Autumn days are upon us

No, this is it. Forget lazy summer evenings, forget the first daffs of spring - AUTUMN is where it's at. By far my favourite time of year, and this week, in the shire, it is beautiful! I would like to be out of doors for the whole of October - wearing my hat and scarf, digging the garden and listening to the birds...perhaps stopping once in a while for a hot chocolate around a camp fire.... bliss!

Another crazy few weeks have passed, and it is scary how infrequently I am finding the time to step outside to notice the changing seasons. My hasty cycle rides up and down the road to college are not enough to really soak up every last drop of autumn. What I really want to do is to go foraging for conkers and golden leaves to make a little autumn display in my living room.... watch this space...

Magical

We spent an afternoon punting on the Isis in Oxford on Sunday, passing by the botanical gardens, Christchurch Meadow and the fields beyond, strewn with picnic rugs and literary types enjoying the late summer sun. This view, was so totally magical that I can almost imagine the wings attached to this dainty figure in the tree! It is the stuff of J M Barrie or the Flower Fairies! So, for a brief moment, a blissful summer arrived in Oxford....I won't dwell on the fact that it left as swiftly as it arrived....Instead, here is further proof of the weather that was...

Pretty things make my world go round

Oh how I long for a such serene place to study!

I am about to start my teacher training course, in fact, today has been my last day of the seemingly endless summer that I have allowed myself, and as it has been raining and raining and raining, I have spent most of it reading Living Etc and sorting lever-arch files on a shelf in our living room. It is at times like these that I weaken, and wish that I had followed the more lucrative path of a lawyer or doctor - submitted myself to the trials of training in order to be rewarded with the financial gain. Perhaps then I would have been able to have made it to a beautiful little cottage by now, with room for a separate study and living space?! Alas, I chose to drift, for my sanity's sake I suppose, through a few creative and charitable jobs before settling on a (hopefully-to-be) rewarding teaching career, minus a mortgage!

I am extremely excited about this next move, and know that it is the right step, but while I train I must be satisfied with our lovely house in Oxford which we share with an old friend, who puts up with us wonderfully, and console myself with dreams of our future home. Despite spacial limitations however, I am enjoying creating a space to work, and have managed to sort a couple of spaces to shuffle around when the boys in my life are out doing other things. God bless interiors magazines for inspiring my dreams in the process!

A xx

Just a blog for blogging's sake

I have had a wondefully floaty summer, hanging out with my love, playing endless games of tennis and basketball, cooking many delicious meals to enjoy in our garden during the brief sunny spells, cycling in France and camping in Cornwall - what an absolutely indulgent time! But now the summer is drawing to a close and I have that wonderful sense of a new term coming. I begin my teacher training in a couple of weeks, and having had the luxury of all this time off, am completely refreshed and ready to go - I can't wait!

I had my first morning in the library yesterday, and then treated myself to a brand new lever-arch file and some narrow-ruled A4 paper - oh it is lovely! There is nothing better than passing the time sorting out nice stationary, labelling books and collecting together my favourite pens - all this gives me the secure feeling that the work load will be manageable and ordered..... I don't think I want to consider an alternative right now-I am enjoying this moment too much!

Our last treat before this next adventure begins, on our way back from camping near the boy's childhood home in Cornwall, was a DELICIOUS lunch at the field kitchen at Riverford Organics. As J is a chef, and I am surrounded by foodies in my family life, we both have great interest in production and preparation of food. Riverford had been recommended by my ma, who works for a similar company in Oxfordshire, and the occasion fully lived up to our expectations. The format is simple, turn up and be fed whatever they have in season at large refectory tables in the architecturally impressive kitchen, which sits in the hllls just north of Totnes in Devon. We ate an absolute feast of wild salmon with puy lentils, roasted fennel gratin, baked carrots with beetroot, spinach and sweetcorn with chilli, new potatoes which tasted as though they had been dug from the ground that morning (which they probably had).....the list went on and on and on... all was washed down with Luscombe's Hot Ginger Beer - and followed by the stickiest sticky toffee pudding that I have ever had! AMAZING! Happy Days!

A xx

Oh, before I forget...

I am back from France, and am hoping to settle into a bit of blogging tomorrow, but in the meantime, I wanted to show you these cakes.... Yes, they have Cliff Richard on, and yes, I know that they are a little odd - but there was reason behind the madness! I have a wonderful housemate and longtime friend, Mr B, who is currently performing at the Edinburgh Festival. We dearly hope that he is not too exhausted and is thriving amongst all the creativity and craziness...

Well, to send him off at the beginning of the month, we threw a little barbecue, while the sun was shining and the sky was clear of clouds (do you remember that little window of summer that we had?!) - and I found this fantastic website which puts photos onto icing for cakes. Why Cliff? simply because the play is called Why we ate Cliff Richard.... for more explanation check out the website www.weatecliff.com. Or go and see the play at the Pleasance Theatre.

The cakes went down a storm, and I am about to make some more for my granpa's 80th, with a beaming photo of the man himself on each one - hopefully my extended family won't think I have lost the plot!

A xx

Brittany on a Bicycle

Ok, so I have finished the skirt that I started about a month ago, and really do mean to post a picture and talk through what I did but I am currently obsessed with my upcoming trip to France and all I can do is plan! I am heading off on my new bike for a few weeks of cycling around and about, heading down towards Ile de Re to meet a lovely friend for some lying in the sunshine and lots of reading and relaxing. I am trying to figure out a way of planning my route with very little idea of what the lines on the map look like in real life, but figure that as long as I have a roof over my head each night, I can make up most of it as I go along.... at least I hope so!! This photo is on my current moodboard - it is from the farm we stayed on in Italy and is acting as inspiration for all my daydreaming!

Of course, me being me, the thing that is occupying my thoughts more than anything is what to take! There is something so pleasurable about paring down to the absolute necessities and travelling light (although my boyfriend wouldn't believe me if I said it out loud) that I am, as usual, making endless lists of clothes, cosmetics, books etc etc... oh, and puncture repair kits, lights, helmets, padded cycling shorts.... eek!

I have been looking at various travel blogs, and is bringing back that wonderful feeling of freedom that comes with just heading off to (not-so) distant shores... I am sure to share more of this in the coming weeks... and I promise the skirt too...

xx

Happy Days

It is fact universally acknowledged, that a party is a good party when it involves dancing in a pair of wellies. There is nothing I like more than to dance in a field, clasping a glass of elderflower champagne, wearing a floaty dress, (or in this case a pair of brand new delicious shorts) along with my favourite navy wellies. Last night we partied under the shade of a giant stripey tent into the early hours, and I loved every minute of it! We drank home-brew, we danced to reggae beats and 60s classics, and feasted on lamb cooked on a spit over an open fire. Absolute bliss - the stuff my dreams are made of.

It seems worth noting that after my first, enthusiastic post, I haven't written in a while. It turns out that after 4 years of sitting in an office I had developed computeritis, and have been barely able to check my email, let alone surf the internet or blog because it involved going near my laptop, but I am relieved to announce that I am out of the woods, and there are some blogs in the pipeline. This really is a project I am excited about - so I hope to contribute something creative and inspiring to the world of blogspot.

xx