Farmleigh

My sister says we are lucky to have Farmleigh within our 5km limit, and she's right, we are. But with the walled garden normally closed, I'm not sure that she didn't find more colour in her local 5km walk in Cork which she shared with me recently. However, I took a trip to Farmleigh on Thursday, and for the first time the walled garden was open. It wasn't an ideal morning for a visit, but I needed to get out of the house and finding the garden open made it worth it. The hyacinths smelled gorgeous, and in fact on the sunnier mornings I can smell the flowering trees on the way to work. I've had a bit of grief with the bicycle but hopefully everything is running smoothly again. That was another reason for taking a leisure outing on Thursday, to make sure that all the gears were changing smoothly again and the chain no longer coming off.

This one was so strange, because the branch stuck out at right angles from the main trunk and was just covered in blossom for the entire length - like a floral cotton candy!

There are some more photos in a March album HERE. They are from two visits, and were too many to overload a blog post with. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 No particularly appropriate photos this year, due to the 5km travel restriction and the fact that when I am out, I am usually on my bicycle, no camera.

But a Spring flower card (the daffodils are out in full force here, sometimes so massed together that if it's sunny and warm you can smell them from a distance, and some good Irish green. The greengrocer did give me two pots of shamrock when I went down before work yesterday, but I didn't get as far as taking a photo of them. I think I'll probably plant them in the garden. Until he gave them to me, I was going to green up my current crop of alfalfa sprouts for my "green". We will see what today's weather brings. Yesterday started grey and damp, but by the time I was working from home, it was so warm and sunny that I had to get the spotting scope out to reassure myself that a sparrow on the wall was sunbathing and not dead. The scilla photo was taken when I walked over to get a part for my bicycle in the afternoon, still beautifully sunny. 

Seville Season

 It's Seville orange season here just now. We're well stocked on marmalade, but I have a couple of other recipes that I always like to make when the oranges have that extra tang and zest. I see that in 2010 I posted my "bottled sunshine". This year I am trying it with vodka instead of brandy, in the hopes that it will be something like an orange version of limoncello. On fishing out the old magazine page with the original recipe (I'd say it's at least 20 years old), I saw that it also included a Seville orange curd, so I tried that while I was at it. In all honesty I'm not sure how much different it tastes to lemon, perhaps a little sweeter, and without the colour cue it might be hard to tell the difference. But we've been enjoying it on homemade crumpets.

SEVILLE CURD 

Use sharp, tangy Seville oranges as an ideal alternative to lemons Makes about 280 ml (1/2 pt) 

The finely grated rind and juice of 4 Seville oranges

85 g (3 oz) butter, cut into cubes 

230 g (8 oz) caster sugar

 3 eggs, size 3, lightly beaten and strained

 Warm sterilised jars, covers and labels

 Put the grated rind and juice of the oranges into a heavy-based pan or double boiler with the butter, sugar and strained eggs. Heat gently, stirring all the time until the mixture has thickened – this will take about 30 minutes.

Leave to cool slightly, then pour into warm sterilised jars, cover and label. Leave to cool completely. Chill until required.

Hopefully I can drop some duck à l'orange somewhere into our meal plan over the next couple of weeks, too. 

I was busy on Sunday and forget to change my header. I have a couple of shots with some Spring bulbs in the folder for last March, but I settled on this one of a tree instead. 

February Favourites...

 ...are thin on the ground. An anniversary card for a Dutch couple unable to have a big family celebration, and three others. The Paris one will, I think, be the card I use for our own anniversary in June.

I keep meaning to look for the litte verse that came with the china cat. I believe I still have it. I bought him in a gift shop in Kenmare, Co. Kerry, when we were camping there one summer, even before my parents moved down there. No wonder his glaze is a little crazed by now. 

Spring is on the way...

 C is getting over oral surgery and I've had a sore back for the last few todays but this morning was mild and sunny, so after breakfast we took a quick trip to Farmleigh. At least lockdown #3 allows a 5km radius for exercise;  last year the first time C was able to get to Farmleigh was on our anniversary in June, because initially, if I recall, it was only 2 km. The walled and sunken gardens are still closed off, but even just walking along the drive and round the lake was very pleasant with some warmth, plenty of bird song and spring bulbs. The magnolias are all budding - we missed them last year. 

With sympathy

 I was very late sending a sympathy card to my sister-in-law. She's family, so I thought you don't normally send to family, but she's an in-law, so she's not blood family, and I really wanted to, so I thought better late then never. And then I had mislaid the card that I had pulled out to send, it got buried under a pile. So I found a card that wasn't a sympathy card but which I thought was suitable...I expect I shared it last year because I'm sure I liked it then...

By return, she requested a dozen sympathy cards for her own use - so I made six each of three designs and added six to my own stash. I hope these last her a good while - I sent her nine cards last January.

I think it goes without saying that the simplest set took longest, and went through more rejects and false starts. Even fussy-cutting all the flowers plus an extra blossom for each card went faster. 

January Favourites

 I had a very busy first week in January - things calmed down a little after that and, despite the cold and grey, I have enjoyed some creative time. I'm also slowly chipping away at a traditional Aran sweater for C. Just as well he's in no hurry for it. 

Another of my Tyvek creations

Revistiting the Faux Cloisonne technique.  That seahorse is a green iceberg! Apparently about 10% of icebergs are green. It used to be thought that it was high levels of dissolved organic matter, but more recent research suggest that they might have a high iron content.

I also had fun making a never-ending card. It's been years and years since I made one  - although until recently I had a partially completed one on my desk. I think the recipients enjoyed it too, because their aunt forwarded me a video of them turning it from one page to the next. It was fun rummaging through my sentiments to find ones which would work with each of the Snoopy images.

Canal Walk

 Our temperatures fell below freezing last night, and we took a walk along the canal this morning secure in the knowledge that the current mud would be frozen solid and easy to walk along. The canal was glazing over, but it's not cold enough for that to last. 

The last two photos are some of the houseboats at the lock, seen from the bridge, and some large baubles hanging from the windows of one. A lot of them had strings of lights - they must have been very pretty to see at night. 

It was lovely to see, but I'm glad temperatures are due to rise again because frosty roads are not the best for cycling to work!

The cold weather also brought some birds I haven't seen in the garden ever since I switched to the squirrel-proof feeders. There was a little siskin all fluffed out against the cold who has been visiting the niger seed feeder on and off all day. And a female blackcap was either making love to the apples I pegged out on the lawn or viewing them from the feeders to make sure it was safe to hop down and enjoy a feast. Unfortunately our back window isn't very clean at the moment, making photography a little less sharp than it should be.