Blog Archives

Making a floral display with vintage bottles

How to make an easy but impressive floral display for the whole year

October 9, 2017

I have a thing for old bottles. Whenever I see one in a flea market or boot sale, I always pick it up; wonder what it once held and who in its history has owned it; but end up putting it down again because I’ve never had a reason to buy it (aren’t I good?!). However, I’ve finally thought of a reason to buy a whole load of them! And because I was impatient, I bought a job lot of vintage clear glass bottles, but actually it would’ve been fun to build up the collection over time, picking one up here and there. I thought this would be a nice quick and easy blog post just sharing my flower arrangement idea, but I ended up being pulled into the time-draining vortex of the internet discovering all sorts of things about old bottles! Did you know there are collectors’ clubs and events all over the country? If I had time for another hobby, I can see that vintage bottle collecting could become one of them!…..

Late January Sales shopping – Next, New Look, Joe Browns, Joules & Weird Fish

February 6, 2017

I don’t like crowds; particularly in the shops when the January sales start. However, I absolutely LOVE a bargain! So, if I have the funds, I would sometimes go shopping the first week the kids had gone back to school, so at least I wouldn’t be fighting with them along the sales rails! Lately though, I haven’t specifically gone out of my way to go shopping in the sales, but I passed by New Look the other day and bought a couple of things. Then I was seduced by the Joe Browns catalogue that appeared on my doorstep, so I bought a couple of things from there online. Then, I was at Clark’s Village in Street to look for boots for Chris, when I ended up buying a few things there. Ooops!….

Birthday dinner at The Kingsdon Inn, nr Somerton, Somerset

It was my birthday! And what better way to celebrate than going out and have someone else cook for you. And clear away. Yeeees! I absolutely love eating out. It’s just such a pity that one meal out for the four of us costs about the same as our weekly shop from Tescos. But you see, (as I sometimes remember to remind myself) if you did it every day, it wouldn’t be special, would it? My lovely daughter, Rain did the research, and hunted out all restaurants within a reasonable distance that served Duck, being that duck is my favourite meal. The Kingsdon Inn came up as one of the top twenty restaurants in Somerset, and when my husband phoned to check food serving hours, it turned out you need to book well in advance if you want a table. We were lucky and got the second-to-last one; which is not what you’d expect for somewhere truly out in the sticks….