A sore throat kept me away from singing this afternoon, not wishing to share any germs, but I did make a lemon cake for tomorrow’s volunteers.
John Dryden has the right idea here, live each day for itself. It’s a skill I am trying hard to master.
I like checking Sandi Toskvig’s Almanac from time to time. Here is today’s entry and a link to the music Sandi suggests. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1OJvqKNGg4 
Driving home from Truro, there was a pretty golden lollipop-shaped tree, photo taken from the moving car.
Driving through a village later, one house was properly decorated for Hallowe’en.
Coffee cake for tomorrow’s Redruth market has been collected.
We had a few bananas in the freezer that needed using up so I made a Banana, Pecan and Raisin Cake for tomorrow.
As Nancy suggested, I decided to make a scarf with the lovely sprkly yarn I showed you a while ago..I think it will take me some time!
I found this piece the other day . It’s a good philosophy to live by!
I was saddened to hear of the death of Brian Patten whose poems I have shared many times on here. We were lucky enough to meet him many years ago and what a lovely man he was. If you put his name in my search, you’ll find lots of his beautiful writing. The following one is particularly apt right now and is the one I shared when our lovely neighbour Bill Mitchell died seven years ago
It ‘s the start of the month and time for this month’s Happiness Calendar, Optimistic October.
In fact, the Chicken and Leek pie doesn’t look very beautiful but it tasted delicious!
Chicken and Leek Pot Pie
I’ve planted the wall on the other side of the steps with TĂŞte Ă TĂŞte, hope for the future, golden mini daffodils all the way up both sides of the steps. I’ve also put in more white winter flowering pansies to fill the gaps until Spring.
To create space, I had to pull out the almost finished Cosmos and Cornflowers and made up a small posy for myself.
I made a birthday cake today, Lemon and Chocolate Marbled Cake. Here’s the mixture in the tin just before going into the oven.
Let down by our car this morning, I couldn’t go to Roots so decided to do some planting at home. I pulled up the finished Petunias and Lobelia and put in lots of TĂŞte Ă TĂŞte bulbs for the Spring and over-planted with lovely white winter flowering pansies.
I brought home some apples from Apple Day last week and today peeled them all and cooked them lightly with cinnamon for crumbles in the winter, one tonight and the rest frozen. I love the pinky flesh of the little red ones mixed with the white cookers. 
Just for fun, a photo of one of our daughter’s beautiful Maine Coon kittens at about 12 weeks old. 
Last week at Roots, one of our lovely volunteers brought spare apples from her tree for us all to have. When our friends visited last week, they brought a big bag of really delicious plums. I have spent much of the day baking, first Ukrainian Apple Cake, Yabluchnyk, a long job but so worth it. It is utterly delicious! Then I got to work on the plums and made Plum, Chocolate and Almond Cake which we know we love and which is going in the freezer for later. Thanks to friends we have two scrumptious cakes!
I think the volunteers will enjoy these two. 🙂
We have been given a delicious Carrot and Fennel loaf which we have enjoyed tonight with our caponata supper. The bread soaked up the juices from the Roots aubergine, tomatoes and onions beautifully. Daughter no 3 brought the loaf as a gift from LiveWire 4’s other Granny in Devon where she is staying for a few days so L can be here to help us. 
Aubergine used tonight in the Caponata
Live Wire 4 has been baking with her other Granny this afternoon and has sent us a photo. It looks scrumptious!
Our Sweet peas continue to flower profusely and smell lovely, of course.
The poet, Brian Bilston has very kindly given me permission to share his clever poem, “At The Intersection” which amused me greatly. He introduces it thus: “The mathematician John Venn was born on this day in 1834. To commemorate the occasion, here’s a poem in the form of a Venn diagram.” I hope it makes you chuckle too.
I made a Lemon, Cinnamon and Blueberry Cake today which is very tasty but all the blueberries have sunk to the bottom, again. Perhaps that’s what blueberries do! I’m guessing the volunteers tomorrow won’t mind.
After seeing the physio this afternoon and my lovely Mr S being signed off as he is doing so well, I decided we needed a celebratory pudding and as we had some pears that needed eating up, I made Squidgy Chocolate Pear Pudding and it was, indeed, scrumptious.
It’s Crocosmia season and the hedges along the lanes are full of the bright orange variety, Common Montbretia. We have that all along the top of our Cornish hedge up the side of the garden and in the beds we have a beautiful golden one and a scarlet one.
Common Montbretia
Lucifer
Gerbe d’Or
Like many of you, I’m sure, I find that the events in the world right now can be overwhelming and in writing my blog, I try to focus on the beautiful things all around us. Today, a post by Suzy whom I follow, spoke of the situation in Gaza and I thought you may (or may not) like to read it too. Here it is if you’d like to.
Commentator Award
