It’s been a busy morning harvesting – sweetcorn and tomatoes.
We had freshly boiled and buttered sweetcorn for lunch and I cooked four more cobs and cut off the corn to freeze. There’ll be more for lunch tomorrow.
The black tomatoes from one plant I have today made into a rich tomato chutney with a hint of cardamom. It’s delicious.
500g tomatoes made two and a half little jars of chutney
This afternoon one of my choirs, The Suitcase Singers, had our last gig of the summer at The Meudon Hotel.
Looking from the dining room down the garden.
In 2018 I was the Humanist Celbrant at a delightful wedding in the gardens of the Meudon Hotel.
It was late when I arrived home last night so here is a small gallery showing our trip from Falmouth to St Mawes to sing and the ferry ride back again. Click on any photo for the caption and if you like, listen to us singing on the ferry on our way home. It’s ‘Cornwall, My Home” written by Harry Glasson and it’s really the new Cornish anthem.
We went to Falmouth today to see an exhibition of paintings by a local artist, Julian Christophers. I first met him when I was part of the art collective Fannie and Fox where I used to sell my stained glass work. I always found Julian’s paintings to be full of joy, full of colour and always smile inducing. I especially love his portraits. Today’s exhibition met all expectations.
Here are two of his pieces for you to enjoy but for those of my readers who are local, go and see them for yourself. You’ll come away smiling!
Loula’s Meadow – mixed media showing flowers from a dog’s viewpoint
Afterwards we went into another local gallery where the view from their window is another beautiful piece of art.
View from the window of the Beside the Wave gallery.
Falmouth Week is coming up and the streets are full of bunting.
The first message to come through on my birthday (31/12/2025) was an invitation to Afternoon Tea at The Greenbank Hotel in Falmouth and this afternoon we went with our Dear and very generous friends to celebrate my birthday with a splendidly delicious afternoon tea and the most wonderful views. Enjoy the gallery and imagine our tastebud joy!
The savouries
Sweet treats
Chocolate egg pot, chocolate mouse in a little chocolate flower pot
Scones, jam and clotted cream
Bubbly!
Thank you so much N&G – that was a wonderful afternoon with you two and what a truly lovely birthday present!
There are now 30 little creatures on the long fabric strands.
I’m being allowed to show you a little more of the project. The whole piece remains secret until the exhibition starting on March 31st. I wonder if you can work out what it is.
After sewing and my lovely Mr S working in the garden in sunshine, we decided to go out for lunch at the Falmouth Hotel and have a walk by the sea. It really does my soul good to see, smell and hear the sea. The blues were so beautiful today.
Out for lumch
Our next treat was a trip to Falmouth Art Gallery for a wonderful exhibition of automata which I’ll show you tomorrow.
Yesterday was so busy that two important things were missed!
After the delightful party for J, 90 years old, in the evening we went with friends to see a fabulous Christmas show called Christmas.Time. This is the third time we have seen the show and loved it every time. It’s the 18th year that the two very talented young men who are Near-ta Theatre have performed the show which has become a staple hereabouts. If you, Dear Reader, live nearby, there are shows still to be seen at The Poly, Falmouth. Here’s the link.You won’t regret it!
I have ordered a beautiful jigsaw puzzle from Ukraine for the family to do together when they are all here over New Year. I am here reprinting the whole message I received from the company yesterday. At the end you can hear The Ingleheart Singers with their first rehearsal this year of Carol of the Bells.
While our capacity to produce and to ship puzzles from Ukraine has been severely impacted by power outages caused by the constant shelling of Ukrainian power infrastructure by Russia (that’s why most of puzzles are shown as out of stock on our website), we still can continue telling about Ukrainian culture.
This week’s email is about Mykola Leontovych (13 Dec 1877 – 23 Jan 1921), the Ukrainian composer and author of the famous “Shchedryk” / “Carol of the Bells,” whose birthday we commemorate today.
Mykola Leontovych, the son of a priest, was also a conductor and teacher who specialized in a cappella choral music. He is best known for composing “Shchedryk,” which later became famous around the world as the Christmas classic “Carol of the Bells.” That happened thanks to enormous efforts of cultural figures and some politicians of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in the last months of its existence before the Soviet occupation of Ukraine in 1919. This treasure had all chances to be demolished and buried, as it happened with Boychukism and many other phenomena of Ukrainian culture, but in some miraculous way, it overcame all the obstacles along with the Ukrainian Republic Capella under the leadership of choral conductor Oleksandr Koshyts.
On January 23, 1921, while audiences in Paris were triumphantly applauding the newly discovered “Shchedryk,” its composer, Mykola Leontovych, was shot in his own home by a Chekist (a Soviet state security agent).
Important to note that Leontovych wrote “Schedryk” in the town of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, which currently is one of the key battlefields in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
So, please keep the Ukrainian Warriors who are now defending Pokrovsk and all of Ukraine in your thoughts each time you hear “Carol of the Bells” this holiday season.
The sun shone this morning, the last morning of our mini holiday at The Falmouth Hotel .What a wonderful and welcome short break this has been.
We’d been home only an hour when my lovely Mr S spotted a fox in the back field. We watched it for some time, prowling around.
On the wall just outside the back door there was a Ladybird. I’ve never seen one with 19 spots before. I learned it’s also known as the Water ladybird with a marvellous name Anisosticta novemdecimpunctata!
A message from WordPress today says it’s 14 years since I started writing my blog. That’s a great number of beautiful things!
We visited Falmouth Art Gallery today where there were two exhibitions, one highlighting their collection and one called Out Of Paper showcasing so many paper creations.
I love the painting in the first exhibition by Unknown Artist of The Killigrew Monument which we had walked past earlier in the morning.
There were some beautiful cut paper sculptures. I love the fact that Secret Garden, when translated into French, ‘Jardin Secret’ refers to your inner soul.
The Paper Yarn piece really appealed to me and I added my words to be woven in next time the artist pops in.
If you, Dear Reader, are local or maybe visiting Falmouth before the end of January, this is a lovely place to spend a couple of hours.
Just to add, I am remembering my lovely Mum today, on her birthday. As a little girl she was always delighted to think that everyone was celebrating her birthday with a firework display.
