Cookies!

I'm baking cookies! Chocolate Chip ones. The recipe came from Attic24, (see my list of sites) and I am very grateful! Above, you see the dough in its final stages of preparation, and below that, the balls of dough ready to go in the oven.

Of course, the best bit of the making was The Licking Of The Bowl. Seeing as I have no children, this arduous duty falls to me. :)

They are in the oven as I type, and will hopefully be out, lightly golden and beautiful in a minute or two. To be taken with a mug of delicious hot chocolate just before bed. Fabulous.

Edit: I can confirm that they are indeed delicious! I made 18 and have had 5 of my 6. I'll definitely make these again soon.

I just went out to pick the sweetpeas, as I said I would, and I found this little chappie. Thought you might like to see him.

Sunny Day and Pretty Flowers

I bought some sweet pea plants from Stourhead, on the aforementioned outing. They didn't do much for ages.. I have finally got flowers! Will pick them later. Love sweet peas. They smell beautiful :)

A few years ago, we bought some lillies. We had three varieties, five of each. They did fantastically well the first year, moderately the second, and have been decidedly mediocre since then. This year I have ONE flower. On the plus side, I think it's rather a beauty.

Last year they were decimated by Scarlet Lilly Beetle, as I didn't recognise what the problem was. Havn't seen hide or hair of any this year. Probably because I only have one lily left.

In October 08, we (Parents and I) went on holiday to Evesham. We were aiming for the Cotswolds, and overshot a little, but no worries! This is a picture of a Winter Cobble, (recipe aquired from Something For The Weekend) that I cooked with the contents of my Riverford organic veg box, plus a bit. It was fab, and have made it a few times since then.

We visited Witley Court, which is a very nice ruin with a fabulous fountain, and also Blenheim palace, which was very nice indeed, but slightly over Churchill-ed. It also snowed, while we were in Ashby-de-la-zouch visiting an Auntie of mine. This was bizarre for October, and very worth commenting on. It was very pretty next morning, for the drive to Blenheim now I think of it. The maze at Blenheim is well worth visiting.

On to June..

Have been drinking cider, so please excuse me..

On 1st June we went to Stourhead garden, for those who don't know this is a fabulous HUGE garden. It was my Daddies 60th Birthday, and this was his activity of choice. I Love Stourhead. It's incredibly beautiful, with brilliant follies (many many of them) and some brilliantly framed views.. as you can see through my amateur photography.

We had icecreams, and Dads birthday cake was a date and walnut cake. I'll post the recipe sometime, or you can find it at BBC goodfood website.

Signing off. x

Snow!

Yes, OK, so it's a little old and out of sequence, but I'm uploading things as they occur to me, or feel inspiring. This is me and our snowman - I've forgotten what we named him.. think it was Bob. He has a carrot for a nose, and dried apricots for eyes. The dye from the scarf ran as the snow started melting.. we had some purple ice. It looked really odd.

Just before this photo was taken, I made my first ever snow angel, in the middle of the road.

It was about midnight. I believe this excursion was followed by hot chocolate :)

I couldn't get to work the next day.

Hi All,

It's been a long time, no?

I say 'Hi All' but I don't think there is an 'all' to talk to. I am GOING to make this blog an expression of everything I love in life. And it will be fabulous.

The picture you see here was taken at Knightshayes Court.