Our July weather has been so very wet and very windy..The heavy rains and strong winds have blown nearly all the apples off the tree....Some apples have little bite marks, probably made by little mice and also hedgehogs, who have been keeping warm and dry underneath the garden shed. I've been collecting up the windfalls in between the heavy showers to make some Classic Apple Chutney. Made with peeled diced apples, a couple of red onions, raisons, soft brown sugar, cider vinegar, ginger, mustard seeds, salt. boiled for 40 minutes, spooned into sterilised jars. Keep for at least two months before eating. Garden shed the hedgehog takes refuge under from the rain...images from June, a much summery month than July. Xx
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Nature is such a wonderful example of effortlessness: the roses, intertwined with clematis, poppies, alliums and apple buds looking to a blue sky. All unfolding in grace and beauty.Xx
.A bright sunny cold March day -1 degree, in the garden. Blue skies above the old apple tree; roof on the little shed has been replaced after the winter storms.... Shivering into Spring with little tete a- tete and primroses near the little buddha.. ...Blessings Xx
Walk with Brian along Rossal Beach.Love big blue skies, calm sea. Sunny and icy cold day, a few dog walkers about. little bobbing boats in the distance.
A looooong time since I posted.....The last day of January 2023, a very dreary wet weather, month. . .. A walk along the coast..Overcast days, Rusting textures caught my eye..and the clouds, dim light. reminded me of Leonard Cohen's, Anthem. ..... "There's a crack, a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in That's how the light gets in...." Late summer morning walk at Stannah. The sun doesn't appear until late afternoon at this time of year and there's a cool salty breeze, sensing the coming change of season. Last time I was here in April the hedges and trees were coming into blossom, now they are thick with hips and berries.The pretty mauve Sea Lavender (Limonium vulgare), that grows in the salt marshes is beginning to fade. There are plenty of sloes on the blackthorn. Blackthorn branches are covered in lichen Beautiful rosehips - see above, hawthorn berries - see below. . . . Is this a sign of a hard winter?
Haven't posted in a long while, but thought I'd share these images and a little slide show of Cleveleys beach near Blackpool, Lancashire, and a painted stone that someone left on a bench that I sat on. February 2020 - Fuerteventura, Canaries, just before Covid19 hit the UK, and at the tail end of the Calima in the Canaries, visiting Brian's family, seeing his niece after twenty five years! And a chance meet with my cousin who'd recently moved there. We arrived in Fuerterventura at the tail end of a 'calima' (a dust storm from western Sahara) the worst the island had experienced for twenty years. Extremely windy, sky tinged yellow, dust drying air leaving you parched and breathless. We were advised to stay indoors for a couple of days; our first experience of seeing people wearing masks, at this time to protect themselves from the sand dust floating in the air. Little did we know then, mask wearing was to become a 'normal' part of life for a very different reason. ....After a couple of days the dust air began to clear, streets were swept and hosed down. We were still loath to venture far from our bungalow... but the 'ill wind' had blown flocks of swallows and large dragonflies off course. The swallows were having feasting frenzy on the dragonflies- mesmerising to watch from our little patio. Wonderful to see blue skies again, and full colour return...Fabulous palm trees, Barbary squirrels along the Atlantic coast. |
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March 2023
Pat's Blog
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