My day got better today when LiveWire no2 called to ask if I could bake with him. Of course! Video call and ingredients all ready, we spent a happy couple of hours making Choc Chip and Raisin Cookies. Our lovely neighbour likes it when I bake with him too as we share out the results.
A late parcel arrived yesterday wrapped in this delightful brown wrapping paper.
We really needed a different place to walk today so drove a few miles to the North coast. Our walk was short in the bitterest of chill winds!
The beautiful Autumn day saw us just take our local walk where there was a surprising amount of colour – and lots of blackberries still to snack on.
Much of my day was spent completing the next set of masks for our Barcelona family. That’s 49 I’ve made altogether, for us, family and friends and I think that’s enough!
Masks for Mum, Dad, teenage daughter and three year old twins
Daughter No 3 has been here for the day along with her partner and their daughter and what a truly lovely day we have had together hanging out in the garden, having lunch and then a lively walk along the Flat Lode Trail. We haven’t seen them all for many months so this afternoon had its emotional moments.
Dancing up the trail
Two generations looking out of Wheal Uny
We spotted a little moth on the down pipe.I think it’s a Striped Twin-spot Carpet moth.
While the grownups were chatting, LiveWire No 4 declared herself bored and her daddy introduced us to a beautiful poem, ” You’re Bored, Child? ” by Felix Dennis, a poet new to me but one I intend to find out more about. Read it aloud, hear the assonance  and the alliteration, picture  ‘life’s miracle’ unfolding in front of you. I love it!
Look at the birds.
Learn to listen to their chatter,
Their flitting, twittering flights for no
Discernible purpose; the clatter
And the cawing of that black crow,
The furtive, dry-leaved peck and scrape
Of blackbirds blundering in a bush
Seeking worms and beetles; the shape
Of the wagtail’s wing; the shove and push
Of tits among the bacon rinds;
The eerie, invisible knock,
Knock knock as a woodpecker finds
A bark grub; the wheeling starling flock.
Look at the birds.
Look at the earth.
Scoop up a handful in your palm.
Not for nothing have men plundered,
Murdered, fought and wrought great harm
Among their kind — whole empires sundered —
Just to own it, or to believe
They did. Crumble it. What’s it worth?
Ask a farmer stooping to sheave
A field of sun ripe wheat. The Earth!
The land! Listen, listen to me!
The blood of kings lies in your hand,
What came before— and what shall be.
Think on it. Seek to understand.
Look at the earth.
Look at the sky.
An emptiness? The blue-walled womb
Of all that is, of all that ever
Grazed or grew or swam — and met its doom —
Beneath our tyrant sun. Forever
Heaving, blowing, sleeting, snowing,
Raining, resting — bringing with the night
Its velvet, eerie canvas, glowing
With long dead messengers of light.
And yet, who looks— with wit to see?
Should you take long enough to chart
This wheel of time and mystery
Life’s miracle will swamp your heart.
Look at the sky.
You’re bored, child?
This is the first time this year that we have seen the Greenfinch at the feeder.
Our edible garden is blooming . We can’t keep up with it all.
This afternoon I have baked, over Skype, with LiveWire No 3 who is now 9 years old. T chose the recipe and we cooked along together, all sorts of ‘homeschooling’ going on without anyone noticing – Â reading and maths, chemistry and problem solving! T’s ganache turned out much better than mine! Â We now have the most delicious Chocolate Mud cake in each of our homes! I’ll decorate the rest of it with Violas tomorrow – and the second layer when friends call by for tea in the garden on Friday. It was a brilliant afternoon that we both enjoyed enormously. It’s my turn to choose the recipe for next week. That one will take some beating!
T’s Chocolate Mud Cake, double layers
Just one layer split for us, the other piece being frozen for another time.
My lovely friend left me three single earrings on the doorstep in this lovely packaging They are gorgeous and I’m hoping will become inspiration for new glass pieces.
I bought a new story book for us to read over Skype to our twin Grandbaby LiveWires. These are such delightful sessions! I was particularly pleased to find this one with mixed race children.
It’s Father’s Day in the UK and I love this this photo of my lovely Dad, used on the cover of his first novel, “Jeremy Visick”, which also shows his favourite cat, Shoshone.
Because squirrels kept eating the bird food, we bought a baffle to stop them,
However when I came down this morning, there was a squirrel feasting on the bird food! We think he may have jumped from Welly Dog up to the ring on the feeder – clever little beast!
The lane we love is getting darker and darker as the oak tree leaves get thicker – and it was a very grey day today.
Sunday is our day for reading stories to the little LiveWires in Barcelona. They have loved the monster book that our dear friend lent us, “When a Monster is Born” so much that we thought we would add to their Monster education by getting ”Not Now, Bernard” for them too. We read this to our own four some 40 years ago and it is still a best seller. They loved it!
There was a peaceful and socially distanced Black Lives Matter demonstration in Falmouth today that, but for the virus, we would have been at. Instead, we lit a candle which we burned for almost nine minutes. Our son in Barcelona and his (Senegalese) 12 year old daughter were at the event in Barcelona which was very well attended.
The Thyme plants in our herb wall have become very woody and so I felt we needed to replace them. The lovely Mr S found me three plants recently so today was the day to get them planted.
Leggy and woody Thymes
So, here they are in their new home – a creeping one called Creeping Red, some French Thyme and a variegated one called Silver Posie.
Three new ones in situ
We have just been reading to our littlest LiveWires (3 years old) who live in Barcelona and it was wonderful! They were both engaged and joining in and we had to read three books as they kept saying, “More please!” Thank goodness for Skype!
It is World Bee Day today and we had some in the garden where we have been working most of the day as the sun has been shining again.
Bee almost buried inside a Nasturtium
I’ve finished one set of masks for the Barcelona branch of the family -one each for Mum, Dad, LiveWire no 1 and twin LiveWires 5 and 6. I expect you can tell which fabrics the little ones chose. I hope that, having chosen their own fabrics online from our local shop, Redruth Sewing Studio, they will be willing to wear them. There are other fabrics to be made up in the next batch.
Our walk today was late as we waited for. the rain to stop but the light was good. We often think of our LiveWires when we do this walk as they have enjoyed it with us many times when on holiday here. We have been watching the Foxgloves growing and today saw one just beginning to bloom.
The following photo is for J who, as mentioned, has enjoyed this walk with us and whom we hope will be on The Great Flat Lode with us again before too long. Can you see what’s in the distance, J?
It is Echium season and there are some wonderful examples in neighbours’ gardens. The bees, who love these blooms, Â can be heard before one even sees the plant.
