Seraphine

Film of the week, at least until I go to see I Love You Phillip Morris tomorrow, is Seraphine de Senlis. The beautifully drawn out portrait of the naive artist has won a stack of awards, well deserved.This article in the Guardian draws the obvious modern parallel. I was certain I have seen her work before, but have I? and where? Maybe it just fits with the current retro revival. Anyway I would love a poster! And a funny thing happened. In Michael Morpurgo's book War Horse he describes a pair of Haflingers but I am not sure I have ever seen one. In Seraphine there is a scene with two little horses and I straight away recalled the two little Haflingers in the book as if I had seen them in the flesh.That is what a writer can do. Just finished 'The Girls' by Lori Lansens, recommended. Walked today and celebrated the Spring, determined to soak up every moment.

First butterfly

Spring really sprung last weekend when I saw the first butterflies of the year, Brimstones, on the wing. It is impossible to photograph them in flight, like fluorescent leaves tossed by the breeze. These March butterflies are adults that have overwintered and are now in search of a mate. I wondered that they can find nectar at this time of year but found this picture of one on an early orchid and we have lots of hellebores so maybe that is what attracted them. Later in the week, a warm wind brought rain and spring smells. There are tiny buds on the beech, daffodils in full bloom and tulips just in bud. On Sunday we finally gain that extra hour of daylight: best day of the year!

Spring

Wish I had taken my camera out tonight! A calm, hazily sunlit evening, still light at 6.30 pm. The grass is bleached but in the woods the first bluebell leaves are showing and on the hawthorn a faint green veil is just visible. As dusk fell the slightest rim of crescent moon appeared, laid on her back and smiling. 

The woods were full of birdsong: blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits, woodpeckers, robins. Fat lambs stared from the fields and there was a faint whiff of woodsmoke on the air. It must have been the warmest day of the year so far but as soon as the sun disappeared a pleasant slight chill struck the air. Amazing grace to be in England in springtime; only 10 days until British Summertime and the long, light evenings again.

Chiltern Hills

Great Missenden at the head of the Misbourne valley is an attractive small town, with a long curving High Street of half timbered and Georgian shops, a graciously proportioned Baptist Church and a number of traditional pubs. Within a short stroll of the station is the award winning Roald Dahl museum which was established in 2001 with the aim of setting up a centre to tell Roald Dahl’s life story, to care for his archive and to promote a love of creative writing in everyone.This great little family-friendly museum features two fun and fact-packed biographical galleries, and a fantastic interactive Story Centre. While half of the museum tells the fascinating story of Roald Dahl’s life, the other half focuses on the process of creative writing.Departure station: London Marylebone.

Back blogging and about time too. What to do when the days are grey and every other blog seems more interesting than your own? Well ANGER has finally stirred me. Lord Adonis (you can already tell he is a complete 'banker' with a moniker like that) is promoting a high speed rail link through the heart of the Chiltern Hills. I already know what a rum lot they are in the Department for Transport re my road tax application last year. It took almost 6 months to process, I was threatened with legal action, spent hours online and on the phone and received no apology when they finally conceded that my car tax had been applied for. Letters to the Lord were ignored. I know I went a bit over the top but doesn't bureaucracy drive you crazy?
Anyway, today  he announced that our beautiful Chiltern hills will be trashed for a high speed rail link to Birmingham. Lovely little market towns like Wendover, pretty medieval high streets like Amersham and - oh travesty - the peaceful churchyard resting place of Roald Dahl our best loved storyteller, will be sacrificed for a 45 minute journey to Brum. This is the pretty picture and blurb that British rail uses to promote days out in Great Missenden - guess they just want to cart the people in faster.......will the trains have time to stop?
I have to say I have thought of visiting B once or twice mostly because the city gallery houses a fine collection of Preraphaelites but I always thought better of it and waited for a showing at the Tate or RA. I certainly won't be using the link. There is a perfectly good line that could be improved running through Berkhamsted and MK. And for the first time in my life I won't be voting Labour because they don't give a monkeys about anywhere south of Brum anyway and seem to have a pathological hatred of anything remotely rural. I hear the beautiful house at Chequers is hardly used anymore as Gordon prefers to spend his w/ends further north. Stay there mate!

If only he were.......!

Mixed reviews, some rather bitchy. Tom Ford directs like a fashion shoot and the result is.......absolutely fabulous! The photography is to die for. Shigeru Umebayashi /  Abel Korzeniowski soundtrack gels perfectly. Colin Firth does restraint to perfection and is an inspired casting. Julieanne is not a favourite of mine but I could not fault her. Isherwood's novel lives on screen, I believe as he intended, as he lived it. Blatant sex scenes have been sacrificed for a wider audience appeal? I don't think so. This is heartwreck exemplified. Why whinge because Ford has come up with an entrancing cinematic debut? Sour grapes I reckon. Don't miss!

Books: Strange but it rings true - The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw, vivid and poetic.
Incendiary by Chris Cleave - each page had me on the brink of tears but it is unputdownable.
Two books that demonstrate the freshness of a first novel teamed with the competence that makes you hope for even greater things to come.

Swan Lake

A real treat on Tuesday night - Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is on tour, first stop Milton Keynes. It was enthralling. Often at the theatre I have to satisfy myself with the costumes, the set or even the orchestra but it was the dance that held me rapt for over two hours. The choreography, and it has to be said the costumes, were perfect. A packed audience, mostly of women, aged nine to ninety agreed. If you get the chance it is not to be missed. Click on the title for a brief taste. Or read this in The Guardian.

tangerine trees and marmalade skies

When the weather is gloomy and camp fever is beginning to take hold I turn in desperation to jam making. I had not tried marmalade before but we seem to be eating increasing quantities so with seville oranges glowing on the supermarket shelves I resolved to change all that. And my reward was unexpected...
First I did my research on the net. Well actually first I impulsively bought the oranges and then I looked at them for a week until the quality threatened to deteriorate when I was spurred into action. There are recipes that involve slicing, simmering whole and everything in between. I chose in between and quartered them - a bag of sevilles, a lemon and a lime. I peeled some peel off about half of them and sliced it into ribbonsbecause I wanted it fine and added to a big pan and 2 litres of water. Then I brought it to the boil before gently simmering for about 3 hours with a lid on. After an hour or two the smell was glorious, aromatic and spicy. I turned off the heat and went to bed. The next day I was busy so I just brought it to the boil again and turned it off. By this time the whole house was deeply, gorgeously scented. Maybe it was the following day that I squeezed the juice and flesh out of the fruits in my hand, threw away the rinds and strained through muslin. I retrieved peel and added to the liquid and warmed it up while warming a kilo and a half of sugar in the oven. Stirred it in, brought to the boil for ten minutes and hoopla! marmalade ready to pot. So now I have six jars of marmalade and wonderfully scented cook's memories. Will I enter it in the village show next Saturday?

Lost for Words

Haiti needs help now but will the aid keep flowing long enough to build a new country. Can the press suspend their cynicism and the politicians their battle for votes long enough to sustain the huge effort needed to instate an enhanced working infrastructure. Would the people of the first world nations put third world aid before their own healthcare, education and high living standards? If there is a moment for Obama to show the world that US foreign policy has changed for the 21st century, that moment is now. Supporting Haitians to rebuild their country might be a fine line to tread politically but if anyone can lead from the front he can. Individuals and agencies from across the globe have already demonstrated great bravery and compassion, now their countries' leaders should commit to follow up for the long term. A disaster but an opportunity for change not to be missed.

Having been lost for words watching the news unfold I finally decided to use the best words and pictures I could find on the web - from The Los Angeles Times. (report) and The Times Online (photographs)

MITCHELL LANDSBERG,PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti

  " The first e-mail went out within hours of the Jan. 12 earthquake, calling together some of Haiti's most prominent architects, engineers and urban planners. The next day, 50 people showed up at a house in the hillside suburb of Petionville and went to work. They have been meeting every day since, gathering around a table in a courtyard under the shade of a spreading almond tree. Their goal is simple. It is also audacious. They want to plan a new Haiti......" read the rest of the story via this link . 

Thunder only happens when it's raining.....

Most days I forget where I started, like tracks in the sand. It only takes a name to catch my attention; sometimes a name won't leave me be - it follows me around from one blog to another until I just have to check it out.
Today I started at What Would Katherine Hepburn Do?  It was the second time I had visited (she has some nice road trip pics up at the mo) and after a short browse I moved on to her recommend That's Not My Age.
If I like the look of a blog I save it to my favourites list for later, which I did because I could feel a journey coming on, but I will go back sometime soon.
 I was straightaway sucked in by her Nat Finkelstein photos and link with heavy references to Velvet Underground. Now I was a big fan when I was fifteen or so but I really didn't know a lot about what I was listening to sat up all night in my friend's brother's bedroom. Now I can check out Wikipedia and allmusic and find out a bit more about who I was listening to. As with the McGarrigles on my previous post I really had no idea how well known these artists are. I honestly thought it was just me and a few friends who listened to this stuff, it was not at all mainstream out west of Watford in the 70s.
For me books, films, music all have a time and a place in my personal history. I don't often revisit. Jack Kerouac belongs to the hitchhiking years of my late teens, Sylvia Plath too painfully close to post natal depression, and Fleetwood Mac to a few crazy years in my mid twenties when I truly loved and lost. So tonight's journey was one of poignant nostalgia and illumination ending in Dreams.....

Stormy Weather

Sometimes sadness brings a fullness to life. An old friend mailed me to say that Kate McGarrigle died recently and to thank me for tickets to a concert the sisters played at more than twenty years ago. I had forgotten......

On the radio today, http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pxvr3/Last_Word_22_01_2010/  her sister, daughter and friends reminisced  and I heard some songs I had not listened to in a long while. There is a lovely recording of her final concert on You tube and many moving obituaries on the web: an overwhelming feeling of a life well lived. My heart went out to her daughter who was separated from Kate over the past months nursing her premature baby in London, http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article6969513.ece .

We have had snow, Spring weather, more snow and more snow since my last post. I couldn't bear to get rid of my winter seaside banner altogether so I edited it in here and have replaced with this beautiful view from my window, the last snow margins defining the field edges. Today the snow is all melted but for the odd, solitary heap and the rain has not stopped.

Latest recommend: Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne. Fatalistic and irridescent.

Small Island

Amazing island home. The snow is still inches thick on the north facing slopes but today I was fed up with it and we drove to the coast at Littlehampton where it was a positively balmy 8c. We are about as far as anywhere from the coast so it took a good couple of hours to do the eighty odd miles but was worth it. Low tide, wide skies, everyone taking the air: kids on Christmas bikes, oldies on scooters and zimmers, skaters, walkers, runners and lots of dogs. Especially retired greyhounds. Ate at the East Beach Cafe which was, deservedly, packed and walked along the beach and around the harbour to Climping.

Swans prettily on the River Arun which runs down from Arundel where we stopped and looked at the castle, now closed for the winter, and the Wetlands Centre. We will go again.

Snow birds

This is the crab apple tree outside my bedroom window. Today, the sixth day of snow, it was covered in birds - except when I tried to photograph them! There was a whole flock of Redwings, blue and coal tits, chaffinches, a robin, a blackbird and a huge pigeon all snacking on the overripe crab apples. Yesterday, in the bitter cold soon after dawn, a little wren picked its way along my kitchen windowsill searching for insects. As the window cracks are usually full of hibernating ladybirds and lacewings I hope it found some breakfast.
Today was grey and foggy, warmer with snow plopping off the trees by late afternoon and this evening the rain blew in with several claps of thunder to finish the job off. I was fed up with it. De-icing the chickens and burning the clutch on icy roads and slushy pavements and not getting to the pool. I am such a wuss!

SNOW!

It snowed on Thursday night, almost two months later than last year's exceptionally early fall when the leaves were still on the trees. It had been threatening for a few days and was bone cold when the blizzard blew in. On Friday it was enough to clear a patch of grass in front of the hen house and retreat indoors. I spent the day cleaning and washing which was a good thing as I had not given it a good go since half term in October, v slutty.
Saturday was still icy but the sun shone so we walked and I managed to get the car out which was another good thing as we had eighteen for lunch today and I had to shop. I concocted a gorgeously festive coleslaw but as my camera is snowed in at work there is no photo. This is the recipe!
Gorgeous Pink Coleslaw
A red onion, half a smallish red cabbage, a couple of smallish beetroot and a Granny Smith's apple allfinely sliced and shredded. A good tablespoon of wine vinegar and a handful of lemon thyme leaves. Give it all a really good mix so that everything is coated in the wine vinegar and won't discolour. At this point it looks really beautiful. Then mix in a few tablespoons of mayonnaise to your taste and a light sprinkling of black pepper. It looks a bit pinker now but still quite glamourous. Best left in the fridge overnight fro the veggies to soften very slightly and the flavours to permeate. Serves 10 as a side. Everyone said it tasted yummy!
When my coffee grinder and liquidiser both broke earlier this year I bought a Kenwood food processor but there are so many bits it rather puts me off using it. And it fills a whole cupboard. And then it is so quick that you almost feel it is a waste of time getting it out. It does chop more finely and evenly than I do but I rather feel I need to start a catering business to justify it!

I love beetroot but had never thought of using it in stew before and as it turns out I wish I had thought of it sooner. It gives a lovely rich colour as well as a sweet, earthy taste.

Lamb and Beetroot Hotpot

Chop and gently fry a couple of shallotts and a couple of leeks. Chop and put into a large casserole dish: a couple of carrots, a couple of turnips, a small swede and a few beetroot - anything in that line you fancy really. Chuck in the fried leeks and shallotts and in the pan brown two neck fillets of lamb cut into cubes. When brown add to pot and pour a few glasses of wine, beer or fruit juice into the pan along with a vegetable stock cube. Stir in all the caramelised veggie bits and after a couple of minutes add to the pot with a large tablespoonful of black treacle and stir well. Season with a little salt and pepper. Slice a couple of potatoes and layer on the top dotted with crushed garlic and butter. Press down into the liquid and put on the lid. Put into a hot - 200 degrees c oven and turn down to about 160 after half an hour. Continue to cook for at least another two hours but three is even better. Check after a couple of hours to make sure there is still enough liquid. Even better cooked the night before and warmed up for half an hour when you get in from a hard days work! Serves 4 or 2 and freeze the rest for next week.. You can also leave off the potato top and serve with mashed parsnips and potatoes - that way your partner doesn't realise he is getting the same thing two weeks running - mine didn't anyway!

Robins

I had a mind to write tonight but first I had a little comment moderation to do and I am so glad I did that. Thank you gals, I am so happy to know I am not just spouting off into the ether or indulging in a bit of therapy - which of course I am...

Miss Whistle is blue. I hadn't heard of 'the blahs' before but I know just how she feels. I call it ennui but there are many different translations of this so for the sake of clarity mine is a feeling of tetchy listlessness: I can't be bothered to get up and go and I even annoy myself. Not today you understand, but too often, especially at this time of year. Today was that nasty grey, wettish cold that is no good for anything but frizzing up your hair, but today I had a mission so all was well. When I feel ennui I don't write my blog or walk or cook and I am perfectly horrible but usually I keep that to myself - thank you Miss Whistle for sharing.

I actually ordered one of those SAD lamps which I feel is pretty sad in itself but having acknowledged my order there has been a long silence from 'the healing store', though funnily enough I feel much better!

Miss Whistle likes my header and I am over the moon about that because I don't think I've had a comment on my header (which I change very often) for ages. Her guess was very close.This valley runs almost parallel to the Golden Valley, from Nettleden to Little Gaddesden and if you took a footpath past that tree on the right and up the hill you would reach Amaravati, the buddhist monastery I have mentioned before. This view changes daily with the seasons and the weather and the most amazing pic I have of it was taken in the summer of '08 when the farmer had a bit of an Andy Goldworthy moment. If you haven't seen it do take a look - I save it in my 'best pics' folder which has only three pictures in it as I am a perfectionist at heart.

This is the robin I stole from Miss Whistle's post because.....outside my office window a robin has been singing at dawn and even after dusk all week . It has really cheered me up and I kept meaning to do a quick bit of internet research on it. You can follow the link (I do love links) or read it here: I am sure that this is the Spring song. Yes, from mid December the Spring song can be heard: 'powerful, confident and upbeat'. Apparently robins are well adapted to low light conditions and are often the first bird to begin the dawn chorus. This one is definitely looking for a mate. I always think they look a bit brash on Christmas cards, but I am so glad I was prompted to find out a bit more. Thank you Robin!

minx

If you have a bike in the shed, like me, and maybe that bike should be got out of your shed more often, like mine, log on to the Minx website and feast your eyes on all the fab fashion for gals on bikes. As well as the gear there is a blog (a bit scary but some awesome females out there) and really good advice. Yep, those minx girls will tell you if your bum looks big in that and they will give you the confidence to not give a damn. They really will talk you through what you need and what will fit and they will take it back too if you are not happy with it. I love those minxes......but I wish they did sailing stuff too. My best tip: three quarter length, capris, whatever are sooo much more flattering than shorts, and they need only be a couple of inches longer. Just over your knees girls and you will look great summer or winter. If you don't get the bike thing just look at this jacket - no argument really is there? You know you want it!

SHADES of GREY

If you haven't heard me raving about Jasper FForde before, listen up now. I first heard of him when I read The Eyre Affair about eight years ago and the heroine, Thursday Next, really rivals Jane in my book - or his...

The Thursday series, of which there are five with another on the way, are a fabulously idiosyncratic read on the very edge of sci-fi. Cunningly wrought plots and clever but never clever - clever references to the classics, with which our literary heroine is highly familiar in her role as Spec Ops detective for Jurisfiction, make compelling reading. I have read them all and listened to several which the library have on CD (support your local library!) and could easily read them all again.

Don't be put off by the deliberately trashy covers or the cult website, just take my advice and get to know Thursday, my twentieth century heroine. Except when she is my nineteenth century heroine.... oh just read it and find out!

I did not like the Nursery Rhyme series, but reading the excerpt from Shades of Grey I feel myself being sucked in to Jasper's world once more..... click on the title for the link.

On Wanting 'Stuff'

It has been so mild I can hardly believe that Christmas is just around the corner. Unusually for me I am really well prepared - cards sent, presents wrapped, parties arranged and as of today tree and lights up. Some years I have shopped on Christmas Eve, done Meals on Wheels on Christmas Day and last year not even bothered to put the tree up - my kids were horrified! I really wouldn't mind forgetting all about X and going for a long walk along the beach with coffee and sandwiches but it seems that would worry them, so if I must be conventional I will try (this year a bit harder) to do it right.

One problem is being torn between a desire to live simply and give away all that stuff I don't need or use, and the strong pull of consumerism. The thing is I love stuff.

I love, shiny,beautiful, comfortable, cosy, colourful things. I love sofas and throws and duvets and bath stuff, and earrings and perfume and chocolate and roses and my bantams and all sorts of stuff I could do perfectly well without. And though I dream of a one room stone cottage in the middle of nowhere all sorts of details creep in at the edges of my picture of uncluttered and solitary bliss - the big comfy sofa covered in pillows and throws, the old cream Aga with cast iron casseroles and copper bottomed pans, the deep, white bath and pile of towels, the tall, crammed bookcase, the potter's wheel, the kiln in the back yard, oh, and my sewing machine.

Chickens are a must, a pig inevitable, a couple of sheep and a dog if I'm not working.... getting a bit manic now! But who can live without sheepskin slippers and warm boots and at least a couple of pairs of decent jeans and a whole drawer full of socks and hand knitted jumpers. And there would have to be spare beds too because I can't imagine not having my grandsons stay over. It's just not going to happen but the dream lives on......

So here I am again, Christmas is coming, I am completely out of control and half of it will have to go to the charity shop in the New Year. But to assuage some of these deep cravings for warmth and comfort and satisfaction I am just going to indulge myself here with a few pics of some of the stuff I don't want to do without, even if I could if I really, really tried......

I love coffee, black or white but always with sugar and especially with turkish delight.

Every day I wear this gorgeous perfume by Estee Lauder - it is called Delights and it smells of sugar and vanilla and candyfloss and is perfectly juvenile and delicious. I love the packaging too - it is sooo stripy and the exact right shade for the scent.

As I write I am wearing these incredibly comfy and cosy sheepskin slipper socks - my daughter makes fun of them but I know that if she put them on I would never get them back.

I have just finished reading this book - it is as good as the cover. I love books with good covers! and I love Charlie and Lola, and Rupert Bear and Quentin Blake.

And this little tamworth is the one I would have curled up next to the Aga and if the yard stretched to an acre or so it would be Giant Buff Cochins scratching in it and laying my eggs for tea!
Hmm. I feel a whole lot better for this!

Places we saw last summer

We did another section of the Thames Path (see September) and mean to finish it but right now long sections are under water. This is just south of Oxford, we now only have the section north of the city to do.

Today on Radio 4 I heard about The Harrow Way which, set on high chalkland like the Ridgeway, and with views to the south coast, sounds awesome. But....after an extensive google I have come to a bit of a blank. 150 miles of 7000 year old track but not sure if all of it is mapped or signposted. Something to research for next year....

In September our friends took us on a walk along Offa's Dyke from the crooked little church at Cwmyoy where we found this intriguing headstone, and overlooking the ruin of Llanthony Priory . Eric Gill the sculptor and calligrapher lived near here in the 1920's and two headstones he designed are in the churchyard at nearby Capel y Ffin. We wonder if this beautiful grave marker is associated with the artist's family? Spookily, when I got home I found a book waiting on the shelf all about the area we had just walked, including the priory , the artists commune and the church. 'Resistance' by Owen Sheers got very mixed reviews, but if you know the area his poetic descriptions conjure up each scene perfectly. Also in Wales for the August Bank holiday, down near Dolgellau at Penmaenpool we crossed this beautiful old toll bridge on the Mawddach estuary. There is a walk (really good for bikes, buggies and wheelchairs) all the way to Barmouth with breathtaking views, salt marsh flora and birdwatching opportunities. And in the town of Dolgellau, below Cader Idris we took refuge from the torrential rain in this amazing cafe, once an ironmongers and now a purveyor of very fine cakes. Board games are provided for those long, wet afternoons Snowdonia is so famous for... follow the Dolgellau link and click on town trail for more history, including that of this cafe.

Last pic of the summer, we were back in Dorset on Hengistbury Head (see march 09).

And now it is pouring again so I am off to read A Concise Chinese - English Dictionary For Lovers by Xiaolou Guo - easy and unput down able.

Tupping time

Well autumn has definitely begun now. The rain has woken me a few times in the night and even around here there are flooded fields and, for once, full streams. The leaves have not all fallen though, which I think must be a record, and so far most days have been very mild.
I stopped to photograph these ladies in their rain washed coats, bright in the morning sun and ready for tupping. My friend tells me that hers all went to the ram in October and that they will be expecting very early lambs this year - around the end of February, so I hope the winter is kind by then. I love their oversized, wrinkled skins. Rubbing them you can feel their ribs under their wooly jumpers like toddlers squirming under the towel at bathtime. One day, when work ends I would love to raise one in my kitchen. That day when I have a pig in the garden too......

Bring on the girls!

FISHTANK - weird name for a film and I never quite worked that bit out .......I wasn't going to get seats for this film but the girl at the ticket kiosk said "Jane has just seen it and says it is the best film she has seen this year, so I did. On the night I did a quick google (don't, save that for later) and I would have been put off; I didn't feel I could face 'gritty' on a cold, wet November night, but I had made a date with a girl friend so we went. I confessed on the way so we had a drink first.



We loved the film. There were a few shocks and brilliantly built up suspense and a no holds barred view of Essex life and an absolutely compelling lead. Writer and director Andrea Arnold discovered her real life heroine at a train station "on one platform with her boyfriend on another platform, giving him grief." She says Katie Jarvis is for real. She dominates the camera and drives the narrative; the effect is mesmerising. Whether she is 'acting' or not she won the Edinburgh Festival Film award for Best British Performance this year and Fishtank won the Cannes Jury prize. Just see it!



New favourite website - Saltwater - yummy clothes only a tad too expensive, check it out.