I Baked a Cake

There's not a lot to say about this picture. I mean why spoil your viewing experience and interrupt the flow of digestive juices with a lot of irrelevant words. It's a cake. A big over the top chocolate cake that makes peoples eyes grow large and interested. I baked it for a friends birthday. End of ... enjoy :-)

Exquisite!

 

Here's something worth sharing with you all. You may not appreciate when first glancing at the above picture that the whole thing is carved out of wood. Yes, honestly, it really is. The close up below goes part way to demonstrating this. When I first came across this clever man and his amazing skill at a local country fayre I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. I stood and stared in awe as did many other people as they wandered by. The detail is just exquisite. 

The final picture shows further proof of his art. All I could think was that his family would have some wonderful heirlooms to pass on to future generations. Enjoy ...

 The clever man is on the right

Cultural Identity

My heart was all warm and aglow this evening when I happened upon a feature on TV about a elderly man and his allotment. It has been his life-long passion - albeit with intermittent hiatus of wife and children - and continues to be the thing that makes him tick, smile and warm with contentment.

It started me off thinking about that wonderful old tradition of allotment keeping that stretches back decades and brings so much pleasure to an awful lot of people for a variety of reasons. Every time I see an allotment I also get a glow of contentment as a warm river of nostalgia washes over me. That rich tapestry of nature and manufacture that combine to produce what almost appears to be a work of art - especially if viewed from above.  

I was reminded of one or two allotment keeper's associations that maintain the annual event of showing their prized possessions - the fruits of their labours. All kinds of weird and wonderful monstrosities and quirks of nature that have the viewing public 'ooohing' and 'aghing' in aghast at what lies before them. oh the photo opportunites are endless

Once upon a time we happened to be in Durham and came across a particularly handsome and dramatic show of produce the like of which I have not yet seen equalled. The onions, the cabbages and the marrows to name but a few were enough to make me exclaim out loud in socially unacceptable expletives that I wouldn't normally resort to but it just seemed appropriate at the time. 

    The Picture above was taken about 4 months ago. We'd been to Caistor and on the way back took a diversion through Kirton in Lyndsey. There in the little town hall was a show of produce that had a charm all of it's own. No need for words, the picture says it all. I just love it .....