On our walk today we spotted a small sign but couldn’t see where the exhibition might be.
Down the lane were a few brave Celandines.
I baked this afternoon – Tamal Ray’s Date Traybake with Toffee. It’s delicious but the toffee hasn’t set well enough to spread over the top and set so we’ll just pop a bit on each slice.
I loved my Thesaurus as I was growing up, given to me when I was, I think, nine years old and it stayed by my side for many years. In due course, it fell apart and I was given a shiny new copy. Today is Thesaurus Day which commemorates the birth of Peter Mark Roget, born on this day in 1779 and author of Roget’s Thesaurus. Here’s a poem to celebrate. It’s called ‘Roger’s Thesaurus’ and it is by Brian Bilston who published it on Twitter this morning.
I have given away our beautiful Dinosaur Muffin tin as our LiveWires have grown out of their Dinosaur phase. It has gone to a very good home.
It seems appropriate that today, my Dear Dad’s birthday, I have spent much of the day making marmalade. Dad was the marmalade maker in our house and I used to help him when I was quite young. The smell of the oranges boiling is so evocative of lovely times.
I spent the rest of the day baking cookies for our decorators, ColourGirlz, who start tomorrow on the hall, stairs and landing. I have used an old family recipe but adapted it by adding cinnamon and dried cherries as a very dear friend does. She takes them on long car journeys and they are very much appreciated.
Cinnamon Oat Crunchies with Cherries
I have had this little model for many, many years. It was made by S, a very talented writer in one of my English classes. He was a restless sixteen year old who needed encouragement, both to believe in his own talent and to sit still! I discovered that, given something to model with, his concentration on the literature we were studying increased hugely. One day, at the end of the lesson, he presented me with this precious little model, made of Blutak. It’s me – curly hair, long skirt, a necklace and a scarf, carrying books and a heavy bag of files and with a huge grin on my face. I was so touched and I have kept this little treasure ever since.
Thank you, S. I hope you have become the writer I thought you could become. Maybe you went on to make models in the style of Wallace and Gromit! Maybe one of my ex-pupils who reads this will tell you of this post!
I first posted this in 2013! I still have my little 5″ model and it still means the world to me. I was reminded of it again yesterday as I was talking teaching techniques with our son, D, and spoke of how I gave fidgety young people something (Blutak) to play with.
Yesterday, our last day with the family here, D gave the children his Senegalese Djembe. They are going to have lessons at school next term and were delighted with this very special gift.
Last Saturday a neighbour and good friend had her birthday party. We couldn’t go but I made her a tear-and-share Camembert party piece to be finally cooked at the party. I am told it went down very well!
Just caught a rainbow this morning.
We were early into Truro this morning so the lights were not lit but they were welcoming.
The Redruth Carol Choir is coming along our road on Sunday so I have baked some appropriate cheesy biscuits to offer with next door’s mulled wine as some refreshment and reward for their efforts..
Last night was The Ingleheart Singers’ Christmas dinner and we all took along a dish to share. I made the Vegetable Ring which looks good for a Christmas meal and is delicious! It was well received and every crumb went! You can find the recipe here.
I love beautiful shoes as regular readers will know. These two pairs were particularly covetable last night.
I am resolved, after the disaster of last week, to do all I can to mitigate the effects of our Tory government and to treat the world and all those in it with even more kindness. There is a new homeless person in our town this week. It was bitterly cold this morning so I bought him a pair of gloves. My gesture plus the carol singer further up the street made him weep though he then told me of the generosity of Redruth people as he had been bought a hot drink just before I went by and others had stopped by to see how they could help. 
Drawing the curtains back this morning I was greeted by a beautiful bright rainbow.
The reflections on the Penryn River as we sang this morning were very lovely.
Last time we went on The People’s Vote March, I was touched by a young woman’s generosity when she passed out home-made Brownies to the crowd around her. Today I have baked 50 Oat and Cherry Cookies to hand out to fellow protesters. I packed them up before taking a photo so here are the three saved for us!
Commentator Award
