Snowdrops at Doddington Hall

 

A couple of weekends ago, my friends Katy, Alison and I went to Doddington Hall, just outside Lincoln, for the start of their snowdrop season.  The weather was reasonably kind but the wind was bitterly cold.  Doddington Hall is a beautiful red brick Elizabethan house and well worth a visit, though on this occasion, it was all about the gardens.

 I was struck by the topiary - like a chess set - which immediately made me think of Alice in Wonderland (apparently, there was an Alice event there last year).

A very kind person had made this very photogenic arrangement with the old pump, a hellebore and some horseshoes.

 The kitchen garden had some amazingly knobbly fruit trees with gnarled branches.

 They almost looked alive.

 In the main garden are some venerable sweet chestnut trees which (the information stated) were 450 years old.  It is amazing to imagine what they have lived through.

 Under the trees we saw snowdrops, cyclamen, crocuses, aconites and the occasional daffodil.  A lovely spring flower carpet.

 Just beautiful.

 There were some lovely vistas with early rhododendrons, and a splash of colour from the witch hazels.

 More snowdrops and crocuses, with some lovely shadows...

 ...twirling shapes created by the sweet chestnut branches.

 More witch hazels, lighting up the scene.

 I particularly liked the smooth trunks of these paper bark maples (I think).  The bark had been peeling away and left a beautifully smooth surface underneath.  I like the way the snowdrops echo the white bark.

 I had a go at this grass maze.

 The wire unicorn sculptures echo the topiary ones at the front of the house.

 Mistletoe was growing on these trees - we assumed they were apple trees.

 Another lovely vista (the wind was really cold at this point - the crocuses are remaining firmly shut here)

 Everywhere we looked, there was another enticing view.

 This clematis seemed very happy on the wall.

A final view of those sweet chestnuts.

Here are the topiary unicorns at the front of the house, standing guard.

It was a lovely visit with lots of beautiful early spring flowers to enjoy.

An evening with Elly Griffiths

(photo from https://ellygriffiths.co.uk/)

Last week, Chris and I went to hear Elly Griffiths talking about her books. I have read the previous nine in the Ruth Galloway series (murder mystery with a forensic archaeologist set in Norfolk) and have been lent one from another series (1950s murder mystery series set in Brighton, I think) too.  She read an excerpt from Dark Angel, the tenth in the Ruth Galloway series and said that she was already working on number eleven in the series, The Stone Circle.

(image from Amazon)

She also spoke about a standalone book, to be published in November 2018, called The Stranger Diaries.

(image from Amazon)

This sounds right up my street - here's the description:
'Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder.  As a literature teacher specialising in the Gothic writer RM Holland, she teaches a short course on it every year.  Then Clare's life and work collide tragically when one of her colleagues is found dead, a line from an RM Holland story by her body.  The investigating police detective is convinced the writer's works somehow hold the key to the case.

Not knowing who to trust, and afraid that the killer is someone she knows, Clare confides her darkest suspicions and fears about the case to her journal.  Then one day she notices some other writing in the diary.  Writing that isn't hers...'
Sounds good!
Elly Griffiths told us that she liked Wilkie Collins (a kindred spirit - well, I really like The Woman in White and The Moonstone, although I haven't read any other of his novels) and mentioned the part where Count Fosco writes in Marian's diary in The Woman in White as the inspiration for this part in her story.  She was very entertaining, enthusiastic and erudite, so I would recommend going to see her if she is in your direction.

Cakes, biscuits and cards

 I recently had a birthday (they do creep up rather quickly, I'm finding) and to celebrate, I did some baking to take to work.  One colleague is vegan and one is gluten free, so I had to make sure they were catered for. 

I made gooey, squidgy (extremely unhealthy, but delicious) gluten free chocolate brownies, with ground almonds instead of flour.

 Ginger biscuits with a swirl of icing are my go-to biscuits for my vegan friends. 

There was, of course, a chocolate cake (another go-to recipe) with chocolate buttercream icing and chopped up Twirls on the top.  This got lots of compliments, with one colleague saying it was the best chocolate cake they had ever tasted.  Praise indeed!

Of course, after receiving presents, there are the thank you cards to write.  I have just got a few more to do, but I decided to make them myself this year, so here are the first set.  Simple designs with die cuts and stamped sentiments.  I think the clean and simple (CAS) look suits my cards.

Yana and the Yeti - Pickled Image Theatre

photo from http://pickledimage.co.uk/yana/

Last Saturday, we went to a local theatre to see 'Yana and the Yeti' by Pickled Image.  It was advertised for 5+ years and there were quite a few children there.  It was a multi-layered story, focusing on friendship and acceptance.  While the children identified with the friends and bullying, there were other issues such as displacement which were more aimed towards adults.

The puppets were very engaging - Yana herself had blinking eyes and a movable mouth.  The puppeteers manipulated the puppets with mastery, care and precision and there was not one moment when the puppets weren't 'alive'.  When Yana went to sleep next to the Yeti (in the photo above), you could see them both breathing.

The backdrop was of a mountain filmed over twenty four hours and added to the whole magical ambiance of the piece.  The writers had created their own language for the performance, which had what sounded to be Scandinavian influences, but it was easy to follow.  The audience was invited to come and meet the puppets and their puppeteers after the performance and that was fascinating.

There is a short promotional film here about the performance which gives just a small flavour of the atmosphere and production.  It was a wonderful way to escape into a different world.

Suffragette and #Vote100

Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst - photo from wikipedia

One hundred years ago today, women in England (over thirty years old, who met the criteria of owning property) were given the right to vote.  It was something to be celebrated, but it took another ten years for women to received the same voting rights as men.
I watched the recent-ish film 'Suffragette' starring Cary Mulligan, Helena Bonham-Carter and Meryl Streep at the weekend and thought it did a good job of showing the difficulties that women (and the men who supported the Suffrage movement) underwent.   Some women were force fed in prison and there are some harrowing accounts here of the brutal treatment this was.

Every time I exercise my right to vote (and I always do), I am grateful to these amazing women who stood up to the government and made their voices heard.
There are many events all round the country as part of the #Vote100 campaign.
I hope that the many women all over the world who still need to make their voices heard can be inspired by the suffragettes.
Thank you to all of the women and their male supporters who enabled us to vote.
Edited to add: Channel 4 have created a thought provoking advert for the #Vote 100 campaign - the link to youtube is here

Looking forward to Spring

I like looking at Winter - snow enveloping familiar landmarks and creating a quiet atmosphere, dark branches silhouetted against frosty blue skies, winter sunrises and sunsets - but I don't much like the cold.  This winter in particular, my hands have been suffering a lot thanks to Raynaud's Syndrome, which I have had since I was fourteen.  It is where extremities are ultra sensitive to temperature and the blood vessels constrict, cutting off circulation.  My fingers go white and numb and I then have to work at getting the circulation going again.  Irritating and sometimes painful, but not life threatening, I am pleased to say. 
I am always cheered by the sight of snowdrops and other winter flowering bulbs.  My snowdrops in the garden are starting to flower and are a sign that winter will soon be over.

 Cyclamen coum will be flowering next month, but the buds are preparing themselves.

 As I have mentioned before (just once or twice), snowdrops are one of my favourite flowers as their delicacy belies their inbuilt toughness.  They don't seem to be worried by the winter weather.

I noticed more signs of life with the tips of some crocuses just starting to show above the extremely soggy soil - you can tell that it has been very wet!

I always want to add more colour to the winter garden and decided that I needed this plant; 'Nandina Domestica Firepower', which is a small shrub with lovely autumn and winter leaf colour, and white flowers in Spring.  

I was sorry to hear on last week's 'Gardeners' Question Time' (Radio 4) that Chris Beardshaw does not like Nandinas and rather dismissed them.  I shall enjoy my little plant, which has already given me a lot of pleasure through the dull winter weather.

Cards and flowers

 I have been experimenting and making again.  I recently bought a very versatile stamp set - the poppy in the photo above, which has two layers and which creates a lovely hand painted look.  I think this is one I will use a lot.  As you can see, its first incarnation was as a thank you card.  I was really pleased with the results.

 My friend had a birthday, so out came a card making kit and this card was duly created.  I hope she liked it.

 I have also been playing with my Brusho paints again, trying to create loose watercolour flowers.  I watched a video on you tube and thought I could manage it, but as with so many things, it didn't quite work as I had hoped.  I stamped the flower centres and then pulled the paint and water out to create the petals.  This is what I was aiming for:

(image from Sandy Allnock's blog )

 Hmm, I'm not quite there yet!  Practise, practise, practise!  The nice thing is a that practising something like this is a rather enjoyable occupation in itself.  I may try different brushes to see if that might help.

I embossed the stamens on some of the flowers and liked the raised texture it gave.  I shall have another go and see what happens.

A new Hare-y bag

 I didn't manage to do a lot of crafting over Christmas, apart from the odd card, of course, but the one  thing I did make was a bag.   I needed a bag to carry all the stuff I take when I go for a break at work (id card, glasses, fruit, mug, tea bag, book or kindle - you get the idea!) as I usually manage to drop something on the way at least once.  I had loved the latest animal screens for the Screen Sensation kit, so I had to get the hare one as I do love hares (I shall also get the fox one when it is back in stock - they all sold out really quickly).  I used some blue and white material from my stash to screen print  (and the very detailed image printed beautifully) on one side and the other side was calico.  I lined the bag with floral material from my stash and added fusible wadding to give the bag some extra strength. 

The handles and edges were made from Chris' old jeans and will hopefully be hard wearing.  I can report that the bag works really well and so far, I have not dropped anything!

Stitching Santa 2017

I took part in Stitching Santa, organised by Sheila at Sewchet, which was a new blog exchange to me.  We were given a recipient's details and our details were given to someone else, so it was a big surprise to all of us.  My sender was Nikki from SewingNikki and she was so incredibly generous.  I have been so lucky with all the swaps/exchanges I have taken part in and it is lovely to know that there are so many kind and generous people out there in Blogland.  My parcel arrived and I had to leave it alone until Christmas Day.

 On opening it, there was a beautifully decorated box, adorned with all kinds of pretty ornaments.

Inside was tissue paper, held together with sewing related stickers. 

 Inside that, was a beautifully made bag and under that...

 ...was all this!  What a treasure trove of sewing goodness! Stickers, decorations, wool, a pack of material to make a cushion, an embroidery hoop, a pattern to make bags, a tape measure, some flowery organza type material and a jar of trimmings.

 I love the sheep fabric for the cushion - just gorgeous.

 Definitely an embarrassment of riches.

Wasn't I lucky?

This was what was in the jar - an array of trimmings and haberdashery (I love that word!).  A HUGE THANK YOU to Nikki for her amazing gifts, her generosity and kindness.  I love it all and will enjoy using it over the next year(s).

My recipient was Kimberley from Creative Chaos, who lives in New Zealand.  I had been partnered with her before, so had an idea of the things she liked. I have already shown the fabric box I made for her.

 Here are the other things I included: a felt heart with a pearl charm, some hot chocolate, some red and orange patterned cotton material, some gingham ribbon, a spoon rest/tea bag rest, a reel of sewing thread, some notelets (as I knew she liked stationery) and a little notebook as I also knew she would be starting a teaching degree at University and thought it might come in handy.

Here are the parcels ready to go. They arrived safely and I received a lovely thank you card with two little gifts from her.
It was a lovely swap/exchange to be involved with and I really enjoyed taking part.  Thanks to Sheila for the expert organising.