Family Party!

Today Maggie and Brian kindly hosted a get-together for members of Mum's family - her three sisters and one of her three brothers were there.

The above photo also includes those of  their 'children' and grandchildren who were able to attend, and one great-grandchild.  There were more than 30 of us!

A great time was had by all - lots of catching up over many hours, a delicious lunch, celebratory drinks, cake  and many cups of tea.

Cotswold Wildlife Park - Twenty Years On!

A visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park at Burford yesterday was a trip down memory lane (although it seemed to me that quite a lot had changed, so maybe my memory is not as good as I thought!).

This exhibit 'Madagascar' was new to me - a walk through enclosure with lemurs and birds running free.  

This senior female ring-tailed lemur hovers near the exit and has apparently managed to slip out once!

Theo enjoyed the penguins and was a little wary of the very tall giraffes..

But he really loved the goats...

Lovely to enjoy the park with Theo and Lauren.  Lots more photos to share another day!

Flowers at Cotswold Wildlife Park

As well as a variety of species of animals at the Park, the gardens and grounds are beautifully kept, with plants of interest to children such as pumpkins and a variety of sunflowers.  We photographed just a few of them..

The bees were busy of course..

There were some colourful 'daisy' flowers - Coneflowers? Rudbeckia?

This dark leaved plant with multiple tiny florets on each stem of flower is new to me..

Very striking, as is this one..

And of course Hydrangeas and Japanese Anemones which seem to be very popular everywhere..

Great Grapes!

I have heard so much about 'Cotton Candy grapes, about their sweet and unusual flavour and the fact that suppliers have been running out due to publicity and high demand!

Today in Sainsburys I noticed several 'Taste the Difference' grape varieties and decided that it was time to give the Cotton Candy ones a try.

They certainly have a sweetness and a very interesting flavor.  However, I also bought another variety in the range, and these were my favourite..

These are 'Muscat Beauty' - also Spanish and grown by their same grower as the Cotton Candy grapes, these are much smaller and much sweeter.  They brought back memories of large Muscat grapes that we used to buy in the South of France - many of which were used to make the sweet Muscat wines and aperitifs that the Languedoc Roussillion region is famous for.

Under the Deck

Working under the covered part of the deck yesterday to seal

up some gaps in the insect screening under the floor, David came across this nest.

About six inches in diameter at present it appears to be the very active nest of a group of Paper Wasps (somehow this sounds better than Hornets, which is the other possibility).

The nest appears to be made up of a series of tiny cells, each one containing a tiny wasp which will presumably over-winter  there before starting up new colonies in the Spring.

For now we will just keep an eye on it - from a distance!

What a difference a year makes!

Looking at early September photos for the last couple of years today - and noticing how quickly Theo is growing up!

In September 2015 and just a few months old, he had his first paddle at Trevone Bay in Cornwall.

One year on, September 2016, beginning to look less of a  baby and more of a little boy.



And today - on our way back from the local shops in a quiet road,  no longer wanting to be in the buggy but out and in charge!

Chilli Peppers

In early summer we bought some small chilli plants from the Farmers Market at Lake Anne and planted them in a trough on the decking.  They have been growing well and the peppers are now ripening.  This is a Jalapeño - we picked one of these a while back when it was still green and it was quite mild.  I expect that this will be a little hotter!

This is a Poblano - it is large and the plant has produced quite a few of them.  It should, I think, ripen to a dark green/purply black colour, provided the sunshine keeps going for a bit longer.

The third plant just screams 'hot' doesn't it?  Looking remarkably like the fierce 'Scotch Bonnet' chillies, these are Habaneros.



Here they are on the plants.  Another time we should probably give them a little more space to grow and spread.

David picked a couple of the chillies today to see how ripe they were.  There is quite a difference in size!

After slicing them up and tasting them, apparently there is quite a difference in heat too.  No prizes for guessing which of the two is very hot!