Another couple of pictures from Burncoose Garden a few days ago – looking up through branches at the lovely blue sky.
An enormous leaf from one of the Rhododendron plants.
A gull sitting on the fence in Falmouth yesterday. 
Today? Just local shopping and baking Coffee Cake for tomorrow’s market.
After singing in Penryn today, we went to Falmouth to see an exhibition of beautiful paintings by one of our choir members. We parked on Church Street carpark and so went up an alley called Upton Slip. There we met Ami, the large figurehead down Upton Slip, originally washed up from the wreckage of The Amazon ship not sure when but she has lived down the slip ever since.
Just on the beach there we noticed some large cubes and were fascinated to read what they are for.
Tonight we had fresh mackerel from the local fish shop. What beautiful markings on the skin, here marinading prior to a quick grilling.
Our garden is coming to life, just like Ute’s and it is such a joy. More and more Crocuses, even more Tete a Tete, buds on the Hydrangeas and flowers on the Camellias. Spring is on its way after such a long, wet and windy winter.
On yesterday’s walk, I loved the lichen and my camera caught every detail.
Early morning rainbow
Fading Camellia flower in Burncoose gardens
Rhododendron flower on the top of a bin at Burncoose Nursery
I have rediscovered my Nikon Coolpix A 900 camera and just love the detail in these flower photos.
Our singing rehearsal was in Porthtowan today with a view of the crashing waves – wonderful.
We’ve finished our Shakespeare’s London jigsaw. It’s been good fun on the wet and windy days. 
We have a beautiful Almanac which has a recipe each month. Today I made the one for February, Oat and Blueberry Crumble Cake and it is delicious.
Another hoolie, another day to read! I started ‘Black Butterflies’ by Priscilla Morris, yesterday and was unable to put it down until I finished it this afternoon. My, what a talent this young woman has. This is her first novel and it is stunning. It is set in Sarajevo in 1992 and is deeply moving. It’s a love letter to humanity, to the power of art, to family, to a Sarajevo under siege and to love itself. And, it is beautifully written. 
A friend sent me this poem, knowing how I appreciate the small things, the “lovely things” that are all around us if we can take the time to stop and to notice. .
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Primroses at the bottom of a wall
We met a singing friend in town today and were talking about the interesting stones that can be found at the beach, especially at Porthtowan. I was reminded of a photo I had seen sometime ago and determined to look it up and here it is – An Alphabet of Stones. I suspect a few may have been chalked but love the idea. We have found a few – an A, an X, an H and an O and are always on the lookout for more.
Thanks to the anonymous person who collected these.
Chopping veg for a stir-fry, I felt this rather beautiful mushroom needed a photo before it was sliced up.
Sitting in the lovely Grow Box cafe at Krowji, having a cuppa with a good friend, I was taken with the occasional sunbeams highlighting the dried orange slices decorating the windows.
On the way out I noticed the feather that someone has put on the arrow pointing the way to the cafe.
In the car park, while waiting for my lift (my lovely Beetle is in the garage), I watched some workmen loading thier van and liked the painting on the side. 
There being no choir today as it is half term, a good friend from the tenors came round for coffee and we spent a happy couple of hours ‘putting the world to rights’ – if only we could! P brought me some beautiful Camellia blooms from her garden.
The following quotation is one to be treasured and acted upon.
Our choir leader, Claire Ingleheart, has spent the afternoon at Buckingham Palace! Since both her choirs started raising money for Shelter Box in 2015, even despite the ‘covid years’, between the two choirs, we have raised £7,800 and as recognition of this, Claire was invited as one of the ShelterBox contingent to a reception being held by the King and Queen at the Palace for four Humanitarian charities. What an honour! We are looking forward to hearing all about it next week.
Getting the fruit out of the freezer for the smoothies, I noticed the beautiful ice crystals on the bag of homegrown raspberries.
Here are the delicious smoothies I made for breakfast using Daughter no 1’s recipe.
I think we have decided on the place for the painting we bought a few weeks ago. I fell in love with it then and find it draws me to wander along the path to the sea.
by Rachael Mia Allen
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