Afternoon Tea at the Checkmate Bar

Yesterday was Sam's birthday, and I took out her for afternoon tea today at the Checkmate Bar at the Park International Hotel, in South Kensington. Lovely chic and stylish surroundings, and sweet baby sandwiches and cakes, a scone (both Devon and Cornwall style!) plenty of Earl Grey and a glass of fizz to round it off. Delish! I was also relieved the baby didn't decide to make an appearance; hopefully not until the due date,16th, as Sam has so many plans until then!

  

Sumptuous surroundings!

Keeping up the black and white theme, look at this fabulous piece of Art Nouveau ironwork at Gloucester Road tube station.

On holiday at last!

I am enjoying the holidays with time to  myself at last!! I went to Tower Bridge to have a look at the Olympic rings on Sunday, and had a long walk around, dodging the rain showers which seemed to follow me! As it was glorious sunshine when I left home, I didn't take an umbrella, and only had my sunglasses.... Never mind. Had a great day anyway.

  Always an impressive sight, you get a better overall view from the South bank, and far fewer people.

  From the North bank

Sean forged this archer and other figures around the castle.



Ancient and Modern



The new skyline, with County Hall and The Shard.

There have been lots of meadows created around Town, and with all the rain and bright sunshine, they look amazing.



Entertainment in Potters' Field, just before the heavens opened!

London is showing itself off very well; the hordes of visitors can't fail to be impressed. The transport system seems to be holding up too - we forget the Tube is well over 100 years old, and the ancient roads in the city not designed for the sheer volume of traffic they have to deal with, let alone cars. Well done London! It's nice to spend time just wandering; usually I am underground travelling to and from school etc. I am enjoying being a tourist in my own city!



Olympic Spectacle

Wow! What a fabulous Opening Ceremony! An amazing celebration which made me feel so proud to be British, and got the hairs on the back of the neck standing up! I loved the James Bond segment, good on you, Ma'am! And the petal flame finale was fantastic! No-one does it quite like us with our quirky sense of humour for all-round entertainment.

More opportunity to get patriotic again.

Time to crack open the souvenir biscuits from M&S

Here are the lovely things from Shazronnie for the Jubilee Swapsie; super card and yoyo brooch.

Sharon made this fab shopping bag from a pillowslip, and I just added some beads for the occasion.

Union Jack-ed up my pudding this evening

Nice cup of Earl Grey to finish, again thanks to Shazronnie for this sweet trio. Beautiful gifts! Check out the things I sent to her on her blog: http://shazronnie.wordpress.com/swapsies!

Enjoy the Games! Go Team GB!!

Catch up

Sorry to be away so long! School stuff, mostly, but after Thursday I will be on holiday!

We had our Senior Leadership Team planning weekend a little while ago, a rare sunny weekend, and we were at our usual hotel by the sea in Hythe, on the Kent coast.

 The hotel was right on the sea front - lovely for an early morning walk before breakfast!

How lovely to live here, right on the river.





Great street names!

Lovely spring flowers everywhere

Sadly, this lovely teashop was closed by the time our meeting was finished on Saturday afternoon, so took a quick photo before tea back at the hotel, with not such pretty cakes!

Hythe has a plethora of quaint charity shops, too. Will show you my finds on the next post - they were open on Saturday afternoon!

Festive fobs

I made these for my nieces in Australia to celebrate the Jubilee. I can show you now they have arrived safely.

Just so we know which belongs to whom

Did you make / find anything pretty to celebrate the Jubilee?

Jubilee Tea and Scones

I managed the red and white with strawberries and cream on scones, but blackcurrant jam was the nearest my larder could get to blue! The flag was a freebie from Morrisons when I was shopping on Saturday, and my nautical Hello Kitty fits the theme, so she's allowed in the photo.

Happy Jubilee!

Happy Jubilee to everyone! Hope you are enjoying the long weekend, even though the weather is pretty horrid. Didn't seem to dampen the celebrations though. I did have a look at all the preparations and decorations going up last week, and all the horses rode past school at 8.30 on Thursday morning causing much excitement amongst the girls, but stayed at home and enjoyed the television coverage instead of braving both weather and crowds.

The sofa got dressed up

Handbag goodies

Nothing like a nice cup of tea

Festive feet

Rob Ryan papercut from Stylist Magazine

Patriotic knitting - just right for Lakota's swapsie

I found this silk hankie on Ebay last year - far too nice for nose-blowing!

Marks and Spencer always come up trumps for a national occasion

We watched a lovely programme yesterday, Prince Charles looking back on home movies, from when he was a baby up till his Investiture as Prince of Wales when he was 21. They look such a normal family, even though the Queen and Duke had such a public life the children seemed to do all the usual things children do, and Her Majesty was a real hands-on Mama, even though they lived in palaces and castles! He said she practised wearing the crown before the Coronation, to get used to how heavy it was, even when she was bathing him and playing with the corgis!