Cloth House

One of my favourite stores in London is Cloth House. It's a tiny little shop in Soho crammed with fabrics and notions...

It has modern fabrics and the more traditional that I love...such as toiles, ticking and grain sacking, not to mention beautiful linens in different colours...

The shop also stocks a changing variety of quirky bits n bobs...

like these tiny rosette thingies that I found yesterday...I thought they would be great for decorating a gift or...

just pinned onto something...

I also found these amazing little tassels...with tiny buttons on the ends...

perhaps I could make some bigger ones....

Last time I was in the store I found this vintage bunting...of which there are none left. The unusual items seem to go very quickly.

A great store and always worth a look.

Linking up with Sarah's Goodlife Wednesday.

A Dark Corner.

We have a dark little corner in our hallway, under the stairs...so I have placed a butlers table there. However, it unfortunately ends up being the repository for car keys, spare change and other odds and ends.

I decided it was time for a tidy up...so all the clutter disappeared in a puff of smoke, some new pictures went up...

and just in case hubby's reading this...I've had them for ages..really...

popped some french comics underneath...

and completed the look with an old framed music sheet. Now if I can just keep every one's junk from accumulating again...


Of course I then started looking around to see what else I could 'cheer up'...I was really in the mood to change some bits around...

so I plonked this old bucket at the front door and filled it with tea towels...you know the nice linen ones that nobody is allowed to use...

this old wire basket found a new home with some lovely pale paperbacks...

and even the kitchen didn't escape with a pot of bulbs finding a sunny spot near the window.

oh...and a little sneak peek of my early Mother's Day pressie...has to be re-framed...so will unveil later.
Chook x

Australian Spring.

I went looking for poetry, to accompany my spring flowers and found a poem by Catherine Helen Spence...not about an English spring, but instead referring to an Australian spring, but with reference to England...
 

...Yet when Australia entertains

Strangers to Austral air,

In plant, and beast, and bird-her plains

Find angels unaware.

Angels who gifts of priceless worth

Back to the givers bring,

For our old kindred in the North

May bless our Southern Spring.

...Each heart throb of the older world

Thrills through electric wires,

The British flag is still unfurled

The standard of our sires!

"Broad-based upon the people's will"

Our Commonwealth may bring

To all the Empire vast a thrill

Of this Australian Spring.

...just a couple of verses from her poem.

A Message from Chook.

Today dawned another glorious balmy spring day and we needed eggs. So off I went to the local farm...to get the eggs...and to go looking for farm animals...

and I found lots of chooks...some pretty black and white ones...

a sleek black one...

a brilliant white one with something red and rubbery looking going on under it's chin...

very smart ones...that wouldn't look up at me no matter how many stupid noises I made...

and this fine specimen...he knew he was handsome!

I quite enjoyed looking at the chooks and feeding them...and along the way I laughed to myself...cause my sister's nickname for me is 'Chook'...something to do with the way she thinks I run...what a cheek!

So having had plenty of chook time, I made my way to the other animals...elbowing small children out of the way...looking for lambs...

and found five little piglets having their lunch...it's quite a feat juggling the camera whilst trying to hold my fingers up to my nose!

but they were very cute...and when I went by later they were all fast asleep.

This donkey refused to look up for a photo op...again a lot of tongue clicking went on...but to no avail, and he simply was not interested in chook food.

Then I stumbled into the maternity ward...this poor darling was in labour...gently rocking back and forth with lots of other expectant mums...

Finally,  next door, I struck gold...the nursery! Look at that face...

little wobbly legs...

sticking close to Mum..

or snuggled up in the hay.

Oh, and I did remember the eggs...after all that's what I really went for!!
Chook x

A Cotswold Village.

On my journey to Wales, a week ago, we took our time and detoured a little....

to the Cotswold's... a vaguely defined area, famous for its stone cottages and very picturesque villages.

We found one such village, tucked away, 'off the beaten track'...not a tourist in sight (except me)...

with the cutest houses I've ever seen...

some were a even a bit crooked...

some had monuments in front...

and old carriage ways.

Up a lane way, I strolled...

past more beautiful cottages...

to find a kangaroo....totally unexpected...perhaps Aussies live in there...

really old doors (1618)...with scary knockers...

and secret signs...

and beautiful, imposing gates.

G'day from U.K.

Hi there. Today I am participating in Laura's 'Around the World in a Day' Expat  linky party. What a great opportunity to tell my story and also meet other 'Expats' from all over the place, some of which may possibly be living just around the corner...who knows!

I have been living here in England for nearly 20 months with my husband and son, following a company move....and I'm loving it.

Friends and family at home were worried about me, when we first announced the move to chilly ole England, and I'm the first to admit that I hate the cold.

  
Well, our first winter here was the coldest in 30 years...yikes...but with it came the snow and the village was transformed...

This tree is in the church grounds where I take my walks...

We played in the snow like children and of course the opportunity to experience a Northern Hemisphere Christmas was amazing...so different from Australia's which is in the middle of summer...the food tastes much better in the cold...so I simply ate my way through Christmas!

The change of seasons here is remarkable...and the photo opps plentiful...

Autumn was beautiful, and with so many deciduous trees (not a Gum tree to be found), a colourful change was a sure thing...

The fields turned golden, with the advent of the rapeseed crop...(that's Canola to all the Aussies)...

And I was so surprised to find that the U.K. has some decent beaches...

Along the way I have seen some interesting furry friends including more breeds of sheep than I have ever seen in my life...but you have to admit...this one is very pretty...

I totally didn't expect pets like this in my garden...scurrying around, collecting walnuts and then burying them in the lawn...

Of course my absolute favourite is the Robin....we have been very lucky to have a pair nesting in our garden...they are fascinating to watch...real characters...

England's climate lends itself to flowers and bulbs.... I always have fresh flowers in the house...

London is only a quick train trip away...what a shame...I just have to go in for shopping trips...

but it's also a great city to sight see in...

and there's never a beautiful, quaint cottage far way...

However, as most Expats will probably tell you, their home country is never far from their hearts...and Australia is never far from mine.

To link up with Laura simply click on the button in my side bar and it will take you straight to the party!