Mothers' London Weekend: Leisure & Freetime

My friend Karen and I stopped to ask directions at a flower shop almost immediately upon arrival. Wouldn't it be nice if every time I needed directions, a shop like THIS would just happen to be in the area?

For our special Mothers' Weekend Away, we used Jane Brocket's book like another person might use Fodors, or Rick Steves. ;-)

The very first "sightseeing" stop we made was at Persephone Books. This was the display window on the street -- I like that they had the vintage dress and poster there in addition to books. For each re-printed book at Persephone, the endpapers are reproduced from a vintage fabric or paper pattern.

In my life up to this point, I was not aware that places like VV Rouleaux actually existed; there were two floors full of unimaginable trim & ribbon varieties. They also had hat making supplies. Hat Making. I felt weak.

I'll admit that it was expensive....which limited me to tiny amounts. And those tiny amounts were of only a very few selected items. But, Jane Brocket ;-) writes encouragingly in her book that it's important to indulge occasionally in small luxuries. Very small. Very wonderful.

We took a tour of the replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theater. I was unprepared for this -- the primary theme of the tour was HOW MUCH scholars had learned about Shakespeare's plays & his writing after archaeologists had excavated the original site of the Globe Theater. The shape/form/function of the building shed new light on twists in the wording or dialogue -- such as involving the human audience present at the foot of the stage. I could have listened to our guide for hours, it was so over-the-top.

It would be easy to assume that the stop at VV Rouleaux had taken all my surprise and awe -- but no -- there was still a swoon left in me ;-) reserved apparently for The Cloth House at No. 17 Berwick Street. That delectable bouquet pictured above is cotton organdy, and The Cloth House had every color in the rainbow available. There were vintage silk trims from Indian Saris; vintage lace, buttons, thread & snaps; 20 bolts of different kinds of "shirting" or 20 bolts of different kinds of .....different.

All of it lovely, simple and different....& bundled up with twine or twill ribbon.

This is vintage woven hemp from Hungary, originally used to make sacks: feed sacks, household sacks, any kind of sack. Too much for me to pass up - I bought one meter - intending to copy the Hungarians and make any kind of sack for my household. Or, maybe I'll just look at it for awhile. :-)

Over a door at Kensington Palace. To say that there is a lot of history at Kensington Palace would be a gross understatement. It was actually overwhelming how much history was there....but, even overwhelmed, we wandered through the rooms with hand-held "tour phones" that explained each item on display. We wandered, we sat, we made our way with a leisurely pace.

As fast as I ran upstairs after coming home last night to see each of my three sleeping children, and as happy as I am to be home with them again.....I have to admit openly that neither they, nor their very generous father, would ever, EVER have been on board with going exclusively to all my sights and destinations this last weekend. No - for that, I needed another MOTHER as travelling companion ....especially when it came to old thread, little-known books, slices of obscure architecture or even just squirreling around with the camera in front of a doormat ;-). My family might have let me have some amnesty with those things, but ....well, let's just say: Here's to Other Mothers as Travelling Companions & Weekends Away -- with just the right amount of everything.