we ended up being home five minutes after the bus would only just have left the bus stop. A little bit of Hogwarts wizardry must've rubbed off on us - excellent!

Sunday 1 December 2013

December already...

Time just seems to be flying past at the moment, and with the promise of 'stuff that must be done' looming (buying, tidying, making, etc) it feels as if the clocks are speeding up even more... Outside, the leaves are still looking gorgeous but the berries are starting to take over as the 'colour interest'.


Indoors, we still have pumpkins dotted around the house, waiting patiently for me to either get on and paint them or just put them out of their misery.


Off to St Peter's the other day for another vintage fair organised by Juniper Flowers, and then to my favourite shop in town, AG Lifestyle, which I'd happily move into.


AG Lifestyle is just across from Waitrose, and five minutes stroll to the train station, so it would make an ideal home... but for the lack of a bed, and pesky customers trying to buy everything when you're trying to have a quiet cup of tea and a custard cream.


I received this postcard from my sister-in-law and niece, from an exhibition of Frida Kahlo's work at the Musée d'Orsay. Beautiful painting - I like the stylisation of Kahlo's work very much and this painting demonstrates that particularly well. Inspiring. My lovely niece is coming to stay tomorrow, so I will make sure she tells me every detail of the exhibition!

 

Okay doke, off to start a veggie stew/soup/something or other, with all the lovely veg* bought at the farmers' market the other day, before Mr Drookit gets home from his bike ride.


*Romanesco cauliflower looked particularly lovely - not sure yet what to do with it, but I'm sure it will be interesting!

Friday 22 November 2013

Autumn leaves... and a mystery...

Starting with the mystery, ma belle-soeur has received a book in the post, bought on line, (and apparently paid for by her!) and she has no idea where, or who, it has come from...! It's called Lucia Victrix by E F Benson, a character who featured in a tv programme called Mapp and Lucia (tho' I never saw it). So, we're terribly intrigued as to who might have sent it to her!


Before the wild winds of winter set in to whisk them away, the leaves are still clinging on in all their autumnal glory. I think I might be a bit bored with my hair, as I keep looking at the colours and thinking, 'Oooh, that might be good!' With my hair, I definitely won't go for purple - like a certain someone I know! (Helen!)

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Storm damage...


It was a beautiful crisp, clear day on Sunday - cold enough for hat and gloves for the first time this Autumn - so we had a walk across the water meadows and saw the beginnings of the clear up of fallen and damaged trees.


Given what's just happened in the Philippines,  it seems a bit pathetic to talk about the, relatively, very minor damage around here after the storm the other week. Nevertheless, it's always sad to see majestic old trees uprooted and toppled.



Trees (presumably damaged, or leaning precariously) have been cut and laid across the river, to keep the path clear.

We stopped for lunch, and then headed home through town - the colours singing against the bright blue sky.
 

We've seen these little mosaics loads of times, all along someone's garden wall, but never photographed them. They always make me smile when I see them - made up of little bits of this and that - the curved edges of dishes, bottle tops, pebbles and so on!





Dennis the Menace...

Popped in to see Barrie's exhibition of his drawings for the Beano - and some new ones he's done of the town, filled with Beano style characters. I'd say the whole exhibition was just dandy, but he might biff me for that! He's a lovely, quiet bloke, but behind that mild exterior...

Monday 11 November 2013

Victoria, and Albert...

The Victoria and Albert museum in London is possibly my favourite museum. It has such a diverse and extensive collection of all sorts of things, from ceramics to carpets, diamonds to dresses. There is a field nearby and, if I could, I'd love to transport the whole place here, just for my enjoyment. Too greedy?


On Friday I headed into London to meet up with my niece - just back from the Himalayas, where she has been volunteering as a doctor (so pleased for her - she had a wonderful time!) and to see the Masterpieces of Chinese Painting exhibition at the V&A. We ended up spending the whole afternoon there, beginning with lunch with a friend, and then afternoon tea, and then more tea later in the Friends' room - well, we had a lot of catching up to do.


The Chinese exhibition was a little disappointing - the figures so stylized that they became a bit repetitive. Once in a while, however, there would be something amusing, or exceptionally beautiful. There was a long scroll depicting Nine Dragons, which looked like a storyboard for a Pixar film - the dragons sending mischievous (to my eyes) sideways glances as they flew around (the link for the exhibition has a lovely animation of dragons, if you click on the main banner at the top). Another silk scroll of Prosperous Suzhou, which showed a whole town in minute and exquisite detail, and that took the artists three years to complete, really needed hours of scrutiny through a magnifying glass to admire the rigging on the boats, the buildings, the hundreds of people, or the millimetre high birds and animals. Just beautiful...

Later, after more tea, we headed off to see the Club to Catwalk exhibition, of clothes from the 1980s. Of course, as a new art school graduate back then, and living in London, this is exactly how I looked... Uh. Not.


Of course we had a few folk around that made the effort, but with not much money, and not having a lycra body, I'm afraid it was jeans, tee shirts, and baggy checked shirts all the way for me...


There are a few items of clothing that I wish I'd held on to, tho', like the bright blue jumpsuit, and the pink, over-sized, Boy George-style cotton coat. Not to wear them, but as relics of a bygone age - and I know a few young things who might have enjoyed trying them on!

The art school fashion shows (straddling the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s) were always fun - I particularly remember a dress made entirely of looped rubber bands, for instance. The best dress ever, tho', was one based on this style of dress from the mid-18thC, but with extraordinarily wide panniers.


The model slowly sidled on (for what seemed an age) until the dress filled the entire width of the stage. No hope of turning, or advancing down the catwalk - all she could do was take a bow (to uproarious applause) and then sidle off again. Brilliant. Hysterical!

A lovely day, with a lovely niece. Great fun. Thank you! xx