Unbought Delicacies: A day out

Thursday, 25 February 2010

A day out

MrL,EJ and I spent the day in Exeter yesterday - EJ's choice, for his birthday. He wanted to go to Mansons music shop, so we left him there for a few hours and had a look around - mainly down the more interesting end of the shopping area, Fore Street and further down. Some lovely shops.
We had tea at the Real MacCoy's:
http://www.therealmccoy.co.uk/homepage.htm

Fabulous retro clothing and more, excellent cup of tea too - I know what's important!

We took a look around Otto's:

http://www.ottoretro.co.uk/blog/
Some great stuff in there, looks like our tip sometimes a bit, where I get my things from!
Another one was a music shop up a side street, full of violins, mandolins and cellos - beautiful to look at.........
Found an excellent wool shop called heavenly Yarns - pop in if you're in Exeter, she has some very beautiful wools in there, lovely friendly girl helping out and a nice retro table to sit at, just like we had in our kitchen when I was wee LOL. I was very taken with her Open/Closed sign. If and when I get my wool shop, I shall have something similar:

One for all the NIMBYs LOL:

We found a lovely shop making handmade shoes, so might save up and order a pair from there for next winter.
The town itself hasn't changed much since I was last there in 1987, really. Even the Peace/CND shop is still there! Needless to say I went in and got up to date with a bit of petition signing.
It was nice to spend a few hours in a vibrant, colourful place, especially down that end of the town, away from the "normal" shops at the top. Makes me realise how much of my "alternativeness" I have lost.............need to re-address that, definitely. LOL
Great day out. :)

4 comments:

Jess said...: I used to be a waitress at the real mccoy. I used to take coffees down to mansons when it was round the corner and thrash out 'smoke on the water' on a fender lol.

Fore streets fab, next time you go to exeter let me know and I get the bus in for a tea.

tang x; 25 February 2010 at 15:28
MrsL said...: Ha - small world! We'll be going back in the summer - I think Bean will love it there.

MrsL

xx; 25 February 2010 at 15:31
Leanne said...: sounds wonderful!

Leanne x; 25 February 2010 at 18:24
MrsL said...: EJ very impressed, tang LOL
It was a good day, Leanne, there's a bit of history to do with the wool trade I'd like to have a look at too.

MrsL

xx; 25 February 2010 at 19:43

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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Thursday, 25 February 2010

A day out

4 comments: