The August Break 4

Could that cloud be breaking? This is for you Jo Jo x



Day one for me on The August Break 2011 challenge. Let's hope I can keep it up...

4 Sleeps To Go!

Everything in my life has been on hold for a long time now and in four days time I am able to reclaim my life again. I have to admit I have had a ball being back in advertising, with some real challenges, but most importantly some great people and colleagues that I have worked with. However, now I am ready to get back to RedFish, my interiors, my vintage buying exploits, sourcing wonder pieces for people and getting Teacups & Pearls truly up and running (more on that another time). So my first challenge is to create and build a website for RedFish and Teacups & Pearls, and for this I have given myself three weeks. I am going to use this space to show the countdown and see if 3 weeks are possible. Let's see shall we?

My best friend T believes that if you think hard enough about something it will begin to happen. There is one thing just recently that has happened in this way, but I will save that for another post as the culmination of the thought is on Monday and I don't want to tempt fate.

The thought I do leave you with is that today at the market I bought 4 1920's pen illustrations of ladies head fashion and a sale poster scamp for Derry and Toms (which I will share with you when I find their full history). Derry and Toms were one of the largest department stores in 1920's London. They were rivals of Selfridges and Swan & Edgar attracting vast queues on their opening sale days and standing the test of time until they sadly closed on January 13th 1972. Most people would then have known the building to have been taken over by Biba with the amazing Rainbow Restaurant and the famous Roof Gardens, commissioned by Derry and Toms, and now owned by Richard Branson.

So imagine my surprise when I am part way through researching the history of the illustrations I had bought and clicked onto a blog I read regularly Ted and Bunny. Her latest post was about yellow and how much she would love to wear it but sadly cannot, as the colour does not suit, and the last time she had bought a yellow piece was in Biba in the old Derry and Toms building on Kensington High Street - weird, random, coincidence?

War is declared in Duntshill Road

This little beastie has returned - the Chrysolina Americana as it is known in horticultural circles, or more commonly The Rosemary Beetle, is not a welcome guest in our garden. Our small patch brims with green hedges, white roses, herbs and lavenders and it is the rosemary and lavender bushes that this little chap delights in. They are not new to the UK the Royal Horticultural Society reported them first in 1994. However they first visited us two years ago, and now every year I am on beetle watch starting in early spring through to the summer and to my horror this morning I spotted the first of our yearly visitors. Although they look lovely with their dark green and red stripes they unfortunately strip the lavender and rosemary and can eat an amazing amount of just one bush in one day! So beware, if you have these plants in your garden go now and check them - and believe me don't feel cruel.