Yellow and blue - colours of spring

Daffodils are flowering in the garden,

Trumpeting heralds for the new season.

They brighten the corner under the hazel bush, where the pond used to be and may well be again.

The sky is not the only place to see intense blues -

this gleams from under the still-bare walnut tree.

Spring at Lydiard House

Lydiard Park waslooking very green and full of promise yesterday, with plenty of evidence of the new season's growth.



There were some delicate Hellebores waving in the damp breeze.

The clumps of snowdrops were much more abundant than the last time I visited.

New cyclamen leaves pushed up through last year's pine cones.

Even the moss growing on the stone walls looked lusher, greener and more abundant.

Supper in Swindon

This is the School House Hotel and Restaurant in Hook, just outside Swindon. I spent Monday night there in this lovely converted building, which was built to educate the children of estate workers at nearby Lydiard House, coincidentally where I had a date the next day.

The large windows mark the spot of what was the school hall, now transformed into a restaurant where I enjoyed a really superb meal with my friends Maggie and Penny, and Penny's husband, John (who took the photo below of we three girls enjoying our main courses). Great company makes an evening go well, but so did the scrumptious dinner - I had a starter of salmon and scallop terrine on salad leaves, followed by loin of venison with mixed seasonal vegetables, and completed the olfactory adventure with a fabulous pannacotta with kirsch-steeped cherries - ecstacy!

The gluten free breakfast was equally excellent the next morning. We were looked after very well there, and I look forward to having the occasion to visit there again. The restaurant is open to non-residents - shame it's over an hour's drive from home!

Keema Mutter

Yesterday I posted on Facebook that we were having Keema Mutter for dinner, and one of my friends asked me what it is. Well, it's delicious, and my leftovers, which were my lunch, looked like this:

 

The recipe I use is in a wonderful recipe book now sadly out of print, Indian Low Fat Cooking. This book contains the highest proportion of recipes tried, enjoyed and repeated than any other I possess, I think (with the possible exception of Delia's Complete Cookery Course, which is so used and battered that I rebound it when I took bookbinding classes and is looking sorry for itself again now). This one used minced beef but it is also good (and more traditional) with minced lamb, and minced turkey works well and very economically, too. A similar recipe can be found here but my version omits the bay leaves and peppercorns, and also the oil: you add the meat, onions, tomatoes and spices (garlic, ginger, chilli, turmeric, garam masala and cumin seeds)all at once to the pan without fat/oil or browning and cook for about half an hour, then add frozen peas, chopped green chilli or pepper and coriander leaves about ten minutes before serving, and we serve with basmati rice.
My local excellent Indian takeaway uses chick peas instead of green peas, which makes a change, but I like green peas with it very much.

So now you know what Keema Mutter is, if you were wondering; if not, no one asked you to read this anyway! But if you want a delicious home made indian style low fat supper, give this one a try some time!

Green Day: Charity Shop Haul

Such is the economic climate that the village next to ours, where I go to use the bank, has not one, but two, charity shops. Yesterday I visited both and came back somewhat laden!

First was this sweet glass vase which may be cut lead crystal. The design is of ears of wheat, and it's a great size for a few flowers from the garden, when the time comes.

I think this pressed glass dish is so pretty, it was totally irresistable and had to come home with me. I don't know why, this pattern looks somewhat Victorian or eastern European but I'm probably wrong. If anyone knows anything about it or the vase above, please let me know.

It's on the table at the moment but I should clear the sideboard to make space for it there. It looks pretty on the table, though, as it catches the sunlight coming through the window.

Another item I couldn't resist was this owl pot. It was sitting on a shelf holding knitting needles so I wasn't sure if it was for sale, but it was so I bought it. I think it could hold my knitting needles or crochet hooks instead. I have quite a collection of owly bits and pieces andthelittle cupboard I keep most of them in is full to bursting, but I'll find a place for this because I love it.

I also fell in love with this kingfisher blue knitted lace scarf, which suffers a little from being square rather than rectangular, but is lovely and soft on the neck. I couldn't leave that behind either.

I found this vintage embroidered linen runner languishing on a rail and have ideas for it, too.

I also brought home some mending!

This stunning crochet lace tablecloth is dazzling white but some of the joins between motifs have come undone, so it needs some tlc and attention.

One day, when the chicks have all flown, I harbour ambitions to use proper table linen instead of oilcloth - which may be misguided, but maybe the dream will be realised!

I have also struck very lucky on Freecycle recently, which may help with the display of my treasures.

I was frustrated by a lack of storage in our refurbished sitting room, and was delighted to succeed in freecycling this cupboard/display cabinet. The people we obtained it from had freecycled it themselves from someone in a neighbouring village, and although it is rather battered and needs some refinishing, it is a handsome beast with proper wooden drawers and backing.



The following week a similar item was advertised on Freecycle and it sounded very like. Again my bid was successful and I went to collect it, expecting it was one of the pair that had been offered but refused by the people we'd collected from the previous weekend. In fact, not. It was identical, but the new donors had bought it from new in the place of manufacture, J. Sutcliffe and Son, when they first married. Isn't that the most amazing coincidence? So my best beloved has another project lined up for him now, when the weather warms up a bit, and then we will have somewhere to display some treasures and store games and other entertainments. It's been a good month for recycling!

Suffolk Walls

A trip this weekend to Kedington near Haverhill in Suffolk meant a number of treats, but unexpected or forgotten was the prospect of seeing pargetted walls on houses. These traditional patterns and textures on plaster walls can also be seen in North Essex, and I'd not previously associated it with Suffolk for some reason

I liked this traditional festoon of grape vines transected by a satellite television dish wire. I had noticed signposts to a vineyard not too far away on my journey.

This pattern reminded me of scallop shells, a motif sometimes adopted by pilgrims, but now I look out into my hallway I see a similar pattern on the embossed wallpaper out there.

This last photo might show up better if you click on it to enlarge, but it was hard to get a good image in the light if the late afternoon on my way home. It was really spectacular to see. Then I travelled back home as the sun dropped, sad to miss other photo opportunities of a stunning sky backlighting lines of naked trees in field-dividing hedgerows as I sped back towards the motorway and London, and the home of my childhood.

Magic Dining Chair Travelling

This weekend we braved the snow and ice to travel to Japan. Well, we ate Japanese - in Weston-super-Mare, at Yo-ji restaurant. Yum was the verdict. I especially recommend the grilled scallops and the black sesame seed ice cream. I'm looking forward to visiting Japan - at Yo-ji - again, soon!

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Last week we spent a few days with my Mum, and enjoyed visiting her new local supermarket. It is not one of the national chains, but a small London-based group of shops which specialise in Cypriot products.

The visit gave me the opportunity to eat some fresh figs, and these are the before pictures. The satisfied smiles that would have been in the after pictures you'll just have to imagine!

Stunning Skies

Driving from Enfield towards Edmonton in London today, we travelled under a dramatic cloudscape, with the sun concealed but rays radiating from the gaps. These photos are taken from a moving car so do not catch the true beauty or drama of what my eyes saw, but, oh my, it was beautiful.

Later, this was the upward scenery in Lloyd Park, Walthamstow, London, behind the William Morris Gallery: prettier, more delicate, another type of beauty.

The trees are really hanging onto their leaves this autumn!

Happy Egg Producer

I got off my sofa today to go and see my doctor, who pronounced my throat typical of one with a viral infection so to keep taking the analgesics, warm drinks and rest. Before returning home, I made a visit to the farm where I buy free-range eggs fresh from the hens, who like to see who their customers are. Now I'm back to the sofa, my Christmas knitting, and armchair travelling.

British Museum

Last Sunday my Mum and I made a visit to the fascinating British Museum.

We were there to see the fascinating Garden and Cosmos exhibition on its last day - art from the Court of Jodhpur, a collection of exquisitely detailed and coloured paintings which deserved much attention and close examination, so we made a slow progress.

Afterwards, we sat in the covered Courtyard - a first time for both of us - and enjoyed refreshment and people-watching while we decided what to do next.

Drinks consumed, we concluded that seeing anything else would be too much, so made our way back through a sunny London late afternoon, with part of our imaginations still in Indian palaces and gardens...

Gorgeousness in the Garden

It may be autumn, but the wonderfully sunny and mild autumn we are having is allowing an extra period of colour and loveliness in the garden. The kaffir lilies are always welcome at this time of year, but how good they look bathed in sunlight, which reveals a pearlescent quality to their petals I'd not noticed before.

Astrantia is another favourite of mine, and here is one plant, blossoming its little heart out.

In contrast, the dahlia shouts out its fiery colours and flame-like petals, a patch of intense heat in the flower-bed.

The delphinium has spent the summer sheltered in deep shade under the walnut tree and, now that the leaves are falling, has decided that its time to shine has come. I think it might need to be moved next year: it is very leggy and the lovely delphinium blue is rather unseasonal right now.

Close by, this rose is having another flush of flowers, another flame red pool of warmth.


Love in a Mist is triumphing in the high jump over the rest of the "field" - of weeds.

Of course, it is harvest time. The roses are forming lovely red hips.

Apples on the tree - we harvested them today. Last winter they provided a winter feast for a family of mice in the garage, so we won't be storing them in there again.

The strawberry tree is flowering again as its fruit ripens, still yellow rather than strawberry red.

Another glorious swansong of pink, rosy lushness gladdens my heart.