Candlelight thoughts.

The end of a long day, feeling lucky to be home safe and sound.

Orchid

My new orchid.

Piggly Wiggly plantpot.

Aw how cute is he? Oink, oink....

Spring garden.

I love this time of year...everything looks so new and fresh and unspoilt by the weather..the newly unfurling leaves everywhere are vibrant green..so much bird activity, some of the nests we've seen today are enormous..Rooks I think or Crows..way high up in the Sycamore trees. The Winter arrived so early and seemed endless so these early plants are such a welcome sight.

Early Spring.

Merrily making their own way

darting through the dusky air-

a flock of starlings

home to roost from the

starry sky.

Outside hear the hooting owl

as he searches

for his supper.

Buds and odours-

Spring draws ever closer.... 

Scillas.

Drumstick Primulas on their way up.

Hellebore...it's gone mad this year, must like where it lives by the wall.

Fancy Muscari.

White SnakeHead Fritillary.

Miniature daffodils.

Violas.

Muscari.

Buds on the Morello Cherry tree..my son arrived with the cherry blossom..it's nearly his birthday again, he'll be 6 this time.

Perfume

Ooh I found a company online that decant unusual perfumes so you can purchase a more purse-friendly sized bottle than committing to a full-sized one. I tried some Dulcis in Fundo by Profumum a little while ago and decided I really like it..it's a very grown up fragrance smelling of Mexican Vanilla and Orange cream....a very beautiful perfume, the kind you imagine a beautiful, sophisticated woman wearing...well I ain't that but I guess for the occasional evening I think to surround yourself in this luxurious scent is rather a treat. I also ordered a sample of Acqua Di Sale by the same company...the smell of the sea hits you immediately...the only way to smell more like the sea would be to have a bucket of the sea itself doused all over you! Anyway I love it too..you can almost hear the seagulls and the white noise of the waves..a grain of salt and you're there..stood on deck.

Great service by the supplier too..all came packaged carefully with tiny sweeties as a gift..I'll definitely use them again. www.theperfumedcourt.com

Sunset

A beautiful sunset this evening....what a wonderful Spring day it's been.

Whitby road trip.

We drove over to the East coast of North Yorkshire on Sunday, a glorious day early spring sunshine but a biting wind so don't get too excited just yet! Although some brave souls were paddling in the North Sea..grinning and bearing it, just. This is the view of Whitby Abbey from the opposite cliff near the whale bone gateway, the red roofed cottages look so cute.

Keeping a lookout..loads of seagulls waiting for a tasty treat.

Pleasure trip yacht....there and back for £3 apparently.

Lighthouse and harbour pier.

Beautiful pebbles..we didn't find any fossils this time or witch stones unfortunately.

Bladderwrack seaweed....first discovered source of Iodine in 1811.

Pretty aqua pebble? No.... it's weathered and sea worn glass. Such a find inspired me to write this poem last summer.

Precious.

A turquoise pebble

washed up on a desolate shore;

something different caught my

eye among the taupe and grey.

Its translucent, glowing heart

resonating with mine.

Sea water swirls around 

and reveals it’s just a nugget

of shingle-worn glass.

But I treasure it all the same.

Crab

Nesting gull....so lovely to see all the pairs of gulls.

The tide came in and washed all the sand-castles away.

Whisper the donkey.

View of the harbour from halfway up the steps to St Mary's church..205 steps, we counted.

Someone's memorial, a beautiful silk rose tied to the perimeter fence of such a bleak and high up churchyard.

Such an atmospheric place with the ruined abbey in the background... inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula....mwahahahahahaha!

Racing down the steps...there are resting places for the coffin bearers.

Traditional seaside tea-time fare, deep fried battered cod and chips...yes.. they were delicious!

When the boat comes in...watching the flock of seagulls with their eyes on the catch of the day.

Offloading the boxes of fish and crabs.

The crabs were still moving...

We always have to finish off the day at the arcade...shovelling coins into machines...this grabber was not very grabby!

Aw....

The 2p machine!

Vintage teacups.

I bought these today in Hebden Bridge, I've been on the lookout for months for vintage china teacups that I can use in a mix and mismatch fashion...how gorgeous are they?! My friend has promised to make beautiful cupcakes for when I have an afternoon soiree! (whenever that will be?!)

Jamaican Water Crackers.

What we're nibbling this week...

They're much thicker and chunkier than Carr's Table Water Biscuits...quite a different taste..plain, salty, satisfying...go very well with a cup of hot milk for a quick supper..think they'd be nice with soup.

An Alice in Wonderland for 2011

Freefall down the rabbit hole, well Underground on an escalator..much the same, a warren of tunnels... wonder if rabbits' tunnels have sign posts? So I emerge from the frozen, familiar Northern homeland into the uncanny March warmth of suburban city streets...people mad as March hares wandering around in next to nothing....shirtsleeves! N'er cast a clout till May be out and all that..no wonder the Southerners are thought of as softies oop North where the masses are still shivering beneath layers of clothing.

A Madhatter's party?

So my invitation to an ultra chic madhatter's party; waiters whisk chairs and jackets like magicians and fold napkins into a blur of sculptural, origami shapes before my eyes...the food guards stand to attention holding gigantic silver trays laden with miniature, culinery temptations. The Queen of Suburbia pauses from throwing stones at the palace of glass; her jam tarts are speared awaiting inspection..croquet balls filled with squid ink and spicy prawn mallets. In a land where you're too big for the porcelain throne one minute and too small the next..the roses are still red and white but there are no flamingoes, just swans in a sea of green...the suited knights carry colours of the City under their arms. And it's not off with your head, it's have you got your visa? Oh sushi-maker hiding from the blues-and-twos. 

There he sits grinning, the Cheshire fat cat , comfortable knowing his broad beans are safely invested while Tweedle Dee pours Rice Krispies for his brother Tweedle Dumb...you've got to admire that hair though. Smiling through a carriage window I'll smile, you wave and an ocean of understanding passes between us in a flash.

Enormous red lips kept way up high on a shelf in a world where even what you breathe is measured and monitored and changed to match the season.

Eat Me...Drink Me...Do Not Breathe Me for fear of hallucinatory effects. Sit down, way down on an orange leather banquette..move along, all change to black leather throne...dine on edible gilt..feel the guilt? Exploding shards melt in the mouth cos nothing is real. My white charger is just that...plugged directly into the mainline. He couldn't remember how it tasted only that there were hundreds and thousands and the percentage of each racked up on a spreadsheet....a feast for the eyes.