summer hols....

The schools break up this week and everyone's scattering for their annual summer getaway. The lure of Brittany and Cornwall beaches will see families heading off to a cottage, gite, caravan or tent with cars jammed to the ceiling with bedding, groceries, games consoles, spades and buckets, wellies and waterproofs.

Beach basket Normandy

And, of course, the festivals are well underway - in case you're in search of ideas (and tickets), take a look at http://www.venue.co.uk/festival to see what's on, where and when. The venerable Womad is next week but there are lots of other smaller, quirkier ones - we're lucky to have more than our fair share in the South West so there are plenty to choose from.

I'm disappearing for a few weeks to fire my imagination and source new products. The technical glitches that have bedevilled the Greenbaskets website for the last few weeks are finally fixed (hoorah!). There are some special offers on there for late summer bargain hunters (while I'm away, orders can be placed on the site but won't be despatched until 15 August).

Have a great break....

Bristol Zoo...

Wow Gorilla

Bristol Zoo is 175 years old this year and is holding a series of celebrations and events to mark the occasion. One of the children's favourites is the gorilla trail. The city centre is full of multi coloured gorillas - see the Bristol Zoo website for a video of a flotilla of gorillas coming up the river!

On Saturday 16 July, the Zoo is hosting Bristol's Big Village Fete, a community festival with music, theatre, dance and games. Greenbaskets will be there, with some of this season's range of baskets, along with Greengarland, who'll be demonstrating willow weaving.

Unfortunately, the Greenbaskets website is out of action at the moment due to technical problems which are proving difficult to resolve. Thanks to everyone who's been in touch to let me know and sincere apologies to everyone who's been trying to see the list of forthcoming events. Here's hoping it'll be sorted out soon....

Meanwhile, come and see us on Saturday and you can start spotting gorillas too!

here comes summer...

The summer solstice has come and gone and the holidays are coming. A couple more weeks and the kids will break up. The motorways will fill with families, caravans, buckets and spades and pets, all heading off for their two weeks on a Cornwall beach.

To put us in the holiday mood, Whiteladies Market was lovely in the sunshine this weekend. We had an accordionist to accompany us and add a little French flavour:

On Sunday, Tobacco Factory Market held a drop in bike repair session. Here's one bike (and basket) in action:

And here are two of my customers, three baskets between them. The music at the market was wonderful (as ever) and we all danced and sang along.

To all those of you already on the beaches in Cornwall, hope you're enjoying the sun and sand. Party on!

bloomsday...

Bloomsday is held on 16 June each year. It's a celebration of the life of James Joyce and commemorates the day in 1904 when Joyce met Nora Barnacle, who became his wife. The day is celebrated in his novel Ulysees, whose main character is Leopold Bloom and gives his name to the annual event.

Bloomsday events and celebrations are held all over the world, as well as Dublin. Here's what's happening in New York, should you be lucky enough to check it out.

We have celebrations closer to home that day because it's my son's birthday. I've never managed to make it through Ulysees but I'm happy to toast James Joyce while we cut the birthday cake, so long as we can have Van Morrison providing the soundtrack (any excuse will do). And to put the finishing touches to our very own Bloomsday celebration, here are some shamrock plants that my friend gave me for St Patrick's Day, happily colonising my garden.

A very happy Bloomsday to you all!

monet was right...

I was looking at some photos of Monet's garden at Giverny the other day. They've just appointed a new head gardener James Priest, who trained at Kew. He was describing the way Monet painted, and gardened, in layers.



I was reflecting on why those colour combinations, white through pink to purple and blue, are so visually satisfying. I don't know the answer (clearly, I should have paid more attention in Art classes) but they do look fabulous, particularly when they're all together.

I planted delphiniums, foxgloves, lupins and poppies together in my garden this year, hoping I'd be able to create my own little piece of blue/pink calm. They're doing ok although my colour scheme has been slightly thwarted by the lupins (marked as blue), coming up yellow!

Organic Blooms had bunches of the first sweet peas at the market last week, along with these beauties.

I particularly like the way colours and textures work together so I put them in a basket.

Not quite Monet but hey, everyone has to start somewhere....

thornbury food fair...

Looking forward to Thornbury tomorrow. It's always really busy and the people are lovely. Castle Street is closed, there are lots and lots of stalls and there's a great atmosphere.

Fingers crossed that tomorrow will be the same and the sun will smile on us. Today the media was full of dire drought warnings from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I'm assuming that's the reason it's been raining stair rods tonight (why does that always happen?). At least I didn't have to water the garden...

 

 

Whatever it does, we'll be there tomorrow, undeterred and laden down with clothing to cover every eventuality, from drought to flash flood. Sun cream and umbrellas, camisoles and waterproofs - everything anyone could ever need for a British summer! Be there or be square...

 

 

bristol art...

It's been an interesting couple of weeks for public art in Bristol.

There was the controversial new Banksy souvenir poster, produced in response to the protests following the opening of a Tesco store in Stokes Croft. All proceeds are going to the People's Republic of Stokes Croft.



 
Last week saw the vandalisation of a bronze sculpture of three figures on display outside the Royal West of England Academy. The statue, by David Backhouse, was damaged beyond repair.

And this week saw the arrival of Damien Hirst's Charity. This 22ft tall statue, produced in 2003, uses the image of an old charity box as a comment on social injustice.

All these works have divided public opinion and will continue to do so. But it's great that there's so much challenging and thought provoking art in the city centre.

Now, if you can just pass me that can of spray paint.....