A month of never being at home.
As I write this I am beginning to realise why my hopeful aspirations of getting back into my website and sharing lots of blogs about recipes, food and travel with you never really happened. After the amazing trip to Japan, the rest of June somewhat disappeared in a blur.
July was not better, a month of never being in one place. For starters, living in Kent at my folks was taking a bit of getting used to! On the one hand it is amazing to be here, in the countryside, for summer, taking advantage of the open space as Bobbie grew, bigger bigger bigger, the veg patch to raid, eggs always on hand, home made sourdough made by my Moomin, I see how easy it would be to just stay forever!
the most retro gorgeous wallpaper revealed in my kitchen - sadly to be covered up but i know it is there!
Work however is in London, so a lot of time is spent organising my life and driving backwards and forwards to shoots. And of course to check on my flat. It started off brilliantly, zipping ahead, the new roof and room upstairs coming along, the kitchen ripped out. Then of course it all goes wrong. Any of you who have done any kind of building works I'm sure will feel my pain. Not spectacularly wrong, but a kind of grinding to a halt wrong. A mix of me not being able to choose things I want fast enough - or refusing to settle for something that is just OK for the sake of speed, plus a few building related hitches. I have discovered I have a pretty good ability to scare the crap out of builders when picking up on things that I don't feel are done to the best standard. turns out I can be pretty scary!
As well as all the to-ing and fro-ing to London I have been a lucky bunny with other fun jaunts in July. A gorgeous 3 days down in Cornwall with one of my fave girls, Kate Whitaker, for OFM, to shoot a squillion yummy breakfasts.
Next up was a trip to Norfolk, to our family cottage by the sea in Brancaster. I think I am as happy here as I can ever be. Home but holiday, if you know what I mean? It was a quite few days, just me and my folks and one of my sisters. breakfasts on the beach, bbqs, dog walks, swimming in the north sea, shrimping for hours and devouring lobsters. The sun did its best and it was glorious.
the man himself
Batteries recharged I started work this month with the gorgeous Jose Pizarro on his new book, which is going to be a cracker! Such a treat to get to spend days working with him and to top it off a trip to San Sebastian to shoot lots of reportage and food for the book. In true basque style the weather was a bit hit and miss but when the sun came out it sparkled on the sea! The book is being shot by another of my fave girls, Laura Edwards, and we had a right giggle over many glasses of txakoli and cava to celebrate her 30th birthday whilst we were away!
The end of July was a whirlwind of a hen party that I organised for my dearest friend Cat at 7th Rise in Cornwall.
The brain child of Thom Hunt, 7th rise bills itself as the ultimate stag weekend, but who says that's not for girls!? Deep it the woods it is a weekend of foraging, rabbit skinning, canoeing, fishing, shrimping, campfire cooking and as much drink as you can carry down the steep hill.
We were the inaugural hen party staying at 7th Rise, thinking about it, we may also be the last as well... lets just say I think we broke them. The guys, Matt and Andy, who were our guides, instructors, chefs and hosts were incredible. I think if you asked them what it was like to have a fly on the wall spot on a hen weekend the answer might be "no comment". Despite the fact that we destroyed them so utterly that I had to cook breakfast for everyone on the Sunday because some peoples hangovers were too all consuming, they did an amazing job. Let the wedding dress we took and left for futures stags to enjoy, remain as testimony to an incredible weekend.
And then July was over, disappearing into a haze of stormy rainy weather, summer speeding away.