Angel of Thanksgiving

Photo taken from Andy Scott's Website.

As American Thanksgiving day approaches, my thoughts enevitably turn to this piece of public art on the banks of the  river Lagan in Belfast city centre, she is known locally as' Nuala with the Hula' or 'The Doll on the Ball'. Her real name though is 'The Angel of Thanksgiving,' and she is where she is, because of one woman.....my mother.



My lovely Mum, on the day the 'Angel' was erected.(photo taken by my brother Paul)


My Mum was a very spiritually minded person. She really believed that if a person, no matter how poor, or ill, or  deprived could give thanks to God for the little good that was in their life, then God could turn their life around. On a visit to America, she visited Thanksgiving Square in Dallas, Texas. It is a building, where people of any denomination can go and pray and give thanks to their own Deity. My Mum was very impressed with this idea, and thought that Belfast was in need of such a place. She approached the Council, and local business leaders and presented her ideas. She had a real struggle on her hands, and it took her 16 years of blood, sweat and tears to bring it to fruition. The Council agreed to donate some land to the project, but it was too small to put a building on it, so the idea of a statue or monument was mooted. They decided to have a competition for someone to come up with a design, and it was won by a Scottish Sculptor and Engineer, Andy Scott. He is a wonderful man, who really supported my mum, and he was able to encapsulate all  her hopes and dreams into his design of 'The Angel of Thanksgiving'.



I don't have my Mum's great faith, but I do know it is important to believe in something greater than yourself. I think too, that an attitude of grattitude is sadly lacking today. I am so grateful that my brave Mum fought for her beliefs, not for Belfast, or Ireland, but for us ,her family. She has left such a great legacy. I am so proud every time we cross the river to say to my daughter,' look there's your Nannie's statue.' It was such a comfort after her death to have such a beautiful reminder of her fighting spirit, her faith and her passion for her beloved country. She would have been so thrilled to know that it was voted as the No.1 piece of public art, by the people.It is used by all sorts of companies to represent hope, the new Belfast and it is photographed and drawn by artists. It is sad that she didn't get to enjoy the fruition of her work, but we her children and grandchildren are truly blessed by it. Thanks Mum!







Photo from Wikipedia.



Flowers on my table!

 I thought you might like to see some late bloomers from the garden. I rather love little tiny, unpretentious posies scattered around the place. They make you stop and look.

I am begging, borrowing and stealing Hydrangea at the moment to dry for Christmas. In Vic Brotherson's wonderful book 'Vintage Flowers' she makes a huge ball out of dried Hydrangea and hangs it from the ceiling, see below..... I plan to do the same.

I am having great success at drying some, but not all. The lovely lilac specimen below is from my own garden. I tried by having some stems in a small amount of water but they shrivelled up. I tried hanging them upside down, they did the same.

The white ones, also from my garden seem to be drying upside down but I am not sure what colour they will end up. That is the exciting thing about this process, seeing all the incredible variety of shades you can end up with. Gosh wouldn't the world be drab if it was only in black and white?

Wishing you all a fun-filled weekend, love Linda x

I'm lost in a daydream.....

Image from Tumblr.

Today I just wanted to share some images that for one reason or another really excite, inspire or move me. I hope you like them too?

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Image  from Pinterest.

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Image from Pinterest.

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Image from Pinterest.



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I could imagine a lovely romantic story could be formulated around these images. And the...there are the ones that make you laugh...

Image from Tumblr.

Oh yes, and the ones that make you cry....

Image from Pinterest.

A warm welcome to my new followers, and a big thankyou to all who are so kind as to comment. To those who just like to look, ...hello, do please call again. I appreciate every last one of you. I wish you all a happy week, in which you may find a little time for daydreaming. Love Linda x

Image from Tumblr.

Whoops I nearly forgot, this is for Claudia, who asked for the recipe for the poached pears. I am afraid I don't know where I originally got it from, it has been on a hand-written note in my Dessert file for many's a long year!

LEMON POACHED PEARS WITH BLACKBERRY SAUCE.
4 ripe pears
1 lemon
300ml. dry white wine  (I often use red).
100g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick (or I sometimes use star anise)
200g fresh blackberries.

1. peel, core and slice pears. (It looks nicer if you leave them whole, but for children or elderly I slice them)
2. take peel from lemon with zester.
3. squeeze juice from lemon.
4. place juice and zest in pan with wine, sugar and cinnamon stick (or star anise). bring gently to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then increase heat and boil until thickened (about 5 mins.)
5. add pears, cover and poach gently for 10 mins.
6. remove pears to a bowl and cool.
7. boil wine mixture until reduced and pour over blackberries and cool. (I tend to put blackberries in with pears and poach them too, but they do break down a bit).
8. mix with pears, serve chilled in glass dishes and garnish with lemon peel.
9. that's all folks!

Watch out for the Witching Hour!

I made a Halloween wreath for the door using orange roses, chinese lanterns, crabapple, eucalyptus, hydrangea, and even some green tomatoes! The spiky bits around the edge, I don't know what it's called, but if you look up close, they look like little teeny weeny pumpkins. Unfortunately the weather is wet and windy and I thought this may get a little too battered outside, so I decided to use it as a table decoration.

 Sadly my husband won't be sharing Halloween with us, as he is taking care of his mum.So I decided that we would have a lovely meal this evening  instead and go mad with the table decorations!

I made Rioja-braised lambshanks with garlic and chorizo. Absolutely delicious, but not for the faint-hearted, the sauce contained 250ml. of Balsamic vinegar as well as the red wine. The recipe is by TV chef Lorraine Pascale and if you would like to check it out, here's the  link. We had Poached Pears with Blackberries for dessert, but everyone was too full to eat it! Oh well there's always breakfast!

I wish you all a Happy Halloween, with much love, Linda x. I am linking to Small But Charming, the lovely Jane for her 'Flowers in the House of Horror' post. If you like to nosey at what flowers people have in their homes, then this is the spot for you!

A touch of red, does the trick!

This time last year my kitchen was a deep cream colour with some of the cupboards in a dark pink. I loved it, it was warm and cosy. When the Spring came I found it too dark, I wanted light, and so I painted the cupboards white, and the walls an off-white. It was such a contrast, and so bright, i loved it too.

However, as the sun goes lower in the sky and the weather has been very wet and windy, I found that I wasn't liking it quite so much, it seemed dull and cold. My daughter and I had been making some papier mache toadstools, and this was my inspiration......of course.....a touch of red was what was needed. Those clever Scandinavians know that, their mostly white interiors do almost always have a little red somewhere, and it really does draw the eye in. So I set to and made a little corner where I could display red things. My daughter is so excited, she thinks Christmas has come early!

We have a little 'toadstool' mania in this house at the moment. This rather lovely glass treee ornament was unearthed at T.K.Maxx.

I had originally intended for these toadstools to look natural, but then my daughter suggested we put a bit of glitter on them, so they are now 1950's kitcsh, but that's ok, we like that!

I found the red sign 'Eat drink and be merry' at a local garden cente. I decided it was a bit small by itself and painted a blackboard around it. I am thinking in the future (after Christmas perhaps), if Santa is good to me, and brings me a little red Nespresso machine, that this can be my longed for coffee counter.I can then write the specials on the board. I don't think I've grown up, I still like to play 'shops'. The toadstools were gathered under the cloche. and some Ilex berries added for a little height. Oh and the lamp makes my kitchen extra cosy at night. I also made some Swedish blinds from some vintage ticking that I bought from Julie at The Cloth Shed. I lined them with a black bedcover from Ikea and tied them up with some black cotton tape.

I was asked to do a dried flower arrangement for a client, in her own antique planter. I dried everything myself, apart from the chillies, so Iam rather pleased with it. I managed to incorporate my dried artichokes.

A little bit of chutney, for the festive season. Delia Smith's recipe, it's rather good!





Some more touches of red from Tumblr.

Finishing off with two little red santa's that I made last year, can't wait to get them out again. With lots of love to all my readers, followers, commentators, I appreciate you all so much. Love Linda x