RUNNING IN CIRCLES

My new barefoot road running shoes arrived by courier today. Found them on friday, on ebay and they got sent off so quickly. My feet are very grateful for the gift :-)

GLORIOUS GERBERAS

Above fresh, below six weeks later. Amazing how long they last. I know they are 'only daisies', as my husband tells me, but I adore Gerberas. I am grateful to the botanist Traugott Gerber for discovering them and then hybridizing the varieties.

TABLE TRY

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A WALK IN THE WOODS

I go out for a good walk almost every day now. So many fat pheasants ambling around, enjoying their final days before the guns arrive. Little do they know... Today I had to do some clambering over fallen trees. They were felled ones, waiting to be cut up for firewood. There is never much deadfall in our woods, as they are all carefully managed. It was all poignantly beautiful with cloudscapes I could hardly believe. There are lots of little cyclamen dotted all over the dropped pine needles. They must be hardy to be out now. So dainty in this unforgiving season.

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END OF SUMMER

Late Summer flowers are a sign that the party is running to its end. It makes me a little sad, but also grateful that last year's stalwarts are still prepared to take their place on the stage. Not being fond of yellow flowers, I chose as much white as I could find. The daisies and hydrangea go together nicely. At least to my eyes. Always nice to find that old friends haven't left.

For more friday flowers visit Nick HERE

SIMPLE

The most ordinary, every-day thing may suddenly catch your eye and delight you. Here, an empty evian bottle, with some blue pebbles in the bottom. Suddenly it struck me how beautiful the waterdrops looked, caught by the ridges in the plastic. If anyone has a find like this, suddenly noticing beauty in something plain, I'd love to hear.

SOAPDISH

There are so many toilet soaps on the market these days with overpoweringly sweet smells that I usually buy something called Simple or Pure with no scent at all. Then somebody gave me a bar of Royal Jelly soap which has a faint hint of honey. Wonderful stuff. Obviously this needed an equally lovely soapdish to put it in. And this is what I found. Apparently more than 120 years old, so I gave it a very good scrub :-). Makes you wonder how many hands have reached for this lid first thing in the morning. I love the old Victorian or Edwardian bathroom china sets. Next week we are going to Shakespeare country for a day and I am hoping to find a complete set with bowl, jug, tooth mug and yes, of course, another soap dish. Two great finds in the past week to display on FRIDAY FINDS day.

For more finds visit Kim HERE

LAST YEAR

WHITE ROSE

Found in a little antique treasure house in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Looks like a candlestick, the kind you take up to your bedroom when the lights don't work, or rather didn't, in the 18th century.

WHAT SUMMER?