Preparing the honesty for vases at home

 

I mentioned on a blog post earlier this year, that I grow honesty to use as dry branches in various vases around the house. 

Their iridescent, translucent seed pods of lunaria are much prized & they fill spaces nicely over the darker months when they come in to their own when backlit by low lights. 

The large green glass vase in our kitchen window has a generous bunch of these lovely stems. 

At night, the string of lights gives it an ethereal feel, the delicate seed pods let the light through. 

However, don't you love that word, to get the beautiful iridescent pods, you have to rub off the outer pod on each side. 

If they stay outside long enough, the wind will often loosen it, but then the delicate pods are often damaged by the wind. 

Mine were dry with the pods a dirty brown but the hot summer has given us good stems & lots of pods so I cut the stems & brought them in to the conservatory.

It is one of those very time consuming jobs because each pod must have the 2 outer pods gently rubbed or picked off. I lit a candle, put some things on you tube & settled down in the conservatory over several afternoons to do this. 

The seeds are contained in the outer pod disks so I saved those each time I took off the outer shells. Some pods had 2 seeds, others had 5 or more. Any pods that were damaged were cut away to tidy up the stems. 

The effort was worth it because I have a very good stem with lots of pods & some smaller ones from less impressive plants. 

The tiny pods look good in low light, amongst festive greenery & backlit in windowsills. 

I need to plant some seeds in the patio pots because honesty is a biennial plant - they only form the pods in the second year, after their stunning purple blooms. 

Who else grows these for their pretty flowers but more importantly for their seed pods? Thank you for stopping by, you are always welcome. 

Dee 🪴🌺

A delicious apple cinnamon loaf cake ...

 

While browsing some of my regular Instagrammers, I saw a recipe this morning for an apple cake by Claire who is known by @mrs.wilson_iloverecipes. apple cinnamon loaf cake

I decided this would be our Sunday treat. 

There are a few good apple trees on the local golf course that hubby plays at & the chaps pick up a few apples when passing so they don't go to waste.

Hubby brought home 3 nice ones, I do not know the variety but they were unblemished & unbruised so it was sensible to put them to good use. 

Preheat oven to 160 fan, the loaf will bake for about 55 min.

175g soft butter 

160g light brown sugar, 

3 egg200g self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp vanilla

2tbs milk

2 -3 apples - about 200-250g (I did not weigh mine)

Beat butter & sugar till pale, mix in the eggs one at a time, beating between each one.

Fold in the flour, bp, cinnamon, allspice, & vanilla. I used bourbon vanilla gifted by my friend Liz. 

I did not add in the milk as the mixture did not seem to need it. 

3 apples peeled & cubed - I did not weigh it. I do not know what apples they were as they were from a tree on the golf course & contributed by hubby.

Put the mixture in a lined loaf tin, sprinkle some demerara sugar on top (I did 2 tsp).

Bake at 160 until a knife comes out clean. Mine baked for 50 min in a fan oven.

Cool on a wire rack & enjoy. 

We had ours with Greek yoghurt while the cake was still warm. It was absolutely delicious. 

I will definitely make it again, especially as hubby says there are loads more apples on the golf course.

Thank you for stopping by, do visit Claires Instagram. Her recipes are varied & very useful.

Dee 

Light & darkness meet evenly at the Autumn Equinox

Yesterday was our Autumn Equinox, the time when day & night shared equal lengths & from now, the night takes over & the light retreats each day, bringing with it shorter days & longer nights.

The equinox is a barely discernible difference in light but it soon will be noticeable. The air is cooler, you suddenly notice your breath in the morning air & scarves come of of the cupboard to wrap around the neck. 

The light is softer, more gentle, especially when seen against the vibrant colours of the changing leaves. 

After our hot summer, we will have impressive autumn colours of russet, chocolate brown, oxblood red, rich gold, burnt orange, soft plum, fern green, golden honey, buttery tones, muted earth, and rich jewel tones in the hedgerows - they all sit quite happily together. 

I love raking up the maple leaves from our tree. They are raked under the hedge where they breakdown to rich leaf mould but they also give homes to many over wintering creatures. Blackbirds love scattering them for bugs to eat & the visiting hedgehogs will gather them for nests.

I love walking the local woods in autumn, picking up pine cones, noticing the wonderful light through the tree canopy, finding a few conkers from horse chestnut trees. 

Spiders are supposed to avoid conkers.  I pop some in  corners at home but our spiders seem to happily ignore this & appear anyhow which is not welcome.  

I wish the spiders would find someone else to ambush & terrify. 

It is the time when cobwebs are persistent in corners of the house & garden, most evident outside with morning dew shining on them. 

My long duster is never far away in autumn, clearing the cobwebs so the house doesn't look like a Halloween  prop ... 

I notice that the shortening days brings a settling too when you want to be more cosy, have candles & books about, a fleece at hand on the sofa to tuck your feet under. Hot chocolate becomes more welcome, a warm mug to wrap your hands around while reading. 

We are busy in the garden, tidying up, final moving of any plants while the ground is still warm, cutting back & staking plants before the winds pick up and of course cutting the long stems of our honesty plants before the winds damage the much prized seed pods. More on that in another post ... 

It is also the time my thoughts turn to some crafts & indoor activities. I like to do some little sewn gifts to go in my Christmas cards & this is the time to start because they are labour intensive. 

Autumn also brings a subtle change in foods - richer foods, more root vegetables, hearty soups & generous baked puddings start making the menu. 

It is a different rhythm of life that we settle in to, preserving energy to appreciate nature more so we can tune in to the changing season. 

We hold on to the summer but gently give way to autumn to enjoy the change, the coolness, the different pace of life. 

Autumn invites us to gather our thoughts too, to be aware of what has changed - relationships, friendships, situations, experiences. We can gently release the ones that no longer serve us or match our energy. 

The change is part of life & we are part of the rhythm of nature, we just need to follow its lead. Have a blessed start to Autumn, 

Dee 🥮🍂🍁🪾🌲

The Tolpuddle Martyrs connection ...

 

During our trip around Scotland in 2024, we stopped at the New Lanark World Heritage site near Glasgow & were surprised to see reference to the Tolpuddle Martyrs. 

They were connected to Robert Owen whose mills these were. 

The site referenced his efforts to uplift his workforce through education, better working conditions & rights to be treated well. 

Hubby is connected ancestrally to the leader of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, George Loveless. Three of the six men were Wesleyan preachers  and were guided by their faith to be fair in all they say & do. 

While showing visiting family around the Dorset places of the ancestors, we stopped at the little Museum (unfortunately closed on the day we visited) and then at the Wesleyan chapel nearby set up in their memory. 

The booklet gives a really good summary of their convictions to their cause & the punishment they received. 

Their actions was the start of the Trade Union movement, fair rights for workers. 

They were all transported - taken by ship to the far flung corners of the empire, mainly Van Diemens land. 

However, they were later pardoned & returned to England. However, several then left for the Americas. 

It is an interesting story, worth researching & remembering that the rights workers enjoy today were a hard struggle & a huge cost paid to stand up. It is worth respecting the memory of those who fought for the rights.

I hope this has given you food for thought, thank you for stopping by. It is always appreciated. 

Dee 

The joy of proteas ...

Proteas are the national flower of South Africa & they have always been special to me. 

I blogged about them after a previous trip to South Africa - proteas in many guises. 

I have them at home too, a reminder of my roots. Daughter had them at her recent wedding too …

I have a generous vase of faux silk proteas in the living room, they look real with the red & silver foliage branches too. 

I recently sewed two cloths with proteas, as well as doing them as my glass painting design. 

In this blog post, I shared buying some unique wire & bead proteas I bought at a craft market in Howick, Natal, South Africa. 

I had previously visited the same market with both my parents & revisiting brought back memories of my parents choosing a hand crafted picnic basket there that I still use. My now late Dad chose the beaded proteas with me & they are a reminder of that shared experience. 

The 2 vases are in the same space, the beaded ones on a side table next in the corner by the clock, the faux ones on a console table along with the assorted drinks etc. 

My good friend Ellie messaged to say she had been out browsing & had found 3 large wire proteas like the ones I have & she immediately bought them as a gift for me. 

It is special when friends know your home well enough to know your likes. She came by for tea this week & brought them over. 

They are a perfect match to mine - slightly larger but perfect. 

I am naturally delighted but then realised the vase I have for them will not be able to take another 3 stems because the beaded ones have chunky stems. 

I switched the faux & beaded ones vases but that did not work out either. 

On my travels today around a local market town chunky vases were on my list to keep an eye out for. 

I struck lucky when I spied a generous vase in passing one of the charity shops. It was not as heavy as the ones I have but a more generous size & at only £4, I had to have it. 

Once home, it was washed & then I tried out the vases - the heavy jug shape vase that had the faux proteas could hold all the beaded ones - now a weighty 10 stems. 

The charity shop vase could hold the 9 faux protea stems as well as the red & silver foliage too because the neck was wide enough. 

It will need some weighting down with pebbles in time, but that is a minor adjustment to this elegant new vase. 

The previous narrow necked vase (left) is replaced by the heavy jug shaped vase to hold the 10 stems.

 

After faffing with the various protea stems in the two vases, they could be returned to their 2 spots in the living room & they look impressive with their generous stems.

What a thoughtful gift that goes well in my space. The curtains will soon change from the neutral creams to heavy berry coloured ones for winter to keep out the chills & the proteas will hold court with their elegant ways. 

Am I the only one inclined towards certain flowers & colours. Tell all. Thank you for stopping by, it is appreciated. 

Dee