Easing back to blogging

Hi everyone.

It feels like it has been a very long time since I was here last. I can't even remember what the last thing I posted about was. I haven't looked at this blog for over a month I think. I've thought about it, but I just haven't had the energy for anything.

August was super-stressful and busy, and it looks like September is going to be the same. Hopefully October will be better.

So, I'm easing back into blogging with a short post, just a few photos from my weekend. Nothing crafty I'm afraid, as that takes more time and thought than I have at the moment.

Some of you may find this a bit of a weird subject for photography. S and I went for a wander through Borough Market yesterday, and I thought it would be a chance to practice my photography.

I love looking at the food stalls and the old signage at Borough. I never buy much, but I like to take snaps. I hope it doesn't annoy the stallholders too much!

I find the fish stalls particularly fascinating, with their rows and rows of geaming scales and glassy stares - apologies to any vegetarians reading this!

The cakes and bread are great fun to look at too!

I've just ended up wishing I was a better photographer though!

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Do you ever feel like life is trying to fight with you, putting so much pressure on you to try and get you to give up doing things you love? I've felt like that the last six weeks. But I'm determined not to give up. I won't give up this blog, I won't give up crafting or any of the other things I like doing in my spare time.

Sorry about the slightly weird post this time around. I need to get my equilibrium back, but it's proving to be difficult. I read a magazine article over the weekend about trying to live a more simple life, de-cluttering, having a less materialistic approach to life. I think I need a dose of that. Not so much in the way of de-cluttering (I did a lot of that last year, pre-move) or being less materialistic (can't afford to be these days anyway!), but I think there's something I need to do in terms of slowing myself down, and taking things a step at a time. Not stressing about the stuff I can't control. I never seem to learn this, it's a problem that I seem to come back to over and over, like I just keep going in circles.

Oh well, must keep trying.


I will be back again soon I hope!

Borough Market

If you're ever in the London Bridge area on a Saturday, I recommend stopping by Borough Market. Even if you're not buying anything, it's a really great place to look around. S and I had a mosey there on Saturday. There is so much colour and amazing looking produce - I really wish I was more inclined to cook!

 

We saw lots of yummy looking chocolates and cakes:

 

 

Purple and yellow cauliflowers - one of my favourite colour combinations!:

 

 

Loads of varieties of wild mushroom:

 

 

Lots of glossy purple aubergines - very autumnal colours

 

 

and garlic! I love the colour on this garlic actually - purple white and pale green - it looks so delicate.

 

 

We also poked our heads in at Southwark Cathedral:

 

 

Phew, I think that's enough - I actually took waaay more pictures than this, but I can't share them all - I get a bit snap happy sometimes!

 

Hope you're having a good week so far - see you again soon.

 

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Pink & red

 Pink and red blooms in a hanging basket - they look very striking against the blue tiled wall.

A red phone-box behind a bed of pink and red flowers - looking comically as if it's trying to hide behind a tree!

A single red rose and fallen petal.

Gorgeous vibrant pink blooms along the river.

Hope you've had a lovely weekend.

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The waiting room

I'm now in the waiting room for my flat purchase. Everything that can be done has been from my point of view, I now just have to wait for contracts to be drawn up, and then a completion date to be agreed! I have no idea how long this will take.

In the meantime, as I'm obviously in a period of financial constraint (even more so than usual) I'm going to have to reduce my yarn buying budget.

I think this will be a good (although challenging) thing though! It gives me motivation to use up all these lovely colourful scraps to make something:

Sorry about the slight blurriness of this shot. These colours are less of a tangle than they look - I did go to the effort of winding them all in some way! Can you guess what I'm going to make!? Well, I'll share a sneak peek with you on Sunday!

This is the stage my hexagon throw has currently reached. It only needs 2 more rows to be added, and the finishing and it will be complete!

One last thing before I disappear for a few days - I thought it might be nice to share some of the more impressive sites of London that I pass by in my peripatetic life! 

This is St Pancras Hotel. I pass this on my walk between King's Cross and the office each day, and this week, while peering up at the sky (wondering if it will rain or stay sunny!) I was reminded how amaxing this building is, so thought I would take a snap and share with you.

The hotel was renovated when the Channel Tunnel rail link moved from Waterloo to St Pancras a few years ago. I would love to stay in it one day!

Right, I'm off to work soon, and then to stay at S's place. I'll be back on Sunday, so see you then. In the meantime have a lovely weekend!

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Bank Holiday sunshine

It's a Bank Holiday here in the UK again, which means another long weekend! I've spent most of it up until today out and about in London. Today has been my day at home to prepare for the week ahead.

I made a trip to Liberty's - perhaps I'll tell you why in my next post, but yes it had to do with a craft purchase!

Whilst there I couldn't resist taking some snaps of the lovely flower display which can always be found outside the Marlborough Street entrance. It's usually especially gorgeous at this time of year!

As you can see, there were roses, hydrangeas and lilacs aplenty! I'm particularly entranced by lilacs at the moment - they're just coming into flower here now - I just love the colour and all the tiny little flowers.

We also took a trip down to Richmond in Surrey - I love Richmond and its romantic looking old cottages and gorgeous park land. Only in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine being able to afford living there unfortunately!

That's all for now, just a little post to share with you the loveliness of a spring day in England!

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May flowers

Hello there, it's nice to be back after more than a week away from blogging. I was away last weekend, and then ill when I got back, and then of course back at work.

But, this weekend is a bank holiday here in the UK, which means a lovely extra day off today! S and I made the most of the long weekend - we went for a stroll around Hampton Court Palace gardens yesterday, and saw some lovely flowers.

Tupips, blossoms and some daffodils still in evidence, though the bluebells are now finally starting to take over from Daffodils, after having an extra long wait to flower because of the cold.

We're hoping to go back to Hampton Court in June - there is a lovely rose garden there - nothing in bloom just yet, but I think it will be glorious in a couple more months, so we're going to try and go back to see the roses.

Of course I have still squeezed in some crochet: some more of the blanket I showed you last time:

It's coming a long nicely and should soon be finished. I'm hoping to post a pattern for the complete blanket including yarn requirements, size, number of motifs made and or course a tutorial for the motif itself.

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Canal walk

On Saturday we had such lovely weather, S and I decided it would be perfect for a walk. 

For a while we've been planning to walk along Regent's Canal, but the bad weather has put us off. Now that spring seems to have arrived to stay, we were able to walk the route we had planned weeks ago.

We started at Angel, Islington, and headed down the canal tow path. The sun was shining and there were some lovely blossom trees. I couldn't resist frequent stops to take pictures, which I'm afraid added rather to the length of the walk!

We also stopped along the tow path to watch one of the locks in operation as two canal boats passed through.

As you can see there was so much sunlight that a few of my pictures came out rather over-exposed! Still, it was lovely to feel the sun's warmth on our faces again after such a long, cold winter.

The walk took us through Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Mile End. We passed parks, industrial areas, back gardens and many many colourful houseboats - even one with a tea room inside (sadly not open when we passed) and one selling second hand books from the deck!

 

After about 2 hours and 4 miles of walking, we made it to Limehouse Basin, and stopped off at a lovely pub, The Grapes. The Grapes has a little terrace at the back which overlooks the river Thames - the view from the terrace shown in the pictures above.

We sat basking in the sun, enjoying some cold drinks and the sound of the waves lapping against the shingle.

 It was definately the best day of the year so far!

Hope you enjoyed your weekend too!

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