So, I've given 'Notes from the Underground' to my bedstand to look after, so my handbag now nurtures Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
Generally, I've found Anna Karenina a thoroughly enjoyable read, although that was until she met Vronsky, I know exactly how she felt in that moment, I've felt it many a time and it blows your mind and makes you question everything. and I mean everything....therefore I can completely sympathise with her situation but also, I have a sensible side that wouldn't risk what I have to lose for a one off, but I guess the point is that she has very little too lose, as far as she is concerned...
I'm currently 200 pages in and shall report back once I'm nearing the end, but so good, so far. Minus the day I lost to Tolstoy describing Levin's farm for 3 chapters...
Friday, February 08, 2013
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
My Year of Books: Notes from the Underground
I've started to read Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, it is basically a novel about someone who has been isolated from humanity for an extended period of time.
I really like Dostoyevsky's style of writing, but after 2 weeks of reading this particular piece on the tube, it's difficult; the writings are rambled, confusing and long. I've chosen for this to be my bed reading, as it is a little too complex for a 10-15 minute trip along a busy track.
I feel about this book, as I did about 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Gael Marquez, it's a beautiful book but needs care and consideration when reading. They both almost need reflection time, to ponder of the greater message...these are not books for public transport, they are books for tranquil holidays of reflection...
I really like Dostoyevsky's style of writing, but after 2 weeks of reading this particular piece on the tube, it's difficult; the writings are rambled, confusing and long. I've chosen for this to be my bed reading, as it is a little too complex for a 10-15 minute trip along a busy track.
I feel about this book, as I did about 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Gael Marquez, it's a beautiful book but needs care and consideration when reading. They both almost need reflection time, to ponder of the greater message...these are not books for public transport, they are books for tranquil holidays of reflection...
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
My year of Books: Of Mice and Men
Right, so mid last week, I finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, if only someone had told me how sad it was going to get.
Firstly, you can instantly tell why it's a modern classic, it's so well written and hits home emotionally instantly, as soon as I started reading it, I cared for Lenny and George, I wanted George to do all he could for Lenny; and to me, he did.
After meeting Candy, I could feel that he and George would have an affiliation; and after meeting Curley's Wife, I knew she was up to no good. I've met so many females like her, they can't see the harm they do due to their boredom. Oh, how mad I got reading about Curley's Wife, she isn't a girl's girl, that's for sure...
Ensuring I give nothing away, if someone had told me that I would end the book sobbing into the pages, my heart emptying with every tear that hit the page, I don't know if I would have read it. It was heartbreakingly beautiful. So incredibly beautiful, that I've recommended it to my mother, who has read everything twice...just to ensure that she has definitely read it.
This is the kind of book that leave an impression, the kind of amazing book that takes hardly any words to describe, it's all about the passion within 5 words: You have to read this book.
Firstly, you can instantly tell why it's a modern classic, it's so well written and hits home emotionally instantly, as soon as I started reading it, I cared for Lenny and George, I wanted George to do all he could for Lenny; and to me, he did.
After meeting Candy, I could feel that he and George would have an affiliation; and after meeting Curley's Wife, I knew she was up to no good. I've met so many females like her, they can't see the harm they do due to their boredom. Oh, how mad I got reading about Curley's Wife, she isn't a girl's girl, that's for sure...
Ensuring I give nothing away, if someone had told me that I would end the book sobbing into the pages, my heart emptying with every tear that hit the page, I don't know if I would have read it. It was heartbreakingly beautiful. So incredibly beautiful, that I've recommended it to my mother, who has read everything twice...just to ensure that she has definitely read it.
This is the kind of book that leave an impression, the kind of amazing book that takes hardly any words to describe, it's all about the passion within 5 words: You have to read this book.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Quilt No.2
I've finally sewn all of the squares for 'quilt two' together but I've now lost my quilting wind and therefore have frozen, I'm sure it'll come back, it always does. Probably during the height of summer, as there really is nothing worse then sewing a quilt top to the wadding and backing during hot days, but when the wind strikes, you just got to sew.
If the recipients of this blanket are lucky, they may get it before their first wedding anniversary, unlike the recipients of the First Quilt. It's not about the delivery date, it's about the love which is given while making it, hence the lack of energy and ability and the duration for making one, honest, honest it is.
OK, maybe I'm just impatient and like to change my projects often and due to that, I apologise to the lucky recipients, when it is finished. Along with the other three which haven't even been thought about yet...I'm going to stop giving them as presents, as I'm crap at quilting.
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
My Year of Books: Animal Farm
Since dating Tom, it has appeared that I am extremely unread. I knew that I hadn't read most of the classic works but I didn't realise how truly hopeless I had been.
In the last three years, I've read most of Jane Austen's books, 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte and 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte, but that is about it; and most of those were read over the last year and a half, since moving to London; it's amazing what dead time spent on the underground can cause.
I decided that 2013 is the year of books, I'm going to read the classics, or at least start reading the classics. In the last week, I've read 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell and have started to read 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck.
Animal Farm was brilliant, I know I'm teaching old people to suck eggs, I know that everyone who has read it knows all about it but still. I really enjoyed it. I knew the premise of the storyline and obviously saw the cartoon version when I was a child but I couldn't remember a thing about it. For a book of 110 pages it's concise and entertaining. I really felt for Boxer, who so wanted to trust in the "greater good".
Tom has informed me it is about Stalin and Lenin, so my next stop shall be a quick scan of the wikipedia page and probably miss the point entirely. I mentioned to Tom that the way that Napolean raised a mass fear by blaming Snowball for everything was very similar to how Hitler raised the general public to dislike the Jewish Community, etc., I guess it's the same in most Communist parties, the mutual enemy, and you've no choice but to carry on hoping and believing in the future, and your leader.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly for all ages, it's only 110 pages or so, where is the harm?!
In the last three years, I've read most of Jane Austen's books, 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte and 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte, but that is about it; and most of those were read over the last year and a half, since moving to London; it's amazing what dead time spent on the underground can cause.
I decided that 2013 is the year of books, I'm going to read the classics, or at least start reading the classics. In the last week, I've read 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell and have started to read 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck.
Animal Farm was brilliant, I know I'm teaching old people to suck eggs, I know that everyone who has read it knows all about it but still. I really enjoyed it. I knew the premise of the storyline and obviously saw the cartoon version when I was a child but I couldn't remember a thing about it. For a book of 110 pages it's concise and entertaining. I really felt for Boxer, who so wanted to trust in the "greater good".
Tom has informed me it is about Stalin and Lenin, so my next stop shall be a quick scan of the wikipedia page and probably miss the point entirely. I mentioned to Tom that the way that Napolean raised a mass fear by blaming Snowball for everything was very similar to how Hitler raised the general public to dislike the Jewish Community, etc., I guess it's the same in most Communist parties, the mutual enemy, and you've no choice but to carry on hoping and believing in the future, and your leader.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly for all ages, it's only 110 pages or so, where is the harm?!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Basil Oil
Last year while unemployed I made Basil Oil as a birthday gift. It's really simple and delicious.
Buy, acquire, grow a basil plant. It needs to be bushy and full. Over pluck the plant until it's just stalks with small / little leaves on. Never pick the small leaves, only the medium to big ones.
Place in a saucepan (I used a sauce / milk pan and the amount of leaves I picked filled it a third full, approx. 2.5 inches deep) and add 75cl of Extra Virgin Oil. Put on an extremely low heat and leave until the oil starts to simmer (Do NOT let it boil). Let the oil simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. When you return to it an hour or two later, the oil will now be a green misty colour.
Find the appropriate receptacle for the oil. I like to use old glass drinking bottles (but you could easily purchase some from here or use alternatives). Using a funnel and sieve, pour the oil in to the bottles, wrap with a bow and add a tag, stating when it was made.
I'd advise it be stored in a cool dark cupboard and consumed within 30 days - although it might need to be used way before this. I eat mine with freshly baked bread, on salads and it tastes great with anything parmesan based.
Photo to follow....
Buy, acquire, grow a basil plant. It needs to be bushy and full. Over pluck the plant until it's just stalks with small / little leaves on. Never pick the small leaves, only the medium to big ones.
Place in a saucepan (I used a sauce / milk pan and the amount of leaves I picked filled it a third full, approx. 2.5 inches deep) and add 75cl of Extra Virgin Oil. Put on an extremely low heat and leave until the oil starts to simmer (Do NOT let it boil). Let the oil simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. When you return to it an hour or two later, the oil will now be a green misty colour.
Find the appropriate receptacle for the oil. I like to use old glass drinking bottles (but you could easily purchase some from here or use alternatives). Using a funnel and sieve, pour the oil in to the bottles, wrap with a bow and add a tag, stating when it was made.
I'd advise it be stored in a cool dark cupboard and consumed within 30 days - although it might need to be used way before this. I eat mine with freshly baked bread, on salads and it tastes great with anything parmesan based.
Photo to follow....
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Iced Spiced Biscuits
When I was a child, my family had this awesome cook book, which is ideal for children of all ages and I highly recommend it. I spent most of the younger years with my nose stuck in it, making all sorts of things from brownies (in fact this brownie recipe is a variant of the one from this book) to Welsh Rarebit, etc. It features very simple easy recipes, which are enjoyable to make.
Now, one of the most tortured pages in our copy of this book was the Iced Spiced Biscuits. I've no idea how many of these I've made over the last 30 years, in fact I dread to think. But here is my version of the recipe...
Ingredients required:
250g Plain Flour
125g Butter / margarine
125g Brown Sugar / golden caster sugar
1 beaten egg (I normally use medium)
2 teaspoons of Mixed Spice
A pinch of Salt
Measure out and throw all of the ingredients in to the bowl. Mix together until the dough is dry-ish and biscuit like. Sprinkle flour on to the side and roll out to your required thickness. Cut in to all sorts of shapes and put on to a tray covered in greaseproof paper, or grease up a tray with some butter.
Place the tray in to the middle of a pre heated oven, 190 C / 375 F or Gas Mark 5. Cook for 15-20 minutes, depending on their colouring.
Once out of the oven, place on to a cooling rack. In the mean while, mix up some icing.
125g Icing Sugar
1-2 teaspoons of tepid water
Food colouring of your choice
Decorate the biscuits accordingly, you can add Smarties, Jelly Tots, etc. and gorge away....
These are perfect for Christmas, as they have a lovely spiced flavour and can be decorated in all sorts of Christmas colours, etc. and hung on the tree. They also make great presents for your noisy neighbours who stomp around their flat at all hours of the night...I'm the only person who has this, oh I do apologise.
Now, one of the most tortured pages in our copy of this book was the Iced Spiced Biscuits. I've no idea how many of these I've made over the last 30 years, in fact I dread to think. But here is my version of the recipe...
Ingredients required:
250g Plain Flour
125g Butter / margarine
125g Brown Sugar / golden caster sugar
1 beaten egg (I normally use medium)
2 teaspoons of Mixed Spice
A pinch of Salt
Measure out and throw all of the ingredients in to the bowl. Mix together until the dough is dry-ish and biscuit like. Sprinkle flour on to the side and roll out to your required thickness. Cut in to all sorts of shapes and put on to a tray covered in greaseproof paper, or grease up a tray with some butter.
Place the tray in to the middle of a pre heated oven, 190 C / 375 F or Gas Mark 5. Cook for 15-20 minutes, depending on their colouring.
Once out of the oven, place on to a cooling rack. In the mean while, mix up some icing.125g Icing Sugar
1-2 teaspoons of tepid water
Food colouring of your choice
Decorate the biscuits accordingly, you can add Smarties, Jelly Tots, etc. and gorge away....
These are perfect for Christmas, as they have a lovely spiced flavour and can be decorated in all sorts of Christmas colours, etc. and hung on the tree. They also make great presents for your noisy neighbours who stomp around their flat at all hours of the night...I'm the only person who has this, oh I do apologise.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
2012 wrap up...
My intention at the beginning of 2012 was to write more frequently than I did during 2011, I've completely failed, due to work expecting me to actually work, and not only work, but work above and beyond.
2012 has basically seen Tom and I often get home from work, eat and then head to bed by 11pm, due to being exhausted. Tom spends all day being his most charming self on the phone and through emails, and I spend my days juggling eggs and running around like a mentalist, at least I never need to go to the gym, due to it.
We are finally getting to enjoy some relaxing time off, due to both of our companies being closed during Christmas. Today I wrapped all of my presents, I only have two presents left to buy, which surprised me, I thought I'd hardly bought anything. I also made a couple of final presents, see here. Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to cooking some biscuits and possibly some bread, although I'm fully aware that Tom's bread is better than mine, so maybe not...
I'm also celebrating Christmas this year with my first real Christmas tree (we always had an artificial one when I was a child), of course I had to find a fairy to go on the top and luckily my first Sindy doll came to the rescue, her dress is made out of some remnants.
2012 has basically seen Tom and I often get home from work, eat and then head to bed by 11pm, due to being exhausted. Tom spends all day being his most charming self on the phone and through emails, and I spend my days juggling eggs and running around like a mentalist, at least I never need to go to the gym, due to it.
We are finally getting to enjoy some relaxing time off, due to both of our companies being closed during Christmas. Today I wrapped all of my presents, I only have two presents left to buy, which surprised me, I thought I'd hardly bought anything. I also made a couple of final presents, see here. Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to cooking some biscuits and possibly some bread, although I'm fully aware that Tom's bread is better than mine, so maybe not...
I'm also celebrating Christmas this year with my first real Christmas tree (we always had an artificial one when I was a child), of course I had to find a fairy to go on the top and luckily my first Sindy doll came to the rescue, her dress is made out of some remnants.
Hopefully next year I might get to be more creative and have time to write the random brain waves of my mind down here, like the olden days. I knew moving to London was never going to be easy, I just didn't realise that it would be this tiring...maybe I'll just learn to survive on 6 hours sleep a night?!
Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Christmas Stockings
I've been extremely lethargic lately, work has been crazy and all I seem to do outside of work is sleep. Personally, I'm looking forward to a calmer time, if such a thing exists.
But, due to the beloved festive period being here, today I have sewn some stockings for my two god-daughters, admittedly they won't get to enjoy the splendour this year, but next year, Christmas should be pretty epic for them...yep, that is right, I am going to claim that these stockings will change their future Christmas experiences!
These particular stockings are made from Moda's 2011 Christmas range, with a plain white lining.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Chocolate Chip Cake Biscuits
While in the pub on Boxing Day with some friends, we discussed cooking / baking styles, I'm the kind of baker who throws caution to the wind and takes chances on not having the right ingredients, throwing additional things in or varying other aspects, it's drives Tom mad, as he is more of a precise follow the recipe kind of person.
This recipe is the perfect example; I started out trying to make cookies, adapted the recipe due to the lack of chocolate and ended up making some form of cake shaped like biscuits and they are delicious, so I thought I'd share them, enjoy!
Preheat the oven at 190 C / 375 F / Gas Mark 5.
Mixed together -
200g Drinking Chocolate
350g Plain Flour
3 tsp of Baking Powder
1 tsp of Salt
Cream together -
225g Butter
175g Caster Sugar
175g Soft Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Medium Eggs
Slowly add the dry mix to the creamed mix and add 6 tbsp of Semi-Skimmed Milk to ensure the mix stays moist. Once everything is added together please add 100g of crumbled Dark Chocolate (Try to make it epic dark chocolate, 75% cocoa content and up).
Place large dollops of mixture on to greaseproof papered tray spaced wide apart and put in the top of the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pull out of oven, allow to cool and serve with ice cream, double cream or eat plain.
I've no idea what the calories contents is, it's probably about 1000 per cake, I've eaten at least 5 in the last day, oops!
This recipe is the perfect example; I started out trying to make cookies, adapted the recipe due to the lack of chocolate and ended up making some form of cake shaped like biscuits and they are delicious, so I thought I'd share them, enjoy!
Preheat the oven at 190 C / 375 F / Gas Mark 5.
Mixed together -
200g Drinking Chocolate
350g Plain Flour
3 tsp of Baking Powder
1 tsp of Salt
Cream together -
225g Butter
175g Caster Sugar
175g Soft Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Medium Eggs
Slowly add the dry mix to the creamed mix and add 6 tbsp of Semi-Skimmed Milk to ensure the mix stays moist. Once everything is added together please add 100g of crumbled Dark Chocolate (Try to make it epic dark chocolate, 75% cocoa content and up).
Place large dollops of mixture on to greaseproof papered tray spaced wide apart and put in the top of the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pull out of oven, allow to cool and serve with ice cream, double cream or eat plain.
I've no idea what the calories contents is, it's probably about 1000 per cake, I've eaten at least 5 in the last day, oops!
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Quilt No.1 Making
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| I've had to change the colours slightly, so you can see the pattern, as it's a light jade on cream. |
The thing about making a quilt is that it's a very personal thing. It doesn't just keep you warm, you can also dress your home, so you need to ensure it's in keeping with how the people you're giving it too, might dress their home. Or maybe I'm thinking too much?!
These two particular people have a Classic, Country, Parisian, Sleepy City Suburbs style. The girl is vintage and calm colours, the guy is good suits and shiny shoes.
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| My initial lay out for the quilt |
There are only 40 squares in a pack, at approx. £15, bearing in mind of the salvage, that only covers 2.5ft by 2.5ft, roughly. Which won't make a single quilt of 6ft by 4ft.
Luckily I had various flowery patterns in similar colours, so I cut additional squares up and started to lay them out in a satisfactory pattern, where none of them seemed to clash.
I started to sew my 4 squares into square formations and realised, I was going to need loads more material, bloody hell, it's gonna cost a fortune! I head back to Beyond Fabrics and found some fantastic new materials with little swirls on them...perfect!
So I started to make borders, 1 inch wide. They have great appeal and look fantastic, but, they are a bitch to cut, sew, press and sew! I also made 3 inch wide borders to go in between the squares. I would suggest doing bigger squares, but I had an experience, back in the earlier days of my sewing career, where I tried to make a double quilt with big 7 inch squares...huge mistake!!!I then needed to extend it length ways and found some neutral materials in my box, to add in. This is when I made a huge mistake, I mismatched two materials, then added a strip of plain either side, it looked shit! Cue lots of unpicking...the joys of sewing!
I set about cutting and sewing to break them all up and added my strips to the strip of squares and borders.
It's been suggested that I should have made a plan to begin with, or have used a pattern, but it's not how I fly. Yes it might have made life easier, but it wouldn't have been so much fun! If you've a logical brain, get an idea of what you'd like it to look like and set about it...I wanted squares, the borders were a last minute requirement that set it off nicely.
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| My lazy quilting... |
Also, I bailed on actual quilting, lazy of me, I know. I did little square stitches in the middle of the squares and left tassles on the reversed side.
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I will try harder in the future on the actual quilting part, as I'm soon to embark on another quilt. This time it's brightly coloured with lots and lots of squares, I'm still collecting the material for the quilt top, I'm worried that I'm loosing my mind, as I'm seeing every item of my wardrobe as potential material.
Here is a little taster of the next quilt...Saturday, September 22, 2012
The Strangest Day (a music diary)...
Today has been a crazy day. I awoke after a night of meeting a lot of people who I've heard about for a year. It was a really charming evening and the people who work with Tom are lovely, truly great people.
This morning, I awoke after a random drunk dream where I was 5 hours later for my plans today, a standard drunk dream, if my records stand true.
I eventually got up, after some re runs of Supermarket Sweep, showered and departed to head towards the South of Wimbledon...
I ended up stuck between Colliers Wood and South Wimbledon for about 20 minutes...at which point I was thinking of this song:
Mary J Blige 'Going Down'
Eventually, I met up with the ladies, we did tea, and then headed towards the bridal shop, for Hammers to try 1000 dresses on, at which point I was sensing this:
OMC ' How Bizarre'
And also this:
Charlie Rich 'The Most Beautiful Girl'
We found the one with jubilance, at which point we ended up in Wimbledon feeling like this:
Polyphonic Spree 'It's the Sun'
After some free cocktails and a platter of food, we headed to the home of Brian, at which point I tried to be mega cool and hip, so not to upset Brian, as he's mega awesome. FYI ---> This is Brian, he's pretty cool!
So I played this:
Calvin Harris & Rihanna 'We found love'
Then Vik's mentioned this and my life was changed:
PSY 'Gangham Style'
and Hammers made me watch this:
Sam and the Womp 'Bom Bom'
and all of a sudden I realised I was hanging out with Europop freaks and desperately craved East London indifference...
at which point I changed the settings of "the bar" and played this:
Wicked ' Defying Gravity'
We then had a musical moments, where I basically played the Phantom of the Opera from beginning to end, obviously singing along all the while...then came round and realised it isn't the 80s anymore, sad times.
So I ended the night singing along to this on my bus home:
Carly Simon ' Jesse'
and this:
Celine Dion ' It's all coming back to me'
and this (I had an epic 45 minute bus ride to fill, these are the girly highlights):
Meatloaf 'you took the words right out of my mouth'
Basically, it's been a fantastic day!!!
And I tried to get everyone to watch Queen live at Wembley, 1986, but they weren't game - sad times!
But most importantly, I tried to educate Hammers tonight, by leaving her with this album, and especially this song:
The Kinks 'Strangers'
This morning, I awoke after a random drunk dream where I was 5 hours later for my plans today, a standard drunk dream, if my records stand true.
I eventually got up, after some re runs of Supermarket Sweep, showered and departed to head towards the South of Wimbledon...
I ended up stuck between Colliers Wood and South Wimbledon for about 20 minutes...at which point I was thinking of this song:
Mary J Blige 'Going Down'
Eventually, I met up with the ladies, we did tea, and then headed towards the bridal shop, for Hammers to try 1000 dresses on, at which point I was sensing this:
OMC ' How Bizarre'
And also this:
Charlie Rich 'The Most Beautiful Girl'
We found the one with jubilance, at which point we ended up in Wimbledon feeling like this:
Polyphonic Spree 'It's the Sun'
After some free cocktails and a platter of food, we headed to the home of Brian, at which point I tried to be mega cool and hip, so not to upset Brian, as he's mega awesome. FYI ---> This is Brian, he's pretty cool!So I played this:
Calvin Harris & Rihanna 'We found love'
Then Vik's mentioned this and my life was changed:
PSY 'Gangham Style'
and Hammers made me watch this:
Sam and the Womp 'Bom Bom'
and all of a sudden I realised I was hanging out with Europop freaks and desperately craved East London indifference...
at which point I changed the settings of "the bar" and played this:
Wicked ' Defying Gravity'
We then had a musical moments, where I basically played the Phantom of the Opera from beginning to end, obviously singing along all the while...then came round and realised it isn't the 80s anymore, sad times.
So I ended the night singing along to this on my bus home:
Carly Simon ' Jesse'
and this:
Celine Dion ' It's all coming back to me'
and this (I had an epic 45 minute bus ride to fill, these are the girly highlights):
Meatloaf 'you took the words right out of my mouth'
Basically, it's been a fantastic day!!!
And I tried to get everyone to watch Queen live at Wembley, 1986, but they weren't game - sad times!
But most importantly, I tried to educate Hammers tonight, by leaving her with this album, and especially this song:
The Kinks 'Strangers'
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Pigeons
I have an issue with pigeons feet. No, I'm not sat in a restaurant staring at a menu full of them, I'm talking about those infamous flying rats, the very much alive ones.
Every morning I walk through Grosvenor Square which is full of them, now I'm not talking Trafalgar Sq in Mary Poppins, I'm talking modern day pigeon masses. And every morning I can't help but stare at every pigeons feet, it's just the gammy feet that make me sad, they make me want to stamp on their heads and put them out of their misery and I'm not sure why, as it's just a little impractical not life destroying, especially as I'm talking about pigeons who mainly rely on their wings, although some of the ones I've seen recently are possibly too fat to fly?!
I guess my issue is made worse by the colour and texture of their feet, I don't know! I know I'm being stupid but I can't really help feeling the need to stamp on the heads of pigeons with manky feet.
Every morning I walk through Grosvenor Square which is full of them, now I'm not talking Trafalgar Sq in Mary Poppins, I'm talking modern day pigeon masses. And every morning I can't help but stare at every pigeons feet, it's just the gammy feet that make me sad, they make me want to stamp on their heads and put them out of their misery and I'm not sure why, as it's just a little impractical not life destroying, especially as I'm talking about pigeons who mainly rely on their wings, although some of the ones I've seen recently are possibly too fat to fly?!
I guess my issue is made worse by the colour and texture of their feet, I don't know! I know I'm being stupid but I can't really help feeling the need to stamp on the heads of pigeons with manky feet.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Wedding Decoration
Friends of ours got married recently and they asked for my decorative input. Over numerous nights I made 90 metres of bunting, mainly from remnants in my material basket, the bride came and joined me for some of these sessions, supplying wine and snacks to keep us fuelled.
The day before the wedding, we wrapped cleaned jars with raffia bows, made makeshift brackets from garden wire and hung them in trees with tealights.
Made numerous tissue paper peonies of various sizes and colours, and hung long thin streamers from a leafy tree, we tied numerous strings together and loosely looped them around the branches, so anyone removing them could cut them easily.
It was a lot of fun and looked great all day and night, even after a lot of wind and rain. If I could change one or two things, I'd have made the streamers much longer, they should look as though they are far too long, trailing on the floor even, that way, they blow in the wind at a height, instead of blowing up in to the tree. We live and learn.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Girls
I'm obsessed with a TV show, called 'Girls', written and created by Lena Dunham (who wrote 'Tiny Furniture', I recommend this film), it makes me feel sick that someone this talented is so young, full of such insight and so incredibly funny.
The premise is 4 ladies in their twenties living in New York, yeah let me guess you've heard it all, before in numerous sit-coms, chick flicks and, obviously, Sex and the City. The main difference being that they haven't all got their shit together, none of them are "unexplainably minted" per say and they're all still trying to workout which 'Sex and the City' character they're most like, basically just like the rest of us (that is if we ladies sat around worrying about such bull).
It's brutal, harsh, dry, hilarious and entertaining all in the while, being intelligent and slightly narcissistic. I think it's best to sum it up with one simple moment: Hannah, the main protagonist, and the other three characters (who are all well rounded and developed in their own right, but I can't be arsed in summing them all up right now) are at a book launch of a "nemesis" of Hannah's, from her writing class at college, when Hannah is criticising the book launch host's writing ability, she draws on the fact that "major tragedy" happened to her, at which point, Jessa (one of the "other three") states "your boyfriend should kill himself, you deserve it", at which point Hannah wittily retorts "well thank you, but you only say that because you love me". It's a poetically dry moment, which is so beautifully delivered that you can't help but titter, even the most reserved of people would let out a little chortle, you can't help but do so.
After 10 episodes, I love it and can't wait for the second series, here's hoping for some more intelligent female writing for the future.
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a clip:
The premise is 4 ladies in their twenties living in New York, yeah let me guess you've heard it all, before in numerous sit-coms, chick flicks and, obviously, Sex and the City. The main difference being that they haven't all got their shit together, none of them are "unexplainably minted" per say and they're all still trying to workout which 'Sex and the City' character they're most like, basically just like the rest of us (that is if we ladies sat around worrying about such bull).
It's brutal, harsh, dry, hilarious and entertaining all in the while, being intelligent and slightly narcissistic. I think it's best to sum it up with one simple moment: Hannah, the main protagonist, and the other three characters (who are all well rounded and developed in their own right, but I can't be arsed in summing them all up right now) are at a book launch of a "nemesis" of Hannah's, from her writing class at college, when Hannah is criticising the book launch host's writing ability, she draws on the fact that "major tragedy" happened to her, at which point, Jessa (one of the "other three") states "your boyfriend should kill himself, you deserve it", at which point Hannah wittily retorts "well thank you, but you only say that because you love me". It's a poetically dry moment, which is so beautifully delivered that you can't help but titter, even the most reserved of people would let out a little chortle, you can't help but do so.
After 10 episodes, I love it and can't wait for the second series, here's hoping for some more intelligent female writing for the future.
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a clip:
Monday, June 25, 2012
Dressing up
What do you get if you add 5 girls, a lot of fizz, minimal food, a camera and a warehouse of clothes?
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Sad Times
Tom has just let me down gently that I wouldn't make a very good James Bond, I guess it's back to the drawing board...
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Xanadu
I'm sure I've probably posted my love of ELO on here before, but it is deeper than deep...and let's be fair, when a girl, like myself, is sewing 75-100 metres of bunting for a friends wedding and the boyfriend is out at poker, what else should one do, especially after 'Pride and Prejudice' has finished?!
Enough said!
Xanadu - Olivia Newton John and ELO
Enough said!
Xanadu - Olivia Newton John and ELO
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Blonde Moment II
I never realised that Brown Sauce was made from Dates. Understandably I'd never actively gone out of my way (looking at the back of the bottle) to find out, but never the less...enough said!
I might have to consider bleaching my hair one day if this keeps up...
I might have to consider bleaching my hair one day if this keeps up...
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