home: friends

Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Sunday, 28 February 2021

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL ..........

My lovely friends Lucy and Steve gave me this mirror for my birthday ..... how wonderful was that !!!! There is a little story about it that I thought I would relate ! About 35 years ago, I saw this mirror in an antique shop in Hertford ..... I loved it because it had the art nouveau copper inserts which would go well in our house as we have lots of original art nouveau fireplaces. Slightly ' off piste ' to give you a bit of background, our house was built by a theatrical costumier, wig maker and hairdresser named Walter Waller in 1890.

He lived in Paradise House which was beautiful and way out of our league. He was obviously into building property and built three houses, one of which is ours ..... The Laurels, The Briars and The Ivies. Obviously artistic, he had a flair for interiors. I was told by our local historian that, when building a house in the late Victorian/early Edwardian era, you just popped to the local fireplace shop and chose your fireplaces .... well, he really chose well in our house { well, I think so } .....

..... anyway, I digress, back to the mirror ..... where was I ? .... Oh yes, I saw this overmantle mirror so, measured it, went home and checked it would fit and thought that I would go back and get it a couple of days later only , when I went back, the mirror had gone. A few weeks later we went to see our friends Lucy and Steve and, low and behold, the mirror I coveted was hanging on her wall !!!! Her Mum lived in Hertford and had bought it for her ...... fast forward thirty odd years and they gave it to me. I told them that I would cherish it ..... I was obviously meant to have it ..... eventually.

XXXX

Saturday, 9 March 2019

LUNCH ..... with old friends ..........

We went for lunch with friends that we have known for some thirty odd years. There were six of us.

We had lasagne, we chatted, we touched on Brexit, knife crime and Shamima Begum, the Michael Jackson documentary ' Leaving Neverland ', the new Richard Gere series MotherFatherSon, our children, grandchildren, our homes and gardens, but mostly laughed about old times.

I took my hostess a Muehlenbeckia ... my plant of the moment .... it should get bigger .....

..... like mine ! ..... in return, I received .....

..... a belated birthday present of two picture frames ! How lovely was that ?

We ooohhed and aahhhed over their kitchen and the rest of their beautiful home and then .....

..... we drove home in the pouring rain !

XXXX

image 1: via flickr, image 2: via pinterest, image 3: via sarah raven, images 4, 5 & 6: via me, image 7: via international photo awards

Thursday, 2 August 2018

A SERIES of UNFORTUNATE EVENTS ..........

Being the kind and generous friend that I am, I said that I would water my friend's garden while she was away in Yorkshire. Opposite her house is a large old house called The Old Barn in front of which is a very large public lay by. I parked there and was the only car.

We had the key to the garage, opened it up, left it open, lay down our phones and car keys, unlocked the back door and got on with the job in hand. I went to the bottom of the garden with the hose while Mr Home started watering the pots with a watering can. After a while, he called out to me that he thought we had a problem !!!

The draft from the garage door being open had slammed the back door shut, the bolt at the bottom of the back door had slid down and we were now locked in her back garden ..... no phones as we had left them in the garage !!!

Luckily, it was a hot day and I could see that next doors patio door was open. I climbed on a bench and, after many ' halloo's ' that got louder and louder when nobody seemed to hear, a man came out. His English was limited but, he got the gist and came and released us. He did seem to take a very long time though ..... he only had to come from next door !!! ..... and, he said it was the wrong time to water the garden ..... bloody cheek !!!

A couple of days later, the same procedure occurred ..... I took the hose down to the end of the garden while Mr Home proceeded to dead head a very large bush rose at the top of the garden. When I arrived at the rose, Mr. Home was watering the pots out the front. I started to water the rose but must have pierced the hose with the thorns on the rose and started getting wet from three sprays of water where the hose was punctured !!!

So, my act of kindness not only got us locked out but it cost us £50 for a new hose .....

AND

when we returned to the car, the b******ds who live in The Old Barn had blocked me in in the lay by. We were the only three cars in a lay by that's at least 500 metres !!! With my wonderful driving skills, I got out ..... they obviously don't like anyone parking there !!!!

Remind me not to do anyone anymore favours !!!

XXXX

image 1: via umla, image 2: via andreas waldschuetz. image 3: via bloglovin, image 4: via Vogue.it, image 5 & 6: via kero i am, image 7: via nibs blog

Friday, 25 July 2014

AN UNFORTUNATE EVENT ….. REPRISE …..

I came across these photographs the other day when clearing out a drawer. I told this story before in 2010 so, for the newer readers of HOME, I thought I would recount it once again.

Are you sitting comfortably ? Then I'll begin …..

About 26 years ago, Mr Home and I were invited to Sunday lunch, with our two children, to our good friends beautiful Victorian home. We had been to their home many, many times before and, I loved it, having always lived in period houses myself. A builder had built a whole road of houses in the Victorian era and, he built and lived in the one that our friends lived in so, he had built this one to the highest spec and, with the best of materials, as he was going to live there. When our friends bought the house, it was in disrepair and they had spent much time and money renovating it.

Also coming to lunch were mutual friends from Wales who were staying with us. Well, we all arrived, drinks were served and we all reminisced for a while. Lunch was served and we all sat around their beautifully polished Victorian table to a delicious Sunday roast dinner.

Now, our hostess was pregnant, which was wonderful, as, they had had difficulties conceiving and had been through IVF which had been successful and, they were decorating the nursery. As we had seen the house many times before, our host and hostess took our Welsh friends on a tour of their beautiful home, as they had never been there before. I decided to entertain the children for a while, as I had seen it all many times before. Everyone then enjoyed dessert and, after a few glasses of wine, I went upstairs to the bathroom. The room next to the bathroom was to be the baby's room so I thought that I'd just take a peek at how they were getting on with the decorating and to see what it was going to look like ….. Oh yes …… you know that you all would have done the same !!!! I opened the door and it was pitch black so, I just thought that I would go in a little further and then, the next thing I knew, I was up to my ***** on the floor with my leg hanging through the ceiling and, half of the ceiling was now on the floor in the hall downstairs !!!! They had been doing the electrics and had all of the floorboards up !! ….. and, they had just had the downstairs hall decorated !!!!

Can you see the tinge of red in my face ? Oh, was I embarrassed. If only I had gone on the tour of the house with the others, I would have known what was going on.

A male Welsh leg, re-enacting my faux pas !!!!

Here we are with a cup of tea after the event, so, they were really good about it and, it is still talked and laughed about 'till this day. Our children are now 35 and 33 so, you can see how long ago it was { and, you can tell by the 80's clothing !! } I had bruises that were black, blue and green for ages ….. and limped a bit for a while. I also didn't have anymore children after that !!!! ha ha !!
As you can see in the photograph, Mr Home is trying to disown me !!

I guess that should have taught me not to be so nosey but, it hasn't !!!!

all images via me !!