Car boot booty!!

Saturday saw us off to Leigh On Sea again to try our luck at the car boot sale. And didn't we score!!

Some of this is for our home but most of it will be used for a little shop project with one of our friends or will be sold on Ebay. I am hoping this will raise me enough income so I don't have to go back to an office job.
We also revisited the mulberry tree and did a bit of gleening. Picked enough berries for the Prince to make us a yummy rustic pie. This was delicious!!

We also bought some sampfire which we had tossed in garlic & butter. Very interesting taste, the Prince describes it as wet but salty. Pretty accurate.

Pork with Sampfire, potatoes & triple ginger nectarine chutney

I know that you are all waiting for pictures of the badgers but while we wait here is another of our regular visitors. Perched on our neighbours shed just checking out the domain. So cute.

Life here is good.
Love
Lush xox

The Day we went to Brighton

Didn't we have a lovely day! Well a lovely weekend really. They hold the parade during the day then everyone heads off to the park. It is a cross between Mardi Gras & Fair Day & the Easter Show rides.
Great fun & very family friendly. We loved the way pretty much the whole of Brighton came out & was very supportive. We had a great view for the parade seated on the steps of a shop. I thought it was very interesting to compare the lack of fencing, marshals & rules and yet it ran amazing well. The parade is not as big as Sydney but the park is so much bigger than Fair Day.

A lovely couple for 15 years

Couple of lovely bears :)

The Golden Snitch & Dumbledore

Hello Kitty - the ultimate fag hag!! LOL

We had a great time wandering amongst the stalls checking out the merchandise & information stalls, we had a dance in the big tent and then the Prince saw the rides!!!

The Prince in full flight

Embiggen the picture to see the decorations on the building

Was lovely to catch up with Brighton friends & we hope to see them in London soon.

Cheers

Lush xox

First 5 weeks Part 2

August 6 we went to Portobello Road markets which was fun but a lot of the stalls were a little disappointing. Great antiques in the shops if you had an open budget :/ maybe next life time? Saw this great shop window - great way to save them from the scrap heap.

August 7 ( Happy 82nd Birthday Mum!) saw us off to buy a new bed - don't think I have ever slept in a bed that was so uncomfortable as the one in our house!! but we bought one that is excellent (first night on it last night was awesome!!).

We did not realise but the bed shop was around the corner from Columbia Road flower markets & some 2nd hand markets in the same street. Flower markets were fantastic & I picked up some lovely linen tea towels & a terrific tartan cushion cover for only 3 quid. We also got a cheap buy with a huge punnet of petunias for a pound. They will bring some brightness to the back yard.

So glad to see our boxes arrive from home & still working on opening them & fitting it all into the house. May need to invest in a couple of chests of drawers?? Not a huge amount of storage in this house which is otherwise great. Lovely Victorian 3 bed terrace.

I was lucky enough to be here in time to spend 2 days in Birmingham for the Quilt Show. The quilts were spectacular!! and I was so impressed by the organisation of the show. The event company takes care of all the set up AND provides the walls etc to hang the quilts - bliss!!!

A little blurry but this is not much bigger than my hand!!!

Yes folks, that is my hand!! I am a size 6 glove - read tiny!!

Oops This is NOT the winner of the miniature section - but still AWESOME!!

I got to do some quilt celebrity spotting and met Luana Rubin of equilter.com and Bonnie Hunter of quiltville.com!!! Also got ot say hi to Pam Holland a favourite Australian quilter of mine. So excited, which is so funny for me as I am so not into the celebrity mentality. Yet there you go twice in a few weeks LOL. Never say never.

I also had a lovely chat with Richard, hubby of Marti Michell. Very nice gent & I bought quite a few of their templates. Finally got a proper "thimble" shaped template and now only need a mini version of that & a one & half inch square. Got to use all the scraps!! LOL

I bought a little bit of fabric and also some fantastic alpaca yarn for scarves for me and the Prince. Best knitting needles ever - knitpro.eu. Thanks to the interwebs & yoo toob I have taught myself to use circular needles & do continental knitting. So much faster and easier on the shoulders. Pictures later.

Just cause - some random pics of some of the quilts.

Love

Lush xox

WOW - 5 weeks already!!!

So much has happened & it has taken me this long to work out how to use the HTC on the Mac - so not a computer geek.


So to start at the beginning, here are some shots of how I left the home apartment - so much work but I am very happy with the results.

Almost did not want to leave this - had great fun making it and the burn is all healed now LOL

Tidiest the kitchen has ever looked since we bought it!! LOL

 
Now onto the travel part - flight was very good, hardly any anxiety just very long. Really tested even my legendary endless patience. 2nd leg saw me utilising the sleep mask & ear plugs for a lovely 6 hour sleep which made me feel much better on landing in London at 5am. So exceedingly good to see the Prince & have him in my arms again. 

EDITED to add: just so I keep this real, I should add that even though the first couple of days were fantastic, I spent my first couple of weeks in a maelstrom of tears, emotional roller coasters, a kind of homesickness & crippling agoraphobia! The Prince was wonderful! & I am really glad it has passed!

As it was our 2nd anniversary on the weekend and to help with the jet lag my darling Prince took us of to the Porchester Baths for a spa day. This is the oldest spa in London, built around 1920's & just amazing!! If you ever get the chance GO! it also has a pool next door that is part of the spa experience.
Following week saw us off to Cambridge to soak up some history. Train trip took only one hour & 10 minutes - excellent trip. We had a wonderful walk through the town soaking up the views, the canal is lovely & we loved the "Cambridge Comedy Channel". Self renters trying to steer the punts - just hysterical!! One group of young women spent 20 minutes banging into everything available & only moving around 100 feet. Priceless!!
Saturday 23 July saw us catching up with the Prince's brother, went to 2 different markets & bought some great items for our home & some great fruit & veg.
Sunday 31 July saw us off to Leigh on Sea, the Prince to do some work & me to my first car boot sale!! Car boot did not happen but I had a terrific time at the Leigh on Sea fish festival instead. The Prince joined me later.
I loved the "beach" - really just a very small strip of sharp sand at the edge of the estuary but the sun was out and so was lots of pasty white British flesh.

This is one of the estuaries of the Thames and only a 30 minute train trip from home. I can see we will be off down here as often as possible, it is just lovely. It has massive tidal flows, saw the mud flats, then covered in water, then back to mud flats again in around 7 hours - very cool but I can see how people could get trapped out there - especially as lots of people here can't swim.
Had lots of fun at the fish blessing festival & got to meet one of my heroes - rope maker Des Pawson!! I even got to make a length of rope with him!! Stoked!! LOL

Came home and discovered that we have a badger set in our back yard!! So excited!! There are apparently only 30,000 in the whole UK so we feel particularly lucky to have one in our back yard. No photos yet but I have managed to narrow its appearance down to an hour & a half in the wee smalls so soon I hope. Here is the entry to the set - the peg is for perspective. This is the hole I fell into, or should I say this hole opened up as I stepped onto what looked like solid ground. The ankle is better now :)

It is wild life central here, so many foxes it is hard to count - they are so cool and not bothered by the hoomans at all. We have an old fashioned dove/ pigeon that lives in our yard, we have named him Bert & he has a friend we have named Ernie. Embiggen the pic for a better look. (can't find my camera yet & am only using the one on the phone so not so good at getting a long shot)

Begonia, badger hole & Bert

Well the Prince has just come home and it looks like it is Pimms o'clock in the garden time!!! 
Till next time I'm off!!! 


Love
Lush xox