Summer Sizzlin'

The weather has been pretty hot and humid in the south.  Al fresco eating has become the norm and jumping in the new  paddling pool to cool off has become an  essential part of our day.  We have lived in the garden, although at times it has been too hot to remain outside. The newly tiled kitchen floor is providing much needed coolness  and seems to be standing up to the wet piles of towels and footprint trails very well. 

We were a bit busy with builders and babies earlier in the year to make full use of the little vegetable patch at the bottom of the garden but our  neglected raspberries  are doing well and the strawberries are providing a tasty treat  for a small  paddling pool soaked and hungry child. 

This little girl is growing so fast and is about to enter her pre school year; three years, five months today and as full of chattery happiness  as ever.  It has been very precious seeing her take on the role of big sister so well.

She loves life with her little sister and often announces "I love  my Mabel, I'm going to keep her forever!" 

That's a relief, almost as much as ending up with a sweet little babe  who seems very happy to carry out daily life under the shadow of her busy sister. I will enjoy the peace while it lasts, although the house is far from peaceful at the moment as we have two extra (spanish students for a month) and my lovely craft corner seems to have become the local music mixing room  and is filling up with hungry teenage boys!

I have been playing around with the manual settings on my camera and cannot decide which strawberry photo  I  prefer. Obviously with eleven people in the house this month to feed and do laundry for I shouldn't really have time to gaze at photos, much more fun though!

So is it focus on strawberry at the front or do you prefer the focus at the back?  

Big life decisions!

Hat Fair

Hat fair weekend always brings with it such a buzz and adds an amazing creative vibe to our beautiful little city.

The name originates from the street performers leaving a hat out to collect contributions from passers by. It is run every year and most certainly worth a visit.  There are many events all around the centre of town, a huge range of fun performances to entertain.   

Such a happy, sunny walk down the high street last Sunday as the  busy vintage market was setting up  and preparing for a busy day.

Signs showing where all the events were happening, lots nicer than the usual ones.

So many amazing stalls, sadly small children were not as keen to browse as I was.

Lots of interesting objects to look at.

 

So many pretty shelves full of fascinating items.

I love the mix of colours against the table of these vintage items.











As I walked round the corner I was too early for this performance.

I was tempted to find a chair and wait, so many wonderful things to gaze at.

These little jars looked lovely with freshly picked flowers in.

Totally an idea to steal for the kitchen table at home.

Have you ever visited the hat fair? 

Do they have them in other places too?

Using the Teapot

A cup of tea, time to step away from the happenings of the moment, to savour the ritual and enjoy the refreshment it brings. 

As with most things in life the temptation is to rush ahead and miss the tiny bit of happiness that comes with this moment of stillness.

Following a link posted by a friend yesterday I was inspired to blow the dust off my shelf of gorgeous teapots and enjoy their loveliness even more.  The author of the article rightly asks why we think nothing of making coffee in a cafetiere but seem to regard  making tea in a pot as difficult. 

I always make coffee  'properly' but  had forgotten how much nicer tea is in a pot.  Apparently better for the environment, certainly  cheaper and a far richer tea drinking experience, tea leaves are to be embraced.

Afternoon tea always needs something yummy to accompany it and as I was using the lemon anyway it seemed a shame not to try out a new flapjack recipe

As well as using all the usual flapjack ingredients this one also uses lemon.  Surprisingly it really works and they taste even more delicious.

Happy baby gurgled away in her pram, the sun is finally shining and it is almost the weekend.

Truly a happy moment, most certainly worth the minimal extra effort.

Do you use a teapot?