Rustica asked about my liqueur glass collection mentioned in my last post, so some history and pics under the cut.

( The Age of Elegance )

Yesterday's Buck House visit was interesting - No cameras allowed, of course, but I wish I'd taken a notebook, though suspect that they are no keener on people casing the joint for fictional purposes than they are on photography. It was annoying as the official guide thinks that you're more interested in the minutiae of Royal Life than the ( Read more... )

We have a couple of options tomorrow (aside from staying home and vegetating) - go down to watch the Olympic Torch which is being lit (in a private ceremony) at Redbridge Cycling centre about a mile away from here (this means a walk as there is nowhere to park the car) before being carried (it's unclear whether by van or on foot), along Forest Road ( Read more... )

I had a phone call today from my financial advisor to schedule my 'five year review' of my investments (erm...). Is it really five years since I left The Department? I suppose it must be ( Read more... )

The Woodland Trust is currently cutting down a lot of trees on the edges of the main paths in Hainault Forest for safety reasons (most are very old oaks that are getting top-heavy). Some of the resulting stumps are being tuned into new sculptures (being rooted they will, at least hopefully, avoid the fate of the previous free-standing carvings and ( Read more... )

The builders have finished. The council Inspector has been. We have plundered the hall for a bulb to check that the new light in the utility room works (it does - I must remember to get some new bayonet bulbs tomorrow). And we have paid. Which will, temporarily, stop my bank from complaining that I keep too much in my current account. Now we ( Read more... )

I don't usually put Potterstuff outside a filtered lock on this LJ, but I know there are Escher fans on my general f-list who, like me, didn't miss the references to 'relativity' in the book and first film descriptions of Hogwarts. I suspect that they'd appreciate Hogwartivity - naadi's delightful version. Now that's what I call 're-imaging'.

Because I was curious, and some of the works in the 'gallery' were new to me (though had the choices been other I might have picked rather more cubist stuff than I did). However, I do like the horses I ended up with...

And thanks to blpaintchart

( Cut for pic )

Well, that was an interesting weekend. Because the hotel we'd booked into didn't allow single day weekend bookings, and the cost of two nights was cheaper than putting the cats into a cattery or hiring our cat sitter, we decided to pop home on Sunday morning, feed and water the brutes, then drive back to Oxford and take in some sightseeing en ( Read more... )