This July just gone

So I've missed a few mondays, how predictable! Life had been pretty hectic, but before I elaborate ::

monday 5th :: read this book.....'The Complete Borrowers'

monday 12th :: read this book...'Swallows and Amazons'

monday 19th :: read this book...'Kensuke's Kingdom'

monday 26th :: read this book...'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'

All of these books are suitable for adults, seriously, if you read them as a child read them again, I promise you will get more out of them this time around. 'The Complete Borrowers' is wonderfully told, I almost attempted to make my own 'borrowers' house with walls lined with writing paper from the waste paper basket and stamps as portraits. 'Swallows and Amazons' is a very peaceful book, with a couple of high-excitement chapters, oh the sailing! 'Kensuke's Kingdom' is so original, so realistic, so unusual, so moving. 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' is a typical adventure, and has a fantastic opening line that indicates the humour in the book....

'There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.'

C.S Lewis

I never told you all about our anniversary afternoon tea at the Royal Crescent Hotel. It was absolutely lovely, from the lavender-scented spacious garden we sat in, to the plates stacked with sandwiches and cakes. We ate our fill and drank our tea and had a wonderful time. I was even impressed by the sumptuous bathroom I washed my hands in. If you're ever in Bath, I would recommend it. Later in the year we'll be going for Tea at the Ritz as we've been given vouchers for christmas, and I'll do a comparison...I've heard that at the Ritz the sandwiches keep on coming and that there are also savoury pastries in abundance.

I also received a rather nice anniversary gift from Mr HH, can you believe it...he bought me Jigsaw bedlinen!? I am still overwhelmed by it...it was a very homelyheroine moment. It's the Newquay Stripe in Dusky Rose.



I also happened through sheer luck to win my workplace world cup sweepstake, and bought this...



Last weekend I went to the beautiful Brecon Beacons to do adventurous things with my Brownie Pack, like cata-canoeing (which is fun because you can't capsize the boat, on the otherhand that's no good if the instructor picks you up and throws you in the lake) and camping. It was exhausting, but not more tiring than house-hunting, which I'm delighted to say has come to an end!

Mr HH and I are relocating to an old cottage just 2 miles outside of Bath; giving up our lovely but run-down city flat for luxuries like a garden and a spare room. Alas, I have no photos to share, and we don't move until October 1st, but I can tell you that the kitchen has a fireplace and a larder. I've started day-dreaming about welsh dressers and 'cabbages and roses' curtain material, and candles in the fireplaces, and housewarming parties, and wearing wellies around the village.

I can't wait to move in, but when the time comes I know I'll feel sad about leaving our flat, so I have a new sewing project....my home in fabric. I was inspired by the very talented Marmalade Rose, and her awesome machine-sewing project...



These are my own beginnings...