May

 Hello May! another month gone and as I write the sun is shining, the windows are open and I can see the jasmine across the roof top in a neighbouring garden. I can't wait for summer, the heat and the sunshine. The seasons never used to be a thing in Sydney but here they are so pronounced and the ritual of putting away the heavy black puffa coats is such a feeling of excitement for the months ahead. 

We have just spent a few days in Rouen and Honfleur in Normandy. We took the Eurostar over and a local train and it was great not to have to go to an airport and sit on a plane. It still took seven hours door to door but its just such a nice way to travel. The weather in France was perfect and we just walked and walked, visited Cathedrals and Churches, walked on the beach,  and ate local dishes such as tarte normande and chicken normande..lots of cream and things, delicious. I took way too many photographs, I just loved the markets, so many interesting things to look at. Here are a few of the items that caught my eye.

I have just finished such a good book, London Falling, by Patrick Radden Keefe  it is a true story, a young man who tells a web of lies that ultimately lead to his death. Its very sad but its the background that I was so gripped by, the London underworld, Oligarchs, villains, it has everything and I just couldn't put it down and I just can't stop thinking about it. I highly recommend it. Patrick Radden Keefe wrote the story of the Sacklers and Oxycontin, that too was such a good book. His research is just so meticulous. 

I have also been delving into this book Ece Temelkuran - nation of strangers  its a series of letters to strangers to help those who feel the desire to have somewhere to call home as we all become more and more displaced due to politics and economics. Her writing is truly beautiful and this book is now shortlisted for the women's prize for non fiction. 

We started a show on apple tv last night, widows bay, it was funny and quirky and will no doubt do the trick. I am also watching the testaments on disney, all a bit too far fetched for me as I never really got into the handmaids tale series but its good to pick up now and then. 

I'm off to replace my tulips in their pots with summer flowers in my tiny garden. Ive just planted lots of sweet peas so I should be spending the summer picking them if all goes to plan. 

April

 

Hello April

I have been working on yet another project, this one is "on my kitchen table today' and these are some of the flowers I have used in March. I have been using the templates in Lightroom and one is a magazine style one for Squarespace - thought I would try it here. I have been busy in my garden, just buying seed packets and sprinkling the seeds into the soil in the hope that in a few weeks I will have sooo many cut flowers. I have the tiniest garden but I make sure it is bursting with colour in the summer so I can pick flowers every day to put on my table. I have a few tulips on the cusp of opening which again is very exciting.

I have paused my A-Z of authors. I got to N and struggled, it was Vladimir Nabokov that finished me, I decided not to read Lolita - too much of that going on in real life! and tried another one of his novels that just made me decide to have a break and because I am actually half way through the project, I thought it was a perfect place to stop. I haven't got any amazing novels to recommend since I last wrote about books but I am hoping to have some soon as I am reading one at the moment which has potential. 

I have been watching probably a bit too much tv lately but I want to be Michelle Pfeiffer living in Montana, oh my goodness The Madison is good! forget her botox, just watch it for that beautiful scenery and some seriously sharp and witty dialogue, very clever dialogue. Also, Jason Bateman is my favourite actor and he is in a very good quirky show called DTF st Louis and also Rooster with Steve Caroll and the guy from Ted Lasso who is brilliant as an English professor, its really good. Also the Pitt has just landed here and I watched 11 episodes on a very very long flight back from Sydney so I was very happy to finish the last episodes of series 1 on land. I'm going to put it out there and say that it will never replace Greys anatomy for me, what do you think? 

I am also trying the new wordle, same man that invented it, he has a new game parseword - it's taking a while to get the hang of it and like wordle, is only once a day. I'm hoping it won't set everyone off again with all that bragging etc that put me off wordle but I do think at this stage in life it's just so important to keep trying things to keep our brains ticking over. I met someone the other day who said she has never read a newspaper and only gets her news from tik tok - so sad. 

Thats all for now. Any thoughts on any of the above do please let me know in the comments. 

March

I keep staring at this page wondering what I am going to write about! It is hard to keep up with blogging, you get caught up in that thing of swiping and not spending enough time on one thing and I need to stop and focus again and think about what I have been up to .

Seeing - I have got back into culture and have been going to various art galleries here in London where there is so much choice. I went to see Lucien Freud  and absolutely loved every minute of it, I thought I had seen enough of his work but this exhibition was more about his early drawings and the attention to detail just captivated me. If it comes to your part of the world I would so recommend going to see it.

I also went to see Tracey Emin with my daughter. I remember so vividly seeing her unmade bed all those years ago but we didn't enjoy this exhibition - so much anger and it was just too confrontational plus the writing was so tiny and it was busy so we just couldn't read anything! sadly London does like to cram these exhibitions full of people so it's hard to read captions at the best of times. I know that art should cause controversy but this was all a bit too much. 

Tasting - I have given up chocolate and croissants for lent and I do miss chocolate but I am eating healthily and had to have soup today because it was so cold but I am looking forward to lots of salads as the weather warms up. 

Feeling - I feel settled in the UK finally. It took at trip back to Sydney for me to realise that this is my home and I like living here. I miss all my friends but here is where I belong. I think that where your physical home is makes a huge difference and I love pottering in my house. I had become completely paranoid about making friends here and each outing ended in disappointment if I came home without a contact but now I realise it just doesn't matter. I know that friendships will come, I have connections and interactions every day with people when I am out walking Max and that's enough. I am a homebody and an introvert and I realise now that nothing is going to change that and I don't need to move back to Sydney, London is doing just fine.

Hearing - the birds in the morning and soon the clocks with go forward and the dawn chorus will start. We are going to jazz on friday night, I love jazz, any jazz really and my husband isn't that keen but I have persuaded him. 

Smelling - the daffodils are out and the blossom on the trees is lining our streets in full bloom and at night the scents fills the air, spring perfume everywhere. Here are some pictures I took lately of spring either out and about or on my kitchen table where I love to display flowers each day either snuck into my pocket on a dog walk (it is illegal to pick flowers from a park or someone's garden here!).