Bluebell Wood

Bluebell Wood Oxford-shire in May

My son Andy took the above photograph at the weekend and I thought it show-cased the beauty of  an English deciduous wood in May. The weather in England may still be wet and cold but the countryside can provide wonderful visual treats for those willing to don 'Welly boots' and take their children out for fresh air and fun in the woods.

Hyacinthoides non-scripta (formerly Endymion non-scriptus or Scilla non-scripta) is a bulbous perennial plant, found in the British Isles, that is also frequently used as a garden plant. It is known in English as the common bluebell or simply bluebell, a name which is used in Scotland to refer to the harebell, Campanula rotundifolia.

 In spring, H. non-scripta produces a nodding, one-sided inflorescence of 5–12 tubular, sweet-scented violet–blue flowers, with strongly recurved tepals, and 3–6 long, linear, basal leaves.

H. non-scripta is particularly associated with ancient woodland where it may dominate the understorey to produce carpets of violet–blue flowers in "bluebell woods".

The Bay of Tunis

Sidi Bou Said

At the end of the day, whilst tidying up my portfolio in the Cabine, I came across this water-colour sketch that I must have painted nearly ten years ago, when we last visited Tunisia.

Bearing in mind my previous rant against the miserable English weather, it has quite cheered me up to find this sunny memory from our past.

I remember that the buildings in the town were faced with white stucco and the doors and shutters were painted blue and white.  The sky, without a single cloud, was the very deepest shade of blue.  All along the narrow twisting  alleyways of the town, shadows punctuated the sunlight and appeared to glow, a rich ochre in the heat of the afternoon.

 

 

Tunisia: The blue and white village of Sidi Bou Said

"Bees are murmuring in the honeysuckle and butterflies flit through a tangle of trumpet vine. Behind me is an enormous palm tree, its trunk as chunky and squat as a pineapple. Ahead, the wide blue sea is flecked with white arrow-heads – the sails of small craft returning to the marina below.

The bay is a huge, flat disc of aquamarine, disturbed only by the mauve shadows cast by the twin peaks of Mount Bou Kornine in the distance. According to legend, the peaks are the petrified heads of two pilgrims returning from Mecca. They turned to stone as they stopped to marvel at the very cliff-top site where I am now – the beautiful medieval village of Sidi Bou Said".   The Independent

Hot desires and Cambria Orchids in a cold climate.

"Baby its cold outside"

Cambria is a commercial name for intergeneric hybrids among the following genera of orchids, belonging to the Orchidaceae family,Epidendroideae subfamily, Cymbidieaetribe, Oncidiinae subtribe.


Today, I have been beavering away in the Cabine preparing paintings and prints for our good friends in Kent and New York.  I have had to dodge the frequent downpours by dashing between the house and the Cabine. "It's meant to be Spring for heavens sake! - Where's the sun"?  Last night we could hear and see the thunder and lightning as it moved along the coastline. This morning it's very very grey, cold and wet.


As a consequence of this extended  period of exceptionally inclement weather, nothing much is growing in the garden. It looks very drab indeed!  Good job Toot has 'green fingers' and with the help of our overworked condensing gas-boiler, she has provided our own 'pots on the windowsill' of 'tropical rain-forest'. 


Some of her orchids are now several years old and bloom two or three times a year.  On a dull day like today, we are both cheered by the beauty of these flowers and the many wild birds that visit our garden bird table foraging for food; but we are really looking forward to some desiccating sunshine and a sizzling summer sitting on our Suffolk seashore!

Cromer Crab

Chilli Crab Linguine

I was interested and pleased to note that increasingly more people from around the world are choosing to read my blog (or at least look at the pictures).  As a consequence, I shall in future, add a bit more explanatory information when I am describing customs, objects or locations that are typically local to the UK or the region, East Anglia, where I live.

There is a small town 30 miles from our home called Cromer which is famous for the quality of  brown edible crabs which are caught in the sea nearby. Catching Cromer crabs should not be confused with 'Catching Crabs at Walberswick' (Walberswick is a picturesque village by the sea even closer to our home) where the crabs concerned are inedible and caught for fun and then returned to the water unharmed by the children of holidaymakers.

For those that like seafood, pasta and chilli peppers, I can fully recommend "Chilli Crab Linguine", a recipe Toot has developed on an iterative basis and has, now in my opinion, reached a state of near perfection. It is also a lunch or supper dish that is easy and quick to prepare.

First cook in boiling salted water sufficient linguine for the number of people to be fed. When just cooked plunge in cold water, leave to go cold, drain and then put to one side.

To make the sauce put in a bowl and blend with an electrical blender; -  a little balsamic vinegar, tomato puree, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, a little olive oil, sugar, chilli powder, fresh sliced chilli pepper,  lemon juice and zest, and salt and pepper. The sauce should be of a thin paste like consistency.  It is important to get the right balance between the basil, lemon, chilli and sugar and this does involve a little trial and error and personal taste.

Next and to serve one person, put the cold but cooked linguine in a microwave safe bowl, add the uncooked sauce and carefully fold in. Take the  brown and white meat from half a brown crab (pre-cooked from the fishmonger) and  stir into the contents of the bowl. Add a little sliced fresh chilli pepper as a garnish, place some cling film over the top of the bowl and microwave for two minutes on full power.  It is as simple as that and quite delicious!

"Guess what we are having for supper tonight"?

Small Art in the Big Apple

Two beautiful women awaiting the arrival of a subway train

The weather has suddenly improved and after a weekend away in Southend it was great to have lunch in the sunshine in our garden. Not much action in the Cabine today as I have had to clear a blockage in a down-pipe from the guttering on our house. Luckily the job turned out to be a lot easier than I thought and now any further rain will be adequately collected.  On the way back from Southend Toot and I were surprised at the level of flooding in Essex and Suffolk south of Ipswich.. I suppose we should not have been surprised.  It is usual, if not inevitable, for floods to follow declarations of drought and hose-pipe bans by statutory water authorities.

Will and Rachel have decided to sell their house. In order to create a more minimalist environment and whilst they show prospective buyers around their home, Toot and I are currently providing a temporary gallery for several of their more avant-garde art works . I thought I would make a virtual loan of the painting "The artist's wife ...." to the New York City Transit Authority in thanks for the courteous and efficient service they provided for us when we visited 'The Big Apple' in October last year.

On the gastronomic front, courtesy of Bimbar, and for supper tonight, Toot is having calves liver and I am having smoked haddock. Delicious!

Spinal Tap Part 2

"Taken from behind"

Having now seen the spinal surgeon from the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, I am delighted to announce that, subject to awaiting my turn, I will be having an operation to correct the ruptured disc and spinal stenosis which are currently and adversely affecting my mobility.

Hurrah for the NHS and the staff of the Orthopedic Clinic at the James Paget Hospital, Gorleston.

Thanks also to all my family and friends who have been concerned and continue to support me.  In particular, love to Toot who for the last three months has had to do all the stuff integral to life that I have been unable to do because of my back problems.

I hope to make a full recovery and to booking more holidays in exotic places, like Tibet, Peru and Rotherham!

In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger ......."Oil me back"! ..

Falling Leaves

Fall Montreal 2011

When we visited Montreal last year the maple leaves were "sweetly turning" a bright red.  My virtual and monumental sculpture celebrates the 'chaos and colour' of falling leaves and contrasts with the formal transparency of the monochrome  skeletal dome.

Inside the dome, which is located on an island in the Hudson River near the entrance to the St Lawrence Seaway, there is a museum-gallery dedicated to sustainable development and the protection of our environment.

As a long-time admirer of the late Richard Buckminster Fuller, engineer and environmentalist, I was pleased to take Toot to see the 'Geodesic Dome' designed by him for the 1967 Montreal World Exposition.

Richard Buckminster Fuller

The Geodesic Sphere

Geodesic structures have been used by many architects and engineers for rooves and walls in numerous projects around the world.


More recently,the geodesic dome was
chosen to encapsulate the various
environments at the Eden Project in
Cornwall.


In the last ten years, naturally forming carbon molecules have been discovered in clouds of molecular gas around distant dying stars. These molecules take the form of 60 carbon atoms arranged as a geodesic sphere. These molecules have been nicknamed 'Bucky Balls' in honour of a brilliant engineer and early environmental pioneer.

Lemon sole, chips, peas and fried tomatoes for supper. "Man cannot live by art, science and engineering alone" Brilliant!!