March arrived as docile as a lamb and then began to roar, continued to roar and will leave still roaring. Spring took one look at the weather map and immediately fled southwards, leaving us cold, wet and miserable. Any daffodil foolhardy enough to raise its head was immediately decapitated, the primroses huddled in corners and
Day 9: Vegetable Delight My Head Gardener, who is always right, insists that food is the best form of winter fuel. On a cold day there is nothing better than a bowl of hearty vegetable soup, a rich casserole or a tray of roasted root vegetables to restore the inner glow. Winter food needs rich
Day 3: Sunshine in a jar On dreich and stormy December days, when the hours of daylight are curtailed, sunshine is in short supply. These are the days of the great winter darkness, and a gift that captures the warmth and life-giving rays of the sun is to be treasured. Unfortunately mythical heroes who went
Baking with Bach, Beethoven or Brubeck is the perfect way to spend a bleak January afternoon. The croft kitchen is a refuge from a raw westerly wind and I’m wrapped in warmth, light and music, drenched by the aroma of spices, dark molasses sugar and ginger. However, let us not get carried away by too
Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have retained of them Marcel Proust This morning I watched the rain run down the window as the wind drove sheets of rain across waves of grass and beyond out over a turbulent grey sea. A metaphor for the poignant memories which turn my thoughts