Come away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o
As it says this is the Phoenix, in the centre of Exeter. It’s a venue for arts of all types and for everyone. I was just there for the food last week though 🙂 a lovely cheese platter for £10.95, for two to share. As I turned up from Gandy street the warm glow jumped out and I knew it would be this weeks windows!
Come and join in with Sandra’s Challenge here! you must be able to do better then me and my mobile!
I’ve just had a trip out to my favourite book shops – well one of them, a book lover could never have just one favourite could she? Book Cycle is a charity shop with a difference, the buyer decides how much to pay. In my case that is to their benefit, because if I gave too little I would feel mean. I imagine that there are people who can only afford 20 pence and that’s okay too. They welcome donations and when I have books I can bear to part with, that’s where they go!
They send some of the donated books to Africa, see the photo, some of the profit goes to paying for the shipments, and they also plant trees . They have a small seed bank and occasionally have planting and fundraising events.
The other wonderful thing is the building they occupy. It’s in one of the oldest parts of the city, in a lovely Tudor timbered house, right next to Mathew the Miller and the House that moved (I’ll post about that one day).
The shop is staffed entirely by volunteers, of all ages, and they have Shelf Cycles in community venues around the city.
Today I found three books, the maximum allowed in a day, all short stories to help me with my creative writing course, and spent less than I would on one new one.
What do you think of the shop?
My city is very old – two thousand years, and naturally has its share of ghost stories. So far, I haven’t managed any photos that spooky, so I’ve gone with the witches instead!
This is what happened
This is where it happened
Perhaps this is who it happened to!
Ailsa would love you to join in here http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/10/26/travel-theme-spooky/
It’s Thursday so it’s time for Sandra’s Window Challenge and I’m pleased to show you this one from Exeter Quay. This building was originally built as the sign says in 1780 as a cotton mill but by 1834 it was a paper mill. It is now divided up into waterfront flats and in front there are some remains of industrial equipment, painted green and a nice touch of history. It’s the window I like best, and wonder why it was made that shape. The stone is most likely from Heavitree Quarry which was still in use when I was a child.
Join in at http://sandraconner.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/photo-challenge-thursdays-windows-week-4/Â I’m sure you have some lovely window photos.
Do you remember my solitary post about Fifi the Black Swan ? Well I just wanted to report that she is still on the river and looking healthy. 
I realised today how much smaller she is than the white mute swans on the river, they would easily be able to pick on her. It seems they leave her alone now that they are no longer nesting, let’s hope it stays that way.
I wonder how many similar photos to mine there will be this week! I have just been for a walk by the river and decided to finish with a hot drink in the Coffee Cellar on the quay.
They always have divine home made cakes, but I managed to resist this time! Inside is lovely, they have comfy sofas and dogs are welcome but today was just warm enough to sit outside and people watch. Another other nice thing about the Coffee Cellar is that when they make you hot chocolate the put the bit that won’t fit into your cup into a little jug. My friend had the full works with cream, for me it’s just the marshmallows.
Thanks Jake for your DELICIOUS challenge!
Not a bad start to the day.
The 8.10 from Belfast arrives on time.
It shouldn’t take too many guesses to work out that my favourite spot is the river Exe! From north of Exeter, through the city and anywhere down to the estuary at Exmouth, I love it. 
http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/sunday-post-favorite-spot/ for worldwide favourite spots and Jake’s brilliant animations 🙂
It’s time for Sandra’s Thursday Windows once again. This is Cathedral Close in Exeter showing the 16th century Mols Coffee House and to the left is St Martins church, one of the oldest buildings in the city, consecrated a year before the Norman conquest. These windows and all the rest in the area have been around a long time!
I knew exactly what I would share with you when I saw the theme this morning. This solitary black swan has been around the river for a year or so,  and Fifi as she is known, hit the local newspaper this week because she is lonely. There are lots of mute swans on the Exe and the canal, but of course black swans are native to Australia, not Britain. When I saw her last year, I assumed she had made her way up river from Dawlish, where there has been a colony for decades. Apparently not though, she is not ringed and it’s thought that she may have escaped from a private garden. She has been nest building but has no mate, the local birds have attacked her and she is probably feeling terribly rejected. The Dawlish swan herd says that she should be taken there, but that it would be costly to capture and move her and so far no one has offered to pay. I hope the newspaper article prompts a donation from a wealthy bird lover! Here she is. 
There are lots more interpretations of solitary over at The Daily Post
Lucid Gypsy 