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Monthly Archives: December 2015

Just the Best Day Ever!

Surrounded by family, with friends dropping in, messages to read, cards to open and special meals and treats of all sorts, I have been wrapped in love all day! Join me for some photos, from breakfast of Eggs Benedict, through a visit to the beach and tonight’s starter, eaten with the Grandchildren, then fireworks and dinner for the grown-ups now that the LiveWires are all

in bed.

They made this for me and I commissioned this piece for them, from Kate of Cornish Bird in the Sticks and everybody loves it. We have the canvas copy and each family has one. Thank you Kate for a brilliant piece of work.

14 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 31, 2015 in Beauty, Celebration, Cornwall, family, Food, Happiness, Kindness

Tags: Cornishbirdinthe sticks, family love

Beautiful Day

30 Dec

It blew a hoolie and the rain poured down and we had a beautiful day with our Littlest Live-Wire, then everyone else arrived for dinner together of the Christmas Pie and salads. Happy days!

Decorating the stairs

Playing with the Welly Dogs

Splashing in puddles

1 Comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 30, 2015 in Beauty, Grandchildren, Happiness, Photography, Postaday 2015

Tags: Tinners Hounds by David Kemp

Sand Dog, Floor Piano and Little Hands

29 Dec

Walking around Truro this afternoon we came across this wonderful sand dog being made. It looked very realistic.

Sand sculpture

Littlest Live-Wire arrived this afternoon and opened her Christmas present of a floor piano.

Playing on the floor piano

At her nursery she had made this delightful picture of Rudolph with her hands and her feet.

Rudolph

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 29, 2015 in art, Beauty, Christmas decorations, photography, Postaday 2015, sculpture

Tags: sand sculpture

Christmas Pie, Hyacinths and First Arrival

28 Dec

For many, many years I made a raised Christmas Pie for Boxing Day but after the children left home it was too much for the pair of us. This year everyone will be here for my special birthday on New Year’s Eve so I have made the fabulous contraption for the first night they will all be here, 30th December. They are all in charge of the cooking for the rest of their stay! Good job we brought them all up well to be excellent cooks!

Christmas Pie

The Hyacinths that I planted for Christmas are just in flower.

White hyacinth

Our son, D, who now lives in Barcelona, has arrived this evening for the week of celebrations! Yippee!

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 28, 2015 in baking, Beauty, Celebration, family, Food, nature, Photography, Postaday 2015

Tags: Hyacinth, Raised Christmas Pie

Penguins, A Window and A Primrose

27 Dec

We visited some special lovely friends this morning and were very taken by the beautiful penguins visiting their beautifully simple Swedish Nativity scene!

Nativity with penguins

I loved this window in their laundry/wet room – just delightful and cheery.

Stained glass window, one of two

In our front garden, on our return, we spotted some Primroses – so lovely, one of my favourite Spring flowers.

Primroses in December

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 27, 2015 in Beauty, Christmas, Christmas decorations, friendship, nature, photography, Postaday 2015

Tags: Nativity scene

A Warm Windy Walk on Boxing Day

26 Dec

I am so very happy! Today I have done a proper walk around the back, a walk that I have not done for over a year. That steroid injection has put me back to where I was before the rotten seats at the cinema in October and I can walk happily again, up hills, on rough ground, nearly being blown over and I feel fabulous! Join us by looking at our gallery, almost every photo out of focus as the wind was so very strong but showing what is in flower right now in this unseasonably warm weather.

Palm trees in the wind

Gorse

Wheal Uny

Bramble flowers

Pink Campion

Celandine

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 26, 2015 in Beauty, Cornwall, environment, Happiness, nature, Photography, Postaday 2015

Tags: Wheal Uny Engine House, wild flowers

A Full Cornish and Wild Seas

25 Dec

Full Cornish breakfasts were on offer for anyone who wanted to turn up this Christmas morning at Gweal An Top in Redruth. There were lots of volunteers cooking, serving and washing up. A full Cornish breakfast has – eggs, bacon and sausages, fried bread and beans, mushrooms and tomato, fried potato and Hog’s Pudding, a Cornish speciality – an amazing spread! What a kind and beautiful thing to do for people who are perhaps alone or those for whom a Christmas dinner is not on the menu. Well done to the organisers and all the lovely volunteers.

A Full Cornish Breakfast

A Christmas Day tradition for our family and many others is to go to the beach on Christmas Day, whatever the weather and so we did in wild, wild winds! A number of my dear friends are among those for whom the tradition is to swim in the sea on Christmas Day! Some of them were off to Carbis Bay to swim today but I haven’t yet heard how they got on.

Wild seas at Porthtowan

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 25, 2015 in Beauty, Cornwall, Food, Kindness, Photography, Porthtowan, Postaday 2015, Sea

Tags: Full Cornish breakfast, wild seas

Our N.H.S., Christmas Lights and Happy Christmas to All

24 Dec

Our NHS is wonderful! I went for my 12 month check up today for my Total Hip replacement done at the end of last year and as we walked to the clinic, we were remembering the pain I was in a year ago and now I am walking well, due entirely to the skill of the Surgeon who has given me two new hips. In fact, I am walking even better after our visit with the Consultant as he dealt with some pain I have been having since a visit to the cinema in October, with a Cortisone injection and now I am walking on air!
There were some lovely paintings in the waiting room, all by Susie Grindey, and all of lovely places in Cornwall. This one is of Godrevy Lighthouse, a favourite haunt of ours.

By Susie Grindey

The lovely Mr S has put up our Tree of Lights in the garden this afternoon and it looks beautiful though somewhat incongruous with the daffodils in the foreground!

Tree of lights

I want to wish all my lovely Readers, all over the world, in 100 different countries, a Happy Christmas time and a Peaceful and Healthy New Year. Thank you for reading, following, liking and especially for commenting. All the very best to you all.

15 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 24, 2015 in Beauty, Cornwall, painting, Photography, Uncategorized

Tags: Susie Grindey

Tree, Aldous Huxley and Christmas Food

23 Dec

Our beautiful fabric tree from Poland is on the inner front door as always.

Our fabric tree from Poland

These words from Aldous Huxley offer advice to us all.

My recipe for Smoked Salmon and Prawn Stack has had over 2000 views this month! How lovely to think of so many people having this starter for their Christmas meal and there is another day to go yet! It delights me that my recipes get so many views. In the Autumn my Runner Bean Soup gets all the attention!
I collected the meat for our Christmas dinner from our local butcher today and, as usual, he gave me a big bag of turkey bones to make the stock in advance of the day. The kitchen smells wonderful with the stock simmering away.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 23, 2015 in Beauty, Food, Photography, quotations

Tags: Christmas lunch starter, Smoked Salmon and Prawn Stack, turkey stock

Margaret Mead, Surprises and A Refubishment

22 Dec

Let’s do it!

It is lovely to see how a real eyesore in our town, The Hollies Hotel which had been destroyed in a fire, has now been converted into five one-bedroom flats which will be let to local people in housing need. The newly refurbished building is now known as Kelyn House, with Kelyn being the Cornish word for holly.

Kelyn House – Thank you to The West Briton for the photo.

Some months ago, I commissioned a local artist to make us something very special and today it was delivered, meeting all expectations! I will show you in the New Year!