Walking in a winter wonderland

Dipping into the paper bag of PPP' Winter Mixture I picked out . . .

A Winter Solstice Walk

You can, of course, snuggle up in the warm
with a cup of tea and a mince pie and
let Cliff and me do the walking for you ;-)

Here we are on the Ickworth Estate,
you can see the eliptical dome of Ickworth House
far across the snowy fields.

Past the Suffolk Sheep digging through the snow
to graze on the grass beneath. In a couple of months
their new born lambs will be skipping over the slopes.

Through a dark forest with tree trunks
painted with frosting by the North East wind.

Look up through the branches -
giant globes of Mistletoe bejewelled with
pearl-like berries.

Follow me into a magical snowy world . . .

. . . to see the mid-winter sun
at the turning of the year
cast its golden rays over the glitering snow.

The paper bag of PPP's Winter Mixture isn't yet empty - I'll have another rummage to see what I can find.

If you're traveling this Christmas, stay safe and take care.

Celia
x

A village Christmas

Let's have another dip into PPP's bag of Winter Mixture . . .

A Christmas wreath
This is the wreath I made from the evergreens
cut from our garden. Pushed into a twisted cane ring
we've used for years and embellished with gilded
pine cones and ribbons saved from chocolate boxes.
Cost: nothing!

Decorations
We've put up the decorations -
Straw stars sent from a friend in Prague,
ceramic stars and hearts from a local potter,
little tin doves and glass drops,
wooden soldiers and some lovely
Ukrainian dolls.

The Village Church
"All for the Carol Service" reads the Church Flower Rota,
more evergreens from our garden, plus a few sprigs
of Honesty seed heads and some twirly gilded split canes
and the job's done.

Time to lend a hand decorating the Church's tree . . .


and spiral garlands round the ancient stone pillars . . .


pillars which are scratched with graffiti from the
time of the English Civil War.


Carol Singing
We regaled the pub with 'While Shepherds Watched'
and in return received a pile of loose change
and a humbug each!

We sang 'Once in Royal David's City' to a baby and his
nan at a bedroom window;
and 'The Holly and the Ivy' to the tree surgeon.

Icicles
Have you ever noticed that thatched cottages don't
have gutters? The water just drips off the overhanging
thatch - and if it's a tad nippy, the water freezes
making the most enormous icicles!

A cosy fire
After two hours singing carols in sub-zero temperatures
and trudging through the snow covered lanes,
there's nothing like a real fire to warm our
hands and toes.

Mulled wine and mince pies
Of course!
And spicy hot apple juice and cheese straws
to tuck into.

While our socks and the fivers and tenners
dried out in front of the fire!

Now we can count the donations
in the festive collecting bucket . . .

and relax and laugh with good friends.

That dip into PPP's Winter Mixture has really got me into the Christmas spirit - hope you're feeling festive too. I'll be back soon to have another rummage in my brown paper bag of Yuletide delights.

It's snowy!

No prizes for guessing what I'll find in my bag of PPP's Winter Mixture this morning!

Snow! Lots and lots of snow . . .
the snow started falling late yesterday afternoon. I knew that it was on it's way as there were Tweets from the east of the county describing the snow-storm as it came in off the North Sea, an hour later and there were a few flakes in the icy wind. When Cliff came home he only just managed to get through the accumulating snow on the highest point of his route home over the border from Cambridgeshire into Suffolk.

And this morning . . .

Here's the front of our house in a very wintery scene.

The trees in the churchyard are outlined in the snow
which blew in from the north-east.

In our garden, our beautiful Yew tree is decorated
with a frosting of white; it's also alive with
Mistle Thrushes, Redwings and Blackbirds
feasting on the berries and sending puffs of
powdery snow into the icy air.

The Hazel Arch is looking stunning
- now, this is why it's worth making some
architectural structures in the garden!

The tabby one is out and about, brave girl! . . .
her ginger brother is fast asleep in the studio ;-)

The hen-house looks like it's been transported to Lapland
- what a shock for my under-gardeners!

Nutmeg Spice is being brave - come on girls!

I hope you're safe and warm wherever you are today, enjoy the winter spectacle!


Another dip into my bag of PPP's Winter Mixture very soon,

Celia
x

PPP's Winter Mixture

Last weekend Cliff and I found ourselves in Lichfield where we had an overnight stopover to break a long journey home. We stayed in The George Hotel, in a room high in the eaves with William Morris curtains and a view out over the tiled roofs and narrow lanes. After a drink in the cosy bar (a Stone's Ginger Wine for me please!) we had a very good dinner at a Nepalese restaurant and in the morning we bought a game pie from the Christmas Market and looked around the town (sadly the most tempting shops weren't open as it was Sunday), but the sun was shining so we waited in the Cathedral Close listening to the thunderous organ music accompanied by the 'chack-chack' calls of the Jackdaws flying around the steeples, until the service finished and we could have a quick look around inside the Cathedral, which was beautifully decorated for Advent with evergreens, seedheads and purple ribbons.

One shop that was open was a little traditional sweet shop, so we popped in to admire the rows of big glass jars. I remembered my Grandparents always seemed to have a bag of 'Winter Mixture' boiled sweets and wondered if they would have some . . . and they did :-) not quite as I remembered as these are individually wrapped in cellophane twists, but the smell - mmmmmm the smell :-) that brings back so many memories of winter, sweet spice and herbs, licquorice and peppermint, cloves and anise.

So, inspired by my paper bag of old fashioned sweeties, I'm decking out my blog with a festive cornucopia . . .

Snow

Yes, this morning it snowed - just a little bit -
but enough to give a festive frosting to the rooftops
and the trees. The north-east wind will blow and we will
have snow - more coming along before the week's end.

Evergreens
There's something special about bringing branches from the
garden inside to decorate the house. I suppose it's one
of our Christmas traditions that is far far older than the
commercial Christmas or even the Church festival.

Here is the box of Yew, Bay, Holly and Ivy
I cut from the garden, all ready for me to make into
a Christmas Wreath for the front door.

Bubble & Squeak
After trudging around the garden in the icy cold,
I fancied something warming for lunch - and what could
be more yummy than Bubble & Squeak topped off with an egg?
Mmmmmm, feeling more festive already!

Sweetie, anyone?

Oi! I didn't mean you you!

And, I almost forgot - Sophie, whose blog Flatlanders is a wonderful
roundup of design, art, culture and food that is to be found in
East Anglia, interviewed me about art and blogging - so you can
read a little bit more about me here, and while you're visiting
Flatlanders have a little browse around and see what a
special corner of the England we live in.

More of PPP's Winter Mixture coming soon . . .

London Part 3: Highgate on the hill

Yes, if you picked answer 'c' to my little quiz, you guessed correctly - we did indeed go for a walk in a muddy and overgrown graveyard. But, not just any cemetery, we went to somewhere both Cliff and I had wanted to visit for many years . . . Highgate Cemetery. This is the pinacle of the Victorian art, architecture and sociology of death and mourning - if that sounds a bit morbid, think again . . .

At the beginning of the 19th century London's population more than doubled within 30 years, the infra-structure of the city couldn't cope - and that included the disposal of the dead. The existing graveyards became squalid, rat infested layers of corpses. As part of the major works needed to make London a more pleasant place to live, it needed new areas in which to bury people - the greatest and probably the most famous was the huge cemetery on the hill at Highgate in north London.

Death was part of the Victorian culture - stipulated durations of mourning for a spouse, child, parent; symbolism on memorials; mourning fashion and commemorative jewellery; printed cards and poems - all these added up to a lucrative business which must have employed many people, not only in London but in every town throughout the country.

The people who buried their loved ones in Highgate Cemetery where mainly the wealthy and notorious. Self-made men and women who were the celebrities of Victorian London, they wanted the most fashionable in style and they wanted to be remembered for perpetuity.

To see the West Cemetery you have to join a guided tour; our guide was charming and extremely knowledgeable, she led us up a flight of mossy stone steps into the dark ivy clad woods which now engulf the thousands of tombs . . .

Through the entrance to The Egyptian Avenue

a 'street' of family tombs.

To the great Cedar of Lebanon,

an ancient tree pre-dating the cemetery,
now standing high above the tombs in
the Circle of Lebanon.

Past tombs of husbands, sons, fathers and brothers;
mothers, daughters, sisters and this young bride
forever alone in her tomb below her fashionable
upholstered armchair.

A showman's lion snoozes
above his master . . .

A bare-knuckle fighter's loyal hound
lies at his master's feet as the seasons
turn year after year . . . forever.

And everywhere there are beautiful angels -

angels carrying garlands of flowers
as they walk through the shady woods . . .

and angels asleep on their
mossy stone pillows.

Victorian art and architecture at it's most sentimental, one of London's hidden treasures. And at the top of Swains Lane you'll find Highgate 'village', home of well-heeled 21st century Londoners, we had a nice lunch at The Gatehouse (one of the many good pubs) and looked in some of the smart little shops before setting off for home. There are so many corners of London I've yet to explore - I wonder where our next visit will take us?

London Part 2: Edwards & Todd

Last week I mentioned that I had been packing up prints to deliver to a couple of galleries, one was the J M Gallery in Long Melford and the second? Well that's very exciting indeed . . .

Last month I recieved an email from the owner of a shop/gallery near the British Museum in London, they exhibit and sell the work of contemporary artists specialising in linocuts and they thought my work would fit in well with their plans for the gallery. After momentarily thinking that they didn't really mean me, I re-read the message, drank a large strong mug of tea and telephoned the writer of the message, Gary Edwards. He had spotted my work in Verandah in Norwich and yes, he was very keen to include my work alongside the beautiful work of Richard Bawden and Colin Moore

So that is why on Saturday, after breakfast in the hotel in Wembley, we headed into Central London - luckily Cliff knows the way without a sat-nav and he's also very confident about finding a parking place - except the space we expected to park in was surrounded by cones - arghh!!! Luckily, just around the corner we found another parking bay and a pay-and-display machine - phew! A brisk little walk later and we were skirting around the British Museum, into Great Russell Street and just before the main gates of the BM, we turned right into Museum Street - a little side-street lined with individual shops, cafés and galleries full of tempting treats.

Near the far end on the right we found Edwards and Todd - and because I entered the shop carrying a large flat parcel, Gary guessed immediately who I was :-)

Gary explained that he has plans to display the framed linocuts along one wall and reorganise the browsers of unframed prints - linocuts in the English artist/illustrator tradition seem to be increasingly popular at the moment. He also takes his stock to print fairs around London on Sundays when the shop is closed and was confident my work would sell. (I've just received an email to say that he's sold four already!)

So, it's Saturday just after midday in the centre of our capital city, the sun is shining and after a huge fix of life enhancing laughter the night before, we're feeling mellow - where did Cliff take me?

a) To a smart restaurant for lunch

b) To Regent's Street to spend lots of money

c) For a walk around a muddy, overgrown graveyard

I'll tell you in Part 3 ;-)

London Part 1: Hello Wembley!!!!

On Friday afternoon Cliff escaped from work and I completed the last deadline of the week, before we packed our overnight bag and drove down the motorway to London. Eventually, after mile after mile of roads lined with traffic cones (will they all disappear in 2012 for the Olympics? and where will all the cones be stored?) we arrived at our destination . . .


Wembley! In fact, a hotel right next door to Wembley Stadium (the football ground with the big arch over the top) and Wembley Arena (the enormous show venue illuminated with pink and yellow lights). The square outside was all a-twinkle with Christmas Trees and dancing fountains, which put us in an excited mood . . .


and because we'd come to see . . .


and even though our seats were almost at the back of the 12,000 seat hall we could easily see both small, real Eddie and ginormous virtual Eddie on a massive super-real screen . . .


We were taken on a roller coaster of Izzardness through world history - dinosaurs, stone-age hunters and gatherers, 'ancients' (Egyptians, Greeks, Romans), Moses, Noah, the Battle of Hastings - I'm still laughing at the Bayeux Tapestry stitchers being urged to keep up with the action on the battlefield.

We laughed at linguistic sumersaults in French and Latin, and my favourites - the jazz cockerell and the ska cat!



All great fun, fun, fun . . . and proves that laughter really is the best medicine - all the better when it's intelligent and clever and from the wonderful Mr Izzard!


After the show we were only five minutes walk away from our comfy bed!

The rain has stopped, so I'm off to skip around my garden in the sunshine with the under-gardeners and Spice Girls :-)
In part 2 I'll tell you about the gallery we went to in Saturday morning ;-)

Returning to the J M Gallery

It has been a busy week! Priority has been the 'clash of the deadlines' - it always happens doesn't it!!! Added to that it was the week to publish the bumper Christmas and new Year issue of the Village Magazine and a couple of galleries wanted more of my prints. And I really really wanted to have my hair cut . . . that one nearly got crossed off the list . . . but wait! a card was put through the door the other day and yes, it's still here. I phoned the number and yesterday lunchtime a lovely freelance stylist popped in and in next to no time, in my kitchen, she got my barnet transformed into a choppy flicky little number! Saving me no end of time and pennies too :-)

Then I was off to Long Melford to the Jessica Muir Gallery to deliver a sheaf of unframed prints for their browser, all ready for Christmas customers.


Inside the gallery there are lots of lovely new things on display (including my framed prints) - some very gorgeous ceramics . . .


and lovely glass hanging decorations caught my eye . . .



The weather wasn't good for taking pictures of the pretty shops, but I did take a couple of photos of the main street, looking right and left outside the J M Gallery.


You can see why Long Melford got it's name - the extra wide main street snakes away as far as the eye can see in both directions.



Did I say 'a couple of galleries'? I did! I'll tell you all about the other one in a day or so.

Have a lovely weekend
Celia

mmmmmmm . . . Sprouts :-)

Hands up those who like Brussels Sprouts . . . anyone?

Me! Me!

I said that twice because both Cliff and I like Sprouts a lot!

Charlotte of 'The Great Big Vegetable Challenge' blog and cookbook, has put out a rallying call to all Brussels Sprouts lovers out there, so I thought I'd join in.

I don't grow Brussels Sprouts in my vegetable garden - I prefer to grow a selection of varieties of Kale that I'm unlikely to see for sale, around here Sprouts can be obtained fresh from the Fenland fields, for sale at markets and roadside stalls. And if you buy a whole Stick of Sprouts they'll stay fresh for ages in a cool shed or larder. I bought this one on Sunday from my favourite farm gate stall (or summer-house!) at 100 Histon Road, Cottenham near Cambridge. It's the Daddy of Veg Stalls, at this time of year it's packed with all kinds of winter vegetables everything £1/bag except Sprouts which are £2.50 a stick, and soon there will be Mistletoe too ;-)

So, for those who find plain boiled Brussels Sprouts a bit scary, here are some ideas which might change your mind . . .

Steamed Sprouts with cooked Sweet Chestnuts and a knob of butter is the classic combination to accompany Christmas Dinner. Add some crispy bacon too and it's almost a meal in itself. Left over cooked sprouts and potatoes can be fried the next day as 'Bubble and Squeak' - served with HP Sauce of course!

Sprouts aren't just for Christmas - our favourite is to add them to a Vegetable Curry. No, don't laugh!!! This is serious . . . the idea came from Cliff's favourite Indian restaurant in North London (it does still exist, but sadly not a patch on it's its glory days in the early 1990s). Find a recipe for a Vegetable Korma made with coconut milk or creamed coconut and include Sprouts with the other vegetables - delicious!

My Dad always put malt vinegar and white sauce on Sprouts (but then again he put vinegar and white sauce on all veg!). My Mum remembers a school cookery lesson in which 'the girls' were taught to make a salad of raw shredded sprouts with Heinz Salad Cream dressing (it was during WWII and she opted to do geometry and algebra instead of cookery, shortly afterwards!) I admit that I didn't like Sprouts much when I was young - but I gave them a second chance, now I love them.

Super nutritious and seasonal, hurrah for Sprouts!