Raindrops on roses...

One of my favourite songs from 'The Sound of Music'. It's a great musical of course, but I mainly adore the movie for the glimpses of my beloved Salzburg! I'm usually gazing over Julie Andrews'shoulder and looking at the view of the fortress...or the rooftops...reliving happy times there!

But listening to the song 'My Favourite Things', over New Year, led me into an idea for a post on...yes, you guessed it - a few of my favourite things! Much as I love whiskers on kittens and warm woollen mittens, I thought that I'd show you some more original images from around the house:

Firstly - our bathroom. When we bought the house, the bathroom was downstairs - one of my pet hates. I can't bear walking through the house in my dressing gown...it just feels so wrong! So we incorporated the existing bathroom into the kitchen and lost a bedroom upstairs to make my idea of perfection...the bath is enormous and the perfect place to relax and unwind...

this mirror used to belong to Militza (about whom there is much more on this blog) and once hung in her bedroom. We love to mix old and new...and it is just right here . The walls are silver by the way...this was difficult to achieve (about 7 coats for proper coverage!) But the dull metallic sheen reflects the light and feels clean without being cold and functional.

This is the silver birch tree that I can see as I'm soaking in the tub....luckily, today is a beautiful day so she looks at her best! Of course, with leaves on she's even more stunning...but I love her skeletal form too and the birds use her as a roost so I get to see them as well....

This little painting is one of my absolute favourite things...it's by an artist called Roy Freer and is, I think, a scene in the South of France. But the colours remind me of Australia too.It was a 40th birthday present from my parents. It's calm, serene and beautiful and hangs on our landing wall...

Totally different but equally dear to me is this painting by my darling niece, Scout. Esther gave it to me for my birthday last year and it hangs in my writing room where the colours and the thought of my beautiful girl cheer & inspire me whenever I look at  it...

The view from our bedroom windows....the graveyard and the church. I absolutely adore living in a church square. There are no graves less than 130 years old, and I find it soothing and a privilege to look out on them.

we have the added pleasure of the church bells...the clock chimes every 15 minutes, day and night...and there's also the proper bells which are rung every Sunday, for weddings and on practice night too. Some people have asked if this is intrusive. Not to us! We are so used to them now that we wake in the night if they don't chime - which sometimes happens if the mechanism faulters. I don't know what we'd do without their unique and very English sound..

my reading corner....ahhh...my absolute favourite place in our house. I'd wanted a proper built in bookshelf for so long and we at last managed to find a proper, artesan craftsman to build one for us last Autumn. Then we found THE chair. The big leather footstool. The lamp looks perfect there too. And my ultimate moment of bliss, when the work is done each day, is to take a big cup of tea and my latest book and sink into the chair with Alice on my lap....heaven!

Talk of my little dog reminds me of this collection of mini-Alices of all sizes...we're always on the lookout for new additions and several are presents from dear friends...

And so to my most favourite of favourite things...

How could I not use the opportunity to post yet another picture of our beloved??

I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into my world. Or the tiny part of the world that is our home!

Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks so much for reading xo