Gizmo

I have a cat

A naughty ginger cat

Who loves to hunt

And stalk around

The little creatures

On the ground

I used to have two lady cats

Who did as they were told

They sat demurely by the door

They really was quite old

But now I have a boy cat

A bushy, fluffy, feral

We thought we'd name him Gizmo

But this rhymes better with Merrill

Naughty Ginger Gizmo

He'd have your arm off in a flash

And the privilege of keeping him

Cost me fifty pounds in cash

I'm sure I'll grow to love him

It's not yet been a year

He's going through a 'teen phase'

When It will end is not yet clear

He likes to tease the chickens

And jump at them from height

Poor Rolo and Peppercorn

It does give them a fright

But Gizmo has his moments

When dreaming of a mouse

He purrs and purrs so loudly

It almost rocks the house

Poem by Simone 31 May 2008

It's a Miserable Day so Let's Bake a Cake!

I wasn't much in the mood for venturing out of the house today. It has been very gloomy here, overcast and damp. Yuk! I thought instead that I would cheer myself up with a cake using up ingredients that I already had in the house.

In the fruit bowl were a couple of over ripe bananas and I had some margarine left over in the fridge. I found a basic recipe for a banana cake and jazzed it up a bit with spiced rum and desiccated coconut.

Banana Rum Cake

4oz margarine
6oz sugar (I used a mix of light muscovado and demerara as that is what I had to hand)
2 eggs
2 over ripe bananas
8oz self raising flour
2oz desiccated coconut
2tbsp roughly of spiced rum or any other rum!
demerara sugar for sprinkling

Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4/180 degrees C/350 degrees F

Grease a large loaf tin. Cream together the margarine and sugar in a large bowl and mix in the eggs. Add a little flour to prevent the mixture curdling and mix in well. Mash the bananas in a separate bowl and add to creamed mixture.

Stir in the flour and then add the rum and coconut and mix together. Put mixture into loaf tin, sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for about 1 hour until middle is cooked through.

Allow to cool in tin for a few minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool. The demerara sugar on the top gives a nice crunchy contrast to the moist texture of the cake.

I have never made this cake before and it was a bit of an experiment. I have no idea of its keeping qualities as I ate a slice whilst it was still steaming from the tin! I don't suppose there will be much left of it by tomorrow. I will have to make another one!

A Detour to Rye

We spent last weekend in East Sussex and had a brief detour to Rye for a couple of hours. The town was very quirky with cobbled streets, unusual houses and a humorous touch.

For example this house above is called the house with two front doors and the words are spelt out on the two front doors!

The house in the picture above is called 'the house with the seat' and you can just about read this just outside the front door on the rail and it is next door to the house with two front doors. How strange is that?!!!

This is a view down one of the cobbled streets.

A tiny little cottage with a Buddha sitting in the doorway.

A pretty corner house with a dovecote on the side. You can just about see two doves just under the middle chimney.

An unusual door tells us that the middle plank was once part of a prison door. If only doors could talk.

I was drawn to this pretty rounded brickwork at the front of this house.

A very spooky alleyway. I wouldn't like to venture down there on a dark night!

The way back home. We saw lots of interesting things during our brief spell in Rye. Lots of photo opportunities but alas, not enough time.

Thanks Elizabeth!

I would like to publicly thank Elizabeth from my crafty mess for the giveaway I recently won.

The giveaway parcel included neatly folded squares of fabric, balls of wool and strings of unusual glass beads and a string of buttons. It arrived in pristine condition all the way from the USA.

This is only my second time of winning a giveaway in two years of reading blogs so I was particularly chuffed to be a winner. Go and check out Elizabeth's crafty blog. She keeps bees you know!

I really want to make cards.........

......but end up making gift tags instead! Over the years I have bought a vast quantity of papers, cardstock and embellishments with the view to making my own cards. I have made a few cards before but have always been disappointed with the quality of the cardstock. If I buy pre-scored cardstock it has to have a perfect fold in the middle or else I can't use it! It also has to be a thick and heavy quality paper like water colour paper. My reasoning is that if I am going to put time and effort into making a card then I want to use the best material available.

I have tried folding my own cardstock and even with the paper trimmer, guillotines and card folding devices I still am not satisfied with how the card folds and looks. Has any one else out there had these problems with making cards? I am talking about rectangle/square cards as I guess with a shaped card it wouldn't be such a problem. (I would still get annoyed about the crease though.)

Then there is the problem of whether or not to put an insert into the card or to hand stamp a message - decisions, decisions...........

I think for the time being I am better off making tags. You know where you are with a tag. No folding, no inserts.

White Wisteria

The wisteria flowered this year. We inherited this plant more than 10 years ago and it has never had more than a couple of measly looking flowers. This year it has produced more than a handful of white flowers with a lavender tinge and for the first time I noticed that the blooms are scented. The blooms are about a foot long and are really quite spectacular.

Our neighbourhood has done well with the wisteria this year and nearby houses are covered in the purple flowers. My wisteria excels in foliage and no matter how much it is cut back the foliage always outweighs the blooms. It provides an excellent nesting place for the birds so they're happy about it!

It is difficult to see the flowers in the picture above but there are about 10 flowers open with more in bud.

This Aubretia is definitely my gardening ally. It pops up all around the garden, filling in the gaps in unsightly concrete and cracked paving. It requires no maintainence and returns every spring. My kind of plant.

Fetes, Fayres and Fundraising

It's that time of year again. Time to be out in the open air, the time for village fetes, fayres, open days and garden Parties. It's the time for fundraising, making home made lemonade and jams and jellies. It's the time to put on your apron and get baking!

As well as rock buns, fairy cakes, fruit cakes, chocolate cake, victoria sponge cake, tarts and pastries, why not have a go at making this cake for your fundraising events or even just make to have with afternoon tea.

This cake is based on a Delia Smith recipe but I have used a jam and coconut topping instead of icing. The cake is made in a 10 x 10 tin and is quite shallow but you could use a smaller tin if you wanted the cake to have more depth.

Here is the recipe for 'Fundraisers Cake'.

8oz (225g) plain flour
4oz (110g) sugar
4oz (110g) margarine
2 level teaspoons cream of tartar
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3floz (75ml) milk
2 large eggs
for the topping
Pineapple jam or jam of your choice (pineapple is especially good)
desiccated coconut

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3 (325 degrees Farenheit) (170 degrees C)

Grease and line a 10 x 10 inch (25.5 x 25.5 cm) square baking tin.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda. Gently melt the margarine in a small saucepan. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly. Pour the melted margarine onto the eggs, then pour this mixture onto the dry ingredients and stir to blend together. Stir in the milk and blend thoroughly.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 35 minutes.

Let the cake cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. When cool, spread the cake generously with a jam topping and then sprinkle with desiccated coconut to finish off.

The cake can be cut into small squares to serve or bigger squares if you are feeling generous!

Show me your Garden

'Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are.' (Alfred Austin)

I am a bit worried about this quote as it will show that I am chaotic, random, untamed, unkempt and a right messy so and so.

There are many 'to do' things in my garden. I know that I need to prune and mow and weed and generally tidy up but I just always find reasons not to!

I quite like the way nature takes over and does its own thing. I will eventually get my garden

up 'to standard' although I can say without a doubt that I will never have a perfectly manicured

lawn or a neat beds of flowers. That's a good thing eh?

Anyway I like to think that my garden is a nature reserve. My cat likes it that way too.

Isn't that the fluffiest tail you have ever seen?

My ginger boy, happy and at one with nature.

Me and my Teddy Bear...........

This is my teddy bear. He is about 40 years old. His left arm is lame due to being hugged and loved over the years. The left arm is also slightly shorter due to being sewn back in the wrong place after the sawdust had come out.



He is a well-travelled bear and has slept in many hotel rooms throughout europe. He used to have an enviable knitted wardrobe of clothing and would have a new knitted suit for each yearly excursion. His bed was usually improvised when abroad and he would have a paper tissue for his blanket (after all he didn't want to be bogged down with heavy bedding whilst in a hot climate.)



Can you guess the name of my teddy? Well I'll give you a clue by showing you behind his left ear. He used to be this colour all over.


His name was and still is........................ GOLDIE!