Blog Archives

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Dream On

My house is currently on the market.

For Sale. On the crest of the housing market boom. In the bubble.

Hubble bubble toil and trouble.

There’s an offer on the table. HOORAH. It’s a paltry offer. BOO.

Meagre. Scanty. It wouldn’t even buy me the chimney stacks on the Old Parsonage. The pretty, perfect Parsonage with its pilasters and pediment, its Flemish bricks and fossil finials. I want to live here. In a real life Doll’s House, with its sexy symmetry and glamorous garden. Why can’t I live here? Why shouldn’t I aspire to neo-classical neatness and Georgian Gorgeousness?

Because, peeps, because I suffer from the joint diseases of impecuniosity and proletarianism. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon shoved where the sun don’t shine. All I’ll inherit is a very dubious Ercol dining suite. But one can dream, and one can pretend, which is why we ended up at The Old Parsonage in Arley, Cheshire, last Sunday.

The National Garden Scheme – Yellow Book – features gardens in the UK not normally open to the public. Perfect if you are nosey like me.

Or like plants.

Or flowers.

Or afternoon tea.

Or quirkiness.

Or ponds.

Not so perfect if you are moving house and have ridiculous delusions of grandeur. Sitting on the terrace of a garden bulging with begonias and poppies and peonies and roses and putting off the evil hour when you have to leave through the quaint little gate in the quaint little hedge and return to your not so quaint little house on a not so quaint little street in a positively un-quaint Northern Town.

Dream on.

12 Comments

June 4, 2014 · 8:05 pm

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Ravishing Edouard Rambaud Earrings

Stunning vintage ear clips signed Edouard Rambaud.

French haute couture runway pieces. 80’s Glamour!

Fabulous quality and condition, and you can buy them by clicking on the photograph….

3 Comments

May 27, 2014 · 7:08 pm

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Dee-lightful!

The Dee estuary, viewed from Hilbre Island, on the Wirral.

This is a beautiful spot on the North West coast of England.

Also one of the most polluted places in Western Europe.

Well worth a visit. But not on a Bank Holiday.

Never seen so many Wannabe Wags in One Place.

Fascinating.

6 Comments

May 27, 2014 · 6:51 pm

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Carlton Ware Money Box Snail for Sale

Vernon is a snail with excellent manners.

He was the perfect subject to photograph.

Vernon’s pretty nifty with a top speed of 50 yards per hour.

Won’t get far with your cash, although he is quite strong, able to lift 10 times his own body weight.

Vernon was born in 1970, in Stoke on Trent. He’s pretty retro.

In super condition for his age, I thought he might make a rather lovely Christening present.

Preferable to silver plated egg cups and Winnie the Pooh plates?

Discerning purchasers can find Vernon by clicking on his photo. Be quick, he won’t hang around long!

Pearls are Perfect Presents

Here we have a gorgeous pair of signed Napier faux pearl earrings.

They are lush.
With a luxury luminous lustre.

Pearls are the oldest known gems.
They can be traced back to 520BC; a fragment of jewellery was found in the tomb of a Persian Princess.

Known as the Susa necklace, it is now on display in the Louvre:

To the Ancient Persians, pearls symbolised the moon and its magical powers, alluding to purity and perfection.

In December 2011 La Peregrina famously sold for a record price of £7 million at Christies, New York. Once owned by Queen Mary I of England, the pearl was bought in 1969 by Richard Burton, as a Valentine’s Day gift for his wife Elizabeth Taylor.

Here she recounts the story of losing the pearl during a stay at Caesar’s Palace, Nevada:

“At one point I reached down to touch La Peregrina and it wasn’t there! I glanced over at Richard and thank God he wasn’t looking at me, and I went into the bedroom and threw myself on the bed, buried my head into the pillow and screamed. Very slowly and very carefully, I retraced all my steps in the bedroom. I took my slippers off, took my socks off, and got down on my hands and knees, looking everywhere for the pearl. Nothing. I thought, It’s got to be in the living room in front of Richard. What am I going to do. He’ll kill me! Because he loved the piece.

After few minutes of mental anguish, Taylor looked at their puppies. One of them was apparently chewing on a bone, but nobody gave bones to the puppies. She continues:

I just casually opened the puppy’s mouth and inside his mouth was the most perfect pearl in the world. It was—thank God—not scratched.”

That story makes me hyperventilate just thinking about it.

Have you ever done that?

LOST A PIECE OF PRECIOUS JEWELLERY?

I have, frequently.

Returned to the sock drawer, or sugar bowl, or mattress cover, and felt that hot tide flow over me with the horrid, dreadful realisation/paralysis that what was a certainty, what I was so sure about, is no longer.

And then the panic, the anxiety, the STRESS!

Is it behind the boiler? In the freezer? At the bottom of the cotton wool ball bag?

Followed by the relief. It was in my dressing gown pocket. Of course it was. Der.

These pearl earrings won’t cost you millions, and I doubt they’ll find their way into the Louvre, but they are very beautiful, and would make a fabulous gift.

Put them in a safe place. One you can remember!

Click on the photo, and they can be yours!

Where in the World?

So PoshPedlar has been away again, hence the acres of silence through the ether.

But where?

It was bliss.

The Sea (and Pedro the SeaDog)

The sea is a hungry dog,
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
Hour upon hour he gnaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones! ‘
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.

And when the night wind roars
And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.

But on quiet days in May or June,
When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.

James Reeves

1 Comment

April 29, 2014 · 8:46 am

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Another Shawl. You wait for hours, and then two come along at once…

This stunning vintage cape is sprinkled with sequins and sparkles.

Seductive starfish scattered at random.

Starfish have no blood, and no brains, did you know that?

It’s very pretty, and perfect for weddings, or christenings, or festivals, or garden parties at the palace.

Poshpedlar loves parties at the palace.

Click on the cape and it can be yours!

3 Comments

April 28, 2014 · 7:33 am

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Kashmir Shawl sewn with Chinar Leaves

Kashmir Shawl sewn Chinar Leafs

This amazing Kashmir Shawl is huge.

It is pure wool. And it is beautifully embroidered.

With Chinar Leaves.

The fire of the Chinar is reknowned in Kashmir.

Myths and legends abound in its branches, weave through its roots, whisper and waft to the tips of its twigs.

Platanus Orientalis. Flame orange, scarlet, crimson.

Read this fascinating piece in The Free Press Kashmir here.

This is a very important tree. It symbolises so much for the Kashmiri nation.

And if you want to look fabulous, and feel warm, and wear wisdom.

Then Treat Yourself here.

Tea for Two and Two for Tea

Here we have a really charming Tea Cosy.

It’s beautifully hand embroidered in blue and white, with a rich navy velvet to the reverse.

To keep your little tea pot warm. Whilst your brew steeps.

How do you make your perfect cup of tea?

Warm the pot.
Pour hot water (not boiling, never boiling water), over the leaves.
Steep for 2 minutes if it’s red tea, up to 7 minutes if it’s green tea.
If you have milk:
Milk? How very dare you.
The milk goes in after and definitely not before.

And of course, if it’s loose leaf tea, which I certainly hope it is, because tea bags are just so infra dig, then once your cup is empty it’s time to read your leaves.
Tea leaf astrology.
Swirl the cup around, let the leaves settle, squint quite hard at the pattern remaining, and then using all your powers of imagination, turn the pattern into a shape you recognise.

Don’t pretend you haven’t done the same with clouds:

Dragons, Diamonds, Druids, Donkeys, Dentures, Dolphins, Doris Day.

All of life is there. In the bottom of your cup. Which must be Bone China – it goes without saying.