Autumn crocuses and multi fungi

I only went out to photograph these

before they keeled over completely as here in 2006

But I could hardly place my feet without standing on toadstools of one kind or another

This is the bit of moss that pulled the white stuff off
the toadstool above

This one has 'ears'

And then I noticed the last of the flowers

Like self-heal

And herb robert

And buttercups. This is our front'lawn', btw.

Just before I went in, I found this within a stride of the front doorstep

 and this piece of collapsed rose rooting itself on the front terrace

I was watched from down the lane

Fungal treasure I found on a mossy ash log

I noticed some tiny fungal fruiting bodies behind the bark of this piece of old ash trunk. You can see at the bottom the piece of moss-covered bark that I broke away.

My secateurs are to give the scale

















Zooming in

Part of the 'treasure' is, of course, the water droplets on spider silk.

Berry pancake/soufflé/omelette

I tried a new technique for making Mark Sisson's berry pancake. His method is to cook the berries first in butter in a frying pan and then add the eggs (whites beaten to a froth, cinnamon and vanilla added to the yolks and all mixed together). The trouble with this method, I have found, is that the fruit tends to if not quite burn, then at least get slightly overcooked, and some of it sticks to the pan when you tip it all out onto a plate.

My first attempt to overcome this problem was to change the cooking fat to beef fat because butter burns at a lower temperature, relatively speaking. This didn't make a significant difference. I concluded that the problem was the method of having the fruit in contact with the hot pan for too long while the egg cooked above it.

My next attempt was to slightly cook the fruit and then transfer it to a soufflé dish, add the egg mixture, and bake the whole lot. That solved the sticking problem but the egg texture wasn't as nice.

What I did a couple of days ago when I made this pancake was to cook the fruit in the frying pan in a little beef fat, then tip it out into a bowl where it stayed until the egg froth had started to cook in the pan. Then I tipped the fruit (blueberries seem to work best, though a mixture of blackberries and raspberries are good too) on top of the eggs, as for an omelette. The visual effect was fun to watch, as you see from the photos below and the colours are wonderful.

This is definitely the best treatment for the fruit – it keeps its taste and juiciness and doesn't get overcooked. Toad was less keen on the egg texture this time, which was different again from the other methods. I liked it but perhaps will try getting the eggs almost completely cooked before tipping the fruit on another time.

I suppose one could just cook a plain frothy omelette and eat it with the stewed fruit. Unless someone has a better idea.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them

The cooking blueberries

Fruit tipped onto the egg base

The omelette bubbles up or the berries sink, as if into quicksand

Ready to eat – with whipped cream
(one day I will try it with ice-cream, possibly as well as cream)

A walk in the rain

Aspirin and decongestant failed to shift a headache so I went for a walk in the rain, shielding the camera under my jacket. In most cases I bent over the camera while taking shots. I had to use the flash in the low light in any case. I'm pleased with the results, especially as aspects of my new camera continue to baffle me. (Encouragingly, even Toad, who has several hundred per cent more knowledge of photography than I do, found the same things baffling). I've sussed something now at least!

The photos can be enlarged by clicking on them

one of the compost heap dahlias

flowering currant leaves

absolutely masses of these under goat willow
on a base of dea and rotting spiraea stems

cup lichen on side of ash log

new yew shoots – roe deer nibble at it so it keeps regrowing

dog lichen and mosses at the base of a bird cherry trunk

fading bird cherry leaves on the same trunk

Spider silk with green and red

A misty day made the spider silk show very clearly

The top of  peony plant

The peony web spider (not properly in focus but you can see her colours)

A misty hammock of spider silk strung between holly and yew

And closer

One of the garden 'windows' between tree trunks

red and green

A baby rowan tree growing between bird cherry trunks

more red and green

August News

The August highlight was the visit of my two grandsons with their parents. At least, their dad delivered them and collected them, staying overnight each time, but between times got the train to London for a friend's wedding and to spend some time with old pals. His journey back to the Boggy Brae was a little disrupted as some problem on the West Highland line meant all the trains westwards out of Glasgow were cancelled. Toad came to the rescue and drove to Queen Street Station – something that would terrify me and, in any case, I'd probably lose my way. Minibus taxis must have got plenty of custom that evening.

Manny, who will be 4 this September, wanted to go on a boat so one morning we trooped down the hill to catch the bus to the pier and we took the ferry to Gourock. Manny fizzed all the way in the bus. The boats on the loch were pirate ships. Then he fizzed on the ferry.

Fizzing on the bus

Fizzing on the ferry

 Once at Gourock we searched for a cafe and as luck would have it found one just across the road from a kiddies' play park:

Howie (6months) enjoyed some frothy milk
off the top of a latte

Manny played in the park while I wheeled Howie around in his buggy till he fell asleep. We visited the lovely Gourock wool shop, Once a Sheep and when we arrived at the pier to take the ferry back home, the ferryman took Manny to the wheelhouse. Manny then fizzed all the way home. 

(Pictures above all by Toadlet)

On less sunny days than the boat trip day we went down to our local beach and did some beach treasure hunting. You can see what treasure I found in my blog posts here and here. Meanwhile here are two daughters and two grandsons

plus one grandson and a sea monster

Another fun activity was duck racing in the burn

Space duck in a jam

Arty duck and Stardust Duck

And, of course, feeding the baby. He enjoyed some fromage frais by sucking it off a champagne cork

Grandson Howie and the DerbyshireDaughter

The champagne cork I've forgotten to tell you about! On the evening of the Derbyshire family's arrival we opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate DerbyshireDaughter's degree success with the Open University. Then, on the evening of the Springboard Diver's overnight visit, we opened another bottle that she'd brought to celebrate that again but also because it was her first meeting with her younger nephew. Champagne goes very well with sausages (various varieties) baked in the oven with shallots and then eaten off a fork or fingers.

Grandson Howie and the DivingDaughter

Late in the month I met my friend, KintyreAnnie in Lochgilphead for a lovely lunch at The Smiddy. We sat by this window for our lattes and a shared chocolate chip cookie which was perfectly crisp and buttery. Then, after we'd blethered enough to get properly hungry, we had a baked cheese, avocado and breadcrumb dish with salad. I brought my date slice home but Annie forced hers down there and then. It was certainly very good, all of it, the food and the chatter between good friends. I'm only a few years older than Annie's eldest son but the years between us are nothing because we love the same things in life.

I always love the drive through Argyll via Rest and be Thankful. That day flurries of smirr (soft, fine rain very typical of western Scotland) were blowing through all day, some heavy, some light. The misty clouds floated over the mountains in beautiful drifts and the damp air picked out the early autumn colours on the trees and the late summer flowers in the verges: meadowsweet, wild angelica,  purple loosestrife, rose-bay willowherb, himalayan balsam. The road between Lochgilphead and Furnace has been resurfaced in the not too distant past and the cambers on the curves beautifully done, making the driving quite enjoyable.
On the way I listened to the Vermont band Atlantic Crossing on their 1998 CD Wind Against Tide. We have Full and Away too. Peter MacFarlane, one of their number, was an enthusiastic member of Oxford University Scottish Dance Society at one time, and came to play fiddle (brilliantly!) at one of the OUSDS Ceilidhs during the time when I was teaching the class.
On the way back I listened to Quimantu – a superb and varied collection of South American folk music. Since there was no-one else in the car, I sang along both ways.

The next evening Toad and I went to hear The Outside Track who were absolutely superb! A good way to end the month.


And now I must let Toadlet get back onto the computer where she was having a conversation with other Potterheads on a virtual journey aboard the Hogwarts' Express from Platform nine and threequarters at Kings Cross Station.