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Monthly Archives: August 2012

Sorting, Satisfaction and Granny’s Green Glass

1 Inspired by Veronica, I sorted all my knitting needles in Granny’s knitting needle keeper but, after after about 80 years of use, it is coming to the end of its useful life.

Granny’s knitting needle holder with her and my needles

2 Again, inspired by Veronica’s lovely blog, I decided to make a new needle holder and spent a very happy afternoon printing off photos of things I have knitted, sticking them to a crisps tube and now have the satisfaction of this beautiful new container.

New knitting needle keeper view1

New knitting needle keeper view2

New knitting needle keeper view 3

3 My maternal Granny collected green glass as well as knitting needles! One of our dahlias has been blown over by the wind so I popped it into this beautiful piece of glass.

Dahlia

27 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 21, 2012 in craft, family, knitting, Uncategorized

Tags: green glass, knitting, photos, Postaday, postaday2012

Harvest, Olive Tree and Montbretia with Cornflowers

20 Aug

1 We have harvested the last of our broad beans today – that feels both good and a bit sad. It means that Summer is almost over …….. They were delicious and I have frozen some for later.

The last of the broad beans

2 I pruned the Olive tree at the start of the summer (as advised) but was too hard on it and thought I’d killed it. Imagine my delight when I found these beautiful little shoots today! There are thirteen all together so it’s alive!

New shoots on the olive tree

3 Beautiful flowers from the garden.

Montbretia and Cornflowers

and a photo of Falmouth Bay from Carn Marth yesterday, for mixedupmeme

Falmouth Bay from Carn Marth

22 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 20, 2012 in Cornwall, environment, Falmouth, flowers, Food, garden, growing, nature, Uncategorized

Tags: broad beans, food, growing food, nature, olive tree, Postaday, postaday2012

Carn Marth Gig, A Murmuration of Bees and Hairy Dieters’ Delicious Dish

19 Aug

1 The gig at Carn Marth was beautiful! It was a lovely relaxed affair with the barbecue burning, children playing, scarecrows were being made for the competition and all while we were singing our hearts out, all 100 of us, all taught by Claire, and, after an horrendous forecast of torrential rain, the sun shone on us! Brilliant! I only have a picture of the three choirs enjoying our warm-up.

Inglehearts, Suitcases and Riversiders warming up prior to Carn Marth Gig

2 When I came home, I sat in the arbour at the back of the garden, knitting and listening to nothing but the murmuration of the bees and was reminded of this lovely piece by Tennyson, especially the last line.

“……………. and sweet is every sound,

Sweeter thy voice, but every sound is sweet;

Myriads of rivulets hurrying thro’ the lawn,

The moan of doves in immemorial elms,

And murmuring of innumerable bees.”

3 For supper tonight I made a delicious dish from the Hairy Bikers turned Dieters – Spanish Style Chicken Bake. I’ll post the recipe if anyone is interested. It was warm enough for us to eat outside tonight too. Lovely.

Spanish Style Chicken Bake a la Hairy Dieters with a couple of variations

P.S. For your information and delectation, ‘murmuration’ is the collective word for a flock of starlings as well as the sound of murmurings. Just thought you might like to know!

14 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 19, 2012 in baking, Carn Marth, Cornwall, Food, gigs, insects, music, nature, poetry, quotations, senses, singing, Uncategorized, Words

Tags: Carn Marth, Claire Ingleheart, Hairy Bikers, Hairy Dieters, Inglehearts, Postaday, postaday2012, Riversiders, Suitcases

Butterfly Proboscis, Translucent Nasturtium with Bee and Dancing Caterpillars

18 Aug

1 A friend sent me this beautiful picture today.Isn’t it just remarkable? Thank you, John.

Butterfly Proboscis…Tip of a Butterfly Tongue (720X) by Stephen S. Nagy, M.D.

2 The bees were very busy round the nasturtiums today. It was their sound that drew me over to them.

The sun shines through the nasturtium and through the bee’s wings

3 On one of the leaves of the nasturtiums, I found these little caterpillars and they were dancing! If you look carefully, you can see that some of them have their heads up – you can just see the shadow underneath. They did that for a second or so, rested a moment and were off again in almost synchronised movement. It was delightful to watch but very hard to capture on film.

Caterpillars dancing!

I’ve just looked up ‘dancing caterpillars’ and apparently they do it to put off predators. I must have looked very threatening but it was Mr S they needed to look out for!

25 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 18, 2012 in birds, insects, nature, Uncategorized

Tags: butterfly proboscis, Postaday, postaday2012, Stephen S Nagy M.D.

Raindrops, Truro Leats and Shopping (and Robert Frost)

17 Aug

1 Raindrop like diamonds on a spider’s web.

Raindrops

2 Since I was a little girl, I’ve loved the leats in Truro, the gutters where the river flows through the city and today, in the rain, they were really flowing.

The Leats in Truro city centre

3 Shopping! I love shopping and went to my favourite shops – the kitchen shop, the wool shop and, unusually for me , a clothes shop and today I bought a scarf! I love scarves!

Beautiful cup cake papers

Multi-coloured wool with which to knit Sally-boots

Tiny birds on my new scarf- a woodpecker, a thrush and others I’m not sure of but it is beautiful!

and for good measure, this beautiful poem which I have been talking to another blogger, Don, about this afternoon.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

And, finally, a message to some lovely likers – I love to visit the blogs of those who have been kind enough to read and like one of my posts but sometimes the Gravatar leads nowhere. I learned from another blogger about the importance of putting your blog address on as a link otherwise you can’t be found so please, if you want to be liked back, do put your link up. Thank you!

28 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 17, 2012 in knitting, nature, poetry, Truro, Uncategorized

Tags: blogging tip, nature, Postaday, postaday2012, Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, Truro Leats

Singing, Flowers and Skyping to Barcelona

16 Aug

1 I can’t tell you how much I love singing! At Suitcases this morning we sang through our gig list for the event on Sunday when all three of Claire’s choirs, about a hundred of us, will sing together in the amphitheatre at Carn Marth.

Kurt Vonnegut – Sing in the shower!

2 Before the rain started this afternoon, I managed to get this beautiful picture of a Daisy against the Crocosmia.

Daisy with Crocosmia

3 Daniel and Ami Skyped together from Barcelona! For those of you who haven’t followed their story, Daniel, our son, and Ami were married in Senegal in April, see Daniel and Ami’s Wedding and they are only now, more than four months later, able to live together as it has taken this long time to get Ami’s Visa.

It was so beautiful to see them together, smiling so much, laughing and delighting in the fact that they had just gone supermarket shopping together for a meal together in their own place! The very word ‘together’ is beautiful!

15 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 16, 2012 in Carn Marth, Cornwall, family, flowers, garden, music, nature, Senegal, singing, Wedding

Tags: Barcelona, choirs, Claire Ingleheart, crocosmia, Daniel and Ami's wedding, kurt vonnegut, Postaday, postaday2012, Senegal, Skype, Suitcase Singers

Cherries, Jam Doughnut and Another Simple Supper

15 Aug

1 Bought these cherries from the local greengrocer. Aren’t they beautiful?

Beautiful bowl of cherries

2 Couldn’t resist a jam doughnut from the local bakery! Can’t remember when I last had one. It was sooooo delicious!

Jam Doughnut

3 A very simple supper of Broad Bean and Shallot Risotto, the beans and the shallots all grown in our garden!

Broad Bean Risotto

14 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 15, 2012 in Food, growing, Uncategorized

Tags: beautiful bowl, bowl of cherries, Postaday, postaday2012, risotto, vegetarian

Photo Journal of our London Days including A Wall of Poetry and The Book Maze

15 Aug

After a beautiful train journey (with no photos!) we had three delightful days in London with KJ and family. Lucy was there too for some of the time which was lovely.

First, Saturday, the long tube ride to Waterloo Station, then the walk to the South Bank along which we found a wall full of poems! I so loved them, found them very moving and have chosen just a few to share with you. Then there was the Building of the Ark, the Rainbow Park, and the Festival Hall and lunch from the amazing multi-cultural food market. Sunday afternoon in the park was yet another delight.

Click on any photo for an enlargement.

: Tabitha in the tube train

: Concentrating

: Free Mivvis for all at Waterloo Station

: Poetry Parnassus

: From Exile by Mvula Ya Nangolo of Namibia

: Nayibamba Bophezu Kwemkhono by Msandi Kababa of Swaziland

: This Morning at Joy by Emelihter Kihleng of New Zealand

: The Daffodils From a Native’s Perspective by Sia Figiel from American Samoa

: I missed who wrote this one and have been unable to find out. Anybody know?

: No Regrets by Bryan Thao Worra from Laos

: Desire by Abdurahman A. Waberi from Djibouti

: Building the Ark for Ark-Ive by Wildworks

: Playing together in the Rainbow Park

: Blue, yellow and red sand in the Rainbow Park

: London Plane Tree bark

: Two of our lovely daughters

: ‘What do you think is in here, Granny?’

: Baklava and more tasty goodies

: Please read this – it’s brilliant!

: Enjoying a ‘Joy Car’

: Explaining the Book Maze

: Book Maze at The Festival Hall

: Where now?

: False trail

: Overview of the Book Maze

: Sunday afternoon walk in the park

: Sunday afternoon tree climbing

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 15, 2012 in art, family, literature, poetry, sculpture, Wildworks, Words

Tags: AmazeMe, American Samoa, arts, Djibouti, Festival Hall, Kenya, Laos, Namibia, New Zealand, Poetry Parnassus, Postaday, postaday2012, rainbow park, sunday afternoon in the park, Swaziland, Wildworks

Small Copper, Tin and Copper Mine and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

14 Aug

1 Mr S spotted a beautiful little butterfly on the trellis early this morning. It’s a Small Copper.

Small Copper butterfly

2 We loved doing the first of our walks from Sue Jackson’s book “Discover Cornwall” this morning! So good to have the author on the end of the phone when we got ‘lost’ – entirely our fault! The view from the top is amazing, all the way across Cornwall from one coast to the other! Photos from the walk follow –

Baronet’s Engine House

Granite marker

Carn Marth Amphitheatre, built in the old small quarry

Large quarry at Carn Marth

Glorious heather and gorse

Looking over to the North coast

3 Friends lent us the dvd of ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed it this evening – a delightful mix of laughter and tears.

10 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 14, 2012 in Carn Marth, Cornwall, insects, local history, nature

Tags: Baronet's Engine House, blogging, Carn Marth Amphitheatre, Discover Cornwall, Postaday, postaday2012, Small Copper, Sue Jackson, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Tin and Copper Mine

Little Legs, Lego and Journey Home

13 Aug

1 Tabitha stood still just long enough for me to get this picture!

Pretty socks and shoes

2 The Lego gift from Saturday is a big hit.

Playing with the new Lego

3 Isambard Kingdom Brunel has long been a hero of mine! This beautiful sculpture of the very elegant man sits on Paddington Station. Without his amazing work we wouldn’t have The Great Western Railway from London all the way to Penzance and our train ride to our family!