Cool Britannia

I've had a few days when I've had the time to sew again.....lovely!!!

Cool Britannia Vintage Union Jack Cushions available on Ebay or at Miss Magpies Nest , Vintage Magpie in The Old Needlemakers , Lewes.

I have got the sewing bug again..so watch out there will be more!!

Trip away

As a child I lived near Newbury and as most girls was mad about horses!! Every weekend you would find me up at the riding school helping muck out, clean tack,groom the ponies and generally get in the way until it was time for MY hours hack.

....then and I'm showing my age here!!.... Newbury was a market town and I rode my bike to the stables about a mile out of town....

now it is very much in town and has a Nissan Garage where it was..progress... however I digress....

We used to hack around the American Airbase...I remember the high wire fences..masses of barbed wire....
It was situated on The Commom and it didn't take long to get past the wire and out onto heath land and beech woods....as my riding got better us experienced riders where allowed to hold our horses back while the 'novices ' gently rode on....
I remember vividly the feeling of reining in the horse...whirling in circles with the anticipation of the race that was coming...and boy did they know what was coming!!.....waiting for the signal from the leader in the distance and then we would all gallop for our lives....the horses racing....the adrenaline pumping until we caught the others up....what freedom that feeling gave....

My walk this week on the now restored Greenham Common brought back those memories...
The now famous runway that was making Newbury a sitting target for a nuclear attack in the 60's has been dug up and is now a lovely country common with masses of wildlife and plants...ponds and walkways........however there are still the remnants of its previous life...the signs...the bunkers..and its many fences a reminder of its past..

But now it has a calming beauty as well......

..early morning mist...it's going to be a beautiful day...


lots of grazing livestock who are so laid back they just don't care!!!

If only I had a horse again to relive that feeling of exhilaration and freedom...

Why?

Why oh why do I insist on having white furnishings with a black dog in the house??!!

See muddy paws prints on pillow!!! It don't matter how much you rub that dog down he always has grubbiness following!!!

Tree of time

This tree must be a few hundred years old...what has it felt in that time......blazing sun, fierce cold , gales and rain.....

..the seasons changing year in year out.....thousands of birds resting on its branches....insects finding homes in its bark...its burst of growth...

..the decline of decay...

..gnarled and lacy with age....

... here it stands to welcome another spring still standing.

Bluebell Walk

The Bluebell means Constancy in the Language of flowers..

A filbert hedge with wild briar over twined,

And clumps of woodbine taking the soft wind

Upon their summer thrones; there too should be

the frequent chequer of a youngling tree,

That with a score of light green brethren shoots

from the quaint mossiness of aged roots:

Round which is heard a spring-head of waters

Babbling so wildly of its lovely daughters

The spreading blue-bells: it may haply mourn

that such fair clusters should be rudely torn

From their fresh beds and scattered thoughtlessly

By infant hands, left on the path to die.

John Keats 1795-1821

A New Day....

The morning hushed..a new day dawns......

the sun shining brightly behind a curtain of dew......

the promise of a glorious day....

A Visitor Arrives Today

I don't go to Church very often although I was brought up to go.....but I do think of myself as fairly spiritual person..this morning ..Easter Morning before I had to go out..I thought I'll see if there is a service on TV.....on all the channels the only live thing I could find was on the GOD Channel.!!! a first for me!!!....but I have to say it was quite moving.....and I asked for a sign although I thought that was a bit selfish to ask for something on this day!!

I am a great believer in signs...if I ask for a sign that everything is going to be OK hopefully I'll get it...

Once last year after I had made a big decision about my life, I asked to see a deer in the wood I was walking the dogs in , although it wouldn't have been unusual to see one there..I didn't and was slightly disappointed...however about two hours later on a industrial estate where it was unlikely that you would see much wildlife.. there was a beautiful fallow deer standing in the car park about ten meters from where I was watching..and The Lodger was barking at it but it didn't move for quite a while.....make of it what you will.

Today I spent Easter Day on my own and had a lovely mooch about at an antiques fair, as I was walking out of the showground I heard a chattering above me and there on the telegraph wire was a swallow...the outrider...the first sign that summer is on its way.....all my life a swift or swallow has been a good sign in my life....a constant joy...a lift of the heart...a confidence booster...some may say it's just a bird but to me it was a gift from God...

Happy Easter!

My lovely Mum & Dad came for lunch today......my spring table setting .....and even the salmon and asparagus we ate was co-ordinated...more luck than design!!

Lily of the Valley dug from Miss Nancy's garden.. still in tight bud but showing promise of the perfume to come...

Quails eggs and swans down .......heaven..

Pretty violas..

Have a peaceful and happy Easter...

Miss Magpie in print!!

Miss Magpie has one of her fab-u-lous vintage crystal bouquets featured in the May/June issue of 'You and Your Wedding'

Click onto her website is you want to see more lovelinessWow indeed!!!

If only...

I'm aspiring to this for my garden.....



Planting seeds with hope in my heart.....

....although my gardening outfit is some what less glamorous than this!!!

Memories

Today was filled with many memories....I went to visit Miss Magpie ....she is opening a litttle workshop filled with her divine creations this weekend...so I went for a sneak preview!!!

It is filled with her fabulous vintage wedding bouquets.....corsages....sparkles and ribbons...bedecked with bunting and vintage Easter treats.....on Saturday there are cup cakes!!

To find out more visit her blog here or go along to the Old Needlemakers in Lewes, Sussex and say hello!!

Many, many years ago I too had a unit here with a friend, how lovely for this to come around again.....

and walking into another unit I met someone I hadn't seen for at least twelve years...like the title says..memories......

After a lovely lunch with Miss Magpie and The Darling Girl it was out to walk two fed up dogs who had spent the morning in the car.....a walk down memory lane on the common that the Joker used to frolic on as a puppy.....his old bones didn't walk so far today but he's ok...

'here Lodger whats this??.....

Lots of good sniffs to be had!!

and unbelievable blue skies and stunningly vibrant gorse flowers.

Sometimes you go back and wonder why you moved on...life is strange..