50p Finds

Sunday morning would normally mean a trip to the car boot.

Not today though, instead we took the train to Brockenhurst for a lovely long walk in the New Forest and I'll share a post about that another day.

For today I thought I would share my four favourite 50p finds from the two car boots we have visited so far.

These have got to be the best buy not just for this year but best buy ever.

A brand new pair of brown boots.

The lady selling them had had an op on her foot and so wasn't able to wear them.

I am a big fan of Sainsbury's clothing and already have many items from their Tu range in my wardrobe. I now have another in the shape of this longer length button down shirt.

A waterproof watermelon design shopping bag.

I really should count the number of scarfs I own! I do have loads but then I do wear them all the time and how could I pass up the opportunity of this large dotty one in a lovely neutral tone.

I think I've done pretty well so far, don't you?

Rest of May and the Start of June

Paper Airplane Day was last weekend, 26th May to be precise.

S was away on a school trip, having a wonderful in Paris, and so it wasn't until midway through this week we set about playing a target practice game with planes G talked us through folding into shape.

Tuesday was Biscuit Day and so there was only one choice of brooch, it had to be my jammie dodger.

Quite a while ago I found the most perfect accessory to wear to mark the anniversary, of when the Great Clock on the Elizabeth Tower first started to work, 31st May 1859. This was originally a pendant on quite a long chunky chain which I wasn't keen on. I asked G to do a little work on it so I could wear it as a brooch instead. Unfortunately I asked too late and so the brooch back I had stuck on the back didn't have long enough to set. Never mind.

I can't believe we are going to be turning over the calendar to June tomorrow!
In the evening I shall be watching Some Like It Hot for many reasons.
1st June is Marilyn Monroe's birthday, the 3rd June is the birthday of her co-star Tony Curtis and later on in the month, on 22nd, it's the birth date of the film's director Billy Wilder. So that's 3 of June's days in one go.

Victoria at Osborne

My original plan for Monday 21st May involved cake.

As it turned out the cake wasn't needed because something even better ended up happening.

For Victoria Day I was going to bake a Victoria sponge (as shock horror) I don't think I've ever made one before.

Instead I had a brilliant day out at Osborne House with

T, my best friend from school.

Queen Victoria described this home as snug.

As you can see from the two photos below snug isn't the first word which comes to mind given the size of it.

Being a Victorian home, albeit on a grander scale than most, every surface is covered and everything is highly decorated.

Images of Victoria and Albert are seen countless times as you go from room to room 

but it's the small details which caught my eye, such as the carving on the bannister

and the tools of the trade for laying out the dining table in the correct way.

I enjoyed seeing Queen Victoria's private rooms and although they were stuffed to the gills with furniture and treasures and were very grand, they did also seem to have less formality to them than you would expect.
That's where I got to understand the idea of Osborne being a snug family home.

The tour ends with the famous Durbar Room.

It's an astounding feat of workmanship and must have seen some spectacular evenings over the years.

 After we had finished inside we ate our picnic and then made our way down to the beach. Here we sat for ages and ages chatting and eating ice cream. It really was the perfect spot for whiling away an hour in the sunshine.
From there we made our way to the Swiss Cottage where we found a dressing up box. My friend T is a much smaller dress size than me so she was able to get into the children's size dress (although it was a little too short) whilst I put on the adult jacket and skirt. 

Osborne House is well worth a visit. My advice would be to get there early as there isn't a lot of space in some of the rooms and to be able to read the information boards and take it all in you would do this better when the rooms were less crowded. 
The one part I was disappointed with was the 'downstairs'. There really isn't very much to see and again it's quite a confined space. 
But definitely have an ice cream whilst sat in one of the deckchairs as you gaze across the Solent.

Three Quick Days

I have a couple of other longer posts to do to help me catch up from this past week but first up is the easiest one to share.

Thursday 24th May was Tiara Day and although a bit more crown than tiara in it's design, I popped this brooch onto the collar of my dress.

Friday 25th was Wine Day and so once home from work (and my last run of week 4 had been completed) I sat down with a glass of this, which I didn't really enjoy as much as I thought I would!

Yesterday was Grape Popsicle Day.  Now the weather has been very obliging this weekend, perfect for the consumption of ice lollies and let me tell you a few have been enjoyed but for marking this day I went with a quick and easy craft.
I bought a pack of these shaped book marks online a little while ago. With the aid of a tiny roll of sellotape stuck to the back of each one I added them to a length of pretty pink and white lace.
The dresser now has some summer bunting.

The Royal Wedding

For Harry and Meghan's big day I made sure the front room was decked out with bunting.

 My old floral Primark scarf was put to good use draped across the window

and my wardrobe choices when getting dressed this morning were red, white and blue, just like they were back in April 2011.

Unlike William and Kate's wedding this one wasn't going to be shown on a big TV screen in our city centre so it was at home G and I settled down with some nibbles to watch the nuptials.

I made a lovely refreshing drink by mixing
100ml lime cordial
300ml apple and raspberry juice drink
one bottle of 750ml elderflower and rose 

and to finish off I made a variation on these eclairs using vanilla whipped cream.

The whole day was joyful, it was what weddings should be about, full of love and optimism. May they have a life full of happiness.

Chocolate Chip

There really was only one way to go with today's activity.
I got busy in the kitchen and using this recipe we now have a tin full of cookies for Chocolate Chip Day
Time to put the kettle on.

Captain of the Carpathia

What a wonderful afternoon wander I had today.

And the thing which made it even nicer was, unexpectedly, being joined by T.

I must admit I didn't divulge just how far we would be walking, it wasn't actually that far, but if I had told him what I planned he wouldn't have got out the car!

14th May is the birth date of Arthur Rostron.

Sir Arthur was the captain of the RMS Carpathia and when on 15th April the ship received a distress call from RMS Titanic he ordered the Carpathia to head towards the Titanic and by doing this they were able to save the lives of just over 700 people.

We parked by St James church

and walked along the road to the house Captain Rostron lived in.
The house is called Holmecroft and is situated at the top of Chalk Hill.
The house is screened from the road by lots of mature greenery.

At the bottom of Chalk Hill is a relatively new collection of housing which has been named Rostron Close.

Our route back to the car was a circular one and just before we reached it we stopped off at the burial ground which is linked to the church where we found the final resting place of Captain Rostron.