Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside!

Wordless Wednesday

Looking across the English Channel to England

from the Northernmost point of Normandy

Blowing my own horn (just a little bit!)

Yours truly has been invited to join the Design Team at It's Crafting Time.
This thriving UK company is based in Shepreth, Cambridgeshire where:
"We aim to provide you with quality craft materials for your craft project and always carry a range of interesting products that make us that little bit different. Our main business is paper craft, but as we love to create we find ourselves branching out to related crafts such as jewellery making,scrapbooking, painting, etc."
They also have an online store and a blog.
For more info click here to go to my crafty blog: just scrapping

Normandie Rain forest.

Wordless Wednesday 

some shots of the local rain forest............

I hope you enjoyed your walk with me today through the rainy Normandy countryside.

Wordless Wednesday - Fort Worth, TX.

wordless wednesday

Peach and Basil Muffins

Faced with a bowl of fresh but very ripe peaches I grabbed some cook books off the shelf looking for a quick dessert recipe.
Instead, I came across a muffin recipe that I hadn't tried before : Peach & Basil.

With  a thriving basil plant sitting on my kitchen sill I decided to search no more and whipped up a batch of tasty muffins instead.

Here's the recipe taken from Homemade Muffins by Carol Tennant.

Makes 12
2 ripe peaches peeled & pitted
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
grated peel & juice of a small lemon
2 cups/300g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp (half) baking powder
4 tbsp unsalted butter (2oz/57g)
Generous 1/3rd cup/80g granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3rd cup/150ml milk
Chop the peaches into small dice, place in a bowl with the chopped basil. brown sugar and lemon juice. Leave to stand for a bout 30 mins if possible, 20 mins will do if time is tight!
Preheat oven to 400F/200C, grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or use muffin cases as I did
In a large bowl mix the flour & baking powder and rub in the butter until the breadcrumb stage. Stir in the granulated sugar & lemon peel.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg with the milk, add this to the dry mixture alternating with the peaches and their juices.
Spoon into the muffin pan and bake until risen & golden, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Serve warm or cold with your beverage of choice.

Hydrangeas in bloom

This sweet little hydrangea was blindingly white when I bought it at Easter, it hasn't grown one centimetre in size since then but it has changed colour.
Over the weeks it has gradually changed colour and now it is a gorgeous shade of green, au natural, no artificial colouring involved!
I was so intrigued by this that I looked for an answer on google and found an very interesting little article on a website called Gardening Know How.
Click here if you would like to know more.

Out in the garden my white hydrangea bush is thriving, due to all the rain we've been having no doubt.
Before the flowers open completely they have a green tinge.

It is quite possible, as I'm sure all of you gardeners out there will know, that you can change a pink hydrangea to blue by adding aluminium sulfate to the soil.

Joining charming hostess 

Liz @ Rose Vignettes for Fresh Cut Friday 

photo du jour - wordless wednesday

wordless wednesday