fruit

Yesterday's Theme Thursday made me think about food.
Most of my colleagues have embarked on their New Year Diets and that makes me think about food too!
Last autumn I had one of the most beautiful desserts I've ever ordered in a restaurant. And it was healthy food! (Well, apart from the butterscotch & chocolate sauces.)
I just had to take a picture.



Fruit Platter on a menu doesn't even begin to describe the sheer gorgeousness and lusciousness of what was served to me.
Slices of kiwi, banana, nectarine, orange & 2 types of melon fanned out on a piece of slate (no idea why it was slate, but the black background was a wonderful foil for the jewel-like fruits.)
Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, a little scoop of muesli mixed with fresh blackberries & yoghurt and then pots of those aforementioned sauces together with one of Greek yoghurt, for dipping. Oh, there was a little homemade shortbread biscuit, too.

Gentle reader, you may think I near fainted at the sight - especially as I'd just tucked into a plate of venison and veggies.

I ate the lot.

theme thursday - bread

What a versatile comestible is bread.
It comes in various colours (tho' if it's green, there may be a problem with the quality!)
It can be sprinkled with things. Poppy seeds, for instance.
I don't like poppy seeds and don't have a picture of them.
But I do like poppies.



"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche." Usually (and probably incorrectly) attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, when she was told the peasants were starving and had run out of bread.

Brioche is actually more like a bread than a cake and makes a truly wonderful bread & butter pudding. Just follow Delia's recipe and substitute brioche for the bread. It's even better, if that's possible, with chocolate chip brioche. My friend, Penelope, made this for us in Scotland at New Year. As there was a little left over the next day (hard to believe, I know) I splashed on a tot or two of whisky and warmed it through in the oven. Yumm! (There wasn't time to take a photo. I was too busy eating.)

Staying on the French theme, this Boulangerie in Paris seems rather reluctant to display its wares



And this one has stopped selling bread altogether!

theme thursday - surface

Well, what an appropriate theme for me as I surface from several weeks of not blogging.

I spent New Year in the Scottish Highlands and took loads of photos!
The surface of Loch Insh caught my eye - part snow, part ice and with clouds rippling on the water ..



If you look very closely you can see a cross etched into the surface of the glass in this window in the church in Kincraig.



Our friend Steve, hoping to surface from the snow (after we'd all done our best to bury him!)



And finally, my favourite track from Sarah McLachlan's album, Surfacing

theme thursday - telephone

Well, I have to admit that I'm a little bit stuck on this one. I could have a rant about how the phone is taking over our lives. About how you can't travel in peace and quiet on public transport anymore, because people insist on bellowing into their phones, I'm on the train. Yes. I said, I'm on the train. No, I'll be about 20 minutes. Yes please. 2 sugars. while I'm trying to read my newspaper. But that would be my husband's rant and not mine. I commute by car. Insulated from other commuters in my little metal box, I can ignore my phone, if it rings, as I don't have a hands-free-kit. Ha ha!

I could probably write a piece about the development of the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell, wasn't it? Nah. Can't be bothered to look it up.

When I phoned my brother the other day, my nephew had just bought an iPhone and was struggling with the instructions, trying to work out how to use it. Who would have thought that a telephone could take photos, play music and videos, access the internet, play games, convert currency, navigate you from one place to another? (Actually mine doesn't do all those things. I have a camera and an iPod and quite like the fact that I can't talk or text on either of them!)

So. Yes. Telephone. What to post?

A telephone rings, doesn't it? Well, mine does.

I found a song by Blondie

and a photo of a ring

happy birthday

Happy Birthday to my cats, Charlie & Coco. Wreckers of carpet, catchers of frogs, owners of very long whiskers and bringers of joy (and cat hair.)

We don't know their real birthday, as we got them from a rescue centre at New Year 2005. November 9th is a best guess!


charlie

Charlie often looks surprised. Either because I've caught him doing something bad (see above re carpets) or because he's puzzled by life. Charlie has lots of fur, but not a great deal of brain. He's quite skittish and nervous of strangers. He loves to have his fur brushed.



coco

Coco likes to eat, sleep, sit on window sills, sleep, catch flies and sleep. She has a long pink tongue, which sticks out when she's thinking (not often) or yawning. She has a gentle nature and is very affectionate.

theme thursday - castle

The Scots know well how to build castles. None of those battlements, crenellated towers and narrow windows for shooting arrows through here! This one is more like a country home - albeit a large one.

These photos were taken at Torosay Castle on the Isle of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland. It was a sunny(!) day in September. We were lovely and warm - probably because we were wearing several layers of clothing.

I love Scotland.





Also on Mull, this is Duart Castle. Older than Torosay, this one at least has a wall and battlements. And lots of chimneys!




As we all know, however, an Englishman's home is his castle.

So, here's mine, taken in the snow last winter.

on the beach

Autumn is here. Yes, the leaves are beautiful. Life and colour still cling to stem and branch.
But it's cold. And right now it's dark and wet, too.

So, where better to be than on the beach?


Tybee Island, Georgia