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Monthly Archives: March 2018

Bullfinch, Buds and Oak Tree

21 Mar

The Bullfinch came really close to the kitchen window today and seemed to be keeping an eye on us!

Bullfinch, photo taken through kitchen window

I’ve been out tidying up the garden this afternoon and was very happy to discover some buds on the Aquebia.

Aquebia buds

My walk took me down the lane again today. I love this Oak Tree and am watching it closely to see when the buds appear. I have in mind the old saying, “Oak before Ash, we are in for a splash. Ash before Oak, we are in for a soak,” so I am watching the Ash in next door’s garden too.

Oak tree over the lane

16 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 21, 2018 in Beauty, environment, nature, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: clematis

First Day of Spring and International Day of Happiness

20 Mar

Today is officially the First Day of Spring. Here are some Primroses and a SnowBaby for you to enjoy that I spotted on my walk back from town this morning.

Primroses

SnowBaby on a rock

The BBC is playing poems to celebrate Spring throughout the day. This one by Stevie Smith is a delight.

Black March.

I have a friend
At the end
Of the world.
His name is a breath

Of fresh air.
He is dressed in
Grey chiffon. At least
I think it is chiffon.
It has a
Peculiar look, like smoke.

It wraps him round
It blows out of place
It conceals him
I have not seen his face.

But I have seen his eyes, they are
As pretty and bright
As raindrops on black twigs
In March, and heard him say:

I am a breath
Of fresh air for you, a change
By and by.

Black March I call him
Because of his eyes
Being like March raindrops
On black twigs.

(Such a pretty time when the sky
Behind black twigs can be seen
Stretched out in one
Uninterrupted
Cambridge blue as cold as snow.)

But this friend
Whatever new names I give him
Is an old friend. He says:

Whatever names you give me
I am
A breath of fresh air,
A change for you.

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world” ~ Desmond Tutu

I have added the Roasted Cauliflower with Lentils recipe to my Recipes (Savoury). Click on the red link to find the recipe.

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 20, 2018 in Beauty, Food, Kindness, nature, Photography, poetry, Postaday2018

Tags: #BigIssue, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Black March, Desmond Tutu, snowbaby, Stevie Smith

Twelve Hours in Our Garden

19 Mar

The first photo I took across the back garden at 6.30 am. The snow stopped falling and I went out to have the fun I missed out on last time we had snow and built my Suffragette Snow Woman. Now the snow is almost completely gone, just odd icy remnants left behind. Click on any photo in the gallery for more detail.

Early morning snow covered back garden

Footprints

Building my Snow Woman

Suffragette Snow Woman

Welly Dog and Suffragette Snow Woman

Frittata for lunch

Our fountain from the top

Icicle hanging from Muker’s copper tail feathers

The snow has gone already

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 19, 2018 in Beauty, environment, Food, garden, nature, Photography, Postaday2018, sculpture

Tags: frittata, snow in Cornwall, snowscape, Suffragette Snow woman, Tinners Hound by David Kemp

Barmbrack, Snow and Roasted Cauliflower

18 Mar

Yesterday there was a recipe by Felicity Cloake for Barmbrack (basically a fruit loaf) in our weekend paper. The fruit had to soak in strong tea overnight so I set it going last night. We don’t like cherries so I substituted dried apricots and bits of crystallised ginger. I made the cake this morning and it is fabulous! I glazed it with ginger syrup from the ginger jar rather than making a sugar syrup. Success!

Barmbrack

Buttered? Not buttered?

The promised snow eventually came in at 3pm, not enough to make a snowman/woman which I had hoped but enough to make the garden very pretty. Click on any of the photos to see the detail of the birds.

Tete a Tete in the snow

Magpies

Snow patterns on the gate

Three different species

Snow patterns

Hungry birds

I found a tasty sounding recipe the other day, Roasted Cauliflower with Lentils and tried it this evening. Another scrumptious success.

Roasted Cauliflower with Lentils

Soulful Sunday – the snow makes for a very peaceful environment. I love the silence that comes with snowfall.

8 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 18, 2018 in Beauty, environment, Food, nature, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: feeding birds, Felicity Cloake, Roasted Cauliflower with Lentils

Garden Birds in Cold Cornwall

17 Mar

A bitter Easterly wind is battering us all again with snow already up-country and coming our way, in the far South West, tomorrow. The bird feeders have been very busy as if the birds know what’s coming and are stockpiling the food. We had to refill a second time today.

There were Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Blue Tits and Great Tits, Sparrows, Dunnocks and Pigeons, Blackbirds and Rooks as well as the ones I managed to catch on camera, shown below. It’s a pity it wasn’t the RSPB Great Bird Watch today!

Baby Bullfinch, all fluffed up against the cold

Magpie

Male Chaffinch

Robin coming for the meal-worms

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 17, 2018 in Beauty, Cornwall, environment, garden, nature, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: Bullfinch, Chaffinch, magpie, robin

Lone Yacht, Charles Dickens and Knitting

16 Mar

Walking today in another bitter and quite strong wind, we saw just one sailing boat in a beautifully coloured sea.

Lone yacht

It has been one of those March days so well described by Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

Knitting is receiving a very good press, research showing how it helps to calm the knitter!

Beautiful piece by Unknown – if anyone can help, I would love to give credit

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 16, 2018 in Beauty, Cornwall, environment, Gyllyngvase, knitting, Photography, Postaday2018, quotations, Sea

Spring Flowers and Two Poems for You

15 Mar

Our Crocus flowers opened wide for the brief sunshine this morning.

In the Suffragette garden, Crocus flowers and nearby bursting buds

A poem entitled March came my way recently and I share it with you here. Natasha Trethewey is another poet new to me. She is an American poet despite her Cornish name – Cornish heritage perhaps.

March 1912 – Natasha Trethewey

–Postcard, en route westward

At last we are near
breaking the season, shedding
our coats, the gray husk

of winter. Each tree
trembles with new leaves, tiny
blossoms, the flashy

dress of spring. I am
aware now of its coming
as I’ve never been—

the wet grass throbbing
with crickets, insistent, keen
as desire. Now,

I feel what trees must—
budding, green sheaths splitting—skin
that no longer fits.

It rained the rest of the day, tears running down the window panes, echoing the pain felt in our choir at the loss of one of our members. This poem also turned up recently and it seems the right moment to share it.

When you meet someone deep in grief

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 15, 2018 in Uncategorized

Tags: Natasha Trethewey, patricia mckernon runkle

Stephen Hawking, Rain and More Rain

14 Mar

We woke to the news that the amazing Stephen Hawking had died early this morning. The tributes to him have been wonderful and on The World at One this wonderful song of him with The Monty Python team was played. Here it is for you.

The following quotation came up today too. What a remarkable man he was in so many ways.

Stephen Hawking

It’s raining again! Here is Welly-dog with daffodils through a rainy window. I love the distortion brought about by the water on the glass.

Through a rainy window

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 14, 2018 in Beauty, garden, Humour, nature, Photography, Postaday2018, sculpture, singing, Uncategorized

Tags: Monty Python team, Professor Brian Cox

Spider, Camellia Flowers and Blue

13 Mar

I was photographing the delicate Narcissi when I noticed the spider within.

Spider on Narcissi and web lines

The lane we walk down to get to town is covered in dropped Camellia flowers. These two caught my eye, one recently fallen and one in a further state of decay.

Camellia flowers

The wall garden is looking pretty with blue Hyacinths and yellow Tete a Tete.

Blue with yellow

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 13, 2018 in Beauty, environment, garden, nature, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: Hyacinth, Tete a Tete

First Ice-Cream, Dedication and Sally-Boots

12 Mar

We went for a ‘Mother’s Day’ lunch today at The Gylly on the beach and it was delicious and much quieter than yesterday would have been. We also had our first scrumptious ice-creams of the season!

Roskilly’s Toffee Crunch ice-cream

Afterwards we did a short coastal walk to Swanpool and noticed for the first time the following lovely dedication on a bench.

When we miss you….

Last night I finished of a pair of Sally-boots for a baby expected any day now by one of my ex-pupils with whom I have stayed in touch. They are ready to post as soon as word comes through.