An English Market Town

Do you have towns that you regularly drive by and just don’t get round to stopping? I have several, and on Saturday I did get round to this one! Bridport, in Dorset (my second favourite county) is just 40 miles from home. I bypass it nearly every month on the drive to see my daughter, often wondering what it’s like. This time I got to visit because my friend and I had a table at a craft fair there, for the first time.
Bridport is known for its thriving arts and hosts the prestigious Bridport Prize for writing each year, I’d like to be good and brave enough to enter one day. The craft fair took place in the Arts Centre, where Dee, the manager fell for my hand made cards, thanks Dee 🙂
Saturday is market day and this particular one was also the annual carnival, so the little town was positively bursting at the seams, buzzing and vibrant, with tourists mingling with locals and market traders.
I love markets and dashed around like a headless chicken, wanting to buy, see as much as possible and soak up the atmosphere. All the time I was aware that my friend was on her own and possibly busy while I went walkabout, snapping away with my phone camera and wishing I had my big girls Canon. Never mind, here are some of the things I saw.

I managed to resist buying anything! The book stall was most tempting – of course, but I’ve forbidden myself from buying any more until I’ve reduced my unread pile. And stuff? well I mustn’t take anything home unless I’m prepared to take something to the charity shop. What I did get though was bread, glorious locally made with green olives, sun dried tomatoes and cheese and the most heavenly texture. I wish I’d bought more. I won’t be bypassing Bridport on a Saturday again.
Hope you enjoyed my visit!

Running shadows

Photography is all about experimenting with light, and then positioning yourself (or your subject) in the right spot to achieve a certain effect. One such effect is a silhouette, in which an outline of someone or something appears dark against a lighter background. Silhouettes can be very dramatic and resemble black shapes without any details, but the effect varies from picture to picture.

Says Cheri Lucas Rowlands. I thought of this image I took recently on the beach at Exmouth, and I quite like it.
running
Join in the challenge with a silhouette shot at, http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/silhouette-2014/

Chutney for Madhu and Tess

I told you about runner beans recently, and both Tess and Madhu asked if I would share the recipe. Well as I think it’s delicious, even though I actually can’t stand runner beans then it would be rude not to!chutney
So here goes.
You will need

1lb runner beans
3/4lb onions
3/4lb sugar – half and half soft brown and demerara is good
3/4 tablespoon ground turmeric
3/4 tablespoon mustard powder
3/4 tablespoon cornflower
3/4 pint malt vinegar
Optional but nice – 1 teaspoon curry or ginger powder
Top, tail and de-string the beans – a mix of young and old will make for a good texture chop them quite small, I made them about a centimeter square , and boil until tender.
Finely chop the onions (cry if you have to) and boil in most of the vinegar until soft.
Mix the rest of the ingredients with the left over vinegar, drain the beans and mix the lot into one pan. Boil this up for about 15 minutes.
Put the chutney into clean, sterilised jars – remembering not to put hot chutney into cold glass.
You’re supposed to leave it for at least a month before eating, but I’ve never done what I’m supposed to do!

Let me know if you try it or if you have a better runner recipe to share.
Oh and the brown stuff in the background is beetroot and apple!

Lazy Poet’s Thursday Poem

poppy

Petals of loss

Have we forgotten?

So it would appear.

One hundred years and no lessons learnt.

How many images of atrocity

must we see before enough is enough?

Mankind has battled since time began,

does that mean we must until the end?

And womankind, we’re not without guilt,

warrior queens were not legend but manifest.

Leave battles to the playground

To the realms of history, herstory,

fiction and myth.

Cease now,

while a poppy still blooms on this earth.

Moon words

 

 

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon, the moon.

Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussycat.

I’ve tried a few times to take a good photo of the moon, and as we able to see a super moon at the moment I thought I would try again. Try being the operative word! The main problem is that I really need to go to sleep, so I’m too tired and lazy to use a tripod. So as last nights effort left a lot to be desired I’m sharing a few little quotes and facts instead.
Eskimos believe that the moon influences fertility, if a woman bathes her naked belly in its light she will fall pregnant.
The fact that sometimes there are two full moons in a calendar month gives rise to the expression ‘once in a blue moon’, metaphorically a rare event.
There is a town in Ontario, Canada called Moonbeam – I want to go there!
Scrolls from Mesopotamia mention a lunar eclipse in 2283bc.
With some exceptions, the moon is usually considered to be feminine.
Many moon songs have been written, do you have a favourite? Mine is probably Moondance by Van Morrison.
Many gardeners work with the moon cycle, for instance if you want a tree to grow strong and healthy, its best to plant it during a rising, waxing moon, just after the first quarter and best of all, in the night.
Lavender should be planted in the first quarter, then it will have the most intense fragrance.
One of my favourite flowers, and the one my perfume contains, is the flower of night mystery. It’s said that the souls of the moon inhabit its blossoms.

Human Beings
The various aspects of the Moon stimulate physical humors and maladies, since it would seem that the condition of lunatics is more serious during one phase of the moon than another

Bartholomaeus Angelicus

Angelicus may have been right, crime rates seem to rise at full moon.

An old wives tale says that we should have our hair cut during the full moon for the best effect on its beauty and condition.
Surgeons in ancient Rome observed that blood flowed more profusely during full moon.

At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.
Breathe into me.
Close the language-door
and open the love-window.
The moon won’t use the door,
only the window.

Rumi

I’ve never really posted quotes before, I hope some are new to you, and here is the photo I took last night, I’ll keep practicing!

moon

 

Sidmouth’s 60th Folk Festival . . .

. . . was last week, and I spent two evenings there enjoying the street entertainment and the lovely relaxed atmosphere.
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As always there were lots of crazy characters around.


Good food, I remembered my favourite from last year, so joined the queue again.
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For falafel and goodness salad stuffed pitta with grilled halloumi on top.
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There was folk dance around the town, and beside the sea.


and the girls from Fosbrook accompanied their dancers on violin.
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A nice drop of special Annings cider!
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The fabulous samba band Street Heat, chilled outside the Anchor before their performance on the sea front.
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I burnt a few calories dancing to the beat. You can check them out here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2UI5jWqxBw
As if this wasn’t delightful enough, I also had a lush salted honeycomb ice cream
Jo Bryant if you come to the south west next year come in early august 🙂

World Lion Day 2014

It’s World Lion Day today!

marina kanavaki's avatarMarina Kanavaki

Here’s to the King!

A celebration of the ‘King of all Beasts’ to raise awareness for the silent extinction these animals are suffering from.

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photo from WORLD LION DAY official site

“An independent campaign working to highlight the importance of the lion globally and to raise lion conservation awareness worldwide. “Saving the King of Beasts to Save Ourselves”

…The lion is an enduring symbol across the nations and has fascinated man throughout the millennia. To lose such a species would be to lose a significant part of our global heritage.”

as stated at the official ‘World Lion Day‘ campaign page.

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photo © Greg Du Toit

“The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.”

Chanakya 

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Photo © Carole Deschuymere

Featured image from World Lion Day campaign  ©…

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Nature and coast

When I think of texture I think close up and one the places I like taking close up photos is the seashore. I lovely pootling around a beach in winter hunting for treasure that has been delivered by the tide or has waited for millennia for my lens. So this weeks photo challenge was easy, simple photos from nature.

Perhaps you have some textures to share? Visit http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/texture/ to join in.