There is nothing nicer than entertaining on a cold windy winters afternoon, my friend brought still warm from the oven home made banana bread, I stoked up the boiler making the house nice and cosy, boiled the kettle and chilled the bubbles. We had the most blissful of afternoons knitting, nibbling at cake, slurping tea and sipping bubbles, followed by more tea and crispy hot sour dough toast dripping with best butter.  Such a perfect wild and windy afternoon.

Last week a fellow knitter and I decided to indulge in a little light art and culture and ventured forth to see Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse at the Royal Academy of Art. To say it blew me away is an understatement, it is simply the most beautiful exhibition I have ever seen, I loved it unreservedly.  As I wandered the rooms, looking at the various artists works and the abundance of dhalias, chrysanthemums, irises, roses and waterlilies I was lost in my imagination of the gardens of these great impressionists with their blooms, colours and scents heavy in the air, the crunch of gravel underfoot, the sound of water trickling nearby.

When I came into a room devoted to Monet and mostly to his Waterlilies I simply gasped for air, it was stunningly beautiful.  There was painting after painting of waterlilies, painted year after year, it was fascinating to see the interpretations of the same scene.

Some of the other artists are not to be sniffed at, with glorious pieces from Matisse, Manet, Le Sidaner, Van Gogh, Klimt, Bonnard, Cezanne and so  on.

The ending of the exhibition is simply breathtaking, we see Agapanthus Triptych in all its glory, three panels united as Monet intended.

The exhibition ends on April 20th.

It was a comment from a fellow London photographer that alerted me that The Shard were issuing Love London cards to enjoy unlimited free of charge access to The View for the rest of the year, for the princely sum of £20.16, much less than a ticket for a single viewing – available to London residents only.  But the news came too late and there were huge queues and I thought they would all be sold.  Then later in the week I heard that people had turned up late that day and tickets were still available.  Which got me to thinking, what if there were some tickets left?

I tried to ring them on the Saturday and couldn’t get through and as I lay in bed enjoying my lie in on Sunday,  I thought I would give them a ring, what was the worst that could happen?  So I rang them, as you do, and was told they were releasing another 500 tickets, that day!!!  That stopped the lie in dead in its tracks I can tell you.  Hubby went hunting for passports and documentation to prove we were residents whilst I dived in the shower, 30 minutes later we were out the front door.

Trekking in from London Bridge underground, following the signs for The Shard you are met with this,

and then this,

and it starts to get exciting. Next you surface from the underground, walk across a paved area to go down these,

and follow that around for a few paces and then we found the queue.

And we stood and waited for half an hour or so. Producing all of our documentation we were presented with these,

and we did a little squeal of glee.

Next we were directed to the lifts and we were so very excited,

and we were met with a rainy day in London.  Apparently The View had just been engulfed in cloud, which I would have loved. Even though its a drizzle day it is still amazing.  Then just as we were leaving,…

how’s that for a Loo with a View, it did make me giggle.

As much as is possible I do like to walk next to the Thames, or at the very least cross a bridge or two. It energizes me and lifts my mood immediately, all thoughts of whatever is playing on my mind disappear as I sense the power and majesty of this huge river.  Then I inhale great big lung fulls of air, the smell of ozone brought to me snake like from the sea. I love it so much that come the day, I would like to be scattered into this great river of ours to travel the oceans in perpetuity.

But until that day, let me show you a few pics of our latest walk, it was wonderful.

I was lucky enough to secure a ticket to see Lord of the Dance at The Playhouse before it ended its run. I really enjoyed it, beautifully dressed young ladies, powerful, often bare chested, handsome young men, wonderful choreography, fast paced violinists and the leading men and women simply blew you away with their dancing skills.  It was a sheer delight and a lovely way to spend an afternoon in London.

Last Saturday we decided to explore Spitalfields, it is simple enough to get to for us by going into Liverpool Street via the overground and then a short walk from there. Delightful ideas are all around as one explores through the myriad of artistic stalls.  The food is amazing, fresh nan’s cooked in a tandoor, fresh pizza cooked in a wood fired oven, doughnuts to die for, I could go on.  We trundled back and forth for a couple of hours simply taking in the colour, sounds and smells of this wonderfully eclectic market. It is open seven days a week, I am sure we will go back.

Hubby and I were trotting around near London Bridge when I remembered I’d seen on Instagram a fantastic place to view St Paul’s from a shopping centre, a quick flick through our phones and we found it and off we went.

One New Change has one of the largest public roof terraces in London which is open from 6 a.m. until midnight. One goes up in the lift and is met with this jaw dropping view.

It really is worth going to, the detail that you can see is stunning, we are literally across a small road from St Paul’s at this point, it feels like you can nearly touch the dome.  

But the sun is very bright and I feel we just need to wait a while. Which is fortunate as there is a very good cocktail bar with super comfy sofa’s on which to wait.

You don’t need to ask hubby twice! Madison’s is nice and warm inside with waitress service and a good mix of wine, cocktails and tapas styled snacks.

And boy was it worth the wait.

It was beautiful.

Every once in a while you just need to spend some time dejunking. After having a very lazy weekend last weekend I was fully fired up on Monday and thought I would just tidy up the corner of the living room and I must have caught the dejunking bug as I went through the house getting rid of so much of my old rubbish.  Five days later and all rooms, cupboards, bookcases,  wardrobes and drawers done, (apart from under the stairs), I have this.

You would think the house would be nearly empty wouldn’t you?  But it is a testament to my squirreling away behaviour that it has hardly made any sort of dent, its just that I know where the gaps are now even if they are not immediately obvious.  And what have I learn’t.  Well, I definitely, beyond any measure of any doubt, do not need any more shoes…

And how do I feel?  Very, very content and lighter in my soul.  I know where all my stuff is, my fabrics and yarns and books have all been reevaluated and my cookery ingredients are fresh in my mind – and fresh in the cupboard!  All of this makes me feel positive for the next year, next month I will spring clean and then Hubby and I are set up for the year ahead and what a year it is going to be.