Very Much Alive

It's a rather appropriate title for today, however, this post follows on from yesterday's tour of the flowers.

The main flowers here are orchids whose blooms last months.

One bunch of daffodils has flowered today.

No flowers here, just pretty foliage on the fern.

Very much alive - Happy Easter!

xx

PS I'm sorry but I've switched word verification on again. Anonymous keeps commenting trying to lead anyone who reads to very dubious sites. I'm fed up of deleting him/her/it. Sorry.

Kitchen Window - March 2013

Not much has changed from last month except for a new bunch of daffodils and an Easter egg cup. Happy Easter. The plant is still up on its cookie cutter plinth because the window sill collects water. Whoops, I see I've not taken my compost bag (old bread flour bag filled with peelings) out to the compost. Tut, tut.

I promised Jill from Land of the Big Sky (put your glasses on now) that I'd take her on a tour round my artificial/dead flowers. At least you'll see some blooms.

I always keep the statice

from bunches of flowers. I can just see a poppy head there as well. Happy Easter.

These roses just get moved around from room to room and vase to vase.

This vase holds an assortment of items - wooden sticks that florists like to put in bunches of flowers, dead seed heads of flowers from the front garden - dead roses and the odd artificial flower.

You've seen these tissue paper chrysanthemums before. 

Here's another seed head this time from an allium plus a vase of wooden, papery roses.

More artificial flowers here plus a little bit more statice.  (It turns up all over the place.) Can you see more dead rose heads?

They are surrounding another allium head.

The 'odd' bunch brighten up the downstairs toilet!

The latest dead roses are the bunch DD received on Valentine's day 'displayed' in the Buddha bottle. The odds and sods are put in the loft room (my office, sewing room, crochet chamber, reading room, Lego centre, knitting den, music studio, dance studio!) with me.

The garden glass flower

Odd blooms and the plastic leaves
that puss cat likes to chew

Christmas blooms

DD's sweetie wrapper blooms

Note to self - please tidy up the table by the bed.

I'll show the live plants another day.

xx

Welcome to my new follower. Hope you enjoyed the tour.

One more

I think I'm one up on the book reading front. This one is another easy read that was very difficult to put down.

I always find words in books that I don't use in everyday parlance. This book was no exception.

inchoate

Always have a dictionary - online or otherwise - to hand. I don't think I'm the only one who does this, at least I hope not.

That was quick

I read this book in no time.

On the back was a review by the Oxford Times - 

'Her evocation of the English countryside is elegiac ... a pleasure to read.'

(I had to look up 'elegiac'!)

My verdict - a quick, refreshing read. Very enjoyable.

Sorting Out the Cupboard under the Eaves

Material

Briefcases

Board games

Baby toys

Unfinished rug

Unfinished tapestry

Tapestry silks

Barbie dolls

Doll accessories

Knitting needles

Photographs

Picture frames

Picture frames

Framed tapestry

Lego

Beer mat collection

Magic Lantern slides

Baskets of wool

Drawers full of wool

Old glass lampshades

Grandpa's oils

Grandpa's watercolours

Grandpa's easel

Old wallpapers

Off-cuts of carpet

Christmas wrapping paper

Paper gift bags (assorted)

Walking sticks

Venetian blinds - aluminium and wooden

Duplo

More picture frames

Chess set

Wind up record player

Children's work from over 25 years ago

Suitcase

I think I've got plenty to keep me occupied for the coming week!

xx

PS Here's a good word - 

tegestologist

It's time to let go

The time came for DD to let go. Room in the cupboard room was needed and although they were much loved, they had not been played with for many years.

There they sat on the landing awaiting their fate.

Some were taken to help raise money for one charity, some were packed off to the CS in the hopes they would be found loving homes. 

Some sneaked their way into other rooms and cupboards, not ready for the 'let go' yet. (I pinched them!)

DD kept the first and much loved. He/she is still watching over her. 

Have you 'let go' of your first ted?

I've not let go of my first teddy yet. He's
very old now and has lost most of his fur.
His squeaker has given up but I've not
given up on him.

A little bit of what you fancy ...

I fancied a walk along the promenade.

Somebody fancied building another sloping building.

The council fancied a new Town Hall.

 They've already got one but that doesn't seem to matter.

I fancied the look of the sherry glasses in the junk shop. (Plus the sherry when I got home.)

I also fancied doing a little bit of graffiti on the sand.

... does you good.

Mum's Bread

1. See post in the side bar or type in the word 'bread' in the search box.

2. Be prepared to get flour everywhere.

3. I put in 2 teaspoons of sugar now.

4. My second rise is 1 hour - any longer and the dough erupts over the tin onto the surface beneath. It can be rescued at this stage, kneaded again and put back in the tin. Be prepared to get dough everywhere.

5. I put the warm water (measure out the cold water and put in the microwave for just over a minute), sugar and yeast together first and leave for about 1/4 of an hour
(just to make sure the yeast is active) - tidy the kitchen, take the cat a walk, sweep the floor (no, don't sweep the floor yet!). 

6. I put the mixer on slow with the dough hook and spoon in the flour slowly - 500ml of warm water will take about 1kg of flour which is approximately 60 rounded desert spoons. During this process don't forget to put in the salt and a knob of melted butter. (DD always laughs at this. I wonder why!) When you can, lift the dough hook up and if the dough doesn't stick to the bottom of the bowl then it's very close to being ready. I finish off the kneading by hand until the dough feels smooth and not too sticky. Take the dough out and oil the bowl otherwise you need very floury hands to extricate the dough after the first rise. I don't oil the bowl!

7. Clean the mixer, work surface, floor, hands and clothes when all is done - oh and clean the oven if the second rise was too long!
8. Spend 10 minutes cleaning dough out of your fingernails.
9. The loaves should take about 25 minutes to bake at 200 degrees C. Don't forget them or they will burn.







Oh sugar ...

Toast anyone?

Can you see?

Can you see Morecambe in the distance and snow on the hills?

Look the other way. Can you see Heysham village?

Can you see the clear water?

Can you see the seagull?

Can you see the old church of St. Peter's? You can read more about it here because I've walked this way before.

Can you see the wonderful view behind the ruins?

Can you see the Observation Tower I visited earlier on this week? (It's not clear at all in the picture.) I did through my binoculars. It appeared to be under the sloping crane in the distance.

Can you see the the beginnings of spring?

And the yellow primrose? At least I think it's a primrose.

It's very difficult not to see lovely little cottages in the village.

We saw it all on a warm sunny day when visiting a friend who lives in the area.

A Pleasant Surprise

We intended just to walk along part of the coast we hadn't walked before and as we walked we read signs and posters. This one caught our eye as it was about a very unusual structure by the shore so we went for a look-see.

I don't think they had a set square when they were building this tower! For more information look here and for more pictures look here.

Lovely artwork based on the sand and shore adorned the walls all the way up the tower. 

A specially commissioned artwork 'Drift' features throughout the building and is made up of a series of individually designed pieces fashioned from natural materials and textures inspired by the natural patterns from the coastal environment.  

It's part of the Mythic Coast artwork trail.

There's a camera on top of the tower which can be angled and zoomed from the room at the base. We had great fun zooming in and out watching the people below.

There was lots of information about wildlife, volunteer work, exhibitions and walks,

plus a cross-section of the tower itself.

Working our way up the 64 steps we stopped in the birdwatching room,

the coast watch room - where we observed again!

and at the very top we went out onto the open air balcony.

An ordinary stroll turned into an informative and entertaining morning. Very pleasant apart from the travel sickness suffered in the non-square rooms!

xx

A very warm welcome to my new follower.