The month of September

Started with a day trip to Worthing to see Granny Warmth. After lunch we went for a walk along the beach, played on the 2p slot machines and all the joys of a local museum.
London has just been alive this summer with so many surprises. Walking from Charing Cross we discovered a Paralympic live site at Trafalgar Square and then walking up Regents Street, which was closed for Piccadilly Circus Circus. We gazed, gawped and admired the amazing acrobatic feats.
Back to work, but the evenings were still filled with Paralympics.
Glorious sunshine and a sunny Saturday mooching at Maltby Street Market and then Borough Market. Buying delicious food for a weekend of final September BBQs.
An early start on Sunday and in to London to eek out the last of London 2012 with cheering on the marathon. The sun shone and London looked glorious.
Picking a few apples from our tree, not nearly as many as last year.
Easing into autumn with footless tights...
Going to Renegade Craft at Spitalfields and meeting fellow blogger Anna there. A new brooch was bought. Then a lovely autumnal shopping mooch, up Marylebone High Street popping into Oxfam Bookshop, Rococo for a small salted chocolate bar, then meeting Warmth and Brother Warmth and wife for drinks.
A Sunday afternoon at the cinema for Anna Karenina. It felt like we should have vodka and caviar rather than popcorn to munch on.
A quiet weekend sharing food with Ma and Pa Warmth on Saturday and Mother and Pops on Sunday. Suddenly autumn has arrived, as did the rain.
Catching up with a dear friend at Pain Quotidian.
Another gorgeous sunny Saturday and off to Sevenoaks to visit some friends this evening.
Books read - very dismal I started Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry but just couldn't get into it so 200 pages in we departed company.
Baking an apple streusal cake - not the most interesting but it's always lovely to have a cheeky slice of cake. Some more bananas so another banana cake. Julia Child's Coq au vin - the perfect recipe so much so that we've already planned who we're cooking it for next.

mixing, grating, melting, infusing

A little like the excitement of returning to my autumn clothes after a summer of lighter clothes, even though I was longing to wear them in May. My thoughts for cooking are turning autumnal now. I've loved the summer salads, but now I want warm and comforting.

''There is a kind of sorcery in all cooking: in the choosing of ingredients, the process of mixing, grating, melting, infusing and flavouring, the recipes taken from ancient books, the traditional utensils - the pestle and mortar with which my mother made her incense turned to a more homely purpose, her spices and aromatics giving up their subtleties to a baser, more sensual magic. And it is partly the transience of it that delights me; so much loving preparation, so much art and experience put into a pleasure which can last only a moment, and which only a few will ever fully appreciate." Joanne Harris Chocolat

bake

What have you been cooking up recently?

full of light and silver

Are you enjoying the new series of Downton Abbey? Sunday evenings once more have a rhythm to them.

'I must agree with you when you speak of beautiful furniture. Who does not enjoy food upon shining tables with glass full of light and silver - Ah! ....'the sensation of the fingers of a well-polished silver-spoon!'
...
'But,' he said dramatically, 'what shall happen when the tables no longer shine, when those who clean them are taken from you and there is no time to sit and polish spoons?'... 
'Then how terrible to see the table dull, to see, perhaps scratches, to know you cannot preserve the beauty you enjoy, because there is no time in the day for so much. No, no,' he went on, 'that shall not happen, that must not. Silver and shining mahogany and bright glass must remain in memory beautiful, and not be seen in actuality smeared and unkept. I like better to have this table' - he smote the deal with vigour - 'which is so clean, and to see my good friend en casserole, rather than to have it made lordly and perhaps cold in a silver dish not well cleaned!' Jocelyn Playfair A house in the country

kitchen

I think this story line might be one hear more of this season. 

gloriously, irresponsibly happy

A quote for Friday...

'However, to-day she was gloriously, irresponsibly happy. The stale rolls tasted delicious out here under the trees, the sun was warm on her hair, and a little bubble of pleasure burst in her throat...' Antonia White Frost in May

happy

Wishing you all moments, and more, of glorious, irresponsible happiness this weekend.

suggestion of the haphazard

It's London Fashion Week and I've really loved reading all about it on my Twitter feed, funny that a few weeks ago my Twitter feed was all Olympics and Paralympics

'She had slightly more than average height, and was very dark and slim, with large Laurencin eyes and the negligent grace of the trained athelete...
Her clothes were incomparable, with just that suggestion of the haphazard which raised them high above the mere chic of the mannequin.
Her character was a lovely harmony of contending virtues - she was witty and tender-hearted; passionate and serene, sensual and temperate, impulsive and discreet.' Evelyn Waugh Vile Bodies

Temperley 

Oh to wear this dress next year - with the yellow shoes.

And meanwhile

One of the lovely books I read this summer was A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford re published by Daunt Books.

'Anyhow who is this ideal husband of yours? Where is he?'

'He isn't an ideal husband, he is just a man I should be proud to marry.'

'Have you met him?'

'No. Not even in fiction. I have no idea what he'll be like. But I shall know when we meet.'

'That sounds like love.'

'So much is,' said Constanza.

'And meanwhile, darling, you had better take me.'

'Meanwhile,' she said, 'is for people who do not know when to wait.'

Sybille Bedford A Favourite of the Gods

fiction

Do you have a fictional character you'd like to love, be loved by and spend your life with?

bobbed and nodded

Now it's September and school has started again I'm ready for Autumn. Over the past few years I've collected an assortment of berets that I wear. Partly through having short hair they keep my head warm and also they stop hair frizzing when it's that annoying damp drizzle, not enough for an umbrella but enough to ruin one's hair.

'they were both wearing hats like nothing on earth, which bobbed and nodded as they spoke.' Evelyn Waugh Vile Bodies

I spied some lovely ones in Marks and Spencers but for the purpose of this post...

hat


What will you be wearing on your head this autumn? 

scurry along

Having had a glorious rest I'm now back into the commuting. My journey is fine, even better if it could be a little shorter. It's open air, no tunnels, apart from when we go under the Thames at Greenwich, and I tend to get a seat.

'Miss Catherine Birch trotted through the lobby of the ministry where she was employed, automatically waved her pass at the doorman, and joined the hurrying throng of men and women pouring down the London street towards the bus stops and tube stations. Their haste was contagious. she began to scurry along as though a vitally important evening lay before her.' Mollie Panter-Downes It's the Reaction in Good Evening, Mrs. Craven: The Wartime stories of Mollie Panter-Downes

scurrying

How do you travel home from work?

gold-fluttering trees

I'm going to miss pottering in the garden with no sense of time now I'm back to school. But the sweet peas are still hanging in and autumn is just around the corner.

'The window looked out on to flower beds, a tangle of Michaelmas daisies, late dahlias, hanging heavy, and shaggy little asters. Then there came a lawn strewn with yellow leaves with a broad path beyond and a row of gold-fluttering trees.' Katherine Mansfield Widowed in Something childish but very natural

dahlia

How is your garden today?