I posted these words five years ago and they still work for me.
Monthly Archives: August 2025
Dawn, Sweet Peas and Japanese Anemones
I haven’t been up to see the dawn for a very long time but the family were leaving early for their long drive home so I caught the gorgeous peachy clouds of the morning. The house is now too quiet. 
Our Sweet Peas are still gorgeous. I’ve taken a photo today as Cornwall has a yellow weather warning for heavy rain overnight so they may not be as lovely tomorrow.
The Japanese Anemones are lovely too, today. 
Family, Circus and Singing
Another lovely family day with Daughter no 3 joining us, and the family already with us, for the day. Lunch in the garden, a trip to the circus, my second to see the brilliant No Fit State Circus, and a breathtaking time was had by all nine of us. Dinner was cooked for us by our son-in-law and then I went off to sing shanties with my choirs joined by LiveWire3 who has sung with the Suitcase Singers on each holiday here since she was five years old. It’s always a special joy to have T in the choir with me. The rest of the family came along to join the audience. 
I’ve said it already but if you are local, don’t miss this treat on our doorstep. The circus is here until the end of the month and locals can get tickets for only £10! I wrote about my first visit here.
Wild Seas and Celebrations
With the family here we decided to go down to The Blue Bar for a celebratory dinner – to celebrate brilliant GCSE results for LiveWire 2 and our 58th Wedding Anniversary. The seas were wild, in fact the beach was closed earlier today as the effects of Hurricane Erin brought huge swells. Here’s the BBC report of the dangers of the water today.
Here we are 58 years ago on our wedding day. We met in October ’66, got engaged 10 weeks later in January ’67 and married 10 months after meeting and no-one told us we were too young or being too hasty. I guess they could see we were meant for each other.
Although we had Siamese cats at home, this one following us was not ours but just turned up, a very welcome guest!
Jigsaw and Evening Sky
In odd moments over the last 6 weeks while my lovely Mr S has been recuperating but not up up standing and helping, I’ve been doing a fascinating jigsaw that has been quite a challenge and I’ve loved every little detail. The artist who designed ‘In the Bookstore’ is Giacomo Gambineri.
Daughter no 2 and family arrived this evening for a few days and we went for a stroll on the cliffs at St Agnes.
A Veg Bag, Flowers and A Poem
I went up to Roots this afternoon to collect a veg bag that had been left behind by a subscriber who has gone on holiday and what a treat! Tomatoes, aubergine, courgette – all destined for a ratatouille tomorrow – as well as squash, chilli, two kind of beans, carrots, lettuce and some mushrooms.
We ate the pattypan squash for tea!
There was no-one else there so I took a gentle walk around the garden hearing nothing but bird song and bees and took photos of lots of the flowers planted to help the pollinators.
Helichrysum Bracteatum Straw Flower
Not sure about this one
Echinacea
Thistle seed head producing ‘fairies’
?
Cornflower
Marguerite
Helichrysum Bracteatum Straw Flower
Helichrysum Bracteatum Straw Flower
I tried to catch a bee on a flower but they were too busy buzzing from one to the next. I wanted a photo to accompany Kim Ridgeon’s delightful poem but it is already illustrated so here’s the poem with thanks to Kim for letting me share it with you all. 
Plume Moth and A Good Read
I saw my second Plume Moth today. They are remarkably delicate creatures.
I’ve just finished reading the latest book from the ShelterBox Book Club and loved it. It’s a story of love and tensions within a family, motherhood over generations and the abundance of Gujarati food shared at all the family gatherings. The writer draws you right into the family and their distress when they learn that their mother, the narrator, has a terminal diagnosis and examines their differing reactions as the months go by. The online discussions will be interesting and I really look forward to the Q&A with the author Amit Majmudar who, we are told, “is a diagnostic nuclear radiologist as well as a poet and author. ” As it says on the cover, this story is “heartbreakingly lovely.” 
Cream Tea, Dinner and Solidarity
Friends we haven’t seen for too long came around today and we had a Cornish Cream Tea with home-made Strawberry freezer jam and a good dollop of Cornish Cream.
Most unexpectedly and very pleasingly, they brought with them dinner for us two tonight, Jerk Chicken, so all I had to do tonight was heat it up and boil some rice. It was delicious.
Thank you so much, M.
I told you a few weeks ago about what local artists have been doing to raise awareness about Palestine. If you are local, here’s what can happen next.
Marmalade and Sunflowers
It was time to make the second batch of the year of Smiths’ Marmalade so today we’ve made 12lbs in a variety of sized jars, some family size, some give-away size and some just enough for breakfast in bed or for taking for friends when we all go out for breakfast together. As regular readers will know, my lovely Dad is always there in the kitchen with me when I’m making marmalade as when I was only 10 years old, he taught me how to make marmalade with him so I could get my Brownie Badge and I made it with him every year after that until I left home. 
I bought a bunch of sunflowers today and they are very cheering. 
Buttons, Knitting and Some Advice
I found both the patience and the time this afternoon to sew up another of the little jackets I am knitting for babies in Ukraine. I have three more knitted and all in pieces but so dislike sewing up that they’ve been waiting a while. Happily the truck going to Ukraine isn’t going for a while. I am using the mother-of-pearl buttons that were my Grandfather’s sample ones when he was a button salesman in the 1920s so they are 100 years old! It gives me enormous pleasure to handle them, to sew them on and to make every little jacket extra special. 
Note to self from Sallie G – she’s right!
