Jubilee Weekend

A warm welcome to my new follower Kirsty, thankyou for joining me.

Well the bunting's up and plans are afoot for this coming weekend to celebrate

the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

We're going to London to see the Pageant on the Thames, staying overnight in an hotel (which we booked last October well ahead of time) and very much looking forward to it. We'll spend the best part of Saturday walking around the best loved sites, taking in all the splendour that London creates at times like this and then have a quiet meal in the evening overlooking the Thames taking in all the atmosphere. Sunday morning up early so that we can get a good spot on the South Bank for the Pageant.

I have to say I am, and always have been an ardent Royalist and love all the pomp and circumstance involved in such occasions. Back home on Sunday evening and then a day to get ready for a family BBQ on the Tuesday where there will probably be around twelve of us.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend

Old cook books come to the fore

Welcome to my new follower Erna from Holland, nice to meet you.

Does anyone remember these two cook books?

When I got married, 42 years ago my mum gave me this Dairy Book of Home Cookery, my first and only cook book at the time and certainly well used in those early days. Now of course, I have hoards of the things, so many in fact that I've run out of space in the kitchen and they have been relegated to a cupboard in the garage! Suffice it to say, I quite often go back to some of the tried and tested recipes that we've enjoyed over the years.

When I was growing up my parents always, without fail used their pressure cooker to cook just about everything. Just like the one on this cover - it was big and bulky and made an awful hissing sound when it was up to pressure. When I got married it was only natural that I followed suit and bought one myself  - well you do don't you?  I didn't really enjoy using it - preferring to cook more casseroles and meat rather than vegetables that always came out far too overcooked and soft.  I did have a few favourites though, and although I haven't a pressure cooker any more I've adapted many of the recipes for normal cooking. This one is a regular. Hope you like it.

Minced Beef and Pasta Casserole

1 onion peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove
500g minced beef
300 ml hot beef stock - or adjust accordingly
400 g can baked beans
400g can tomatoes
1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs
2 teaspoons paprika
Worcestershire  sauce - about a tablespoon
75-100g dried pasta shapes (depending how hungry you are)
Salt and pepper
I sometimes throw in some chopped mushrooms to make it go further.

Fry the onions and garlic in a little oil in a large pan or wok until soft.

Add the minced beef

When the beef is brown add the tomatoes and beans (I used canned cherry tomatoes for a change)

Give it a good stir and add the dried herbs, paprika, stock and worcestershire sauce

Then add the pasta shapes

Cook for about 25-30 minutes -  add more water/stock if it starts to look too dry. It should come out slightly drier than the consistency of a bolognaise sauce - adjust the stock depending on how much pasta used

Serve with some grated parmesan cheese and a few sprigs of basil or parsley

Enjoy!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Firstly, a warm welcome to my two new followers, Mrs Sutton and Sandra. If you could leave a comment Sandra I can then link back to you as my dashboard doesn't give me  a link. Thanks.

We spent a lovely afternoon yesterday with a walk along the coast - the tide was up and the sun was out - what more could we want. We started out at Leigh on Sea, a local fishing village near to where we live which sees a hive of activity winter and summer alike, hosting live jazz festivals and sailing events but mostly loved for its array of old pubs and inns and its wealth of seafood stalls and restaurants.

The harbour is the hub of the village where much was going on

where the fishermen were getting ready to fish

and the sailors were getting ready to sail

A bit further along to Chalkwell where the views are stunning from the cliff top

You can just make out Southend Pier in the distance - the longest pleasure pier in the world and originally built in 1830. 

We then strolled along the beautiful Cliff Gardens at Southend

This is the site of what used to be our treasured Victorian bandstand. Sevcral years ago there was a landslide on the cliff edge and sadly half the bandstand went with it!

Such a shame - they used to hold tea dances on Sunday afternoons and occasionally

hosted open air classical concerts.

Further down the coast at Thorpe Bay

where I keep coming back to view these lovely beach huts - and
I WANT ONE!

(keep wanting says hubby)

 I love the countryside and open spaces - but there's nothing quite like being near the sea with the sound of the gulls, the smell of the fishing haul, the sailing boats tacking across the bay and the salty breeze coming off the water.


Bye for now

Chelsea? No but...

With Chelsea once again upon us I regret not having got around to booking it. Every year I plan to but somehow haven't quite made it.  Everything seems to be flowering so much later this year but hopefully a few more days of this lovely weather and we should be back on track. 

I was thinking that my garden was looking a bit sorry for itself, until I took these random piccies and realised it wasn't as bad as I'd first thought.

We do tend to plant a lot of evergreens so that we can have year-round colour in the garden and one of my favourites is this Variegated Euonymous - we've got quite a few varieties and they blend so well with all the other plants.



Another favourite are Hebes - again several different types dotted

around the shrubbery and borders amongst the Japonicas and Cotoneasters.

This Viburnum has just come into bloom



John's mum used to say that Rhododendrons always flowered around the time of his

birthday which was yesterday -  and this has just made it by the skin of its teeth!

Love these lavenders and they attract so many bees and butterflies

The Broom has been flowering for a few weeks now and is still going strong

Pansies are a favourite of mine - and I love to see them bobbing around in the breeze

This flowering cherry budded about a month ago and has just lost the last of its blossom

Normally by now the tubs are brimming with colour but

my baskets are all I have at the moment

These Campanula look lovely for about a fortnight but for some reason we lose

 them very quickly and not sure why - any ideas?

Not quite Chelsea but it's all mine (ours) and looking forward to a summer full of more blooms.



What a difference a day makes.....

What a gorgeous weekend - caught up with lots of jobs in the garden and by Sunday evening we'd finished and sat down with a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio! We've begun to realise that whilst we are always working on making the garden look nice, we never actually take time to sit and admire our hard work - changes afoot methinks... 

What a difference a day makes!  Just goes to prove we should make the most of our good weather when it's here. Talk about Monday morning blues - wet, cold and windy for the early morning school run and to top it all my faithful old tumble dryer has given up the ghost. I don't use it a lot but it's always a back-up when the weather's bad.

Part 2 of my charity shop finds last week.

Two vintage lampshades that look good with the curtains in my guest room; Glass jar filled with my own baubles and beads to be used as a bookend. Dainty glass dish for pot pourri; Pretty jug; Lots of lovely lace and edgings; Sweet little jam dish

Two gorgeous bags

Red leather by Faith and black silk evening bag

Considering we've recently sorted out a lot of paraphernalia that has accumulated over the years - here's me buying more!! It's all good fun though.

Bye for now

Dad's Army

I don't know if anyone saw the Channel 5 programme on Tuesday called "War Hero in my family". It's a programme a bit like "Who do you think you are" but it traces people's family members who took part in WW2. This week featured Ann Widdecombe's look into her uncle's military history in Tunisia. I was particularly interested in this as my own late father served in Tunisia too and it was good to have an insight into what it was like.

Dad had never talked about the war and all I knew was that he served in Tunisia; it was very hot and there were terrible problems with the sand and flies. He had also mentioned Sicily and Italy and I remember seeing some photos. Other than that I didn't have a clue.

This is Dad on the left possibly in Tunisia

Dad in the middle - possibly in Italy

About ten years ago I wrote to the Ministry of Defence to enquire if they had anything on their records that might be of interest to me. I was delighted to receive a plotted history of his service career. It was the best £20 I have ever spent as the information gave me lots to go on in my endeavour to see when and where he went. In the meantime I picked up this old paper/magazine at an antiques fair which helped with my research and what a find!

As a skilled engineer working with GEC Dad joined the Territorial Army prior to war breaking out and after initial training and going through the ranks he was eventually made up to Sergeant and posted to the newly formed Inspectorate in the REME (Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers) where he was in charge of and oversaw the maintenance and day to day running of the tanks and other armoured vehicles.

He was posted to Tunisia on 8th November 1942 (not sure of his whereabouts prior to this date - must look into it). His unit was attached to the Eighth Army and after the Tunisian campaign was over on the 12 May 1943 they went on to capture Sicily and by late 1944 the army group pushed northward through Italy, capturing Rome. Italy was finally defeated in Spring 1945.

This little plotted history on two pages of A4 was enough to start many years of research into the story of his WW2 military service. It listed the medals he had won, physical description on enlistment and details of family. His testimonial, which says it all about my dad, said:

"An extremely good tradesman, selected for Inspectorate duties. Sober, reliable

and conscientious with a very pleasant disposition". 

Bye for now x

Back on track

Welcome to my new followers Angela at Bright Star and George at Kylie's kitchen
it's good to have you on board.

I also want to say a big thankyou for all the lovely lovely comments you have all

left on my recent posts - they mean such a lot

I hope I can get back on track now as I've had a busy couple of weeks one way or another and have certainly missed keeping in touch with all my blogging friends.

I took myself off to browse around the shops today - I haven't done that for a long time. Normally it would be to do a bit of clothes shopping etc but today I steered clear and visited a few charity shops instead. Now this isn't normally my forte but I'm on the lookout for some vintagey bits and bobs and some fabric to make some bunting and as I know many of you have found some excellent pieces I thought I'd take a look. Well I have to say that I was very pleased with my purchases and thought I'd share them with you.

First there was this lovely embroidered tray cloth - which is too small for my

 large tray and as you can see too large for my small tray but hey ho!

Next I found two bone china tea cups and saucers -

I'm on a mission to collect several now after my finds a few weeks ago

This little doilly will definitely fit my round tray

I'm not sure if this is a tea or coffee pot

but it goes beautifully with the cups and some white china that I have already

Don't they go well together?

This second-hand shopping could become addictive!

I did buy some other bits but I'll leave those for another day.

Bye for now

April Photo Scavenger Hunt

 

For various reasons I thought I wasn't going to complete this month's challenge, and the weather didn't help but I did manage to cobble some together and hope you enjoy them. This is what I came up with.

AMAZING

not a sign you see often but there is a beach opposite

CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT -

my books and music

DIRECTION

by kind permission of my 8 year old grandson

IN/OUT

I think the people waiting to go inside this shop must have thought I was an

absolute nutter - why would you take photos of a revolving door they pondered!

INDULGENCE

I normally go for starters and mains but couldn't resist this

MULTI COLOURED

My lovely Cath Kidston stash

ON THE MOVE

 

ROCK

on a rainy day (there's no surprise) outside a public building

SPRING

A host of golden daffodils - the epitome of Spring

SMILE

A favourite photo with my two lovely sisters

STICKY

and boy did I get sticky trying to take this - one handed!

TANGLE

My gorgeous Montana Clematis just coming into flower and the Passion Flower

both fighting to scramble across my pergola

Another great challenge and now looking forward to May's selection
and hopefully sunnier days.

Thanks again to Kathy at http://postcardsfromthepp.blogspot.co.uk for
organising this Photo Scavenger Hunt for us.

See you soon