THURSDAY 9TH JULY - KNEEHIGH

Last Thursday evening P and I went to see Kneehigh Theatre's production of

BRIEF ENCOUNTER.

Cameras were not allowed in the auditorium so the best I can do is give you a link. www.kneehigh.co.uk

This is a Cornish Theatre company who have been in existence for over 25 years. Each production they present is assured of being an exciting and innovative performance and Brief Encounter was no different.

I knew the outline of the story from the Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson film however in Emma Rice' 's hands this Brief Encounter was a clever, gimmicky production that had lots of humour yet the passion, tenderness and sensitivity was in abundance all done through amazingly, beautifully and convincing characterisation.

We had a great night out and we have spoken to quite a few friends who had also seen the play in Truro in Cornwall, the home county of Kneehigh and the general consensus was that yet again Kneehigh have come up trumps.

MONDAY 22ND JUNE -one Saturday afternoon

Saturday afternoon found me with my husband in Pydar Street near Boots just up the pedestrian street from the Cathedral rattling our collecting tins on behalf of AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. It was quite fun watching all humanity go by and quite a few stopping to pop coins into our tins and have a few words. I do get pleasure from this type of activity both the people watching and also interacting with fellow inhabitants of this our mostly beautiful planet.

THURSDAY 18TH JUNE - I'm back!

Hi folks.

I seem to have been a bit busy lately but now I am ready to get back to blogging.

I've been to The Royal Kingdom of Fife recently to stay with my daughter. We explored an area of Scotland we have never given much time to and found some lovely corners.




The broom was in flower which gave a bright yellow back drop to the whole county.

MONDAY 30TH MARCH - Cornish evening

CORNISH LADS.

Last evening we went 3 miles to a neighbouring village to see a performance by these people.
This was billed as a Musical Drama. A True Story. A World Heritage Landscape.

This was in the style of a 'radio ballad' first pioneered by Ewan McColl and Charles Parker in the 1970's.

This was the story of Cornwall from the heyday of mining through to today with the high days of wealth to the low days of mine closures the diaspora of Cornish miners all over the world from North America, Australia, Brazil and Mexico to mention a few in fact anywhere there was tin to be mined. The characters are Mary Moses - Mother of Cornwall( representing the spirit of the men,women, children and the landscape itself). Mine Captain, Young miner, Old Miner, Maggie Curnow (Bal maiden) and the Eternal mineral ( represents the spirit of an industry that thrived for over 3000 years). These were all wound into the story by the storyteller.

It was a most enjoyable evening part of the Carne to Cove programme which brings live entertainment to the small communities all around this most rural of counties.

FRIDAY 13TH MARCH - red nose day!

We have just been to Scotland again to stay with our daughter. This is a part of Scotland we are not so familiar with i.e. Perthshire. We know so very well the Highlands and Islands of the West Coast but are having fun exploring and discovering the treasures that are hidden in these glens and forests.

We went to the crest of the hill at the top of Glen Quaich and this is the view that opened out in front of us across to the Cairngorm Range. It really was this good.

Having eaten our butties we retreated back the way we had come as we were warned of the hill in front of us being blocked with snow and two cars being stuck!
Not far back along the road this was the view that opened out so I just had to take a photo.

Then came Loch Freuchie with this delightful island which I felt absolutely sure was a crannog. Here is the story to go with it which I discovered when I got home.

The crannog (man made island) on Loch Freuchie (Fraochie) has an interesting dragon legend?.. the story goes that a young man named Fraoch, at the request of the lady Maidh, went to the dragon inhabited island to gather rowan berries. He completed the task and evaded the dragon but the lady insisted that nothing would please her except that he return to her with the uprooted rowan tree. On his second visit he got the tree but awoke the dragon?. who, in mortal combat, gnawed off Fraoch's arms and legs?..

Then at the entrance to the glen we found this absolutely lovely little church.

Amulree was at the junction of three major droves. It formed part of the route Highland drovers would use to bring their livestock to the cattle market at Crieff and Falkirk. Amulree Church was built between 1743 and 1752 and remodelled in 1882. Built to a simple design it has both a bellcote and wethervane. The architect was a John Douglas of Edinburgh. The Amulree church bell was cast in 1519. Amulree parish church contains copies of records of the large number of people who stayed in the area prior to mass emigration, mostly to North Easthope, Canada, in the early 19th Century. The Celtic place name was Ath Maol Ruibhe meaning Maol Rubha's ford.

This was a wonderful place, beautiful and lonely with a rich tapestry of history which contributes to it being a little gem. I intend to go there again.

MONDAY 9TH FEBRUARY - cosy

At long last we have a wood stove. We have been in this house for 18 months already and we don't like using gas - tank gas being the choice here as we are too far from the towns for mains gas - and that it is a fossil fuel that grates uncomfortably on the environmentally aware part of us. Wood being a sustainable fuel we feel happier. This was the first lighting hence the untidy box and stark surrounds. Now we have a beautiful withy basket filled with logs by the side.

We draw the curtains in the evening, watch a film or listen to music all snuggled up in our cosy little house feeling happy that we are not using a fossil fuel to keep warm! Simple things please simple minds! We are running this lovely stove all our waking hours after all it is winter!

This stove is a Bohemian 40 so now you know

TUESDAY 3RD FEBRUARY - unexpected beauty

SNOW.

Forget the woes of the world for just one day.

We awoke today to a beautiful white world.

It is very rare for Cornwall to have snow so I want to share it with you.

These photos were taken from my window.

View to the north.

View to the west.

This one was raken from my front door.
My palm tree never looked smarter or is it sillier?
Just reminds me of Dougal the dog in The Magic Rundabout.

WEDNESDAY 28TH JANUARY - a breath of fresh air literally

It was a cold damp windy day with no sign of the sun so we decided to go to the cliffs not so very far from here. This is St. Anthony Head well known around here for its fabulous vistas.
As we approached the sun began to break through the heavy layer of cloud so we sheltered in the bird hide and as there was no one else wanting to watch the birds we had a flask of hot chocolate in our snug little corner!

This hide really is just that cleverly positioned between cliff and space therefore giving a fantastic view of the cliffs and their inhabitants. There are many seabirds on these rocks but it was too windy and maybe a little early in the year to spot many. There were of course gulls being battered by the very strong gusts.

The gorse is in full flower with that heady scent of coconut filling the air.

All these nooks and crannys for the birds to rest and nest.

We leant out of the hide to see the beautiful surging sea with sounds so powerful that the caressing and soothing feeling they evoke erases all troubles for the moment.

Oh and the new me has been to an Amnesty meeting with P. We sent 3 cards in support of men where injustice is happening.

Oh and I sent an email to the BBC protesting about the not screening of an appeal on behalf of the people of Gaza by the DEC.

No phone calls but I am still smiling and saying hello to new people!!

It doesn't seem to take much effort I just hope I will still be doing these little things at the end of the year.

MONDAY 19TH JANUARY

I am trying to continue the self improvement regime I have set myself so here is the latest report.


On Tuesday I thought about another mutual colleague that the lady I 'phoned last week had mentioned. Daphne was the deputy head of my second school and to hear that she is nearly 80 and riddled with arthritis made me think about then happy times when I was a new girl at the school. bt.com enabled me to locate her number so I gave her a call and she was so pleased to have a chat. She remembered me and we laughed about some shared memories.



I went to the AMNESTY meeting. There were some very interesting topics covered and I signed a letter asking for release of an anthropologist being held without charge in Guatamala. I also took two info pages about two men who have disappeared one in Nepal and one in Gambia. I have sent postcards of support to people closely associated with these men.

When I went for a walk through the village I said 'hello' to a lady walking her dog and also to an old boy leaning on a wall! Two people I have never seen before and this isn't a very big village I wonder where they came from?!

Not one of these things took very long and they have got to be worthwhile. I feel good for having actually done these things rather than just thinking about them.

Then yesterday after a terrific storm over night on Saturday we went to Watergate Bay and watched two proficient Kite Surfers at Watergate Bay, Awesome!!

NOT MY PIC!

MONDAY 12TH JANUARY - self improvement!

Those of you have read my last posting will know to what I am referring now

I have telephoned someone I used to work with and left that place 24 years ago. We have exchanged Christmas cards every year so I decided to find her tel no and rang her she was so delighted she says she will try to get to Cornwall later this year! It was a good thing to do. Oh she lives in Ipswich which is quite a long way from here!

I am going to a meeting of the local AMNESTY group on Wednesday evening my first time..

I am learning Russian well I started this last September but this is one of my new things and it is stretching me.

This post is just about the 'things not resolutions' or self improvement?! package. Eek!

TUESDAY 6TH JANUARY 2009

Resolutions are made to be broken so I haven't made any however there are things which I will try to acheive which can only make me better person.

So here are few things but not resolutions just things ?! will try to do

Everyday I will exchange at least a few words with a new person. This can be anywhere and anyhow even a new person on the phone is ok as a last resort.

Send an email or support a cause that I have meant to do and just haven't got around to. Do this every month even if this just means signing a petition.

Pick up the phone to a friend I haven't spoken to for years and restablish contact with someone different every month!

Read books which will stretch me intellectually and broaden my range.

Of course do some new things - I am about to go and do some abstract painting which I have never tried and want to try. Enthusiasm always out does reality and who knows what will be the result?!

WATCH here for news of how I get on oh and by the way

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2009!

MONDAY 15TH DECEMBER - Scotland again

We live in the south west of the U.K. so as we drove north a couple of weeks ago and it got snowier and snowier by the side of the Motorway we knew we were going to have a good few days. So here are some snowy photos!

Loch Morlich - Cairngorm. at -5 degrees

I love trees when the snow has frozen to the branches.

This is so beautiful.

Scheihallion and Loch Rannoch.

I have Norwegian blood in me. My grandmother was from Gjovik so maybe this accounts for my love of northern climes and cold places.

TUESDAY 25TH NOVEMBER - music

I have been behind with my blogging due to a rather busy schedule of late.
This has not all been routine but punctuated with some top quality live music and as you know you have to make the most of the opportunitieswhen they arise so we have been doing just that.

The first concert was at the beginning of November when we saw Sigur Ros in Bristol it was a fabulous experience there was even snow showered on us the audience!

A week later we say Jools Holland with his Rhythm and Blues orchestra in Plymouth and that was a really good concert too.

Last night we went to Bristol again with friends this time to see Runrig, yes again, another brilliantl live event with lots of audience involvement which makes for a great evening.

So you can see there has been a lot of important stuff happening and after all quality if life is so important!

SUNDAY 9TH NOVEMBER - FRANK BARRINGTON CHEDZOY

Yesterday we went to a small rural village named Stoke St. Gregory which is on the Somerset Levels. I used to come here from the age of 0 until I was in my early 20's. I came to visit my paternal grandparents who lived on a small holding where I remember helping my grandad feeding the hens and collecting the eggs which were still warm, collecting tomatoes in the greenhouse when I was given a paper bag and allowed to gather the tiny little tomatoes which I recall as being treasure all of my own. There was a fruit cage where I used to help my grandfather pick big juicy raspberries as in 2 for the basket and 1 for me! The memories I have of this idyllic phase of my life are warm and full of love. I loved my grandparents but yesterday was about my grandad.

There is a local historian who has done an extraordinary amount of research into young men from Stoke St. Gregory who were touched by World War I. From the names on the war memorial he has discovered where they fought and were killed and also about those who were injured.

My personal story was about Frank Barrington Chedzoy (my grandad). He joined the army in January 1918 and was sent to northern France in April that year. He then fought in the battle of St. Armand and was injured so very badly near a farm at Quenoy. He was gassed and received 3rd degree burns to 60% of his body in fact the left part all the way down. Unable to talk, in shock and with pain controlled by morphine he must have been terriby ill.This meant he was shipped back to UK and spent time in hospital in Bradford and then was taken to Dublin for a long slow recuperation and return to health. He never returned to full health and was unable to ever work however he did use the skills learnt on the first part of his building apprenticeship which had to be interrupted when he went to war. He built the house he shared all his life with my grandmother and where I spent so many happy days of my life. Until yesterday all I had known of his experience of The Great War was that he had been gassed. Yesterday I found out so much of what this young man -my grandad -had experienced when he was only 18.

It was never spoken about and all my father was told as he was growing up ,when he had asked about the war, was the mud.

Thank to this historian I know so much more about how WWI affected my family directly. It has affected me deeply as the wonderful old man, my grandad, kept this secret from all of us except perhaps my grandmother, for the duration of his life.

It has given me so much to think about.

MONDAY19TH OCTOBER - strange but wonderful recipes - Beetroot Brownies - 1st

P came home on Saturday after a cold wet morning on his sailing cruiser.

M came in hungry and wet late last night.

They both had a hot drink acccompanied by a piece of Brownie.

After all everyone loves the chocolatey richness is its collapses in your mouth and P and M were no different.

HOWEVER

the secret ingredient was revealed as something they neither of them enjoy but once disguised and adding to the moist consistency they couldn't argue that it must be a positive contribution to this rather wonderful snack.

RECIPE:

250 g good dark choc (melted)

250 g butter (melted)

250g caster sugar

3 free range eggs

150g S.R.flour

250g cooked and grated BEETROOT ( the secret ingredient!)

courtesy of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

Combine and cook in baking tray for 20 mins at 180C

Let it cool and then eat a small piece at a time - never guzzle but savour the flavour.

MONDAY 13TH OCTOBER - a beautiful autumn day - hidden cornwall 4

The weather was too good to stay indoors so we went out doors!

to Helston which is beyond our patch so we were exploring pastures new. It is about 20 miles from home and in a direction we don't often go.

We parked the car and walked and very quickly in front of us was this ruined mine head. It is the ruins of Castle Wray also known as Wheal Pool and was a silver/lead mine belonging to Helston Valley mine company in times long past.

This is the end wall of the engine house.

Engine house from the other side stains of smoke still very obvious.
Imagine the miners.

The boggy valley where there is a mineral track lost somewhere, where trucks used to carry the ore.
October 12th - 19 degrees centigrade - gorgeous -global warming? I think so, It is all so very wrong. A great walk but what is going on with our planet?

This is Cober Valley.

SATURDAY 4TH OCTOBER - hedgerows bounty

There is a very cold wind today blowing rain up the valley and then beating it on the windows. It feels as if winter has arrived suddenly and without any preamble. I am just putting these photographs together and recalling last Sunday, yes just 6 days ago when we were in T-shirts gathering the beautiful, richly coloured, luscious juicy blackberries that have been quietly growing and now coming into their glory.
We found this lane not more than 2 miles from the house. The nearest habitation is Trelucky Farm so to us it is now known as Treluckey Lane seems to make sense. So armed with kilo size boxes we set to picking the fruit gathering scratches from the briars as we went.

Picking carefully trying not to fall as we stretched for the high ones which of course are the juiciest of all.

There are always huge clusters around field gates.

Just a few more then home to make the preserve.

We were pleased with the haul especially as now they would be waterlogged and so would we be if we were out there today. A good job done!

TUESDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER - odd bods

Last Friday morning as I was having my first hot drink of the day an article caught my ear - is there a more appropriate phrase? - and this was about the overall winner of the 30 years of the Oddest Book Title competition which is run by The Bookseller.

The winner is "Greek Rural Postmen and their cancellation numbers" by Derek Willan which has been voted the oddest title of them all in the last 3o years.

2nd was "People who don't know they're dead "- Gary Leon Hill

3rd -"How to avoid huge ships" - John Trimmer

The presenter interviewed a startled elderly 91 year old Derek Willan who needless to say was delighted with this unexpected accolade.

Here are a few past winners.

The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year:

Winners

1980: The Joy of Chickens

1984: The book of Marmalade

1988: Versailles: The View From Sweden

1992: How to Avoid Huge Ships

1994: Highlights in the History of Concrete

1995: Reusing Old Graves

1996: Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers

1999: Weeds in a Changing World

2002: Living With Crazy Buttocks

2004: Bombproof Your Horse

2006: The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America

Comprehensive list at theBookseller.com

I'm off to Truro later today so a browse in the bookshop is a must perusing titles for their quirkiness!
Any offers?!

MONDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER - peace and tranquility

It turned out to be a beautiful evening a few days short of the end of August so we decided to spend a few hours in one of our favourite places. This at The Fal-Ruan estuary which are an expanse of tidal salt marsh and mudflats. We wandered along the single track road listening to the honking of Barnacle Geese who were coming down on the mudflats for the night. Barnacle Geese fly in a raggle taggle with no apparent formation where as Canada Geese fly in a tight and well formed V shape. We were delighted to see and hear both types of Geese which will forever remind me of the classic 1971 film "The Snow Goose." I had just got a new small digital camera and was keen to try it.



The Fal ruan estuary at high tide just as the light was beginning to fade.

A tiny fern growing on the stone work of the old
bridge.

Two sedate mute swans paddling against the tide coming up to the old wharf.

This cob and pen made their way up river with the background sound of the calls of Greenshank and Blacktailed Godwit. Just a chorus of natures spectacular music.

It was so quiet that we could hear the swans snorting as they paddled by. A quiet muffled sound which is only audible when there is perfect silence.
To anyone reading this from outside the UK - The reigning monarch (Queen

Elizabeth II) owns all the swans in Britain.

8.31 p.m. and almost dark. This was handheld I had forgotten to take a tripod and just couldn't peel myself away from this most wonderful place with nature at her most beautiful. To complete the evening a Barn owl flew over the marshes. We came home and couldn't bear to put the t.v. on so sat by the open window with hot drinks and the tawny owls began to hoot.

MONDAY 25TH AUGUST - Duckpool and beyond.

We live on the south coast of Cornwall which is extraordinarily beautiful but the north coast is wilder and much more rugged. We used to live on the coast where Devon and Cornwall meet so as S. and M. were home the decision was made that the good use of a dreary day was to go north. So we did!

Pasties were bought from a bakery in Bude and then we made for Duckpool a small cove very close to where we used to live. So here is Duckpool.

READ THE SIGN AND IT WILL GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF THE TEMPERAMENT OF THIS COAST.

DUCKPOOL - so called because...............but today the ducks were absent.


Same place but turned through 180 degrees.



It looks good twice after all !!

Close up of the river.

Pasties eaten, stones thrown in the sea it was time to take the coast road north through Morwenstow, Welcombe and past Welcombe Mouth and along the cliffs where there was a hazy view of Lundy.
Then to Hartland Quay. This is a wild place and always amazingly impressive. All four of us just love it. You hopefully will see why.

The old street which is now incorporated into rooms for the pub.

The was a bank here which even printed its own notes. There is a lighthouse around the corner where the Bristol Channel meets The Atlantic Ocean and the colliding currents are ferocious.

Blackpool cliffs.

Astonishing geological features.

Now the end of the road.

In the 16th century Hartland Quay was a thriving port due to its remote position on the Devon coast this enabed it to service the hinterland of farms and rural occupations. In 1887 the quay was washed away by a fierce storm and then the railway was built to Bideford so all that is left today is the hotel/pub and of course the stupendously, breathtaking natural beauty of this piece of coast.