Sunday 20 December 2015

Happy Christmas

Well I think I am now ready for Christmas, brandy butter made, bread sauce made. tree up, presents wrapped and the icing on the cake the wreath is done!
And I must say I am rather pleased with it.
For the last few years I have done one with bay leaves from our hedge in the garden, but this summer it had got rather out of control and so it had a very hard haircut, which sadly it hasnt recovered from. 

So its a mixture of ever greens including flowering ivy, myrtle, bay 
and some variegated leaves on a twig base.  
Its a true case of necessity being the mother of invention, am really pleased with how it turned out.

Happy Christmas and see you in the New Year


Monday 30 November 2015

a Liberty Christmas


We all need a sudden hit of inspiration don't we? 
Well earlier this month I was on facebook and saw this link to the fantastic Alice Caroline blog
and it got me thinking, what a fantastic way of using up those 
little scraps of fabric that we all end up with. And I do have alot of those, including the remains of a fantastic scrap bag brought from the lovely Alice Caroline (her shop sells solely Liberty prints).
So I raided the fabric cupboard and got cutting all those tiny scraps into strips, mixed up some PVA glue with water and armed with some cardboard hearts from the Press Shop, I got sticking!

And I am hooked, its so satisfying 



These hearts both large and small are heading down to the Iris and Dora pop up shop that will be in the Inner Market from 28th November till Christmas.


So please do pop down and see us, we should be open from 10 till 5 and there will be loads of unusual and one off ideas for Christmas presents.








Think this is my favorite, 
and I think I will be making more,
 actually don't think any thing should stay still too long round me or it might get glued!

Sunday 22 November 2015

Luxuries that help others

Last Christmas, Chris and I had the fantastic experience of helping at the 
Crisis homeless shelter in Kings Cross, London. 
 It really was very special and we definitely want to do it again, but not every year.
But we still wanted to help.
On Christmas morning I was on the shower duty, and as well as organizing the rota we were also providing our guests with toiletries, those one use one you get in hotels.

We all have them cluttering up our bathrooms,  and so with the help of friends and colleagues we were able collect together a good collection of shower gels, shampoos, soaps, toothpastes etc 

And we got them all sent off at the beginning of November.
And thank you to everyone who helped us.

Wednesday 4 November 2015

the power of the community

As I mentioned in ebernezer-at-terres 
there is a big community project going on down at the bathing pools,
There were two Sundays where the call went out for 'all hands to the deck'
 to help clear all the over grown greenery, ivy, saplings, brambles and sycamores.
 Chris and I were able to go down for second one last weekend,
 and we were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather for the 1st November!
They have already done some amazing work, the roofs on both the changing rooms at both the gentleman and horse shoe pools have been replaced, 
and I understand the roof of the changing room of the Ladies pool has been sealed 

Chris and I were on the team which which was clearing all the overgrowth round the Horseshoe pool

Other groups were clearing  the lookouts - picnic spots along the road, 
you can now look out from them!!! 


And they are fantastic views, you can really begin to see what it looked like when it was all first built

And can imagine elegant islanders promenading along at the turn of the century. 

still can't work out why these steps are here....

There are now great places to sit and thing and relax....

...looking out over the castle and over the Ladies pool

Which was looking so perfect, almost like mid summer not November!

I went back on Monday to take these photos and made the most of the gorgeous weather
and had a beautiful swim, with a cormorant for company!

Then coffee with Chris in the kiosk over looking Jethou.
It really is days like this that make me love these islands so much xxx


Saturday 31 October 2015

Autumnal colours

Its the season of gold, red and umbers, it makes me want to wear woolly socks,
cook stews and light roaring fires. 
I love the change of seasons,
could not live where its hot all the time, must be so boring!!!!!
But its not just the leaves that changes colour but also the food, last weekend we picked up these gorgeous beasts, a Butternut that we all know at the back, a Turks hat on the right..

And these two High Sugars that are beautiful roasted whole with a knob of butter inside....yum

 I maybe the wrong side of 40, but could resist one to carve aswell
 Not sure why, but my pumpkins always seem to resemble Slimer from GhostBusters...
 ....but really pleased with how he came out, though that evening when I went to blow the candle out, I found two slugs crawling out his mouth...vile....but very Halloween!
On a slightly more grown up level, nothing was wasted,
the flesh has been made into a puree to go into a soup later,
and the seeds were roasted in olive oil, celery salt and smoked paprika, so very, very morish.

 

Saturday 24 October 2015

pigeon ambush!

As you are walking down the top of Mill St be warned...
...the pigeons have set up an ambush!!!!


Its an old building that is rather run down and the gutters are blocked and so it makes a perfect bird bath or pigeon spa
So as they are having their morning bath you get your morning shower!!!!!

Monday 19 October 2015

Ebernezer at the Terres


There is a big volunteer operation happening in town this winter, with the restoration and repair of the La Valette swimming pools and the surrounding area, and once we finish for the season at the end of Oct I will be down there.
But I thought I would share this excert from Ebernezer le Page by Gerald Basil Edwards, it really paints a lovely picture of what it was like in its hay day at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Havinng typed it all out, I do apologize if there are any typos.....

p66
'Oh it is nice to be going out! Where are we going?' I said I thought we'd go to the Terres.  'What's on there?' Lisa said.  'Singing and dancing on the stage,' I said 'and Living Pictures.'  It was a big oblong tent in the gardens past Havelet, before you get to the tunnel. The Living Pictures was what I wanted to see.  I hadn't seen any yet.

On the way she wanted to know everything about me: where I worked and what I did and if I had brothers and sisters and if my father and mother was alive.  I told her straight out everything, and we was quite friendly.  I think she liked me all right when she didn't forget she was a Guernsey girl, and try and be half like the English gentry.  Mind you, I didn't look so bad that night.  I was all spruced up in my best blue serge suit, and had a rose in my buttonhole.  They were just going to begin at the Terres when we got there.  The seats was sixpence and a shilling and one-and-six and a few rows in the front at two shillings.  Jim and me would have sat in the shilling, but I brought two one-and-six.  The Living Picture was after the interval.  A white sheet was let down from a roller in the front of the stage, and the magic lantern was in the gangway.  The lights was put out and all the girls giggled.

I wondered after, if perhaps Liza thought I was going to hold her hand in the dark; but I was too interested in the picture.  It was an exciting picture.  A fellow on a bike was being chased by a steam-roller. It went after him hell for leather along roads and down lanes and round corners, until the poor fellow fell off his bike from going so fast and the steam-roller ran right over him and flattened him out.  You could see the shape of his body flat on the road.  The driver of the steam-roller stopped and got down and had a look.  He was quite worried.  He scratched his head and didn't know what to do; and then he spotted the fellow's pump had fallen off his bike.  He picked it up and fitted it in the fellow's ear and pumped him up .  The fellow swelled out and jumped on his bike and rode off again as fast as before with the steam-roller going full pelt after him.  I laughed and laughed. 'I think that's silly!' said Liza.  'It isn't silly,' I said, 'it's funny.  It's you that is silly!'  After that everything I liked, she didn't; and everything she liked, I didn't.  There was a fellow made me think of Terence de Freis.  When the lights went up again, he sat by a table looking at a photo of a beautiful woman and sang to it.  Liza thought it was lovely.  I said, 'He's a turd!'

Monday 7 September 2015

Gache not Gosh

A bit more butter worship!
and the perfect pairing for it, is a good slab of Guernsey Gache (pronounced Gosh)

it is our traditional fruit bread and is always a rich golden colour cause of the butter

and I can promise you it doesn't last long in our house!
Just sliced and butter on the day or toasted the next, delicious...