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Category Archives: Postaday2013

New Recipe, Paintings and A Christmas Window

1   I’ve spent much of today making a delicious new dessert for the upcoming all-together-family day just after Christmas. I would have made the great family favourite, Chocolate Amaretti Torte but cannot use alcohol in anything this holiday. Then I read a similar recipe that uses coffee in place of the brandy and makes the whole thing as a loaf to slice so I have done a mix-and-match on both recipes to make my own (I’ll post it soon) and it now joins the other treats in the freezer. Let’s hope it works. I’ll let you know at the end of the month.

The picture in the magazine

The picture in the magazine, not my photo

2   While I’ve been busy with that and trying to practise The Entertainer on the piano ( My target is to play that by Christmas!) the lovely Mr S has been putting the paintings back on the walls in the newly decorated sitting room.

3  Driving home from the shops this evening, I snatched a moving photo of a Christmas tree all lit up in a window.

Lights in a window

Lights in a window

 
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Posted by on December 13, 2013 in Beauty, Food, photography, Postaday2013

 

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Weekly Photo Challenge – Grand

It’s been such a week I have almost missed this challenge. Here are my Grand Canyon photos. What is more grand than that? These are all from the North Rim trails. Click on any photo for a better view.

You’ll find lots more in the challenge here

 

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Sculpture, Choir-Baby and Carol Singing

1   Every Thursday, I walk past the workshop where we bought our beautiful sculpture, Fledgling. I love this notice in the window today.

Nude sculpture

Nude sculpture

2  Our newest Choir-baby is only a few weeks from being with us at our singing sessions each Thursday. L is the artist who created the wonderful willow and paper sculpture of  Tyrannosaurus Rex for the City of Lights parade in November.

L and her choir-baby

L and her choir-baby

3   Tonight we have sung carols at a late-night shopping event at Morgan’s in St Agnes. It was delightful.

Claire's three choirs having a laugh between songs

Claire’s three choirs having a laugh between songs

 
 

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Poem, Winter Blooms and Nativity Angel

1   This lovely poem by W H Davies came to mind this morning. It sums up what I try to achieve with my blog, making myself take time to appreciate all the beautiful things around me, especially at this busy time of year.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

2   These beautiful flowers, Kashmir Lilies, keep on flowering despite the cold winds. It took many shots to get  pictures as they kept swaying in the wind!

Kashmir Lily

Kashmir Lily

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3   J, the oldest of our Grandbabies at just 5, called to tell us he has been an angel in the school Nativity this afternoon – wish we could have seen him. The following  video is not of J but made me smile in memory of the many Nativity plays I have watched over the years.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihQuiyV-lXU  I think it’ll make you smile if not laugh out loud!

 

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Mandela Memorial, Lunch and Tree Planting

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.
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

Our first tree planted

Kaia helping with the digging

Kaia helping with the digging

Part of the very young woodland

Part of the very young woodland

 

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Seagulls, Frosty Fields and Successful Sales

1    Dawn was very interesting this morning – no colour in the East but a beautiful pink tinge in a thick layer in the West. The seagulls were calling loudly from the chimney pots this morning too.

Seagulls at dawn

Seagulls at dawn

2   It was a very frosty morning and the fields at the back stayed white until well after 11am. They were very beautiful with the sunlight glinting on the grass.

Frosty fields

Frosty fields

3   All the Lemon Curd sold tonight at another delightful singing session with The Inglehearts. The recipe, should you want it,  can be found here.

 

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Lighthouse, Lemon Curd and The Moon

1   We had a birthday lunch with friends in Maenporth today, such a beautiful day with warm sunshine, blue skies and seas but I was just too late to catch the sparkler on the birthday boy’s dessert!

2    I made a batch of Lemon Curd today( recipe here) and have potted it in the individual jars that we brought home from our holiday. I  plan to sell them at Ingleheart’s choir on Monday evening as part of our fundraising for our reciprocal trip next Autumn to the Welsh choir who visited us last summer.

Miniature Lemon Curds to sell

Miniature Lemon Curds to sell

3   The moon was visible at dusk tonight and then the lovely Mr S called me to see a beautiful circular pinkish haze around it as darkness came. I expect there’s a name for that, that Alex will be able to tell me.

Moon at dusk

Moon at dusk

Moon with a haze

Moon with a haze

 

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Nelson Mandela, Raindrops and Concert

Mandela's words

Mandela’s words

1   What a wise man Mandela was and what a loss to the world. It’s a pity a man like that can’t live for ever but we hope his influence and legacy will.

2    I love how the raindrops magnify the veins on the leaves.

Raindrops on three leaves

Raindrops on three leaves

3   The Suitcase Singers did a brilliant gig tonight! This is the stage afterwards with the leftover feather from some of the boas. Sorry I don’t have a photo of the choir. Everyone really dresses up for these gigs in black with bright colours and lots of glitter. We are told that we look fantastic!

Feathers at the end of the gig

Feathers at the end of the gig

4   Today’s dawn sky was another beauty.

Dawn through the Weeping Larch

Dawn through the Weeping Larch

 

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Winter Sunrise, Seed-head and Scarlet Leaves

1   I love winter sunrises; this one was gorgeous. I love the dark clouds and the bright orange of the sunrise.

Winter sunrise

Winter sunrise

2   On our walk around the back today, L spotted these beautiful seed-heads. I think they are from Old Man’s Beard. Grand-baby B loved the walk and was curious about everything, not falling asleep at all though that was the hope!

Seedhead

Seedhead

3   The leaves on the Cotoneaster  were so beautifully scarlet in the afternoon sunshine.

Scarlet leaves

Scarlet leaves

 
 

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Stream, Raindrops and Gravestone

1   We love the stream at Gwennap; it is a very special place for all the family and we were there today with Daughter No 1 and Daughter no 3.

The stream at Gwennap, featured in Dad's book, Jeremy Visick

The stream at Gwennap, featured in Dad’s book, Jeremy Visick

2   There were raindrops like tears in the grass by the edge of the stream.

Raindrops like tears in the grass

Raindrops like tears in the grass

3   We had a walk around the churchyard where the stone that inspired my Dad to write his first novel, “Jeremy Visick” can be found.   I found the wording on another stone, to Johanna Gray, very interesting:

She was an affectionate wife
and a tender mother
and a pattern of kindness
to her neighbours and friends.

A ‘pattern of kindness’ must be that she set an example and was kind to all. I like that. One of the definitions of pattern is ‘ A person or thing considered worthy of imitation.’

Gravestone for Johanna Gray of Lanner

Gravestone for Johanna Gray of Lanner, near Redruth

 

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