Traveling in Ghizou - CHINA- Bai Miao

In this province of China there are many minority groups outside the han majority chinese.

Whilst going through villages this Autumn we happened upon a wedding and stopped to congratulate the bride.

The wedding guest in the two photos above was looking very lovely for the occasion.

Friends were gathered together chatting before the event.

But the bride was magnificent and smiled ....it was her day after all....

Hellens ...a beautiful Herefordshire home

Love the fireplace and flagstone floor

                                                             
                                                               some great portraits

                                                                       dark works

The American brand J.Crew is to open a shop in London

This  brand -J Crew- has grown in recent years from a high street fashion label much like Banana Republic..to a label that finds itself at home in NY fashion presentations.

They launched shipping from their online catalogue to the UK last year 

 Autumn 2012 courtesy Telegraph

The creative director is Jenna Lyons  with her elegant brown side-parted hair.

 Here she is  standing behind her model styled very much in her own image and wearing  a chartreuse dress and Breton stripes. 

Jenna herself is wearing Cutler and Gross glasses.

We really adore  this look!

And here is our own Duchesse of Cambridge

 ...

Photographed in Liverpool wearing a brown Celeste coat by Hobbs which is rumoured to have been purchased by Kate back in September for £369 and as it was from the 2011 collection it was slashed to less than half its original price £182 making way for the new Spring stock. 

The coat was an immediate online sellout success.

Good news for the UK fashion industry! Well done Duchess of Cambridge.

Madame Yevonde's Goddesses in Pictures

This  series Goddesses is part of a joint exhibition of photographs by Madame Yevonde and Neeta Madahar, at the PM Gallery and House , Walpole Park, London W5
It runs from  from 20 May-3 July. 


1930s society ladies adopted guises of classical myths.


What fun those girls had! For many more of these images visit-


www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/may/08/madame-yevonde-goddesses



Mrs Eileen Mayer as Medusa

Eileen Hunter as Dido

Duchess of Argyll as helen of Troy

Mrs Richard Hart-Davis as Ariel

Lady Milbanke as Penthelisa 

In and around VARKALA in Kerala

 Fishing floats

Women doing the gutting and cleaning of the fish.

Don't you just adore these stainless steel cooking pots?

I do.

 This is the beach in Varkala

 Evening time and enjoying a sundowner  at the shoreline

 A little evening shopping?

 Early morning swim.

 Fishermen's homes at night

A school trip!

The best Thali - delicious...

HOW TO APPRECIATE ART... love it!

LEVENS - last week I visited this unique topiary garden.

 For a long time now I have been wanting to visit this unique garden -famous for its three hundred year old topiary- which is situated fairly near to  Kendal in the Lakes. 

Finally last week at the end of April we made it!

It did not disappoint.

This garden is very special.  It is a real visual treat. A very gem of a garden.

 (Although sadly , the day was overcast  for my photos)

These yew and  box trees take four gardeners over a month to trim.

Each box bed in this section of the garden was inlaid with violas.

Again each flower was different. 

I love them.

I want to make myself a felt corsage modeled on these little gems!

Here we arrive at another part of the formal  garden - its so sculptural that its almost difficult to know from what angle  to view it.

And then I saw and fell in love with this one!

How is this achieved? So clever.

This garden and Elizabethan  house are a must visit!

They are  truly wonderful. 

The garden a  triumph!