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IN A SEASONAL HOME - Autumn Magic
Nothing like an Autumn BonfireWe've had a busy summer visiting new and old places and friends and gathering bright and shiny treasures along the way. Some will need a gentle hand to mend them before...
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GHOST STORY - The Haunted Bedroom
It's nearly Halloween. In folklore this is a time when the veils between the worlds grow thinner allowing us to feel the presence of the other side. When the spiritual and material worlds touch and a...
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GIVING THANKS
Myott England's Countryside platter, edge detaila treasured pattern of mineAs we do not have Thanksgiving in England we are tipped straight from 'back to school' to Christmas, with a small stop...
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TO WULF HALL
BBC production of Wolf HallClaire Foy as Anne Boleyn, Damien Lewis as Henry VIIILife often does not go according to dreams - or plans, no matter who that we are.Losing friends and loved ones, or having...
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THE FIRST BUDS OF SPRING
The First Buds of Spring watercolour, 25 x 16 inches, signed and dated 1885Lionel Percy Smythe It is still very cold here but the first buds of Spring are opening bringing us hope that soon winter...
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PAPIER-MACHE EASTER EGGS
Beautiful Easter shoot by Green Wedding Shoes.See their work Here:I like papier-mâché and used to have a collection of Easter egg boxes. I've no idea how or why I began to collect them, like so many...
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BLACKTHORN AT BELTAINE
Of all the trees that grow so fair,Old England to adorn,Greater are none beneath the SunThan Oak and Ash and Thorn.(Puck of Pook’s Hill, by Rudyard Kipling, 1906)Munchkin our Main Coon avoiding...
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SUMMERTIME BLUES
Candle lit sandcastle by the sea, source unknown. Summer is a riot of flowers. This year on clothes as well as in the garden, and every year we are reminded how well Lord Leighton captured the heat...
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Two Doors Down From The Witch
Two Doors Down Once upon a time in the 1980s I lived in an ordinary looking house in a terrace, (especially on a bright sunny day as this), in East Twickenham, by the river Thames, two doors down from...
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And Then There Were Three
Minerva and Morpheus Black Mrs Black and her naughty kitten IsabellaWe have been a family of two cats since November two years ago when Mrs Black, missing both her late husband Morpheus, and their much...
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in the Company of Wolves
A mystical version of Santa Clausfrom Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures published in 1913. This painting was done in 1907, pen, ink & watercolour on paper, and is in a Private Collection. Photo ©...
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The Kindness of Strangers
'Catching Butterflies' by Colleen ParkerHERE:I don't publish blog posts as often as I mean to. I have a folder full of subjects and images which whisper to me, spinning their stories like dream...
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David Bowie ~ The Stars Line Up
Bowie fans lay flowers at the mural created in 2013 by Australian street artist James Cochran.The wall of Morley’s department store, in Tunstall Road, Brixton. It wascommissioned as part of the...
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The Gothic Wardrobe
The elaborate carvings at the top of The Gothic Wardrobeof vine leaves, gothic arches and Tudor rosesI'm busy Spring cleaning and have just dusted the carvings on this Gothic Wardrobe. Which reminded...
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Queen Elizabeth II - 90th Birthday
The Queen Mother with the then Princess Elizabeth, 1937Happy 90th Birthday to Queen Elizabeth II. This week seems to be one of anniversaries, some good and some bad. The 200th anniversary of the birth...
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Sweet Prince
Resplendent PrinceHis flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.Samuel Taylor...
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William Shakespeare - For all time
William Shakespeare detail from The Cobbe portraitKnown to be Shakespeare"He was not of an age, but for all time."William Shakespeare is a man for all seasons though in truth we barely know the man...
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Mid Summer Dreaming
"If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance."- Bern Williams This summer in the English countryside has seen no sign of Flaming June. It has been a landscape of muddy...
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Beatrix Potter ~ 150th Birthday
Beatrix Potter levels her strong gaze at the camera as a childI hate missing anniversaries, and of course as history steadfastly carries on further down the path the chances to stand still to enjoy an...
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Lammastide ~ John Barleycorn Must Die
La Belle Jardiniere – August, 1896 by Eugène GrasseSummer was slow this year and the garden responded reluctantly unfolding only part of it's potential for us to see. Rain and winds destroyed the...
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Swifts ~ upon charcoal wings
A Swift glides effortlessly across the surface of the waterphoto credit RSPB websiteLast week the Swifts gathered in large numbers overhead, flying low and shrieking loudly. They were preparing to...
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The Mermaid's House
“mermaids have no tears, and therefore they suffer more.” ― Hans Christian Andersen, The Little MermaidAs August drifts into September we in England have the last Bank Holiday of the year. It's an odd...
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Number 4 Privet Drive
The first page of the first book. Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone And so it began. I've said before that words can hold hidden power to touch us in so many ways. Often it happens suddenly but...
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The Dressing Up Box
Attic Treasures by John O'Brien I usually do a more serious post for All Hallows Eve, or throw a lavish ball. But this year we are nursing our old Maine Coon Munchkin LeStrange and as he is poorly our...
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We are now on Instagram
Cinderella Clock made for a display I am always late for everything in life preferring to hold back and wait and see before testing the waters myself. Some years ago when the husband and I were buying...
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