mybeautfulthings

RSS

Vertical Garden, Strawberry Cake and Ivan Kupala Night

Some people near where we sing on Thursday mornings live in their boats and one of them has a vertical garden full of geraniums.

This afternoon, the lovely Mr S and I, went back to Kresen Kernow to continue our research and after a couple of hours had tea and cake there – delicious Strawberry Cake, beautifully presented.

In Ukraine tonight it is Ivan Kupala Night and our neighbours are going to the beach to celebrate. I’m hoping to add photos tomorrow as, sadly, I can’t go with them this evening.

What is Ivan Kupala Night?

People’s celebration of summer and sun is quite common across the nations of Europe. The holiday itself has many names — flakagajt (the day of fire) in Albania, Saint Jeans (St. Jean) in France, misommar in Sweden, sobotka in Poland, Ivana Kupala in Ukraine, and more. The celebration of Ivan Kupala Day falls on June 24 (old style calendar) or July 7 (new style) and worships the summer solstice. In Ukraine, we traditionally celebrate it on the night of July 6-7 — all mysteries happen right then…

Thinking of our very dear Ukrainian friends tonight.

Leave a comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 6, 2023 in garden, photography, Postaday 2023, Uncategorized

Tags: Slava Ukraini

Flags, Flowers and A Carving

05 Jul

The Penzance Literary Festival began today and we went to hear the writer, Catrina Davies, talk about her remarkable book, Once Upon a Raven’s Nest. I wrote about the book here when I first read it. The town was looking lovely with hanging baskets of flowers and beautiful flags everywhere. As we were leaving, I spotted a carved tree and just managed to snap it as we turned the corner. I wasn’t driving!

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 5, 2023 in art, Cornwall, Penzance, photography, Postaday 2023, sewing, Uncategorized

Rainy Day at Roots

04 Jul

Every 11th plot is for pollinating flowers

What a beauty!

Hard at work in the poly tunnel

Growth

Beans

Cucumbers

Youngest Roots volunteer munching happily on a cucumber

Click on any photo for a bigger version and the caption. We had a lovely day, potting on, sowing seeds and laughing with the gang at coffee time where we shared cake and pastries.

Leave a comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 4, 2023 in community, Cornwall, environment, friendship, Happiness, nature, photography, Porthtowan, Postaday 2023, Uncategorized, volunteering

Buck Moon, Bears’ Breeches and Cake

03 Jul

What a beautiful super moon this month!

Leaving choir practice this afternoon, I was very taken with these tall and stately plants. What a strange name. The Latin name is Acanthus Hungaricus. .

I’ve made a cake to take to Community Roots tomorrow. It’s called Blueberry Coffee Cake, no coffee involved except they suggest it is served with a cup of coffee. I’ve made it gluten free so that everyone can have a piece.

Leave a comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 3, 2023 in baking, nature, photography, Postaday 2023, Uncategorized

Hard Work, Deliciousness and Lilies

02 Jul

We spent a couple of hours at the allotment after lunch, clearing the huge number of weeds that have sprung up since the overnight shower a couple of nights ago.

For a reward/treat, I picked all the ripe Tayberries in our back garden, put them on a meringue ring that I had filled with creme fraiche and sprinkled a little vanilla sugar over – utterly delicious and very well deserved!

Our lilies in a chimney pot are in full bloom.

1 Comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 2, 2023 in allotment, environment, Food, garden, nature, photography, Postaday 2023

Happiness Calendar, Research and A Poem

01 Jul

It’s July already. The year is racing by. Have a happy and fulfilling month.

We spent a happy couple of hours doing some research in Kresen Kernow, the museum of all Cornish archives.

I found this poem on Facebook some time ago and remembered it today. Here it is for your enjoyment. I hope it’s okay to share it with you here. I had no reply when I asked for permission..

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 1, 2023 in Happiness, photography, Postaday 2023, Redruth, Uncategorized

Tags: action for happiness, Cornish Characters, Leave Her Wild, S Baring-Gould, Sharyn Marsh

Breakfast and A Good Read

01 Jul

Sorry! Somehow forgot to publish yesterday. 🙁

We met our friends for breakfast by the sea again today and what a lovely time we had – good food, good conversation and lots of laughs.

There were occasional showers while we were in the Gylly cafe. You can see the dark clouds hovering. It has rained all afternoon and I have curled up with a cracking good read, another of Elly Griffiths’ gripping thrillers. This is the first of the series so I have hours of reading ahead of me……..

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 1, 2023 in Cornwall, environment, friendship, Gyllyngvase, photography, Postaday 2023, Sea, Uncategorized

Tags: Gyllyngvase Beach

Our Town, Tomatoes and New Chimney

29 Jun

We were in town late last night after seeing the film of the Matthew Bourne ballet, Sleeping Beauty, which was wonderful! Coming out of our lovely Art Deco theatre and with few people to distract, these beautiful buildings really stood out.

We have tomatoes, still to ripen but looking good.

Our new chimney is really beautiful, made with care and precision by Matt of Cornwall Chimneys. It’s the best chimney in our street! Thanks to Matt and Josh for their lovely work and brilliant clearing up. Photos by Matt.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 29, 2023 in architecture, art, Cornwall, environment, photography, Postaday 2023, Redruth, Uncategorized

Tags: Cornwall Chimneys

Killifreth, Library and A Flag

28 Jun

We took a different route to Truro today and on the horizon was Killifreth, the most elegant of engine house chimneys.

This is the library, The Passmore Edwards Free Library, where I spent many happy hours as a child and where my Dad had to ask that I have access to the ‘grown-up’ library as I had read my way through everything in the junior section! I started with the wonderful Scarlet Pimpernel stories.

Solidarity to Ukraine in the face of more terror last night – Slava Ukraini.

Leave a comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 28, 2023 in architecture, books, Cornwall, environment, photography, Postaday 2023, Tin mining history, Truro

Tags: Slava Ukraini, The Passmore Edwards Free Library

Community Roots Today

27 Jun

Such a lot of growing going on! I did my first two hours volunteering at home and made another bag. I arrived in time to help chop some veg for the delicious soup we shared for lunch, did some potting on of little shrubs and walked about taking photos of the amazing growth and some of the harvest. Enjoy the gallery.