Late Summer

When we planted the new lavender border in our garden, the grower advised pruning “8-8-8”, that’s to 8 inches on the 8th of the 8th month.  This year, it was still in full bloom on that date and so we were a little later than the 8th cutting it back.  In fact, my hero did it yesterday whilst I was gallivanting around the capital.

We had quite a lot of trimmings; definitely enough to share.  So this afternoon, our friends came over to make some lavender bags and rattles.

 

Making a lavender rattle is easy and a great way to use a few lavender stems from your garden.  I’ve uploaded a tutorial here for you to download.

Crispin the bear came too but he didn’t seem to be terribly interested in joining in the fun.

In a couple of hours, we’d managed half a dozen rattles and four lavender bags – enough for grannies and friends with a couple left over to keep.

You wouldn’t believe how calm we were by the end of the afternoon…

Another world

I was on the 7.05am train yesterday morning, on my way up to London to spend a day listening to the presentations of some young and rather inspiring professionals.  It’s the third or fourth time I’ve joined this group of people and as well as finding it incredibly interesting, I always hope that I’ll be able to make an effective contribution to the decision making process.

The best bit is that the meeting takes place in an area of London I’d otherwise overlook; the streets behind the old Army and Navy Stores on Victoria Street, the area around Westminster Cathedral.

Just a step away from the busy street lies a mostly residential area filled with charming red brick mansion blocks, quiet thoroughfares with little patches of garden and small surprises in the form of contemporary glass extensions and  preserved old house frontages.

I stopped to take a photograph of this lovely grille outside one of those apartment buildings, attracting a questioning look from the two builders sitting on the steps drinking tea.

But how could I pass this by?

When the “work” of the day was over, I hot footed it over to Selfridges where I met our boy for a delightful couple of hours in the most civilised of circumstances.  Yes, there’s an iphone in his hand, but it’s mine as he rapidly demonstrates his mother’s incapacity to cut and paste address details from a text message to the contact list.  I’m fairly sure I could have done it but it was one of those moments to sit back and enjoy; to accept his offer of help gracefully and watch; to feel thankful to be able to savour some time in his company over a glass of something delicious.

What a lovely day.

Because, of course, it will soon be Christmas.

Left over from the show

I’ve been helping serve lunch at the village hall today and whilst waiting for our visitors to arrive, was looking through some of the leftovers from the village show book stall.

I didn’t have time to establish the vintage of that Martha Stewart book but guess that, as she turned 70 yesterday recently, it’s been around a while.  Actually, what amused me most was the elegant dish she’s serving.  It looks like a peeled orange.  Now, that would be entertaining to eat with a knife and fork, wouldn’t it?

War and Peace at the Circus

My goodness, can it really be a year since we doo-dah-doo-dah-diddlyed around Minchinhampton Common after a night at Giffords Circus?  With a bunch of friends, we were there on the Common early Saturday evening enjoying a glass of Pimms before the show in less than summery temperatures.

One of us had come prepared, having made the mask which came with our mailshot this year.  We were all set for War and Peace!

I’m sure there can be few such beautiful peasants back there in the steppes!

Sitting on the wooden benches in the circus tent, we enjoyed half an hour of clowning around with Tweedy.  The children sitting in front of us were roaring with laughter and in no time at all, we were too.  So clever, so simple but oh, so funny.

Telling the story of War and Peace wasn’t going to be easy, but somehow they managed it rather well and anyway, even if you didn’t follow the story, the entertainment was as brilliant as always.

 

Petrushka and his doll did a fantastic act, tap dancing up and down the steps, first on feet but then, on hands.  Remarkable!

The Pavlovs were a talented bunch – having left us speechless at her ability to perform the most breathtaking gymnastics on a narrow beam held shoulder high by her colleagues, the petite and very serious young woman went on to jump through a hoop of fire.  She then stood bravely in the middle of a frame as the four men of the troupe performed a complex series of high bar swings around her.  Wow!

 

Napoleon (aka Tamerlan Tsoraev) made an appropriately statesmanlike entry and performed an odd knife-throwing act, but we loved his super-slick moves and haughty manner (not to mention his rather fetching thigh-high leather boots!)  We also loved Bibi and Bichu’s drunken juggling act this year and reminded ourselves once again, that there’s nothing like seeing these traditional circus skills performed in such a delightful setting.  We ooohed and aaaahed along with everyone else.  The magic of a live performance cannot be matched and an evening in this particular big top is one of the highlights of our year.

There is always the “awww” moment too.

The after-show supper in Circus Sauce was as good, if not better than ever – great food served in a jolly atmosphere.  We were buzzing!

A  l-o-n-g lunch at home with friends yesterday afternoon was just the perfect way to end a great weekend, but how quickly the time goes when we’re having fun. Here we are, Monday morning and everyone’s gone their separate ways.  The house suddenly seems rather quiet.

Retail Therapy

My tooth – or rather, the space where my tooth was – felt better this morning and I felt a little retail therapy was in order.  Nothing particular, just that instead of going straight to the supermarket, I felt that I had enough time to shop local, to stop and chat and spend time enjoying a Friday morning in Cirencester.  I was out early, as you can tell from the photograph!

 

The greengrocer was busy though, and ten minutes after parking my car, I’d already taken one heavy bag back and swapped it for an empty one.

 

Next stop, my favourite butcher where I crossed sausages off my list and bought meat for the weekend.  Thank goodness, the roadworks here in Blackjack Street are finished and the street is looking really smart again.

Clearly, I usually shop with blinkers on, because I’d not spotted that purple shop further down the street before.  This morning, I took a different route from my usual and discovered Octavia’s Bookshop, a really great children’s bookstore and definitely somewhere to return.

Next, the market, to see what flowers were there (not many!)  I couldn’t resist some of Jacob’s Falafel and, since he was offering samples dipped in Chedworth yoghurt, I paid them a visit too

There remained just two more places to go.

Whilst following the dentist’s advice yesterday, I took paracetamol, something I hardly ever do.  Taking the last of the small box of tablets this morning, I needed to buy replacements in the chemist.  I found Boots own brand “paracetamol plus” on offer at £1.35 with a free bottle of water, but preferring to know what I’m taking, looked closely at the ingredients to identify the “plus” part.  Caffeine.  Thinking that I didn’t really need any extra caffeine (and if I did, I’d take the tablets with a cup of coffee)  I went for the small, plain box of simple paracetamol – the same number of tablets as the first box but priced at 16p.

They’ll last me a couple of years, I expect.

Finally, to Waitrose, which was buzzing by this time, and home for lunch.  Shopping like this is great fun but boy, does it take time!