I seemed to have missed Valentine’s Day. Apologies. Obviously I love you, though possibly not enough to give you my last Rolo, and certainly not enough to give you anything from Lindt or Thorntons.
I am still suffering from global angst…. local angst…. and household angst. The garden angst is beginning thanks to the biggest Bumble Bee EVER chasing me across the lawn this morning. Why is it even awake??? It is foggy outside, but the bee is drawn to the exotic scent from the bloomers at the bottom of my garden. There are flowers, which I can’t identify, bursting forth from my Devon bank. I will take a photograph when I remember. Please don’t get too excited.
Meanwhile, I have been reading, and the tomes are now stacking up to be photographed on a chair, but before I do this I will come bang up to date and join in with the showing of shelves – an organised meme started by Mr Devine, and continued by Mr Lax, Dinah, The Very Mostest Mistress and, Mitzi. I hope I haven’t missed anyone??
These are my shelves:-
Stuff.
Click to make big, etc. I do have more books, but they are kept hidden in the larder cupboard and the sideboard…. and there are also piles of calligraphy books, which are kept in piles around this room for easy access. Perhaps I will photograph these for my next post along with my bloomers??
Last night I watched the new drama SS-GB, which was about what might have happened if the Germans had won The Battle of Britain. I fell asleep. It was deadly dull in comparison to Apple Tree Yard. To be fair it was deadly dull in comparison to Call the Midwife….
Anyhow, the fog is slightly brighter now and so I am away to wander down dale, and up the khyber, over the meadows and under the mizzle.
Laters, mes amis.
Wonky Words 
Oh, very nice and neat!
The mini chest caught my eye. Ex has a similar one from IKEA (from the Bōrk! Bōrk! Bōrk! Collection, if memory serves) that she uses to store sewing supplies.
Very much looking forward to Miss Scarlet’s bloomers reveal!
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Good morning, Mr Lax! Indeed, the mini chest is from Ikea, circa 1992. I painted it myself, twice. I store bits and bobs in it….glitter, batteries, that sort of thing. I have more interesting things in my big chest.
Sx
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There seem to have been unexpected insects all winter. Mosquitoes and flies all the time and I found a wasp in the kitchen sink the other day. It was dead, which at least saved me the quandary of whether to kill it.
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Hello Z!! Ack, the dreaded winter wasps. Mine come in with the logs for the wood burner. I have had two Queen wasps buzzing in the living room in one evening; luckily they are quite dozy. The logs are checked before they are brought in but however vigilant we are some still get brought in. They are set free in the garden…. free to make their way back to the wood stack!!
Sx
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‘Tidy shelves, tidy mind’ as my maid of all work Carmen likes to say. I’m quite fond of your drawers too but I’m far too busy to go trailing around Ikea, it’s like the Crystal Maze in there. An Agnetha Fältskog spotlight to illuminate your book shelves would look amazing.
Germany finally succeeded in their quest for a German dominated Europe, not by bullets, by stealth through the EU.
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Good morning, Mitzi!
Do you remember when Ikea first opened and although it was a maze there were stop gaps that allowed smoking. I loved it.
Anyhow, off-topic, did you know about THIS? Apparently it’s been around since at least 2013. I was aghast! And, on first seeing it on the TV, my first thought was: Why has Mitzi never told me about this???
Sx
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Hello Hello !
What a lovely Monday morning to open my reader and see you post.
Gosh love your shelves, especially the framed Calligraphy drawing.
Always must look at the shelves, hopefully with books among the
collections of important memories.
cheers, parsnip
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Hello, Ms Parsnip!! Thank you!! My shelves are probably stuffed to bursting! The bottom one is split due to me bending down beneath it to pick something up and standing up without thinking. It hurt!
Some of the older books I keep for nostalgic reasons…. they may not be read anymore.
Sx
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It’s never good to have a bumble up your bloomers. Jx
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Nor a fumble in your frillies!
Good morning, Jon!
Sx
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You have flowers in your bloomers? No wonder the bee was chasing you!
So very neat, your bookshelves. My bookcase is too small (I am hunting for a new one but width is an issue for where it can go in my tiny house) and the top is all aclutter with random stuff.
We still have lots of ice and snow here, and while the temp is a bit above freezing (+2C at the moment), it is only February and we are almost guaranteed a return to the deep freeze of real winter. Hopefully not much more in the way of snow, as the flood forecast for spring is high.
Enjoy your jaunt!
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Good morning, Ponita!!
I’d love more shelves in my house too, but the walls here are made of some sort of anti-drill substance, so it’s hard work to get them put up. I will have to get some freestanding book cases for an easy life.
The fog is still here. Oh, it is grim. EVERYTHING is grey, and the mizzle is definitely wetter today. UGH. Still, I don’t think I could even contemplate dragging myself out of bed if I had to deal with your temperatures!!
Sx
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When it actually gets *cold* here (much colder than it is now), we usually have glorious blazing sunshine! And it is quite dry. What they say about being able to dress for a dry cold is very true. The dampness seeps through your clothes (and house) and is bloody miserable. Cold and dry can be insulated against, both with proper winter wear, and insulated houses! The sunlight on the snow makes the world seem like it is made of diamonds sometimes. Can be stunning, really.
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Muscato is also on the list, with all that Nippes. A nice little rack on display, dearest MsScarlet, tres feminine.
SS-GB by old Len Deighton ? Think he wrote it in the seventies, and there already was a screen adaption, did not know that there is a re-make. Can’t remember the novel, but I was not too impressed – then I’d remember better. But this may be caused by the lousy translation(s). I read some of his short stories in English and afterwards wondered what the translator had translated into German. But these stories were published by a cheap publishing house, and as the great translator Arno Schmidt saied : You pay me ten Mark and you get a ten-mark-translation ; you pay me twenty marks and you get a twenty-marks-translation.
I look forward to the photograph of you modelling your bloomers, on the meadows, in the mist, up the khyber, whopeeh !
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Hello, Mr Mags!
SS-GB is dreadfully dated. I am not enamoured. It is all German officers swaggering around in kinky shiny leather…. Brits do terrible German accents, it is laughable.
I looked to photograph the bloomers this morning – but they were terribly damp and despondent, maybe I will get a window of opportunity later today.
Sx
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They should have called me – I do a great German accent. On the other hand I guess I’d look pretty comical in a shiny black uniform. But pretty damn evil perhaps, ala your jovial mass murderer.
Yes, an image of your bloomers would be very welcome ! Here the rain persists, and the wind becomes stronger. We are told to expect storm winds over the next days, with trees / stuff flying …
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Same weather here, Mr Mags. It is dire. I am supposed to walk the dog in this??? I was going to cry off because I thought I had a chest infection…. but I’m now thinking it is merely indigestion. Wind.
I will look at the bloomers later – there are also daffodils now!!
Sx
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I saw a lonely Schneeglöckchen this morning. Other plants peeped out of the earth but were un-identifiable for me.
Sid needs you now !
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I’ve trained Sid to sleep in the mornings!!
Sx
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After weeks and weeks of subzero temps, we found a perfectly preserved frozen housefly on the inside of the window, stiff little toes still clinging to the glass. This has gotta be a worldwide bug conspiracy.
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Good morning, Amy!!
I suppose we can’t blame the little blighters for trying to come indoors. I had a fly buzzing around in the middle of December – it died after four days. I felt sort of guilty, like I should have given it access to food and water or something – how silly am I?????? [Please don’t answer].
Sx
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An interesting selection of books. I used to be a David Lodge fan, but I thought after a while he lost his touch a bit. We had a wasp in our bedroom the other night and promptly panicked, wondering if there was an undiscovered wasps nest somewhere in the house or garden. Luckily a thorough search failed to find one.
SS-GB never caught our attention, but we were engrossed in The Affair on Sky Atlantic. Old partners and new partners slugging it out and jockeying for position. Most entertaining.
I shall say nothing about your bloomers or your frillies. A girls’s privacy has to be respected.
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Hello, Nick!
I thoroughly enjoyed Deaf Sentence, which is one of Lodge’s later books, but I know what you mean.
I know! One of the perks of Winter should be NO BUGS!! It’s distressing to hear buzzing this time of year.
The frilly bloomers look dismal and, with no sun due until next Thursday, I think they’ll remain private.
Sx
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Your shelves are splendid! We have awfully crumbly walls so have to have free standing bookcases, which we have squeezed into every available corner, and still there are books lying everywhere.
Looking forward to that bloomers photo!
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Good afternoon, Eyrl!
These storage issues have forced me to embrace Kindle….it’s not as nice as holding a good book, but nothing beats it for space saving.
I don’t know what’s in my walls – rocks, at a guess!!
Sx
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Yeah, how about them bloomers? Don’t put that out in the ether and not pay-up.
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So lovely and neat and clean!
I’m certain you have the entire opus of Mavis Cheek. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have experienced the delight of reading her novels.
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We have similar tastes Madame! I’m afraid that I bailed out of ATY after the first episode, it didn’t look as though it was going to work out well – was I right? xxxx
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It’s exciting that you can once again can carry on up the khyber. Did you know that Carry On Up the Khyber was the 16th film in the Carry On series: some consider the films to be a staple of British cinema. There were a total of 31 different Carry On films released. Perhaps you could have a Carry On film night. You could choose from; Carry on Camping, Carry On Nurse, Carry On Teacher, Carry On Behind, or Carry On Cowboy. Sid James appeared in 19 of the films. And you have your own Sid.
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“the showing of shelves” – sounds like an event put on by British Royalty. Recently, I’ve watched a few shows narrated by Lucy Worsley about your past Kings and Queens. Apparently one of the top positions at the court was Groom of the Stool which sounds like an awful disgusting job.
All this talk of bringing back jobs here, maybe we need these groom jobs?
Sorry I went off on a tangent. What was this post about, bees and bloomers? We call it birds and bees.
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I love the peek into your inner sanctum. What a privilege. How daring! Did you like ‘White Teeth’? I loved it. Get some Bukowski on that shelf.
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Hey, long time, do join me for a wee drop when ya get the chance. 😉
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::notices “The Psychopath Test” and wonders whether to ask if Ms Scarlet passed… Then thinks better of it::
Your shelves (and surrounding area) are just like out of a decorating magazine. A high quality one, not some tat endorsed by the 2 Minute Makeover team, mind. May I ask: those little glass pots – did they used to be GÜ (or some other type of pud)? I have loads scattered around the place thanks to an unhealthy fixation on small, rich puddings…
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Oops indeed. Your splendid post escaped my notice until this morning – now, how did that happen? My apologies. No bumble bee activity to report here: just a host of daffodils and an unexpected sparrowhawk. The cat has been all ajitter ever since.
Your shelves are a credit to you … I don’t think I’d care to air mine in public.
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You have very neat and tidy shelves. I like your collection of art books.
While I’m not dealing with any aggressive bees, I am baffled by sudden appearance of three fruit flies in my place today. I don’t have any fruit–hadn’t got any since I ran out last week, and I’ve yet to do the grocery shopping. And there’re no veggies either laying about–just some pickled and canned stuff that I processed last month.
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Happy March!
Just thought I’d pop by and see how you’re doing. You’ve just reminded me, I should dust my shelves fairly soon. Thanks for that.
Mwah!
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Happy birthday, Ms Scarlet!!!
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Thank you, Mr D, I am just waking up!
Sx
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Happy Birthday Miss Scarlet!
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Thank you, Mr Lax!!
Sxxx
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Allerherzlichste Glückwünsche, Carissima !
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Thank you, Mr Mags!
My Internet friends are so lovely! I love you all!!!
Mwah, Mwah!!!
*Swishes around the living room in a golden gown*
Sxxx
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Careful with your swishing ‘else you’ll cut your carpet to ribbons – I forgot to file down the sharp edges…
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My shag pile needed a trim 🙂
Sx
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Just checking in to see how you and Aidan Turner are getting on.
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Superb!! Best present EVER!!! Thank you, Ms Mistress!!!
Sxxx
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