A little midsummer madness ...

My life is like a Peter Greenaway film these days.. I mean fancy finding yourself in a field at 7.30 a.m in the morning surrounded by acres of lurid plastic including a singing frog and a full set of prosthetic limbs. You may well be thinking that the recent heatwave has gone to my head.. and I suppose it is partly to blame for the surreal quality of my waking day. I am not good with heat and much like my tabby boy, I tend to flop when the mercury rises and wonder why I wasn't born in a land that embraces siestas...

This morning.. like every other morning this week.. wide eyed and sleepless at 5.a.m.. so tiptoe down to the lower deck and sit in the first rays of the day to eat my muesli in the garden listening to a bird that has puzzled me for some weeks.. He comes and goes.. or she comes and goes... but when said bird returns.. it sings.. no.. whistles so loudly and vibrantly.. I have yet to learn which bird it is but am determined to identify this exuberant and vociferous visitor..

This morning.. I was also visited.. a little too closely for my comfort, as I was sitting in CK nightie in garden feeling very exposed, when this hot air balloon wafted over my head..a common sight here in the summer mornings and evenings, which never fails to thrill. All the dogs in the neighbourhood start barking when these galleons of the sky float over our houses. It always makes me think of the book by Dodie Smith.. Twilight Barking.
Anyhoo.. after wading through limbs and plastic in a field above Bath city this morning.. I took my newly purchased psychedelic plastic bowl and found a field heavy with Elderflower trees and picked enough of the fragrant frothy heads.. to make Hugh Fearnley Whittingstalls delicious Elderflower champagne.. a very fine and a very explosive brew and so easy to make...

More than the 100's of meringues I will attempt to bake this week for the first Vintage & Handmade Textile Fair next Saturday.. Making meringues is childs play really.. but I always find it fraught with unforced errors.. like separating the whites from the yolks for starters, then there is the whipping of the egg whites to get them really stiff so one can hold the bowl over the head without them falling out of bowl onto head.. lastly there is the removal of cooked meringues from the baking tray. My last batch of meringues.. made with brown sugar.. lovely and chewy inside.. were a devil to get off the baking trays, despite being lined carefully with baking parchment....

These intended meringues might end up as Eton Mess .. just as delicious even if they are squished.

Thank you Emma from Silver Pebble for identifying my birdy friend.. it is indeed the Song Thrush a bird with a big voice! Click on link to hear this melodic bird.

Monday evening...
It is 9.50 p.m and my visiting Song Thrush is sitting in a tree at the bottom of the garden.. giving it his all.. Just lovely!

Mon Pere ...

January 1919 - July 2005

Happy Father's Day Pa...
Hope you are still pottering around your beautiful garden, making your excellent crab apple jelly and watching Morecambe and Wise up there on your cloud..

Happy Father's Day to all Pa's everywhere ...

There's a kind of hush...

All over the town tonight...
I wonder why...?
Could it be something to do with this?



Good Luck England..( though I think it might take a wee bit more than luck this time..i.e. Skill)
Please win because if you don't I will have to pledge my allegiance to Wimbledon instead.

Let's go to the Hop ....

Sunday and the day started quietly with an early morning breakfast amongst the dew laden flowers in the garden.. listening to the world waking up .. some of it at least.. as all the neighbouring houses still had tightly closed curtains.. some still hanging on to sleep.
I was getting restless... the adrenalin was beginning to kick in and by 10.a.m we were piling my usual array of 'vintage tat' into the boot of the car and making a short journey to Green Park Station in Bath to take up position at the vintage market .. part of the Bath Festival Fringe events.
Sitting at the traffic lights in town .. my thoughts turned to Jayne and whether she and Clare would find their way to the unfamiliar territory of Sainsbury's car park.. adjacent to Green Park Station. No sooner thought.. than Mr Custard pointed out that the car behind us was in fact.. Jayne's ... so we arrived in convoy! Clare had cleverly nabbed three market stalls together so in unison we set up our array of vintage merchandise and sat back and waited... and waited ....

The Three Amigos

It seemed to be rather a long wait before a slow trickle of people just happened to walk past our stalls en route to their Sunday shop at Sainsburys. Some folk were not so blinkered and turned their attention towards our displays.. some even bold enough to come over and take a closer look..

My collection reflected in the vintage clothes stall's mirror

Some were even bolder still and took a step further and bought a few items !! It did somewhat amuse me that every time I left my stall to take a look at the Lindy Hop dancers that were taking place at the other end of the market, I would return to find a small cluster of people around my table..


The British seem to have such inhibitions at times and my presence behind the stall was enough to scare off a most timid folk...

Clare's beautiful hats attracted a lot of interest

The music and dance was the silver lining to an otherwise long and tiring day .. and the friendly chat with my lovely neighbours Jayne and Clare.. and Jayne's daughter and man friend helped enormously to pass the time.
I think I will put this one down to experience, as it could have been so much better had the event been publicised more effectively as most of my visitors just happened to stumble across it..

Jayne's fine display

However, the music was infectious and I found myself swaying and gyrating to the strains of 40's melodies and standing on tiptoe to try and get more of a glance at the wonderful dancers.. some dressed in their finest vintage clothing... How I wished I had dressed more appropriately and worn something to fit the mood...



I found this couple fascinating.. and they turned out to be the finest dancers.. most agile and light of foot ..twisting and turning, swaying and twirling with such ease and style.. Sadly I did not get a photo of them dancing....

Others were just as graceful and agile and were obviously seasoned pros on the dance floor...
I felt mildly envious of their dancing prowess and made some vague promise to myself to try and learn a few dance steps so I might join in one day...

Just need a little bit of practice first... no.. make that a lot !!