sore throats and lovely delights...

At the moment I'm stuck in bed with a scratchy sore throat and runny nose and a little fed up but to cheer myself up, I thought I would share with you the lovely mail i've had this past week.

I meant to do this earlier in the week but felt so rough I didn't get around to it. I came home from work one evening to find a box from a swap I joined on Sofia's blog. (Go check out her delightful blog!) The idea was to send some Autumn comfort out and Sofia would assign swap partners. So the person you sent to wouldn't be the person you received from.

I put my parcel on the table upside down, (didn't realise as there was a label both sides lol!) then when I eventually turned it over to open - what a squeal of delight when I saw the sticker on the box which read Lobster and Swan.

Now if any of you don't know, Jeska has this beautiful blog which I've often looked at. So you can see why I was delighted, even before I opened the box and I wasn't disappointed.

Such lovely treasures

One of Jeska's beautiful garlands, (not sure my photo does it justice)

These are just some of the lovely things she sent, along with a book which is coming in very useful now I'm stuck in bed! Thanks Jeska!

Go check out Jeska's blog and Etsy shop, I promise you'll be swooning...

simple things...again

Once again, Christina is hosting a return of the simple things. (check out her blog and see what delights are there!) A celebration of all the simple things we love... This time my 'simple things' is a celebration of Autumn.



* the golden leaves that fall and reveal a landscape
* the crunch of leaves underfoot
* raindrops that glisten on winter berries
* seedheads and weeds that shimmer in the sunlight
* the way the evening light just fades into darkness
* the promise of magic in a forest

Most of all, Autumn is a celebration of the fading light and dreams that are just beginning...

the heart of the great alone...

I meant to blog about this earlier, as I went to Edinburgh at the weekend for the day. Looking for something to do while I was there - (other than shopping and eating), I came across this exhibition.





The exhibition is about Scott, Shackleton and Antarctic Photography. The above images are by Herbert Ponting. I thought this exhibition might be interesting as I have a love of photography but it was awe inspiring, in fact maybe one of the best exibitions I have ever been to. The photography itself was amazing and considering the photos were taken 100 years ago they had a real contemporary feel to them. I urge you to follow the above link where you can visit the e gallery and see for yourselves...

pretty orange delights...

A little while ago I did a swap with Sally which was fantastic. So much so that we decided to do another. This time Sally came up with the brilliant idea of having a theme which was '5 things Orange' as we are now in Autumn and we both felt this is a time of year when things are a little dull and we needed some cheer.

So, I was seriously excited when I got home from work a couple of days ago to find a nice Postman called Neil had left a little note for me, saying he had left a parcel in my shed...

Meet Nadine the goat!!

Sally chose such perfect gifts, apart from Nadine, She also sent me one of Amy Blackwell's fox prints - lucky me! and a quirky zine from Anthony Zinonos, a cd and a fantastic vintage penguin copy of Evelyn Waugh - A Handful of Dust which I can't wait to start reading...Thanks Sally!

losing my connection...

Ooops! I appear to have been awol for about ten days without meaning to be. Firstly I went to see relatives for a few days, only to get back and find I had somehow lost my broadband connection - grrrrrr!

It was actually quite strange being offline as there were so many things I thought about doing and then thought - nope can't do that without being online. A little frustrating perhaps but almost like a mini detox in a way, as I actually managed to get some things done in the real world!

So there was nothing else for it but to head outdoors at the weekend and so off we went to the coast, even though the weather was pretty grey and miserable. When we got there we found these kite surfers just playing in the windy weather and enjoying the waves...








So much nicer than being stuck in front of a computer...

think pink...

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month and across at Soul Aperture Christina has been encouraging us to post pink on Thursdays in October,



so come and join us and think pink...

wednesday...

One minute it was the weekend and the next thing I know it's Wednesday and here I am! I feel as if I've been rushing around like a mad thing these past couple of weeks but things are starting to slow down a little which is good...



The clocks are due to change next weekend which means we'll have more darkness but in a way I'm looking forward to cozy evenings and weekends in; curled up in front of a log fire with a good book, some tea and maybe a slice of some home baked goodies - bliss!

cobwebs...

Maybe it's because Halloween is later this month, that I have a thing for cobwebs at the moment, especially when there is lovely light. It just fascinates me, all that intricate spinning of silk to make something so beautiful and delicate looking...





Though I read that the tensile strength of spider silk is greater than the same weight of steel with much greater elasticity. Who knew?

tomatoes...

So the summer is finally ended; I think we are officially in Autumn now but still things in my garden are trying their hardest to continue growing. We still have a mini glut of tomatoes.



Now that the weather is turning colder one of the nicest things to do is make tomato soup - {yum and super easy}. To be honest when I do this I don't usually use a recipe for quantities etc as so much of it just depends on how thick, thin etc you want the soup, or how much garlic you like to add etc. Just do whatever suits but here goes a rough recipe that can be adjusted as needed...



To serve 2 (double up quantities as needed)

8 medium size tomatoes
1 or 2 Garlic cloves
Onion
A glug of olive oil
Half pint of good vegetable stock
I ring the changes with the flavourings sometimes using italian herbs, marjoram, oregano etc from my garden or rosemary which goes nicely with the tomato.

Chop tomatoes into halves, quarters etc depending on size
Put in an oven proof dish
Add desired herbs and a clove or two of garlic
Glug olive oil over them
Roast in oven at for about 20, 30 mins - this helps to bring out flavour.

Meanwhile fry an onion in a little olive oil
When tomatoes are ready, add them into the pan with the onion
Add enough stock for desired thickness of soup
Heat for about 10 mins

Use a food processor to blend
add back to pan, reheat and voila!

posting pink...

October is National Breast Awareness month and across at Soul Aperture the lovely Christina is asking us to post a photo with pink in it on Thursdays in October.



So here is my contribution. Won't you join us? As Christina says 'no rules, post one Thursday or all five'...