Tuesday, 29 May 2012

busy busy busy

good grief it has been busy busy busy round here lately.
there have been ridiculous outfits, and severe expansion of comfort zones as I do new and scary things,



like singing on stage.............


there have been trips to distant railway stations to meet special people and wave flags.


there have  been ancient monuments to visit, the highlight of which was definitely the latrines - well for the youngest boy at least!


trips to the North Sea; big, blue and impossibly cold.


and there has plenty of feasting.


In truth it has been mostly about the feasting.


with the occasional wild animal sighting........

Saturday, 19 May 2012

fancy a cuppa?


It has been significantly wet and grey this week. which has hindered me in taking the photos of things I wanted to show you. We did have a one morning of nice weather, but I that I used up in the garden, pulling up a multitude of weeds.....


oh and other time it was dry I was stuck inside a dusty gymnasium doing exam invigilating, I think I was even more frustrated to be there than the poor GSCE French students, and they looked pretty fed up I can tell you that......


the upside to being stuck in a lot is the opportunity to drink lots of tea,


and when a moment of photo frustration turned into a flash of inspiration to check my archives for unpublished posts I was thrilled to find these tea related pics,


taken at Beningbrough Hall Gardens.



I am inspired to make a make a mosaic for my garden, but I think it will have to be a little smaller......

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

dinner's ready


sometimes when you say "dinner's ready" you don't get quite who you expect at the dinner table......

Thursday, 3 May 2012

rhubarb muffins

today I am introducing rhubarb muffins.


take the recipe for rhubarb and orange cake, realise you don't have ground almonds, and use some more flour instead.
I cooked the rhubarb a bit first as I didn't think the shorter cooking time for buns would cook the rhubarb properly, dollop the cake mix into bun cases, add a blob of rhubarb, cook for 15 mins, and then add the almond sugary topping, and cooked for a further ten minutes at the lower temperature.


they are Very good.
unfortunately the ones that looked the best got eaten first, without having a photo shoot, so only the sad slightly squished ones (they are very gooey!) were left.
but don't despair, pop on over to Flossie Teacakes, where there is a delightful pattern for a pinflower cake topper, make yourself one or two, and stick them in your cakes.
even squashed cakes look delightful with a pinflower in them!

Monday, 30 April 2012

cutting out and listening

A long long time ago, in a galaxy before blogger I used to work in a science laboratory, and for several months I carried out experiments with involved weighing out minuscule amounts of the finest powder (usually dried ground leaves.....) you can possibly imagine, into tiny tinfoil cups which were then squished tight shut, weighed again and then put into tiny trays with a little well for each tiny parcel. The weighing scales were so impossibly accurate and thus incredibly sensitive that anyone walking nearby would cause havoc with the readings, and therefore the whole set up was in rather a nice cupboard. It was called a room but really it was a large cupboard. just me and the scales and my lifeline, Radio 4.


Sometimes people would try to rescue me from the cupboard, tempt me out with trips to get a cup of tea, but I would always have to say "can't come now, woman's hour is just starting" or "but it's book of the week time" or "if I come to coffee break I will never know what happens at the end of the afternoon play".


Why am I telling you this? you may well ask,  and the reason is that recently I have found myself cutting out tiny scraps of fabric, a task that allows for quiet contemplation and perhaps a little background listening.
Since having a houseful of children and the resulting chaos, I have found I am never in one room long enough to actually listen to proper conversation on the radio, or if I am sitting down sewing then the roaring (it's not quiet) of my machine deafens out the story, so the radio is more often set to a music channel.


right now however, I have just run out of teeny tiny leaves, and if I hurry I might catch the food program before the children get home from school.


what do listen to in the day? any recommendations?

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

this week

thank you for all the supportive comments on my last post. it means a lot.
this week is going so much better, and so far I have been;

buying - train tickets for a trip to London
watching - raindrops
planning - a new bag from a very old jacket
enjoying - working in the garden, then soaking in a hot bath
singing - "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" which is stuck in my head......
anticipating - rhubarb cake from my favourite recipe
loving - tulips going floppy in a vase
sewing - teeny tiny windows onto fabric cottages.


a good week so far, hope your week is good too. x

Friday, 20 April 2012

remembering to breathe


it has a Long week


and I am glad it's nearly over.


but in the midst of it all I found an hour or two to escape, and sit in the gardens and look at the tulips


and soak up the calmness that was all around, breathing in the beauty


and making a new friend.

Yesterday I needed a reminder to breathe, and I thought about these images locked away safe in my camera, and this morning I downloaded them, and the sense of calm reappeared, so I thought I would share them with you.

enjoy.

breathe.

have a good weekend x