FLORA

This is just a quick blog to say hi to you all. I know from your blogs many of you are animal lovers ,so I hope you will understand what an anxious couple of days we have had , two nights ago D ,Mr vintage heart,took Fergal and Flora my furry babies for a walk and on returning home Flora began too be very unwell , her eyes sunk to the back of her head ,she was shacking uncontrollably and was,nt breathing very well, She is 15 years old, so an elderly old lady, but a doughty one at that, shes a terrier i Will say no more.. All of us thought she was dying and I felt so powerless and very scared for her, So a call to the vet and an agonising wait of 20 Min's before he could get to the surgery, i really thought he would say this was the end ,and she wouldn't be coming back with us, so when we arrived both the teenager and my self were trying not too cry, only D held it together..My son is 16 and has grown up with both dogs always been there , you know what teenagers are like , got to be cool at all times, so was glad to see the veneer drop and the real boy/man appear, .. The vet said it may be a stroke or a sever allergic reaction too some thing on her walk, , a air of uncertainy .So she was injected with all sorts too cover lots of possibilities and told to take her home , keep an eye on her ,and return in the morning , his parting words, this could go either way. But I am very glad to say after a very sleep less night ,I checked on her every hour or so, she made it through the night and is making a slow recovery, she has managed a little scrambled egg, and porridge and is receiving the best nursing care the vintage heart house can offer, she even managed a growl at the cats tonight, a good sing for Flora if not for the cats!! She has always been a naughty adorable joy and the only sadness she has brought in to our lives is the thought of loosing her, I know she is old and one day It will happen.. but not yet ..please..

CHOICES CHOICES

How are things with you all ..? In the last few days I have been in a quandary , I haven't quite had sleepless nights but I have been struggling with a big choice, what colour to paint the windows and door of my cottage!! After getting several quotes from professional painters one been £1,550 excluding paint to do 9 small windows and two doors (faint, splutter!!) D has taken this week off work to paint the house and do some wood repair on our old sash windows and sills, as the harsh winter we had has taken its toll..
This is the front door of our cottage, not only is our cottage grade two listed its also in a conservation area, so we have to be very careful of our choice of colours as other wise our local council we be jumping up and down, also I think the colour choice is important not only do,s it say some thing about your personal taste , but the colour should compliment the surroundings,and architecture of the building. At the moment we have we have Saxon green by farrow and ball,


Which I have loved but fancy a change.... so I have been looking at other peoples choices and sneakily photographing them so you can help me choose..

This is a lovely cottage in Zennor in Cornwall, the barbie pink gate is so unexpected ,but I kind of like it, but I know the council would have a Dickie fit I went for this !!


So how about this colour, this is a cottage three doors away from me, think the colour compliments the honey stone, think this is hay from farrow and ball, can I copy , don't know?

Rather like this greeny shade..
This is my next door neighbour's house ....




Love this colour , so great again with the stone...


love this blue, quite french specially with the fab geraniums...
This is so classically period and Georgian , very smart,
This is a wonderful cottage in St Ives , and included it because I think it proves how a colour is so important, screams nautical , by the sea don't you think?
same for these two.....
I adore this colour combo ,so pretty, very Cath Kidston..
But not right for a inland country cottage i think...
These two are in St Ives and Zennor and included them both as they are rather ravishing in different ways.. bottom one is a bit similar too my humble abode..
So what do you think , D is preparing wood work over next couple of days so i must buy the paint on Tuesday evening, been studying the paint chart hard and I might be leaning towards these two shades






olive green or,Calke Green, I used to be indecisive but I'm not sure any more!!!! Help ,Help, come on girls I need you, what colour do you think,( if you click on f&B link you can view colour chart) If I don't decide by Tuesday there could be a divorce or murder as D HATES painting and he thinks I am sorted!! On a slightly different subject ,just thought I would let you know the hen night was eventful , as mentioned in my last post the hen party was made up of ladies of a mature age, as the bride was marrying in her early autumn years , after a few drinks she decided she wanted to go to a night club as she had never been too one, so off we all went, what can I say girls apart from what an eye opener , we were in our nearest Big town Darlington , and I am still having flash backs, and its been fodder for conversation all week at work.. us country bumpkin girls were like rabbits in a head light!!! lets just say it will be a one off experience... phew.. any way take great care of your selves , but have some fun this week, I am off to York on Wednesday with a friend to have a little jolly, will bring D a cake or two back from Betty,s to keeping him yielding that paint brush!! see you soon...

CASTLES AND CAR BOOT SALES

Hi girls, how are you doing in your worlds? To day has been my day off work and last night I decided I needed a slow day to rest and catch up on 101 small things I needed to do, I usually try to get out and about on my day off ,then i feel I have "done some thing", ,When I had done several boring but necessary jobs , I decided to take a break and get out and about in my home town in stead of heading off else where and take my furry old babies for a walk round Richmond, I decided to take the camera with me so you could come on my walk with me, I have lived here for 7 years and i still rather taken by how lovely it is ..
This is the river Swale that runs through the town

This is the water falls or Foss , the river swale is one of the fastest rising rivers in the UK, and the water falls can be spectacular but very ferocious in winter,
this is the view from the Georgian promenade or castle walk as its known now, i saw a king fisher and a dragon fly on this stretch of the walk, further up the river in a more remote spot I have see otter prints, never seen the actual otter yet, but one morning I plan to get up at dawn and sit and wait , as they are mostly nocturnal and have been told this is the best time too see them as they head back to there Holt's at this time I am told..









This is the lovely Georgian promenade or castle walk as its known now, it was(yes you have guessed) created in Georgian times for them to dress up and stroll about the town and show off there finest, I like too picture this in my minds eye, and then return journey back to my cottage on this little village green, rather spoilt by the cars, we have been petitioning to get residents parking ,but to no a vial as yet, we need them but they are a blight ,like those damn wheelie bins!!


Fergal was having a bad hair day ,but lots of fun in the sun, he is amazing for 16 years old, hes a little forget full and quite blind and deafish ,but still has a great zest for life and I love him to bits..

Flora is 15 and cant walk very far so I end up carrying her , thank god she is not a great Dane, since she was a puppy she has helped her self to black berries of the bushes and


she gobbles them up like sweeties, Fergal will not eat them , and looks at her like she is mad!!!


Look what arrived in the post on Thursday......... a lovely little dog fox terrier on wheels which I had ordered from the lovely Sarah at north field primitives which can be found in my favourite blogs list, she is so talented and i hope to collect a few more of her fab handmade creations..


the attention to detail is lovely,





I have put him into the barn room for now, but i have a cunning plan to buy a large dresser top style shelf and put in in this room and paint it a lovely Cath Kidston colour , i saw one outside a bike shop in Whitby ,it was in an alley way and looked like it was been throw ed out or had been used as a old shop fitting, the shop was closed (it was a Sunday) and we try ed phoning the owner ,but to no avail ,it was just the right size and shape, and i still keep thinking about it, but sure it will be long gone now... and we just couldn't take it, theres all ways one that got away!!!
On Sunday very early I set off to a car boot which I had been told about from my friend Richard who if possible is a bigger devote of car boot sales and antique fairs than me,( hard to believe I know as you have got to know my little weakness for booting!) ( He said it was one of the best he had been too)! Ho my well !, so with great anticipation and big expectations I made the long winding Journey to Ripley castle, a Stately home about 40 odd miles from where I live, the car boot sale is held on the cricket pitch adjacent to the castle, a more picturesque setting you couldn't imagine.. the morning was a beautiful sunny crisp morning so the omens for a good turn out were good...



The ques were very long to get in and there were loads and loads of cars of cars heading in to sell , i actually got a kind of high when I was waiting to get in! several different queues and to my delight we got in first..

Loads of stalls and the first thing I bought was this new retro egg sign ,when I saw it I just knew where it would fit



Then I spotted these mirrors, a lady was selling all three, and i just fell for them , very retro, i love the bright red one, but thought i might paint the other two in cath kidston colours, what do you think ? any suggestion's for colours or should i leave them a lone /,i am going to hang them as a group on my landing and i am going to look out for more...










This was my bargain £2 find made from 50,s fabric , just really loved it instantly, the bow tie is sweet,







This is the horrid wall light we have lived with for 7 years! just never seen any other Wall lamps i could afford or liked to replace them , horrid things ,they are in my dinning room , that is until Sunday when i spotted these on a stall...





I got four of them plus the shades for £5, much much better than the brass 80,s horrors, don't you think, / just need to get D stirred up to fit them , this could be another 7 years!!!


Hope you all have a intersting and happy week end , I am at work on Saturday, but in the evening I an going on a hen night with the ladies from work (late marriage for the hen!), we are all ladies of a certaian age and are going to a tappas bar , all very taste full , jeans and bling is the dress code , so may be a little jaded for car boot on Sunday , may go to an afternoon one instead of early bird! love Linda x

TO THE SEA TO THE SEA

On Sunday D and I decided we needed to be near the sea..... so really early we set off on the drive over the ravishing North Yorkshire moors , Aled Jones on radio two , kept us relaxed and entertained on the journey.. the heather was eye watering beautiful , stretching for miles and miles..




the road was long and winding and meandered through.... wild deserted country side .. the marker posts are to show where the road is in snow drifts..

We stopped to admire these lovely chaps with their impressive horns, gathering there strength for the "JOB" ahead with the sheepy ladies!



the wind got stronger the nearer we got to the coast, these girls were sheltering ,you can see broken branches, thats how blustery it was!


we finally arrived .... yes we went to the lovely Whitby.. We parked up on the cliffs , and boy was it wild and windy




The streets were very quiet with not many people about ,they probably had more sense than us as it was only 10.0 ,clock on Sunday morning.... I was glad there was,nt many people about as ...... my hair began too look very like this (photo borrowed from google) I started squawking at D need coffee , need hair scrunchy, while walking into lamp posts and the odd person we encountered because couldn't see a thing for hair!!!

so after taming the wild woman of the hills look. i got my second wish.. ahh.. began too feel human again...



I have not been too Whitby when it was so quite for ages, and it was great been able to move from shop to shop easily.. we went to the chandlers yard cafe for lunch, in fact we seemed to have loads of pit stops, but it was coldish, but then again it was a bank holiday so i should have expected it..


the sea looked very like this, so resisted paddle!!!


In fact Whitby was quite as the abbey grave yard which we braved by climbing the many steps up to the it.
I loved this Sweet shop with the display of vintage tins..and the sweeties were not bad, i indulged in some chewy nuts, which are chocolate covered toffees, have you tyred them ? so so Moorish!




This was a pie and mash shop window, love the vintage baking things!


This lovely floral rain coat was in my favourite Whitby shop the Sheppard's pursed(blogged about it before) it was made by the Irish company Avoca, I tyred it on and D said he would treat me, but I was having a fat day, and just felt lumpy in it..... and it was £110.00 , so i left it in the shop,, but now wish i had got it!! Said this to D , and he rolled his eyes, ... do you know that look?!!! In the afternoon it began to be more packed with people so ...............




We then drove the mile or so from Whitby to Sand end ,as the week before when I had been in York, while in one of my favourite shops Wild hart which sells vintage and retro and lovely things for the home, Ian the owner told me they were opening another store in Sands end . so what is a girl to do, Did,nt tell D the reason for wanting to go to Sands end as he would have headed in opposite direction.. h erm.. so when I exclaimed ho look there a wild at hart shop !, i,ll just pop in here, D was herd muttering some thing about been born yesterday ..

sands end is so quaint and old fashioned , and has lovely fisherman's cottages , and is quite a sort after place to have a house as you can expect..




My eyes fell on this vintage steiff type bear , but was well out of my price bracket at over £3oo, the shop has adorable things and the lady who works for Ian and Tracey was lovely .. D enjoyed chatting with her, may be she is trained to entertain husbands so wife's spend!!




so I came away with this lovely book, i have wanted it for ages,




And how could i resist this sweet vintage elephant? He would have been on wheels and his head moves up and down so D is going to make a base and wheels for me for him to go on, and i will paint and vintage it up.. what is it with me and toys on wheels?? If you get a chanse either visit the shops or web site..




These were charity shop finds in Whitby, the little calender, bit battered but hay its a fox terrier!! I just so fell for this charming little girl on the rocking horse, i think she is from the 30,s, the lady in the shop was just pricing her up from a box of other old thing that had just come in.. lucky or what.. so in all I had a lovely trip to the seaside.