Our lovely neighbour is an artist as regular readers will know. She is in the middle of a project making very special swimming hats for local sea swimmers. She needed a model today to set the angle correctly so here is one of her designs. The others so far are a bunch of flowers, a sailing boat and a pineapple.
There is just one rose left from my Mother’s Day bouquet, four weeks after delivery.
Last one standing
We have friends coming round tomorrow for a much longed-for catch-up in the garden so I have made cake. You can find the recipe for this delicious fruity cake by clicking on the red link.
Our lovely neighbour came home from an Artists’ Residence in Sri Lanka yesterday and brought me a gorgeous silk scarf in my favourite bright colours and covered in elephants which I love. The work she produced while away is both beautiful and moving. You can read about it here in her blog. Scroll down to the first one, Sura Medura, to read in sequence.
Beautiful!
I bought a new cookery book last week, The Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer and we have already enjoyed two of the recipes. Tonight was both simple and tasty.
Rice with Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Pancetta, Feta and Sunflower Seeds
Tonight on Radio 4’s 5pm programme there was an article about how stressed people are becoming over Brexit. The whole thing has been a horror movie in our heads since the vote was for leave and it just gets worse as each day goes by. Finding three beautiful things every day is part of my coping strategy, walking by the sea, being creative with my glass and singing with friends are others and this poem by Mary Oliver offers a walk among the trees “to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.” It is a very lovely poem.
Things are coming together for Perthi Kov’s production of ‘Until the Day Break’. Today the programmes were delivered and we collected the posters. Just showing you a little of one for now but when the show is done, I will show you all of them. They have been designed for us by the very talented Anna Oliver of Fresca Marketing using a painting by Sue Hill (programme) and images from St Euny Graveyard.
A little poem today for you:
An Epilogue by John Masefield.
I have seen flowers come in stony places And kind things done by men with ugly faces, And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races, So I trust, too.
The beautiful Mud Maid in The Lost Gardens of Heligan, near Mevagissey in Cornwall, has been there for a long time already and will be there for a very long time to come. She is the work of Cornish sculptors Sue Hill and Pete Hill and is a favourite for our Grandchildren to visit. They love the Giant too. For others in this Challenge, click this link.
1 Our neighbours are sculptors and have just installed this beautiful Mud Maid in a private garden. As Sue posted, “One of the most touching commissions we’ve ever had… R has a terminal illness. She and her husband K wanted a beautiful plot for her ashes, a place where K could come and talk to her.” Isn’t that just lovely.
The original Mud Maid is in the Lost Gardens of Heligan, as is the Heligan Giant and both of them can be seen in this post: http://mybeautfulthings.com/2012/06/12/st-uny-engine-house-the-heligan-giant-and-the-mud-maid/
Mud Maid by Sue Hill and Pete Hill
2 The same lovely neighbour gives us vegetables grown in her allotment and with a rather large courgette I have made tonight’s meal, Stuffed Courgettes.
Stuffed Courgettes
3 It has been another glorious September day and walking up from town, these Grass seed heads against the cerulean sky caught my eye.
1 Beautiful dewdrops on the tiny hairy buds of the courgettes. We’re hoping the sun will get them flowering soon. They were planted late after the gales destroyed the earlier planting.
2 Portreath this morning was beautiful – the water turquoise, the sun glorious and lots of colour in the pavement flowers. I have shown you the lion sculpture before but the mosaics were glinting so beautifully in the sun that I had to show you again!
Dew drops on courgette buds
Dew drops and a bee seeking nectar
A one person seat on the harbour in Portreath
Shadow self portrait from the harbour wall in Portreath
Poppies on the pavement in Portreath
Sue Hill and Pete Hill’s Mosaic lion in the primary school field
Shanticot, ready for the Grandchildren
3 We’ve just finished making up the beds for KJ and the Shanticot for the children and the spare room bed for P&V who will be staying here for their last weekend before going to London for two days and returning to Atlanta on Wednesday. It is truly beautiful to have so many people back in our house for the weekend.
We have had the most beautiful day today! First we had a walk along the Flat Lode Trail to find a tin mine for Jake and this afternoon we went off to The Lost Gardens of Heligan to find the Giant and the Mud Maid.
I’m going to tell it through photos – enjoy! Click on the first one and then click the arrows on the right to get the whole story.
In the carry-sack
Setting off on our walk
Uphill in knee deep grass
Looking at the view
Having a shoulder ride
Beautiful honeysuckle
St Uny Engine House
Horse knee-deep in buttercups
Jake’s turn in the carry-sack
Beautiful Heligan
Just look at the detail in this foxglove flower
Down the path to the glade
The putto in the pond
The Bee Boles
Information about the Bee Boles
Jake under the Gunnera
“I’m going up this path!”
Admiring the dove cote
Setting off to find the Giant
Beautiful wild flower patch
Contrast – old leaves and new growth
Jake has just whispered to the Giant, “We’ve found you! We are friendly faces!”
The very beautiful and serene Mud Maid
Children pyjamaed and ready for the five hour drive home
And now they’ve gone home and the house feels very quiet and empty!
1 I finished the Sally-boots for Dan’s new daughter just as he finished our fence. We all feel pleased.
Sally-boots
2 Lucy has been working in the Lost Gardens of Heligan helping to restore The Heligan Giant with the sculptors, Sue Hill and her brother, Pete.
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3 Went to the Swish at Krowji with Lucy this evening and we both found things we can wear in Senegal. A Swish, for those who don’t know is a clothes swap.