Saturday, August 13, 2016

This and That

Saturday, August 13th, 2016

I sit down to compose a post, without a thought in my head about what I will write about.  The cat joins me, pussy footing it between the keyboard and the screen, as is her wont.

She visits me in the Loom Room too, where I am still struggling with the knots that secure the new warp to the end of the old warp - the dummy warp, - cosying up close, kissing my wrist.  I try to slip in to tackle this task when she is outside in the garden, but somehow she knows and before I have two or three knots tied she is there ...mother's little helper!!!

No warp knots tied today, but I did make a most delicious Italian Prune crumble - had a bowl with a smidgin of ice cream and felt thoroughly spoiled.  The kitchen is full of fruit and herbs and today I bought some pickling salt to make bread and butter pickles the easy way (recipe follows).







The Cobbler is 'just a cobbler' but I added a
little pear liquor to the filling and probably a bit more butter so that the topping was lovely and rich.
Prunes don't look terribly appetizing, but a half a cup of brown sugar, a half a cup of white, some crispy oats and they are heavenly.....

The pickles are a cinch to make - the recipe from my dear friend, Margaret, who alas is gone (as are so many of my dear friends...)

You need to bring to a boil 4 cups of vinegar, 4 cups of white sugar, one quarter cup of pickling salt, one and one half teaspoons of celery seed, one tsp of tumeric and one and one half  teaspoons of mustard seed. Pour over thinly sliced pickling cucumbers (as many as you can get your hands on..)
Stir every day for five days, and then store in the refrigerator in ice cream pails until they are all gone.  So tasty, and so convenient....

After a cool July the weather has been exceedingly warm, - 36 degrees C today,   I went early to town, while the night coolness was still lingering, and took the car.  It has been my determination to get familiar and happy with using Charles' electric cart, but it being one that he used in the orchard, built sturdy and big, I feel it somewhat cumbersome and for the same reason that I don't really like to admit that I am almost ninety-two, I am not happy being seen riding around on a cart for 'old people'. I believe this condition is caused by too much ego, and I do try to be more humble and accepting.......

Perhaps I will take the cart to ukulele practice tomorrow and I can practise being 'umble as well as strumming "Hello, my Baby" and "Buffalo Gals".

I listened to a video of the British Ukulele Orchestra and was so impressed
 and filled with admiration!




And I can't even whistle!!!!

















Tuesday, August 09, 2016

The Lyrical Painter

ABC Wednesday
August 10th, 2016

The letter is E for Sir Alfred East


Sir Alfred East was born on the 15th of December 1844 in Kettering, Northamptonshire.  He studed at the Glasgow School of Art but was in his late thirties when he left the family shoe making business for the precarious calling of professional artist.

For the next thirty years he immortalized the rich landscape of Britain, 
and was known as a 'lyrical' painter.

The Reedy Mere and Sunlit Hills

His romantic landscapes show the influence of the Barbizon school and in 1906 he published a book, "The Art of Landscape Painting in Oil Colour".

The Lonely Road


An Autumn Afterglow

Alfred East  achieved honours worldwide.

  He was awarded a knighthood in 1910 by King Edward V11,
and died in London on Sunday, September 13th, 1913.



I would love to have the Reedy Mere and Sunlit Hills hanging in my home!!!

For more interesting Es visit here at ABC Wednesday
with thanks to Roger, Denise, Leslie and all energetic helpers..