Showing posts with label cornwall.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cornwall.. Show all posts

Monday, 11 March 2013

Winter's Fond Farewell...I hope!




Our one Cornish day of very little snow seemed to give Clarence & Pecan something to think about. The very idea of swimming in an icy pond makes me feel ill, but they are ducks and care not a jot.


However, the hens had never seen snow & were thoroughly disgruntled, staying in their tree until hunger drove them down.


And then it was gone with not so much a a snow day off from school. Hey ho, I want spring now and the signs have been there, though this week has opened with the Arctic chill returning. So many layers needed to keep warm when sewing or indeed, for doing almost anything.



Whatever the weather, the beach calls and I love seeing all the moods from soft golden melancholy  



to bright & breezy. 



Of course, I also love coming home to comforting food such as Mr Davey's gorgeous meatloaf with all the trimmings,



followed by a slurp or two of something lovely by the fire.



The sun has made an appearance on and off, and even felt hot once or twice. The shadows remain long throwing deep contrasts onto river scenes.



Dear Castle Beach - what would we do without you? (Have now had a hair cut and can see without drawing the curtains)!



Isabella has already been in the sea. She just cannot keep out it seems. My little mermaid was always such a water baby.



Warmth and chill tied together in a dance of seasons. Spring will win out...eventually.



We can see the promise of it



Can you?



But for now, the fire draws me close in its warm embrace, crackling and hissing and sending wafts of scented smoke. 


Keep warm x





Monday, 19 March 2012

A Good Life.




It has been so good to finally feel some sun in Cornwall at last. Sun with warmth in its rays and that bright zingyness that lights up the fresh greens of new growth. Yes, the winds have been cold but at last the mist has lifted and I can see further than the gate, far enough to want to venture out with vegetable plants, pots and seeds to hand.





My little helper set up the 'wicked chair' by the cutting patch and made sure her sunglasses were to hand...just in case. Of course, she hardly sat still for more than a brief moment before digging around in the dirt as is her wont.





In fact, she spent most of the afternoon in the hen pen digging earth for the 'poor girls' (her term, not mine, as she is convinced they need help) and they were quite happy to join in. I do love that she and all the other children have this experience of dealing with livestock in the form of our hens and ducks, though I do wish she would stop letting them out into the garden where they wreak havoc and claiming it was the cat that must have done it!





Love the way she moves them along with the back of her trowel or the boot of her welly just like her Mama....gently of course.




What can be better than mucking about in the soil with friends who enjoy it as much as you?







We finished off our session by gathering in some herbs from the courtyard ready for a casserole for dinner.





Totally delicious and a lovely way to end the day - digging around with chickens, sowing more veg





smelling beautiful spring flowers fresh from our very own garden and filling the house with their perfume







and popping down to make the most of the amazing Cornish coast we are so lucky to see every day.




Not a bad old life really is it x

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

The Weekend & an Offer.



The weather has turned cold yet again, dull and windy but not raining so I guess I can't complain and I will be tucked away in my sewing room today where, no doubt, I won't notice whether what is happening outside. I have a clear roof in there and the light quality is amazing, but sometimes I find I emerge at the end of the day with no idea what has been going on in the world outside. I will work away, listen to Radio 4 and think of the weekend that has been with its bluebell walks written of in length in the last post.



I will think of the delicious food consumed in fairly large quanitities such as these stuffed butternut squash full of toasted pecan nuts, chopped salami and cheese with a generous sprinkling of mixed herbs fresh from the garden...mmm.



The birthday pasty made by Dave for a friend with a pasty obsession! A lovely evening of chat and much laughter.



The choosing of a suitable bowl...



to use as a base because Isabella wanted to make nests. Having collected 'dicks' (unfortunate that Isabella doesn't often pronounce the 's'!) and feathers from the duck pen, she then decided that a nest really needs buttercups and proceeded to pick handfuls of them. So pretty, but not long-lasting - tears followed; more tears followed when our papier-mache efforts dried too quickly and all the paper dropped off the bowl! Ah well, you can't win them all. As I can't show a picture of the finished work, I will show a picture of a dress I made many years ago for a niece instead... or not



The second the camera comes out Isabella sees a chance for a game. I'll try again while she is drinking; no, that still doesn't work as she fidgets constantly, this little never-still butterfly-girl. How dated and quaint the huge puff sleeves seem now and yet I rather like to see her wear it, her ringlet curls somehow suiting the style.



Another photo of bluebells I think...



before letting you know that I have decided to put an offer on my website for the Lauren Tote Bags as they were so popular in the feedback from my giveaway. From now until next Tuesday (19th May) anyone who wishes to order a tote bag will be able to do so for the offer price of £20.00 per bag instead of the usual £25 they sell for. I have removed all postage & packing costs from the website, so the total is as stated. Just click on the 'order now' button and the new price will show on the checkout and will apply however many you may choose to order - well, I don't know - you may have a run of birthdays coming up! Anyhoo, I hope it may be of use to some of you who didn't win the main prize.









Well, the sun is now shining brightly and it is a blissfully breezy day, so I will off to my sewing room.



Have a lovely day x

Monday, 4 May 2009

Cornwall.



(click on the photos for a better feel of how it is!)

There are so many reasons I love Cornwall and I thought today I would show you just one of them: the landscape. Though it is a small county, a tiny peninsular where you are always within easy reach of the sea, there is huge variety to be found in its landscape. Most counties have something wonderful about them - the coast, huge hills or soft rivers for example - but Cornwall has a little of everything. There are the bleak moors popularised by du Maurier's 'Jamiaca Inn' if you feel the need for a Heathcliffe moment; there are the soft, gentle inlets and coves with their lush banks so romantically tree-lined and inns tucked away telling of a smuggler's past.



The North coast has dramatic and rugged cliffs towering majestically over pounding seas (truly where my heart lies), whereas the South has calmer waters with gently rolling headlines in the distance, the waters most often sparkling jade and turquoise blue, topped with gleaming freshly-laundered horses that shimmer as they break. Of course, as everywhere, there are parts that tell of a different Cornwall, an industrial past of tin and copper mining, of engine houses and chimney stacks and blackened walls that no amount of rest and time have softened. For me there is beauty even in this as I am forced to confront the hardship of this life by a landscape that hides nothing away. The parish of Pendeen in west Cornwall has all this and more with its breathtaking views from the coastal road over vast seas, mines perched on the edge of cliffs and picturesque fishing villages. This is what we saw yeterday: golden, coconut-bun-scented gorse blazing against an endless blue sea.



The moors are scattered with many carns (Cornish for hill), huge piles of granite rocks precariously balanced against a blistering blue skyline.



Fishing boats, rowing boats, boats of every size waiting ready be hauled down steep slipways...



into a deceptively calm sea. A look at the smoothness of stones tells you how wild and dangerous Madam Sea can be when her fickle mood changes and why it pays always, always to show her the very greatest of respect.



A reminder of her power shatters against the sharp rocks. It is these deadly teeth which led to the erecting of Pendeen Lighthouse to lessen the number of ships tossed like so many matchsticks.



Crab and lobster pots heaped at Sennen.



Mr Davey collecting pebbles for a quick 'best of three' game of Ship, ship Sailing.



I won!



One of many engine houses.



Houses crouch against the cliff



Dinosaur egg pebbles...stones...boulders



Having fun



Cornwall. I love it so.



Have a lovely Monday x