haiku(ish) fun
he’s won all the toys
but got no-one to play with
hollow victory

a pair of lovely shoes. left outside by a wheelie bin, hackney.

tea & cake. an excellent combination

lovely sugar lumps

food & travel (& photography). three of my loves.

tea rooms, stoke newington. quite good actually. polaroid sx-70, 600 film (i think)

smell: red tent blend. aromatherapy & new zealand flower essence mix

hear:
- talking to my friend pip on the phone, halfway across the world. magic.
- armin van buuren, a state of trance podcast episode 100
- dogs in the park outside

touch: purchased for a weekend project, inspired by lobster & swan

taste: warming bliss blend, concocted specially for the bbc meet this coming sunday

perfect place for a leisurely stroll

just minutes from busy paddington station

see: tomatoes, borough market

smell: mushrooms, borough market

hear: sounds coming from the box of darkness, tate modern

touch: flicking through the pages of 3191 : a year of mornings

taste: mediterranean tomato, chickpea & mint soup

city of bicycles

this is a place i fall completely in love with whenever we visit

hanging out with friends,

finding the most interesting places

away from the main streets

elegance

and love are everywhere

there’s amazing coffee

some great places to eat

and the weather was perfect for being outside

love,
-leonie

i love your trees, shedding their finery, baring their skeletons to the biting winds.

i love your blue sky days and cool nights that call for blankets, mittens and scarves.

i love the feeling of holding a mug of hot soup or tea in my fingers, sitting beside a warm fire.

i love your colour pallette of reds, oranges, browns, yellows.

i love your sunrises, dancing mist off quiet lakes & ocean shores.

hello autumn, i love you.

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a selection of autumny polaroids from flickr

1. wednesday: orange, 2. Autumn’s gifts, 3. autumn offering, 4. Untitled, 5. There’s just something about pumpkins., 6. tomatoes, 7. autumn leaves, 8. that fall feeling, 9. Untitled, 10. smell of fall, 11. the boldness of fall., 12. polaroad, 13. provincetown-sunrise, 14. ., 15. ocean of light, 16. Untitled

seems at the moment, there are adventures to be had around every corner and we get home to unpack, only to find ourselves piling assorted bits and pieces into our bags and we’re off again (just how i like it)…

a couple of weekends ago, we spent another lovely lazy weekend on the isle of wight. we had our own cosy little love nest, a shack belonging to vintage vacations.

there was cake on arrival (delicious)

two really comfy chairs in the front room, a wall of gorgeous vintage mirrors

and a delightful view out into the bay.

there were games to play and a couple of hilarious photo albums to pore through

we took a walk along the coastal path

to the needles and old battery, where rocket testing was done during the cold war (amongst other things)

we drove through beautiful, quiet countryside

walked on the beach collecting treasure (a favourite pastime of mine in any weather/country)

did a bit of foraging & indulged ourselves a little with some local cheese

a magnificently relaxing weekend.

with love,
-leonie

art really is a way of life…
as important to me now as breathing.

and how wonderful it was to go to SAW and be surrounded by such beauty & creativity. sometimes, i wished the magic few days would never end though in my heart i know that if i could have this all the time, some of the sparkle would wear off. i also know that i carry that magic around inside of me and can connect into it whenever i need.

speaking of beauty, check out the breathtaking view from the dock outside my cabin at squam lake… i’d been in for an early morning dip and was in the water, floating quietly in the stillness of the morning as the sun rose over the horizon. those are my footprints along the dock as i jumped out to also try and capture the beauty of this place in order share it with you.

it really is a beautiful,

beautiful,

beautiful place…

i realised on this trip that i AM a little bit country (not sure about the rock ‘n roll – i’ll get back to you on that one). these boots were found in provincetown and they completely satisfy my alter-ego’s cowgirly desires…

i’ve got a couple more posts coming, as i want to share with you some photos from a couple of the classes i did and tell you more about the wonderful, wonderful people i met. hopefully you can get a sense from these few photos of how inspiring and suited the rockywold deephaven camp on squam lake is to getting the creative juices flowing.

with love,
leonie

#17 in my 101 things in 1001 days list

we’ve been whale watching,

making tiny moments of zen with gifts from the altantic ocean

and generally kicking back relaxing

this place really is quite magical.

with love,
-leonie

today has been one of those juicy lazy sundays that fill all of me to the brim. it’s been part discovery, part hand-cut chips, with a side order of photography and a sprinkling of book shopping…

large jammy dodgers, one of my current gustatory obsessions

it all began with a trip to the newly discovered (by us at least) albion caff in shoreditch (thanks remodelista!) for coffee and a jammy dodger for me, almond croissant for nic. this place is humming with people on the weekend… full to overflowing with people drinking tea from pots covered in hand-knitted tea cosies, sharing a bit of gossip with friends, or having a quiet read of the sunday paper.

colombia road flowermarket

then, it was a short wander to the colombia road flower market, where stallholders were pimping their wares – most for a fiver. it was funny listening to their monologue as they interspersed their current deal with muttered comments about wondering if anyone was listening. the market was packed full of people, shuffling along in time with the people in front/behind… some laden with flowers & plants, others (like us) with cameras. one cheeky vendor was charging £1 if anyone wanted to take photos – i guess he (and perhaps the tourists willing to pay this fee) had never heard of the photographer’s rights with regards to photos in public places.

bookstore (shot from the hip)

as well as the market, there are a ton of quirky little stores, full of people, funky art, and other goodies and we chanced upon an amazing second-hand bookstore in a couple of upstairs rooms. they had an awesome selection of paperbacks, some of which parted me from my cash, and a great view back along the flower market from the windows

image source: jessiechorley.com

next door to the bookstore is another set of stairs that lead up to a treasure trove that is part alice in wonderland, part vintage wonderland called jessie and buddug. i didn’t go in as i’ve been warned about taking husbands into stores where they can wreak havoc when bored….

why one wife now chooses to shop alone – thanks to my husband nic for the image

their website is so inviting that i do feel compelled to do another trip there just to see the shop and jessie’s altered journals in real life…

we also saw cupcakes big & small…

…and i’m now officially in love with rachel barker’s range of tableware.

the space & hubbub – our local hangout

the rest of the afternoon has been spent at our local cafe – this place is very “relaxed wellington cafe” with lazy-sunday-style music (often kiwi), great beer and hand-cut chips. we are both sitting here with laptops; nic up to some geekery or another, and me…

well, i’m writing to you.

with love,
-leonie