A hat-trick of Friday bests.
1) A flowery week of daffs and delphiniums, hyacinths and hellebores, has been crowned by the ceremonial picking of the first tulips before breakfast today.
2) A walk in the sunshine along the South Bank and a visit to Tate Modern to see the excellent Rodchenko and Popova exhibition was the second best thing of the morning.
3) And the scoffing of plenty of Le Pain Quotidien food was the third good thing we managed before midday.
And three more good things for the rest of the day:
1) Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle. Lovely, funny, gently subversive comedy with an amazing Modernist backdrop.
2) A couple of Rough Guide film guides (couldn't resist going into the BFI shop on the South Bank despite the protests of my companion who was more interested in getting to Le Pain and eating it). Full of opinions and information and each with a great Top 50.
3) Hand-quilting a very lilac quilt.
Ah Ha! Saw the first tulips coming through this week and thought of you x
Posted by: The Antidote | April 03, 2009 at 17:32
Those are totally gorgeous. Rabbits eat all of our tulips or I could have those in my garden. Sigh.
Posted by: Candy Schultz | April 03, 2009 at 18:38
I LOVE Tati, and Mon Oncle is one of my favorites. I also really loved Playtime. Oh Hulot how you make me smile!
Posted by: Amy | April 03, 2009 at 18:55
What beautiful, subtle tulips! Tulips can often be so showy, but they can be delicate too! Thank you.
Posted by: alison | April 03, 2009 at 19:34
Where do you get your quilting frames from Jane? I can't get one anywhere.
Posted by: Sarah Jayne Neame | April 03, 2009 at 20:27
Beautiful pictures of the tulips!
Posted by: Sara | April 03, 2009 at 22:55
Love the tulips. I can't wait until ours bloom.
Posted by: kat | April 04, 2009 at 02:52
I have been marking so many Rodchenko essays this term that to suddenly see the name in your blog made me laugh!! I'll bet you had a totally different take on it to that of my students!! Caught up on your other entries and I agree - the 'Weekend Knitting' book is wonderful! The mittens in there are so easy and a great project for the first time someone knits in the round! Boo x
Posted by: boo | April 04, 2009 at 07:55
Found myself in London today and on your recommendation called at Le Pain Quotidien on my way to my train (though a stop off at the champagne bar was also on the agenda). Saturday morning - rye bread toasted with their own apricot conserve. A new tradition is made one thinks...
You were right! thank you for the tip-off Jane! x
Posted by: marianne | April 04, 2009 at 09:37
Yesterday was full of pleasure for me too. I saw the first tulips out in Holland Park; soldier red, very pointed petals.
I sat in the sun there, reading Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day [Persephone Books] which I had just found for £2.99 in Oxfam whilst eating a polenta,parmesan, basil and pine nut muffin from Le Pain Quotidien- I recommend these!
In the evening I enjoyed Gardeners World followed by 2 instalments of Sissinghurst [BBC4], another recommendation.
Posted by: Fran H-B | April 04, 2009 at 10:28
ah Le Pain Quotidien! I would gladly go to London just to visit St Pancreas Station because as well as being a stunning building, it is stuffed full of loveliness just like this...like the champagen bar that Marianne mentions!
Posted by: rosepetaljam | April 04, 2009 at 11:04
Wonderful, the tulips are out!
Posted by: Fiona | April 04, 2009 at 11:51
Beautiful tulips! Wish I could grow them here.
Posted by: willow | April 04, 2009 at 16:21
I love the contrast of the delicate and sleek tulips with the barn board at the top of the photo!
Posted by: Judy | April 04, 2009 at 20:02
Good God! Those tulips are so spectacularly peachy and creamy I could just about eat them :)
Posted by: Laura | April 05, 2009 at 16:00
Oh, that sounds like a fabulous day! I miss London so much, spring is such a beautiful time of year there. And Mon Oncle is one of my favs!
Posted by: Alisa | April 08, 2009 at 01:37