Time for breakfast

1 September 2010

Our local pigeons have a particular way of tell us that it's time for breakfast!

Ducks on the pond

31 August 2010

It is possible to get quite close to the local ducks at the Waterworks.  

They are used to people feeding them bread, but I always seem to forget to bring them some.

Autumn Fruit Pie

29 August 2010

This is a really delicious pie.  I am a diabetic so loads of sugary foods are a real no go area... 

This pie is quick and simple to make and uses our fruit from the garden.  By the time it gets to the end of August we have more berries and apples than we know what to do with...  This pie is a cross between an apple pie and a summer pudding and equally delicious warm or cold.

Ingredients:

1 pack of jus rol short crust pastry

a little milk for sealing edges and glaze

mixed berries (blackberries, boysenberries, autumn raspberries)

1 brambley apple chopped

caster sugar

I don't have a lot of time so I use a packet of just rol short crust pastry.  Divide in half, roll out and line the pie dish with half.  Then put in mixed fruit (enough to fill dish) then sprinkle some caster sugar on (I just use a little to take the tartness away from the fruit), add the chopped apple, put a little milk around edge of pastry, roll out other half of pastry and top the pie.  Seal with a fork around the edge, snip the top in a few spots, glaze top of pie with a little milk and sprinkle with a little caster sugar to give nice golden top to pie.  Bake in oven at 190 deg Celsius for about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. 

Of course you can add more sugar to your own preferences. 

Raison Drops

28 August 2010

These biscuits are a taste of my childhood... and very moreish...

Quick and easy to make.

Ingredients:

4 oz butter

3 oz caster sugar

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tbsp milk

8 oz self raising flour

6 oz raisons

Melt butter, sugar, syrup and milk in a pot over a gentle heat.  When melted stir in the raisons.  Sift flour and add to pot and mix well.  Place teaspoonfuls of the mix on two greased baking sheets.  Makes approx 36 biscuits.  Bake in moderate overn 180 deg Celsius for 10-15 minutes or until golden. 

The Cat Garden - Part 4

24 August 2010

Cat Eight - Carved stone Cat

This cat is the epitome of elegance.  Truly beautiful.

And utterly divine in its position in the sunshine with the curving stone stairway up to the main function room at the back of the Castle in the background...

Cat Nine - Carved Stone Plaque

This cutie took a bit of tracking down...

In the end we heard a small boy excitedly telling his mother that he had found the last cat...

The Cat Garden - Part 3

23 August 2010

Cat Six - Bronze Cat

This cat is truly beautiful.  It lies quietly on the wall in the sunlight beside the fountain.

Cats ears and back have become polished as people cannot resist sitting beside this cat and stroking it.

The castle towers above the cat and its fountain.

The Cavehill and Napoleon's nose (cliff) tower above the Castle...

Cat Seven - Tabby Mosaic Cat

I love the tabby mosaic cat. 

I am sure this is a cat in his prime relaxing after a walk through the woodland.

The Cat Garden - Part 2

22 August 2010

Cat Three - Wrought Iron Cat

Wrought iron cat was trickier to photograph...

The cat is beautiful and worked into the seat of a wrought iron bench in the garden.

This cat is doing what all knitter's cats do and playing with a ball of wool...

Cat Four - Mosaic cat

I always think this rather tubby mosaic ginger cat has a very cross sulky expression on his face.

Cat Five - Stone Carved Cat

This stone cat looks so peaceful curled up snoozing among the french marigolds.

The Cat Garden - Part 1

21 August 2010

There is a plaque attached to the wall at Belfast Castle,

as you start to walk down the steps into the garden that reads

"The Cat Garden"

"It is said that good fortune will come to those visiting Belfast Castle as long as the tradition of the castle cat is kept.  The story goes that there has always been a resident white cat at the castle and the gardens below celebrate this tale with nine references made to the cat in paving, sculpture and garden furniture."

Cat One - TS Eliot quotation cat

Now I don't know that there is a white cat in residence any longer...

But I thought it would be fun to photograph all of the "cats" in the gardens.

Cat Two - Topiary cat

I think this cat is so elegant that I just couldn't resist photographing it from every angle.

Topiary cat below wall with beautiful view...

Belfast Castle

20 August 2010

We are fortunate to live close to Belfast Castle...

which is built on the slopes of the Cavehill overlooking Belfast...

Shane and I on one of our daily walks near the castle.

The beautiful gardens which were refurbished in 1992-93.  Views of Belfast Lough and Holywood beyond.

Belfast Castle is not an old castle.  Building was started in 1862 by the 3rd Marquess of Donegall and the castle was designed by Charles Lanyon and his son.  The castle was completed by 8th Earl of Shaftesbury and presented to City of Belfast in 1934 by his son.  During the 70's/80's the castle was refurbished.

Over the years, I have attended the odd formal dance, wedding reception, and we even celebrated one  New Year's eve with a meal in the restaurant with my family...  in the main I have gone for the odd coffee in the downstairs coffee shop and wandered around the antiques shop and visitors centre.

The summer borders in the garden are beautiful.

Neil and Shane beside the turret in the wall.

Belfast Castle from the distance as we walk home.

Our hearts were stolen...

15 August 2010

by my brother's new puppy... Ziggy...  one of her favourite places was the sand pit...

It was wonderful spending some time with Pip when she came to visit us from Wales for 4 days...  A long journey on the train...She brought her new camera with her which many of these pictures were taken with...

At night...

14 August 2010

The garden came alive at night...

the eerie sounds from the owls hooting in the oak trees...

I watched for the badgers every night while I was there... never even a glimpse of one... we would see signs that they had visited... the bumblebee nest dug up... all the baby carrots dug up and eaten over a period of 3 nights... then the evening after I arrive home... mum phones with the news that she had seen a young badger near the oak trees when she went up to take the laundry off the line...  I was sooooooo envious... but excited for her!!!

Most evenings we would hear the barking of the foxes in the garden...

We did notice in time that they had eaten a couple of holes through the chicken wire into the hen run and had eaten some of the duck eggs where they had found them on makeshift nests...  So the hen run had to be strengthened with stronger wire than chicken wire...

The sound of the young foxes barks are the epitome of wildness...  as they pass through the garden on their nightly rambles...

What we did... and... didn't do...

13 August 2010

We had a lovely time together... we didn't go out on daytrips anywhere... we just went for walks... read books... enjoyed the garden...  and I enjoyed some knitting... and taking photographs...

When my mum and I are together... we read... relax... catch up with each others lives... and enjoy companionable silence...

Of course reading is a bit trickier with a puppy... easier with the cat who likes to sit beside her... 

It was a real book fest...

I loved City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and wished I had brought the second book with me...

Out of the two biographies I read... the one about Stephenie Meyer was weak... the one about Poe showed his difficult and tragic life...  no wonder his stories were dark...

The Rottweiler by Ruth Rendell was gripping

The Breakers by Minette Walters was excellent although I prefered the Echo...

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr was a bit dark... fairies in the present world...

Creativity Now by Jurgen Wolff was fascinating...

Garden is alive...

13 August 2010

with the tapping of the woodpeckers in the tree...  although I also saw the green woodpecker on the grass eating ants a few times... there are a lot of ants so it would have been more like a feast for the woodpecker...

with the sound of clucking...

cheeping from the baby swallows in the stable...

and the horrified squawk from their parent trying to deliver food and not pleased to see me in situ...

Ziggy helping to round up the hens and duck...  also causes a cacophony of chirping...

Steffi and mum feed the birds during the winter from the large number of hanging feeders on the crabapple tree, on the bird table and the top of the old barrel... all visible from the kitchen... they get so many different types of bird to the ones I see in Belfast... wood peckers, nuthatches, greenfinches, hawfinches...
to name but a few... 

Icelandic Horses

12 August 2010

The passion of my sister-in-law's life are her two Icelandic horses...

One morning Thettle had succeeded in removing her mask... she doesn't like the mask but she likes the irritating flies even less... and they can cause problems with her eyes...

so after a quick couple of snapshots... the mask went back on...

My sister Pip... just adores horses... which is of course the meaning of the name Philippa (lover of horses)...  she has taken riding lessons in recent years as she had always wanted to learn...

They are both a bit frisky as they haven't been out for rides for a while... The grass is so parched... with the lack of rain... although this is good as Thettle cannot eat alot of grass...  but does mean they need fed twice a day...

They always came over to be patted when I got up at dawn to give Ziggy a walk...  and let the hens out...

The undergardeners...

11 August 2010

rule the roost...

My mum loves to relax in the garden... doing some pruning... digging... planting... weeding...

the hens... and duck... who are mainly rare breeds... follow her around...

helpfully digging!!!

Wonderful walks...

10 August 2010

 One of our favourite walks was across the fields to the river...

Coming down the bank to the river...

Ziggy loved to splash and cool down in the river... after a few paddle sessions she was allowed off the lead so she could swim in the deeper bit...

After her swim she liked to play while drying off...

We walked by the castle in Tonbridge...

One of our other favourite walks was in the woodland on the edge of Tunbridge Wells... often through the Pantiles where I would stop and buy a newspaper or magazine...  Ziggy loved meeting people and other dogs...

Wonderful Sandstone rocks near the cricket ground in the woodland...

Mum and Ziggy...