oct, 30th - sit and play....

day 607:

i've been considering vintage apple crates for weeks now......they appear to be on everyone's wish list at the moment but i knew that they'd make the perfect shelves for some of Limi's toys.

on saturday, we visited Broadway Market {see day 390} (which just gets better and better) and found two.....i Love them....they look exactly how i imagined.....

definitely more pics of our weekend and the market to follow. 

hope you had a good one. dx

oct, 28th - autumn leaves and giraffes....

day 605:

Limi and i bunked off on Tuesday afternoon and went to the zoo. i'm not a huge zoo fan...they sometimes leave me feeling sad (i'm much more of a here person) but London Zoo has never felt cramped or caged somehow.....

we had a great time just the two of us.....especially on the carousel and with the 'Raffes'

you always leave this place wanting more.....has to be a good thing.

have a wonderful weekend and see you Monday. x

oct, 26th - petersham nurseries....

day 603:

much has been written over the years about the cafes at Petersham Nurseries in Richmond. they inspire lyrical words. i went many years ago and was completely charmed by the setting, the food and the waitrons in gumboots and floral aprons.

it's been ages since i was last there but this past weekend we made it back to the teahouse. it's looking a bit different....more of an operation now...bigger and slightly slicker but still as beautifully ramshackle-garden-chic as i remembered.

the restaurant and cafes are set in large greenhouses. bathed in glorious Autumn sunshine we had some lunch and then queued up again to sample their array of interesting cakes: beetroot, flourless chocolate, iced orange and coconut. you could definitely lose whole mornings here cocooned from the chill outside and surrounded by tangled plants.

and while you're there, the shop is definitely worth a look.

now that we've rediscovered it....i think that we'll be spending a lot of time here over Winter.

oct, 25th - some things in life are free....

day 602:

a coffee at the cafe in our street (well not free, exactly) and my own mini hot water bottle giving me fish kisses.....a simple but perfect end to a long day.

oct, 24th - new shoes....

day 601:

wow. keeping a child's wardrobe stocked with seasonal clothes that fit is more tricky than i imagined. Limi can still sometimes be seen squeezed into nine to twelve month leggings (well crop-leggings) and three quarter sleeved tops. that is until Jae does a big purge and another bag gets packed up and put away.....then suddenly the drawers are empty again.....

and good shoes are the hardest things to find....this sweet pair (in my vetoed pink.....but hey a dusty, dirty pink is not too bad...right?) are from Zara (the girls' section this time)....these sparkly numbers may be a stretch too far....although i so want to......they remind me of my dancing youth and being up on stage covered in glitter and sequins from head to toe.

oct, 23rd - bitton....

day 600:

last weekend on our way to Somerset, we stopped in the little village of Bitton which is where A.'s grandfather grew up until the age of nine. at this time, his family decided to pack up and sail (on a voluntary ship) to New Zealand. on the way they stopped in Cape Town to refuel (his grandfather could vividly recall what the Cape of Good Hope looked like in the late 1920s) and then again in Australia. after chatting to some pioneer friends in Sydney, his parents decided to stay...and the rest as they say is (family) history.

this is the village church in Bitton where he would have sat in the family pew, dressed in his Sunday best.  it's a beautiful village and you can almost picture him running across the meadows and down the hill to school....the story that he often told A's mum and her siblings.

oct, 20th - cal....

day 597:

so, it was my nephew, cal's, 1st birthday recently. these pics are from when he was 7 months old....(yes, completely gratuitous pics of an extremely cute family member)......but anyway, my issue is.....how come boys get all the hair? these locks are just crying out for pigtails while Limi is still cultivating a long mohawk....these are family genes after all.....

anyway, happy birthday cal-cal. 

oct, 19th - the karoo....

day 596:

it's not often that i feature another photographer but Shanna Jones is a friend and this wedding that she shot, completely blew me away.........it looks like everything a wedding should be: individual, relaxed, fun and long........

and it was in The Karoo in South Africa which is one of my favourite places.

to see more, take a look at Shanna's blog but beware....you could get lost for days.

all pics by Shanna Jones

oct, 18th - somerset....

day 595:

Somerset was a chance for us to see where my niece goes to school {see day 566} and for these two to spend some time together.....

Limi idolises her cousin....in fact we just step back when they're together as she will only listen to what 'Wara' says.....we're hoping to make plenty of trips to Somerset in the coming months.....

 on the drive home we caught a lovely, fleeting glimpse of Stonehenge.......