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Poppy, Walk and Help?

Another Poppy is blooming. At breakfast time it popped out of its sepals and later in the day was fully open. As the sun left that part of the garden, it closed up again.

Opening

Fully open

Our walk today was very blustery! Join us going up to the Flat Lode Trail with a view of Carn Brea, past the St Uny engine house and back home.

St Uny Engine house from the back

St Uny Engine house

We have a problem in the edible trough. A little Viola plant died last week, just went limp and gave up the ghost. Yesterday, all was well with the rest of the Viola border and today – another plant seems to have died. Any ideas? The trough is damp, everything else, lettuces and the rest of the Violas seem fine…….

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 5, 2020 in architecture, Carn Brea, Cornwall, environment, garden, nature, Photography, Postaday2020, Tin mining history

Tags: St Uny Engine House, violas

Fire, Fresh Veg and A Cake

04 Jul

It was so cold last night that we lit the woodburner, in July!

Warmth

All the vegetables tonight came from our raised beds – potatoes, Mangetouts, Dwarf Beans and Curly Kale and for dessert, Chocolate Mud Cake with just picked Raspberries.

Mangetout flower

Purple Mangetout

Dwarf Beans and Mangetout

Curly Kale

Newly dug potatoes

Instead of layering up the cake I made with T earlier, I froze one half which today I have defrosted and iced to have with our raspberries.

Decorated with Violas from the edible trough garden

Homegrown raspberries

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 4, 2020 in baking, garden, nature, Photography, Postaday2020

Tags: Cristina's Chocolate Mud Cake, Curly kale, dwarf beans, edible flowers, mangetout

Mum’s Chimneys, Full of Colour

03 Jul

I said yesterday that I would show you Mum’s chimney collection which I inherited so here they are in the order in which you would see them if you were to visit us in our garden. You would be so welcome, Dear Reader!

Steps up to the garden, lined with various Mints, Lavenders and Vanilla Nemesias – scented all the way

Heliotrope and Vanilla Nemesia at the bottom of the steps leading up to the garden

Chives and Garlic Chives

Heliotrope and Vanilla Nemesia at the bottom of the steps leading up to the garden

Petunias, lime green on bottom patio

Begonia on the slate patio

Dwarf Buddliea at the top of the steps

Dwarf Buddliea at the other side at the top of the steps

Begonia at the back of the vegetable garden path

Begonias on the way to the vegetable garden

Begonia on one side of the arbour on the back sitting area

Begonia on the other side of the arbour on the back sitting area

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 3, 2020 in Beauty, environment, garden, Happiness, nature, Photography, Postaday2020

Tags: Begonia, chives, Dwarf buddliea, garlic chives, heliotrope., Nemesia, Petunias

Begonia, Borage and Bugs

02 Jul

Mum’s chimneys are so full of flowers this year, just glorious.I’ll do a whole post devoted to chimneys soon while they are in glorious flower. Mum would be proud, wonderful gardener that she was. After she left teaching, of deaf babies, she refused to write ‘retired’ on any forms and wrote ‘Gardener ‘with pride.

The Borage in the edible trough is flowering. I love adding the flowers to salads and to gin, when we have any in!

I spotted a couple of interesting bugs today, firstly a Shield Bug (I think) on the raspberries. We have only ever seen green ones before but think we have identified this one as a Hairy Shield Bug. Can they choose their colour depending on where they are like some magical spiders?

Hairy Shield Bug

The next was a luminescent green creature which I think I have identified as a Thick Legged Flower Beetle, a fairly boring name for such a wonderfully coloured creature.

Thick Legged Flower Beetle.

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 2, 2020 in environment, garden, nature, Photography, Postaday2020

Tags: Hairy Shield Bug, Thick Legged Flower Beetle.

Zebra, Kintsugi and Resilience Calendar

01 Jul

It’s really cold on this first day of July (as it has been for much of June) and the horses we pass regularly on our walk were wearing Zebra jackets which amused us.

Today when a piece of china is broken, it becomes an opportunity to use my Kintsugi kit again. It is so pleasing that the mended piece is even more beautiful than the original.

Broken

Kintsugied

Action for Happiness have made their July calendar appropriate for our times which are hard for so many people. Stay well, Dear Readers. There’s good advice here. Keep calm, Stay wise. Be kind.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 1, 2020 in art, Happiness, Photography, Postaday2020

Tags: actionforhappiness

Greenfinch, Edible Garden and Baking

30 Jun

This is the first time this year that we have seen the Greenfinch at the feeder.

Our edible garden is blooming . We can’t keep up with it all.

This afternoon I have baked, over Skype, with LiveWire No 3 who is now 9 years old. T chose the recipe and we cooked along together, all sorts of ‘homeschooling’ going on without anyone noticing – reading and maths, chemistry and problem solving! T’s ganache turned out much better than mine! We now have the most delicious Chocolate Mud cake in each of our homes! I’ll decorate the rest of it with Violas tomorrow – and the second layer when friends call by for tea in the garden on Friday. It was a brilliant afternoon that we both enjoyed enormously. It’s my turn to choose the recipe for next week. That one will take some beating!

T’s Chocolate Mud Cake, double layers

Just one layer split for us, the other piece being frozen for another time.

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 30, 2020 in baking, environment, family, Grandchildren, nature, Photography, Postaday2020, Uncategorized

Tags: Cristina's Chocolate Mud Cake

Postcards in Isolation

29 Jun

Our lovely neighbour is an artist and has been part of the Postcards in Isolation project, explained below. She has been drawing ‘”Little Lockdown Pleasures,” the things that have given her pleasure while in lockdown. Because we live next door to each other we have been able to ‘meet’ over the wall throughout and this has been special for us both, staving off the worst of the feeling of isolation. Here is the postcard that she made of one of her pleasures.

Postcards in Isolation was started by WildWorks, recognising that lots of people are not connected digitally. If you were shielding and not able to see your family and friends, then receiving a little personal artwork might prove cheering. It works by people nominating friends or family members to receive an art postcard. WildWorks artists then make the cards and hand write a message. Each card is unique. They are also making cards for St Petroc’s, a local charity for the homeless, and Age Concern. Here are three more of Sue’s postcards which have gone out to cheer people up. What a delightful and spirit-lifting idea.

The cards are free, but as this is not a funded project they ask that people make a donation if they feel able to. https://wildworks.biz/projects/postcards-in-isolation/

I’ve been embroidering all day, having the most lovely, peaceful and productive time.

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 29, 2020 in art, community, friendship, Kindness, Postaday2020, Uncategorized

Tags: St Petroc's, Wildworks

Shades of Yellow

28 Jun

Our walk today was highlighted by yellows, started after I spotted the yellow Holly leaf. After that, the yellows just shone out at us.

Holly

Bracken

Celandine

Honeysuckle

Dandelion

Pennywort

This afternoon, the yellow theme continued as I worked on some embroidery, a Christmas present for one of our LiveWires.

1 Comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 28, 2020 in embroidery, environment, nature, Photography, Postaday2020

Tags: bracken, dandelion, honeysuckle, pennywort

Ladybird, Buddleia and Pudding

27 Jun

I learned today that a swarm of Ladybirds is called a Loveliness – A Loveliness Of Ladybirds. With a name like that, no wonder Ladybird is believed to bring good luck, and when one spies one, is a reminder to count your blessings. Here is the one, a bit fuzzy as it wouldn’t stay still, that landed on the lovely Mr S yesterday.

The wild Buddleia which we see on our walk is blooming. It is also known as the Butterfly Bush so we hope to see lots as we go by in the next few weeks.

Also on our walk this morning, we could see that the Blackberries are beginning to form and we remembered that we still have some of last year’s in the freezer as family haven’t been able to visit. Blackberry and Apple Crumble is always on the menu when they do. We decided to celebrate being able to watch a football match on Tv for the first time in 3 months with exactly that. I have even made custard! It’s a shame there’s no-one to share this family favourite with.