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Monthly Archives: April 2013

Suffragettes, Beach Walk and Suffragette Garden

1 After a happy morning immersing ourselves in the history of Suffragettes, in particular, the March in 1913 from Cornwall up to Hyde Park and A Suffragette Diary, we enjoyed a splendid lunch, mussels for C and Asparagus in Parma ham for me!

Books we were using, ‘Badge of Honour’ (UK) and ‘Tie to the Past’ (USA title) written by my Dad

Steaming Cornish Mussels

Asparagus in Parma Ham with Mozzarella and Spinach Pesto

2 After lunch we walked in the beautiful Spring sunshine down the beach to the shoreline.

Waves at Porthtowan

Sand puddles and patterns

Patterns in the pools

3 My Suffragette garden, honouring my Great Grandmother and all those imprisoned in Holloway and force fed in their fight to gain the vote for women, is looking splendid in today’s sunshine – white and purple tulips, white narcissi and purple and white pansies.

Purple, white and green garden

Purple tulip

20 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 30, 2013 in Eating out, History, nature, photography, Porthtowan, Postaday2013, Sea, Suffragettes

Tags: A Tie to the Past, Antonia Raeburn, Badge of Honour, David Wiseman, The Militant Suffragettes

Weekly Photo Challenge – Culture

30 Apr

Families are the same the world over, whatever the culture. Here, the Mum has just finished getting the family into height order for Dad to take the family portrait and he all the while calling out in a voice that sounded as if he were warning his wife not to step any further backwards!

Day out together at Humayun’s Tomb

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 30, 2013 in family, India, photography, Postaday2013, travel, Weekly photo challenge

Tags: family portrait, Humayun's Tomb

Broad Beans, Arenaria Montana and “Summertime”

29 Apr

1 Our Autumn sown Broad beans are in flower and the bees have been buzzing around.

Broadbeans in flower

2 I love these little white flowers of Arenaria Montana which will go on all Summer right through to the first frost.

Arenaria Montana

3 Singing tonight was brilliant. We are doing ‘Summertime’ from Porgy and Bess and tonight it suddenly came together and sounded good.

11 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 29, 2013 in flowers, Food, garden, growing, music, nature, photography, Postaday2013, singing

Tags: Arenaria Montana, broad beans, Porgy and Bess, Summertime, The Ingleheart Singers

Grand-Baby, Chicken Pie and Woodland Walk

28 Apr

1 Our beautiful Grand -Baby B is safely home after 13 days and we visited today. What a joy! The tiniest cardigan that I made will fit for just another couple of weeks!

Baby B fast asleep

Joining in the singing of Skinnymarinka!

2 We took lunch with us – a beautiful Chicken Pie which went down very well.

Chicken Pie

3 After lunch, we all had a walk in the lovely woodland that surrounds their home finding wild flowers, beautiful trees in bud and even a Red Deer in the distance. The others saw two Roe Deer but I only heard them crashing through the undergrowth.

Bank of Primroses and Violets

Moss covered trees

Signs of Spring

Buds

Look carefully – there’s a Red Deer

19 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 28, 2013 in animals, environment, flowers, Food, Grandchildren, nature, photography, Postaday2013, trees

Tags: chicken pie, Red Deer, Roe Deer, woodland

Last Night’s Moon, Nest Building and A Miniature Horse

27 Apr

1 I was catching up with blogs late last night and discovered Alastair’s post about a pink moon. That made me realise that the moon was just past full. I looked out of the window to discover a beautiful big moon, low in the sky and almost full and so out I went to capture it if possible. I have no tripod so this is far from perfect but I love the way it shines through the foliage.

Last night’s moon

2 We saw this pair of Jackdaws yesterday. He was working so hard collecting for the nest while she sat there appearing to say, “Well, keep going! That’s not enough yet!”

“Is this enough?”

“Okay! That’ll do for now!”

3 Working in the front garden this afternoon, we heard a soft neighing and looked up to see this tiny horse going by. The owner was very happy to hold him still so that I could take a photo and told us that his name was Boris.

Beautiful little Boris

20 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 27, 2013 in animals, birds, environment, nature, photography, Postaday2013

Tags: full moon, Jackdaws, miniature horse, nest building

Weekly Photo Challenge – Culture

26 Apr

We experienced a whole different culture when we went to a wedding in Senegal last year. This is the guests dancing after the ceremony which took place in a marquee on the roof

Guests at the wedding dancing the night away

17 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 26, 2013 in photography, Postaday2013, Senegal, travel, Weekly photo challenge

Tags: Senegalese wedding, Weekly photo challenge - culture

Copper Beech, Tree Peony and Porthleven

26 Apr

1 The buds on next door’s Copper Beech are almost ready to burst.

Copper Beech buds ready to burst

2 This Tree Peony that we found in a nursery in The Lizard has flowers of about 6″ across- quite remarkable and very beautiful.

Tree Peony

3 Porthleven was a windy spot this afternoon but the sea in the harbour was such a beautiful colour. It was less windy by the beach but it was still deserted.

Turquoise water in Porthleven Harbour

The beach at Porthleven

8 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 26, 2013 in Cornwall, flowers, nature, photography, Porthleven, Postaday2013, trees

Tags: copper beech, tree peony, turquoise sea

Beautiful Eggs, Forget-me-nots and Amber Bowl

25 Apr

1 Today’s eggs are so beautiful – feathers and straw included!

Today’s beautiful organic and free range eggs

2 The Forget-me-nots are in flower providing a haze of blue in the back garden.

Forget-me-nots

3 I like to put Narcissi in Mum’s vase at this time of year as Mum always did. This amber coloured glass bowl with its special weighted inner with holes to separate the flowers was one of their Wedding presents in 1939!

Narcissi in Mum’s vase

Looking down into the bowl and the flower holder

11 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 25, 2013 in family history, flowers, Food, nature, photography, Postaday2013

Tags: 1939, forget-me-nots, free range eggs, narcissi, organic eggs

Bluebell, Clematis and Bombylius Major

24 Apr

1 Our first Bluebell is just about to open. I love bluebells.

Our first Bluebell

2 There are lots of pretty blue and white Clematis Macropetala flowers in the front garden.

Clematis Macropetala

3 While taking more photos for the Weekly Photo Challenge, I could hear buzzing so set off to find the bumblebee. I had never seen a bee like this with such a long proboscis so came to look it up and discovered that it may be beautiful to look at, it is not beautiful in its behaviour and it isn’t actually a bee but a Bee Fly.

Bombylius Major on the Lithodora, Heavenly Blue

Another view – Bombylius Major on the Rosemary, showing the wings

According to Wikipedia, The large bee fly, Bombylius major, is a bee mimic. The eggs are flicked by the adult female toward the entrance of the underground nests of solitary bees and wasps. After hatching, the larvae find their way into the nests to feed on the grubs.^[1]