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Well, just thought I'd explain that Elise Blaha's picture ended up at the end of my previous post, not the beginning!! I will get there in the end. Anyway, having logged on again to tell you that, I thought I'd show you the orange collage that my son Tom (aged 11) did for his art homework, because it's warm and uplifting.
...God knows, we need a bit at this time of year. Who, in their right mind would buy strawberries in January?? My husband, that's who...! Have to confess, they were good though. I usually refuse to buy them until about May, and always associate them with my childrens' birthdays, all in summer.
Rosa has started crocheting a ripple stitch throw, for her imaginary new sofa in her bedroom. Sadly, I think this may take some time owing to the cost of Debbie Bliss double knit aran wool. Well, you never know, maybe her sofa will have arrived by the time she finishes...
I love her choice of colours, they are deeper and richer than they appear here. I'm particularly fond of the grey...
In fact, grey is my favourite neutral colour. I love it with 'brights' - pink, orange, yellow, turquoise, lime green. Dark grey is best. I also like it with all the 'sludgy' colours - olive green, mustard, dusky pink, well everything really. This is my favourite scarf and cardigan which gives you some idea.
I love the way Elise Blaha uses orange and grey, particularly for her wedding invitations which are featured at the top of this post. I was trying to post her photo from Flickr to this blog, but messed it up! Didn't realize that it would go 'live' immediately, thought it would come here for editing and composing. Another lesson learnt...! In fact I'm not at all sure how to transfer a photo from someone else's blog to this one, hmm, will find out though. I love lots of Elise's graphical work, she is also very generous with her tutorials, I learnt how to do mosaics partly from her blog.
... but what fun for them! At school they're not allowed to throw snowballs, for 'health and safety' reasons!
Sparky and Fizz not so sure...
...maybe...
...maybe not...
Sparky keeps watch - but here goes Fizz of the Antarctic, circumnavigating the vast snowy landscape...
...he will do good!
Allegedly the worst weather in London for 30 years... hmm, I wonder?
So, bleary eyed, having been kept awake all night by my eldest son and his teenage friends, I dragged myself out of my duvet at 7 am, with a certain lack of New Year spirit... only to be greeted by a lovely fresh morning emerging outside my bedroom window.
My garden, children, and lots of hot tea revived me after some inevitable party clearance, and the throwing out of teenagers into the cold bright morning, somewhat worse for wear!
As I recover from my surfeit of food, I contemplate my diet over the last week, hmm... an overwhelming amount of meat, very little fruit!
Over my banana, I considered my New Year's resolutions, hmm... again. The thing is, they're always the same, have been for years, so why do I bother? Well, it's something to do with new beginnings, as I said yesterday, I just like that idea. I'm already looking forward to the Spring, and the longer evenings slowly approaching.
I consider our 'stash' of presents, many of them, I'm delighted to say, are books. They are all wonderful, some of them are in my sidebar list. For some reason, the Amazon link has reverted to the USA site, I don't know why. Bear with me until I sort it out.
I'm particularly pleased to note that many of them are London books.
I've read all the novels by Sarah Waters, loved them all, especially Fingersmith with its setting in the squalor and grime of Victorian London. It helped that I could recognize many of the places set around the City, London Bridge and Southwark. The research she does for her books is very thorough, and presumably time consuming. This new book is a ghost story, so I think I'll read it during daylight hours!
This new cookery book by Allegra McEvedy is just fabulous. 'Leon' opened in Carnaby St, and won best new restaurant in the UK in 2005, now there are nine restaurants in London. The book contains lovely graphics and photography, much of it in a 1970's scrapbook style on matt paper. It also has similarities with 'altered art' books - pages that open out yet again, and envelopes with information nestling inside, cut-outs, pull- outs, a treasure trove. It has not one, but two, ribbon page markers, a great idea if you're trying to do two recipes at once. I love the section on cuts of meat, knowledge lost on most of my generation. I wish I could take more photos and show you, but I'm worried about infringing copyright laws! The first half of the book is information, the second contains the recipes. Just delightful, a lovely present for a friend.
I do love books with good design as well as stories. The cover of this book is enticing, the contents seem absorbing.
Covering Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, The Beatles at Abbey Rd, through David Bowie, The Sex Pistols and more recently, Amy Winehouse and Dizzee Rascal, there's a lot to take in. Like fashion, London's music history has grown from the 'streets' through Elizabethan traders and public execution songs, through the East End Music Halls to present day artists such as Paloma Faith. Paul Du Noyer has been writing about music for over 20 years. He was assistant editor of NME and editor of Q and MOJO. Included are photographs of Noel Coward, Soho and the West End, early Rolling Stones, Marc Bolan and T Rex, The Kinks, Sex Pistols, Paul Weller and The Jam, Ian Dury,The Clash, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Dizzee Rascal... phew! A plethora of London characters - looking forward to this.
I bought this book for my husband, a lover of maps.
A sumptuous coffee table book, containing over 150 maps, mostly hand drawn - a graphic delight! From Roman and Saxon times through to the present, the content is split into historical, political, social and geological sections. Maps of all sorts of things: Chaucer's London; Great Fire of London; Monopoly board; River Thames; London Underground; War maps; cholera outbreaks; sewerage systems; The Crystal Palace; Festival of Britain 1851; British Empire Exhibition 1924; West Indian immigrants arriving in London; Royal events; famous architects such as Richard Rogers; London Marathon route; crime; and even a map of the Eastenders locality!
It only remains for me to say...
... A very Happy New Year from all of us here, to all of you out there. We hope you have good health, happiness and peace in 2010 - and forget the resolutions!
