A Perfect Weekend :: whoops...accidentally re-published...

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death

John Keats

Lovely time with Hannah at the weekend we watched Bright Star again and loved it just as much as the first time. Had a fleeting visit to the Lucien Pissarro in England: Eragny Press 1895-1914 exhibition at the Ashmolean including a beautiful tiny copy of Keats, La Belle Dame Sans Merci and planned to visit Keats House in Hampstead as soon as we all have time to catch up again...

She brought me Lime and Basil bath and shower gel by Grand Tour because she knew I'd love the colours. It smells amazing, lovely and fresh and it has no parabens,no mineral oils, no harsh preservative and no artificial colours which is even better. A friend sent chocolates. They didn't last very long...John Keats biography by Andrew Motions now to be added on my never ending list of books to order...apparently it's complusive reading...

all the stills are from Jane Campion's Bright Star

Weekending

Sunday was fun.  Painter sister 'P' was visiting from Chester after going to see an exhibition in London. She stopped over to stay with us and catch others at Modern Art Oxford and the Ashmolean.  


Both exhibitions were impressive with big Jenny Saville paintings on a huge scale. Drawings too. I'm not the biggest fan of her paintings but I did love the sketches some informed by classical artists.  I was in awe of how she manages to work on such enormous canvases.


I couldn't take any photos...but we had tea in the Yard...a consolation.  We had to stop when we noticed tins of  Smoky Russian Caravan Tea on the shelves... You've just got to try tea with a name like that, haven't you?  Mind you, you've got me with anything with the word 'Russian' in it...I blame Dr. Zhivago!  P opted for Spiced Masala Chai both were delicious, as was the tray-bake with a kind of streusel topping...mmm...


I did bump into an artist who I am a fan of though in MAO. An old friend from uni.  He's a really nice guy and a great artist. I haven't seen him for two years so it was really good to catch up, especially as he gave me a little pep talk. Told me it was ok that I hadn't done any art work for a year. He said  it's good to stand back sometimes and think about what you're doing, creativity can't be forced. That made me feel so good.


After the exhibitions we went to one of our favourite shops Toast.  I can't say that I've actually ever bought anything there except some honeycomb candles.  But I do love the shop and the clothes and the home-ware. Although they are mostly outside my budget at the moment. I go into the shop every so often and pick up a catalogue, sneak a few photo's upstairs where all the textiles and ceramics are, then go home a happy bean.  On Sunday it was even better than usual as P wanted to try on a couple of shirts. I could admire the lovely grain sack covered sofa, wonder if I could do the same to mine and where I could source some cheaply all whilst sitting on it and reading the latest copy of Vogue,  all courtesy of Toast...


...I did love these three quarter length herringbone trousers though and they are reduced...yarn or trousers...decisions decisions...


The final stop was to introduce P to our new favourite eating place Turl Street Kitchen we were too late for lunch but imbibed cooling ginger beer and apple and rhubarb juice on a lovely sunny sunday before ambling happily back home for supper before seeing her back to the train station...a perfect day...  ...except for her going home... :o(   


linking over here today...

Weekend Away, Herman, Adam Marsh and James Martin's Carrot Cake

lovely sis B

Don't you find  that the less time you have, the more you get done?


..After I finished work on Saturday  we drove down to Sussex to catch up with sis B and family, and wish nephew D and friend "bon voyage" before they flew off to a snowboarding adventure...Oh and remind them to keep an eye out for stray trees......It was a lovely warm weekend both weather and hospitality-wise...


The main purpose of  the visit was to go to Unravel...lots to show you tomorrow about that...then catch a quick exhibition here,  where I fell in love with Adam Marsh vessels (top image) tiny little ceramic pots...aren't they just gorgeous?  Then back to Sussex for coffee and B's homemade James Martin carrot cake, checking out her sourdough friendship cake Herman. Unfortunately it wasn't ready to pass  any on to me yet... Followed by a lovely long afternoon walk in the woods. Returned for supper and tons of chatting and laughter then drove back home Sunday night with  with lots of nice new memories...


...and a strong desire for more carrot cake...

I had to make one...I knew that James Martin had two recipes, one passed down by his great grandmother. Unusual because he doesn't grate the carrot raw in this one but peels and slices it and then cooks it in orange juice, before adding it to a batter with egg yolks. He then folds in the flour and  whisked egg whites...


...I suspect that this isn't the delicious version B makes...(I'm sure she mentioned grating and desiccated coconut) but I just had to try it...mostly because I love the idea of  heirloom recipes...


As usual I made a couple of tweaks...I used olive oil because I didn't have any corn oil and two tangerines instead of an orange and SR flour instead of plain plus baking powder. I also thought that the recipe had a lot of sugar in it 375g to 350g of flour so I reduced this to 200g plus a squeeze of Agave syrup.  


Both are lovely recipes the one with coconut and grated carrot has more texture the other is much smoother but both are delicious and really moist, oh and sweet enough even though I reduced the amount of sugar by 175g...mmm lovely...

Paper Girl Oxford

If you'd like any more information you can find a little bit here.

Unravel - festival of knitting

I just heard about this from sister in Sussex....sounds like fun you can find out a little bit more about it here

Quilts 1700-2010, The V&A Museum

I've just heard about what sounds like an amazing exhibition at the V & A Museum in London.

It took six years to curate with the purpose of exploring quilts as an art form. There are almost seventy in total, some dating as far back as the 1700's.

It's running until July 4th so I'll try and get over to London and takes lots of images to share with you........That's if I'm allowed to photograph them.

You can find out more at the V & A website on www.vam.ac.uk

and you can watch an audio slide show on the following link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainments/arts_and_culture/8578091.stm

I'm afraid I'm having problems with links at the moment so you may need to type this in. But it's worth a look, as it gives you a really good overview of the exhibition. Some quilts are exhibited along with the maker's diary or letters, whilst others are military ones that are thought to have been produced by a private serving in India in the 1860's. Then there are contemporary examples by artists like Tracy Emin and Grayson Perry and even one made from bank notes. All used as a means to communicate something about their producer.......I can't wait to see it.

There's a good review at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/17/quilt-exhibition-v-and-a

Oxford and Cherwell College Creative Arts Show, 2010

Last night I was invited to an exhibition at Oxford & Cherwell college. I love to see what the students are doing, there's always such a good vibe. I thought this quirky photograph by Tom Hughes was cool. I think he must have used a fisheye lense. I've published lots more images from the show on Making Dens at www.debbyemadian@live.co.uk if you're interested in taking a look.