Mary and Munch

Two days worth here.

Yesterday was Mary Quant's birthday.

She of the hot pant and mini skirt fashion world.

Given my legs the most elegant way for me to mark the day was with a piece of jewellery.

The five petal daisy is instantly recognisable as Quant's logo and when I saw this necklace at a car boot last year I snapped it up in readiness.

Clicking on this link will take you through to the BBC website and details of when on 12 Feb 1994 the Scream by Edvard Munch was stolen from an art gallery in Oslo.

Here are G and I doing our best to replicate the painting and also probably the look of horror on the face of the director of the museum on being told about the theft.

P O S H

An exhibition entitled Port Out Southampton Home has been running at the Sea City museum for the past year and is due to come to an end in a couple of weeks.

With G being off with me today we thought a little jaunt into town for lunch and then a wander around the exhibition would be just the thing to make sure we caught it before it closed.

I love the old advertising posters. They are so brightly coloured and 

some are just so stylish too. The exhibition told the history of the liners from their beginnings in the 1890's through to the modern day and was really very interesting. 

I must admit the section covering the 1920s and 1930s was a bit of a draw for me as everyone and everything looked so very glamorous. 
Not sure G would blend in with the in crowd with his Alterbridge t-shirt and jeans!
We did have a game of deck quoits and I'm pleased to report I won.

My dad was in the Merchant Navy and worked with Tommy Steele. He said when he wasn't working he constantly played his guitar and sang, Dad said it drove him mad!

A large and fascinating section of the exhibition was about the food provided on board. On display were a dozen or so menus from different ships across different decades. 
There was so much choice.
Had I been a passenger on R.M.S Berengaria on April 18th 1935 I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been choosing the fried calf's feet for dinner.

I can never resist the lure of trying on dressing up clothes when they are provided, in amongst all the reading I think it's fun when there are some parts which are a bit more interactive.
I think G looks quite good in this cap.

Where as I look fairly ridiculous in my posing!
All jolly good fun though..

On the way back to the car we had to walk past the shopping centre and discovered a new temporary art installation. Huge plastic snails. They reminded me of counters in a child's board game made super-sized. 
We need to go back for another look before they go in June.

Easter

                         What a lovely Easter weekend we've just had.
Starting back on Good Friday me, G and S took ourselves off into town. For ages now we've been wanting to go and have a round of mini golf on the course in one of the parks and Friday proved to be the day we finally got to do it. We were the first group to arrive and had it all to ourselves for the first ten minutes. This gave us a good head start on the people who followed and meant we could just take our time and enjoy each hole and not feel like we were holding anyone up.

S managed to get a hole in one on her very first go but unfortunately things didn't carry on in the same vein for her!

We all had a really good laugh and it was lovely to spend time together.

A Festival of Colour was advertised as being held at the shopping centre so we wandered on over.

Loved what they had done to the steps.

The colour was continued in people dressed as exotic flowers

and the traditional fairground attractions of the helter skelter

and these gallopers.

A couple of weeks back G and I watched High Society. I love everything about this movie but G had never seen it before. I'm please to say he liked very much.

After watching it I commented that I have never seen The Philadelphia Society, the movie on which this musical version is based.

A few days later a copy arrived in the post, G had been online and ordered a copy and we watched this Friday evening.

I'm glad to have seen it (Cary Grant is in it!) but we both agreed High Society will always be our favourite.

We've now passed it on to G's mum to watch.

G had to work on Saturday and as S was busy with a friend I went to Winchester with him. We went a couple of hours before he needed to start work so we could pop along to the Angie Lewin exhibition at the Discovery Centre.

G was in and out within 5 minutes, he said it didn't so anything for him so he went into the library to see if he could find a book he was after.

I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't doubt I would. I love her work.
It wasn't until I was nearly leaving that I realised what I had chosen to wear that day by pure co-incidence, wasn't a million miles away from what I had been looking at.

We had time afterwards to sit by the Cathedral and have a drink and a bite to eat before G had to go on into work.

I then had an hour until my train and spent most it it in a shop called Molly's Den. There are several of these locally. Each one a treasure trove of collectables, antiques and all manner of goodies.
I came home with a new handmade brooch

and some of my money which my mum gave me at Christmas was spent on this cute mini desk calendar. 

Easter Sunday was a strange day. G had to work the late shift again and T and S were both at home all day. That hasn't happened in a while. I busied myself with household chores and in between those S helped me to prepare some games, presents and nests for our family day on Monday.
I cheated and bought the meringue nests to which we added a good dollop of melted chocolate and some mini eggs.

We had invited some of G's and my family over to us for lunch today which is when most those meringue nests were eaten.
Everyone was given a chocolate rabbit. Each rabbit sported a tag handmade by S which read 'You're Some Bunny Special'.

Plus there were some games. We had a round of bunny bingo, an Easter bunny left and right game, a guess what's in the golden egg competition and then we rounded it all off with a messy 'make your partner look like a spring lamb' game.
This involved one person in the team wearing a shower cap which was then covered in shaving foam. As shown here by T.

The shower capped team members lined up on one side and the other team members stood in a line opposite. They were given a bag of cotton wool balls which they had to throw at the shaving foam. They had one minute to get as many balls to stick as possible. As shown here by my sister C, my sister's partner A and by G. 

It was incredibly messy, incredibly sticky and incredibly funny. The winning team managed 34.
S was G's partner and she only managed 6!
I would thoroughly recommend this game, but make sure you have plenty of towels handy for the clean-up afterwards and a black sack for throwing everything away in. 

Weekend round up

Back at the tail end of January S began going to street and hip hop dance lessons with her friend A.

A has been doing this for many years and has won lots of competitions and has many trophies. Another competition was held this last weekend and S asked a few weeks ago if she could go along to cheer on her friend.

She then decided that actually she would quite like to enter the competition herself.

As it was a late decision she had to enter as 'a solo' which of course meant she would be dancing on her own.

We were so proud of S, not only did she feel confident enough after a few short weeks of going to dance to want to take part in the competition she was also confident enough to do it on her own.

She could wear whatever she wanted and seeing it was her first competition we took her into town on Saturday morning to choose something new to wear.

I don't have any pictures to show as S didn't want us to go and watch, she said it would make her feel more nervous!

Although she wasn't placed S did have a tremendous time with her friends and she enjoyed the whole experience. 

After S had chosen her new trousers and top she and A hopped on a bus back home to practice some more whilst G and I stayed out as we had other things to do.

First off we grabbed some lunch and headed to the park to eat.

Absolutely loved the choice of plants and colour combination on display in this flower bed.

From there we made our way towards a part of town called Northam. G wanted to check out a vinyl record shop as this was en route to our next destination. Whilst he was inside I stayed out in the sun and watched the light glinting on Shoal, a huge metal fish sculpture by Tom Grimsey. 
It was sad to see only a handful of shops occupied in this part of town, it was once full of junk/antique/second hand book/shops. I know councils are strapped for cash but this part of town could be so much more vibrant.

G was extremely pleased to find a Yes LP to add to his collection.
We took the footpath over the train track which leads to St Mary's football stadium, home of the Saints. Saturday's match was being shown on TV and although kick off was still a few hours away it was already a busy place with people getting prepared, constantly in and out of huge outside broadcasting vehicles.

From there it was just a hop, skip and a jump to our final destination of Shamrock Quay. This was the venue for a Hampshire farmers market event. Live music and classic cars were also on offer but I failed miserably on the photo front and didn't manage to take any at all. Too busy sat in the sun enjoying the atmosphere and a cup of tea.

Sunday was a quiet one.
S was out dancing, T was out socialising and G was out working. 
I stayed in and did a lot of the housework jobs I normally do on a Monday as this Monday held something different.
I wish I could say it was something interesting.
Last year I had root canal treatment on one of my canine teeth.
Unfortunately it didn't work. It seems that this tooth has two canals, something which I have since learned is very unusual in a canine.
So a specialist was needed.
I did some research and found one in Salisbury and that's where I went Monday morning.

I had to walk past a branch of Debenhams and as I did I spied these enormous paper roses on display in the window, aren't they gorgeous.

Step one of the treatment was undertaken and I now need to go back next Monday for it be completed. I was in that dentist chair for about 75 minutes and I have to admit that when I returned home I could quite easily have snuggled down and joined Malcolm for a cat nap. I think the concern over the procedure and the accompanying nervousness made me feel tired once it was all over and I was home again.
Keep your fingers crossed for me next week!

Two Days with Just the Two of Us

At work our leave year ends at the end of March.

I had two days annual leave left from my allocation and so I booked last Thursday and Friday off.

Thursday was mostly spent catching up with my friend G. 

It's always a delight to see her and we could just as happily passed another 3 hours away on top of the 3 hours we did spent chatting over coffee.

Friday was spent with the other G in my life, my husband Graham.

We had decided a little trip to Portsmouth was what was needed.

We trotted off to the local station, me (as seen below) wearing my new coat.

I say new, but it'll be no surprise for you to hear that it's not brand new, just new to me. 

My mum actually picked it up for me last year at a car boot. A lady was selling clothing at 3 items for £1.00 and so mum bagged this for me along with a winter coat for S and a top for herself. 

This is the coat's first proper outing as I have been a bit unsure about the colour. My previous winter coat was a lovely dark green and I felt this was a bit too luminous in comparison but my old coat has now been consigned to the recycling bin and so a change was needed.

Talking of needing a change, my hair needs dyeing looking at all that grey!

Arriving at the station in Portsmouth I had to snap Emma Hamilton and Lord Nelson after our recent trip to London.

Portsmouth had been chosen as our destination as G had been wanting to go to the Isle of Wight music festival exhibition at the Guildhall and all I needed to do was buy a birthday gift and that could be bought there just as well as anywhere else.

The exhibition is only small but there was lots of information and some great photos on display. I didn't really know too much about the history of those IOW festivals beforehand but now I know that the only act ever to be booed off stage is Kris Kristofferson and the only act to have been billed but not played is Mungo Jerry because they turned up too late!
This poster was used to advertise the 1970 festival and shows that a ticket cost £3.00. One website I looked at said that this amount equates to about £45 today.

On leaving the Guildhall I noticed that one of the rooms has a frieze painted round the top of the walls depicting each of the four seasons. The winter one was just above the door to the exit and I think it was the red of the robin or the child's coat which must have caught my eye.

From the Guildhall we went to the pub for lunch and then over to the shops where the gift buying proved to be more elusive than I had hoped. 
Whilst strolling around we wandered past a women's clothes shop and this sign on the front instantly reminded of the Pippa dolls I had when I was little. I loved playing with those dolls so much.

And so to Saturday.
T has just started learning to drive. I have agreed to take him out for some extra practice, but not on proper roads. So on Saturday afternoon G and I went out for a walk to explore the possible option of a small industrial park near to where we live. 
There were lots of boring looking modern offices and warehouses and then in among them was a building which had a bit of character but which very sadly was all boarded up and didn't look like it was still in use.

Also seen by us for the first time was this memorial to RJ Mitchell. It stands on the site of where the first Spitfire was built by Supermarine. Real history right on our doorstep.

We ended Saturday by watching The Duchess.

I read Amanda Foreman's about Georgiana The Duchess of Devonshire years ago and it's one which is still on my bookshelf now, a definite keeper. 

We both enjoyed the movie, the costumes and the locations are as stunning as you would expect, but it's not one we are likely to watch again and so it has been passed along to a colleague of G's for her to enjoy.

Saturday to Sunday

A round up of life here from the past week or so.

Saturday 11th saw us in Winchester for a few hours.

We went to see the The Romantic Thread in British Art. A small exhibition drawn from the extensive collection of Southampton art gallery.

Although undoubtedly the highlight was the Frank Dicksee Romeo and Juliet which was used to advertise the exhibition- anything Pre-Raphaelite gets my vote- a close second was a work named Coliseum at Moonlight which can be viewed here. The way the artist has captured the light of the moon has to be seen to be believed. The artist is Frederick Bridell and he was born in Southampton.

It was very cold that day, snowflakes were in the air, but we were warmed up by delicious hot chocolates as we waited for the train home. The florist based at the train station always has the most stunning displays and that day was no exception.

Monday is normally full of housework chores but I did manage to carve out a little time so I could finish my latest read. I thoroughly enjoyed this story of Ava Maria finding love and happiness in the Blue Ridge Mountains, it made me laugh out loud a couple of times which is always a sign of a good book. It's been made into a movie and I shall keep my eye out for a copy once the car boot season starts, you never know someone may have a copy they don't want anymore and I'd be interested to see how it translates to film. This is the first book in a series and I'll definitely read more.

Tuesday was Valentine's day. T was the only person in our house to receive a card, in fact he got two from the same chap!

I'm trying to decorate the mantelpiece in our dining room differently each month. I have so many odds and ends and sometimes I forget what I have got. I've been collecting as many of these items as I can and keeping them all in one big plastic storage box. Hopefully as the months go by I'll have something on show which reflects the time of year, occasion or celebration. 
This month is all about red and pinks and hearts.

Thursday was S's parent's evening. We had her report last week and she's doing ok, but there's room for improvement. We were taken aback by a comment made by her maths teacher, he described S as a boisterous student. This is so out of character from all the other comments we've had over the years. It would seem that she shares her maths class with more than just one or two of her good friends and it would appear that the chatting sometimes takes over. Although we had a laugh over the comments there was also a 'you must take it more seriously' chat as well!

Very welcome signs of spring seen in the park on my lunchtime visits.

Friday evening I was out for a meal with a bunch of friends from my previous life as a civil servant. We all worked together for about 15 years and still try and meet up every now and then. 
We met at the new Watermark complex of restaurants which is built opposite the old city walls. Lights were being projected on the walls as part of a Festival of Light event. This is a great new space in the city and I hope it gets used to it's full potential.

Saturday morning I was out to eat once again. Last year on what would have been our dad's birthday my sister T had suggested going out for breakfast and toasting dad with a coffee and a bacon sandwich, two things he was fond of, and we decided to do the same again this year.

The weekend was rounded off with a trip to the theatre for me and G. We went for a drink first, somewhere where the walls were covered in works of art including this David Hockney which really grabbed our attention.
At the theatre we watched The MGM Story. The website shows 4 participants but there were only 3 of them the night we saw it. My oh my did they have bucket loads of energy, they sang and danced their way through the history of the musicals produced by MGM.
An extremely entertaining and (for the performers) energetic way to end our weekend.