Magical Mystery Tour, part two

Day two Magical Mystery Tour

To Market, to Market to see a Rose by any other name. (1)

Haberdashery. Now there’s a word to Lift your hat to. (2)

Frank Dicksee, you’ve been framed. (3)

Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away (4) then

 Old Friends and Young Friends, but

(not) Thomas the train (5)

Q: How many Oz books does a greedy person need?

A: I would think about 30. (6)

Library, lunch at the Safe for Everyone café (7) and then back the Wiggly Brick House for shady drinks by the paddling pool.

Beware the squirty duck, my son! (8)

Do you bite your thumb at me, Miss? No, but I bite your thumb. (9)

Catching up

(kids) growing up

My heart swells up. (10)

My feet swell up (I think it is the heat)

Mango salad picnic and

 then sleep with a side order of perchance to dream.

(1) My friend Rose used to run the fabulous haberdashery stall in Hitchin Market. She retired right around the time we moved to Wales. I knew she had sold the business, so was hoping it was still going and it was. A lovely, friendly couple now run it and I bought lots of fancy wooden buttons and things I cannot find locally. They also do mail order, which is great.

(2) I (like the poet Emily Dickinson) adore the sound of certain words. Haberdashery is one of those.

(3) For my birthday last December, Thomas bought me the signature of Victorian painter Frank Dicksee for our collection of Pre-Raphaelite artists. His most famous work is probably his version of La Belle Sans Merci. All of our other autographs were framed by Tim’s Art shop, so we posted the signature and picture of his painting to the shop last month and we had it framed to match the other collection. They did a beautiful job. Now we have 8 framed Victorian painters!

(4) A reference to both Sesame Street (as we were spending the day with friends Iain and Rachel and their two young children) but also a coded reference to how bloody hot it was.

(5) There was a *small* hiccup when Iain told his son Kieran that they were going to meet Heather and Thomas at the train station because Kieran thought for a moment his dreams had come true and he was going to get to meet Thomas the tank Engine. Sorry to disappoint.

(6) Rachel is an Usborne Children’s book rep. She hooked me up with an illustrated Wizard of Oz for my collection. Now I have 30! If you live in the UK and are interested in good quality children’s book and want to support a mumpreneur (mum + entrepreneur) contact me and I’ll put you in touch with her.

(7) We had a delicious lunch at a café that did lots of vegan and gluten free options. Iain has recently been diagnosed a coeliac, so everyone was able to get something tasty. Hoorah!  

(8) It was really hotting up, so we all sat by the paddling pool while Kieran had a swim. Iain attempted to squirt his son with the rubber ducky but somehow got me instead. (it actually felt pretty good!)

(9) Hazel must be the most easy-going baby ever. She sat on my lap for ages. She was, however, soon to be teething so she bit me several times.

(10) we had such a perfect day with people we love that completely forgot to take photographs. But I do not need a camera to remember as the pictures are in my heart.

Stay tuned for part three of the Magical Mystery Tour.