Market Day

The local market town was immortalized by Thomas Hardy in his book The Mayor of Casterbridge, fortunately it is no longer possible to sell your wife on market day!
I headed for the market today with my eldest daughter for my Mother's Day treat, tea and home made cakes and a day of shopping, the best type of day, especially when I am not paying.

First stop, the market, where I had to be dragged away from these baby aubergines or eggplants

The butcher's stall, I remember when I was a child, crowds of women used to gather in front of these stalls and almost come to blows over a mixed bag of meats a a bargain price. Does it still happen? My Nan always used to be in the scrum.

Then the cheese stall where I bought Blue Vinney and Somerset Brie

Then a thorough trawl of the "antique" stalls where I found some real treasures for the shop.

I saw some interesting Kings and Queens of England cigarette cards but had to walk away as too expensive for me, also Cary Grant's autograph on an old cigarette packet, a snip at £100 and totally out of my league.

My brother used to have loads of Dinky cars like the ones above. I love the way they are all lined up as if they have been parked.

Then lunch, sushi and fruit juice in a small graveyard behind the shops. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. We walked to the huge antique market, a real gem of a place on a trading estate and scoured the place for treasure. As usual I came back with a piece of Poole Pottery.

Robert Jefferson designed this Lucullus design of oven to tableware in the early 1960s. It is silkscreen printed and the base is in the Blue Moon cameo glaze.

And I forgot to take a photo of the cake so here are some hyacinths instead because they are my favourite flowers and because my favourite thing to do is to eat cakes and drink tea with my beautiful, creative and fun daughter, who has just got her first serious job and who is leaving home properly in June.

Just for the record she had chocolate cake and I had coffee cake, slabs the size of housebricks, wonderful stuff. Good times...

In my Kitchen....

Sticky toffee cupcakes with caramel icing.

You see I had this idea, I made the cupcakes and thought that I would buy some caramel sweets, melt them and ice the cakes with them. Easy I'm thinking, except that Caramel sweets apparently don't exist in England.

Did I imagine them? Dream them up?

In the end I made my own caramel icing from scratch and the cakes are delicious

Hustle and Bustle

I had one of the best sorts of days today. Up early and caught the bus to one of the small market towns nearby. This busy little town is nestled beneath the hills of West Dorset and is a treasure trove for the vintage lover. I was aided and abetted by my daughter during this excursion.

This is one of my favourite shop fronts, they always have a great display and the produce is both fresh and with an emphasis on local

We investigated the thrift shops and junk shops and came away with a small cache of vintage needlework books, including this

I am so curious about the author's name, The Madge of Truth?

I could find no excuse for buying this!

We had tea in one of our favourite haunts.

Window shopped and browsed. It was market day so it was busy and noisy with lots to tempt us.

Truly a day well spent and then a bus journey home around the tiny lanes underneath Eggardon, then back to the village to unpack the bags and decant the day's spoils.

There was a distinct smell of Spring in the air today, at times I swear that there was a warm breeze and the light seemed different. The long winter is coming to an end, yesss!

August Goodness from Dorset

Hive Beach, a feel-good place, just before twilight and the colours are strong

a perfect walk along a Dorset beach, daydreaming yet aware, making plans...

Sloe Gin, wintery  warmth

Blackberry and Apple pies

and walking back towards the setting sun

which intensified the colours and reminded me of why I love Dorset so, and on the way home the sun was setting over Eggardon Hill

and then, before my eyes, I watched what looked like Avalon emerge

and I knew what inspired Thomas Hardy