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SCOUT: “Look Dolly! Daddy has given us some of his home made shortbread biscuits to nibble on. Yummy! That’s good because I have a grumbly tummy! Grumbly tummy, Dolly! Grumbly tummy!” *Rubs tummy vigorously.*
BIRDS: “Tweet, tweet, tweet.”
SCOUT: “Oh look Dolly! Christmas must be coming because here are our friends the four Calling Birdies! Hullo Calling Birdies!” *Waves paw enthusiastically at the birds.*
BIRDS: *Circle plate of shortbread, eyeing the biscuits.* “Tweet, tweet, tweet.”
SCOUT: “Oh! I remember now. You like shortbreads, don’t you birdies?”
BIRDS: “Tweet, tweet, tweet.” *Draw in closer to the shortbreads.*
SCOUT: “Would you like some shortbread biscuits, birdies?”
BIRDS: *Nod enthusiastically.*
SCOUT: “Oh Dolly! What do I do?” *Scratches head with paw.* “I want to give our friends the birdies some shortbread, but then I won’t have any for myself, and I have a grumbly tummy!” *Rubs tummy vigorously.*
DADDY: “Don’t worry Scout. I just baked a fresh batch of shortbreads which are still warm. Why don’t you let your friends the birds eat those biscuits and I will bring you a fresh plate of biscuits.”
SCOUT: “Oh thank you Daddy! I do have rather a grumbly tummy! Grumbly tummy Daddy! Grumbly tummy!” *Rubs tummy vigorously.*
DADDY: “You are welcome, Scout. You are a good, kind and caring little bear. It’s important that you don’t miss out on eating biscuits too.”
SCOUT: “Did you hear that birdies? I am getting a plate of fresh biscuits, not that these are stale of course!” *Assuringly.* “So you can eat up all of these biscuits.”
BIRDS: “Tweet, tweet, tweet.”
SCOUT: “You are welcome birdies!”
BIRDS: *Quickly gobble up all the shortbread biscuits.*
The theme for “Looking Close on Friday” for the 29th of October is “birds”. I must confess, I’m not really a bird photographer. It isn’t that I don’t like them because I do, it’s just that I am too slow to catch them in my lens, or butterflies for that matter. So when the theme came up, I immediate thought of the pretty sparkle, sequin and feather birds that decorate my Christmas Tree, and since Christmas is only nine weeks away…. Yes it really is only nine weeks until Christmas… I thought I would bring them out for the theme. They have featured with my bears Paddy and Scout before, and when they did, we discovered that these birds are in fact the famous four calling birds from the “Twelve Days of Christmas” carol, and they are very partial to my home made shortbread biscuits. I hope that you like my choice for the theme, and that this story and my pretty glittery birds make you smile!
This beautiful nursery tea set is made by the Shell China company in the 1910s. It features six cups, saucers (not all the set is being used today) as well as a teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl, all gilt and featuring different nursery rhymes including: "See Saw Margery Daw", "Jack and Jill", "This Little Pig Went to Market", "Taffy ws a Welshman", "Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross", "Little Jack Horner", "Old Mother Goose" and "I Saw a Ship a Sailing" amongst others. It is the prequel set to the Shell China nursery and faerie tale tea sets I have from the 1920s and 1930s. The designs are very Edwardian and the set is made up of smaller pieces.
Scout was a gift to Paddy from my friend. He is a Fair Trade Bear hand knitted in Africa. His name comes from the shop my friend found him in: Scout House. He tells me that life was very different where he came from, and Paddy is helping introduce him to many new experiences. Scout catches on quickly, and has proven to be a cheeky, but very lovable member of our closely knit family.
I sorted these out from the sweets I was given. The last time I ate one a piece of my tooth broke off and I had to have a crown fitted – it was not cheap.
The Looking close … on Friday group has chosen Candy this week.
Licht im Schatten. Lässt Sterne strahlen.
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The sunlight of spring awakens these delicate blue stars to bloom. And let us breathe a little ... Taken on a small walk at the edge of the forest, sunny and a bit windy.
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Das Sonnenlicht des Frühlings weckt diese zarten Blausterne zum Erblühen auf. Und lässt uns ein wenig aufatmen ... Aufgenommen auf einem kleinen Spaziergang am Waldrand, sonnig und etwas windig.
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Squills occur throughout Europe, parts of Asia and in a few places in Africa. Among the representatives are also some ornamental plants. The best known of these is the indigenous two-leaved blue alpine squill, which is also planted in many parks and gardens.
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Blausterne kommen in ganz Europa, Teilen Asiens und an wenigen Stellen in Afrika vor. Unter den Vertretern finden sich auch einige Zierpflanzen. In Deutschland am bekanntesten dürfte der einheimische Zweiblättrige Blaustern sein, der auch in vielen Parks und Gärten angepflanzt wird.
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Nikon Micro-Nikkor-P / 1:2.8 / 55 mm
Decked out for Halloween.Part of an amazing display of spiders at one of our local pubs. There were so many hanging from the ceiling we couldn’t count 😱
Thank you Maria for the invite 😊
My wife was fond of rings.
The Looking close … on Friday group has chosen Jewellery (selective colour) this week.
20260429_0606_R62-100 A blue boat on a dirty blue sea
A small plastic boat that came out of a cereal packet (Kellogs in New Zealand??) in the 1960s. Shot for this week's Looking Close On Friday's challeng - boats.
#16780
20250703_5066_R62-100 Pink Hollyhock
It is middle of winter and not many flowers around, apart from some tatty white roses and two or three hollyhock flowers.
#16318
The Our Daily Challenge group has chosen Bathroom decor as today's topic.
The Looking close … on Friday group has chosen Different shades of green this week.
I remember the day in 1983 when my Grandmother came home from shopping in town at Selfridges with a gift set of “Wind in the Willows” soaps and talcum powder as a present for one of our next door neighbours’ daughters as a birthday gift. The talcum powder had Mr. Badger on it, and the soaps had Mr. Toad and Ratty on them. I was so upset that she was getting something so beautiful when she probably didn’t care very much about. Luckily, my Grandmother knew how much I would love them, because I enjoyed reading Kenneth Grahame’s book, and we had watched the Cosgrove Hall stop-animation series on the telly - for which I also had the cassette tape which I played regularly - so, she had bought me my own box of two soaps featuring my two favourite characters: Ratty and Mole at the same time!
The theme for “Looking Close on Friday” for the 29th of January is “soap bar”, and I immediately thought of my precious Cosgrove Hall Production television tie in “Wind in the Willows” soaps. I have never taken these out of their box, and even after nearly fourty years, they still smell beautifully. I have them in one of my drawers to help keep my jumpers smelling beautiful. I love the fine transfers on them, and the images on the packaging, including Ratty’s house, the Riverbank with Mr. Toad punting down it and Toad Hall with the yellow gypsy caravan parked out the front. I hope you like my vintage soaps too!
These soaps were, quoting from the back of the packaging, “beautifully made in England by Richard Appleby Ltd. 50 Jermyn Street, London SW1” in 1983. They were made as a television tie in for the Cosgrove Hall Production of “The Wind in the Willows” which they then followed up with several series of shorter episodes, all using stop-motion animation. I loved them when they started in 1983, and I still love them now and have the whole series on DVD!
Mark Hall and Brian Cosgrove headed the Manchester based company, Cosgrove Hall Productions who created meticulously and most beautifully crafted stop-motion animation films. In 1983 they produced a feature length pilot film of “The Wind in the Willows”. The series continued where the film, and for all but two episodes (“The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” and “Wayfarers All”) the book left off for a further sixty-four original episodes between 1984 and 1990. The series featured famous British actors Richard Pearson, Peter Sallis, Sir David Jason and Sir Michael Hordern voicing the main characters with Ian Carmichael as the narrator. Cosgrove Hall Productions was part of the Thames Television group. Once a major producer of children’s television and animated programmes, Cosgrove Hall was wound up by its then owner ITV in October 2009. As well as the “Wind in the Willows” series, Cosgrove Hall Productions was known best for its series “Count Duckula” and “Danger Mouse” (both also voiced by Sir David Jason).
Paint I used for kitchen drawers. And well - being an artist it allows me to hide behind that and be messy... to a point.
The first patent in the United States for barbed wire was issued on 25 June 1867 to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio, who is regarded as the inventor
The Looking close … on Friday group has chosen Spirals this week.
The theme for “Looking Close… on Friday” on the 19th of February is “my name is”, and it must be a black and white image. This made me think. When I heard the theme, I wrote my name out cursive script as I usually do. I imagined my surname, Raaen, to be like a long curling ribbon, blowing in the breeze like the tail of a kite. I decided to combine this idea with my love of illustration and drawing, including silhouettes, which I have always loved ever since I was a child looking at my faerie tale books of Arthur Rackham. I came up with this silhouette illustration of my name on a windy day. It is surrounded by the tools I used to create it: an HB grey lead pencil, an eraser, a pencil sharpener and a black felt tip pen. I do hope that you like my creative choice of the theme.
Two bottles of Banks's Bitter. It's good beer and only 89 pence for a 500ml bottle – which works out at just on a pound a pint 😀
The Looking close … on Friday group has chosen Bottles this week.
Wickham Place is the London home of Lord and Lady Southgate, their children and staff. Located in fashionable Belgravia it is a fine Georgian terrace house.
Today we are below stairs in the Wickham Place kitchen. The Wickham Place kitchens are situated on the ground floor of Wickham Place, adjoining the Butler’s Pantry. It is dominated by big black leaded range, and next to it stands a heavy dark wood dresser that has been there for as long as anyone can remember. In the middle of the kitchen stands Cook’s preserve, the pine deal table on which she does most of her preparation for both the meals served to the family upstairs and those for the downstairs staff. And here we are before the range at the pine deal table where Mrs. Bradley the Cook is going to give her scullery maid another cooking lesson by having her prepare vegetable consommé for the second course for the upstairs dinner this evening.
“Agnes. Agnes.”
“Yes, Mrs. Bradley?” Agnes scurries over from the sink.
“I think you’ve earned the right for another cooking lesson.”
“Oh! Oh really Mrs. Bradley! Your famous soufflé?”
“Heavens girl!” the older woman cries, throwing her careworn hands in the air. “Do you really think me a loon? I’ve told you before. You need to learn the basics of plain cooking before I can teach you anything fancy. And a clear consommé of vegetables will be fancy enough for you.”
“That sounds very fancy Mrs. Bradley.”
“That’s because them who eat upstairs,” she raises her eyes to the ceiling. “Like their fancy names for their finely cut vegetable soup.”
“Vegetable soup, Mrs. Bradley?” Agnes’ shoulders slump.
“Now! Now! Buck up my girl!” the Cook says as she steps towards her enormous range to stir a pot over the flame with her wooden spoon. “Don’t think of it as vegetable soup. Think of it as,” She flourishes her spoon through the air. “Consommé.”
Agnes goes to the pine deal dresser on the left hand side of the range an takes out the big copper stock pot and under Mrs. Bradley’s instruction, fetches carrots, parsnips, potatoes, onions, leek, a clove of garlic and thinking it might also go in, a radish.
“Did I say a radish, girl?”
“No Mrs. Bradley.”
“No radish in vegetable consommé, Agnes.”
“But it’s a vegetable, Mrs. Bradley.”
“So’s an artichoke, but you aren’t putting that into it either girl!”
“No Mrs. Bradley.” Agnes says with an apologetic tone.
“Now, get chopping girl! Small pieces mind. We don’t want upstairs choking on big chunks of potato, now do we?”
“No, Mrs. Bradley.”
The theme for the 11th of September “Looking Close… on Friday” is “vegetables”. This tableaux is made up of part of my 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures collection. Some pieces come from my own childhood like the ladderback chair and the teapot on the dresser in the background. Other items I acquired as an adult through specialist online dealers and artists who specialise in 1:12 miniatures.
Fun things to look for in this tableaux include:
All the vegetables and garlic clove seen on Cook’s deal table are artisan miniatures from a specialist stockist of food stuffs from Kettering in England, as are the onions hanging to the right of the range. He has a dizzying array of meals which is always growing, and all are made entirely or put together by hand, so each item is individual.
The kitchen knife with its inlaid handle and sharpened blade comes from English miniatures specialist Doreen Jeffries Small Wonders Miniature store.
The copper stock pot, the copper pan and the pots on the range in the background are all made of real copper and come from various miniature stockists in England and America.
In front of stock pot containing carrots and parsnips is one of Cook’s Cornishware white and blue striped bowls. One of her Cornishware cannisters stands to the left of the pot. Cornishware is a striped kitchenware brand trademarked to and manufactured by T.G. Green & Co Ltd. Originally introduced in the 1920s and manufactured in Church Gresley, Derbyshire, it was a huge success for the company and in the succeeding 30 years it was exported around the world. The company ceased production in June 2007 when the factory closed under the ownership of parent company, The Tableshop Group. The range was revived in 2009 after T.G. Green was bought by a trio of British investors.
To the right of the stock pot and Cornishware bowl stands a silver Art Nouveau cup which is a dolls’ house miniature from Germany, made in the first decade of the Twentieth Century. It is a beautiful work of art as a stand alone item and is remarkably heavy.
The jars of herbs are also 1:12 miniatures, made of real glass with real cork stoppers in them.
The large kitchen range in the background is a 1:12 miniature replica of the coal fed Phoenix Kitchen Range. A mid-Victorian model, it has hinged opening doors, hanging bars above the stove and a little bass hot water tap (used in the days before plumbed hot water).
What are the markings on the bottom of glass?
#Lookingclose...onFriday! #CombinationofLetters&Numbers
My wife made this little card for me more than twenty years ago when she went away for a few days – yes, I miss you too Valerie.
The Looking close … on Friday group has chosen Words of Love this week.
February Alphabet Fun group's eleventh picture of the month comes to you by courtesy of the letter K for "Keepsake".
Etiketten.
Auswahlfoto:
Für“Looking close….on Friday!“
Thema:“Clothing Labels“ am 04.02.2022.
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First tulip bouquet of the new year, resting in quiet colours against a pure white world. Their reflection feels like a gentle echo — a soft whisper of spring on the horizon. A simple moment, doubled in light, perfect for this week’s theme “Reflection on White Background”.
My contribution for this week in Looking Close .... On Friday!
The theme for “Looking Close on Friday” for the 10th of December is “feathers (black and white)”. In recent months, I have been exploring a new avenue in my creativity, that of portraiture photography. I used my sitter for the “Smile on Saturday” theme of “nose” a little over two months ago, a little over a month ago for “Looking Close on Friday’s” theme of “dots and stripes” and then again a few weeks ago for “Looking Close on Friday’s” theme of “lips”. Now you can complete the image of my elusive sitter, who has agreed to return for a fourth time, and is this time showing us an eye. Put it together with his nose and lips and you almost have a full face… almost! My sitter has kindly shirked his garb completely, or so it appears, and taken up one of my antique fans in a coquettish fan dance.
I love to collect vintage accessories. This includes antique fans. My favourite fans are those from the Victorian and Edwardian era. Fans from these eras are extremely ostentatious and beautiful, but at such advanced age are often very fragile. My sitter holds an ostrich feather and tortoiseshell fan from the early 1900s. The struts are made of tortoiseshell and the fan itself is made from bleached ostrich plumes. Usually, ostrich feathers were bleached to make them white, such as this fan, or to then colour them to match a lady’s outfit. If you do not approve of tortoiseshell or ostrich feather plumes being used for ornamentation, I thoroughly respect that, but please appreciate the fact that this object was created before either you or I were born, in a less enlightened time when it came to the wellbeing and care of our precious animals.
I do hope that you like my creation for this week’s theme of “feathers (black and white)”, and that it makes you smile… maybe even a little cheekily!
In western culture, a fan dance (a dance performed with fans) may be an erotic dance performance, traditionally by a woman, but not exclusively. Beyond eroticism it is a form of musical interpretation. The performer, sometimes entirely nude or apparently so, dances while manipulating two or more large fans that can be constructed from many different materials including ostrich feathers, silks, velvet, sequined and organza fabrics. The unifying factor in all are the spins, or fan staves, that give form to this prop.
The Victorians and Edwardians were very big on catching and displaying animals, be it taxidermy for educational purposes such as those that featured in the first modern museums created in the Victorian era, the big game hunters who sought lions and other exotic animals for their horns, tusks and hides to display, or for Victorian and Edwardian consumerism such as this fan. Four hundred tons of South African ostrich feathers were brought through St Katherine’s Dock in just one year alone, and at a value of four million pounds, were all used for women’s headdresses, hats and fans.