Packing a quart into a pint pot!

It’s almost Christmas and just like the children in the picture above, I should be decorating the Christmas tree! 

Instead, I am here, in my new room:

I was lucky enough, in our old house, to have the rooms to ‘spread myself’…! 

Thus, I had my teaching room (which was the loveliest, working environment ever!); my craft room, and my library. 

And things went along quite nicely…that is, until we decided to move. And I should stress …DOWNSIZE! That was the plan.

I’m a bit of a hoarder anyway and so ‘ruthless’ was now a new word in my vocabulary. And ruthless I had to be! We filled two large skips, with some of my ‘tat’/ belongings and I gave away a ton of books to two of the local primary schools…but I kept what I call, my ‘treasured literature’.

And now, here we are, 4 months after moving in and we’ve finally got around to sorting out our spare rooms.

     I’m a massive Mark Hearld and Emily Sutton admirer!

      And I also love the old Enid Blyton/ Rosemary Soper nature prints.

I’m very happy ! As you can see, some things just couldn’t go into the skip…even though the team that I support, is rubbish right now!🤣😂🤣

Gilbert the Gull has settled in and is already making his presence felt!

This old money box, below, has been in my possession since I was little; my mum collected all sorts of Trex goodies! This even has a secret code in order to open it.

The two prints, below are from the local artist Becky Bettesworth. These were produced for the from covers of the books that were published to celebrate 60 years of The Larkins.

                                                                ‘Oh, to be in England’

                                                          ‘The Darling Buds of May’

I possess many books! I love books and if I had my life all over again, I think I’d have to own a bookshop with a cafe alongside, selling home made scones, cakes etc etc.

My son once said that he had been given the ability to read and that he was going to make full use of that skill in his life! Or similar words to that. He is indeed an avid reader and we often share ideas with each other re new books that are published.

And of course, there was always my little sideline…the vintage fabrics…which I fully intend to resurrect! My daughter did this lovely sign for me a few years ago…

    And she also made my classroom sign…

…..as well as these beautiful letters for my now departed summerhouse…

 I’m a bit of a sucker for signs…

I like to support local makers if I can…this garden mosaic is one of many that I own; the others are outside.

So there it is…my den! 

     And now I have a tree to decorate! 🎄