The Enchanting Rose Tea Cup Exchange 2016

It's that wonderful time again where the reveal for Stephanie's The Enchanting Rose's Tea Cup and Mug Exchange is shown around the world.  I am in awe of Stephanie's organisational skills and patience with this exchange and so happy to show off the two parcels I received.

The first is from Kimberley at Creative Chaos over in New Zealand.

The beautiful porcelain mug is from the Kensington Palace Collection "Palace Rose".  I love the design and it's lovely summery colours.  Along with the mug I received three practical and beautifully shaded blue tea towels.  The duck egg blue one will be used for photo backdrops.  Gorgeous.

Also Kimberley sent over some lovely chocolate, always a winner with me!

Just yummy!

Thank you so much Kimberley for such a wonderful and delicious parcel.  The tea is gorgeous too!

So, that was the mug exchange, now to the tea cup exchange...

My second parcel is from the lovely Angela over at Garden Teacakes and Me.

I was so happy to receive this gorgeous pastel coloured tea cup and saucer with the added surprise of a matching side plate.  The colours of pink, green and white are my favourite colour combination.

I can't wait for the warmer days when I can sit properly at my garden table with a sandwich and lovely refreshing tea looking at this wonderful trio.

The selection of teas are currently being enjoyed.  I do love a selection, thank you Angela.

Angela seemed to know my love (and maybe obsession) with note books, so I was absolutely thrilled to add another one to the collection, along with a pencil from Liberty - so happy!

Thanks so much Angela, I can see I will be using all of the elements to your parcel on lovely sunny days in the garden.

Go along and visit Stephanie's blog to see more parcels that have been sent and received on this very happy exchange.

I've heard that my two parcels have been received and looking forward to reading about them from Andrea at My Everything Corner and Barbara at Small Moments

Thank you once again Stephanie, you are so incredibly brilliant at organising this so well.

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Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose

So, Where Shall We Go On Our Journey Today... The Shard, London

It has been a long time coming.  Walking through the streets of London seemed such a distant memory even though the last time I was in my home town was only on the 1 November.  Such a lot has happened and having fit feet was essential for any of my trips to my home turf.  So, are you ready?  It's been a while since I said this, grab yourself a chocolate digestive or two and a nice hot cup of tea and let me do the walking.  So, where shall we go on our journey today?... The View from the Shard, London.

The Shard has had a bit of bad press with its imposing presence on the London skyline, especially by me.  How dare it take away the beauty of the old buildings.  BUT, now I have been to the top and seen my wonderful City laid out before me like an 3D map, I have to say I'm sold!

St Paul's Cathedral in the centre

Looking East towards Tower Bridge, The Isle of Dogs and Greenwich

To get up to the top of this 95 storey skyscraper in Southwark, London didn't take long.  After going through security (yay! the pins in my feet didn't set off the alarms) you then go into two lifts.  One takes you to the thirty third floor, then a short walk around the corner and the second takes you to the seventy second!  A fast lift that I have to say makes you feel a little uncomfortable as it slows to stop, but the views take this all away (and the champagne!).  

Yes it's high but as we slowly walked around this level, we enjoyed looking out for places that we knew so well.  St Paul's Cathedral of course...

The Monument, dwarfed by the buildings that now surround the area that it once represented as a monument to the great fire of London.

The Cheesegrater, The Walkie Talkie and The Guerkin.

The Tower of London with its beautiful green lawn, so different from when the poppies made such a statement.

Tower Bridge providing the gateway into the City along with HMS Belfast.

And in the distance on the opposite shore to the Isle of Dogs, my favourite place - Greenwich.  The zoom had to be used to its fullest, but you can just make out the Observatory where the Meridian Line takes us on its journey, the Cutty Sark, The Queens House and The Royal Naval College.

The Razor in the opposite direction.

And then the square mile.  The London Eye's views will not be the same for me after this experience.  Looking at the Eye as the face of a clock, at 7 o'clock you can see the Houses of Parliament and at 10 o'clock, Buckingham Palace.

There are two viewing platforms, one enclosed and one open!  Yes, you read that right, open!!  Looking down at the enclosed platform gives some perspective of just how large this place is.

And, yes again, the next level is open!

Looking up and feeling the air and looking up at sky was quite an experience.

But this was open only above us, not right next to us so there was no worrying about going too far over the edge.

From up here we were able to work out where we were going next.  Looking down we could see Southwark Cathedral and Borough Market.  Lunch was calling us!

But a little crowded by the looks of things!

The Thames flowing below us, so busy and so beautiful with its bridges keeping London moving.

So what did we think of this place?

Absolutely amazing.  Worth every penny if you want to see this fantastic City in one sweep (but then I'm biased).  However, from the outside... hmmm jury's still out.

Once on the ground again we couldn't leave it there.  Borough Market, The Globe, Millenium Bridge, St Pauls, The Museum of London, Tower of London, Tower Bridge and lastly Hayes Galleria - but that's for another post after my ankles have deflated!

I hope you enjoyed this trip from your armchair.  Next time I'll be walking you through the streets of London on firm ground.

Wordless Wednesday - The Tulips Bloom

The little lipsticks of colour start to unfurl.

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Wordless Wednesday

Little Pink Boots

Walking through Peterborough today in the welcome sunshine, I couldn't help myself and took a mobile photo of this sweet little girl in her pink welly boots playing in the fountains.  She made me smile, as well as all those who saw her.  Not a care in the world, just enjoying life and taking no notice of those who just skirt the edge and don't live life to the full.

Thank you for the smiles little pink boots.

Thank you all so much for your visits and your comments last week, I have been so busy that I haven't been able to respond to you all.  Hopefully time will be kind to me in the not too distant future!  We are visiting London next week so my trips are beginning at last!

Snippets of a Bank Holiday Weekend

It's a Bank Holiday in England and Wales and true to form the rain returns.  Bank Holiday = Rain, we should just accept it.  I sit here tapping at my keyboard just as the storm 'Katie' taps away at the window panes.  I think it's going to be a cozy day inside.

At the end of a very busy week at work, I needed to get my home looking more like a place to live rather than a place to collapse.   Luckily I knew Good Friday was going to be a good weather day so the housework was done, the washing had been line dried, the ironing mountain had been conquered, the surfaces were polished, Tia had been bathed and the weekend was now mine!   I had such plans for each day, but the only good weather day was Good Friday and another ridiculously 'named' storm was coming our way - those of you around the world that have real storms stop laughing now (why the met office have had to feel to name them I don't know).  Knowing that this would make the Fen a very soggy place to walk, I took full advantage and me and Tia enjoyed the firm pathways before the storm hit - nothing better!  The daffodils are about to turn, so seeing them still dancing in the fields and against the backdrop of the ever swelling ditches was satisfying to see.

In the distance the wind farm stood steadfast waiting for the winds to start.  It was already blowy and the sails were all turning, along with the waves of yellow rippling like the sea.

The wind was blowing Tia and her gorgeous long ears.  She loves this place so much, including the car journey to get here.  The back window of the car gets rolled down and from the wing mirror I can see that happy little face looking out with ears and jowls dancing in the air as we make our way down to the Fen.

The horses at the side of the path were far too busy enjoying their lunch to notice any changes in the weather.

Mind you, they did look cozy in their coats.

Saturday was going to be Mother/Daughter time and lunch was decided in Peterborough at the Handmade Burger Co with Miss Teen followed by some retail therapy.  We don't get enough time together lately so we thoroughly enjoyed lunch and then hurriedly searched for Easter eggs!

Being the bad mum that I am, I had sorted everyone else out with Easter eggs but Mr Teen and Miss Teen!  All the major stores were telling me that they had sold out (hmmm, I thought, let's see how many magically appear on the shelves on Tuesday!).  Luckily a smaller store had a couple of little beauties left, so panic over!  Yes, yes, I know, they are old enough to survive without this level of sugar on Easter Sunday, but traditions are hard to let go sometimes for this mum.

... along with a bit of baking!

Unfortunately this holiday means that Miss Teen will be at Easter School.  Each day she will have to go in and study with her fellow GCSE class mates.  I know it is a good thing for them to do, but she is so tired and with no break now until after her exams, it is a little unfair.  Other schools have study leave, but not her one.  So, early mornings and late nights for the homework to be completed is just too much and I feel that many will burn out before their big days.  She will eventually be an Art student, and I am going to do my very proud mum moment and show you just one piece of her art work for her GCSE project.  Every piece she does has me speechless, so talented.

And so, before another busy week, I will my third cold of the year to pack its bags, and settle down with the blanket that is driving me slowly mad, and make lists for when the weather actually cheers up a bit.

Have a great week - here comes the storm!