Emma's birthday Day of the Dead Party

For all you blog readers who think that we live a life of dressing up & going to parties...a few photos of our latest. A halloween party for Clarissa's sister Emma's birthday. Here she is second from the right in red. It was a Mexican "Day of the Dead" party and thanks to Amy I decided to go as Frida Kahlo. Clarissa won hands down though as Frida with bone earings & the perfect mono-brow. (Maybe I should dye my hair again...)

Could you possibly get more red lipstick if you tried... Ricardo went as Zoro minus the rapier..... they're hard to come by at the best of times. I think Clarissa's friend Sarah won the best costume & make-up though as the most glamourous skeleton I've ever seen. We even had a skunk... the cutest skunk you've ever seen.

And his brother looking suitably scary & cute all at the same time.

Quince and polenta tart.

It must be Autumn if there's quince & polenta tart being made....
Same colours as the leaves on the Virginia creeper outside the front door.....
Only 46 days to go now 'til we jet off to Singapore & then Melbourne, Australia for a ho-ho-hot Christmas. Yippee. I can't wait. Sling another prawn on the Barbie will ya Thomsey.

Zebedoodle jumps for joy...

Ally Pally

Yesterday, "my friend Heather" & I went with a bunch of other "little old ladies" on a "coach" to the Alexandra Palace to the Knitting and stitching show. I think we saw maybe 10 men all day. I had to go & stand next to one for a while to balance up my testosterone again. I've never done anything like that before. It was truly amazing to be surrounded by people who sew in one way or another.

There was a large amount of crap!!!!! But heck if a stall costs £2,500 for the event then crikey how could anyone small & interesting afford it.

Having said that there was a HUGE amount of wonderful, wonderful things. These weird creatures by Julie Arkell....I was fascinated by these knitted car tyres for some reason.... the Dada has always appealed to me. We visited Heather's friend Primmy Chorley and saw her beautiful work. Full of tenderness for her domestic way of life & her relationship with her daughter. (Sorry about the tiny picture, it's off the knitting & stitching website.)

I bought a book about Japanese embroidery & a fab new embroidery frame to get started on David Hill's Cope. I bought gold thread and gold kid leather too and dreamt all night of how I'm going to put it together on it's gorgeous red crushedvelvet background. Pictures coming soon.
I'd better be off now though to get through some of the boring curtains I've been putting off doing all week.....bye for now

Cats that loook like Hitler

Kelly's blog reminded me of the "Cats that look like hitler" website. Just one more reason why I love the internet...

Tony & Marianne Backhouse come to visit

We had our buddies Tony B and Marianne come all the way from Sydney to visit. We showed them a whoooosh-by tour of South Norfolk & North Suffolk. Our favourite cheese shop at Eye for some Stinking Bishop and to introduce them to the Norfolk Terrier.

Wyken Vineyard for lunch...

We corralled them into joining us to sing in the choir at the Church nearby at Rushford. As you can see from this photo, I am now an old Bat (third from right) with a lot more chins than I should have. (Just thought I'd put it in so you can tell I'm not vain). Hell if I'm gonna look bad so should they.

Marianne made us "trespass" into an amazing Stately Pile nearby at Shadwell Estate. Occasionally Ricardo & I have been game enough to drive through the gates & admire the building from a distance but because Marianne is braver than us we went right up to the building which is actually falling down, with slates off the roof & windows broken. It had a fence up & cctv cameras everywhere. Boy it's amazing though. Abandoned & ghostly. Should go back for Halloween really. I must have counted 30 or 40 pheasants.