I <3 summer

Mountains and Castles

This is what I miss living in England. The photo was taken in the middle of summer, in 32 degrees heat, in the middle of Jotunheimen.

Childhood memories

Sometimes, if one or both of us are feeling a bit down, Husband and I go down to the shop and we both choose a type of candy that reminds us of childhood.

Happy Monday!

The sun was shining again today and the fox was sleeping at the bottom of the garden this morning when I got up. Another sunny and ridiculously hot day, too hot to do anything at all, except that there was no escaping work... I am exhausted now, as I always am when I'm too hot, and I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow will be a little cooler.

Happy Monday to you all!

Sunny Sunday solace

Sunday morning, it's almost unbearably hot, but I still take my coffee out in the sun along with the radio, my books and a nice magazine. I listen to Desert Island Disks and Just a Minute, which make a perfect blend with the singing birds, and look through my Country Living magazine. Blissful Sunday morning.

A happy Sunday to you all!

Tomato update

The tomatoes have now moved outside, and I'm looking after them with great care and anticipation of future lovely tasting home- grown tomatoes. I think we'll have to take them with us when we go to Scotland, I fear they might die being left on their own in the garden. We have a little greenhouse in which we grow, apart from the tomatoes, herbs, different types of salad, chili and peppers. The broccoli is still going strong too. It's so much fun to grow things to eat!

Finally Friday!

I can't believe it's Friday again! This week has gone by so incredibly quickly. I've had a very good morning with a cup of coffee and the very last episode of Gilmore girls. I can't help crying every time. After that I started a sewing project that went completely wrong, and I decided to give up on it and try again another day. I don't like following instructions and prefer figuring things out my own way, so inevitably mistakes happen. I am wearing these pretty earrings from Prydelig and my favourite heart locket from Cath Kidston today, and a skirt I made a few months ago.

No plans this weekend, I am hoping the weather will be nice so I can enjoy my Dostoyevsky in the garden. Hope you're all having a good Friday, and a happy weekend to you all!

My London Alphabet: B

Belgo Centraal is a Belgian restaurant/beer house in Covent Garden (there is also one near Holborn and one in Clapham) with fantastic beers and great food. If you like Belgian beer this is the place to go, as they have a very diverse menu. The food is traditional Belgian; mussels, roast chicken, sausages and different types of casseroles, all served with chips and mayonnaise. The best one, as far as I am concerned, is the one in Covent Garden, which is situated in a dark basement, and all the waiters are dressed in long monk robes.

Borough Market should be familiar to anyone who has read my blog for a while, it is definitely one of my favourite spots in London. Situated not far from the bank of Thames between old warehouses, under a railway bridge, it is full of lovely culinary treasures. They have recently done it up really nicely; planted lots of flowers and decorated walls. Go there for a nice coffee and cake or cheese or to have your lunch, choices are difficult when presented with so many delicious alternatives. Or, if you simply enjoy nice food, just enjoy the different smells, look at the beautiful cakes and find lots of inspiration for cooking.

Breakfast Club is a place I have written about before, but it's worth mentioning again. Lovely food, great cocktails, tasty cakes, good atmosphere and music just to my taste. Their breakfast menu is extensive and mouth watering, but it's also great for lunch or late night drinks. A great place to sit down with a book or a sketch book, or just study other people.

Beyond Retro is a chain of vintage clothing shops, and they have three shops in London; one in Brick Lane, one in Chalk Farm (Camden) and one in Soho. They have a huge selection of vintage clothes, the shops are full of little treasures. You can find yourself some really great bargains there, and it's absolutely worth a visit!

London love

Some days I love London, sometimes I hate it, and sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe that I have actually lived here for almost five years now. I had a wander around the city yesterday on my day off. I went to Tower Bridge to pick up my new glasses, and as the tube station was closed due to a fire, I decided to walk up to Oxford Circus. It was pouring down with rain, warm summer rain streaming down, and all around me people were seeking shelter in shops, under trees and in doorways. I had my lovely spotty umbrella, and I don't mind getting wet, so I was enjoying walking down the empty streets all on my own. It was one of those lovely days, when you suddenly notice pretty little details on buildings, see someone helping an old lady across the street, someone smiles at you on the tube (which is pretty rare, I can tell you) and the world seems like such a nice place. I walked from Tower Bridge along the river to Borough Market, along the Southbank past The Globe and Tate Modern, to the National Theatre and the Southbank Centre.

Outside the Southbank Centre there is a temporary 'sea side', as a part of the Thames Festival, and they have put up little beach huts with different exhibitions in them. I really loved this one called 'Literature of the sea'. Why not sit down and read for a while?

Walking along the Thames is really one of my favourite things to do in London, and particularly if it is the middle of the week and you can avoid all the tourists. Worth doing if you're in London!

Hope you are all having a good week!

Finally Friday!

I have been away for a few days, camping in the very beautiful Derbyshire, spending my days walking through the English hills. So very beautiful. Walking in the grass covered hills, along rivers, overs stone bridges, through the tiniest little villages with old stone cottages, rose gardens and vegetable patches. It was like walking through one of my dreams, oh, how I dream of having a little stone cottage, beautiful roses in my garden, a vegetable patch and surrounded by pretty hills and rivers. Sigh. It was lovely, though. And particularly because the rain is now pouring down outside, but I don't have to sleep in a tent tonight, I'm wrapped up, inside, with a very hot cup of tea.

I hope you all have lovely days, and lovely weekends planned.

Beautiful mail

I love getting mail, particularly when it is as beautiful as this!

Fancy wearables

This lovely locket arrived in the mail today, from lovely Emily! I just love her paintings and ideas, full of fairytales and fantasy. Her blog reminds me that I never want to lose my childish imagination, dreams and creativity, and that anything is possible. Dream on!

Tea time!

I've had this lovely padded fabric lying around for a while, and I wasn't sure what to do with it. It's from a charity shop, and it was already quilted. Then I thought I'd make a tea cosy for my tea pot, and here's the result! I just love this fabric with its little red hearts. From the rest of the fabric I'm making little egg cosies, we'll see how they turn out..

Finally Friday!

It's been such a busy week, and it's so nice to finally have an opportunity to sit down and relax. The rain is pouring down outside, I'm enjoying a hot cup of coffee and Desperate Housewives. Bliss. And also this lovely lunch; homemade fishcakes (recipe from the Scandinavian Cookbook), grated beetroot and carrot with sweetcorn, lemon juice and coriander and a mint- yogurt sauce. The plan for the day is to continue some sewing projects I've started, drink lots and lots of tea and maybe watch a bit of Gilmore Girls. And no plans for the weekend, maybe I'll do a bit of gardening, take a stroll around town with Husband, things like that.

I wish you all a very happy weekend!

Happiness

It's been a lovely half term, despite a flat tyre on our car that stopped us going to some of the places we had planned to go.. Things that made me happy this past week:

- spending time with lovely friends.

- hearing great live music.

- a Bavarian beer house experience in London.

- having a lovely barbecue in the sunshine.

- drinking wine on the Southbank in the warm weather with friends.

- gardening.

- going to Borough Market.

- drinking good wine with great food.

- making and eating pavlova.

- walking around London in lovely summer weather.

- making and eating proper Norwegian cinnamon buns. Made me miss home.

- spending lots of quality time with Husband.

Hope you've all had a great week!