1 Today’s the day we have taken over until lunchtime on Monday. The children have been a delight – of course!
2 Beautiful bark on the London Plane Trees so beloved of Mr S. Picture to come.
3 Tree climbing, Pooh stick races and ice creams in the park. Some Grandparently indulgence perhaps…….A beautiful day with beautiful little people!
1. A delightful day out along the South Bank where the atmosphere was truly beautiful – Londoners, visitors of all ages from all over the country and from all over the world, Olympians and lovely volunteers. There was singing, break dancing, art work and poems, a Rainbow Park made of sand for children and an Ark being built by the Wildworks team!
2. There was the most amazing food market with food from all over the world – amazing smells, lots of delicious samples to be had and a very tasty lunch in the glorious sunshine.
3. In the Festival Hall there was a Maze made of books! Lego packs were being given away! And the lift sings to its passengers! I just loved that – and joined in!
You’ll have to wait for pictures, I’m afraid, as my iPad won’t allow me to upload photos but they will be worth it!
1 A train journey of five and a half hours to read, knit, chat and watch…..
2 …..the beautiful English countryside go by.
3 Spending laughing time with Jake and Tabitha.
1 I wanted to see Ben Ainslie’s golden post box in the wall at The Pandora Inn so we went down there for another beautiful lunch.
2 The Chocolate Cosmos has changed on Day 2 . It is now matt – still beautiful and with a delicate fragrance of chocolate. The garden is looking really beautiful at the moment.
3 On our drive to a cliff walk at Chapelporth, the Cornish hedgerows were blazing orange as the Crocosmia has come into flower. It is magnificent.
We’re off to London tomorrow to babysit for the weekend! Posts may be brief and may have no photos!
1 Shopping for maps for our trip planning today. The bookshop has a beautiful mural of the front cover of a children’s book ‘The Mousehole Cat’ (pronounced Mouzzle!) up the stairs.
‘The Mousehole Cat’ by Antonia Barber
2 On Lemon Quay in Truro on Wednesdays and Saturdays there is the farmers’ market. Today I first bought some delicious Cornish strawberries and then some tasty breads and two saffron buns from The Cornish Mill and Bakehouse.
The Cornish Mill and Bakehouse stall with saffron buns being got for me!
3 I cannot quite believe how shiny and beautiful these Chocolate Cosmos flowers are when they first open!
Chocolate Cosmos flower, just opened today
1 A little moth was waiting on the doorstep when I returned this morning. I looked it up and it is an Oak Scalloped Moth, very delicate and beautiful. I love its furry little head.
Oak Scalloped Moth
2 The Cistus, Snow Fire is nearly over but there are still some very beautiful blooms. The purpley bits in the middle are remarkable.
Cistus, Snow fire
3 A beautifully simple supper tonight of Welsh Rarebit with Onions and Ale – delicious but not very photogenic!
1 Curiosity landed on Mars! Isn’t that just a lovely thing to hear? I love that name!
2 I parked near a stream this morning when I went to meet my Baby Naming family. It was so lovely. The sound of the water was beautiful, the reeds lovely and the whole experience very peaceful and I loved it. I just wish I could give you the sound as well as a photo.
The stream in St Erth
3 Driving home from a fabulous choir session tonight (where my part was changed to my initial consternation but in fact it is a beautiful part that suits my voice even better! Thank you Claire and I’m sorry I was grumpy!) I came across this peacock in a garden! I stopped to take a picture but was somewhat hurried so unfortunately it’s a bit blurred but how often does that happen?!
Peacock in someone’s drive!
1 I have learned this morning from Cathy that today, the first Sunday in August, is Sister Day, a day for celebrating Sisterhood. This post therefore is for my Sisters
Happy Sister Day to you all!
Painting by Daisy – a present for you all
2 From pennycoho I have collected this beautiful Award which she has invented and for which there are no rules! She only asks that we please share it with all our fellow Bloggers! Have a look at her blog for her full explanation.
I BeLOnG
3 Mr S and I had an attack of the sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) this afternoon so I made some delicious Chocolate Cracklets using my Mum’s recipe. They are just the best – chocolatey, gooey, full of raisins and crunchy! What more could a sweet tooth want?! 🙂
Chocolate Cracklets
1 This beautiful Day Lily flowered for the first time today.
2 We went early to Miss Peapod’s to rehearse and this amazing rainbow appeared over the Penryn River.
Rainbow over the Penryn River
Double rainbow
Rainbow reflected in the river
3 Tonight’s gig at Miss Peapod’s was brilliant and Claire wore these beautiful shoes!
Beautiful shoes
1 I was stopped for a while behind a van this morning and noticed three snails hitching a ride on the back doors!
Snails on the back of a van – look closely!
2 This dahlia was broken by the wind so we have brought it in. Isn’t it just beautiful in the almost invisible vase?
White dahlia
3 I’ve been working on a Baby Naming Ceremony this afternoon and the following is one of the readings the parents have chosen. It’s more words that I usually give you but it’s worth reading. I would add just one line – ‘Look every day for the beauty that is all around you.’ I’ve put my favourite lines in italics.
Everybody’s Free (to wear sunscreen) Mary Schmich Chicago Tribune
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97… wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are NOT as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography, in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen.
Everybody’s Free for the Baz Luhrmann version.
4 Especially for ChocChip Uru who loved the poppy seed head yesterday – a side view, a flower and a bee.
Poppy, seed-head and bee
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