Neighbours... !!

Do you have funny neighbours? By that I mean, funny, hilarious  neighbours? I certainly do! They're great, really they are and after the first meeting of our newly formed, in fact perfectly formed book club, I think we're going to get on like a house on fire! I came home from work expecting to have a leisurely hour at home before our first meeting. Oh no.. I arrive home to find a note through my door to say, the venue for the first meeting has changed and 'bring nibbles!'.. what??? Mmm, I could feel a neighbours Nigella challenge coming on... !! so I put my oven on, baked walnut and chocolate brownies, ha ha (in paper cases - don't try that at home!) and was ready to go.
I arrived at my neighbours house with my kindle (hidden inside my bag just in case it wasn't the PC thing to bring to a first book club meeting) and my box of 9 yummy brownies. Sadly, but not surprisingly, my lovely brownies had completely sunk in the paper cases - you'd need a spoon to get the gooey bits from the bottom. But hey, I knew they tasted amazing because I'd devoured two (i had to test them!) before I left the flat.
All I can say is that it was fun! Talk ranged from how to set up our new club to who was the oldest in the group. Of course it's not me!!
Neighbours are such a great source of good gossip. I learnt who was who, who wasn't with who any more and we all agreed that a book club was a great idea! Whether we'll get to talk about books much is another thing but at least we'll get a chance to catch up on neighbourly gossip and talk about 'stuff!'.
My neighbours have so far recommended the following books... 'How to be a woman' by Katlin Moran - this book will apparently change my life! And books by Louise Bagshaw, though I've looked these books up on my kindle and the titles range from 'Desire' to 'A Kept Woman' so it doesn't take a genius to guess the theme?!
Being the saintly, overly neighbourly, competitive book lover that I am.. I have already ordered a sample of our very first book 'Behind the scenes at the museum' by Kate Atkinson. That's the beauty of Kindle.. it's instant! I'm ever so slightly disappointed that, as everyone is away in October, I won't get to talk about it for two months so I won't be reading it just yet. But as I'll be the 'hostess with the mostess' for our next meeting number 2, I need to plan buying my wine, bake a more than delicious cake and then get reading.. !!

Florence

Siena

Pisa

Mono memories

What's the best thing about being on holiday?

Nothing... ! Today is DAY ONE of my holiday and I'm euphoric. I'm going to enjoy every single minute and make sure that I spend some time actually doing nothing at all! Just being able to enjoy living where I do and being at home is a pleasure that I rarely get time to fully appreciate. It's the little things that count the most. Like starting the day in Hobbs with toast. Two slices of bread made without yeast, which tasted amazing. I can count the number of times I've had toast in the past 4 years on one hand. Topped with gooseberry conserve, it tasted like food from the Gods! What more can a girl ask for on a Saturday morning.

I'm at home now, sitting looking out of my window. It's raining, which makes me feel glad I didn't stay too long in town. I walked back up the hill in the sunshine, wey hey. I'm now watching the sand martins dart across the surface of the lake. There must be between 40 and 60 of them out catching the summer bugs and they look like little white arrows. Their bellies are very white and they have relatively small wings and tiny pointed tails. Fun to watch though. The cygnets in comparison aren't quick at all. They move in a very clumbsy way and just like in the fairy story, are quite ugly and look more like prehistoric birds than the graceful swan they're going to grow up to be. They're so large now that they're allowed out without mummy and daddy, who are most likely resting somewhere within range of their youngsters.
It's lovely to be at home and on holiday :) xx xx

A snapshot of Bristol's See No Evil in the making...

A mural by Ian Boyd Walker, IBW-art. His facebook page says 'Have paints, will travel!'

Here's one by spanish artist, Aryz, originally from California but now based in Barcelona. He paints huge characters and is considered to be one of the creme de la creme of urban artists in Europe. He uses just spraycans and big roller brushes to create these massive murals and we now have one in this permanent street art street exhibition in Bristol, yeah!

Tats Cru is a group of Bronx-based graffiti artists turned professional muralists. From New York, this group of guys are famous for producing ads for large corporations such as Coca Cola and Sony. They also produce memorial murals - hence the RIP in the bottom right hand corner.

Europe's biggest street art festival

In need of something to eat and some fresh air, I left the office yesterday lunchtime and didn't realise that his amazing festival was taking shape within a few streets of our offices. Nelson Street in Bristol was buzzing with people taking photographs, artists on scaffolding creating street art and graffiti which looked absolutely amazing. I had to find out what was going on so spoke to a couple of guys who were wielding paint cans in a flourish in the same way as chefs wield knives! One guy said he was from Germany and had been invited as part of the 'See No Evil' big street art festival due to start this weekend. Hurrah for Bristol council, that's what I say!! I'm delighted but very surprised that they have the foresight to see just what a coup this is for Bristol. Nelson street has for as long as I've been working in Bristol, which is over 10 years, been one of the most boring streets imaginable. Lots of concrete walls, no character, in fact I had nothing nice to say about it at all. Until now, that is...

This is the biggest and best thing to happen to Nelson street and I applaud Bristol council for letting it happen. It's been organised by Bristol street artist and Banksy collaborator Inkie and has attracted more than 20 of the world's biggest street artists to come to take part. They will paint almost every building, some 10 stories high, in a bid to turn the boring buildings of Nelson Street into Bristol's next major tourist attraction. It is being promoted as one of the largest outdoor art exhibitions in the world. The official three-day celebration begins on Thursday and by then, I'm certain that every inch of that boring concrete facade will have been brought to life with the most amazing street graffiti you'll see anywhere in the world. Organisers are hoping this will be the biggest local art event since Banksy took over the Museum of Bristol which was over two years ago now. I missed that event because the queues were just so long. I feel privileged to be able to wander along the street today taking photographs and experiencing history being made in Bristol.

What waits for you at the end of the day...?

A nice hug? A hot bath? Or a slobbering pouch? After 10 long hours in the office I was in no mood to cook or skip a meal. The beauty of having a reasonably long drive home is that I can spend the time deliberating and tonight my ponderings focussed on what to have for supper. I thought about pasta but wasn't moved by the idea. I thought about smoked haddock but I had that last week. I thought about salad but it's a chilly evening so that idea went down like a limp lettuce leaf. Then quite out of the blue the thought of a tasty, spiced Indian chicken korma popped into my head. Mmm, great idea. As soon as I got into town, I parked and went into my friendly Indian to buy myself a take-away. It is indeed one of the best take-aways I've ever tasted. I'm not sure cashew nuts are a traditional ingredient in a chicken korma but they were very welcome. I know it's unhealthy but if food is the fuel of the soul, then my sweet soul is satisfied and I'm very happy fish tonight :) xx xx

My Top 10 best feelings in the world

Inspired by reading Chris Evans autobiography 'Memories of a Fruitcake' I've decided to compile my own top 10. He starts every chapter of his life with a top 10 list on all manner of subjects from 'Celebrity Encounters' to 'Reasons why I love California'. My first top 10 is a biggie.. 'My Top 10 best feelings in the world', and here is number 1...
1. Knowing I'm loved
2. Raising the bar and tasting success
3. Relief on hearing both my parents are well
4. Hearing my kids voices
5. Being with my lovely friends
6. The sound of snap, crackle and pop
7. Being home
8. Knowing I'm not the oldest
9. Having a hug
10. Being smiled at
Life really is too short to waste on negative thoughts :)

International Quilt Show 2011

There's only one word to describe talent such as this... INCREDIBLE! This is a quilt...!!

I loved these small piece of quilted art. They're right up my street!

I love symmetry which is possibly why these appealed to me so much. I can't begin to imagine the amount of work involved in creating such stunning quilts. The time isn't counted in hours but in months and years!

This was one of my fav experimental pieces. They're not supposed to be actual quilts but pieces of art. It reminded me of Venice. I've only been once and would love to go again, particularly for the Venice Biennale :)

It could only happen to me...

40 cars in the street in Chelts and guess what... mine is the only one that looks like a clown!! I had stayed at the lovely Lisa's overnight. We'd been out with her neighbours and had a lovely meal at Flynns. I remember hearing voices during the night which is unusual on such a quiet street. I wasn't conscious enough to wake up and look through the window & why would I? What is quite strange is that whilst we were in Flynn's we were discussing the fact that the some residents were trying to make the street parking for permit holders only. I have no idea where the cone came from because I certainly didn't see on when I parked there. I think I'd have remembered if I'd run over it!! I prefer to think it was a numpty having a laugh than a resident having a spat! Thankfully, my car isn't damaged in any way and I did actually find it very funny :)

Btw....

"I STILL WANT ONE!!" ha ha... 

Gatcombe horse trials

I love a good day out so yesterday's visit to Gatcombe horse trials was right up my street! Lots of lovely fresh air, a walk in beautiful surroundings, sit in the sun with a coffee and just a thoroughly good reason to chill out. I thought I'd been there before but once I was there I didn't recognise any of the layout and I now know that I hadn't! I'd been to Badminton horse trials with Tash in May of 2008 and somehow got confused. Oh well, not the end of the world and as I'm the only one that realises my mistake, I'm keeping that little bit of info a secret :) xx xx

Rock on Fanny Haddock :)

There are great days and there are days when all I want to do is come home and cook! I wished for uncoloured smoked haddock, asparagus, garlic and lemon mayonnaise and a poached egg, which is exactly what I made for my supper - yum... :)

Pond dipping... !!!

And I took these photos so I must have been there!