Exploring Suffolk...

High St, Lavenham

My friend L is currently staying in London for a few weeks, so we decided to arrange a short trip on one of the weekends whilst she was here. Suffolk fit the bill perfectly - neither of us had been there before, it is full or antique shops, and is only a two-hour drive from London.

Despite the fact that the sudden Spring warmth of early March had disappeared and it was back to being quite chilly, we had a brilliant weekend. We mainly explored Lavenham and Bury St Edmunds - lots of antique browsing, tea and scones on several occasions, a very nice farm stay b&b, and a great meal in the local pub (which was handily next door to the farm).

Lavenham is a lovely village, which has retained many of its half-timbered homes...

And a lovely church...

On Sunday morning we wandered the Abbey Gardens in Bury...

Which we shared with the locals, and enjoyed the signs of spring...

A new way with photographic memories...

In the days when I used a film camera, I used to be organised. I would routinely have the photographs printed, and file them safely into photograph albums.

When I moved back to London eight years ago my parents bought me my first digital camera - a little pocket size that was much easier to carry around than my old film SLR. As time has gone on, I've now also converted to a DSLR. However, I've never really managed to transfer to a successful means of printing/displaying photographs.

Some I print and frame, but other than this blog, many of them just remain in computer files. I seemed to have lost interest in traditional printing and album storage - not least because I live in a small space and albums take up such a lot of it.

So a few years ago I started toying with the idea of photo books. I started using a particular software tool, but again, didn't love it enough to ever get a book finished to production stage. Then probably about a year ago I read about Artifact Uprising. There was something about the simplicity of the design that appealed to me. So recently, I finally devoted some time to developing my first book of photographs and sending it off for printing....and yes, you can see by the photo above just how behind I am in getting on top of this task!

The books come beautifully bound in a linen cover (in a choice of colours), with a dust jacket. There are a large range of page layouts so I could choose how to display my photographs.

I am very pleased with the result, and now inspired to get on and start working through the intervening years of photographs. 2007 is already complete and ready for printing...and as my travel has slowed down in recent years I feel sure that this won't be the mammoth task I originally envisaged....

On simple pleasures...

I was reminded this past week of the delight one can take in the simple activities that bring pleasure. When one lives in a busy city like London, it can be easy to be swept up into a pattern that seems to revolve around work commitments and commuting. Even planned social events can sometimes take on a feeling of responsibility rather than enjoyment. This seems compounded after several conversations with people for whom there seems to be a level of competition over who is the busiest or having the most difficult time at work.

This week I was given some reminders of the benefit and importance of balancing what I need to do with what I enjoy doing. Firstly, we seem to be in one of those infrequent periods where there is actually quite a few lovely television programmes to watch. I've been watching the Great British Sewing Bee for the past few weeks - which has whet my appetite for some more dressmaking. This past week also saw the first episode broadcast of Mary Berry's new cooking programme - I loved it. The episode focused on afternoon tea, but it was more the grace and experience that this wonderful lady portrays - you can see that she still takes so much pleasure from baking and cooking for her family and friends.

Yesterday, I returned to the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace for the third time. This time I was undertaking an introductory course in goldwork. Again, I was surprised at just how quickly six hours can pass when engaged in an activity that I find so enjoyable.

So this afternoon (after I had caught up with yesterday's postponed chores), I have spent a happy few hours finishing off my goldwork sampler. I had an audiobook playing for company, and outside the sun is beautifully shining, heralding spring's approach.

It was a nice reminder that building in these opportunities into my week makes the rest of the more mundane tasks much more palatable...