Friday 26 April 2013

Home Sweet Home


Once you find the perfect place.
To settle down ...
... and raise your family.
Nobody is going to persuade you otherwise.

This duck found her own perfect place.
She built her nest …


… filled it to the brim with the softest duck down …
… laid her eggs …
… and now sits patiently awaiting the happy event.


 In a nearby garden centre plant display …
… right among the Sweet Williams.

Absolute darling.
***

Thursday 18 April 2013

The Family at Red Roofs



‘’The Family at Red-Roofs’’
By Enid Blyton.


was the first proper story book that I read as a child …
… on my own , right through.
Hardly any pictures.
It was my favourite childhood book.
I was totally absorbed …
… by the family who moved into their new house …
… with the red roof.


Molly's first view of red Roofs

Molly, Peter and Shirley Jackson.
Daddy, Mother and Jenny-Wren the Maid (EB stories always had a Maid) …
… and their dog, Bundle (there was always a dog too)
It was quite weighty story line for a young girl.



The family move to the new house.
But they soon face disaster.
Daddy has to go away to America to work for six months.
Then Mother (always Mother, not Mummy) became very ill.
The ship taking their Daddy to America sank.
Daddy wasn't on the survivor list.
The news was kept from Mother whilst in hospital..


Yep, the price show my age ...

Facing separation the children and Jenny-Wren all rally round …
… each one taking little jobs to help bring in the money …
… to pay the bills at Red Roofs.
I still have the book.
It has a happy ending …
… obviously.


Mother got better and came home.
Daddy was found safe (had suffered amnesia in the sinking) and also came home.
Happy ever after.


Daddy's homecoming

I remembered the book over the years.
Actually re-read it a few years ago.
Anyway … I digress.
The post is really about the book title.
Red Roofs.
I never owned a dolls house as a child.
Never really hankered after one …
… until now.
Not to furnish and play with …
… no, truly.
But as decoration on a bedroom floor …
... under the window perhaps ...
… or to top a chest of drawers.



A neighbour was selling one.
Her Daddy made the house for her in the 1930/40’s.


My lovely hubby bought it for me as a surprise.
It has a red roof.
Just like the book.
The inside needs a little TLC...


(note the rather large light switch on the left)


(A 1960's addition Barbie pink loo and outsize lamp shades!)


... but for now ...
The house with the red roof sits on a chest of drawers.



In our dining room.

***

Do you remember your first proper story book?






Wednesday 3 April 2013

Blue Birds and Blossoms

Lincoln Fair was freezing.
Inhumanly cold.
Held in open countryside.
The East wind was blowing a hooly right across the site.
I was well layered up.
Still, I got round in record time …
… so I could get back home for a warm.
Managed a few bits ...

***

Buttons …
… you can never have too many.


French laundry labels …



… an old envelope with beautiful stamps …


… glass topped tins …
... can’t wait to start working with them.


... vintage tins ...



... which claim to 'quickly corrects flatulency and vomiting'
Very intersting.
Some teeny bits for my tag piccies.


A few vintage cards.





Pussy cat is a bit scary...


… more of an evil leer than a smile ….
… but a little Louis Wain-esque don’t you think?


... and a roll of vintage scalloped shelf edging.


Pretty blue birds and blossoms.
For the pantry.


There was also a beautifully embroidered sampler…
… that came with a set of diaries written in the most exquisite script ...
… by the young lady who embroidered the sampler.
(Sorry, no photos)

An inimitable and charming insight into life back then.
How precious is that?
Would have loved to bring them home with me …
... reading her thoughts ...
... about her life and loves ...
… but a lot of pennies, and quite rightly so …
I had to decline.
Sadly.


***







Monday 1 April 2013

New Life


 April. 
The first day of a brand new month.
Did you get caught out as an April Fool?
Perhaps with  the Virgin Airlines new aeroplane with the glass floor? 
No? 
Me neither.

***

The sun came out.



The wind dropped …
… for a while.
The birds sang.
I played for a while in the garden.



Me and the girls.



Cutting back, raking up, planting.
For me.


Scratting, sunbathing and eating bugs.
For the girls.

It was good to get out.
I soooo ache now though.
Muscles I never knew I had.

***

I saw new life too.


Frolicking lambs ...


... playing tag.


And the most unexpected and most touching ...
… as we later passed a field in the car …
…. a new born foal.


Still wet with the bloom of birth ...
... and unsteady on his legs.
Mummy’s eyes never left her new baby.
She was almost beaming.
It absolutely made my day.

***