Flowers and Cake, to brighten the day.
It's been a really blustery few days - the winter storms seem to have arrived early.
Today at 10.00am, we still need the lights on as the sky is a heavy grey, the sea is gunmetal grey, and the rain is spattering the windows, whilst the trees across the road are shaking off leaves in 40mph winds. But out in the garden I still have colour, although I did take these a few days ago on a sunnier day than it is today.
You can tell it was a nice day, apart from the sunshine, the washing basket it out as there are clothes drying on the line!
Queen of Sweden is still in flower - there are still a couple of buds, too.
The iceberg also still has flowers, and buds.
The miniature hydrangea is still really pretty.
There are nasturtiums still wandering through the place - these are in the end of the fruit/veg patch, adding colour to the blueberry bushes.
And there are now splashes of colour from the hesperantha all through the garden as well.
On Monday afternoon it was also sunny... and windy! But we tend not to let 40mph winds stop us and I had been invited to afternoon tea ☺️. Foxdale WI were celebrating 70 years since their first meeting, and had invited 2 or 3 guests from each of the island's other WIs to join them. I was lucky enough to be one of the 3 from my group. The WI, as an organisation, has always been a wonderful mixture of home-baking and political campaigning where required.* So you can guess that we were in for a treat!
Each table was decorated with little flower arrangements;
We had beautifully made sandwiches -
That was a plate to be shared between two, and there was also home-made quiche and sausage rolls, served hot.
Then came the cakes, all made by different members of Foxdale WI.
I think it worked out at 7 different things each on the cake stands, then fruit loaf and lemon drizzle brought around separately as there wasn't room for everything on the cake stands.
Oh - and then we each got a finger of the celebratory birthday cake at the end!
As you can imagine, I ate very little for the rest of the day.
* The WI began as an educational movement in the 1920s and now has more than 260,000 members in 8,000 local groups.
Although traditionally considered the reserve of village ladies who enjoy making jam, the WI has actively campaigned on issues such as the future of post offices, human rights, the 'tampon tax', mental health, rural bus services, and third world debt, amongst other things.
Tony Blair, when he was Prime Minister of the UK, addressed the WI National Congress. He expected a bunch of polite ladies who would listen and then applaud politely. He was asked a lot of very pointed questions and even heckled when he tried to give the sort of 'politician' answers that ignore the question and treat the questioner like a small child.
Today at 10.00am, we still need the lights on as the sky is a heavy grey, the sea is gunmetal grey, and the rain is spattering the windows, whilst the trees across the road are shaking off leaves in 40mph winds. But out in the garden I still have colour, although I did take these a few days ago on a sunnier day than it is today.
You can tell it was a nice day, apart from the sunshine, the washing basket it out as there are clothes drying on the line!
Queen of Sweden is still in flower - there are still a couple of buds, too.
The iceberg also still has flowers, and buds.
The miniature hydrangea is still really pretty.
There are nasturtiums still wandering through the place - these are in the end of the fruit/veg patch, adding colour to the blueberry bushes.
And there are now splashes of colour from the hesperantha all through the garden as well.
On Monday afternoon it was also sunny... and windy! But we tend not to let 40mph winds stop us and I had been invited to afternoon tea ☺️. Foxdale WI were celebrating 70 years since their first meeting, and had invited 2 or 3 guests from each of the island's other WIs to join them. I was lucky enough to be one of the 3 from my group. The WI, as an organisation, has always been a wonderful mixture of home-baking and political campaigning where required.* So you can guess that we were in for a treat!
Each table was decorated with little flower arrangements;
We had beautifully made sandwiches -
That was a plate to be shared between two, and there was also home-made quiche and sausage rolls, served hot.
Then came the cakes, all made by different members of Foxdale WI.
I think it worked out at 7 different things each on the cake stands, then fruit loaf and lemon drizzle brought around separately as there wasn't room for everything on the cake stands.
Oh - and then we each got a finger of the celebratory birthday cake at the end!
As you can imagine, I ate very little for the rest of the day.
* The WI began as an educational movement in the 1920s and now has more than 260,000 members in 8,000 local groups.
Although traditionally considered the reserve of village ladies who enjoy making jam, the WI has actively campaigned on issues such as the future of post offices, human rights, the 'tampon tax', mental health, rural bus services, and third world debt, amongst other things.
Tony Blair, when he was Prime Minister of the UK, addressed the WI National Congress. He expected a bunch of polite ladies who would listen and then applaud politely. He was asked a lot of very pointed questions and even heckled when he tried to give the sort of 'politician' answers that ignore the question and treat the questioner like a small child.