A Christmas wreath

Tuesday evening MOH turned to me and asked when were we putting up our Christmas decorations as we were the only people without any. This took me a little by surprise and while I'm pretty sure we're not the only ones without decorations yet - looking across the street I can't see any - I thought I'd better start to get my act together.

Earlier that day I'd seen a tweet from Susie Watson Designs asking who was planning on making their own wreath this year. I replied saying I'd love to, but I wasn't sure it would be anywhere near presentable, but Susie promised me it wasn't as hard as I thought, and then she said a glass of wine was recommended. Well, hello - it was sounding better by the minute. I read the tips she shared - and it really didn't seem that hard. 

So I took it to be fate. Especially as I'd noticed that our next door neighbour had had their evergreen hedge trimmed and some of the trimmings had fallen over the fence. Definitely meant to be. 

The key it seems is to create bunches of greenery and add those to the wire ring. I popped round to the local florists for a wire ring and stubbing wire - see I've even got the lingo now - and while there I also picked up some small wired silver baubles and some dried orange slices, so after spending just over a fiver on these, I was all set. 

I decided there was no time like the present so I popped into the garden and gathered the evergreen trimmings along with some holly, rosemary, bay leaves and variegated ivy - one of the few times of year I'm pleased our garden has so much holly and ivy! I wasn't sure how much I'd need and I think I went a bit overboard...

So I started by creating my bunches of greenery and then it was time to start adding them to the ring. Now don't laugh but I'd repurposed the dining room table as a temporary florists bench and for some reason I hadn't taken my gilet and scarf off from my earlier trip to the florist either - it definitely made me feel more florist-y and I'm sure helped me believe I could do actually do this. 

Phew, well that seemed easy enough. And I'd forgone the glass of wine too, I thought half three in the afternoon a tad early, even for me...

So with the base greenery attached, and not looking like it might fall off - I turned it upside down to check - I moved on to the decorative leaf bunches. I added bunches of rosemary to the bottom of the wreath, with a mixed bunch of bay and holly in the centre.

I added more holly and bay bunches towards the top of the wreath - I struggled with the ivy, so decided to give that a miss even though it's variegated leaves were dead pretty. And then I was pretty much done. I picked it up again and nothing fell off - phew! - it looked fairly neat on the back I thought too. 

The rear view...

Then I remembered the silver baubles and the dried orange slices. I didn't need both and with only one piece of wire and eight orange slices, I decided to use the wired silver baubles!

The baubles were actually the hardest thing to add.  Not because of the wires, but just knowing where and how to position them. In the end I decided on a spotty approach, fastening them to the greenery at the front and back.

And I was done and feeling pretty pleased with myself too.  It wasn't as hard as I'd anticipated and I think this passes as presentable.  It's definitely going on our front door, let's just hope it lasts!

And those orange slices? Well I've so much greenery left I'm back off to the florists later on for another ring and some more wire so I can make another one, they're addictive!  And maybe, I'll try it with a glass of wine too... 

Shoot that poison... erm, laser to my heart

With apologies to ABC, but for some reason each time I've looked at these photos I can't get their 1982 hit out of my mind. I'm not sure why, as lasers as aren't arrows but even so I've enjoyed it running through my head. And have surprised myself with how many lyrics I seem to have remembered. The lasers that prompted the song's revival were the grand finale of our recent visit to the Enchanted Woodland. 

But before the lasers I'm sharing some shots of the house lit up, that too went through a colour sequence which highlighted some of its architectural detail and turned it into what was probably the funkiest house in Brentford. Probably.  

I'm sure these arches look great in the daytime in natural light but for me the coloured lights really enhance them.  I think the number of pictures I took is testament to that, and here I'm only sharing a few.  Having prised me away from the arches - it took MOH several attempts - we headed to the exit, or so we thought...

As we turned the corner we stumbled upon the Great Conservatory, which is... well pretty great. And it was lit up too - it looked fantastic, and this is one of the reasons I want to come back here during the day.  

The architect - Charles Fowler - specialised in large industrial buildings and at Syon he's used metalwork to create a delicate structure using the new technologies of the 1830s - this was the first to be built of metal and glass on such a scale. It housed exotic plants from all over the world and by the 1880s the palms and giant bamboos reached the top of the Dome. Then like many of the great houses there was a period of decline after the First World War.  It was restored though in 1986/7 and is an important historic structure.

We saw people entering a door on the right, so being ever inquisitive and wanting to get a look inside this fabulous structure, we followed them. And we weren't disappointed.  

The Dome was hosting a full on laser show, and had a great party atmosphere. You know the sort of party where kids are dancing in front of the disco and the adults are hanging back around the edges and at the bar. Except there was no bar, but the lasers made up for that. 

And then looking up you saw the structure of the Dome. Wow. Just wow. 

Ok. And wow. 

But the lasers weren't done yet. On they went shooting away accompanied by music - I've no idea what, maybe there really was some ABC, but perhaps not.

It was about now that MOH nudged me, reminded me of the time and that we had at least one, maybe two train journeys between us and dinner and a bottle of wine. Having made his point well this time we really did head for the exit and retrace our steps back to the station and catch our train to Waterloo. 

The lasers were a really great ending to a fab evening and I'm totally smitten by the Great Conservatory. So who's coming back with me in the daylight sometime next year? ...In the meantime I've found the CD I was looking for and I'm about to spend some time dancing around my kitchen...!

An enchanted woodland

Last Saturday evening we ventured over to South West London (from South East London!) for a mile and a half walk around the Enchanted Woodland in Syon Park, Brentford. This is its ninth year, but the first time I'd heard of it...

We bought our tickets online (£7 each for adults) and clutching our printed copy we set out for Syon Lane station. The journey wasn't too bad: Blackheath to Waterloo East (approx 20 mins) and then Waterloo to Syon Lane (approx 35 mins), followed by a 10 minute walk. The enchanted woodland is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings for three weekends in the run-up to Christmas. Clearly it's only an evening thing, doors open at 5pm and shut at 8pm.

We weren't quite sure what to expect, but once in the grounds this was our first view:

We set off along the mile and a half route, with cameras in hand and amid the "oohing" and "ahhing" which wouldn't have been out of place at a firework display. The paths were mostly gravel and wet, and although muddy in places given the amount of rain there'd been they weren't that bad. 

I'll warn you now, this is quite a photo heavy post, you won't believe how many photos I took (or maybe you would) so getting them down to just these has been quite a feat!

It's amazing how different the trees look with the lights - coloured or otherwise - shining on them. 

And the lights accentuate all the gnarly trunks, wispy branches and spiky leaves.

And after a while you start to wonder if you'll ever look at a tree in the same way again! Along the route there's different themes and sections with lots to keep the kids interest levels up too. There were lanterns in trees, a dragon, teddy bear's picnic plus music and smoke and a couple of other fun things too...

This was one. Who could resist not following the instructions? Each tap moved a section of the lighting through a sequence. And there was some very enthusiastic tapping going on by the kids standing next which meant I only just about managed to keep up with the light changes! Beautiful and a fun idea too.

We had many stops along the route for photos, as did many others. Although the route is relatively short it isn't something we wanted to frogmarch around. 

At times I started to wonder if I'd ever look at a tree in the same way again. And then turning the corner we saw the "plain" lights on these and - phew, yes that's what trees are supposed to look like!

My interest was piqued though and now I'm keen to go back in the daylight to see what the park and house look like. 

Another of the fun ideas was this area for silhouette photographs - it was entertaining to watch the at first tentative kids get braver as they realised what was going on - and it'd make a cute Christmas card shot!

Syon House too was lit up, with a laser display bouncing off the grass outside. We stood and watched those for a while before heading towards the exit and we thought home. 

But there was a final surprise as we followed people inside the Great Conservatory (and boy was it a great conservatory!) for a neon laser show set to music. That was great fun and I plan to share some pictures from that and some of Syon House soon, so stay tuned!

But until then - have you been to an enchanted woodland or are trees near you regularly lit up?  I'm curious..