Violas and lemon cake

I've been inspired by the Violas this week - they don't care whether the weather is with us or not - they're busting out all over and insisting that it really is Spring ...really!






So in homage to the delicate lovelies we made a lemon and poppy seed bundt cake and decorated it with a glaze of lemon icing with viola flowers.


We even found some crystallised rose and violet petals for the centre - hey presto spring cake!

I'm going to try and crystallise some of our petals this year - has anyone else tried? - am I going to end up with a penicillin purée?

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Easter Feasting...

Just before it gets wiped away let me share with you our Easter feast that was...

I was too busy cooking and serving at the time to photograph it all, and most of it was munched before the camera came out - but we did get a picture of Ponygirls birthday cake - she has an Easter Birthday so there's no shortage of chocolate!

What the camera doesn't pick up is the sparkly glitter  - or the chocolate popping candy sprinkles - or the birthday ready to sink her teeth into it! Happy Birthday Ponygirl!

An explanation, a completion and a return...

Its been a long time between posts, a long, long time. To be honest i wasn't sure if Id ever get round to posting again. What started as a chronicle of our life in Yorkshire was in danger of becoming another thing on the never ending list of things to do that never got done. We started this adventure with a house to rescue, roofs to be put on and damp to be prevented whilst still trying to make sure our children enjoyed the journey with us. What we've found is that too often things get in the way, things too many to list but the following would certainly make it into the top ten,

1. Work, work and more work...I love my job but who doesn't wish all weekends were three days long.

2. Children's hobbies, parties, birthdays, gym clubs, brownies, extra curricular activities, homework - all very worthwhile but I cant remember the last time I sat down before 9pm

3. House work and laundry - One day I will have a cleaner who I will love and cherish and who will rescue me from all this washing!

4. Dogs, chickens, dogs who find their way into the chickens and eat all the chickens, dogs who then break into a neighbours and eat their chickens - don't ask, I cant elaborate, its still too traumatic, suffice to say we no longer leave the dogs with a dog walker and our two surviving chooks are seeing out the winter with the grandparents. 

5. Bad backs - to top it all just when we are getting on top of everything both of our backs have a tendency to give way in unison. What used to be cured with a paracetamol and a radox bath now needs 48 hours and a tramadol - is this the future?

6. My impending big birthday - okay so for....thirty plus ten isn't such a big deal to everyone but I just thought Id be thinner/smarter/taller/richer/have better hair by now! I'm not in full melt down yet but I've got some big goals to achieve by August!

However, we have been cracking on with the build - we finally have a 'grown up' bedroom!

At last we have a landing that doesn't scare the children - the cold creepy tunnel that it once was is now a distant memory!

 Let there be light!

The down stairs room is no longer a pile of bricks - its a real room with real furniture and everything!!!

 and even a corner for crafting and blogging (okay it still needs shelves and skirting boards but hey it didnt even exist this time last year!!!)

so all in all were getting there...still slowly... but we're definitely getting closer. 

And I finally have somewhere to sit down and blog, so I guess....I'm back!

Mushroom magic...

Puffball mushrooms are a magical mystery to me... You can never know when or where they will appear, you can long for one ages and then when you least expect it one will pop up right in the middle of your lawn...




Or at least that's the wish . They never arrive in my garden, but bionic grandpa came home to find an enormous one waiting by his back door - the local farmers know of his penchant for them and some one had left him an anonymous gift!

I only got a few slices saved for me as you can see - but that was enough for breakfast for two...




I fried them in butter then added black pepper and lemon zest - trust me it works....and voila! Seasonal breakfast heaven!



Now I have to work out which field it popped up in and cross my fingers for next year!


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La Dolce Vita...

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to visit Italy. From being a teenager reading A Room with a View to discovering Italian food through Jamie Oliver's obsession with the place I always knew I was going to love the place....and this summer we finally got there, the whole tribe went Italiano..and we loved it...

We had our very own Room with a View...

Surrounded by olive groves...

 

grapevines...

 

 

 

and fig trees ripe for the picking...

 

 

We were in Northern Tuscany, which I can promise you is even more beautiful than any film or book about the area. I was concerned that my expectations might be a bit too high - being twenty years in the making and all that...but I needn't have worried! As we opened the shutters on our villa to the views of the Tuscan hills we knew we'd arrived somewhere pretty magical!

 

 

BH got into the touristy spirit...the holding up the tower photo is a must!

The mini freerangers loved it so much I'm wondering if they are Italian!

 

 

 

 

 

but then whats not to love about sunshine, gelato and Chianti! We are about to begin a serious diet regime to recover from our two weeks of indulgence -I think if we lived there we would have to run up and down the mountains to burn some calories off...or we could end up looking like this fella!

Anyone who know me knows I love Yorkshire, but I have to say Italy is coming a close second now - if they could only make a good cup of tea we'd be emigrating...

 

 

Ciao!

Where did the time go....

Hello again...is there anybody there? The last thing I remember school was breaking up in July, we had a big list of things to do and then what do you know...its September and we're back at school!

We have been busy though honest! I can prove it...

We almost finished the hallway...

Even John Deer is finally in his rightful place,

we made a start on decorating the new build - the room that will one day, finally, be our grown up bedroom!

 despite a dreadful harvest in the garden, the broad beans did us proud...

and this was our best year yet for gooseberries - red ones at that!

 and our dragons egg cucumber - we only managed one, and it didn't taste great but it grew!

and then what with the weather and the kids activities and playdates and packing and unpacking and laundry and putting away...the summer was gone - hey ho!
The plus side for me though is I have time for blogging again - every cloud has a silver lining!

We did have one other big distraction over the summer...I took the following picture there - can you guess?

 to be continued....

Blame it on the Olympics...

I could blame it on the rain, the endless weeks of dreary drizzle. I could blame it on the workload, the schedule or even the building work - there's always the building work... But no- the reason why my garden is running to ruin is that I am totally hooked on the Olympics...


Weeds so high I can't even see where my crops were...peas turned to pigeon food... And I even managed to miss the arrival of my first ever globe artichoke...



But I can't say I'm sorry... I'm completely hooked! I stepped away from the action for two hours yesterday and we got another two gold medals! Needless to say last night the whole tribe cheered Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah every step of the way and while we were watching that we went and go another gold in the long jump!

So today it's Olympic weeding for me...I'm expected to medal but may fail the doping test due to traces of back ache painkillers...I must just have to down tools for the tennis- just for a bit-promise...


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Things that make me go Wow!!!

The oriental poppies I planted last year have started to burst open - and I mean burst! They are eye poppingly bright, completely jarring any attempt at a subtle colour scheme... and 100% fabulous! And there's loads more to come...



The best bit is their blue centres - multiple coloured bees have been spotted after visiting them so watch out!!!




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Aquilegias everywhere...

Aquilegias...I love 'em. I don't plant them, I don't feed them, I don't even have to stake them. As long as I don't accidentally weed them they do their thing...



They crop up everywhere and last and last...



And they surprise me every year with new colours...



And plenty of ruffles...



Yes, I love 'em! All I have to do now is let them run to seed and look forward to next years crop...



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Jubilations...

   

Now the holiday is nearly over Im catching my breath after the nonstop fun I want to ask the big question...

What did you do to celebrate?

We had a bunting festooned dinner..

I made a lot, and I mean a lot of cupcakes for street parties...The red and white ones were already in the car when I took this!

Oh and I got a bit tipsy at our village talent show and sang 'how much is that doggy in the window' backwards - no photos of that one thank goodness...there are some talents that are clearly best kept hidden!

The post Chelsea post...

Blimey where does the time go? One minute I'm counting the days till Chelsea flower show, the next I'm wondering if it really happened, so much has happened since. Weve been awash with bunting and jubilee flags since then...but thats for another post...back to Chelsea...

I think this may be my favourite Chelsea yet. The gardens were amazing despite the cold start to the year, and then the drought and then the rain! Here are some of my favourite moments...

Cleve Wests garden won best in show and deservedly so. More than any Chelsea garden ive seen, i wanted to sneak in and stay in this all day...very secret garden and very magical..

 Joe Swift's garden was also a favourite - he had these amazing redwood arches that made it look like looking through frames, his colours were amazing.

 The Furzey garden created by Chris Beardshaw and the team of young people with learning difficulties was gorgeous, and made me wish we could grow rhododendrons here, but no such luck! I met the family of one of the gardeners there who were telling of how the project had changed their sons life. I'm not ashamed to say I left the Furzey Garden a bit teary eyed and truly inspired by the power of gardening...

and I loved Andy Sturgeons garden. Ive already passed this picture on to BH as inspiration for the steps to our garden - here's hoping!

I thinks The caravan garden was one of my favourites though - I've been planning a garden office for a few years now and I think this could be an answer...

The designer Kaffe Fassett had decorated his own summerhouse for the show, I wish i could have got a better picture. the colours were so much better than they came out here!

 But Chelsea isn't just about show gardens...it's also about shopping and for us champagne. The day ended with our traditional stop at the champagne bar at St Pancras before I jumped on the train back to Yorkshire...you can just see my Bill Wallace Geranium in the back ground, its already found its home in my long border...

And that was it for another year...now how many sleeps until the next one...