March Photo Scavenger Hunt

Here is my selection for March.

Morning

Can't start the day without my first cuppa and a read of the newspaper

Buttons

Square

If ever we downsize our home I would love one of these little

terraced houses that surround Prittlewell Square in Southend

Kitchen

The hub of my home where everyone descends

 and socialises while dinner is cooking

Theatre

Just round the corner from Covent Garden

Street Name

A favourite character of mine who wrote his diaries at home in nearby Seething Lane

Fancy

A selection of fancy cakes I made for a family celebration

Landmark

Can't you just tell I love visiting London?

Fashion

Window shopping outside Accessorize

Words

Says it all!

Greeting card that I couldn't bear to part with

City

Taken in Lime Street, London with the Lloyds Building on the left and as usual no

matter where you are in the City, The Gherkin is always found peeking round a corner!

Half a face

This was taken on a recent trip to the church where I was married

Once again I've really enjoyed looking for and taking these photos.

Thanks again to Kathy at

Postcards from the pp for organising this fun challenge

Collecting and reflecting

Welcome to my new follower BeautifulDees 

and a big thankyou for all your lovely comments recently.

We have promised ourselves that during the summer months we are going to attack our loft hoping to dispose of the many items of household 'rubbish' that have been stored away and been forgotten in the depths of time. To my knowledge there is a large collection of our children's toys (they are now 38 and 36 years old) and clothes (why?).  Old vinyl singles, EPs and LPs (which will never be played again) as well as numerous table lamps (dated), suitcases (full of toot) and no end of boxes of stuff that we 'just couldn't throw away' including old dinner sets, saucepans, cassette players etc - you name it, we have stored it.  But no more - enough is enough and it's all going - either to the tip, the charity shop or a boot sale.

That being so, I recently came across a selection of Coronation mugs that I'd been collecting over the years and simply would never throw out. They were hidden away in a box in our garage of all places. Anyway with the Queen's forthcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations I couldn't resist sharing them with you.

Firstly Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee mug - it does look a bit sorry for itself

but it is 115 years old after all. Victoria was crowned on 28 June 1838

I love the 'all round' depiction of Victoria's reign as both Queen and Empress

Unfortunately I don't have a mug of Edward Vll's Coronation - (yet!)

Next came the Coronation of  King George V and his Queen Mary of Teck

who were crowned on 22 June 1911

Then came the 'King that never was' Edward Vlll

whose Coronation should have been in May 1937,  but of course his abdication

 meant that he was never crowned and he subsequently married Wallis Simpson.

Edward's brother George Vl stepped in and was crowned on 12 May 1937

alongside his Queen - Elizabeth Bowes Lyon

Finally, last but not least our own Queen Elizabeth

who came to the throne 60 years ago and whose

 Coronation took place on 2nd June 1953

(This was my mug given to me as a VERY young child!!)

 

We are planning to go to London to see the Jubilee Flotilla on the Thames and then indulge in a few family barbecues over that weekend. What will you be doing to celebrate?

Summertime begins

What a glorious day its been and whilst I was at my tutorial this afternoon Mr M has been pottering about outside and with a little bit of tidying up the garden is starting to look good again. Can't wait to start putting in some bedding plants and filling up the baskets and tubs, so with Easter not too far away that'll be the time to do it. Hopefully, weather permitting we can get the barbecue out again and sooner rather than later.

 

It won't be long now before the Clematis starts to shoot its way across the pergola - its so lovely but doesn't last for long though

My summerhouse needs a coat of paint on the inside and am thinking of duck egg blue or perhaps birch. Hope to get on to it soon, time permitting and I'm hoping to re-vamp the look. I have a few ideas in mind. I just love sitting relaxing out there, it's my little bolt hole where I can just do as I please (not that I can't indoors, but you know what I mean).

We've only got a small garden but when everything is in flower and the sun is shining, we love it.So with summertime beginning tomorrow looking forward to some lighter evenings and the chance to spend more time outside.

My new guest room

Well my guest room is now finished, other than finding some suitable pictures for the wall. I'm so pleased with the look, especially the distressed finish to the furniture. The day bed we bought from Next about five years ago and it's been so useful as there is another roll-out bed underneath which turns it into a large double bed.

The curtains I found in Ikea and because they were about 9ft long I was able to make some cushions for the day bed, with still loads left to play around with.

The other cushion I made using some fabric from a layer cake to make the different sized hearts and sewed them on to the plain cushion.

The shop we bought the furniture from is called Mad Dogs and Englishmen where they sell bespoke hand made furniture, lighting and all kinds of vintage and shabby chic furnishings and goods. They also do 'afternoon tea' in their 1930s style Parlour Tea Room where they serve an abundance of home made cakes, crumpets, dainty sandwiches and lots of frivolous fancies, as well as a selection of tea and freshly ground coffee and where typically 1930s music is played in the background. Very refined and a lovely treat.

I feel another visit coming on, but it won't all stop at tea methinks! There is a bookshelf I have my eye on.....

Incidentally, I've just entered my name for Alix's fabulous giveaway at Used to Bees  pop over and take a look.

My lovely weekend

Welcome to my new follower Angelica.

Hope you all enjoyed Mothering Sunday. My weekend started on Thursday evening when my daughter took me to see  'Birds of a Feather' at our local theatre, The Cliffs Pavilion in Southend. The original TV cast of Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph starred in the show, which had everyone in fits of laughter. It was such a good night out and to be recommended if their tour takes it to your part of the country. Their humour hasn't changed a bit and the script was as good, if not better than the original all those years ago.

Saturday took us to London to meet our friends Ellen and Norman. The day started out quite wet and dull but soon brightened up. This flower stall outside Embankment tube station was stunning.

We strolled over to Covent Garden

where as usual there was plenty to do and much to see

We then finished off our day at Cafe Rouge for a superb meal

(not my photo I'm afraid, by now it was raining hard)

Sunday was lovely. We went to our son J's with his wife A's parents where we all enjoyed a  wonderful lunch and spent time with our grandchildren. As our daughter E had been taken out herself during the day we went to her for drinks in the evening and again had a lovely time with her children. Lots of lovely pressies but I must just show you this gorgeous bracelet that E bought me.

I just love it.

New furniture and a new camera

Things have been pretty hectic here for a couple of weeks getting my guest room up to scratch with decorating and running around looking for carpets, curtains and some new furniture has left us exhausted. It's surprising how much time and effort it takes to get one room organised. The worst thing was having to empty our old spare wardrobe and chest of drawers of all their contents whilst waiting for the new furniture to arrive. Every room upstairs seemed to have something laying around and hopefully I may get a chance to sort out a few bits for the charity shop before re-stocking the new furniture. Anyway we're almost there and will post pictures in a few days.

In the meantime however, I have treated myself to this lovely new camera - a Canon Power Shot SX40HS and am absolutely delighted with it.

A bit larger than I'm used to, and a lot to take in - the instructions as usual are on software to be read on the computer (why they can't print a booklet I'll never know). Anyway if I get stuck, there's a function for Smart Auto, which means the camera will automatically select the best settings for the scene and then you just shoot.  My other camera is a Panasonic Lumix compact which has really done me proud and produced some good photos but felt an upgrade to one with more features was overdue.

Liebster Award

I am thrilled to have been given this award by Tracy at Depth of Field. For anyone that doesn't know, the Liebster award is given to inspirational blogs with less than 200 followers.

Liebster is a German word meaning dearest or favourite and the tradition is that I would pass on the award to 5 other blogs that have encouraged, inspired and motivated me. To accept the award here's what you need to do.

1. Thank the person who awarded you the Award
2. Link back to that person
3. Post award on your blog
4. Pass on to five of your most valued blogs with less than 200 followers
5. Leave  a comment on those five bloggers' posts to let them know

Please don't feel it's compulsory to take part - it's just a bit of fun.

Here are my five nominees Rosie, Rowan, Anne, Gilly and Streetcomber, all of whom have given me inspiration in the contents of their blogs - with their photographs, finds, makes, cooking, gardens and so much more.

Streetcomber 

Winds of change

Corners of my mind

Circle of the year

Auntie Anne's extremely useful stuff

It just leaves me to thank Tracy for giving me the Liebster Award and a thank you to those who enjoy reading my blog.