A Note to Let You Know ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ this is a very quick note to let you know that due to personal circumstances which have taken over my life during the last few weeks, I will not be making any entries while I take a sabbatical to give me some much needed time out.

Before I forget, I must say a heartfelt thank you to all of you for following me and I am ~~~waving~~~ to all of you who have joined here in the last few weeks while I have been away.

Sadly, I do not have any energy left after my caring duties are done each day to devote much needed time and work in the garden; even the most urgent of jobs are left undone, while the weeds are taking over as the days warm up and gentle, April rain begins to fall. April Showers never really happened until two nights ago, but they have made up for their absence with a few torrential downpours overnight, and that was all that was needed to kick start everything into burgeoning greenery.

I apologise for not having any photographs to share, but I do not have the spare time at present to take any.

I will do my best to pop in and out, visiting all your own lovely blogs, and hope you will await my return as soon as I can manage it.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Pasg Hapus ~~~ Happy Easter ~~~ From The Shire

Gentle Reader ~~~  

Pasg Hapus

Happy Easter 

Greetings From The Shire

{door bunting made by me using my Brother Scan 'n' Cut machine}

I do hope the weather is good where you are, but here in The Shire it is not good gardening weather. Nor is it good for the start of the tourist season, as people flood into the village on Easter holidays and long weekend breaks. I do feel so sorry for them as it is biting cold for the time of year. Earlier in the week, the winds reached strong gale force and there was a lot of damage and disruption right across the whole of the country.  It could not have been more badly timed as gardeners across the land prepare to bring their gardens back to life after winter. Daffodils are in full swing now in The Shire ~~~

As I write this entry, it is Good Friday.  By tradition we eat Hot Cross Buns for breakfast. Hot Cross Buns are a deliciously sweet, spicy bun filled with currants and candied peel. They have a cross on the top which is made using marzipan, icing, pastry, or just a simple knife slit before baking. I like them best hot from the oven, slathered in butter, or if they are a day old they are great toasted too. Again, with butter. There must always butter.

When I was little we sang this old {circa 1798} nursery rhyme ~~~

"Hot cross buns!

Hot cross buns!

one a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters, give them to your sons. One a penny two a penny, Hot cross buns!"

I bake my own Hot Cross Buns, and you can find a good recipe for them here.  If you Google Hot Cross Buns there are many recipes, just pick one you like the look of.

Unfortunately, I got called away to the phone as my buns were baking, and as they aren't in the oven for very long it didn't take two minutes for my marzipan crosses to slightly over~bake, but they still tasted good.  

Hot Cross Buns ~~~

Hot Cross Buns are incredibly popular. Sadly, this causes them to be readily available in supermarkets all year 'round now, and I think this takes away from the specialness of the Easter time treats and celebrations. Even the shops that don't sell them all year start selling them before Christmas is cleared from the shelves. You can also buy an ever increasing variety of flavours now, but in my opinion chocolate, or salted caramel, or chocolate orange, or spicy apple, delicious as they may be, have no place in the Hot Cross Bun which is meant to be a simple, sweet, spicy bun with dried fruit. Make those flavoured buns all year around and market them as "sweet, sticky buns" or something else, but keep traditional Hot Cross Buns for Easter! I can be quite the pedant when it comes to tradition. I love Hot Cross Buns and they are all the more special for being kept for Easter treats.

{~~~Steps down gracefully from soapbox, removes splinters from feet ~~~}

I am certain we are all eager to see the back of Winter now, and I think someone needs to go out and find Spring and remind her it is her turn on centre stage!  I am longing for the fragrances of Spring and Summer to be filling my cottage, with the fragrant flowers right outside the door and windows, and with bowls of cut flowers from the garden, but for now I have to satisfy myself with one of my favourite Yankee Candle fragrances, "Garden Hideaway" {which I believe is now, sadly, discontinued} ~~~hints of Lilies of the Valley and other garden scents~~~ and the pretty floral relief design on the side of the wax melt burner ~~~

Unless the weather improves I can't see much gardening happening in my corner of The Shire, but then seeds sown, or plants moved wouldn't be very happy in the cold.  I don't think anything will be that much behind by waiting a couple of more weeks, do you?  Maybe I will hang out in my craft space {aka The Cottage} and make something springlike to cheer the warmer days along ~~~

{Spring bunting made by me using my Brother Scan 'n' Cut machine}

Here are some of my Peter Rabbit collection, for Peter is always part of my Easter celebration ~~~

So, I send you all heartfelt wishes and blessings for a Happy Easter, however you chose to celebrate. Try to spread your chocolate out and don't eat it all in one go ~~~says the Queen of Eating Chocolate~~~ 

{made by me using my Brother Scan 'n' Cut machine}

And So March Goes Out Like A Roaring Lion ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ The old adage of which I spoke some twenty nine days ago did not come to pass ~~~ for March, which came in like a lion, is leaving us with the power of a full pride of roaring lions as winds of strong gale force sweep across the country, battering us from every angle and bringing much torrential rain for many ~~~ my poor camellia "Debbie" is doing a very merry dance in the corner ~~~

Before I forget ~ as I am very wont to do ~ I'd love you to go visit an wonderfully charming entry in Susan Branch's Blog called "The Elf, The Gnome, and The Naked Leprechaun" and as you scroll down, look for the incredible tromp~l'oeil painting by the very talented artist Margot Datz.  Isn't that amazing?

I did promise an effort to return to the garden, and it is taking great effort this year to leave my books and mugs of hot, steaming tea and cakes, my warm and cosy fireside, so here is a gentle ease back into the gardening saddle ~~~

Debbie the Camellia has done very well this year, full of bright and beautiful pink blooms, cheering up the end of Winter and helping herald in sweetly, soundly sleeping Spring {who has yet to realise that it is her time to shine} ~~~ maybe her nose is out of joint at losing an hour as the clocks sprang forward an hour this weekend ~~~

I love the complexity of the petals as they fold in and around each other ~~~

and there are many tightly closed buds that will ensure many more weeks of this splash of colour in the corner ~~~

I love how these ones cascade through the deeply dark and glossy leaves ~~~

how others peek from behind ~~~

or push their blousy way to the fore ~~~

So pretty ~~~ I'm getting all swoony ~~~

however they behave ~~~

there is nothing shy or retiring about this shrub full of ballerina pink tutus !

A magnificent display ~~~

Did you know that the camellias we grow in our garden for their beauty, structure, and colour are related to the very same camellias that are harvested to make my, and maybe your, favourite beverage?  Tea! 

I have another camellia too, this one flowers later and so is only just coming into bloom. It is red, so quite a contrast, and here are some of the flowers that have opened ~~~

Is it any wonder that another name for this beauty is the Rose of Winter?

The sharper eyed amongst you will notice that the blooms and leaves are quite different between the two, and you can read a little about Camellias here on the RHS Website.

There was a sweet surprise waiting for me in an abandoned border ~~~ a small clump of the most magical double daffodils!  Aren't they just the most magical blooms ever for Spring {although everything is pretty magical about Spring} ~~~

The unsightly stalks behind are the remains of last Autumn's Wind Anemones that gave a magnificent display of white flowers, bobbing in the Autumn breezes ~~~ 

With the forecast of strong winds and heavy rain, I picked the flowers which were already showing signs of distress, for the stems are not quite strong enough to support such a heavy bloom, and brought them inside. I am delighted to say that they have already lasted four days indoors, which I really did not expect them to do, for they had been in full bloom for over a week in the border!

The moon is waxing in the evening sky ~~~

and the days are lengthening noticeably.  Soon I will be able to snatch a few hours in the garden during the evening too! What bliss that will be ~~~ Why! I do declare I think I love gardening best of all as the sun is setting to the west ~~~

The lawn has been mowed for a second time, with a lower cut again. My neighbours have told me to cut back anything of theirs that overhangs my fence, so earlier this week I set too and attacked their sycamore saplings and ivy that is turning into the tree kind. My garden waste bin was full to overflowing and I had so much waste that I cannot compost that I was relieved when a neighbour offered me a lift to the Community Recycling and Refuse Amenity Center {also known as The Tip} Another neighbour offered me space in his garden waste bin as his was less than half full, so I have successfully removed almost everything.  I have thoroughly cleaned underneath two blackcurrants and a gooseberry and now must make decisions over the future of the blackcurrants.  Piecemeal clearing has also commenced in several borders. Spring is definitely on her way ~~~ and I must be ready when she gets here!

Remember that 

~~~ A Gardener's Work is Never Done ~~~

A Solar Eclipse, Vintage Postcards, and Victoria Sponge for the First Day of Spring

Gentle Reader ~~~ 

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!

Yes, Happy First Day of Spring, my friends, and we are celebrating in style with a Solar Eclipse here in the UK. Where I am, in the Shire, it was only a partial one, but amazing and an awesome reminder of the timing of our existence in our wonderful universe.  I did my best to capture some images, but we had, once more, sea haze that hampered clarity, but here are my two best shots. It is not worth the risk to anyone's sight to look at the sun without proper protective glasses, so I just aimed my camera and clicked ~~~ 

During the time of the eclipse, the bright, early morning sunshine began to dim, quickly, more quickly than twilight sets in of an early Spring evening.  It fell eerily silent, birds stopped their morning chatter and looked toward the sky in confusion and began to roost as they were lulled into a false sense of time, a strange calm fell across the land as the shadows of the false evening deepened and lengthened, and I allowed myself to feel that sense of the fear experienced by our ancestors who thought the sun was being stolen from the sky.  As the morning darkened, the eclipse deepened, the day that just a few moments earlier was warming up dropped into a sudden chill that increased with the growing eclipse. Then, an hour later, as quickly as the dark descended, the light and warmth returned to us and all is well, once more, with the world.

I hope you will like these following images ~~~ and I promise, as the weather is improving so will the reports on what I'm up to in the garden! I keep saying that, don't I? I am incorrigible, but it is still chilly in the wind Little by little I'm squeezing in a few hours out there ~ but even after two hours on my hands and knees weeding just one border, it looks as if so little has been done. Oh, and I am aching in muscles I didn't know I had ~~~ please, stop giggling, yes, you, in the corner, stop giggling!

I am not a fastidiously tidy gardener in that I do not remove all the dead seed heads in the Autumn, oh, no! I leave them all for the birds so they can keep on foraging for their food as long as the weather permits. This is a good thing for the birds, because if we feed them too much over the Winter they can become lazy, relying on us to find their food for them.  Of course, I am the first to put out plenty of seeds if the weather turns bad, and I keep the feeders filled during breeding season too, to help them get plenty of food for their babies in the nests. So the first order of work is to start with some general tidying up of everything!

In the meantime, I have some vintage postcards to share with you. My Godmother passed them to me, and she is uncertain how they came in to her hands, and has returned them to me.  I am thrilled she did as they are all sent between my Grandmother and Grandfather, her sisters, brothers, and my mother. I don't know much about them, except that the majority of them were sent as birthday greetings. I don't know if this means that greetings cards as we know them were not readily available, or if these were available as an alternative, but you will see that many of them are purposely printed with birthday greetings ~~~ here they are ~~~

There is a cryptic message on the back of this first one which leads me to believe the sender was making a tounge~in~cheek reference to my Grandmother and her future husband ~~~ for she was tiny and he was a tall man ~~~

I think it was quite common to create compositions representing literary characters, and this is captioned Little Nell ~~~

A picture postcard of Little Haven, Pembrokeshire ~~~ 

The back of one of the cards, complete with postage stamp ~~~

{The James who signed this was James Nicolas who went on to become one of Wales most notable Archdruids and poets. He was a wonderful man}

And more birthday wishes ~~~

A picture postcard of Llandudno Promenade ~~~ the dress looks quite Victorian, don't you think?

When I am gardening, I love to take breaks to drink plenty of tea and eat fortifying slices of cake. Here is my recipe for one of my most favourite cakes to eat, whether when gardening or not.  It was a favourite of Queen Victoria herself, indeed it was made for her and named after her ~~~ Victoria Sponge ~~~ here are two versions, the one I learned in school, and the one I use most of the time.  This is a picture of my cake, with the book Mary Berry's Baking Bible in the background showing Mary's version ~~~ I think I did good!

First, the recipe I use most of the time by Mary Berry, because it is the easiest and most successful one I've ever used, you will find it here on the BBC website, and it is a very good bake.

My old recipe, this is the one I learned in school, many decades ago, is only a little more complicated in that you have to weigh your eggs!  There are other small differences too, such as beating by hand! 

For two six inch round cake pans take the weight of two {room temperature} large eggs in butter, self raising flour, and caster sugar.  
Because you are weighing your eggs, the weight actually varied from sponge to sponge!  This is why I prefer Mary Berry's recipe.

Grease and flour well two six inch cake pans.  Light a moderate {gas mark 5} oven. 

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter with a wooden spoon {yes, that is how we made them in the 1960's} until the butter becomes pale in colour. Add the sugar, and cream together until the sugar is incorporated to the butter. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add a little at a time {to avoid curdling} until they are incorporated into the butter and sugar.  Next, sift the flour and with a stirring motion {no more beating} gradually add into the mixture.   Batter needs to be a dropping consistency, and a little water or milk may be added to achieve this.  Spoon into waiting prepared pans and bake for about 20 minutes, or until cake is coming away from the sides of the pan and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

I like to listen to see if the cake is still 'singing' and the skewer method best.

Cool in the pans for a few minutes, then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack before filling with strawberry, raspberry, or apricot jam.  Cut into slices and enjoy!

For larger pans, weigh three eggs for seven inch pans, and weigh four eggs for eight inch pans. Increasing baking times slightly.

Here is a single layer cake I made, filled with whipped cream and fresh strawberries ~~~

So, Gentle Reader ~~~ you now know what I will be using to keep up my flagging energy levels in between the digging, and the weeding, and the sowing of seeds ~~~