My car booting obsession is probably drawing to a close for this year. I think it’s a seasonal hobby, most sites shut for winter, so as the sun was shining on Wednesday last week. I went off in search of treasures.
Long story short…I did not find any treasures. I have a horrible feeling that I have already bought up everything that I thought was useable in the local area.
I’m wondering if I should go further afield? I was considering booking a hotel for this purpose, until I thought about what I had just thought. I then realised that maybe, just maybe I might be a teensy bit out of control. Hahahahaha
I really enjoy creating beautiful table scapes, and now I have a brand new shed for this purpose, it’s hard not to get a bit carried away.
(Life is pretty amazing right now, I found a gardener who is making a huge impact on the overall look of the garden. I have my dining shed. I have a reasonably tidy garden, getting tidier by the week).
After the disappointment of the boot sale I decided to brave the roads of Colchester, to go to Dunelm, a reasonably priced homeware store.
I hate driving in Colchester, but I got a bee in my bonnet that Dunelm was bursting with goodies.
It wasn’t particularly, but I did find a rather lovely tall garden lantern in chrome.
I had seen one last week in Next, for double the price, I might add.
I am a spendaholic, but I am fussy about what I would spend on.
Lantern Dunelm, £30
So with a gardener bringing the garden back into some semblance of order and the shed. It’s a wonderful place to spend time. Meals are eaten, overlooking the garden. Heaven, just heaven. It’s everything I hoped it would be.
We started off with the marquee and decided to go with a more permanent structure because it had been so good for socialising.
Chris and I had a wonderful day on Thursday. We finally went to Chelsea Flower show.
We’d booked to go in May 2020, but that was the year that never was, so it got pushed back to this May, and then postponed again to September.
I’ve got to be honest. I loved seeing a different season on display.
The power flowers have to give joy is really quite incredible. CFS is a feast for the eyes.
We went to Chelsea Flower Show a few years back (in the traditional May date). Which was fantastic. But this was so good. It felt really cosy, gorgeous colours and seasonal fruits.
I think the beginning of autumn is a fantastic time of year anyway. But show casing autumn at a flower show, yes please!
There were a fair few pumpkins in amongst the displays on offer. Interestingly there wasn’t a single pink or baby blue pumpkin.
Why would there be you ask? Good question. I purchased, at Christmas last year, some seeds off an Instagram shop.
Seeds for pink sunflowers, pink pumpkins and baby blue pumpkins.
So far the sunflowers have grown to be the traditional yellow colour and the pumpkins are still in flower which means I won’t be getting any actual pumpkins in time for Halloween anyway, no matter what colour they turn out to be.
The only reason I’m allowing them to continue to grow is that I want to find out what colour they actually are.
I think I may have been duped.
I consider myself incredibly lucky. I get the pleasure of attending corporate events, even though I have no discernible, recognisable qualifications to be there.
I’m not sure being a retired Nanny and excellent table scaper is enough to go to business functions.
But, as they say, behind every great man is a great woman…and that’s me!! Hello!
Chris takes clients out as part of his job. He has done for the last twenty five years. He’s worked for the same company all that time too, which means some of those business relationships are friendships now.
What a joy it is for me to be lucky enough to go to amazing events, with wonderful people.
Thursday at Chelsea was one of those occasions where the planets align.
We took our guests, client/friends. :)
We got chatting to the driver who took us, I said we were going to have a lovely day, as the clients were friends.
He said “you surely must get rotten clients to take out sometimes?”
And you know what, we never have. Not once. Thank god, because my face keeps nothing secret!! Hahahahaha.
We’ve been entertaining clients for 25 years and never met a horror! How lucky is that! :)
The only downside to Chelsea flower Show, is that, unsurprisingly, it’s in Chelsea, and that is far from our home.
We were picked up by the driver at 6.15am. Which means I got up at 5.15 to get ready.
This sends me into a tail spin the night before because I have insomnia, I fear changes to my daily pattern.
Blazer & Trousers from Ralph Lauren, Top from Reiss, Shoes from Tory Burch, Bag from Chloe
If we’re not driving ourselves to a function it means I won’t have a car near by for leaving spare colostomy supplies in. This does make me a little nervous.
But this bag is a great size for one day of emergency bag change paraphernalia.
We had all day hospitality tickets to Raymond Blanc’s Jardin Blanc. It’s absolutely amazing! Plus Raymond himself is there. He’s such a lovely man. I’ve met him before a few times and he’s just a genuinely nice guy.
A great chef, and not shouty and obnoxious.
Garden number 1 (60° East – A Garden Between Continents).
And garden number 337 (Boodles - Secret Garden).
Just a bit of casual fan girling with Elaine.
I’m sure he gets fed up with being asked for photos. But he was very obliging. :)
So this year was a bit different, not only because it was in autumn, not spring. But also because we knew someone who was exhibiting a garden there.
One of Ben’s friend’s dads owns a landscaping company. Ben’s friend works for the company too.
It was really very enjoyable to see something so beautiful, created by people we know.
The entered garden was an absolute corker!
We voted for them to win. We know how much work was involved.
I bloody hate gardening as you know, but I appreciate a good garden. Even if all I can see is the tiresome man hours involved into making it beautiful. :)
My two favourites from the day were obviously the 60 degrees east garden, and Boodles - Secret Garden.
But let’s face it, it’s Chelsea Flower Show, they’re all amazing!
I bought some more allium bulbs. Will I remember to plant them? I’m 50/50 on that right now.
But I do hope I remember because they are absolute beauts!
I love lavender, alliums, agapanthus and bay trees. That’s about as knowledgeable or exciting as I get.
I think my garden stands a good chance of being a show stopper now I have someone to tend to it for me. :)
We’ve got the shed, we’re getting some fencing put up, I bought 9 allium bulbs It’s all coming together. :)
The food was good, the company was great. We got chatting to another couple on the table, who were great fun.
We’re going to go and stay at one of their holiday lets in the Peak District.
They’ve sold me a dream of the country idle. They are confident that even someone as un-outdoorsy as me could manage a couple of the hiking routes on offer.
So that’s something to look forward to. :)
After the show our driver picked us up at the gates and whisked us off home. I very much enjoy the corporate entertaining life. :)
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Friday was a different day altogether, but no less exciting!
For my birthday back in May, Ben booked us a day of fun!
So he bought us tickets to the Van Gogh Immersive experience in Shoreditch, followed by lunch at a super Instagrammable restaurant near there, called Gloria.
And rather than car and driver, we went by London Underground. Now I haven’t been on the Tube for about two years. I have always been a fan of the Tube itself, it’s genius. A network of underground stations spanning the whole of London! It’s an incredible feat of engineering.
But I hate crowds, general grime and germs! All of which are in abundance on the Tube. I hated the germs aspect way before the whole covid extravaganza, but it is the quickest way to get about London.
Dress from Jigsaw. Shoes from Christian Dior, Face mask from Ralph Lauren.
It’s London, it’s the tube, it’s pretty filthy. I wouldn’t wear white for a day out like this.
White is already a risk for someone with a stoma. Add to it the filth of a tube train and you might well be asking for trouble.
I packed everything I needed to change my stoma into that tiny little bag! How? Well, I packed the barest of bare essentials. It’s a bit risky. But I don’t want to be carrying loads of stuff round all day.
2 spare bags, with hole cut.
3 bag removal wipes
1 miniature bottle of perfume (as room spray)
6 sheets of kitchen paper
6 black disposing bags
Phone, lipstick, foundation & brush, a comb and bank cards, blister plasters.
It’s amazing how much you can fit into a tiny bag, when you can’t be bothered taking a big bag out with you.
In the VR world of Van Gogh.
This room was so beautiful. Literally immersed in Van Gogh’s works.
This little gadget was genius. You colour in a Pre printed picture. Place it in the QR code reader and it displays your art work on the gallery wall. As you can see I entered my picture four times because I felt it was that good! hahahahaha
We had such a great time. It was so nice to spend time with just Ben, but that did pose a slight problem as we are both dyslexic. So we had no sign reader with us. Chris reads all the signs for me usually, and Kaitlyn does Ben’s. Hahahahaha.
We managed but it’s so much better when someone just gives you a brief synopsis. ;)
From the gallery we had a short walk to the restaurant. I’ve never been to Gloria before but I will definitely be going back.
It is stunning! And thankfully the food is amazing too!
The pizza was delicious, but can we just take a moment to take in this fine beast!!
I have never seen a more dramatic lemon meringue pie in all my life!
And yes, it tasted as good as it looks, and also yes, it’s for two people, but I had it to myself! :)
It’s a ridiculously reasonably priced restaurant too. This pie was £6, and it’s for 2 people. In London!!
We then headed to Westfield shopping centre (the Stratford one), for a bit of shopping on the way home.
It was a wonderful day. It made me very happy. He’s a very good boy spoiling his mum. :)
Saturday was spent admiring the gardener’s hard work. He’s been bloody brilliant. He’s cleared an over grown mess of a veg patch. I don’t want to do anything with it but it’s nice to see the ground again.
I then decided to do something I actually like doing, and created an autumnal table scape.
I don’t really care too much if I’m any good at it. I just enjoy making them.
I get lost in it. It must be what it’s like to be able to paint, or draw or knit, sew, or scrap booking.
I’m not creative in the usual, classic sense. I can’t put paint to paper.
But I can build a table scape. :)
The season lends itself to a good scape. The colours and textures are perfect. That said, I think I could scape for all seasons. I’ve got loads of spring and summer ones I want to make, the ideas keep popping up in my mind.
I’m really pleased with this one. It’ll be on the table for a while. We don’t use the dining room much now we have the shed.
We dine out there, and then retire to the arm chairs and watch the sun set.
It’s really very blissful.
It makes you wonder why people live in big houses when there’re just two people rattling round in it.
We’ve pretty much moved into the shed. Hahahahaha
Then Sunday we invited Ben for breakfast as he was home alone.
How can you tell Ben has been? Well, I have to strain his juice as he can’t cope with bits in it! Hahahahaha
He’s phobic about fruit, he’ll say he isn’t, and cites apples as an example of fruit he eats…but when was the last one he ate?!? Hahahahaha
I had an ulterior motive for getting Ben over. Firstly, of course, I love spending time with him. But secondly I thought Chris would be more inclined to make pancakes.
(Only to find out Ben prefers crepes).
Can’t think of a better way to start a Sunday. I mean I’m a grown up, if I want to eat ice cream for breakfast any day of the week I can. But it just seems more justifiable with pancakes. :)
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I saw this on a friend’s Facebook, totally stole it!
I think it sums up my life perfectly. :)
Have a fantastic week. Live it with delight. :)
xx
ps. The 60 degrees east garden won silver at Chelsea. Which is fantastic!! Well done all x
pps,
Don’t panic buy fuel they said. So I didn’t.
Now look at the state of me…
