English country weddings, passion for photographs,France, Italy and having wonderful friends

Good morning,

at last,the sun is shining.

 What a gorgeous Sunday morning here in Arundel.

I have put a translator on the blog for anyone who might be interested enough to read it in their own language.

Surprisingly, I've had readers dipping in

 from some 

fairly far, flung places.

Russia is the latest.

What on earth they make of me and my ramblings

is anyone's guess. 

I love photography and find no better way 

of relaxing than going for a walk

 with my camera slung over my shoulder.

 I was just sifting through some of my favourite images.

Moments in time that I had captured over 
the past few years that put me in

mind of people and places that are special to me,
but hopefully, they are photographs
 that stand up as images alone,
without the nostalgia attached to them.

  

Some friends of ours have the most 
gorgeous house just outside Toulouse.

Nass and I were lucky enough to share
 a few days with them last summer.

I was playing around with a new lens and just captured this

beautiful dragonfly on a wonderful rusty, antique garden bench in a Toulouse garden.

For some reason, I love this photograph of a little Italian street on the way to Sorrento.


Our dear friends Julie and Rudi were married in the town

 where he was brought up, just outside Sorrento.

Piano di Sorrento.

They are also antique dealers and 
buy many of their pieces in Italy.

Their  antique warehouse is just outside Chichester and

they also work the fairs such as Ardingly and Newark.


You will find them easily as they are always on 
the shopping Arcade
and you will see an Italian flag 
billowing a few feet
above their stand

Many of their friends who poured into Sorrento for the

wedding were dealers from the  antique fair fraternity.

It was quite a do!

Here's a link to their website.

julie and rudi's website

Walking through Arundel park one cold frosty morning
 I was lucky enough to witness

John Dunlop's racehorses taking their morning exercise.


I've used these images on  the cards I have printed for the shop
 and they have proven to be one of the most popular by far

What a beautiful sight it was too...the horses breathe

showing up so well

 in the bitterly cold January, air.


Here's another lovely sight.....

I was thrilled to get this shot of our dear friend

Katie de Fuente when she was married last summer.

The wedding was in the little village of Slindon just outside of Arundel.
 It was  real English affair

I had a little wander around the village afterwards.
Slindon is a very English country village.
If you come to the area its worth a trip.
Most of the buildings are owned by the National Trust.


It has many memories for me, as my son Jay
went to Slindon College and
Nass went there also as a boy and a teacher.


I met him when he was Jay's 
rather gorgeous PE teacher.
Hee Hee


You will see then, there are some very long standing benefits of all that work one puts into, being on the PTA.


Anyway, that's a story for another time...
back to our
Very English Wedding

a Slindon cottage

Slindon Pottery

the pumpkin house..go visit this place on Top Road at Halloween its amazing......thousands of pumpkins and they even do a work of art out of them

Brighton Hen do

This was probably one of the maddest hen 
do's I have ever been on!

One of the special, lovely girls 
I work with at the residential home for

"adolescents with challenging behaviour"

got married last summer.
When these gals, party they really party.

The hen do was mostly on Brighton Pier and along the front, on a scorchingly hot day. 

I was enlisted as the photographer for the day... so I didn't have to wear the tutu.

Thank God...

I have to say they all looked brilliant and a few heads turned as they walked along the prom! 

Friends and Sunday Lunches


A fabulous al fresco lunch for 6
 is an annual event 
at our friend's
Julie and Rudi's.


Actually, we are 3 couples who 
take a turn to cook a Sunday lunch.
So.... we each cook one a year and end 
up spending most of the day together.
Its never traditional and we each do it in our own way.
  Rudi being a trained chef, as well
as an antique dealer, creates a feast beyond compare.






They live very near the sea and their huge balcony,
 where we eat, sits looking over the water.

MOLLIE WAITS IN ANTICIPATION OF SOME SCRAPS

.....and then its over the road for  a stroll along the beach

before we head off to the nearest park to play on the grown up toys and work off the lunch......

Antique fairs are another great source of photographic material 

Some of the dealers clearly have a great sense of humour...this is Ardingly Antique Fair

I just adore France...and been visiting for many years, 

mostly to visit friends in

Annecy in the Haute Savoie.

Other dear friends have a house in Sees in France

 and we went for a few days...........

...bit of work and then someplay..

Its a lovely town in Northern France.

I came upon this ordination of a new priest quite by chance
as I was sitting in Sees Cathedral.
It was quite a spectacle.

Now, enough of the nostalgia and the chatting.

Its time to get out to clear the garden.

Finish a chest of drawers with butterflies decoupage.

( heading for Liberty in London, I might add)

and go for a brisk walk.

Oh! also we are already having bookings for our new venture.

Have a wonderful day.

whatever you are doing

www.arundeleccentrics.com