With so many beautiful plants to choose from along Columbia Road each Sunday, it's impossible to imagine the shop ever being flowerless. However I'll come clean and say these striking tulips were supermarket bought on Saturday because I couldn't wait. They were joined on Sunday by the auricula's you'll see further down. They were from Nick who has a stall outside Idonia Van Der Bijl, a few doors along from us.

If you have visited the shop over the last couple of weeks you may have noticed that we have decorated the window with laser cut images, like this one, from Rob's 2010 calendar...

.....and this is what the lasercuts look like after they have been sprayed with colour but before being assembled into calendars.

We are very nearly out of our lovely spring 'this bell' cushions so I thought I'd put this photograph up as a reminder. BUT.... we are looking forward to lots more brand new and exciting things in the shop over the coming weeks. I'm also aiming to master all the blogging technicalities ( no more click to reduce images...! ) and keep you posted two or three times a week, so do keep coming back.

Kids Company and The Bryan Adams Foundation are hosting an auction and exhibition of Shoebox Art created by 40 established artists, including Rob, and children from London schools and Kids Company centres. The exhibition opens at The Haunch of Venison tomorrow 19th March, and runs until 23rd March.

Since Ryantown opened we have had a box on the counter for people to donate coins in exchange for a badge. The designs change to reflect something new in the shop or a special event that is happening. The badges are really popular, as is the choice of charity where all your donations go, which is Kids Company

...i thought I might slip these in and see if anyone noticed. These were some of my great loves in badge form when I was a child.
I think I'm right in saying that money raised from the Famous Five Club, and therefore badges like this one, went to a children's
charity in Beaconsfield. So! there is some relevance to the rest of this post.

Decided to fill the shop with these very pale tulips, I think they worked well with the walnut keys that we have hanging in the window.

Sunshine, Mother's Day, and the flower market. A guaranteed crowd puller. This was the view from the shop window. Every time I looked out it was like this.

It was by far the busiest Sunday of the year along Columbia Road yesterday...

...this was during one of the quieter moments.

I've never been much of a dog fan to be honest, but we have so many lovely and well behaved hounds visiting the shop that I'm beginning to be won over. This is BERTIE, he's a 9 month old Tibetan Terrier. Bertie came into the shop with his family yesterday and Sarah and I were both smitten. The photograph doesn't do him justice at all, but trust me, he was totally gorgeous and is definitely the Ryantown Dog Of The Week.

This is Rob's 2010 St.Patrick's day card. And for anyone who isn't aware... WEDNESDAY 17th is St.Patrick's day!!
The card is a hand printed, signed edition of 60 priced at £20 each. We have a few still available in Ryantown.

There are so many reasons I love being in the shop at the weekends.
Not everybody that visits us on a Saturday is aware that Columbia Road on a Sunday is an entirely different place, brought to life by the sight, sound and smell of the weekly flower market.
I love wandering down the street before we open early on Sunday mornings. This week I bought these beautiful 'Katherine Hodgeson' Irises from Lyndon, whose stall outside TREACLE always has the most wonderful plants.

Despite my inclination towards minimalism, I do sometimes find it hard to choose just what to display in the window.
So that's why, this weekend, we had almost everything!

The two signed editions of 'I Think That You Are Wonderful' pretty much sold out straight away. But.... we do have a few samples in a selection of beautiful colours. All signed and priced at £47 each, they are available in the shop only.