A while ago on one of our walks, Freddie the Labrador and I collected some splendid acorns and oak leaves. I fully intended to snap a few pics while they were still fresh and colourful but haven’t somehow got round to doing it. Today I was going to throw them all away as they’ve dried…
Tag: Still Life
Indian Spice and all things nice
It has been noted before on this blog – please see any of the numerous posts involving food! – that we are lucky enough to have our very own Masterchef here on the Hillside. I wish that I could claim that title for myself but I confess to being much more at home pointing my…
French Essence # 3 – Macaroons à la Française
I have always thought of macaroons (macarons) as a particularly French delicacy, a delightfully diminutive round cake, crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle made from ground almonds, sugar and egg whites. Endless varieties of flavouring and delicate pastel colours can be found in tempting tower displays in the finest French patisseries. …
French Essence #1 – Garlic
If asked to sum up the essence of French culture the average Francophile would probably come up with an impressive list, amongst which would undoubtably feature haute couture, Hermès, Coco Chanel, Dior, an array of philosophers, playwrights Voltaire, Molière, great novelists Victor Hugo, cinema, Brigitte Bardot, Gerard Dépardieu, Bordeaux wines, cognac, champagne, Paris, Versailles, Marie…
Kings, Queens, Knaves and Aces High
There is something exceedingly mystical about a pack of playing cards. The notion of kings and queens, jokers and knaves, aces and hearts, spades and diamonds, even the language of cards is exotic and enticing, hinting at the medieval world of courtly love and ancient fairytales. Somehow all of life is here in symbolic form…
Gold, Copper, Chestnut, Conkers – Hello Autumn!
I had a very different idea in mind for today’s post but as I strolled along the path through the wood after lunch with Freddie the labrador, we stumbled across some exciting treasures which simply demanded to be photographed. Freddie was delighted to have found a fox poo and a badger burrow plus a few…
Vintage Childhood #2 – Dinkys, Corgis & Lesneys
A small homage to the vintage childhood when imagination was more valued than the microchip. Once long ago , before the invention of iPods and iPads and SuperMario Game Boys and Nintendos, my younger brother received for his birthday a very fine model garage. It’s most distinguished attribute was a state of the art toy…
Chopin, Nocturnes,Sheet Music Part 2 – The Power of Memory
In which we pursue our dream of mastering the piano without the aid of the Brownies and without a piano Family legend has it that one of my great uncles – inevitably on my father’s side, for it was my paternal grandmother who boasted the mad inventor father and 13 siblings – was so talented a…
Vintage Childhood #1 – Monopoly
PLAYING Games My family ancestors have always been a rather competitive bunch even when at play. My mother relates wonderful stories of Friday evenings spent with my father’s family in the 1950’s surrounded by the numerous aunts and uncles (all 13 of them plus assorted spouses) engaged in the serious business of a game of…
Chopin, Nocturnes, Sheet Music and the Brownies
As a small child I was encouraged by my mother to join the Brownies, an institution she had relished so much in her own childhood that she had gone on to be a Girl Guide and the veteran of many a Brownie and Girl Guide camping expedition. At the time as a seven year old…
Figs , Fig Leaves and the Garden of Eden
There is an ancient town in the heart of Tuscany in Italy, famous for it’s alabaster, a beautiful translucent stone used for centuries to create windows, before knowledge of glassmaking arrived in the west from the Orient. We stayed just outside Volterra a few years ago and one of our favourite daily pastimes was a coffee and…
Secrets and Keys
I have never quite managed to give up my childhood dream of finding the key to the secret treasure trove. As a child the ‘treasure’ would certainly have involved a pirate treasure chest, ancient maps, doubloons, pearl necklaces, a sword and a skeleton, that sort of thing. Nowadays I have already found some excellent treasure here…
The Beauty of Imperfection – the art of Wabi Sabi…….
” Wabi Sabi” noun: From Japanese culture : A concept, an aesthetic and a worldview. Simply, an intuitive way of living which emphasizes finding beauty and perfection in imperfection and simple authenticity. Wabi Sabi accepts the natural cycle of growth and decay and believes objects gain value through use and age. ALL PHOTOS © JANE…
Blush Roses
Roses have long been my favourite flowers, along with lilac and the beautiful simplicity of daisies. A few years ago I planted a climbing rose, the name of which has long since been forgotten, which has so much enjoyed it’s position against an east facing garden wall that it now covers the wall completely…
View from a French Hillside 