Fota Arboretum

C was away for some days - he left on a Friday morning, so that afternoon after work I got the bus down to Cork and spent the night with my sister - we had planned an outing to Fota Arboretum. We did have a couple of showers, but nothing that we couldn't shelter from under the trees. It was a lovely day out.

Here's a link to the album with most of the photos I took, I'm just uploading a select few here. We visited the formal gardens first. Not so formal now as they would have been in their heyday, there were four patches of wildflower meadow set into the lawns.
I was totally fascinated by the way the fronds of the cryptomeria seemed to start out almost fused, looking like a sponge or a coral, and then opened up.

Cottage Garden

Just a couple of snaps from my aunt's garden last weekend - Sunday was beautiful, and we sat outside much of the afternoon. The passionfruit and rose make a canopy over the kitchen window.

July Favourites

We were away two weekends in June - which did give me a chance to do an initial cull of holiday photos, but without my familiar editing program (GIMP), I didn't get to upload any holiday photos yet. I didn't make a lot of cards either - some days it was just too hot. But there was a plethora of birthday cards, including a couple of commissions in work.
Ethan's grandmother told me that he likes trains, bumblebees and the alphabet (he's going to be 3). This is what he calls a one-light train - a fast one. I think he spends a lot of time at the local train station, where they have both intercity and local commuter trains.

This month's header is a photo taken one evening last August in the park. 

June Favourites....

Just a couple, as we were away for most of the month.

We had to leave a couple of days earlier than planned due to a problem with the ferry. I met C at work after lunch on a Thursday and we headed to the port. It was only about five in the afternoon when these photos were taken - a very cloudy, overcast day. But we hadn't sailed from Dublin before, and enjoyed the unusual views of the city.

It was a somewhat rough crossing, so the captain was unable to make up for the late departure. This was compounded by the fact that he had a call from the French coastguard asking him to detour and check whether a yacht was in trouble or not. So we were quite late docking in Cherbourg, and had rain for the first half of the drive down. We couldn't afford to stop much, as we needed to get to our campsite before the barrier closed - we just about got the tent up before sunset at about ten o'clock.

I'll be back (soon, I hope) with more pictures. Our first stop was Blaye citadel , a 17th c. fortress overlooking the Gironde estuary. The campsite is located within the ramparts. We'd stayed there for a very quick overnight stop a couple of years ago, and had been looking forward to having more time (and better weather) to enjoy the atmospheric setting.

Canal Walk

We took a walk along the canal the other evening when the sun came out after a shower.
Lots and lots of yellow wild iris, a mother duck with some little ducklings - and some young people swimming in the lock, it must have been freezing!
When the ducklings came over to the side of the canal where we were, they seemed to find great grazing on the algae growing on the houseboat. I was wondering if you could hear them from the inside.

I spotted these flying pigs - just for you, Lorraine. It's an old, possibly Georgian, office building which is being renovated into shared office spaces with a restaurant and bar. The workmen are still beavering away, so the windows are somewhat dusty. I think this is going to be the bar.

Allium time again - as always, they grow in plantings along the roadside, coming up after the daffodils and tulips have gone.

May Favourites

and a juvenile robin from last June for my header this month. I've seen plenty of adult robins at the feeders, and we were highly entertained by one who pulled up an exceedingly long worm after a thunderstorm last Monday, and then struggled to get airborne with it. So there must be fledgelings around somewhere, but I haven't seen them yet.

Recipe time and a miscellany

I was looking through one of my books in the quest for something different by way of soup the other day, and thought I'd give this a try. It was very nice indeed, and we'll definitely be having it again.

I think the quantities are a bit off - the description said  serves four, can be served as a hearty meal or an appetiser. Well, I halved it and then made a little bit more because two pak choi was more than half, and we both felt we would have eaten more if it had been there. I did make a vegetable stock to use, which I often don't in "busier" soups. What was in the fridge was celery and carrots, to which I added an onion and a few slices of ginger. It's really a thin broth with a sweet-sour taste and the pak choi cooked in it.

Chinese Cabbage Soup: 

450g/1lb pak choi
600 ml/1 pint vegetable stock
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp dry sherry
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp cold water

• Wash and dry the pak choi. Trim and chop the stems, shred the leaves.
• Heat the stock in a larg pan. Add the pak choi and cook for 10 - 15 minutes.
• Mix together the vinegar, sugar, sherry, and soy sauce, and add to the stock along with the sliced chilli.
• Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Blend the cornflour and water till smooth and add to the soup, stirring well till it thickens.
• Allow to cook for another five minutes and serve. 

Serves four (see comment above). We had a sourdough roll each with it, and some creme caramel for dessert and it was quite sufficient.
Taken from 1000 Vegetarian Recipes.

And a few miscellaneous photos. Some wildflowers sown under a tree alongside the road, the fountain in the English Market in Cork, and a beer drop.

April favourites

April was either not a productive month or else I don't have many cards that jump out as me as ones I really love...and I see that in fact one of them was created in March, working ahead of time for a challenge sample.  I stamped, cut and coloured all  ten of the butterflies in the Tim Holtz Flutter set, so they have been appearing on several cards including two here - and I still have four or five lurking on my desk waiting to find a suitable home for.

Happy Easter

The Easter bunny visited us - I always get the Lindt chocolate bunnies and often that's all we have - but as I visited my sister yesterday, they were joined by these sweet little sheep.
(A work colleague said that Lindt bunnies always sound unpalatable to him because in his mind he thinks dust bunnies. We have those too, it has to be confessed. They seem to proliferate in no time!)

This day last year we were enjoying the wonderful sunshine in Paris - below is the Jardins de Luxembourg. It's sunshine and blue skies here too today, but not as hot.