The Ally Pally Show

That's Alexandra Palace for the uninitiated (like me) a charming historic venue in North London which was the home of the recent Knitting & Stitching Show.
Huge venue, great exhibits & a lovely french woman name Marielle who taught me how to "frog" stitch. Very important in my current knitting world. That's reverse knitting.

Loving the badger in this shot & the handle of the bag is an antler! Must get me one of them.

Knitted lamp shade

Lovely knitted upholstery - detail below

This is the stump of a palm in the Palm Court - how they stay up I have no idea??

Completely hollow

Lovely deco panels in the train station

2 of my favourite things - skulls & licorice YUM!

I have finished the alpaca cowl for myself & am nearly there with the alpaca scarf for the Prince. I may yet still undo the cowl & do it again - can't decide????
Pictures later.

Lush x

Colours of my world

The light here in the Old Dart is definitely different but it makes for the most wonderful colours, here are just some of them.

I don't think I have ever seen purple gladiolas before but these are lovely! Even more purple than the photos show.

The trees in our local park. Mostly yellow orange but some pink red & still some green from lime to hunter green.

And have I mentioned how cool it is?? 11 degrees when I took these tree photos - lovely!!!

Enjoy!

Lush

Princess Daisy reporting on Engrand

Hello Subjects, Minions, Worshippers,

I am just reporting in on my views of The Old Dart. So far I have been ecxstatic at being reunited with the Mama & The Prince, oh and ok the other furry things are great too. I am not too sure about the weather here though. Mama loves it although she is admitting that today the rain is just mocking her (it keeps starting just as she gets the washing hung up & stops as soon as she removes it). I just want it to be a bit stronger. As you can see I am not impressed with this weak stuff.

This is Diego & me sharing the Mama (she has no idea how to turn da photo so just turn your pooter kai??

OMG!! I have just discovered the heating things & have discovered the one that I can lean on while on the bed in Mama's sewing room!! Motherload!!! See you all later, you know where you can find me.

Don't forget to curtsy to me!!

Princess Daisy x

Off to Eden - which amazingly is located in Cornwall

The Prince had to go off to Plymouth to give a presentation to a group of teachers so we decided to make a weekend of it & I joined in the fun on Friday.

We went to dinner together which was lovely (well except for the plastic bag remnants in my pate!!) & then had a walk along the headland in the bracing sea breeze.

Saturday saw us renting a car & driving off to find Eden, well the Eden Project at least. I think I did very well on the driving front & did not need to use the useless GPS thingy. Thank goodness for the excellent signage here in the UK.

Full size sculpture made from driftwood at the entrance

 The Eden Project is housed in a disused clay mine & you can see the marvelous job they have done in renewing the landscape. This has been done in only 10 years & is a real credit to them.

This is a great section where they show the plant & the herbal remedy

We were very lucky that we were there at the same time as half term holiday which meant they had some additional exhibitions - OWLS!!! Oh my I want one!!! Or lots!!

Got to pat this one & had to be restrained from taking her home!!

This little guy was just as interested in us as we were of him.

These are the Biomes - super view of the future??

Really love these plants but no idea what they are?? Claire???

We had dinner with the Lovely Laura on Saturday evening & what fun she was. We wandered back from the restaurant to her flat & our hotel which by absolute chance backed onto each other! Our window literally looked out onto her doorstep. What a fluke!

Sunday saw us having coffee on the seafront in a bracing force ten gale & laughing at the determination of the Brits to enjoy the sea no matter the weather. Some blokes took it too overachiever status by wearing shorts.
The Prince & I followed this lovely session with a walk around the headland & some wandering around the Barbican area. Lots of lovely little shops & amazing original architecture & laneways. These murals are by a renowned local artist.

The countryside of Cornwall & Devon are just lovely! We could see ourselves there at some stage. Back to the real world.

Lush x

Sunset over the terraces

The sky has been beautiful colours this week. Here are just a few shots from the park this afternoon.
It gives me such a thrill to see the sunset over the rooftops of London with the distinctive chimneypots in silhouette. So cool to be here in London. A lifetime dream come true.
Thank you my Prince for helping me to be here & being here to share it all with me.

Life is short, do what you love.

Lush

A walk in the park

At the end of our street we are blessed with Westham Park. A 77 acre farm gifted to the City of London in 1874 with wonderful facilities of football pitches, kids play area, bandstand, tennis courts & 7 acres of ornamental gardens. We love the space but never more so now we have Princess Daisy to take for a turn. She is much more lively than she has been in recent months & loves going to the park, though if the Prince has her lead, shes does not like me to be too far behind& has been known to try to sit down. She is NOT letting me out of her sight again!!
The kids arrived from Oz in late September & we were soooo pleased to see them & they us. They were even pleased to see each other!! & spend lots of time playing musical beds & laps.

We really missed the babies & by their response to us, the feeling was mutual. Once the jet lag wore off they have all had great fun discovering the house & back yard. The cats love running up & down the stairs, Daisy not so much. The cats have never been under an open sky & this took some time to feel ok. Flynn was caught in a sprinkle today & I have never seen her move so fast!

Princess Daisy & Diego sharing some lap time

One of the many squirrels in the park

Princess Daisy's first walk in the big park! Loving it!

Investigating the ornamental gardens up close

This fungus is around 50cm across - an old stump rotting back to nature

Some of our gleaning - don't worry lot's left for the little guys

 We are amazed that we seem to be the only ones interested in the numerous chestnuts gracing the ground. Well us & the squirrels!! Thousands litter the ground all for the taking. They are yum!!

I think it's Daisy's turn Diego

So does she

Here is Daisy waiting for her first bus in her new carrier bag come bed

 While Daisy was waiting to come to Engrand she got to stay at Uncle Daddy Tom's fat camp. She had a lovely time going everywhere with him & we are so grateful of the care he showered on our Princess. I may have to book into the camp myself!!! She is a much livelier dog now she has lost weight. She loves going to the park with me each day & on Sunday we rented a car so she got to go on the bus on the way to pick up the car!! It is great here, pets on leashes can go on trains & buses with no problem. In honour of this I bought her a new carry bag that doubles as a bed. She loves it!! So do the cats LOL
We rented the car so we could go for a drive around the near suburbs. What a nightmare the traffic was!! Sunday horrors!! But we did get to see some lovely real estate & cross a few suburbs off our search list. So all good really. The Prince was a champion with the driving, it was so stressful I have declared we are never doing that again!! LOL

You call THIS sunshine!! Meh!! I'll have a cider thanks Mama.

Turn and turn about LOL

So Uncle Daddy Tom, I hope this puts your mind at ease that she is being taken care of!! We missed her & the pussies so much!!! We are thrilled they are back with us & they seem to be enjoying the weak Engrand sunshine. They have a little visitor in Basement Cat who is very sweet but they also have had a visit from another more scary pussy who is not popular at all. The badgers have not been seen lately so no mixing yet.

Oh well of to do some more knitting on my Darling's scarf! Photos of making stuff later.

Do what you love!

Lush