My sister's wedding

My sisters are two of the most important people in my life and one of my favourite moments this year was dancing together with them at Anne's wedding earlier this summer. As you can see from the photos above, we went outside to have our photos taken together and across the summer air came strains of music from inside the barn. We all started to dance and (fortunately?) the wonderful Lauren captured it all... So we recreated a childhood photo which has been doing the rounds of hen parties - us as the Spice Girls circa mid 90s. As evidenced above...

If you are interested, you can see Lauren's photos here and Anne's recap of her memories of the day here.

I think Lauren's photos are fantastic. There are some brilliant memories, some wonderful photography and lots and lots of our family that I just want to print out and frame. I keep looking back at them. If they make *me* this emotional, who knows how my sister and brother-in-law (the artist formerly known as Faux-Bro) are holding themselves together.

The top photo is of us and the baby bridesmaids (the groom's cousin and the bride's friend's daughter) accompanied by our Dad as we approach the church. The second is obviously us prancing in a field and the third is the bride and all the bridesmaid's dancing, watched by our husbands, boyfriend and (baby bridesmaids) parents. I particularly like that in the background you can see a newly engaged couple friend of the bride and groom dancing - in later photos they are kissing :) You can also see the lighting which my sister designed, our Dad constructed out of wire and junction boxes and lightbulbs, the decorations which my sister made and then once the whole lot had been wired/fixed together was hoisted up to the beams by our Dad and the Best Man with bridesmaids holding it up and steadying ladders. It was a real team building exercise by both families, that set up day, but absolutely amazing. In fact, the whole weekend was absolutely wonderful. I really felt that I didn't just gain a brother-in-law but also his four younger brothers too (and their parents!).

If you click on over to the rest of Lauren's photos, you can also see the flowers and the hair piece, both of which I made/put together in conjunction with Annie and of which I was rather proud. The flowers, because they were a rather sad heap and together we made them look presentable, and the hair piece because we wove my veil offcuts, a vintage brooch I helped Annie pick, vintage ribbon of our Mother's and ribbon from the flowers and cake into one.

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Photos by Lauren McGlynn

Cornish Cliffs

Those moments, tasted once and never done,

Of long surf breaking in the mid-day sun.

A far-off blow-hole booming like a gun-

The seagulls plane and circle out of sight

Below this thirsty, thrift-encrusted height,

The veined sea-campion buds burst into white

And gorse turns tawny orange, seen beside

Pale drifts of primroses cascading wide

To where the slate falls sheer into the tide.

More than in gardened Surrey, nature spills

A wealth of heather, kidney-vetch and squills

Over these long-defended Cornish hills.

A gun-emplacement of the latest war

Looks older than the hill fort built before

Saxon or Norman headed for the shore.

And in the shadowless, unclouded glare

Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where

A misty sea-line meets the wash of air.

Nut-smell of gorse and honey-smell of ling

Waft out to sea the freshness of the spring

On sunny shallows, green and whispering.

The wideness which the lark-song gives the sky

Shrinks at the clang of sea-birds sailing by

Whose notes are tuned to days when seas are high.

From today’s calm, the lane’s enclosing green

Leads inland to a usual Cornish scene-

Slate cottages with sycamore between,

Small fields and tellymasts and wires and poles

With, as the everlasting ocean rolls,

Two chapels built for half a hundred souls.

-John Betjeman 

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Bejteman wrote these words about Daymer Bay and the Camel Estuary and he is buried in the St Endecoc church which is hidden in the dunes near where most of these photos were taken. Betjeman had it about right; "those moments, tasted once, and never done". Certainly I am never done with Cornwall, nor the Camel Estuary in particular, and it is one of the places I am calmest, happiest, most content.

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photos top L-R: 

boats at Rock; crabs at Lundy Bay; me at Lundy Bay

crabs and more Lundy Bay

Husband on the roof terrace at Rick Stein's seafood restaurant; boats at Rock; Husband waiting for the ferry

photos bottom L-R:

Husband golfing at St Enedocs; ferry from Rock to Padstow; lunch at Rick Stein's cafe

Lunch; surfing at Polzeath; rockpooling at Lundy Bay

more rockpooling; trees on the golf course; Camel Estuary mussels

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photos by me

FAQ

Me, at a friend's wedding, two summers ago. Just because.

You may have noticed that gradually I've been having a tidy up round here. If you always read on google reader or similar, perhaps this might even tempt you to come across and have a proper look...

I've added some pages across the top - About (which is quite short), Link Love (which is a list of blogs that I read - let me know if I need to update it) and Our Wedding (which is self explanatory).

Which brings me to the point of this post - the fourth page up there is for FAQ but at present it's empty. So, ask away. And if you often read but don't comment, now is the time to say hello!

Post your questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them. And, if it's a really good question, I might even do a post about it...

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Photo of me by Elegant & Wild Photography

Just a minute... In August {Cornwall Edition}

Reading... The September issue of Vogue.

Watching... Not strictly speaking in Cornwall, but the week before we went, we watched a fascinating programme on the BBC iplayer called The Art of Cornwall. Cornish art is probably among my very favourite art and two artists in particular, Barbara Hepworth and Alfred Wallis, have produced work amongst which I can while away hours. If this is something which people find of interest, I can write more...

Whilst we were there, on the rainy Sunday evening we ate pizza and watched Tamara Drewe. I'm not sure I'd recommend it as such, but it was entertaining enough.

Listening... cliched as it sounds, to the birds, the sea and the rain and wind. It was very peaceful. Oh, and to occasional groups of braying families. It was Rock, after all.

Buying... Not much actually. Two pairs of lovely socks in the sale. Some drinks in the Mariners. Lunch at Rick Stein's Cafe.  And I would have bought a Poppy Treffry boats tea towel but I didn't. Next time I need one though, I know what I'll get...

Loving... the light.

Wanting... to not have to go home.

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This won't replace the regular Just a minute for August. Just that I love Cornwall so very much. Proper post with photos to follow. This week has just been a little busy. Whilst we were away we had some friends staying at the house (in part so they could have their own holiday, in part because we hoped Delilah might like the company) and then some other friends are arriving tonight. Pole fitness on Tuesday and Pilates yesterday meant this week has zipped past already. Back soon.

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iphone hipstamatic photo by me, taken nearing low tide from the roof terrace of The Seafood Restaurant, Padstow  looking over the Camel Estuary towards Rock/Daymer Bay. The pale stripe of sand in the sea is the Doom Bar.

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Just a minute - an occasional series of posts inspired by Talking to Unicorns (who was inspired by Daydream Lily). Just a Minute was started by August Street back in 2007.

I heart Holidays

For the past 4 days, Husband and I have been in Cornwall. Aside from posting a few photos on instragram, I have been unplugged from twitter, google reader, facebook and the like. So sad to come back to news of riots and a falling financial market. Am catching up on your blogs and twitter and hope to be back with a proper post soon...

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photo by me of Lundy Bay (beach grafitti by unknown holiday maker but whose sentiments I agree with entirely)

If I were in New York this summer

I would be going to this

Drinking. Dancing. Raising money and awareness about marriage equality. Hanging out with amazing ladies whom I admire muchly.

Sadly, it's not going to happen for this event. BUT I did figure that despite being "off shopping" the donation to buy one of these lovely tote bags was absolutely a charitable donation and very much not shopping. You can get one here too, if you're quick. [Don't worry, Meg has made sure that they ship to the UK].

Also, I think A Girl's World is talking about holding a dance party over here. Um, yes, how much fun would that be?

And, Kirsty of A Safe Mooring is writing about this too. And AND the lovely ladies from Any Other Wedding are talking about marriage equality too.

So, go, read, buy a tote and then tell A Girl we want her to organise a dance party here. (I'll help her if she needs)

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Images by Emily Takes Photos

The weekly

Last week I half-heartedly started a meme on insta.gram called #weekinthelife. Even as someone who documents a lot of things, either visually with my phone or "verbally" on twitter, I really wasn't very successful at it. I will try again this week and see if my efforts are more numerous/interesting.

That said, I did do some fun stuff last week. I started a pole fitness course on Tuesdays and learnt the basics of three lift/spins. Pole fitness is bloody hard work and also resulted in me becoming the *proud* owner of a rather unflattering pair of black lycra shorts. Nothing sexy about these babies. It's all about leaving enough leg to grip the pole but enough lycra to rotate round the pole with... I followed the pole course with pilates on Wednesday, which I tried once or twice when I was younger and didn't get it. But now older, less toned and far more stressed, pilates seems to be the perfect third bedfellow of my exercise triumvirate.

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Photos - iphone snaps by me

1. wine which husband brought back from France, drunk together over supper
2. watching the sunset over the Bristol channel from the perfect vantage point also known as the village hall carpark
3. moroccan evening at the local health food shop.
4. stripes over stripes for a hot evening
5. getting ready to go out (girl in cafe "wow, you look really different when you go out and have no glasses on. you look really nice". note to self - try getting up earlier and making more of an effort)
6. watching/listening to a friend DJ in a bar whilst drinking mojitos.