16 September 2016

same but different

looking up at the sky and clouds

My Instagram feed seems to be featuring more and more skies, I can't stop myself from looking up. Same but different, it never ceases to inspire. 

13 September 2016

seed cracker recipe

image of seed cracker

I tasted a really good seed cracker during our holiday in Norway [when I find time I'll post some pictures of that] ever since it has been playing on my mind. I searched Ocado, my local health food store and a few other places but didn't find anything quite like what I'd sampled in Norway. So I decided to make my own. I did a bit of Googling, got some ideas then did my own thing. Pleased with the way my mega healthy, easy to make, crackers turned out I thought I'd share how I made them here.

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon bouillon powder
200ml boiling water
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup linseeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 dessert spoon chia seeds

Method
Place 1/2 teaspoon of bouillon powder in a bowl, add 200ml of boiling water and dissolve the powder. Add all the seeds and stir until mixed evenly. Push the mix down and level it in the bowl, cover and leave to soak for half an hour or so. Divide the mix between two lined baking trays and place in the oven at a cool 50C. After about an hour score the seed with a knife and place back in the oven. Leave for another couple of hours and check the seed. At this point mine was dry on top but still a little damp underneath. Carefully flip the seedcake over and pop back in the oven for another hour or so to dry. Simply snap the crackers along the score lines and they are ready to eat, or store in an airtight container.

I find it's the linseed and chia seed that hold these together, they go a little gloopy, so you'll need some of these. But you can mix up the other seed, try sesame, or poppy seeds in the mix too. Enjoy!

making seed crackers

5 September 2016

tears for mouser

our beautiful cat mouser
our beautiful cat mouser smelling flowers
our beautiful cat mouser stretching

It's been four weeks since our dear cat, Mouser died. We've cried countless tears, he was our little boy, our baby, our friend. Finally I feel able to share this here, to look back at pictures and enjoy him.

 RIP dear Mousekin 
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

20 March 2016

pottery class is so much fun

Pottery


Some things I've made recently at pottery class
  • little mountains
  • bowl for the table
  • tiny egg
  • tiny bowl
  • creamy coloured dipped bowl
  • more bowls
  • more experiments with glaze and oxides

18 March 2016

lately

flowers tiles london apollo and daphne houseplants

  • tiles at 222 Strand, London
  • houseplants in our bedroom
  • Apollo and Daphne pillowcase my mum made (fabric designed by Duncan Grant)
  • faded tulips
  • floor tiles at work
  • triangles in the wall above Embankment tube

17 March 2016

lunchtime light in our garden







I'm fortunate to work from home some days, it's a huge help to me. A bit more time at home to get things done. Less hours wasted commuting to the city means more time to load the washing machine, that kind of thing, it helps a lot. Also it gives the chickens and ducks a chance to free roam, which of course they love. I popped out with them during my lunch break Monday and captured a few corners of the garden during the beautiful sunlight. 

10 March 2016

lately



  • coffee and jelly snakes
  • mouse catching some sun
  • more things I made at pottery class
  • sunlight in the bedroom
  • and the kitchen
  • our weekly choice organic box means yummy lunches

2 March 2016

lately



  • Seven Dials, the place I head for the best lunchtime falafel
  • looking up whilst waiting for the train
  • mouser bought a slug indoors and it found my glass of beer
  • houseplants including my experimental hanging orchid
  • some of my pieces prior to glazing at pottery class
  • waiting for that train again

29 February 2016

our woodland garden walk








Ever since childhood I've found something quite magical about a woodland walk. Well this is ours, not a real woodland perhaps, just a few trees, but it has the feel, to me at least, of childhood woodland walks, of a magical place to explore. Each year I plant more bulbs and last year we added a few rhododendron to divide the area and make a proper little walk, so eventually as they grow you won't look back and see where you just came from!

Look back to see this area of our garden in 2013 here.


23 February 2016

lately



  • mimosa in Embankment gardens, London
  • reading Life in the Treetops, by Margaret Lowman
  • wrapped up in my warm coat as I wait for the train
  • made a little mountain at pottery
  • contrasting foliage, Embankment gardens
  • palms outside the office where I work

22 February 2016

garden improvements



I took a few minutes to nip round the garden the other morning and take a few photographs. I wanted to document some improvements we've been making. We are lucky to have a beautiful flint wall running the length of our garden, lucky until a section came tumbling down last year! Fortunately we were able to employ a really skilled guy to repair it (not the section shown here by the way) and when he'd finished the big repair he made good any other little bits while we set to work removing a tonne of ivy that had crept and crawled it's way over most of the wall. So now it's revealed in all it's beautiful flint glory.  We're currently busy putting in a wooden edge to hold all those bark chippings up that bank under the apple trees and keep them from spilling down onto the lawn. I'm also sharing a shady little corner, that's getting quite pretty as the hellebores flourish. 

20 February 2016

our ducks and their garden






If you've been reading this blog a while you'll remember Tit and Pie, our adorable ducks. If not that's Pie in the foreground and Tit at the back, she's extra special to us as we hatched her ourselves in a homemade incubator. Tit's had a tough start to the year, she lost the sight in one eye. We're not sure how it happened but she sustained an injury to the eye which caused an infection. Fortunately she's a strong duck and with the help of some wonderful vets, antibiotics and painkillers she's on the mend. 

15 February 2016

pottery class


I started attending a pottery class last autumn, it's a really nice relaxing way to spend a Monday evening. I've made a few different things, mostly plant pots. But this was something different, some dangly things: a good way to experiment with glazes and whatnot. 


11 February 2016

houseplants enjoying the morning light




I've been working from home today, caught these guys basking in the morning sunshine. 

4 February 2016

lately





  • time for coffee here
  • crossing the Thames
  • on the Southbank
  • birds relax on the river
  • looking up as I wait for the train

I slipped out of the habit of posting pictures as often as I had been, changing to black and white for a week seems to have given me a push in the right direction.


28 January 2016

lately


  • birch trees, Cambridge
  • snow, Aarhus
  • hanging cityscape at automated car park, Aarhus
  • Danish breakfast
  • dogs at Lumiere, London by Deepa Mann-Kler
  • smiley flying over Somerset House, London