Tales From Pixie Wood

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Autumn Supper
2007-11-05 10:34:00
Do you not find that weekends crammed with events and things that have been planned make the weekend seem altogether longer somehow? I do. This past weekend was full to the brim, but I enter Monday with the sense of having done so much. I like that. I also like the other sort of weekend which means that LBH and I do nothing but veg and eat so it's handy that we have one of those coming up. Anyway, Friday started rather early. This time of morning is still so magical to me. We have lived here for over 6 months but I love to peek my head out the door and take a look at all that is occurring in the morning light. That evening we were having folk over for an early bonfire night supper before wandering down into town to watch the fireworks and marvel at the bonfire. So, as you can imagine, there was a lot to be done. First off I prepped some of the glass jars that I have been collecting for my lantern project. It turns out that you need many, many jars to make the mystical impact t...
More About: Supper , Autumn

I Am Soooo Blooming Excited By This!
2007-10-30 20:14:00
I am flabbergasted, overwhelmed, agog, soooo happy & have the warm fuzzies which are gigantic in their size! I am talking about the little darling that is becoming my forum. I really had NO idea that folk would be this prepared to sign up and start chatting with each other. I thought that perhaps one or even two folk may dribble through now and again but people are already starting threads of their own and chatting back and forth. I am so, so happy about this. It warms my heart because it is about community and nothing else. We all know how we can be fooled by folk that we meet online but we are also in possession of the knowledge that WONDERFUL friends can be made online and you may never even meet them. Although I have met some wonderful bloggers and each time my expectations have been exceeded, it still takes a certain amount of courage (or narcissism, take your pick) to put your thoughts and feelings out there and onto a blog. But seeing as there are so  many of us b...
More About: Excite

Open for Business
2007-10-29 08:40:00
After sitting at this computer for more hours that I would care to remember I have finally finished my new website. Pop on over and have a little look......... www.cherrymenlove.com
More About: Business , Open , Sine

Pinning My Plans
2007-10-24 10:41:00
I picked up two double sided, cork notice boards from a stationery shop nearby a few weeks back. As you can see they were rather dull and plain and I didn't feel they would suit the room I wanted them to go in, namely the little office/craft room in our house. I began the transformation by hot gluing * a piece of striped wallpaper to one half of the board and then overlapping it with a contrasting piece of patterned paper. I liked the look that the torn wallpaper gave the notice board so I really wasn't fussed by the lack of a straight edge. I then did the same to the other side of the notice board, only this time I used a different colour scheme. If you look closely you can see that the bottom edge is a touch ratty. I made a note to pin something way down there as soon as the board went up in order to disguise a distinct lack of cutting skills that day!! The boards that I bought came with two screw in hooks that I screwed into the top of the boards. Then I threaded som...
More About: Plans

Let's Go Outside
2007-10-21 20:47:00
Come and join me on my bench. It's a nice bench and there is more than enough room for us. I have retrieved my winter quilt, as I do every year when the temperature drops and can now be found occasionally residing outside the front of the house. The crocheted shawl that LBH's great aunt Violet gave to me when we last visited her in Zurich acts as a rather romantic part of my costume and a good pal when it gets SUPER chilly. I enjoy being out front. It appeals to the nosey side of my nature as I can watch folk come and go. I'm a big fan of saying hello to people as they walk by and have leapt into getting to know the people in our street as much as time will allow. So far they are all truly lovely and that's nice. I picked up this wooden wheelbarrow while thrifting in the late summer. It holds a solitary pumpkin and a rather poor excuse for a witches broomstick but I hope to remedy that this week. You see, I have discovered a love for decorating the front garden that is rat...

After The Close Up, We Cosy Up!
2007-10-19 19:56:00
Yesterday was such terrific fun! As you can see I had huge lights in my living room and there were two men in the house also. What on earth would the neighbours think? Yesterday, I did what was effectively a screen test. I adore watching the screen tests of all the old Hollywood movie stars and my all time favourite one to catch on the television is Audrey Hepburn's. She is talking to the man behind the camera about the war and how the German's didn't know about or realise how her family were getting it's food. At one point in the test her face creates the most deliciously beautiful expression. It's then that they would have been able to tell a movie star was in their midst. Mine was certainly not taking place in Hollywood but was a tremendous giggle all the same. We shot me baking and cooking and chatting and crafting and even doing a spot of gardening (which was foolish as unbeknown to anybody but me I had put my back out the week before , just moments before the Rugby star...
More About: Close , Close-up , Close up

Invasion of the Camera - The Sequel
2007-10-18 07:01:00
We're being invaded by camera's again today. Although today they come as a bigger, badder beast. They have the capabilities of filming things and you get to talk to them and they actually record everything you say and do. Am I ready for my close up? Not blooming likely. I'm sat here right now in LBH's old cardi and my pyjama bottoms as I wanted to pass on two bits of information before the madness ensues and I go into "Oh my goooddddd, look at the time!!!" mode. The first is that my latest SheerLuxe article can be found here! I've been enjoying writing these articles. They are shorter than my usual blog post and it has helped me to become much more disciplined and to the point. The second part of this blog post is a message from my foodie and lifestyle hero (the chap in the photo above) Hugh Fearnley - Whittingstall of the River Cottage in the south west of England. I'm sorry as this message is directed at folk who live in Great Britain but if you are from ano...
More About: Camera , Invasion , Sequel

The Black & the White Of It!
2007-10-15 08:48:00
I found myself thinking about you all over this past weekend. I occasionally go into my stats, not as often as I used to as it can can drive one crazy after a while, but I can see on a day to day basis how many people visit. I came away from my statistic visit in awe of the people who would want to visit with me. Especially to a place called Pixie Wood. Can you tell I regret calling my blog that? I'm not about to go into a hideous display of false self-deprecation, I always want to pinch people who do that just under their armpit, but what I am going to say is how nourishing and warming it is to be in such good company. I feel we need those feelings of warmth and nourishment to be given to us by other people, whether on-line or not, because we are so very used to other people giving us their anger and hurt. I saw a man assaulted on the platform of a train station the other day and I'll never forget the look of fear in the man's eyes as he looked up at the man who had him by the...
More About: White , Black

I Tried, The Good Lord Knows I Tried!
2007-10-12 10:14:00
I've rather been dreading this. I have taken Mrs Dalloway on every train journey, on every car journey, I have taken her to bed and I have sat with her on the sofa and I have still only managed to get to page 38. I wanted so much to get into this book, to whizz through it and to wax lyrical about how much I loved and adored Virginia's prose. But it didn't happen this time around for me. In fact I have read four other books in-between trying to get my teeth into this one. Now I do think that one has to be at certain places in one's life or mindset to enjoy certain things. For instance my favourite work of fiction is The Secret History by Donna Tartt and yet I struggled with The Little Friend, her second novel. This was about four years ago so perhaps it's time to pick it up again. And I'm entirely certain that I may be sitting out in the garden one day, when I'm a wise old sage and dressed entirely in white linen, pick up Mrs D. once again and chastise myself for not readi...
More About: Lord , Good , The Good , The Go , The G

Oh What A Beautiful Morning!
2007-10-10 17:13:00
I told you it was dark! Look out there, you can't see a thing and it was approaching 7am when I took this picture. After taking these few photos I started to make the coffee, then saw LBH off at the front door and then I went back upstairs to my desk. It is now 15.44, as I type this, and apart from a five minute dash to buy a paper, I have been at this desk since the photo above was taken. I am terrifically bored by all the uploading, downloading, arranging, re-arranging and general administration that a website overhaul entails but it is also a good days work. I'm taking a sneaky break to write this post, but keep that under your hat. The lampshade shown is one that I re-covered myself in a matter of moments one evening and I'm going to add that to the 'Projects' part of my new site. But right now I'm working on the FAQ's part and to tell the truth it's actually proving to be rather troublesome. I have lots of emails saved that have questions for me within them but they al...
More About: Beautiful , Morning

Unabashed Romantic
2007-10-08 19:15:00
I am unashamedly in love with the season. We have a squirrel who hops along the bank of earth that sits, heavily, outside our kitchen window. We watch him spring along with a nut in his mouth and scurry around looking for the perfect place to bury it. We observe in a very still, silent manner as this little man (I've decided he's a boy) digs a hole, places the nut into said hole, fills hole in and then pats, yes pats!!!!, the earth down firmly with his tiny paws. Then he either retrieves a nut from a previous hiding place or simply bounds off, lightly, until his next visit. He's preparing and I adore the fact that my behaviour in my home mirrors that of nature at this time. I'm preparing, preparing for the winter, albeit unconsciously until now. Our meals now contain a influx of red meats and root vegetables as opposed to the olives, breads and Italian meats of only a few weeks ago. I rise in the dark and have to turn the bedside light on when I want to go down and get my m...
More About: Romantic , Bash

The Great Cover Up
2007-10-05 09:13:00
That was good, great even!  Seeing so many different opinions and thoughts coming in was entirely fascinating for me. I was saying to Nonnie yesterday on the phone that when you blog it can sometimes be quite solitary, so it was very informative to see what other people say to the question "What do you do?" I really don't think we need to have a set answer to that question. One or two words that encompass everything we get done in a day would be impossible to find. Impossible and rather unnecessary. But I am glad to see that I'm not the only one who is unable to put a hat on my life and call it something specific. Anyway, back to business. I am calling a halt to my food blog for the time being. I am transferring it all over to one home, as I know you're aware, and the food blog is something that I am not getting the most out of. I cook a meal almost every night and invariably I photograph that meal. Yet I am updating my food blog once a month at best. Food is so ...
More About: Great , Cover , Cover-up , The G , Cover Up

Care To Join Me In The Lions Den?
2007-10-03 11:10:00
OK, I'm laying my head on the chopping block with this one so feel terrifically free to BE KIND....... I was chatting with some folk yesterday and they asked me to describe what I do, succinctly! I could have sat there and said "Well, I really like to do bits around the house, I craft, I write three blogs, I run a business, I love all things domestic but I'm also the original party girl etc, etc. I am more than aware of what is going on in the outside world and take a great interest in all things social, cultural, environmental, rural etc, etc, etc.....but I love to decorate and am never happier than when my home is running well etc, etc. But of course I'm constantly fighting the clock, a full schedule, there only being 24 hours in a day etc, etc" You get what I'm trying to say, or rather, was trying to do yesterday. It's just that the word 'homemaker' is a misnomer and I really only try to use it with my tongue firmly placed in my cheek. I think it can allude to...
More About: Care , Join , Lions

SheerLuxe & Facebook
2007-10-02 11:56:00
You'll find my latest Shee rLuxe article here & please feel free to join me over on Facebook . Cx
More About: Sheer

Realisation In Public
2007-09-30 14:24:00
Mmmmmm, so this is the way it goes when you are fortunate enough to have a blog that people read. If you make a misguided decision or choice about something and then blog about it you have to face up to the fact that if you change your mind for any reason or reconsider then folk are going to know about it. It goes with the territory and that's that. The conversation went something like this......... LBH : What's the matter hon? Cherry: I don't know. LBH: Are you sure? Cherry: I can't put my finger on it. LBH: Well when you think you know what it is make sure you tell me. OK! Cherry: Of course, thanks hon. A few days later........ Cherry: I think I know what's up. LBH: What? Cherry: I'm worried about the blog. I'm under some pressure from it and I'm not sure what path to take. LBH: Oh right, what's going on in blogland? Cherry: I am still blogging away and folk are still contributing with comments, emails etc. But then I'm getting some messages from folk that a...
More About: Public , Alisa

How We Got There!
2007-09-28 09:45:00
Now we have finished most of the hard work on the house I am able to rest a while, sort of, coffee in hand and show you all of my thrifty finds and subsequent make-overs. This darling I picked up in my local town for £10. I saw it in a thrift shop window being fondled by a man wearing a rather short pair of shorts. Surely not, I thought to myself, that mirror wouldn't suit him at all. He needs a mirror with army camouflage adorning every corner, not fake gilt. His fingers lingered for a moment longer before he took himself and his hot-pants off to the book department. It was at that moment that I wisped into the shop, lurched into the window and was making my way out the door with this mirror, having paid for it of course, before man in short shorts could flick through his first Andy McNab novel. Now, I knew that once LBH saw a gilt mirror sitting in our house I would get the inevitable "Will that be going after the shoot?"My name is LBH, I live with Cherry Menlove, I...

Striking The Set
2007-09-25 20:43:00
Yesterday was a day that I could do again and again. It was immensely enjoyable, thoroughly tiring, detail oriented and so very, very interesting. The technical side of the magazine shoot was something I had been looking forward to. I take my own photographs daily and often find myself looking at others work and wondering how they got certain effects. The lighting that the photographer used was absolutely perfect and totally recreated that unique light that you only ever seem to see on Christmas Day. You know the type of light I mean. It's a watery light that makes the sun look like it's drowning in a huge pool of water. It throws a brightness across the rooms in the house and yet only just. The sun on that day is not around for very long before it starts it's descent towards the other side of the world and by that time I'm usually fast asleep in front of the fire having loaded up on roast potatoes, cold from the roasting tin or I have just woken up from my nap and promised th...

Well........
2007-09-20 19:42:00
....there's just time to stop by and tell you that right now I'm at this sort of stage in the 'getting the house ready for the magazine shoot' proceedings........ I look at this pile and think " but you haven't even cleaned the bathroom yet...PRIORITISE MENLOVE!!!!!" So that's where the butter dish got to! Okay, who put the wreath in the fridge?!?!?!?!?!?! Anyway, that's what it's like around here right now. Organised chaos. Moments of tension occur but only when I run up the stairs, trip on the top step and land ribcage first into the walnut set of draws at the top. I lost an entire day doing that! I haven't run that fast up the steps since, let me tell you. Or when my alarm went off one morning and it was SO early and I was SO not allowed to wake LBH up that I hit my head SO hard on the corner of my nightstand that the blood made my hand wet in the dark. LBH got up after that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a short post as we are now entering the evening...
More About: Well

Try This
2007-09-16 16:04:00
We've all had this happen. We're rushing out of the house in the morning to work or to a meeting. We don't feel like going anywhere on this particular day, in fact we have seriously considered pulling a duvet day more than once in the last twenty minutes. To compound these feelings of utter reluctance just as we have made our minds up to tackle the day head on and walk out the door our monthly subscription lands with an irresistible thud on the front mat. You know what it is without even having to open the envelope and every part of your being wants to cradle the publication in your arms while you make a steaming mug of tea and head back up to bed. So what do you do? You put the magazine to bed, that's what. I did this the other day. I was out for the day and knew that I wanted some uninterrupted time to myself to scour the pages later on. I wanted to be relaxed, guilt free and safe in the knowledge that I wasn't going to be disturbed. So I put the magazine to bed. I made...

Credit Where Credit Is Due
2007-09-12 07:46:00
I'm not a huge fan of Ikea I have to admit. When they first opened over here people descended in droves and on a Bank Holiday Monday the traffic would be backed up for miles just to get into the car park. But over the years Ikea has served me and the home I was in at the time very well. Nowadays I go there for big boxes of candles, the odd picture frame and small bits and pieces that are helpful. On my last trip however I spotted this lantern and I'm loving it. It holds a small tea light but seems to give off a great deal of light, or should I say glow? I popped it up on the trellis outside the front door last night and went back inside for twenty minutes or so. By the time I went back out to check on it the sun had well and truly disappeared and the fading autumn light was beautiful. It was Tuesday evening so I could hear the bell ringers practising and all was calm in my street. The picture is slightly fuzzy as I didn't want to waste time getting the tripod out and 'setting...
More About: Credit

Odd, Yes, But Oh So Doable!
2007-09-10 19:46:00
  Ahhhhhhh, you guys!! I'm so chuffed that so blooming many of you want to read Mrs Dalloway. I am blown away and totally in awe of how willing folk are to jump in and join the party, especially given how little time many of us have. I suggest that we have the book read within a month. How does that sound? Some folk may have finished it long before that but that deadline also gives those who have yet to procure a copy time to get started. I'll put up a post when we have a few days left and then the fun begins!!! I can't WAIT to hear what we all thought about the story. To get opinions and viewpoints, ideas on subtext and character traits, comments on the narrative and language! Be still my beating heart, thoughts like this send me all a flutter. So, sometime around the 8th of October I'll open up the blog to comments on Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Roll on October. This post is bookended by pictures of where I shall be reading the book. Either in bed, staring out t...

Would Anybody Care To Join Me In This?
2007-09-07 10:18:00
I don't like doing things like this. It feels like organising a party and nobody showing up. *deep breath* So, I found a copy of Virginia Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway' on the shelf of a charity bookstore the day before yesterday. I am embarrassed to say that I have never read it although I adored The Hours, especially the score by Phillip Glass who is an enormous favourite of mine. I read a great deal more in the autumn and winter months and I was wondering if anybody would like to join me in reading or even re-reading it? We could read it together and then document what we thought as a comment on this blog in a few weeks. I'll wait a few days before I start it to see if anybody is interested. And now I'm going to go and hide behind the sofa just in case nobody want to play!!!!! Cherry x
More About: Care , Join

Patiently Waiting
2007-09-06 10:38:00
Now, this little chap has been waiting around for almost a year. I picked this 'pigeon hole' unit up in Leominster last October/November for the grand total of five english pounds. I had some idea of what I wanted to do with it before we had even found our house but since then it has languished. It  spent time in my parents garage, our old flat, the spare room and the back garden. It wasn't until this package arrived that I knew that I could finally get it on the wall and looking the way I had imagined. Karin from the blog MardreKarin sent me a care package. Just look at it! Wrapped to perfection in vintage wallpaper, that has now been ironed and is carefully stored away for a project I have in mind. Her parcel  contained a never ending stream of beautiful gifts, craft projects, ceramics and trinkets. I had seen the M.Stew crafty kits online but had never held some in my hands until this parcel arrived. *I just tried to link to the MS website for you to see the cr...
More About: Waiting , Patient , Wait

I, I, I................
2007-09-04 09:25:00
....I'm in love with a movie for the first time in YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! I'm not kidding, it's been years................... Also, in other news........... You can read my latest SheerLuxe article here! Cherry x

Ahhhhhh, Come On In My Friend!
2007-09-03 08:56:00
  Saturday saw the first day of September and the air around here changed. I'm serious, both LBH and I noticed it. It was still warm and was even sunny at times but it was no longer summer, if you know what I mean. Autumn doesn't officially start for two or three more weeks but I have welcomed it here to my home already. Weekends in Autumn are on my list of very favourite things. There is more focus on being indoors and having that time be cosy and comfortable. As a couple LBH and I also focus a great deal more on the foods we prepare and eat as this season and the next one draws in. We had our first roast chicken in a long time for supper yesterday evening and it tasted wonderful. We may have inherited ugly kitchen tiles but we got a great oven thrown in! This weekend also saw the last of our fifteen hour slog day's. We have completed all of the major, hideous work that needs to be done to the house and even the bathroom is only needing a few more tiles to be hung on it...
More About: Friend

Tales From Tile Paint Land
2007-08-31 08:57:00
Your tile comments made me laugh out loud as they came in. I'm pleased to know that I am not alone in my frustration at having something that I really don't know if I can change right now. We have budget restrictions like everybody else and this situation also has a touch of the 'domino syndrome' surrounding it. You know how it goes, if we change one thing we'll have to change another and another and before we know it the WHOLE ROOM will be in pieces and the dust will be falling for weeks. Thanks to all those who suggested painting them. But I gotta tell you, I already tried it. I painted one little tile which was tucked away in a corner no less than four times, with four different colours. The finish was totally different and all in all it just looked rubbish. Check out how the tiles seem to be falling away from the wall in this shot. Goodness, perhaps I shouldn't post this picture, it looks like I'm living in a Romanesque excavation site. Oh well! Anyway, I got some ...
More About: Tales , Land , Paint

I Love My Kitchen When.......
2007-08-29 22:01:00
........I say goodnight to it at the end of the day. The Le Parfait's are neatly lined up against the ugliest tiling I have ever seen in a kitchen, inherited I assure you, ready to do their duty tomorrow when I reach inside one of them and fish out the  contents. Two spotted mugs, ready to go in the morning. Poor things that they are. They have to stare at those tiles all evening! I tuck the posy in for the night while avoiding looking at the tiles. And try to remember where I put the lid to one of my teapots. Nowhere near the tiles I hope. I remind myself to give my sister her cakestand back. Hmmmmmm, I really do quite like it. I wonder if she'll swap it for some tiles? I leave LBH's supper on the oven-top. Poor thing, it's late and he'll have to heat it up himself. If the tiles don't get to it first of course!!!!!!!! Come on small, furry one. Let's get you up to bed. Goodnight sweet kitchen, sleep tight and don't let the tile bugs bite! C...
More About: Love , Kitchen , Chen

What We Did
2007-08-28 11:33:00
Having arrived in Zurich, Switzerland and attended to family business we, LBH, Precious Sue & I, headed out for supper. Eaten in view of the river, fondue, raclette and even more fondue was on order. We ate with such hearty gusto that a walk before bed was needed. We walked along the river at dusk and marvelled at the clean streets and quiet calm that pervaded the Swiss air in Zurich. LBH wanted a nightcap, so we stopped for whiskey. Sitting on cushions and watching the river pass us in the night. The next morning we found the sun, high above us, as we drank coffee. We said goodbye to Precious Sue and prepared ourselves for our train journey through the alps. I bought some red shoes. Having done this I knew I was ready for Lake Como. Our Italian hotel was waiting for us. Looking very grand but behaving very friendly, such is the warmth of the people. Our first supper took us to the lake's edge and as we inhaled Como's air our bones sank deeper into our chai...

Lake Como via Zurich
2007-08-22 09:13:00
I prayed we wouldn't take another break. I felt the need to stay here and get things finished but LBH needs more than anything to get away, rest and feel the sun on his face instead of the smell of tile adhesive. It's more than that you understand but you catch my drift! We spend one night in Zurich visiting with LBH's great aunt and then we travel by train, through the Swiss alps to Lake Como , Italy. I'll be hanging with George Clooney and LBH will be engrossed in his latest book. Well not quite, but I am travelling with only my notebook for entertainment. I have taken to scribbling furiously and sticking all manner of scraps in to a book that I bought over two years ago on a trip to LA. I want to spruce up my blog when I get back and change all the old sidebars. Now the kitchen is finished (yay, I cleared the last of the sawdust up yesterday with the help of LBH's mum) I feel I can get in and start work. I also want to do more on L'Influence. But all of that will be take...

As Our Heads Are Down, So Time Speeds Up
2007-08-20 10:11:00
LBH has been on holiday from work for just over a week now. It's been mighty nice for me to have him around and already I'm counting the days until he has to step back on the commuter train with dread. "Start you own business" I whine in his ear, all day long. "Work from home. It's better for everybody if more people work from home" I continue to whine. I should say that I have perfected a rather nice whiny voice that I pull out more often than not. "Ah hon, it's nice that you want me here but it's not quite as simple as that. Now get back to work......." Hee hee! And so, I head off back to the part of the house that I am working on at any given moment and leave him to finish what he is doing. Which today happens to be the kitchen. I have been unable to get stuck into any form of hardcore recipe experimenting due to the kitchen not quite doing what it should, but all that should change today as there is a new beech worktop being installed and...
More About: Time , Heads