Reflecting on my week #75

The good news is the hat I bought in Norfolk is exactly the same colour as the outfit I had in mind. Both are a deep coral-ly red, though the outfit also has white spots on, so i won’t look like an oversized tangerine or similar. The less good news is that it’s a little tight, so I need to do something about that. Thankfully though I think that’s doable, with eating a little less and being a little more active.

And so to put my money where my mouth is, this weekend I dug out my exercise gear and a DVD. I’ve even tried them both out for size - and survived - and have come up with a cunning plan to enable me to avoid prancing around the living room, instead prancing around the spare bedroom which I think has a little more privacy, and is definitely less likely to have a double decker bus full of people watching!

It has been quite a while since these have had any use, I’m sorry to say and while I walk to work, I’ve not been doing much else. Which is bad. But I’m hoping that will all change, so by being more active and eating more carefully - by which I mean eating less, as recently I tracked what I ate in a day and it’s true, doing this is quite enlightening, and for all the wrong reasons.

I don’t believe there is any wrong food, but clearly some foods are more filling and less calorific than others, and so it’s these that we’ll be aiming to eat more of. MOH, of course, is none the wiser about this upcoming change, but he’s an easy going sort so I’m sure he’ll cope. Remember when we tried the 5:2 diet and on fast days his lunch was a tuna melt? That’s when I discovered he doesn’t do calorie counting, and to be fair neither do I. We’re much better at taking our lunch to work lately, and that will help as I find when I’m busy and haven’t planned food I leave it to the last minute and then grab whatever’s available.

The plan is to do thirty minutes of aerobics exercise a day for six weeks. Thankfully the eldest niece’s wedding is in eight weeks, so that should be doable and the rewards (as well as having a less snug outfit) will be a new pair of shoes and a matching handbag.

Along with all the weather this weekend, I’ve had a weekend of catching up and domesticity. Despite what I’ve written above there’s also been a plum crumble and some tasty food. Eating healthily doesn’t mean we need to eat dull food, does it? I know for me, it will mean less bread (which is a shame), less potatoes (which I can cope more easily with) and much more vegetables (which is fine, as long as I remember to buy them!), and it means planning ahead. I’ve a freezer full of food, and plenty in the store cupboard so it shouldn’t be that hard.

Like many people around the country I’ve been following the chaos in Parliament, I’m not going to comment any more on that, but it seems that it’s evident that the media are keen to have us believing we should be stockpiling in case it is ‘no deal’ - MOH and I had one of those what if conversations about what we should stockpile, and as a result now have plans to go to Majestic during the week. Priorities, right?

I’ve a couple of posts coming up this week that I’m really quite pleased with, and for different reasons. The first is later today and I’m sharing a stunning, new print, which I think is very me. The second will be on here tomorrow, and it’s one that had MOH asking if I was well, and while it’s one that’s a little embarrassing, it’s also quite rewarding - I’ll not share any more now, you’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out what I mean…

Fluted lights and bevelled mirrors

We haven’t had a real Loo Series in a while and this one’s from Fredericks in Islington. After a long day at the Garden Media show in the Business Design Centre, a wander around some of my favourite shops and enjoying a spot in the sun I joined some old friends from Stihl in Fredericks to see their latest products. It was good to catch up with many from the press trip which is now , shockingly, over two years ago.

These loos aren’t the most flamboyant, or even the largest, but they are classic and they do it well.

I’m a fan of these lights, and they’re quite simple and similar to the shades we have in our conservatory, with more than a hint of the Original BTC about them. Having the shades at different heights also appealed to me, and I think you’d be surprised to know that the picture below was taking in the cubicle. It’s not often I’ll share photos from there, but I’ve made an exception for this one.

Back by the mirror and the sinks, the lampshades have a familiar feel don’t they?

Everyone knows the trick of a large mirror in a small, dark space don’t they? And there’s a reason for that and that’s because it really works. This space while not the lightest definitely had an elegance about it. The accessories and fittings were also plain and simple, and as you can see from below, everything had its place.

And it was labelled.

The wall tiles are fairly classic too, and it’s a good reminder for me that lots of classic items equals a very classic and understated look, which isn’t a bad thing at all. It doesn’t always need to be big and brash, or glitz and glamour, sometimes plain is best.

What do you think? Sometimes it’s nice to have a bit of calm isn’t it?

A spot of sun in dad's garden

In that milder weather recently I managed to pop out and take a few pictures of dad’s garden. Everything looks so much better in the sun and his crocuses were no exception. One area of his garden is carpeted with crocuses, which he tells me he’s going to try and move some of them so they can be seen from the conservatory. His plan is to plant and grow them in a triangular shape, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on.

Luckily he knows he won’t move all of them, and having seen them getting ready to flower this year, that’s good to know. I think they’ll look spectacular growing in the grass, rather than his veg bed - although they look pretty good there, don’t they?

I had a peek through the windows of the greenhouse not wanting to disturb the temperatures inside. The scent of the hyacinth will I’m sure have filled the space, and only just now I’ve noticed the cigarello-like leaves of tulips in a pot to the right of them.

I read somewhere, I can’t remember where, that moss is in this year. That’s good news for my garden and good news for dad’s too though I’m sure he’s less soppy about clearing moss out of the greenhouse gutters than I am. It looks pretty good close up, this year we’ve got more moss in our drive than ever before, and I’m less impressed with that.

Dad’s olive tree is thriving, a few years ago dad was all for cutting it down as it was getting out of hand. I’m glad he didn’t but I do think it’s possibly the only olive topiary for a good few miles.

The leaves are those of Lords and Ladies, some of which have migrated to my garden, but the bud doesn’t belong to them. It looks more lily-like, I meant to look again on our more recent visit, but didn’t remember to. I’m sure though that the don’t belong to the same plant, as much as they look like they might.

The glow of the sun was entirely visible as you can see in the next couple of photos. The first is of what looks like it’s going to be a very large foxglove, nestled right in the corner of the bed, but so large that it’s having to tumble over the border.

And as this post is crocus in the sun heavy, what other photo would I end on? Can’t you feel the warmth just shining though?