Warm wishes to all

It’s been a very strange year of many ups and downs and I apologise to everyone who follows me, likes my blog and enjoys reading my posts. I promise to make 2019 the year when I pen my poetry and get painting again. After one of our beloved Border collies died suddenly last year, the arrival of our Slate merle pup in early spring and Skye, our surviving blue merle having a Stroke, I wondered whether life would ever become calm again.

However, Storm is a year old now, pictured above, and has a lovely nature; she gets on really well with Skye and has helped Skye get over her Stroke by assisting with her physio!

We’ve had lovely holidays in North Norfolk walking along the Coastal path, across the salt marshes and on Holkham beach and I have enjoyed a few hours here and there to paint.

I hope you like my photos and my watercolour painting of the cheeky robin who visits my bird table every morning. I have designed a Christmas card, so he can be enjoyed by friends and family.

I wish you all a warm, peaceful and jolly Christmas and the best of luck for 2019!

XxX

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Simple treat

In the month of January, we often give up rich and often sweet foods and opt for healthy options. This month has been called Veganuary! I have heard of a number of people trying the Vegan diet. I have cut down on sugar and alcohol and dairy and increased my daily intake of fruit. I am also enjoying a quiet nurturing time at home, cooking wholesome meals and soups. I am reading new poets to me, novels from a endless big pile, books about the British countryside and farming and I am trying to sketch more often. Here is my simple pastel drawing of the big red apples which are simple, nutritious and delicious. Treat yourself, simply. Enjoy!

Welcome to my Art Studio

I’m so excited to have my own home garden Art Studio. I think my husband is happy to see my art equipment leave the house and enjoys visiting me making art. When he’s having a brwak from gardening or from working in his greenhouse, we chat about the day’s progress over a cup of tea or Gin and Tonic! 

Pop over to my Lavender Moon Girl’s Tales from Brown Hare Cottage wp blog for more photos. 

https://Lavendermoongirlsbrownharecottage.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/Art-studio-up-and-running/

Teatime treats: Gluten and dairy free Bakewell cake

I baked this GF and DF (my own recipe) yesterday and can honestly say that it was a moist, tasty cake with a lovely texture. You could of course replace the sunflower margerine with butter and use wheat self-raising flour if you wish.
It is also a very easy cake to make when you need a teatime treat in a hurry.

You will need:
150 grams of ‘Pure’ Sunflower margerine,
150 grams of Dove farm gluten free self raising flour,
1/2 teaspoon of gluten free baking powder,
150g golden caster sugar
Tablespoon of almond milk,
150g ground almonds
2 large free range eggs,
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons of seedless raspberry jam.
A cup of dried or fresh raspberries
Oven 160c fan

1. Grease and line a 22cm springform tin or loose bottom tin.
2. In a food processor or hand blender, blend fat, sugar, almonds, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla essence together until smooth. Add the milk.
3. Put half of the mixture into the tin.
4. Dot teaspoonfuls of jam over the mixture followed by the raspberries.
5. Dollop over the rest of the cake mixture.
6. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden on top.
Leave to cool
Take out of tin.

Serve. This cake is delicious served whilst still warm! A friend and my husband agree!

Chair Affair

Find out here about my passion for chairs.

My first upholstered chair is completed!  My husband loves it!

Pop-up Pixie pagoda

Pop-up pagoda

For the autumnal

Pixie fair,

Prix one rain drop

for a rare night of

phantasmagoric delight.

Trick or dare!

Lanterns flare.

Beware of

The Wixee Lixy’s

glare!

Find your inner peace.

I posted this on The legion of door whores site. One beautiful day I came across this beautiful tranquil house, a retreat and home of ‘Barefoot Therapies’. I loved the blue door, the Buddha and the wind chimes lulling me into that peaceful place.

Cobweb Cottage

 

Whispering welcoming echoes,

Purple smoke sweeps

Like spectres across

The threshold.

Firelight flickers,

Glowing chintzy cobwebs

Weeping waves

around window panes.

Twisted hazel,

Musty myrtle,

Wise woman’s cozy coven.

Over the last few nights, I have watched the moon grow full. I have been walking in it’s magical light and spooky shadows listening to nature’s snuffles and hoots. Tonight it is full,so I thought this little poem rather appropriate.

Wet wanderings

As rain ran in rivers,

Drips glistened from

tree branches like

Pearls.

Steam puffed from

cottages,

a dragon sleeping

perhaps!

Cats curled up

on plump sofas,

Chinks through chintz,

Wood smoke weaving

Winter whispers.

Cobweb cottage

Higgledy piggledy;

Whiskers wiggling

Titmouse twitching,

A lonely weathered seat,

Perfect for siesta,

Awaits  a

Change in the weather

Every day has been a wet grey day this week;the fields have been soggy and even the dogs have been fed up of getting muddy! For a change I decided to visit a friend and go for a  walk round the quiet old village of Kimpton in Hertfordshire; my photos inspired me to write this poem as did my feelings about that damp,dark day, its smells,sounds and the ghostly cottages by the churchyard on the green.

It’s my birthday today, so how better than to share my village ramble with you!  I also enjoyed coffee and cake this morning and my tranquil yoga class and the day is not yet over!

Festive feast

Festive feast
Peeping lavishly,
Dripping luscious,
Succulent scarlet
Berries;
Merry amongst
Evergreens.
Seek for a wreath,
Woven with holly
To greet revellers,
Jingling reindeer
And tingling fairies.