Portrait of a lady...

....and a Sketch of some Bloggers!

So, deep breath, been a little busy around here! Finally I am sitting down to write this post. seems an age...
Last week saw two visits to the Smoke, I know! I don't budge from this hill for weeks and all of a sudden I am up and at 'em. I had very good cause.

First that mention of Sketch...I was delighted to be asked to a Bloggers Tea in London at the aforementioned Sketch by Laura at Happy Homemaker UK. She has written a great piece about the event here.

Sketch was an inspired venue - it has recently undergone an eleven million pound makeover - yikes! There are four restaurants. Our tea was held in THE GLADE

The Glade at sketch

The Glade at sketch has been transformed into an enchanted fairy tale forest, in the heart of
central London. Inspired by a single image from an early 20th century communion card,
artists Carolyn Quartermaine and Didier Mahieu have created a decoupage forest in a room
where everything has been handmade and tailored to the space. Internationally renowned
for their installations and design work, Quartermaine and Mahieu have a long history with
sketch and a strong friendship with its founder Mourad Mazouz.
The collaboration evolved from the communion card belonging to Mahieu’s grandmother
which depicts a Glade like scene, and is itself hung discreetly in the room at sketch. The card
was repainted, reversed and enlarged before being printed onto hundreds of metres of
paper. Each piece of paper was then handcut and decoupaged to the walls by a team of
artists, designers and sketch staff, creating one of the first rooms of this kind in London.
The room is the latest transformation at sketch, a venue that remains ever true to its integrity
as a place that is always changing and evolving, and where nothing stays the same.

So, here we were served high tea. We being, from left to right:
Robynne (Robynne's nest), Liz (The Snowdrop Project), Louise (Love and Lilac), Selena (Oh The Places We Will Go), Belinda (Wild Acre), Laura (Happy Homemaker UK), Sarah and Little ( Modern Country Style), Charlotte (Cottage in Totteridge), Becky (As a Yank in Yorkshire), Gesci (Peach and Thistle). What's that? Where am I? Oh well you know, fashionably late and therefore not able to make the photo-call, phew, that was close!

Do you know, I really enjoyed meeting all these fellow bloggers. Much chattering and laughter, inspirational stories and lives, warmth filling the fairytale room, all good as they say! Everyone has written about our "meet-cute" (Get that one Laura?)so it's worth clicking over to their blogs for more insights.
My heartfelt thanks to all for making the trip and especially to Laura whose sterling work it all was -x-

As for the Lady I referred to in my title ~ not Henry James "Lady" but Ibsen's Hedda.
Although I reference the two, as for me they are both free spirited women living with the consequences of their choices.

I went to The Old Vic with another gang of brilliant women. Love this Theatre, the conservation work has really paid off it looks magnificent. Read about the history of the theatre here.
The staging is really good, the set is gorgeous all Gustavian in sensibility and with very clever use of an internal room made entirely of glass walls, used to excellent dramatic effect. The music score is also very evocative.All in all, a thumbs up from me. I wasn't sure if Sheridan Smith would portray the venomous side of Hedda to its full effect but I confess she did pull it off. My clever friend Virginia, pointed out having seen Rebecca Hall as Sylvia in Parade's End, she would make an excellent Hedda....food for thought Mr.Spacey?

That's probably more than enough from me!
Having reflected on last week I note that it is a real privilege to be surrounded by so many brilliant women both real and fictitious...and just in case you were worried that I am becoming too high-brow I'm off to clear out the cowshed, Moo!