simple things - January...

As you will know, today Christina is hosting yet another Simple Things Day. This time for each blogger who joins in she is donating a dollar,(up to £250) to a charity helping the survivors of Haiti.

My simple things are all about appreciating what January has to offer...

* The delights of unexpected snow
* Having an excuse to stay snuggled under the duvet
* New beginnings and the stirring of creativity again - ( oh I have so many ideas!)
* Enjoying simple tasks like making bread and soup
* Celebrating the lengthening of days
* Taking the time to pause and reflect...
Head across here to see other bloggers and their 'simple things'.

simple things for Haiti...

Just a reminder, that Christina is doing another Simple Things day this Wednesday 27th and if that wasn't a good enough reason to join in and play, she has very generously agreed, (along with her family) to donate a dollar for every blog that joins in, (to the tune of $250).

Christina has the most beautifully written and photographed blog and that lady has a seriously big heart.

So come and join us...

lunch today...

Remember how I said I had made spicy parsnip soup yesterday? Well a delicious portion, made a warming lunch today to chase away the dreary weather.

Warming Spicy Parsnip Soup (to chase all dreariness away!)
5 medium sized parsnips
2 carrots
1 large onion
2 and a half pints of good vegetable stock
teeny pinch of chilli flakes
Garam Masala to taste ( i think I used about 4 teaspoons ish)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to season
Double cream if feeling decadent!

* heat a glug of olive oil
* add onions and let sweat in the oil but don't brown
* chop parsnip and carrot into chunks
* once onion is soft add the parsnip and carrot to the pan
* let vegetables get to know each other for about 5 minutes with the lid on
* add good quality vegetable stock
* add a teeny pinch of chilli flakes - just to add a little something, not to overpower
* after about ten minutes add the garam masala - it's best to do this towards the end of cooking
* wait for the vegetables to soften
* when vegetables are cooked enough, buzz in a processor to make a silky consistency
* add more stock if you want a thinner consistency
* add seasoning and cream if you dare!

Soup making is so easy, cheap and satifying, especially in this cold damp weather. Feel free to tweak the recipe as the inpiration strikes you. Yum!

in the blink of an eye...

No sooner did it get past Sunday, I blinked and here we are again...I really need to get to grips with this blogging lark and post more frequently!

* This weekend I've started reading a new book and finished this one.
* Made some delicious spicy parsnip soup, (Recipe to follow...)
* Played with my new 50mm - I managed to break the last one :(
* Bought a new pair of boots and a pair of black skinny jeans
* Visited a camera shop and held the lovely Canon 7D and 5D as I was curious to their weight *swoon*
* Took Sparky on a snowy dog walk







How about you?

the weekend in a nutshell...

Some things...
:: A log fire
:: Watching this
:: A flurry of snow
:: Trying to sort a problem with my Magic Mouse that wasn't a problem!
:: A lovely lie in and a lazy read of the Sunday papers
:: Sorting my shed after the roof collapsed with the weight of snow
:: Reading this and this...
:: Listening to Florence and the Machine and Bat for Lashes and The XX

a sliver of wintery sunshine in my kitchen

finding a balance...

I've been thinking about New Year Resolutions and goals and after much thought - it really is pretty simple. What I'm aiming for this year is 'balance'.



In a nutshell, balance between the things I have to do, - work, commute, eat, etc etc and the things I want to do - make, play, wish, grow - with maybe a happy overlap between the two.



Not much to ask really - I'll work on the fine tuning as I go along...

back to the real world...

So - the snow finally thawed enough to be able to get out of the village. That meant back to work and into the real world and you know what, a teeny bit of myself was wishing for that lovely snow again. Wishing for that slightly unreal existence that meant trudging knee deep in snow like some Artic explorer just to get to the shop or take the dog out. Or baking bread on an afternoon, or lounging around reading magazines as if it were a Sunday afternoon.


Or drinking tea complete with chocolate biscuits and just sitting and reading and not keeping track of the days or hours. It was like being on holiday but different because there was this lovely feeling of not actually having to do anything because the roads were so bad and you couldn't get out and about.


I'm sure I would have gone stir crazy if the weather had continued but it felt a little bit like hibernation which was no bad thing at the beginning of a New Year. Time to step back after the craziness of Christmas and think about the year ahead. As to the New Year Resolutions, I'm still pondering...

slow thaw...

I feel like I'm still getting to grips with the fact that we're in 2010; after the Christmas holidays and the prolonged snowy weather we've been having, it all seems slightly unreal, y'know, (especially as I only managed to get into work 1 day last week lol!) almost as if reality hasn't set in yet.


However things are changing, today saw warmer weather that has been starting the drip, drip of a slow thaw. The roads seem a lot better today so, (fingers crossed) we should be able to get out of the village tomorrow and back to the 'real world'.

In fact I might even have to start thinking about my New Year Resolutions soon...

snow uh oh...

So, the good news is that my test for Mono came back negative, so I must have just had some horrible viral thing. Tuesday was my first day back to work in about 3 weeks, so no sooner was I back and thinking about getting back into the routine when the snow came... Unfortunately since then I haven't been able to get into work because the of the weather, roads have been horrendous, the only bus service cancelled, schools closed and I have 18 inches of snow in my garden!


Still, it does look beautiful, even if it is freezing, (my neighbour said her thermometer was showing -15 degrees yesterday morning - yikes!)



Still, we have supplies and are warm, so that's a good thing and also pretty much everywhere in the UK is having the same kind of weather. The funny thing is, this kind of weather seems to bring out the best in people - everyone pulling together to help out neighbours and friends, so it seems much more bearable. I hope the weather is being kind wherever you are...

beginning again...

Happy New Year! I can't believe how long it is since I last blogged. After my last post, I thought I was on the mend and went back to work but unfortunately got sick again with a horrendous cough and swollen glands and ended up off again. Now normally I am pretty healthy, so this thing took it out of me.There is a very slight chance I may have glandular fever, (mono) even though I was sure I was far too old lol! and have to go for a second blood test tomorrow. The good news is that I am feeling so much better that I don't think this is the case and more probable that I just managed to pick up about three viral things one after the other...



So after having a super quiet Christmas and New Year I'm now ready to start again... my new imac arrived, (though it took me two weeks to open it as I felt so lousy, we are now firm friends!) and so all is good and I'm back online.



I hope Christmas brought you everything you wanted and that the beginning of this new year sees you healthy and happy. I'm still pondering on my New Year Resolutions and will post about them soon, anyone else made any resolutions?

coming out in sympathy...

It seems ages since I last blogged. The sore throat took a lot longer to sort than expected. After a week,(I know a week!) in bed feeling rough, I went back to work last Thursday. Big mistake...after doing my best impression of the living dead that day, I crawled into bed at 5.30pm feeling worse than I had previously! A visit to the GP the next day confirmed that I now had Laryngitis and I've been off work this week feeling tired, no voice a cought etc etc.



The good news - is although my throat is not 100% sorted I feel sooooo much better - yay! and I'm back to work tomorrow.




The bad news, is that sadly my laptop has come out in sympathy with me and is on it's last legs. I've googled the problem and it pretty much looks as though any day soon my screen will die. It's flickering like crazy and has a horrible red glow on one side. I just know that some day soon I'll switch on my laptop and there will be nada - just a black screen.

Because of this laptop problem, I'm in the process of ordering an iMac. I know that this will be so much better for my photos, bigger screen, memory etc etc but I am a little scared. I've always used a PC. Any tips from those who have made the change?

Oh and if I disappear again, it probably just means my laptop has died and my Mac hasn't arrived - so bear with me!

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!