A Bit of a Change

Can you have too much floral loveliness? I doubt it but for a while my dresser has been nagging at me to change things about a bit. There are lots of tricksy things on my mind at the moment (mainly work related) and I find a bit of shifting and rearranging is the perfect de-stresser on hot, mithery, muggy days like these.

I couldn't work out why I wasn't happy with it for such a long time (no before picture oops - they went with the old laptop but you can see how it looked on my last post) and then I came around to thinking there was too much prettiness, which is a bit of a strange concept for me to grapple with.

Maybe its because I enjoy the jumble and colour of my two little boys' gubbins and paraphernalia so much and too many delicate plates and tea cups are beginning to jar with the boys place in our home?

I feel the need for bolder, brighter colours and a place to display family treasures and special finds, and maybe not always the prettiest or daintiest things. Until now these sort of bits & pieces have been scattered about the place but I hope now the jollier dresser will become a happier home for more of them.

So the dresser is still mostly mummy's territory but I hope what's on it now reflects our jumble of home a bit more and doesn't look like too styled or like one that belongs to single girl with her own pad. More books, tins, mugs and trinkets and few less delicate floral plates and the kitchen feels more the centre of a family home. (Does this all sound a bit daft? Honestly I do have more important things to think about but this week I need destractions!)

Talking of which, we spent a lovely day on Sunday in the village a few miles away where I grew up. We basked in the sun, admired mum's outstanding new herbaceous border and the Rambling Rector then strolled up to the village for the fete. Swing boats, bat the rat, church flower festival and much ice cream was all enjoyed although I did forget to take any decent pictures. It was bliss to stroll home over the fields and remember the hundreds of times I've walked that route with family, friends and now my own little brood.

Happy summer days, just the ticket.

Sitting Back

Sometimes there's nothing to do but sit back and take in the simple things around you. And this weekend was one of those. Stuck in bed with rotten tonsillitis (it feellike I've swallowed two burning golf balls - how nice!), at least I've had a chance to look through my photos and be reminded of the lovely things around me, even if I can't get out from under the duvet to see them.

So, looking back through the most recent batch of pictures these are a few favourites.

:: Wild flowers filling the bank by the school playground (aren't these the most amazing foxgloves!)



:: Bumblees bees enjoying their nectar


:: Going home from school the river way and being just in time to see the steam train chuff past undergoing repairs (two very excited boys let me tell you!)

:: Enjoying the table all cleared after tea

:: The allotment's starting to take shape at last (ignore the weeds!), you can see the beds at last and we're even growing some veg!

First crop - baby radishes, but there are broad beans, broccoli, purple sprouting, calabrese, dwarf green beans, late carrots, strawberries and raspberries, courgettes and pumpkins on the go. Think we might have a bit of a glut come August but I'm just pleased to have some space to grow. Looking forward to an autumn & winter of sorting and planning now to make sure we use all our space properly to give us a bit of something every month. Not quite the Good Life but a good try at least!

:: The first rose from the David Austin St Swithun I planted last year. The rain had started to lash down on it and I couldn't bear to see it flop so it got snipped off and popped into a jug of flowers from the garden.

Apologies too for being away a while. It's been a tough few weeks here at number 25, what with the car expiring and the laptop at the same time , there's been little or no getting about. So the bank is empty (again!) but we are back on the road and do have a very swish and lovely new laptop to play with.

Oh I really have missed keeping up with everyone but hopefully will be around to say hello in between my temperature hitting the roof and falling back under the covers for another snooze !xx

A little more of me

With credit to Lucy's lovely blog, The Little Blue Door for this idea and hope you don't mind discovering more about the scatty girl behind Curlew Country.

Me with my sisters at mum's 60th Birthday Do on New Year's Eve. Both younger than me, Rachel on the left is my best friend (taller, slimmer and always beautiful, she can have me in hysterics and luckily lives quite close by) and Susannah on the right is the youngest of we three, who now lives in Dubai (brilliant chellist, free spirit and will always be my dearest little sis).

1. What are your current obsessions? Cornwall, bevelled mirrors, midnight panics about snails ravaging our allotment and will we/won't we get a better summer this year.

2. Which outfit in your wardrobe do you wear most often? A green polka dot blouse and a much loved, patched up pair of sailor trouser jeans.

3. What's for dinner? Sandwiches from lunchtime's roast chicken, tomato and basil salad and a couple of Tunnocks tea cakes for a treat.

4. Last thing you bought? A pink diamante hairclip for a big night out in the city last night, which broke within seconds. Boots will feel my wrath tomorrow!

5. What are you listening to? The Euro election results - I know how to enjoy myself.

6. If you were a god/goddess who would you be? Now I'd love to step into Nigella's shoes if she ever vacates them but I'd be the sloppiest domestic goddess ever!

7. Favourite vacation spot? Port Isaac, Cornwall - every time.

8. Reading right now? The Burning Blue by James Holland - wonderful, terrifying but romatic novel of an WWII spitfire pilot.

9. Four words to describe yourself: Imaginitive, enthusiastic, scatty, tired!

10. Guilty pleasure? Ooooh a box of chocolate mint thins please.

11. Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak? The observations my very dry, acerbic husband makes in his newspaper column, some of the comedians at the stand-up night we run, my colleagues and Victoria Wood.

12. Favourite things to do in the summer? Picnics by the river messing about with my boys, strolling about deadheading with a cup of tea in the evening, a week by the sea in Cornwall, treating myself to cottage garden posies from the WI stall at the market.

13. Planning to travel to next? The Yorkshire Dales in the summer holidays.

14. Best thing you ate or drank lately? Delicious healthy working lunch served at a local hospice where I was running an event. Wonderful feta cheese salad and poached salmon. Been trying to recreate it at home - hmmmm, working on it.

15. When did you last get tipsy? Years ago, before children. I get the most dreaful hangovers so I'm past those days, although my colleagues were doing their best to get me to change my mind last night!

16. Favourite ever film? Before Sunrise, I adore Ethan Hawke - brilliantly romantic

17. Care to share some wisdom? Nothing earth shattering - but its definitely worth staking border perennials much earlier than you think you should - I always get caught out and my lovely flowers get pummelled flat by early summer rain.

18. Least favourite part of your day? That after-lunch slump, I think I'd suit a siesta lifestyle very well.

19. What make/model was your first car? A red Nissan Micra - I gave it away as a wreck to some mechanic students and now it looks like new but they won't give it me back. Oh I did love that car.

20. Favourite song to sing? I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire. My dad has always warbled this and I picked it up from him years ago. It's so wistful, describes me and will always bring a picture of my lovely, smiley dad to mind.

My boys and me

Well there you go. Have a super week and hope the weather perks up for everyone - we're drenched here.

This Week, I Am Mostly Enjoying ....

:: Ancient thrifted magazines with beautiful covers (1938!)

:: Chalk pictures on the patio

:: Lazy afternoons on the river bank, just footsteps from our back door, with the steam train trundling by.

:: Sweet Williams back on the greengrocer's stall. Beautiful shades of summer that last ages and ages and for just £1.20 a bunch.

:: A £5 vintage mirror and a thrifed embroidery for 50p that are brightening up the sitting room.

:: Luscious lupins blooming in the garden.

:: Falling asleep to the sound of tractors rumbling up and down the village fields, bringing in the spring silage.

A lovely sort of a week. Hope yours is too.

Glorious

How wonderful May is. When the weather plays fair it's just about my most favourite month of the year. I adore the autumn but May is so very beautiful. The hedgerows are bursting with blossom, pottering about in the garden without a coat really is possible, there are two Bank Holidays, Springwatch is back and its our wedding anniversary (7 years today - not bad!)

Funds are a little too tight to splash out on celebrating and really all we wanted was a chance to chat with each other. So, on Saturday night (thanks to the grandparents), we went for the most wonderful twilight walk along the lovely Caldon Canal that slips through our village.

Gosh what a peaceful evening we had. I think we passed two other walkers but mostly we had cows, sheep, herons, tawny owls, some tench or perch popping up to eat the midges and lots and lots of swallows and house martins for company.

We strolled along, chatting and exploring and stopped at a smashing little pub we know for some refreshment. I'm still thinking about it now; amazing how good a few miles of gentle water, gazing at bluebells, cow parsley and hawthorn blossom frothing along the banks, and the time to really talk can make you feel. We got home just after dark, very relaxed and remembering what it really is that makes us not such a bad pair together.

Saturday here was superb. One of those blissful days when there sky is the brightest blue and not a cloud to be seen. As usual we popped along here and the display was simply amazing. We did all the traditional fete activities (bumped heads on the dodgems, ate drippy ice lollies and watched the Maypole and Morris dancing, you know the sort of thing.)


Today the cloud crept back in and thunder rumbled far away down the valley. Our lovely friends who live hundreds of miles away, called by en route back south and we had a fun afternoon catching up together and scoffing. The rain brought the birds and their voices out later on. As the light dropped they grew louder and louder and the May blossom glowed along the hedgerows.

This is the view from our bedroom, I think it was blanketed in snow last time I showed it. Now the valley is the greenest green, speckled with yellow buttercups and tiny white daisies. It takes your breath away. Glorious May.

Dragging my feet

Oooh coming back from a lovely holiday can be a bit tricky can't it? Work has been a bit overwhelming frankly and mixed with too much washing than is really reasonable for an average family, a grimy house and a garden having riot; well it's all a bit much to be honest!

So nothing for it but to indulge the thrifting instinct and spend a few quid on some old tat which is absolutely guaranteed to cheer me up.

Luckily there's a twice weekly flea market in the town where I work, almost outside the office door. For some reason I can't quite fathom, I didn't discover it until a few weeks ago (and its huge!), I think I thought it was just your usual dish cloths, fruit & veg and ready made curtains sort of market and I shop in a charming little version of this in our local town on a Wednesday, so I'd breezed past the work one on tons of occasions.

What a mistake, I daren't think what I've missed so far, but already I've brought home some fantastic vintage finds including one that scored me "best mummy ever" prize - only a complete Tracy Island with all the rockets for £6. Honestly my little chaps eyes almost popped out on stalks.

Anyway these are my best finds lately:

• £5 for a vintage cut-flower basket - the last one of these I saw was £30, this'll be just the thing for bringing home the blooms from the allotment (if the slugs don't get them all!).



• £1 tins - the flowery one is a new home for my seed packets and the first aid tin has made me sort out our shambolic bathroom cabinet into a sort of useful order (how long will that last?)
  
• Vintage watercolour - a bit more than I'd usually spend but this lovely picture reminds me of our holiday so much.
  

  
• £4 job lot of spotty crockery - bargain Tesco seconds, just a couple of the spots are wobbly. There's tons of it, even more in the dishwasher!

Aaaah, that's better. And I'm almost getting over the housework mountain too. Fridge cleaned, windows cleaned, lots of wet washing draped about the house (its still raining can you believe it) and there are some delicious looking plants outside my back door waiting to fill the new front garden border.

After all that graft, I think I need another holiday. Hurrah for Bank Holidays!

Home Again

Well we're back in the Moorlands but our shoes are still full of Cornish sand and our hearts and minds are still wandering the cliff top paths and the perfect beaches we discovered last week. We had the best, best week full of everything we'd been hoping for and we only got rained on once!

Now I really could ramble on forever about our week of pottering around Lostwithiel and popping down the charming Fowey, Polruan, Mevagissey, Polperro, Charlestown and Looe on the south coast and up to Rock, Padstow and our very favourite place in the entire world, Port Isaac, on the north, but instead I'll let the pictures do the talking I think. But be warned, there are oodles of them!

So there were:

:: Windy cliff tops, breathtaking views and blue, blue seas and sky on some days.

:: Plenty of staring out to sea, messing about in rockpools and discovering creatures of the deep (well a deep rockpool at least - a cushion starfish)

:: Lots of lovely, lovely cottages; I could just imagine myself curled up inside with a book by a fire, listening to the sea crashing in. (This first one has been in lots of magazines, I think its the holiday home of the designer Jan Constantine). And isn't this row of little houses in Fowey beautiful, just the colour of Neapolitan ice-cream!

:: Some very seasidey door-knockers



:: The wildflowers were astounding; thrift, red campion, bluebells, dead nettle, cow parsley, Valerian and gorse just everywhere. I loved this little nautical garden and the colours and textures of the pebbly beach next door to it.

:: Fishing boats galore, bringing in the prawns and crabs for the delicious sandwiches we treated ourselves to for lunch on Friday. And I've wanted to go mackerel fishing since I was a little girl but we didn't get around to it - oh well, just have to go back again soon!







:: And we got a bit creative on the beach too.


It was the very best of holidays, just like the ones Woody and I had when we were small and our boys had so much fun. Its lovely to be home but even better to be back with special memories to last for ever.

Looking forward to catching up with everyone soon. Xxx