Occasional Blues

I posted a photo on Instagram today and promised a recipe to go with it. As you probably already know, I do my best to eat healthily  and most of my inspiration comes from Joy McCarthy and Ella Woodward ........I'm a big fan of their books 'Deliciously Ella' and 'Joyous Health'. I'm also currently working through 'The Immune System Recovery Plan' by Susan Blum (and taking copious notes).  The recipe for the cookies comes from Joy McCarthy's website here   I have changed it a little and I use a variety of nut/seed butters, including almond, peanut, cashew and tahini. I also sometimes add chopped nuts.  I love the fact that there's no wheat and no refined sugar (only maple syrup). Here's another of my Instagram photos..... The Anthropologie mug is my current favourite (a present from my sister :-)  The magazine is another favourite....I look forward to the beginning of the month when I know its going to drop through

I've never really liked Autumn. I'm a true fan of  S ummer.....  s unshine, s ea , s and, s hells....all those  s   words bring joy to my heart. But I'm mellowing with age I guess and I'm learning to appreciate the pleasures that Autumn can bring....and I do genuinely love a bright, blue-sky Autumn day. Above is a digital collage I created last year but didn't put on my blog. The supplies are by Anna Aspnes ......I love her stuff.   It's a photo of Dale Abbey; a village not too far away from us and one of our favourite places for walking. We have others; Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, Shipley Woods near Ilkeston, Curbar Edge in Derbyshire, the Chatsworth estate....... to name but a few. We intend to do more walking and Brian and I have both just bought new Berghaus walking boots... Their first outing was on Monday ....walking to the top of Beacon Hill in Charnwood Forest. No blisters yet! Well, the end of this week co

Happy Autumn    And yes....I know....it's been a while  :-) Summer came and went. Some of it was absolutely amazing......but there have been tough times too. The amazing bits? Meeting my gorgeous friend Lynne Palazzo (from Canada) for the very first time and spending a few days with her in Cornwall. The four of us got on so well together; I didn't want it to end. Beachcombing in Norfolk......Wells, Brancaster, Holme, Holkham, Old Hunstanton  ......collecting pebbles, shells and driftwood.  Walking in the sunshine with Brian in our favourite places; Calke Abbey, Shipley Park, the Nutbrook Trail, Dale Abbey, Curbar Edge in Derbyshire, Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire. And spending time in our beautiful garden with Angel. The bad bits? Ending up in hospital on my birthday because some chicken got seriously stuck in my throat (one of the hazards of having an oesophageal stricture). It was rather embarrassing as I was with my husband and friends in our fav

The past two months haven't been amazing health-wise. I keep losing my balance and I become disorientated  and sometimes dizzy. I bump into things and seem to do a lot of curtseying to compensate for my wobbling.....when we go out I tend to hang onto my husband so people won't think I'm drunk :-( I have an appointment at a Balance Clinic at Derby Hospital in three weeks; hopefully they will be able to tell me what's causing it (and whether its connected to my other health problems). I promised more photos of St Ives so here they are. I don't want this to be a wordy post so I'll just add a few for each one: I always say that St Ives is beautiful no matter what the weather.....we spent a happy hour in Caffe Pasta watching the rain one day. I love the way it gives the buildings a soft, muted appearance. St Ives harbour beach....Caffe Pasta in the centre of the photo....  There were some special high tides whilst we were there, such fun to watch and d

I love the excitement of arriving in St Ives, whether by train or car. Both routes give you a glimpse of that wonderful harbour scene as you're getting close to the resort.. I took this from the train as we reached Porthminster beach (foreground)... There are four main beaches....Porthminster, Porthmeor, Porthgwidden and the harbour. There are also a few more tiny ones. Well, the weather forecast was not good.....we expected to arrive in heavy rain. But thankfully it was wrong; the sun shone all afternoon and we were able to sit out on our balcony having a cup of tea (with no coat on!) We rented a beautiful house from Sailingbystives ......if you click on the link you can see more pictures. Here are some of mine.... I'd be happy to stay there for the rest of my days, but we'd have to take Angel of course :-).  Don't know what she'd make of those seagulls...... The six days flew by; lots of walking, eating, drinking, gallery-visiting, photo-t

We are heading off to St Ives very soon..... the weather forecast doesn't look too amazing, but we aren't worried. I've booked a beautiful cosy cottage and made sure the iPad, Kindle, camera, sketch pad and a sewing project are in my bag. We are going by train for the first time....a 7 and a half hour trip....must remember to pack a picnic. Before I go....here's a mosaic of my latest completed needlecases ..... Hopefully I'll be able to post some photos from my iPad whilst we're away......back soon.