on watership down...

we went for a family walk to watership down today, in the beautiful bright clear winter sun. we were with my parents and they very kindly lent me their camera to practice taking some photographs. here are a few that I liked. (I don't really know how to use the camera very well, so bear with me!)

we walked along past a wood and up across the down to an iron age fort. we stopped at the top briefly but it the wind was too chilly to stay for long, so we turned round and retraced our footsteps, our shadows lengthening across the hillside.

(all photos by me - except the pilon and the wheat field at the bottom, which my Dad took, but I liked)

2012 in photos {January - August}

I'm going to miss 2012. It was always the furthest year that I could see to in the future (still is, actually). Somehow, I couldn't see beyond 30. or London 2012. The Diamond Jubilee. The year I had my first baby. Pretty monumental, personally and publicly. I think 2012 will be the year that we look back on history; the seminal year from the first 20 or so of this decade. 

So here are a few of my photos from the blog.

{January}

.pregnant, snugged up with Delilah, at our cottage in Somerset, in front of our fire

. the house in Bath where 15 of my closest friends gathered to celebrate my (but really all of) our 30th birthdays

{February}

.winter walks & our last days in Somerset

{March}

.library themed baby shower at our new place in London

{April}

.baby Pip's arrival

{May}

.first family trip to the beach in Whitstable

{June}

.patriotic Jubilee pavlova

{July}

.first family holiday (Cornwall, yurting) 

{August}

.paralympics (with Pip)

An afternoon in Alexandra Park

Last week the baby and I walked the long way home from her swimming lessons, through the park and past Alexandra Palace. The sun was blazing and although it was absolutely freezing it was a beautiful afternoon. The baby, of course, slept through it all. Which meant I had more time to pause and look at the view and take photos. The building was catching the sunlight in a way that I just couldn't catch, frustratingly, but I thought I'd share these regardless.

10 years

.two graduations
.four homes
.two years at law school
.one engagement
.one redundancy
.nine months of one income
.one wedding
.nine jobs
.two years of living together at weekends
.one pregnancy
.a fuck of a lot of partying
.a smattering of arguing
.ten years

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Husband and I on honeymoon, Cornwall, June 2009 {my photo}

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

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)

Country Living...

 

 

This weekend we discovered why the majority of people round these parts drive a 4x4 of some description. Husband arrived home late Thursday night from London. On Friday morning we awoke to snow but managed to get the car out and we drove to our nearest town, where I work. I went to the office, he stocked up on food for the weekend - as well as the wherewithal to make our Christmas presents (which included an entire box of 50 lemons). He came back and collected me at the end of the day. Although snow was lying on the ground in our village we are relatively high up. To be honest, I assumed that was the end of the snow.

Saturday morning we awoke to a further 2-3 inches, freezing winds but gorgeous blue skies. We spent the morning making the first half of our Christmas presents (post to follow) and then after lunch set out for a walk. We were planning on attending a black tie ball in the nearest town that evening; it wasn't until we realised how icy the road was at 4pm that it dawned on us that driving just wasn't going to be an option in our car. The road we have to use to get to the main road is bordered by a river in parts: one false move/slide doesn't bear thinking about.

Given that no taxis would come out and no buses had come through, we telephoned our friends. Who, amazingly, came to the rescue. Which saw us, rather comically, dressed in black tie (me in a knee length cocktail dress) accessorized with thick socks, wellies, enormous tweed coat and hats/gloves sliding down to the main road to be met by a 4x4 which got us safely to the ball and back.

Sunday morning brought further snow and we were again marooned at home, spending the day making more Christmas presents. Monday, however, we awoke to 3-4 more inches of snow and what appeared to be a blizzard. We trudged/slide down to the main road, this time wearing snowboarding trousers along with my tweed and wellies, to try and get the bus to get to work. No chance. The road hadn't been gritted and not even a snow plough had been through. Still, we waited 30 minutes just in case and then abandoned the wait. No buses. No taxis. Working from home it was.

This morning the bus still didn't turn up, despite the main road being a bit clearer. I ended up getting a taxi - it was such a beautiful drive in through snow covered fields and silhouetted trees. Sadly the cloud cover was far too thick to see any of the lunar eclipse. Luckily, the buses were running for my return journey; another pleasant drive through Exmoor. The sheep actually had their heads entirely covered by snow as they attempted to find something to eat and the whole countryside is so muffled and silent that the bird song travels in a very eery fashion. I think Exmoor is made for this kind of weather: it looks so stunning and magical blanketed in thick snow. Almost as if we live in a film set.

A long weekend in December

T

This weekend, we did very little. Tree, decorated; fire, lit. Films, watched. Walks taken in the winter sunshine. A spot of shopping. Quite a lot of chestnut and apple stuffing made and eaten. Makes me wish all weekends were 3 day weekends.

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photos by me

In which I shamelessly borrow photos and plan a second wedding...

It's been a long time since I wrote about weddings but somehow, when I saw these photos I couldn't stop myself. If I was having my wedding again I would ask Cara to take the photos and Sophie to do the flowers. It would mean having a slightly less diy/dit feel to it, but we did that the first time round. Gotta have something a little different if you're going to throw a second wedding party. Or, maybe, I should just have a baby. And invite them both to my baby shower. Maybe that's a better idea. Whatever. But seriously. I could totally do that. I guess I'd just have to get pregnant first. Maybe I'll just have a for the hell of it with a massive budget party*.

{and yes, for those who love to bang on about these things, I totally nicked these photos from P's blog post** and yes, I only 'know' Sophie through Cara.  She posted them, I loved them. So don't bother accusing me of plagurising. Photos that good/subjects that pretty deserve all the exposure they can get}

Photos by Cara; flowers by I Heart Flowers.


*otherwise mostly known as a wedding, I guess.
** speaking of which, we have that very same David Downton print hanging above our stairs.

Baby, Picture This

The beautiful and talented Baby, Picture This held a giveaway on her blog last week to celebrate the launch of her Etsy shop. Somehow, it was my name that she picked from her glass of names and in doing so made a week of pmt and work stresses including appraisals and not having a moment to do anything, let alone blog, seem just that little bit lovelier.

Seriously, you have to have a look at her etsy shop. It is full of beautiful photos and postcards.

In which I retire at 9.30pm

What's this? Two posts in two days? I must be getting used to things down here in my little corner of Somerset. It has been bitterly cold all week. On Sunday we went for a walk. I walked, Husband played golf. This was the view from the 13th. So windswept, so bleak and so beautiful.

Husband is back in London, like he is every week, and I am enjoying our weekends a deux. Seeing as we don't know anyone down here, from Friday night to Monday morning the only people we talk to are each other. It's only been two weeks but we are falling into a routine of exploring, both the walking version, the driving version and the food version. Each time we go somewhere we try a different place. Last Sunday we drank ginger wine by an open fire in a 15th century hotel in a medieval village. The week before we ate supper amongst antiques and curiosities in a hotel on the harbourside.

As of tonight, I am trying to separate out my postings: Somerset type things will mainly be posted at Somerset Bound which I am also trying to use as somewhat of an online guide to the area. I will continue to post wedding, general pretties, inspiration and photographs here. All these new changes are taking some getting used to, and I haven't quite got my routines figured out yet. The old Peacockfeather would have never gone to bed at 9.30pm, but then she would never have had to leave home at 6.15am to drive 30 miles to a breakfast either...

.image by me.

Stockholm, Things they have in* (part one)

White and sparse apartments with open fire places which burn wood fetched at midnight
on bikes in the snow. and old copies of the new yorker.



Suns that set at 2.30pm silhouetting lights strung across every street against the pinking skies, trees white with snow.

Water and boats and buildings which turn pink in the fading afternoon light.



Skies which seem to be constantly blue, even when it snows.



and boats with many masts and lots of rigging, ready to take you to another island, or maybe even across the sea.

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*Borrowed kindly from the lovely P, who nicked it from the wonderful A.