Off to the races…sorta kinda

Down to South Florida

for a show with the youngest…

Life tends to move faster there.

Have a beautiful and eventful weekend!

Christmas tree on Sunday.

UmHmm.

Tracks in the Wheat.

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX, CPL, hand held, f/11.0, 1/30s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Almost Wordless Wednesday ~ 28th November 2013

Out now ~ late to bed or early to rise?

Quote Of The Day

Modern Carpets by Jan Kath

 

The Master of the modern carpet Jan Kath consciously breaks with traditional ways of seeing and throws strict rules of composition out the window.   His work links age-old carpet tradition with the 21st century and combines excellent craftsmanship and top quality hand processed materials.  

http://www.jan-kath.de

Field of Wheat. (Simplicity Itself!)

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX, CPL, hand held, f/8.0, 1/100s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Bits and pieces….

Little bits of Holiday decorating this weekend

The bromeliad flower below

looks like a teensy Christmas tree at the sink…whoville

and if I squint real hard….the tiles look like snow….

Lanterns hung and lit outside

 

Limes…gathered in silver with palm seeds

And the best most prolific decoration…

Another beautiful day

Enjoy YOUR weekend.

 

 

See much more Christmas inspiration at Cottage Magpie and Songbird

'Why The Ash Has Black Buds'

It's just over a year ago since I wrote a blog post in which I mentioned a book entitled 'Why Willows Weep And Other Stories'. Little did I know then, that the willow on the edge of our garden would meet with misfortune during wild and windy January storms, nor that the ash at the back would now be potentially facing a worst fate. Luckily the willow damage though severe and unsightly did not kill the tree, but with the ash I can only wait with apprehension to see what happens.

Listening to the mesmeric story of 'Why The Ash Has Black Buds' here on BBC Radio 4 was initially responsible for me purchasing festive copies of 'Why Willows Weep' for myself and for a friend last year. The book proved to be a delightful read. It is an anthology of 'contemporary tales from the woods' and contributors include a number of well known authors including Joanne Harris, Philippa Gregory, Richard Mabey, Kate Mosse and Sally Vickers. Every book sold enables the planting of five native trees by the Woodland Trust, an oganisation which is at the forefront of tree conservation in the UK. There is also a Kindle edition.

This little volume would make a most timely Christmas present for tree or nature loving family and friends. Also recently 'Why the Ash Tree Has Black Buds' has recently been included in the Kindle catalogue as a stand alone tale for the bargain price of £1.59. Do listen to the story first as I'm sure that you will then definitely want to read it and reread it. The author William Fiennes's words are pure magic. Just make sure that you have a hankie or box of tissues at hand.

Yuletide by the pool…

I know, I know

The dishes are barely done from the turkey feast

and I am showing you Christmas images.

Florida Christmas photos at that!

We do it differently here in Florida.

we gots ta.

  Loving this great wicker coffee table.

yep…my holiday decorating wheels are turning

on this 80 degree day. sigh.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Images from here

Grassy Simplicity.

Grass blowing in the wind, shot with a slowish shutter speed and hand held.

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority Mode, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX, CPL, hand held, f/18, 1/13s, ISO200, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

I see…..

Skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....dark sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
They'll learn much more.....than I'll never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world

 

::Giving Thanks::

Almost Wordless Wedneday - 21st November 2012

Stopped in my tracks this afternoon by the glimpse of a sliver of white ~ I was so excited to discover the first snowdrop flower of the new season. I did a little silly dance as you do on these occasions, before rushing in to tell himself who was not that impressed. This is galanthus 'Faringdon Double', which is the earliest double snowdrop to flower - usually in time for Christmas but more usually the new year. I am surprised to see it so early along with the snouts of other snowdrops already peering through. You can see by the liverwort and other bits growing through the gravel that I need to do some housekeeping. I wonder how long it will be before the flower opens fully. Any guesses?

Toni (with an "i"), photographed in my "Strobist" style studio.

Nikon D90, Manual Mode, Nikkor 18-105mm kit lens at 105mm with VR on, hand held, f/11, 1/200s, ISO200.
A Nikon sb600 bounced in an umbrella to camera left set just slightly higher than the subject, and a Nikon sb700 bounced in an umbrella to camera right and somewhat higher than the subject (about 45 degrees), with both sb's on light stands and triggered via Nikon's excellent CLS.
Edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X4.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 21st November 2012

As displayed by The National Vegetable Society at the Southport Flower Show, August 2012.

Thankful…

For:  all of my family and friends …all of my readers through the years, yep, YOU!

For:  a couple of days off to revel in nothing and everything. And eat cranberry and sausage stuffing…

and make turkey soup…

Enjoy the gorgeous bounty of the season…with yours!

I share our fruitful bounty with you!!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Oooh...and you may notice a few changes around here as we rework the blog...

found a smashing web designer that is working her magic...

 

Watery Simplicity.

Allotment Veggie Hotpot

We recently celebrated Halloween at the allotment with some cool rain (most fitting to conclude the season) but some sustaining warm fare. Despite the weather we cosied up round the wood burner in the community hut. There were two sorts of hotpot - the obligatory for this part of the world Scouse, as well as a delicious vegetarian hotpot, ensuring that everybody was catered for. This was washed down with copious amounts of tea or coffee and a desert of a chunky slab of parkin - mmmmmmm! As we have been trying to eat less meat this year I've since cooked the vegetarian hotpot a couple of times at home. Here is the recipe ~

Winter Veggie Hotpot

Oil
A few garlic cloves crushed
A chopped onion
Any winter vegetables (except for swede which is too strong) parsnip, turnip, sweet potato, carrots, squash etc chopped into bite size pieces.
½ tsp ground cinnamon,1 tsp cumin seeds, ½ tsp ground ginger
1 tin chickpeas
1 tin chopped tomatoes
A handful of prunes
A handful of raisins
A glug of tomato ketchup
Water/stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Fry onion & garlic for a few seconds, add chopped up vegetables, fry, add spices, fry, add chickpeas, tomatoes, prunes, raisins, ketchup, salt and pepper, water/stock to cover, bring to boil, simmer until the vegetables are just cooked (20 mins approx)

Serve with cous cous, garlic bread or potatoes.

This is the recipe as it was given to me so I had to work amounts to suit the two off us. I have since cooked a couple of times making some minor adjustments. I'm not that partial to cumin so reduced the amount to just ½ teaspoon. I included a couple of sticks of celery and the second time I tried it I used red kidney beans instead of chick peas. I like these sorts of recipes as you can fine tune according to your own taste, what you have a glut of or to accommodate left - overs. I also found that it took longer than twenty minutes to cook, as I made enough to do us for lunch the following day. It's reasonably cheap to make as well as being nutritious and I think that we will be eating variations on this theme regularly over the coming months.

C’mon in….through the back door…

 

What FUN it was to work with Janell, Photographer Marie Busch and the FABULOUS ladies

from Decorative Arts see those Jonathan Adler pillows on the chairs outside? Yep. From Decorative Arts. 

Our funky ole’ casa is in the most recent issue of

House of Fifty

It is lippin’ full  173 pages of great holiday eye candy…Janell and her contributors have done such a beautiful job on this magazine through the past year or so…a true labor of love.

Find your copy right HERE.

 

It's Time!

I'm nervous, excited and almost ready.

Shots and vaccine card - check

Passport - check 

Anti-malaria pills - check

High-powered bug spray - check

Clothing treated with bug spray as recommended by the travel clinic doctor - check 

PowerPoint presentations complete - check

Talking points ready - check

Thumbdrive loaded - check 

Converter ready - check 

Suitcase pack ,,,,TBD (as in "to be done")

Errands run (like picking up the new pair of glasses that I need for this trip, going to the bank, etc.)  TBD

So this time tomorrow I will be well on my way to Amsterdam, Nairobi, Lusaka, eventually making my way to Harare.  I've got my iPad and I'll be listening to Christmas music whenever possible so that I'm doing my part to kick off the holiday season. 

More Simplicity...

Continuing with the Simplicity theme...

Almost Wordless Wednesday - 14th November 2012

D'Arcy & Everest stand, Southport Flower Show ~ August 2012.

Quote Of The Day

Hurrah for Simplicity!

As the old saying goes: "less is more"! :-)

Monochromatic Simplicity

Stripped of colour a little discarded moss on a wooden jetty becomes a thing of simplistic beauty.

'My Secret Garden'

Some time ago whilst browsing the forthcoming new arrivals on our local library website my eyes were drawn to Alan Titchmarsh's latest book 'My Secret Garden'. I clicked the magical place a hold on this book button and before long a letter arrived advising me that the book was ready for collection. I have just read this volume and here for what it's worth is my two pen'north :

The book comes in at 192 pages, of which some there are some 90 full page photos plus many other half and quarter page photos, so it's is very much photo heavy and text light. Having said the photos are of an extremely high standard throughout and are in my opinion the best feature of the book. The photos are all the work of award winning photographer Jonathan Buckley, who has collaborated with other garden writers including Christopher Lloyd, Carol Klein and Sarah Raven and whose work has also featured in various magazines and newspapers.  

The book itself is described by the author as "a personal tour of my own private plot". He moved from 'Barleywood' to the plot in question in 2002. Unlike 'Barleywood' which he shared with the nation, through the television programme 'Gardener's World', his new garden is strictly private - television cameras have not ventured in and the garden does not open to the public. Yet Alan says "not letting see what we have created is rather like an actor learning a part and then performing without an audience - the experience is meant to be shared ; so are gardens". Hence he struck a deal with his wife that Jonathan Buckley would record the progress of the new garden that he was creating and that it would be shared by way of a book. Alan writes that "It will give you an idea of my taste and predilections, my whims and fancies as well as being a soapbox for me to expound a modest amount of my garden philosophy'.

The book follows the progress of the garden as the year unfolds. It is divided into seasonal headings under which the book focuses on distinct areas of the garden eg the drive, the meadow, the greenhouse, the west garden, the south terrace and the dolphin pond etc. Most of these areas are revisited throughout the year. The book also includes extracts which reflect on prominent seasonal planting.There is a plan of the garden at the back which helps put it all into context. On perusing this though I was disappointed that the veggie beds did not feature in the book at all as far as I can see and was left wondering why. There is an index at the back where references to specific plants and people mentioned in the book are listed with appropriate page numbers.

So my overall impressions of the book? I sadly found this book left me wanting. I usually scribble away when reading gardening books jotting down names of plants, ideas for planting combinations and perhaps suggestions for future reading . I sometimes copy sentences or paragraphs, that have made me stop in my tracks and linger, where the beauty of the writing is such that I know that I would like to return to the sentence or paragraph in the future. Other scribbling down the name of a rose and a dahlia that took my eye my notepad stayed unopened.

I would have liked to have seen detailed descriptions or diagrams of planting combinations but the book does not contain these. Sometimes there were tantalising hints. In one instance Alan mentions an area where he has planted a mixture of grasses to 'create a long and feathery ribbon that allows the garden to fray into the landscape. In late summer and autumn this grassy ribbon comes into its own when the feathery plumes turn to light catching silver and gold". Now I would like to know what grasses Alan has used but no names are mentioned - instead he names grasses to avoid, which to me is a wasted opportunity. Again a photo of a purple and gold border has a teasing caption naming the varieties of some of its occupants but not all of them.

There were several occasions when I was mildly irritated by references to expensive equipment, pots and statues etc. which he uses or which feature in the garden - maybe a touch of the green - eyed monster within me?

Call me cynical but I have a feeling that although the photos were taken over seven years, I think that the book might have been rushed to meet a publication date geared very much to the Christmas market. The recommended retail price is £25 although of course it can be purchased at a cheaper price if you look round. However although I will not be buying a copy for my bookshelf or asking Santa for a copy, it made for a pleasant enough quick read on a dark autumnal evening and has certainly answered my curiosity about what Alan's new garden looks like.

Evening Light and an Apartment.

Vacations Are the Best

It was wonderful to spend time in Mexico!   I’ve wanted to travel in Mexico for years but my husband was not the least bit interested.  

Last spring during an airfare sale, my son and I decided to make plans.  It’s always amused me that whenever I ask my husband about doing something, he can be less than enthusiastic but if I just go ahead and make plans, he is always 100% on board.  I love that about him.  Now I can't wait to go back!

Sunrise

At certain moments it was hard to sit back and enjoy the moment.  Hurricane Sandy was on my mind and because of my role at work there were some relief effort planning that needed to be done. What did we ever do before the internet, Skype, Blackberries and iPhones? 

Breakfast fresh from the tree

 There were a few times I felt guilty about relaxing in such a beautiful place when so many people in the northeast were, and still are struggling.

Snorkeling just a few feet away from my hammock!

This weekend has been a whirlwind as I prepare for my trip to Zimbabwe – lots of shots, meds and bug spray.   

Vacation is over

There may be a gap in my posts but I can promise you I will have plenty to share when I get back.   I’m taking my iPad so maybe I’ll get a post in before the end of the month. 

Happy Thanksgiving to blog friends in the U.S.