mattresses and foxes

just back from a bike ride over to Queens Park where i find yet another fab foxy (see also here and here) beside the Police Station on Harvist Road.  on the way home it's a red-letter day for mattresses too as i spotted a double and single en route.

 opp the Furness Road Primary School - Palermo Road, NW10

a double spotting on Nightingale Road, NW10

stuff and nonsense

many people don't understand...but i do...there is no shame in it (image from etsy via pinterest)

mattress update

yesterday it was my friend Mandy's birthday and i met up with her and some of her lovely friends for lunch and afternoon drinks at the prince bonaparte in Chepstow Road. as usual it was rammed but we managed to bag a table and i had some delicious beer battered fish and chips, while another friend who ordered roast chicken was a little shocked when a whole chicken turned up on a huge wooden cutting board! i had cycled down so when it came time to wobble home after midnight, thankfully the roads were empty, and it was just me and several urban foxes - i spotted five on my way back.  i also spotted a couple of great mattresses.  by the time i got home there was a vixen howling in my back garden, she's been making a right racket the past few nights and apparantly is calling for a mate.  i told her she needs to get her furry butt over to Kensal Rise as all the other foxes are hanging out of there!

 on the way to Mandy's after the pub - Acklam Road, W10

 at the top of where my brother lives i spot a mattress 
and two foxes - Felixstowe Road, NW10

 what an absolute beauty...so lovely i had to take a close up
- College / Ashburnam Road, NW10

and this morning i get an email from my aunty to say that she is babysitting for my cousin while he is in Paris for the weekend for his wife's 40th...and the only photograph they sent was this...ha ha...brilliant!

international mattress-spotting - Paris, France

in the dock

 

today was the first clear blue sunny day in what seems like weeks so i decided to hop on the bike and head down to Portobello Road.  firstly i nipped into love kr to drop off a couple of my Mattressland Calendars and lovely shop owner Paula has already been bitten by the mattress-spotting bug and recruited another friend - brilliant!  she had a few pics of recent spottings in the area (which i had missed) including one which had not only a bed but a whole bedroom suite...with wardrobe too...ha ha!  then it was down the road to Portobello Dock.

I wanted  to check out the fairly new development down there which includes The Dock Kitchen and Tom Dixon's design shop. Mr Dixon has also acquired the water tower over the bridge which he has clad in wood and is converting into his own private residence - jammy sod - bet the views are fantastic.  The Dock itself all looks and smells very luxurious and i'm keen to test out the restaurant soon.

 

the water tower - new ho\me of Tom Dixon

the shop

 

 shed in a shop

 a shiny Brompton

a curious and beautiful random painting of a nurse 

on the wall of the shop...wonder if she's local

i cycled on toward Portobello Market, which was absolutely rammed as usual on a saturday afternoon so i didn't last long, where i spotted some delicious looking brightly coloured bicycles.

 

 

then it was over to say hello to the lovely boys at halfpipe on Golborne Road - the best bike (and skateboard/snowboard) shop in north/west London - to give them a calendar in thanks for all the free tire-pumping and bike twiddling they have done for me this year.  i think they would have preferred something edible or drinkable - so must bring a beer and chocs with me next time.  then i headed homeward up Chamberlayne Road and popped into Circus Antiques, another of the lovely new shops which have been springing up in Kensal Rise, to buy something for my bro for his birthday - before a last pitstop at 8 station terrace for a coffee and a pastry before finally going home.  i'm sure i can smell snow in the air....and my nostrils were pleasantly surprised when i walked in the door as my flat still smells rather deliciously of ginger ninja-bread men after last night's bake off - way better than expensive candles!

 

 

attack of the ninja-bread men

BEWARE...ninja-bread men on the loose...aaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiieeeeeya!

tonight i succumbed to the urge to make some ninja-bread men ...ha ha ha...great fun.  not sure about ninja...more like revenge of the blobby! the first batch got a little burnt and set my smoke alarm off, but i was wondering whether a battery replacement was needed so that was handy, and the next batch looked more tasty but still in need of some post-holidays weight loss boot camp!  i have quite a few and of course as always happens when you make things, you then don't feel hungry (hmmm may have something to do with the bowl licking!) but am sure i can chomp on a leg or two with a cuppa.  all in all tho they are pretty tasty for  a first attempt...only next time MORE GINGER, LESS NINJA!

 

 

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]

pure white loveliness

my beautiful new Robin Day Poly Armchair has just arrived from john lewis and tho the white is pure loveliness i am regretting the colour choice cos it has two paw prints on it already!  i was sorely tempted to get the yellow or orange....hmmm.....they are half price at the moment so....no i must resisit and stick to the one.  it's gonna look fab in my new studio shed...when that is installed.  i spotted more white loveliness via design sponge's sneak peak into the home of photographer Sam Horine - i love these ceramic animal heads that he and his wife have collected from rural Virginia flea markets - aren't they fab.

scarlet & violet

some beautiful flowers i bought from Scarlet & Violet, another lovely shop on Chamberlayne Road.  they look gorgeous in my ceramic jug with one of my vintage rose trays.  this wonderful florist not only provides stunning flower arrangements for weddings, events and delivered to your home, but also have a selection of great vases, jugs and other flower receptacles in store. 

layers of loveliness

beautiful outtake photographs by lesley williamson via sf girl by bay

wardrobe wannabe

love the comfy slouchy look from hush uk spotted via say YES! to Hoboken....yum!

cheer! cheer! first mattress of the year!

here's the first mattress of 2011...spotted on Clifford Gardens, NW10...while on my first bicycle ride of the year, en route to Portobello Road for lunch today.  i think its very auspicious that its such a lovely bright orange one - like a little ray of sunshine to ring in the year!

stargazing

i'm rather partial to a spot of amateur astronomy and am loving the new BBC2 show Stargazing LIVE which is on for the next 3 nights and is encouraging people to get out to gawp at the night sky, particularly as there are a few highlights this week.  tomorrow morning (8-9am) there is a partial solar eclipse on the south east horizon, the Quadrantides meteor showers (4-6am) and with Juptier visible in the night sky, Uranus is also lining up in conjunction this week.  there are over 300 events nationwide - check here for something in your area and here for basic tips to help you with your stargazing.  i hope to head to Parlaiment Hill or The Hub at Regents Park (courtesy of The Baker Street Irregular Astronomers) to see what i can spot this week...weather permitting of course as its been a bit cloudy lately.

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