A Walk around London

Hello everyone, yes I'm back after a short break from blogging and I have lots of photos to share from a couple of recent weekends away...

Last weekend we went to London for four days, primarily to see The Phantom of the Opera with some friends from Europe, and for a change we walked instead of tubing it everywhere. As a result I stumbled past some sights and places that I haven't photographed before....

I'll start with the view from our window at the Hotel Russell. Just opposite Russell Square this grand old hotel is within walking distance of Oxford Street and onwards. The British Museum is right around the corner and Euston Station is just up the road, which meant we could avoid the tube with our luggage (I packed enough for a week)!

On our way we walked down Regent Street which was heaving all weekend, with Christmas shoppers and tourists like us.

We wandered past buildings with a definite French influence...

and came across many iconic sights...

including golden statues which gleamed against the blue sky...London is getting spruced up for the games...

We couldn't have had a better day...especially in November.

Big Ben was looking very handsome with freshly painted golden bits...

But as always, I also find myself taking shots of doors and windows...

This confection was in Queen Anne's Gate and I'm assuming is in the Queen Anne style...

This very special door leads into the Embassy of Chile, which was a lovely surprise as our friend Marco, is Chilean!

Another window with the lot...interesting street sign, old fashioned lamp and a chandelier!!

I always seem to find an interesting red door...

Keep in mind, most of these street names are very old and would have originally reflected the purpose or destination to be found...

Finally, the Union Jack was evident everywhere...

The Cross of St. George, en masse, flying over Admiralty Arch.

Looking up The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, the Union Jack and the flag of Turkey.

Finally  we visited Admiral Nelson atop his column in Trafalgar Square, that is, before we hit the pub...and I have lots of photos of pubs around London.

Later in the week I will post some more photos including a visit into Anthropologie. But for now I will leave you with a new furry friend that I made in Russell Square....

He was a rather finicky eater...I had rustled up some snacks from the bar in the Russell Hotel, but we found he had a preference for the cashews, turning his nose up at the sugar coated peanuts. We decided not to offer him the wasabi peas, although it may have been hilarious to watch his little face after he tried one...

Linking up with Laura from Happy Homemaker UK

Bringing Autumn into the house

Lately, I've been watching the weather outside....admiring the Autumn colour, but cringing at the leaves flying off the trees, looking forward to the snow, but dreading the winter, observing the climbing temps back home, and wishing I was there for a decent summer.

So, there was nothing else for it really, but to bring some Autumn colour inside the house...

This arrangement was left over from a recent Seniors Lunch, which I helped with in the village. I had scavenged around the village gardens (I asked first), and the hedgerows, to pad out the roses and white daisies...so I just jammed it all in and I was very happy with the result....

There is a huge variety of pumpkin and orange toned roses available at this time of the year, and I wouldn't ordinarily combine orange and red, but it really seemed to work...

So, off I took with my trusty secateurs and found some interesting berries and leaves in the hedgerows to liven up some new roses...

These paler beauties, looked lovely with some red and black coloured berries...

and this pale apricot rose, I have arranged with white roses, black berries and Autumn leaves...

and as the leaves fall from the arrangement, they look great lying on the table...

On the hearth, I have crammed some sort of daisy, again in lovely orange tones, with some more white roses, and red berries into an old florists bucket..

These daisies almost didn't make it home with me as I put them back twice, they didn't look much in the shop... but I think they have come into their own with the red and white...

The other thing I'm loving at the moment is the variety of little pumpkins around...something we don't see in Oz...

Look at the little hint of orange in the creases here...the only trouble with sticking one under a glass cloche is that they tend to grow little white furry coats within a couple of days...

I actually have different varieties, scattered all over the house, for just a little punch of Autumn and Halloween..

But my favourite are these little white ones...

Oh, and I nearly forgot these orange berries I sort of nicked out of someones front garden...I tend to take of for a walk with my secateurs just in case I find something interesting....

Treasures found

Would anybody like a cigar...

 well, I can't help...

 but...I have a cigar cupboard...

 I had literally just walked into the collectibles fair and there it was, and somehow I knew I couldn't walk away...

 

Once I opened the doors I was smitten...with the detailing of the brand on the inside of the doors....the only trouble was, having been there for all of two minutes, I had no idea what other treasures might be waiting for me...so I considered for a further two minutes...and paid the lady.

So with nearly all my money spent I poked around for another hour or so and did come up with a few more 'little' bits.  I thought that this tray was lovely, and it looks o.k. in the new cupboard....

I found these groovy rail maps...thought they would be nice framed down the track..

And lastly, this little board...

From French Affair, this was one of hundreds of great products they had on display across three stands.

 All in all, a productive day...now whether to keep the doors open or closed...


Linking up with Sarah for Goodlife Wednesday.

Hunting & Collecting

Yesterday I trekked northwards in search of treasures, all the way to the Newark and Nottinghamshire Showground for the International Antique and Collectors Fair (IACF) and there were treasures galore...

and to my delight a lot of the pitches had a decidedly French theme...

look at these gorgeous large green bottles...I need at least 3...or 5....

a lot of the furniture was in that lovely soft palette..

the 'Beyond France' display...with fabrics beyond amazing.

I really liked this little vignette...although the mirror is probably a bit OTT..

Of course there was plenty of the strange and unusual...anybody for a stuffed pheasant or a spare head...?

Or perhaps a pink fireplace surround...just what I need...

what can I say except...this is real hide...and.. 'Moo'...

A dinosaur in a lovely glass cloche..

lots of those thingy-ma-jigs...for measuring something-or-other...

and a lovely old red vacuum cleaner...no I didn't buy it...

There were lots of interesting bits  'n pieces..

suitcases...gal...in fact the most interesting stuff (other than the French merchandise in the tents) was around the outside, often just plonked on the ground and not necessarily styled or organised like this lot.

I should have grabbed some of these, they were cheap...

One day I'm taking a truck so I can load in some furniture...just dreaming of course...

I really loved this large blue dresser....which minutes after I took this photo blew over with the rest of the furniture stacked beside it....one of the hazards at this type of market...you could end up getting killed by a heavy flying piece of furniture!!

And what did I buy, you may be wondering....here's a little sneak peek...

See you soon..

Autumn Foraging

As the Autumn progresses I've noticed the wildlife is becoming very industrious. The Robins have returned to the area...I can hear them singing and have had the odd visit to my garden. I bought some mealy bugs from the nursery recently, but the robins have turned up their noses and totally ignored them, choosing instead to hunt for flying insects or worms after I have watered the garden.

The walnut tree is laden with nuts, which regularly drop onto our roof with a thud, often hotly pursued by this little fellow who dashes across our house in what sounds like hob nailed boots..

Paul collected a tub full and popped them on the table outside where my little mate found them this morning...

Well...he couldn't collect them fast enough, and made a huge mess in the process, spreading soil all over the place as he scurried off to bury them in our front yard...

So now there are perfectly round little holes where he has effectively 'screwed' into the ground his nuts!

Now, with all this activity going on I did a bit of foraging of my own, and came up with this beauty...

It's an old organ chest which has been re-purposed as a coffee table

On the side is stencilled 'Mason & Hamlin Organ'...and I love that it's beaten up, just a bit..

I also love my 'gladies'...they remind my of my Nanna whose name was Gladys.

Linking up today for more Autumn stories with Sarah at Modern Country Style.