Friday 30 November 2007

An Evening Out With MrM

MrM is giving me a tour of St. Pancras.

We look at the retail units

and the statue of Sir John Betjeman.

The Biggest Advent Calendar in the World has no numbers
but I am assured
there will be a man with a ladder and a Letraset tonight .

We check out the Champagne Bar

and watch the trains go by.

All around us people are saying
'Wonderful'; 'Amazing'; 'Fantastic'

This is his station and MrM is very proud.

And I am so very proud of him.

*****

MrM is part of the management team.
It is a HUGE project
which is linked to the Channel Tunnel, High Speed rail link, 2012 Olympics
and regeneration of a massive area of East London.

However, it is the restoration of this beautiful station
that everyone involved feels so passionately about.
It has taken ten years but it was worth it.
So many people involved and all of them feel it is their station!

Thursday 29 November 2007

To you all


Thank you for all your comments.
Your contributions make this blog so much more
than it would be with just my words and pictures.
I love reading them
and your insights and different perspectives
bring delight every day.

I think that I am very fortunate indeed
to have such interesting and amusing readers.

Moss

Moss is the only thing to photograph now.

Can I create an inspiring post with pictures of moss?

It is not photogenic.

It only looks good next to something else.

I think that I had better abandon this post now.

Not everything is worth blogging about.

Wednesday 28 November 2007

Christmas Shopping

Yesterday I had a day off work to do Christmas Shopping.

This was my day:

Haircut
Talk to nice lady about upholstery
Post Office
Talk to nice man about picture framing
Take artistic photographs of moss
Scrub dining room floor
Reorganise personal filing

It is amazing what you can achieve
When you are trying to avoid doing
something boring.

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Kitchen Confidential

Driftwood has tagged me to write 8 random things.
This is very difficult because I am not a random person.

So I thought I would open my heart to y'all
and get personal.

1. I am obsessive about spices.
They must be FRESH.

2. The smell of burnt toast
sends me into a FRENZY of opening windows.

3. I HATE pasta.
Unless it is one of those smart restaurants
which serve a single ravioli on a huge plate.

4. I cannot SWALLOW broad beans.

5. I am a good cook
but I am NOT INTERESTED
in cooking for myself.

6. I live in constant FEAR
of running out of milk.

7. I am too LAZY to peel oranges.

8. The smell of honey makes me feel SICK.

9. Lunch is a ham sandwich.
EVERY day.

This is so shocking that I was not going to reveal it
but then I read that Tracey does too.

Now I feel I have joined the Coolest Club in town.

Monday 26 November 2007

Freesias

Freesias have a warm, slightly spicy fragrance

that clings to the air and reaches you in soft waves

when you pause and turn your head.

It is the smell of winter

like cinnamon and cloves,

freshly peeled clementines,

mulled wine and wet pine needles.

Sunday 25 November 2007

Stir Up Sunday

This Book of Common Prayer
belonged to MissM's Great-Great Aunt.

It was given to her at her confirmation in March 1918.
She was 16.

Her cousin had been killed in France only six months before
and she would have known that
her only brother was due to be called up.
It is not surprising that a hymn for use in time of war
is glued onto the front page.

Only one in ten women of her generation married.
She did not.
She was one of that multitude of women
who had to make their own way in the world.

I am not a curious person
and it has never occurred to me to look inside the little pocket.
I find to my surprise that it still contains pennies,
probably for the collection.

It seems appropriate.
She was a very generous woman.

Saturday 24 November 2007

Paws for Thought

Accessories are the key to a successful outfit.
Try to ensure that they are co-ordinated.
Update them regularly with new looks for each season.
Red is the new Black for Winter 08.

Love Poppy
x

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to my
beagle buddy.

Friday 23 November 2007

Self-heal

Prunella vulgaris

I would not have noticed this flower in the summer.
The deep purple is easily absorbed
in the shadows under the trees
and it is so small that you could tread on it
without realising what you have done.
Now, it is the only flower that I see
and it gives me great pleasure.

Do you want to know why I write this blog?
It is because I feel I must.

Sometimes I long for a break
and I wish I could go back to the pre-blog time.
But I feel compelled to continue.
The things that I need to write about
queue up and jostle for space in my brain.

Each post takes a very short time
because it is there before I write it.
And then there is a sense of relief
as though I am on a journey
and another step
has been taken.

In each post I see something new
in isolation,
by itself.
I can think about that one thing
and appreciate it.

And be grateful.

Thursday 22 November 2007

A day in London with MasterM

We meet at Baker Street tube station.

He is taking me to a gallery in Dorset Street
He checks the map and then guides me across busy intersections
For the first time MasterM is showing me his London.

The Atlas Gallery has an exhibition of photos by Lev Borodulin
Shotputters, divers and cyclists black against the white walls.
I am seeing a world that I do not know.

I offer lunch and we are back on familiar territory
MasterM eats his solid chocolate fudge
with no apparent ill effects.

And now we must spend the afternoon
at a University Open Day
listening to an admission tutor,
meeting student ambassadors,
touring academic rooms.

You might think that this would be my world
but as I listen to him
discussing his plans for the future with other people
I know that this is his world now
and it is a huge privilege to be there.

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Sue Gee

Sue Gee - how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.


1.You write a book with a ravishing title
that leaps off a bookshelf and into my hands.
Who could resist 'The Mysteries of Glass' ?

2. You describe the Herefordshire countryside in a way
that makes me almost renounce my Cornish heritage.

3. The principal characters are agonisingly well drawn.
As they meet I want to reach out and prevent the catastrophe.

4. My head aches with the complexity of the dilemma as I read.

5. I immediately return to the bookshop for more.
I find 'The Hours of the Night' and am not disappointed.

Philipa Gregory agrees with me.

6. Now I am reduced to searching
through second hand bookshops for the backlist.
I find ' Keeping Secrets' in a strange shop
in the back streets of Sligo
with a scary amount of 'Dungeons and Dragons' manuals.

It is the earliest of your books
but has the compassionate insight into relationships
that characterises your later writing.

7. A new book 'Reading in Bed' has just been released.
I want it for Christmas.
MrM - are you listening?

Tuesday 20 November 2007

after rain

everything glitters

and shines

and sparkles

and shimmers

wild jewels hidden in winter hedgerows

Monday 19 November 2007

Adventures in Gastronomy

MasterM is cooking in Another Woman's kitchen.
He calls.

MasterM
I am cooking steak for supper
MrsM
Wow! That sounds good
MasterM
What do you think we should we have with the steak?
MrsM
thinks: What is quick and nutritious?
What about frozen peas?
MasterM
Won't they be a bit cold
pause
MrsM
You cook them first
MasterM
Right.

Sunday 18 November 2007

Broadening Horizons

Pomegranate

Why?

Because it is a Super Food
and will protect me against wrinkles, cellulite
and things that go bump in the night.

What are you going to do with it?

Make a jewelled fruit salad.

Dragon Fruit

Why?

Why not?

What are you going to do with it?

I am going to put it in my fruit bowl
and pretend that I eat Dragon Fruit all the time.

Cape Gooseberries

Why?

Because they are pretty.

What are you going to do with them?

MissM can dip them in chocolate
and give them to her friends

Custard Apple
(the photogenic side)

Why?

Because it was half price.

What are you going to do with it?

I have no idea.

*****

Many thanks to all of you who recommended new blogs to read.

Here is a list for you to enjoy too: