MONDAY 28TH APRIL- the glorious garden

A LOVELY WEEKEND.

The weather this weekend has been lovely. Sunny with a slight but warm breeze so last evening after an afternoon working in the garden we had our first barbecue of the year. We dug in the freezer and found the a pack of honey roast sausages and some unlabelled burgers from the local farm shop. On cooking them we were correct and they were what we had thought, that was pork and apple. We discovered a pack of rolls also in the freezer, which had been unwrapped so had got to that rather crunchy inedible state. We of course ate what we could, the mayo and tomato moistened them a bit. It felt as if summer was not far away.

Sunday - woke up late so therefore got up late. What a delightful treat.

Back in the garden yesterday. Here is the good news.

Three weeks ago (see post MONDAY 7TH APRIL) we planted lots of seeds and the shallots and they have all begun to sprout except one. Here is the list ;
spinach, rocket, shallots, spring onions, radishes, garlic, Russian tarragon, parsley, corn salad, Italian leaf salad ( a variety which I can't tell you as the packet has blown away) and the only one which is still dormant is Lollo rosso but there is yet time.

I am always excited when things begin to grow. I feel very strongly that there should be no chemicals involved in this cultivation so this is the story of my little organic garden fertilised with organic multipurpose compost and manure from a local smallholder.

Also yesterday the rest of the crunchy bread was converted into two Bread and Butter puddings - one nutmeg and orange and the other just cinnamon. Delish!

A simple but most satisfying way to spend the weekend.

THURSDAY 24TH APRIL - BJORK

REVIEW: Bjork in Plymouth - Western Morning News.

Date: 23-04-2008
Rock royalty arrived at Plymouth Pavilions in a blaze of glory amid a fanfare of brass, fluttering flags and banging drums. As the Icelandic queen of avant guard pop, Bjork is never one to do things to do things by halves and she certainly didn’t on Tuesday night, giving the Pavilions crowd one of the most sonically and visually stunning shows ever staged at the venue.

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This concert was a surreal experience. We went with no idea of what was to come and the treat of the unexpected was truly amazing. The audience consisted of people from right across the age range and everyone certainly had a fantastic time. I would love to see her in concert again if the chance arose.

TUESDAY 22ND APRIL - more live music

Now if you are a regular visitor to this blog then you will know I love live music.
Well tonight we are going to hear/see something different.

BJORK

I am really excited -don't have any idea what it will be like.

I will tell all tomorrow.

MONDAY 21ST APRIL - A touch of Cuba.

Friday evening saw us, with some friends, beetling along the road to The Plymouth Pavilions. The Beuna Vista Social Club were in town. Very few big name bands get into Cornwall as it is geographically such along way from the rest of the world on the peninsula. That is changing slowly as The Eden Sessions do bring bigger names here these days and this hopefully will increase.

Two hours,no interval, of lively Cuban jazz music was a great way to spend an evening. It was vibrant and a huge amount of fun.

I realise that it is not necessary to see big names and that the lesser known musicians can give every bit as much fun, but the big names should to be seen if the opportunity arises. I think every chance to experience live music is worth every minute. Big names, small names, new names it is all good.

We got back home and had coffee to complete a good evening and P. found some crumpets whch we toasted with butter..........yum. A great evening shared with good friends.We all had had a great time.

MONDAY 14TH APRIL - 6 miles to the castle

Merlin's Magic Day had been advertised on posters in shop windows, post offices, garages and anywhere a poster could be stuck and on local radio too. This was a fund raising day for The Merlin project which is a fund raising group aiming to raise £2 million to build an M.S. therapy centre in Cornwall. Happy to support such a cause but to be honest the nosey side of our natures was the real reason we went to Caerhayes castle, the chance to get close to this beautiful place doesn't happen very often. So off we went.

What a delightful courtyard just a taster of what a beautiful building this is. Later on we came back here and had bread rolls filled with roast pork, stuffing and apple sauce. Pretty good.
From the lawn at the side of the castle was this view, not bad? On the lawn were various attractions story telling, puppets, Cahooty theatre company and The Cober Valley Accordian band to name a few.

I just thought this was a very Rapunzel likewindow.

It was a lovely Spring day and there were lot of people spending their money so I hope Merlin's pockets were bulging by the end of the day.

THURSDAY 10TH APRIL - Garden Party.

You are invited to my Garden Party - please come suitably equipped.

I was chatting on the phone at the weekend to a rather old lady -she was 90 last October - now I have never met Kate but have chatted to her for over a year. I am part of a volunteer group who ring blind or people with failing sight, who reside in Cornwall, for a weekly chat. The idea behind this is that due to their situation they often are on their own and miss the company of others.

Kate was telling me how she had walked to the end of her garden that morning and she was pretty pleased about this so we talked on about Spring and other chit chat.

She then told me that she had had a Garden Party during the week and it had been great fun. I was quite surprised as the weather hadn't been quite appropriate for such an event. I envisaged a typical English style garden party with little cakes, (called fancies!) and of course cucumber sandwiches and people sitting around in chairs on the lawn. Apparently I was half correct - there had been sandwiches etc but only after her friends had donned their gardening gloves wielded their trowels and little forks, planted a few new plants and tidied up Kate's garden for her. She is unable to do this for herself so this was a way of getting in done in a very social way. What fun!

Then she told me that when she had last moved house she had a Hanging Party - no this of course is not what it seems on first thought but people came and hung her pictures up for her as she is unable to do this for herself.

I don't think Kate is lonely and she makes me smile with her zest for life.

I hope if I get to 90 I am as game as this one old Cornish lady. I have never met Kate and most probably never will but I enjoy our chats as much as I hope she does.

By the way she does have some sight but sadly it is fading but she does enjoy what she can still see.

MONDAY 7TH APRIL - into the garden

About three weeks ago we planted some new Redcurrant bushes. We put good smelly manure into the holes, stamped down the earth around them and gave them a long drink and left them alone. They are thriving.

On Saturday as it was warmish we got down to the garden and planted some more things. First in went Spinach seeds and then Rocket seeds too.

Then Shallots were put into the ground snugly with a duvet of compost around them. Their neighbours were spring onions, radishes, lollo rosso and mixed Italian leaves whatever they are?!

Then onto the containers. We planted a bay bush which had outgrown its little pot into one in which it could spread its roots more widely. I am sure it will be happy.

Into some other containers went garlic - we eat such a lot of this but have never grown it until now but I am sure it will be easy! Corn salad in another one to add to the leaf varieties we will enjoy when the summer gets here.

The last pot had Russian Tarragon seeds which hopefully will look like this eventually.

We moved house last year and now have a small garden but want to see how productive it can be. More garden news when we start to eat the products we have lovingly put it their places.

AND YESTERDAY AND TODAY IT HAS SNOWED AND BEEN VERY COLD oh my poor babies!!

WEDNESDAY 2ND APRIL - up north

We had to go north to fulfill family obligations We left Cornwall on Sunday morning and set off for Leeds a drive of about 350 miles. This is mostly motorway with a bit of ordinary road each end. So it is A30 ( dual carriageway), M5, M42,M1, M621 then Leeds!

On Monday we had the morning free so we went out to Edale in The Peak District. We used to come here many years ago and hadn't been for a long time so we treated ourselves to a quick visit. It was a cold crisp day and there were not many people about so it was quiet and delightful. The birds were singing their hearts out and the signs of Spring were all around, lambs, flowers and burgeoning hedgerows.

We began our walk through the village first stop the lych gate. Then the church hidden amongst the winter trees.

The pub was not open we were too early. Had a few pints here in the past!

Beautiful Edale.

Peer at this picture and you will see a lot of paragliding folk having a great deal of fun over Rushup Edge encountered as we climbed out of Edale. It was a spectacular and colourful sight.