Bleugh

Mmmm hmmm

Snuffle.

sneeze.

Blow.

Cough.

Sneeze again.

Probably better to go back to bed.

Late begonia

You can see that it has been too wet to cut the lawn lately!

Isn't this Begonia amazing?

It just keeps on flowering.

Lakeland , cont.

I went to Lakeland and I bought.....(with my £50 prize)

One very nice electric hand blender,

with whisk, dough hooks and blenders.

a neat little compost bin for the kitchen

with a filter in the lid to keep it sweet.

 ....and a pack of their baking parchment paper which I use for so many things. I line baking tins, line the grill or the oven, wrap frozen things in it...

I know I could have meandered around the Christmas goodies for ever, chosen all sorts of things that I didn't really need...but, I remained practical and chose what I really needed.
The staff were so nice, and thrilled that someone local had won the prize.

A surprise prize.

This is one of my favourite Truro stores. Those of you who live in the UK will know of it, but it may not be familiar in other countries.

I remember Lakeland in the 1960s, when it was just a small family firm selling plastic freezer bags from a large vehicle at our local County Fete. It was just as the craze for freezing hit England, and these bags were all sizes, colours, and very good value.

Lakeland is now a big company, based in Windermere, selling cookware, kitchen utensils, home and garden items....and things that you never dreamed existed, or thought you would need!

 The staff are well trained, so helpful, and always ready to answer a query or make a suggestion. there is a thoughtful corner with a sofa and the daily paper, so that husbands can sit without muttering 'have you finished yet?'

 And................. I have just won a £50 prize from them! I bought something a while ago, and was asked if I would fill in a questionnaire, with which I might win a prize. I never win prizes!

Now, tell me, how am I going to choose?

A creekside village

About a mile outside Truro lies this little village of St Clements,  in a valley on the Tresillian river.

It dates back well before the 18th Century, and has a church and several cottages. Apparently there was once a Castle in Norman times, the manorial home of a squire.

The village was incorporated into the city of Truro in 1895.

Some of the cottages, all lived in, have thatched roofs.

This one has an old red post box in the gatepost. We thought the cottage might have been the old Post office.

It is a favourite place for walkers, and our family visitors loved wandering along the banks of the creek.

What's more, as you can see, it was a lovely sunny day!

Harvest?

Yesterday evening we went to Harvest Festival service in our little local church by the water. It's a very small sister church to our normal one and is only used twice a month.

Maybe you have memories of the Harvest festivals of old?

Altars groaning under sheaves of corn, huge loaves of bread made to resemble cornsheaves, red rosy apples arranged beautifully, Autumny Chrysanthemums...... The true fruits of the Harvest.

Sadly , practicalites have taken over. The offerings were in the main, cans of food. We send them to a local hostel for the homeless where it is known that their preference is for Spam.

I know they will appreciate the offerings, but I can't help remembering, nostalgically perhaps, the times when Harvest festival showed us the bounty of the Lord's gifts.

950

Nine hundred and fifty posts!

Between now and one thousand I shall think about a Giveaway, maybe something Cornish.

Can I really have written one thousand posts?

Family are coming down from Hampshire this weekend, so I'll be too busy talking (or listening) to write much. My husband's family are great talkers when they get together!

Maybe we'll go for a beach walk, or a wander through one of the lovely National Trust gardens.

See you soon.

Sheltering (linked to A Sheltering Tree)

I'm linking with Pamela at 'A sheltering Tree'. She always has something inspiring to read, and today she talked about the many and different ways we have of 'sheltering'.

I have thought a lot today about what shelter means to me, and mainly it is my home, wherever that has been. As a child my home was a happy one, with grandparents living with us also, nurturing, sheltering, teaching.

Many years ago my first house was a pretty Berkshire cottage, where as a very young mother I endeavoured to shelter my two little ones. The houses grew, as did the family, but always for me, the important thing was to feel that my home wrapped its arms around me and my children.

To create a calm home isnt always easy with so many outside influences.

To shelter and protect ones children isnt always easy, for the same reasons.

To shelter and protect them from pain is something that is almost impossible, whether it be of emotion, or physical pain. As a mother, one would take their pain upon oneself if one could.

Now, I shelter and care for my husband of 33 years, the loveliest man I could ever have met. He isnt a well man, but he too does his best to shelter me from all that he can.

It's been an interesting choice of subject to mull over. Thank you, Pamela.

Photos!

Well, with some trepidation I installed my new camera, introduced it, no less, to my computer.

This is what I did today. A friend had given me two baskets of apples from her orchard, for which I was most grateful, as no one seems to have had a good Harvest locally.

Apple jelly making has been a great annual tradition in my family. My Grandma always made it and we ate it on beautifully wafer thin slices of bread and butter.

Now, we normally have it with pork or chicken. The crabapple jelly that I used to make in France was much redder, but the taste of this plain apple jelly is just as good. (for my American readers, jelly does mean just that. It isnt jam.)

I promised you a look at my newly decorated hallway, with the Laura Ashley wallpaper that I have carried around with me for years.

There will be more photos soon. Now that I know how to do it!

Poor Clovelly.

Clovelly, a tiny town in Devon, sits on a steep slopey hill leading to the water.

It's a favourite tourist spot, and people love to visit its quaint little cobbled street. I remember going, many years ago , and seeing the donkeys which are used almost as pack animals to carry things up and down the steep slope. I dont know if they are still there.

 How sad we were, then, to see this on the BBC news last night.

 Clovelly was awash as a result of a flash flood. For 90 minutes the rain hurtled down, the flood ripped down the street, tearing up cobbles and ending up in the houses of the folk who lived at the bottom of the hill.

The power of the water must have been frightening. I think if a child had been standing there they would have been washed away.

After the ninety minutes, the rain stopped as quickly as it had begun.

But it left devastation in its wake.

Poor Clovelly.

(photos courtesy of BBC.co.uk)

A camera.

I have a Camera!

A parcel from Amazon arrived yesterday, containing a beautiful Canon digital camera.  Thanks to my delightful daughter who sent this to me as a gift, I can now go on taking my photos.

All I need to do now is to read the instructions on the discs, and then we're away,



Apple Weekend

Brighton Marigold.

20 Ounce

Yakata

Doux Moen

Young America

What are they all?

They are the names of some of the four hundred or so varieties of apples that exist in this country.

This last weekend was the Apple weekend at Trelissick Gardens, with the Stables open for apple tasting, cider tasting and just gazing. The apples were beautifully arranged in wicker baskets, like an enormous Harvest Festival. Names that I had never heard of. Tiny little weatherbeaten apples nestled against huge red bruisers.

In the gardens there were exhibitions, woodwork, a cider press making juice. The orchards were open, but sadly the harvest has been poor this year, and there were no apples actually for sale.

In the shop as we came out, there were delicious glasses of hot mulled spicy Apple juice, perfect on a grey day.

Apples are one of my favourite fruits for cooking.

Apple crumble, Apple pie, Baked apples bursting with raisins, stewed apples.

My fruit cake has an apple grated into the mix for moistness.

What do you like to do with Apples?

Sewing machines.

This isn't my machine, but a similar one.

Mine is probably twenty years old, a Janome Newhome. It isn't all-singing, all-dancing, just a machine that will do several different stitches, buttonholes and has a quilting foot.

This morning I had the pleasure of teaching a friend who has never used an electric machine, how it works. She is about to buy one and, like me, wants a simple one. I had forgotten that all the things that I do almost automatically, like threading up, putting a new spool in, would be new to her.

We had fun trying out the different stitches, threading, and re-threading  the needle, going forward and backwards, rethreading the needle........

Next week we are going to go to the sewing shop and see what is on offer.

I know that there are some wonderful machines out there that will embroider, make pictures, almost make the tea , but I'm happy with mine for the moment.

Freecycle

I discovered Free cycle when we returned to England, and had various curtains etc., left by the previous owners of our house, that we needed to find a home for.

What a good system! so simple. You just advertise what you have to offer, usually receive an answer by email within a few days, and then pass over the goods.

So far I have passed on curtains, a large and almost new suitcase, and cardboard packing boxes twice.Today I had the pleasure of outfitting a little girl with some sewing bits and pieces. Her mother had posted that her daughter was just learning to sew, and would be grateful for anything. She had received a sewing machine , on Freecycle.

I gathered up a pretty box, filled it with needles, pins in a pincushion, buttons, lace, cottons, tiny scissors, little measuring tape...all the sort of things that my daughter or grandaughter might have loved to use. Then found fabric, plenty of choice here!

She came with her mum, and was so thrilled with everything, especially all the tiny bits and pieces in the box.

Now I'm offering a pair of curtains, as I've just had new bedroom curtains made, so the old ones can find a new home.

(photo from google)

Sultanas,( for Connie)

A quick return to the posts about the different foods, and names, that we all use. Connie , at 'Living beautifully' asked me what Sultanas were, when I mentioned them in connection with scones.

Sultanas are dried 'Thompson seedless' grapes.

We use them much more than raisins. They are softer and sweeter, and go well in recipes needing dried fruit.

Thank you for all the comments on Grits and biscuits. It is interesting dicovering the differences in the food we buy and eat. There must be countless foods that we eat in england that maybe you are not familiar with in other countries. I found so many differences in France too.

Vive la difference?