Scavengers

We have recently had 3 new additions to our family. These three little sisters are Welsh White Saddleback  crosses called Scooby, Lily and Mike the Knight. Their names were decided by my youngsters long ago and no one was budging when the all-girl team turned up. What's that song..... a boy names Sue?

They are such fun. They adore the children and it's mutual. My husband is also smitten. They live down the road and every night of their first week he would nip over there and 'tuck them in' much to my amusement. They have a lovely life running around their muddy pen playing tig with the children and butting my husband from behind. It all makes for a rather charming picture.

Scooby is significantly larger than the other two and quite a bully especially when it comes to feeding time. When Mike the Knight jumped into the trough for first dibs on the pig nuts yesterday, Scooby squealed at Mike furiously to get out. She is such a bossy big sister. It's amazing how quickly they are growing, it won't be many weeks now before they turn from sweet little pigs to hefty, teenagers with attitude. I wonder how quick the children will be to leap the gate into their pen then?

It is a funny coincidence that Scooby, the most determined scavenger of all belongs to my eldest an equally greedy and sneaky youngster. Oh how we laughed over the weekend when we made our discovery........ I was standing in our kitchen doorway and happened to glance sideways behind our beautiful big Welsh dresser and there it was, the stash of empty chocolate and treat wrappers stuffed there in a bid to hide all evidence of his pre-breakfast snacking! My youngest supplied me with his toy cutlass which I used to expertly hook out the abundant rubbish. A pretty impressive collection of Cadbury's finest wouldn't you agree? Oh to be young with the metabolism of a race-horse hey!

Silver and Blue

This is possibly one of my favourite colour combinations. It can be strikingly icy in the winter but fresh and cool in the warmer months. It somehow always makes me feel light and fanciful. I took about 20 photos of the necklace around my neck but the shots were hopeless so instead I put in a heap on the table and snapped away. I think it deserves a post all of its own in actual fact. You can see it is chunky and just bursting with detail. There is something quite seasidey about it, perhaps it is all the twisted bits that look like discarded old rope that wash up on the beach. The colours are so natural too, the dusty sandy shades and glassy beads add to its appeal. If only I could have had a pound for every person who has complimented me on it. Sadly it is one of my little treasures from the dress agency never to be found again.

You gotta love a great knot

You may be starting to get a measure of me by now. I love the details. It might be a zip, a brooch, a ring. If it adds a bit of sparkle to you then I'm all for it.

I struck gold recently with a dress from our local dress agency. I call it Aladdin's Cave - you just never know what you will stumble across when you walk through the door. More often than not I will leave with some treasure or other. It is my favourite sort of clothes shopping for that very reason. I have a pretty limited budget but as with all second hand purchasing, you can save a fortune if you hone in on your tried and tested labels. I find that it gives me the freedom to be experimental with styles and looks. It is always my first stop with those I'm helping re-jig their wardrobes if they are feeling stuck in a rut.

Anyway..... the dress........ it has a beautiful knot. It is just perfectly situated at the base of my back. I love its loose, sloppy, drapeyness. Having fallen in love with it, I wore it for the first time with my spotty scarf tied with in enormous bow-tie. The teal coloured bit is a part of the dress. It is really two in one which just adds to its fabulousness! The teal layer is a close fitting long t-shirt shape with the grey piece attached across the chest and swooping round. 

These earrings were from joid'art in Barcelona

Another faithful friend from Cole & Co

Stuffed!

I was lucky enough to spend my 10th anniversary at Tyddyn Llan on the edge of the Snowdonian mountains near Corwen recently thanks to my ever-so-generous husband. He treated us to a gastronomic extravaganza and it was certainly a memorable date. We were absolutely dazzled by the culinary genius of Bryan Webb and the delicious creations which emerged from his Michelin starred kitchen. 

Our evening got underway in the grand lounge where we perused the menus. After a long discussion we decided that given the special occasion and that we both had comfortable clothes on(!) we would go all out and plump for the 8-course taster menu. Of course we could manage it all, it was just a matter of going slowly but surely, surely? Little did we know that 8 would become 10.........

So having squinted to read it, what do you think? Just about ticks every box in my book. The sewin, by the way, is native trout found in the River Towy. 

The more we ate, the more we laughed. The more we laughed, the more our bodies groaned for a break. By the time our spring lamb arrived we agreed there was simply no room for liquids let alone any gas from the sparkling water so that was the end of the drinks. It was a good call. We made it to the end and oh how we patted our middles proudly! It was the same satisfaction I imagine a marathon runner to feel as they cross the finish line. I was doubly delighted that by the time dessert arrived all other diners had left the room and now that we were alone I could reach for my camera and snap away gaily where previously I had been forced to show restraint.

The lightest option I thought - rhubarb, orange and champagne trifle

Chocolate cheesecake -  not such a light option!

Funnily enough I hadn't given my outfit for the night a great deal of thought in terms of the expanding middle that would need accommodating. Instead I had gone for rich and beautiful colours thinking purely of the decadent restaurant we were off too. 

My dress is an incredibly rich damson silk dress reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn in its style I feel. It is modest but so elegant and feminine. I bought it several years ago from a local boutique. It is from the Betty Jackson two collection so a bit younger and more exciting than her usual collections. The snazzy handbag came from a little local dress agency and cost about £10 many months ago. One side is entirely beads and odd buttons and is irresistible in its sweetie type way. Apparently this is a shared bag. It's meant to be on a 50/50 time split with my daughter. Whenever it's my turn I always smile as I open it to find a child's lipstick, a couple of plastic coins and invariably a hair slide or two. My fabulous corally pink shoes were from the Radley outlet store in Lincolnshire and were just under £50 down from three times that figure. I just find these colours scrummy altogether. I think I was just about as edible as my incredible meal that night!

Pink and Green - Part 2

I am sure most foodies will relate to the joy I felt when a giant bag overflowing with freshly cut rhubarb came my way last week. It had been given to me by a friend who lives deep in the Conwy Valley where his fruit and veg grow in abundance. My fingers flicked into overdrive as I hunted through my cook books for the best use of my cache. I roasted the whole lot with plenty of sugar and orange zest and waited patiently as the sweet perfume made its way around the house. The colour of this rhubarb was stunning. So perfectly zingy and bright when raw and then softly muted and delicate once cooked. I rustled up some gingery pastry, filled it generously with my rhubarb and piped some meringue on top. Oh it did look majestic. Such proud white peaks they were. You may wonder where the photo of the finished article is...... truth is I was so excited that I forgot to take a snap!

A silly little game I have with myself is that I will never buy gooseberries (oh maybe at the church fayre once or twice). It is my single favourite ingredient and I only ever seem to have enough given to me to make one gooseberry and elderflower meringue pie and a batch of streusel squares. My goodness how I relish my little plate's worth in the knowledge that it will be another year's wait before it's baking in the oven again. I am always torn between being totally selfish and keeping it to myself  and flinging the front door wide open and sharing the lot with my friends when it's still warm and mouth-wateringly fresh.

Pink and Green - Part 1

Soft and squashy balls Jo Pott

Flowers around the door of our local church

My metallic leather bangle Cole & Co

Me 

A glass ring from a friend Kriket Broadhurst

I was in the mood for green today. Nothing like the bright strong green of a luscious lawn to lift your spirits.

Crash, Bang, Wallop......

............here I am!

Wow the world is looking different. It's a very foreign land into which I return after almost six years away from real work. I say real work with a smile on my face. Those years have been filled with the arrival of three youngsters who just seemed to appear one after another very quickly and turned life into a smudgy, blurred sort of a place. Well now I'm moving on. That's not to say that they are up for adoption, just that I want to do a bit of something for me.

Here goes. I have no time to lose. I need to travel from 0 - 100 on the technology front ASAP. It seems you have to be super savvy and have everything working for you with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc. Well, I figure in for a penny and all that, so on top of that long list I am going to blog! 

So let's get to know each other. I am Zoe. I live in a constant state of chaos and whilst I fight courageously, it still seems to get the better of me. I really AM that creaky old chair being flung around the centre of the twister in The Wizard of Oz. Not only do I have my three children, I have an eccentric husband, several small jobs and a cracking circle of friends who have me out until all hours. I am busy. I'm not moaning, just setting the scene here.

I have two great loves; clothes and cooking. I delight in them both equally. For some months now my mind has been awash with ideas. How to turn a hobby into an earner? Well I toyed with opening a little cafe using the freshest of fresh ingredients. I would close my eyes and picture the tiny menu board that would only ever have three or four choices on it. How I would walk through our pretty seaside home like a town-cryer telling the good folks how my marmalade cake would be out of the oven at 3 o'clock just in time for afternoon tea. Oh how my mind would run away. It could have been fantastic but that dream will remain a dream and for the time being only my nearest and dearest will sample my wares.

Next stop, my wardrobe. How do you turn a love of dressing up into paid work? "Simple," said my friends, "you shake up people's wardrobes for them. Show them five ways to tie a scarf, show them how to jazz up their everyday clothes, show them that it doesn't have to cost the earth. That's what you do really well and make look so easy." It seems I have been rumbled. Almost all of my clothes are either ancient, from a dress agency or a little gamble on Ebay. I don't pay much to wear interesting clothes, I mix up all my bits and bobs. It's far more fun playing with what lies before you. There you have it in a nutshell, I am going to help ladies re-work their existing wardrobes sorting the wheat from the chaff and creating a myriad of different ways to combine their clothes. I am committed now. It's out there on the world wide web in black and white or blog-land if there is such a place. I must go forth.

Are you in or out? Are you coming on this little adventure with me? Who knows, you might even be inspired......