1 There’s a poem I’ve loved for a long time about wearing purple and behaving outrageously as you get older. This morning, as we were waiting for the train to come to London to babysit, I saw this vision in purple and loved that she hasn’t waited!
2. The five hour train journey from Cornwall to London is a delight to me – time to read and with the glorious English countryside going past outside the window.
3. We went with KJ to collect T from Nursery and when she saw us she ran across to give us hugs. What a delight!
1 In our main street, Fore Street, is the Town Clock which has been there since the 1700’s. In 1828 the former wooden tower was demolished and replaced by a stone tower. In 1904 Clock Tower was extended by a section because new buildings had grown up which prevented the miners up the hill from seeing the clock face. Few people had clocks in their homes at this time so it was important that the clock was visible all over town. As the plaque says, in 1841 the open arches at ground level were closed in for use as Police cells!
Plaque about our Town Clock
Door in the Clock Tower, to the prison cells perhaps……..
Redruth Town Clock
2 I love primroses, so delicate and coming into flower in all our hedges now as a herald of Spring.
Primroses in the Cornish hedge
3 Today I’ve been introduced to The Piano Guys by Alex Autin. Check out her blog – it’s fascinating and do listen to this lovely rendition of Twinkle Lullaby and marvel at the Utah desert skies. I promise you, it will be a beautiful moment of tranquility in your busy day.
1 I love the velvety texture of the moss and the crinkly-ness of the lichen.
Curly edged lichen
Moss with a velvety texture
2 Over a neighbour’s garden wall I spotted this beautiful patch. I love the turquoise behind the flowers and the air-grid too.
A neighbour’s garden
3 I visited the blog of a new follower today and found some very interesting writing. Take a look here. One of her posts featured a fan and I was reminded of some family fans tucked away somewhere.
I found them, all wrapped up with love. They are all very fragile and very beautiful. The feathery one was Mum’s and the two hand-painted lace ones were Granny’s so are over 100 years old.
Beautiful feather fan
Feather fan detail
Pale yellow and lace fan
Pale yellow fan, painted detail
Violet and lace fan
Violet fan, painted detail
All three fans, the biggest is 12″ long and the others 9″ and 10″
Just heard the news about the Muckle Flugga monster! A huge ling caught by line! Look it up! It’s as tall as the man who caught it!
1 The sun was so bright this morning that there were shadows on the blinds of the window bird feeder and the beautiful Cedrus Atlantica.
Shadows on the blind
Cedrus Atlantica
2 The sun went in, a bitter wind came in gusts so accubation was the choice. I curled up with one of my favourites, ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’, our next Book Group book. (Thanks to Shelagh for introducing me to this pleasing new word.)
3 Excellent session singing with The Inglehearts this evening. Every week I see this delightful wall hanging made by the pupils of Troon Primary School where we rehearse.
1 Spring can’t be too far away. The days are longer and the Spring flowers showing their colours.
Spring flowers from above
Spring flowers in the wall
2 The water from cooking some purple sprouting broccoli was so beautiful. Even the scratches on this 46 year old Pyrex bowl make a pretty design!
Purple cooking water
3 A few days ago we cleared out the overgrown herbs and today the lovely Mr S has replanted and it’s looking good! There are three kinds of Thyme to add to the others already in the wall, further around the curve – Lemon Thyme, a prostrate variety called Pink Ripple and a variegated one called Foxley – and a Sage that will have white flowers. I take a special delight in the Saffron Crocuses which have already flowered this year but the Nursery assures me there will be some Saffron to harvest next year! I’ll be able to make Saffron Buns with our own saffron!
I love how the waves always appear to be rolling forward even when the tide is going out. Click on any photo to see beautiful detail. All these have been taken on the North Coast of Cornwall where the waves are wonderful in any weather.
1 Our first Brambling visited this morning and was feeding for quite a long time. I had to take the photos from inside the kitchen at about 3 meters away so they aren’t the best shots. Isn’t he a handsome bird?
Our first Brambling
2 I moved on to my first Grade 2 piece this morning. It both looks and feels hard to play! However, G, my teachers was full of praise for the progress I’ve made recently so I’m hoping that, with lots of practice, the piece will start to look less frightening!
3 While working in the garden today, the lovely Mr S spotted a tiny purple crocus in the lawn. It’s a serendipitous mystery to us as we haven’t planted it there.
1 After some bitterly cold shopping in the town, I called into Murdoch House for a warming coffee. William Murdock,whose house this was, made the first locomotive and tested it here in 1784. He also invented gas lighting and used it first in this house. According to The Encyclopaedia Britannica , ‘he was sent to Cornwall to superintend the fitting of Watt’s steam engines. At his home in Redruth, Cornwall, he experimented in distilling coal and in 1792 lighted his cottage and offices with coal gas.’
Murdoch House
William Murdoch, inventor of gas lighting
2 There is a beautiful cherry tree on the walk back up the hill.
Cherry tree
Cherry blossom
3 The delicate pastel patterns on this piece of bark which had fallen onto the pavement caught my attention as the pink echoed the pink of the cherry blossom.
1 Had a lovely visit with L who is only 7 weeks off having her baby. She is using some of my Granny’s crochet squares which my Mum had kept for ever and making them into a cot blanket. The blanket will have been made by the baby’s Mum and his/her Great Great Granny! What a treasure that will be.
Crochet squares made by the baby’s Great Great Granny
2 From L&T’s window can be seen a great variety of bird life including a Cock Pheasant and his four lady friends, two pairs of Woodpeckers, multitudes of Tits, Nuthatches, Siskins, Robins, Jays, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Chaffinches and Sparrows.
Cock pheasant and two of his wives
Woodpecker
3 Driving home into the sunset, the sun’s rays were quite dramatic in the obnubilating sky. New word? It was to me too. See this post.
1 We bought some lovely tender stem broccoli yesterday and today had it for lunch, asparagus style, with a beautifully poached very fresh egg. Delicious!
Poached egg on steamed broccoli
2 There was such a bitter wind today and this rather pretty pigeon was feeling the cold as were we.
Huddled-up pigeon
3 Walking home up the lane, this fluffy little pale blue-tipped feather was being blown around. Whose might it have been?
Blue Tipped Feather
And a bonus tonight. As I was just writing this, I realised that the sunset was really rather lovely so here you are, dear readers: tonight’s lovely, somewhat subdued, sunset.
