{Paris in the spring time, round 2? yes please!}

hi lovely readers,
I'm off to Paris this weekend-yipeeeeeee!!!
If you recall, I visited the city last year in March, and it was lovely weather, so fingers crossed I'll get some more lovely printemps weather (it's absolutely glorious today in London)! I'm visiting a dear friend, so it'll be a fun, girly weekend, while I also hope to stop in at the Louvre for some work...
Here are a few fave pics from last year...la vie est belle!

{Paris streets}

{chèvre salad}

{shopping!}

à bientôt!
L

{springtime in the uk}

Spring has finally arrived in England-the birds are singing, the flowers are out & the sun is shining!
For Easter, I went to my cousins', we visited some lovely gardens and homes and then we also spent one fabulous night in a fantastic old hotel...
Here are the pics to prove it.

{a lovely walk}

{Clare Priory--notice how the flowers match the pink building!}

{beautiful old church in Suffolk, where we went for a beautiful walk, beginning in the charming village of Hartest}

{fantastic library at Nymans}

{my dream library!}

{gorgeous magnolias at Nymans}

{the grand hall of our hotel at Ashdown Park}

{yes, indeed! this was our accommodation for the night--my window was the furthest balcony to the left}

{a room with a view!}

{the grand fireplace in the entrance hall/reception}

{I could live here!}

{lovely walks at Sheffield Park}

{time for tea!}

yay for spring!
xo
L

{quotable thursdays}

{cottage in Sense & Sensibility}

“I am excessively fond of a cottage; there is always so much comfort, so much elegance about them. And I protest, if I had any money to spare, I should buy a little land and build one myself, within a short distance of London, where I might drive myself down at any time, and collect a few friends about me and be happy. I advise everybody who is going to build, to build a cottage.”

-Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

I am still on the look out for a house and I would have to agree with Jane--I'd be very pleased with a lovely cottage within a short distance of London!

here are some lovely pics to inspire (more on my country cottage pinterest board)"

{minty}

{lovely exterior}

{library and fire--yes please!}

I had a fantastic Easter, and stayed in a grand house (not a cottage!) so more to come on that soon!

xo

L

{quotable thursdays-maundy thursday}

For Christians, today is Maundy Thursday, marking the day of the Last Supper and when Christ washed his disciples' feet:
'If I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet' (John 13:14).

Whatever your religious leanings are, the message is clear: we ought to take care of our fellow human beings and we ought to love and serve others as we would want ourselves to be. It is a simple message that is perhaps more pressing than it ever has been, with continued warfare around the world, an emphasis on the Self in western culture, and the increasing domination of electronic devices that seem to make us both attached and detached from the people around us.

A few pics from Easter in my flat last year:

{Simla and the Easter tree}

{decorated eggs}

I wish you all a Happy Easter-I'm spending it with my cousins, which I know will be fab. Pictures to come!
xo
L

{quotable thursdays}

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but if it was possible for my workload to get any bigger, it just did, on top of an MA study day I'm organising and chairing all day Saturday. yes, SATURDAY...
So no quote today, just a picture of some daffs on my mantle to remind us all of spring and make us all feel cheery:

xo,
L

{quotable thursdays}

snowed under with work at the moment, so let's keep this brief...& to the point:

{wise words from Clive Lewis}

{the load can be light}

{& if not,  learn to bear the load in a way that doesn't break you... & carry on}

xo, 

L

{quotable thursdays}

Today's quote is a medieval riddle:

An enemy ended my life, took away

My bodily strength; then he dipped me

In water and drew me out again,

And put me in the sun where I soon shed

All my hair. The knife’s sharp edge

Bit into me once my blemishes had been scraped away;

Fingers folded me and the bird’s feather

Often moved across my brown surface,

Sprinkling useful drops; it swallowed the wood dye

(Part of the stream) and again travelled over me,

Leaving black tracks. Then a man bound me,

He stretched skin over me and adorned me

With gold; thus I am enriched by the wondrous work

Of smiths, wound about with shining metal….

(trans. K. Crossley-Holland, The Exeter Book Riddles, Penguin Classics, revised edition 1993- I found it on the web here))

Can you guess what it is?

It is a book! Of course in the Middle Ages books were made from animal skin (made into parchment).

{Antonello da Messina, St Jerome in His Study, National Gallery, London. Wikimedia commons)

I realise that this is a day late, but yesterday was World Book Day and I had a very busy day of back to back meetings so couldn't get up a quote but wanted to make sure I celebrated books!

If you read my blog regularly you'll know I love books!

{reading}

Happy Reading!

xo

L