It is World Mental Health Day and this came my way:
Thought of the Day, Willesdenstaff Kilburn Station. What fabulous staff at that station!
I was walking through Penryn today and saw that the owner of this car has planted for the winter. I just love these little car-window boxes.
Winter planting
Next door’s Nasturtiums have come over the hedge and are tumbling over our winter covered bench.
Next door’s escaping Nasturtiums
Dawn over the Mittens at Monument Valley – what a treat for the last full day of our road trip.
Dawn
Sunrise
We drove to Flagstaff after breakfast to spend the night with our friends with whom we have spent the last few days having amazing adventures. Their garden in the desert is full of colour – a tribute to the gardeners – and the Hummingbirds love their sugar feeder.
Road to Flagstaff
Mural seen on the way
Sunflowers
Hummingbird waiting by the tomatoes
Hummingbird silhouette
Hummingbird coming to the feeder
We were greeted by a thick fog this morning and it hardly lifted all day. The result was beautiful droplets on plants and webs in the early morning.
Diamond strings
I went singing at the Porthtowan Eco Park this morning. The session is called ‘Sing for your heart, sing for your soul’, led by Claire Ingleheart, and it is as uplifting as it sounds. I love looking round the site after singing and found this delightful planter made from an old tyre.
Toucan planter
The crop of marrows was very impressive!
What a crop!
We met with friends in the afternoon at The Blue Bar in Porthtowan and spent a delightful couple of hours catching up, not having seen each other since our South Africa holiday in May. The sea was barely discernible through the fog so no photos of the sea today.
On our way back from town, we came upon two young neighbours trying out the family tandem for the first time and what an enjoyable time they were having.
Having fun
Walking around Newlyn before going to see Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman at the Newlyn Filmhouse, we spotted a lovely weathervane.
Weather vane in Newlyn
In the cafe upstairs, before the film, we were both taken by the decoupage on the tables.
Decoupage
The film, by the way, is stunning, offering an unflinching, true-life examination of race relations in 1970s America that is just as frighteningly relevant in today’s tumultuous world.
The concert last night was fabulous! St Euny Church was packed and the audience were so appreciative – standing ovations indeed! Being involved, I couldn’t take many photos but here is a moment of our joint rehearsal of Calon Lan with Cor Serenata, taken by our choir leader, Claire. (Sadly her battery ran out.). I just have to say, that during the concert, standing among the Welsh singers as they sang the verses of Canon Lan, was a beautiful experience. We joined in the choruses and that was lovely too. If you want to find me, I am back left at the top of the picture as the video plays. Our concert was in aid of ShelterBox and the music department of Troon Primary School, where we rehearse each week.
The shared meal, all made by The Ingleheart Singers was also much appreciated.
Pudding time – a small selection!
I found a rain-dropped feather in our drive.
Feather with raindrops
A friend of mine, Lesley Trotter, whom I first met while researching for last year’s production by Perthi Kov, ‘Until the Day Break’, has written a book , “The Married Widows of Cornwall” and I am privileged to have received the first advance copy. I started reading this morning and have been unable to put it down as Lesley begins to trace the histories of the women ‘left behind’ in Cornwall when their tin mining husbands went to work overseas.
‘The Married Widows of Cornwall’ by Lesley Trotter
I am posting early today as one of our beautiful daughters is arriving later with her two beautiful LiveWires and their Daddy is joining us all after finishing filming the cricket at Lords. I also have to stop reading to get things ready!
Last night’s sunset was lovely and peachy and reflected in my car window.
Sunset
Our lovely neighbour came in for supper tonight and after Caponata with Chicken, I served up Eton mess in a beautiful pale blue glass bowl that was my Granny’s. It was a Wedding present for her and Grandpa in June 1913! Isn’t it amazing that this glass bowl is still in use 105 years later? I just love that she used it, my Mum always served the Christmas Sherry Trifle in this bowl and now I, too, can use it and I love it.
Granny’s bowl
Eton Mess in Granny’s beautiful bowl
Eton mess is a traditional English dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, broken meringue, and whipped double cream. First mentioned in print in 1893, it is commonly believed to originate from EtonCollege and is served at the annual cricket match against the pupils of Harrow School. As the lovely Mr S says, the boys from Eton are still making a mess.
One of our favourite meals is Confit Duck but we only have it when we eat out and that is not that often so I decided to have a go at doing it myself. I found the recipe and discovered that the preparation starts 24 hours before you want to eat! Here are the prepared legs which are now sitting in the fridge for their ‘at least 12 hours’ chilling, looking rather pretty with the herbs and orange zest, salt and peppercorns.
Prepared Confit Duck
We have eaten lots of our home-grown Runner Beans, frozen even more away and today I have made the first batch of my Runner Bean Soup, which gets more hits than any other post and which, if you Google Runner Bean Soup, comes quite high on the page!
Runner Bean Soup
Yesterday, two of my lovely friends gave me a little bouquet of Sweet Peas, picked out for me because they are purple. I put them with some white Daisies which we brought in after they had been brought down by wind.
Sweet Peas and Daisies
Commentator Award
