november mattresses

just a few mattresses from the last week...

this cheered me right up on a miserable day - sent by my friend Mandy - spotted near her home in West London

on Bramston Road, NW10

outside Dollis Hill Tube, NW10 - on the way to work one morning this week

Radcliffe Road, NW10

also this weekend i took a trip to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich for an exhibition of stunning photographs by Ansel Adams. 

a couple of whoppers at the Ansel Adams show

thankfully there were quite a large number on display and room to really take in their beauty - unlike the last exhibition in London of his work (2002-ish at the Southbank) where it was so rammed people shuffled past in crocodile with about 3 seconds in front of each picture.  this time there was more room to maneauvre, little nooks to sit and contemplate and 3 vast scale pictures right at the centre - amazing.  we just kept going round and round and staring intently at our favourites, wishing we could own one...and pay a visit to the wild american landscapes on show.

Noreen and me - enjoying some hot spiced apple with brandy in Greenwich Market

we had a delicious hot spiced apple brandy in Greenwich Market and took a little wander round the second hand market near the station where i managed to pick up a strange piece of cutlery.  the stall holder had no idea what it was and later it caused a flurry of discussion amongst friends on facebook, trying to figure out its purpose. 

what is it???

suggestions ranged from the serious to the ridiculous...from a butter curler or pea scraper to a miniature croupier rake or instrument of surgery or torture...but it turns out to be a completely harmless "baby [food] pusher" which normally comes in a christening set with a silver spoon and is for those who can't manage to push food onto their fork with a knife!

Vanishing Point Redux

my mate Ed drove from San Francisco to NYC in 12 days with a camera on the dashboard capturing a photo every 30 seconds....he put this little film together when he got home...its awesome (but keep a travel sickness bag handy!)...


here's some great stills too...i want them blown up and on my wall...stunning...

this is my favourite...its like paint by numbers....gorgeous

ffffound

just a couple of pics i've liked on FFFFound today...

here

no wonder he's a gonner - he forgot the CHEESE...helloooo....

here

back to the future

spotted thanks to a cup of jo the brilliant Back to the Future project by photographer Irina Werning - taking old photos and re-enacting them...ha ha ha....absolutely hilarious...i am SO doing this!  ha ha...i even have a photo of me dressed as a hula girl exactly like this...!

christopher bucklow

i adore the work of Christopher Bucklow particularly his Guest series - quite literally like visitors from outer space who come bathed it starlight. Christopher Bucklow is a British artist best known for his paintings and photography who has spoken in interviews of his interest in nature, the cosmos and the exploration of consciousness and the unconscious and these themes clearly influence his style.  the Guest series are a formed using sunlight (a kind of pinhole photography) which he achieves by making silhouettes on aluminium foil and using a home-made camera.  the differing shades and sparkles depend on the levels of sunlight - creating this otherworldy appearance.  stunning....oh how i wish one day i could own one.

vogue addiction

February 2011 with Victoria bloody Beckham on the cover

the hideous and fake Cheryl Cole on the cover in October 2010

i have had a serious addiction to vogue and have been buying and saving them for years.  but my loyalty is waivering...mostly because i am disappointed with the appearance of not one, but two gossip-rag poptarts on the cover in the past 6 months.  first it was Cheryl Cole (ugh!) in October 2010 and this morning i see we have Victoria Beckham (gag!) on the February 2011 cover.  what is going on? Vogue you should be ashamed of yourselves.  i do not want to spend a whopping £4 a month to see these ultra-fake semi-slebs on my glossy - they should stick to the cheep and cheerless waiting room fodder if you ask me.  who next? Jordan...Kerry Katona...gawd...Mylene Klass?!!  this is your second warning, three strikes and my allegiance goes elsewhere.

evidence of my addiction - several years worth which had to

be moved into the kitchen recently, while work was being carried out at home

i decided to look back at the very first one that i have, probably not the first i bought but this is when i started saving them, from April 1984.  the shonky old advertisements do make you laugh but the fashion spreads are as amazing and relevant as today's....and back then it was only £1.60 and bigger for your buck!

front cover April 1984 with a swimsuit from Norma Kamali 

(they even list the scent worn...it was Je Reviens by Worth)

an advertisement for Rolex...back then it was only for the Polo set!

(nowadays worn by many a d-list sleb, dealer, pimp or city slicker)

 a L'Oreal ad - this was the "Rachel" haircut of it's day!

swimwear photographed by Paolo Roversi - who also shot the front cover

(i badly wanted hair like the red-head!)

amazing spread by Richard Avedon for Axon's African Collection.......[sigh]

absolute princess

this is just SO NOT ME...but i absolutely adore the absolutely ladylike blog...so pink and girly and gorgeous and glamorous i can't stop looking at it. its like...total princess porn!

dreamy...

Yuval Hen's dreamy photography, spotted via lace & tea

 

foxy foxy

 

 

i've been spotting Mr Fox around quite a bit here and here and even in my garden and have spotted these fab photos by Martin Usborne (via Londonist) of a stuffed fox posed in various places around London...brilliant. i love that Martin is also the proud owner of a cute as a button miniature schnauzer...my dream dog.

up, up and away...into the blue

wouldn't this make a lovely tattoo....from here spotted via my new fave blog krisatomic mind you so would this horsey from melinda josie (via the same post).

lady in lace

beautiful photo - styling via anne sage

last days of summer

after a walk on hampstead heath where the weather was warm but the wind blew breezy and we felt a bit brrrrrrr; the flowers in the west heath garden are losing their beauty and the green of the trees have a slight tinge of orange; the fallow deer are all sitting in the shade and there aren't as many butterflies in the butterfly house...and there's more cloud than sun in the sky...it sorta feels like the last gasp of summer...

from here via design is mine

all things bright and beautiful

delicious photography by  Oksana Tocickaja spotted via mishy lane and fantastic project favela painting spotted via oh joy oh how i would love to do this to my plane old garden wall...

 

make hay

by Noreen Meehan

a friend has just uploaded this pic from her trip to Dorset...reminds me of Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth which i love...and haven't thought of for years...

 Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth