Windy weather!

Well the UK summer is but a distant memory - the grey skies and rain have returned and today the WIND has arrived too!  I went for a very bracing walk at the beach this morning- there is a walled sailing lake there which is kept full of water by the twice daily tide.  I really wanted to walk the perimeter wall today (trying to do my bit to keep fit) but the wind was so strong I was having to fight it to walk along, so I did not dare walk the wall in case I ended up IN the lake LOL!!!  Anyway it was a windsurfer's paradise today so here are few pics from my walk.

Hilbre Island lies off the coast in the distance - it is 
a lovely place to visit and the largest of 3 islands.  
You can be marooned there if you wish if you time the 
tides right!  The island to the left is called Middle Eye.

Here is one of the surfers with the North Wales
coast in the background.

You can make out the waves and how rough 
the sea is in the far distance behind Little Eye 
- the smallest of the 3 of the islands.

A solitary Cormorant seabird flies elegantly by.

Choppy sea and surfers.

The surfers get up quite some speed when
they catch the wind in their sails.

Just about to crash land!

The sky was really grey and looks laden with rain!

A surfer and Hilbre.

A lovely snowy white gull.  He was very shy!

And some more gulls bobbing along on 
the waves.  
Hope you enjoyed seeing my walk!

Lunch at Petrus

I decided to try lunch at Petrus whilst in London following the Bolshoi ballet.....Petrus is one of the Gordon Ramsay chain and has 1 Michelin Star and ranks in the top 3 London restaurants on Tripadvisor.  The Chef Patron is Sean Burridge who I met after my lunch on a tour of the kitchen, which is an offer extended to guests if they wish.  I enjoyed my meal off the Set Lunch menu very much.

Some champagne to start - and they have proper
linen table cloths.

I like the textured rim on the plates

Amuse bouche of salmon tartare and 
pea mousse

Lovely bread.....and butter!

Starter - conift duck ravioli - divine!

Main - Ballotine of rabbit, ceps and fois gras
with kidney and broadbean - absolutely delcious!

A detail on my glass - funny what you notice!

Pre dessert - tuilles filled with a  white 
chocolate creme with spacedust popping 
candy.

The chef's famous chocolate sphere with milk 
ice cream and honeycomb - mine is melted
from the hot chocolate sauce - I was not 
quick enough to photograph it before the 
waiter poured the chocolate sauce but it
had gold painted on the surface.

Frozen icy truffles of some sort - very cold.

A parting "gift".....

......one of these - I cannot 
remember the name for this type 
of cake but it was yum!

Remembering Diana

I can't believe it is 16 years since I got a phone call from a friend telling to "put the telly on" I couldn't believe my eyes at what I was seeing/hearing.....it was one of those "where were you" moments - certainly the first in my lifetime.  Anyway I like to remember Diana when she was happy and enjoying herself as shown in the fabulous Testino portraits.  

Credit for all photos: Mario Testino

Prince George

Well it has been a while since I last blogged - things have been sooo busy not least with numerous trips up and down to London as the Bolshoi Ballet were touring to London - I am tired now but it has been a lot of fun.  I have some time off work now and I have prep'd a lot of photos so hopefully I can blog a few things.  

I think unless you live on another planet you cannot help but notice we have a new Prince and a third direct heir to The Throne in the United Kingdom. On 22 July 2013 (just a day after yours truly's own birthday) HRH The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son - not so tiny mind!  

Photo: Daily Mail                   Baby Prince George

Prince George Alexander Louis weighed in at a whopping 8lb 6oz!!   Hard to believe skinny Kate managed that!!  Kate and William delighted the crowds outside the hospital when they took George home the next day and happily answered questions from the waiting media.

Photo: Getty Images 
The new royal family leave hospital.

Photo: Press Association         
Kate looked glowing I thought considering 
she had just had a baby the day before!

I have to admit that I was VERY disappointed
with the family snaps (and that is all they are)
that were released last week and which were 
taken by Kate's father.

The light in both photos is terrible, and 
considering the importance of baby 
George's birth something a lot better should 
have been released.  0/10 from me I'm afraid.

I had hoped for a proper portrait of the royal 
family together like when Prince William was 
born.  This photo by Lord Snowdon is lovely.

Of course the souvenirs industry went into 
overdrive with George's arrival!
Here at Kensington Palace's shop you can 
buy silver pennies for new borns and if your 
baby was born on 22 July you will qualify for 
a free one from the Royal Mint!

The Dodo  shop at Sloane Square 
had a lovely display of goodies.

Dodo jewellery

A Dodo mobile/carousel.

At the Buckingham Palace shop the Royal 
Collection has got in on the act too!  
They have a delightful range of baby blue 
items which are very pretty indeed.

And I love this lovely velvet cushion in powder blue!

Anyway in future we can expect to see a formal photograph of Prince George along with his great grandmother the Queen, his grandfather, Prince Charles and his father Prince William as this is the first time in a very long time that there has a been a reigning monarch and 3 heirs alive at the same time.  It is said that HM Queen is keen to get a photograph of the 4 taken at Balmoral.  Let's hope this happens!  Then there will be the christening which I think will be in October when the Queen returns from Balmoral.  

Lucky Find

A while back in April I went to Holland to see the bulbfields again and at Schipol Airport on my way home there was nothing I saw in the 90cms that I liked.  However, just as I was leaving "something" made me look over to the men's department and low and behold there was the very scarf I had given up hope of ever finding....

The orange bag...

The orange box....

Just a sneak peek....

Ta da C'est La Fete! The photos do not show how 
lilacy blue the colour of the scarf is IRL, it is a 
really lovely shade of lilacy blue grey with stronger 
lilac tones in the central design.  For a really 
interesting look at the possible interpretations of 
the scarf design head over 
here to this article on the Purse Forum

The centre detail...

A lovely blue rose..

Not sure you can see but lots of tassels
dangle from the saddle

The Title

The disappearing Hermes caleche logo.

"Creativity"

Loyalty

The copyright

The title and the breaking horse bit.

Another pretty rose.

Here you see 2 more skeleton horses/unicorns

The vital info on the scarf.

Basic cowboy.

Equestrian look well matched with my MOP 
scarf ring.

Half Bow made with scarf ring

Looped through scarf ring.

Hope you like the new scarf.