Squam

Sorry I've been a away for a while, more to come on that...

So when we were staying in New Hampshire, we met a lovely woman called Lorrie who ended up driving us to trail heads and giving us a tour of some of Plymouth and Rumney, she made us food, invited us into her house and took us to buy groceries. She was a real dear.
We mentioned to her that we were going to try to get to Squam Lake for the art fair one saturday night, she was delighted at the idea and said she'd love to come too.

We got there and of course, after the first photo my camera ran out of battery.

The gate was subtly signposted, but when we drove down the driveway, it was paved with ice-sculpture candleholders and fairy lights. There was a warm, friendly glow leaking from the doorway and excitement humming in the air. Inside the walls were lined with stalls full of handmades, yarn, fabric and books. It was lovely to be whisked up in a crowd of chattering crafty people, rosy from the cold outside air and meeting new and lovely people.
I had a lovely chat to Jason from Taproot magazine and then patted an amazing angora bunny. We went back outside and lay on the pier, staring at the American view of the milky way, hunting for the big dipper and watching shooting stars over the lake.
mmmmm

back soon

Oh, wow.

Hello!

Oh my, this was such a wonderful day. Elsie and I were dropped by some climber friends at the trail head of a section of the Appalachian Mountains. The sun was only just rising and the air still cool. The ascent was steep and long, but around every corner there was a stunning waterfall. 

I felt so incredibly lucky. As the sun began to touch our backs, our legs began to feel the climb more. The trail was endlessly upward. Onwards and upwards. 

We had glimpses of the view through the thinning pines, the vegetation changing as we ascended. At the peak, we were breathless both from awe and exhaustion. 

Layers of blue mountains for hundreds of miles, a view from above 1000m. It was more than worth the walk. We crossed a ridge for a few miles and then down the other mountainside. A little cabin halfway down gave us more water and a bit of cake. At the foot, we swam in a lake. 

It was the best day.

I'm in Portland, Maine now. Off to the Maine Common Ground Fair tomorrow. 

Have a lovely weekend

Critters of NYC

New York, New York

Yum. NYC was such a buzz! We were whisked into it's speedy wheel of energy and culture, breathless afterwards. There were cream cheese bagels (I liked the pumpernickel ones), Museums, Long walks in central park, Times square, Macy's, Purl SoHo, and so many other things that have now become a part of the multicolor swirl that was New York. We had so much fun!

Knit, Purl

Beautiful Purl SoHo

A wall of liberty fabric, several walls of wool, a bunch of the sweetest ladies and a lot of creative juice.

It was so exciting, after years of reading their bloghttp://www.purlbee.com/, to finally meet them and see their wares in reality. yay for wool!

Shop

I have a little Etsy shop. I'm just working on a few more things to add to it, which i'll post photos of soon, but it does have a few listings so far. I'd love if you popped over for a look, I am going to try to go to the Saturday night Squam Art Fair event in New Hampshire, and also other inspiring art/craft events in the US and Canada, so all the profit from my shop will go towards these things, things close to my heart. Excuse the rushed and poor quality photos, I was about to leave overseas when i took them

http://www.etsy.com/shop/pheasant

p.s. ignore the shipping and send me a message if you know me. :)

Flowers of London

A lovely flower market, early pale morning, a good coffee (!), almond crossant and some excellent busking! stallholders were yelling, all mismatched in pitch and loudness, every kind of flower bursting from tubs and vases and pots. organic compost, poppy heads, gargantuan sunflowers. 

At one end, a little lane led to a flea market filled with old lace, fur and pyrex. At the other, a beautiful cellist, attracting toddlers and their parents to dance and watch. The lane became loud with a second busking act, a quasi gypsy, old-timey-style band who had a large gathering clapping along. 

A lovely September morning.