a very healthy way to start the day!

Love this time of year, it means fresh figs for breakfast straight from our garden, delicious!

This chap should be ready tomorrow

the little figlets always puzzle me, no matter how hard I watch the tree, I never see them appear, there is no obvious flower, one day they aren't there, the next day they are, a mystery........

They are stunning and such a treat, you don't often see them in the shops,

and if you do find them they aren't very big.

My Dad said that when he was a boy in the 30's he used to call them little bags of full stops!

Just remember don't eat too many.....unfortunate side effects!

Criminal Cormorants

Tuesday was an absolutely gorgeous day

 and so we decided to make the most of the evening,

 and headed down to Saints Harbour with the kayak.

 

The sea was like a mirror in the shelter of the bay and we pottered off round the coast,

heading towards Icart Point.

You really get to see the cliffs from a totally different angle, discovering caves and little bays like this one. It has no access from land that I could see, but would be hidden at high tide, you can see the high water line in black running along the rocks.

another advantage of the kayak is its very quiet, so the birds are a lot more approachable.

Must say am rather proud of this evening sun shot.

this cormorant (or it could be a shag, but I can only tell them apart

when they are next to each other as to me it seems to be mainly their size???)

was making the most of the last of the days sun to dry his wings.

On the way back round we managed to creep up on this lot.  We have quite regularly seen cormorants like this, they look very striking and do remind of the opening scene of the original 'Italian Job' when the sports car crashes in the tunnel in the Alps and gets pushed off the mountain by the bulldozer, all the while being watched by this line of blacked suited and hatted Mafia men,

very sinister.

Annoyingly I could not find that image in Google, this was the closest I could get. 

But I am sure that the cormorants weren't having such evil thoughts as those Mafia men!

Then back into the calm of the little harbour

Thanks you Chris for making me get out there, it was brilliant!

Butter!!!!

Last year, some how (naming no names) a block of very popular high street butter

 from the other side of the world appeared in my fridge!

I un-wrapped it and was very surprised, it was sooooo pale.  Over the years I have got so used to Guernsey butter, with its deep golden colour and rich flavour that I have begun to think as it as the norm.  Well one taste of this interloper in my fridge put me straight.

 

Now I hate food waste, but this went straight in the bin!

This website is really good at explaining why Guernsey butter is just so good

http://www.guernsey-butter.com/en/guernsey-butter/our-butter/

Well this was going to be a post on singing the praises of our butter, but then in a deli in town I found a block of Alderney butter.

And I have to say its colour was even better and taste maybe just a bit more buttery....

You can really see the colour difference here, really not sure why,

cause its from milk from Guernsey cows as the Alderney cow'

which was made famous in the A.A.Milne poem

The Kings Breakfast

is now sadly extinct due mainly to the

cows being removed from Alderney during WW2 and mixed in with the Guernseys here.

 

Only one problem with the Alderney butter, its too big for my butter dish..........

Friday night wind down......

We are slowly getting back into our summer habit of Friday evenings

 down at the moorings at Fermain

and last night it was stunning, a beautifully warm day with an evening high tide,

 perfect swimming conditions

Chris launching himself off from the steps watched by a Grandpa teaching his grandson how to fish for cabots (patois for blennies)

so warm, all your worries just melt away...

Chris headed out to one of the buoys in the middle on the bay

While I headed right across, and I can promise you taking pictures of seagulls

while treading water is not easy at all!

 Looking back at the beach from the other side

and I think that Chris's head is the smallest buoy on the right!

 Proof I did it and now to swim back again

 One slight problem, little brown jelly fish in the middle of the bay, got a few stings

but only feel like nettles so not at problem, and had gone with in half an hour.

Though when we were drying off in the sun a chap headed out to do the same as me, but wearing goggles, and he turned round when he got to the middle as he said there were hundreds of them, about a meter down!!!!! So you are fine if you swim properly but if you are a muppet like me and you stop to take pictures of seagulls while treading water you get got!!!!

Perfect end to a lovely swim, cider and prawns, heaven!!!!