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Category Archives: trees

Throwing and A Walk

One of my birthday presents from our ‘kids’ last year was an Adventure Fund. I’ve been trying for 9 months to think of an adventure. The suggestions were – Air balloon? Zip lining? Safari? Watch big bears? Fly in a float plane? Go whale watching?
However, we’ve been lucky enough to do all those over our years together so I decided to go for pottery classes to learn to throw and my first class was last Saturday afternoon. (I checked with the consultant that it would be okay) It was a brilliant afternoon and it was very good to have to concentrate so hard on something new and not be able to think of anything bothersome. Here are my first two pots which we will learn to trim next week and later how to decorate.

It has been the loveliest September day today so to continue the theme of being calm and not thinking too hard, we had a stroll around the gardens at Trelissick.

Leaves, Berries and The Sea

03 Nov

Autumn leaves down the lane from Gwennap Church

Berries on the yew trees in Gwennap Churchyard

View from the window onto Castle Beach, full tide

Decorations, Leaves and Today’s Angel

22 Nov

Our weekly coffee date was in a new venue today and we liked their decorations, tiny felted birds on a large bare branch hanging from the ceiling.

The golden colours of autumn lined the roads on my drive and were there outside the cafe too.

I chose Christmassy colours for today’s angel and am happy with the result.

Just washed and drying on kitchen paper

Blossom, Primroses and Endangered Tree

03 Mar

1 The blossom on a local Cherry tree is just gorgeous in the sunlight.

2 Primroses on a Cornish hedge were lit by the sunshine too.

3 While we were away, our neighbours had one of a pair of beautiful trees taken down. This one is so far safe but I have the saddest feeling that it too will soon go so am saving it here for posterity. The next photo was taken when both trees were there.So much birdlife loves this tree and so do we.

Only one tree left

Sunlight on both trees last October

P.S. I have posted the recipe for Chocolate Beetroot Cake today. It is one of the best cakes I have ever made, moist and chocolatey and very moreish!

12 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 3, 2014 in Beauty, flowers, nature, photography, Postaday 2014, trees, Uncategorized

Tags: cherry blossom, Endangered trees, primroses

Coots, Shop and My January Tree

07 Jan

1 Driving home from a lovely lunch with friends today I came past Swanpool where I saw no swans but a few coots. I loved the effect of the movement of the coots on the reflection of the reeds.

Wriggling reflections

Two coots and reeds

Coot and reeds

2 I went shopping in Falmouth in the afternoon and found a shop new to me. The shop’s punning name amused me. For those of my readers outside Cornwall and the UK, the beautiful Chough is a symbol of Cornwall and is on the coat-of-arms. The pun happens as the word ‘chuffed’ means pleased – so one would be delighted/chuffed to find this shop full of Cornish treasures.

Chuffed to find Choughed

3 I pass this tree every Thursday as I go to sing and I love its shape. Last year, I decided to photograph it each month from the same spot but didn’t! This year I am determined to achieve my aim. Here is My January Tree in a puddle of water from the massive amounts of rain we have had in the last month.

January tree

Stay safe, all of you, be you in freezing temperatures too dangerous to go out in or in the storms lashing the UK.

17 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on January 7, 2014 in Beauty, birds, environment, nature, photography, Postaday 2014, trees

Tags: coots, Cornish chough

Mandela Memorial, Lunch and Tree Planting

10 Dec

1 We listened to the Memorial for Nelson Mandela this morning. What a man – and how loved and respected he was. I loved Obama’s speech and the quoting at the end of the last two lines from Mandela’s favourite poem. I put it all here as it is so appropriate.

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Beautiful.

2 I made a bowlful of Broad Bean Hummus (garden ones, frozen) to take for a shared lunch today. My Oat and Linseed Flowerpot loaf worked out well too.

Broad bean hummus

Salad dressing in one of N’s beautiful bowls

Oat and Linseed flowerpot loaf

3 Our shared lunch with our good friends, N&G, was a precursor helping them plant the last few trees of their small woodland. I just love the whole idea of this – to have the forethought to plant for generations to come. There are Sessile oaks, Silver birch, Rosa Rugosa, Ash, Sweet Chestnut, Gean Cherry, White, Goat and Scarlet Willows, Italian Alder, Elder and Hazel – all planted for particular purposes – for the birds, for insect life, for food, for shelter and for love. It’s going to be a magical place with a stone circle in the middle and the hands and laughter of many friends in the planting. What a joy to be part of this project. Thank you to you both.

Our first tree planted

Kaia helping with the digging

Part of the very young woodland

13 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 10, 2013 in Beauty, environment, Food, garden, literature, nature, photography, poetry, Postaday2013, trees

Tags: Broad bean hummus, Invictus, Mandela, Nelson Mandela, Obama's speech, woodland

New England Fall – Weekly photo Challenge – Hues of You

21 Oct

I love the warm colours of Autumn.

Click on any photo to find where we were in New England.

2 Reflection in Kennebunkport

3 Evening glow Kennebunkport

4Near Williamstown

5Leaving Naples

6 By the Jackson Covered bridge

7Jackson Falls

8Jackson Falls

9Jackson Falls

10By the Saco River Covered Bridge

11 Near Saco River Covered Bridge

12 West Mountain Covered Bridge

13By West Mountain Covered Bridge

14 On the road in The White Mountains

15 From the car

16 Crawford Notch State Park

17 Lake near Mount Washington

20 Stowe

21 Near Bingham Falls

22 Where we stayed in Stowe

23 Walking near Stowe for a view over the town

24 Walking in Stowe

25 Montpelier

26 Montpelier

27 Down the tracks by Northfield Falls

28 On the road to Rutland

30 In Bristol with Shelagh

32 Bennington

33 North Adams

34 North Adams

35 Stockbridge

36 Lenox

37 Lake Waramaug

38 Lake Waramaug

40 Cape Cod

41 Plimouth

42 On Boston Common

43 On Boston Common

44 Boston

45 Boston near The Museum of Fine Arts

39 Mystic

For others in this Photo Challenge check here

29 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 21, 2013 in America, Beauty, environment, nature, New England, photography, Postaday2013, trees, Weekly photo challenge

Tags: autumn colour, Fall colour, Weekly photo Challenge - Hues of You

Book Swap Box, Old Oak Tree and Travelling Dog

13 Aug

1 This is the second time I have discovered an old Telephone box used for a book swap, this one in the village of Feock, the first place we lived when my family first moved to Cornwall when I was six years old. What a brilliant thing to do to save the box from demolition and I love the child’s chair in this one. To see the other one, click here.

Book swap box

2 We always enjoy the walk around Trelissick and I’ve always loved this old tree.

Old oak tree

Old oak tree from another angle, the Carrick Roads in the distance

3 We followed this lovely dog and its car home and at the traffic light stop, he seemed to notice us. He had been loving the wind in his fur. If you look carefully, you should be able to see the sea on the horizon, on the North coast of Cornwall.

Dog

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 13, 2013 in animals, Beauty, Cornwall, environment, nature, photography, Postaday2013, trees, Trelissick Gardens

Tags: book swap, carrick roads, old oak tree, telephone box

Spring Greens, Robin and Mylor Harbour

10 May

1 The lanes around Cornwall are just bursting with that very special bright green of new leaves. Every corner turned brings new delights.

Lane through Kennal Vale

2 I always take a walk around Mylor graveyard while the lovely Mr S strolls around the boatyard. The Robin was keeping a close eye on me.

Robin on a gravestone

3 It has been a very grey, cold and windy afternoon but the wind meant that the rigging on the yachts was singing that special song that reminds one of being by the sea. The Myosotis blue was glowing despite the lack of sunshine.

The singing rigging

Forget-me-nots by the water

10 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 10, 2013 in birds, flowers, Mylor, nature, photography, Postaday2013, senses, sound, trees

Tags: forget-me-nots, harbour, rigging, Spring

Hummingbird Legend, Apple Blossom and Home Again

06 May

1 ‘Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration. Like a hummingbird, we aspire to hover and savour each moment as it passes, embrace all that life has to offer and to celebrate the joy of every day. The humming bird’s natural grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation. ” These words are on a card on my daughter’s fridge and they appealed to me and my own philosophy. They came to her on a Congratulations on Your New Baby card by Papyrus.

2. The apple blossom has come out in the few days I’ve been here.

3. I have had the loveliest days with L and her beautiful baby, enjoying the company of them both but now I am home and it is always lovely to come home. The blossom is out on the Malus and the horses are back in the back field which is quite delightful. Look carefully to see them at the far end of the photo.