Happenupon

20/05/2024

A tour of the side garden, none of this (apart from the massive beech tree) existed when we moved in.

12/02/2024

Burnt Basque cheesecake
Burn baby burn. Creme fraiche, cream cheese sugar and eggs . Whip and whack in a very hot oven to get that wobbly gooey centre like a ripe cheese and a caramelized top.

11/02/2024

☀️ sunny weather ☀️
Daffodils, snowdrops, hellebores, Japanese quince and crocus all showing us colour.

09/02/2024

Simple as ABC
typeface poster (they sell it as wrapping paper).

Today I discovered that the British were eating curry way before fish and chips and macaroni cheese even further back , long before mashed potato.

08/02/2024

Snowy day
Heavy and wet and more beautiful than rain.

28/01/2024

Pretty in pink
Poached early forced Yorkshire rhubarb. Squeeze juice of half orange, sprinkle with sugar and roast for 20 mins gas mark 6.
This will be used on yoghurt with nibs of pistachio.

24/01/2024

Inside garden
Every summer we move all these plants outside to enjoy themselves. But over winter they are protected from the wind, frost and rain.

19/01/2024

Extra long turquoise matches
Little bit of decadence to light the fire with.

17/01/2024

Not exactly sledging weather but very icy and sunny

15/01/2024

Homemade marmalade rules
This year's marmalade has been made. First year I have used the pressure cooker and it was a great success. It is simple to make marmalade but lots of squeezing chopping and boiling involved.
Pressure cooker and a dishwasher are great help mates and speed up the process.

A big bonus to making marmalade is that your house smells amazing

*Note all home made marmalade must be presented in old jars which you have saved over the years.

**Thanks for the pressure cooker tip.

23/12/2023

Advent #23 new dawn
Brightness and light begins now

20/12/2023

My homemade garden foraged wreath.

Grasses, allium seed heads, yew, eucalyptus, ivy and some berries.

20/12/2023

frosty sunrise
A gentle frosty sunrise. Remember it is all about welcoming light into your house at this time of year.

19/12/2023

snow in the city
Our back lane, bang in the city less than 2 miles from the city centre of Leeds.

I romantically call this our wildlife corridor. It is planted with a native hedge of Hawthorn, Rowan, Dogwood, wild roses and Hazelnut.

We also have a small section for raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, and boysenberries.
The lane below is cobbled and leads to Gardener's Cottage.

17/12/2023

Advent #17 Blue and Green
We have been getting some amazing sunsets and blue skies these past few days. A day for country walks with the dog followed by a film, sat next to a fire.

16/12/2023

Advent #16 worn steps and blue sky
So mild today a barmy 12c and the sun will set later today than it did yesterday.

Still a few days till the equinox, when the sunrise will get earlier too and days will get longer.

15/12/2023

Advent #15 snow poodle
When the snow is deep and the sky is blue is one of the more amazing wonders of winter.

12/12/2023

Advent #11 foggy fir trees
Can just see someone in the fog

11/12/2023

Advent #11 fir cones and gold
Bringing light and nature into the house. This year I have introduced more gold into the house. Most of it in the form of velvet but also nearly all our lights in the house are gold/brass
,

10/12/2023

Advent #10 house in the snow
No snow ❄️ today but rumours of a white Christmas for Yorkshire.
Fingers crossed

03/12/2023

Joy of joys
I still get very excited by snow
I love the colour, the crisp, the clean, the bright, the muffle, the peace

02/12/2023

Creating my own old fashioned Christmas card view

15/11/2023

Curtain gold
See the before and after. Switched from charcoal on the inside of the frame to extra long gold velvet.

Top tip if you like us have extra long drop then check out eBay for old IKEA curtains. They used to have a drop of 300cm now reduced to 250cm which is too short for us.
These were brand new in packaging 300cm velvet IKEA curtains from eBay

DELIGHTED

23/10/2023

Wonderful Film about David Oluwale, from Jeremiah Quinn. Well worth a watch.
We now have a bridge crossing the river called the David Oluwale bridge.

This award-winning documentary is the first film to tell the harrowing true story of David Oluwale, a Nigerian immigrant who was chased into the River Aire b...

17/10/2023

Magnetic secondary glazing
Finished putting up the magnetic glazing. It is virtually invisible - if I had white paint work it would disappear but the back of the tape is white.
We have been getting a lot of condensation on the glass and the kitchen windows are only single glazed. The secondary glazing is acrylic with magnetic tape attached and was a simple DIY fix.

13/10/2023

Frost is coming
After a summer holiday in the garden we have brought the plants in to hunker down over the coming frosts. We will see if it knocks out the nasturtiums still flowering in the garden.

12/10/2023

Revealing quarry tile before &after
Lots of people ask how it was done. We have tiles from the front porch to the back door and all were covered under carpet, lino or new porcelain tiles. We chiseled them off one by one, and cleaned them up by using a wallpaper stripper

04/10/2023

04/10/2023

Duck , bell , mirror
Collection of entrance antiques
The duck 🦆 was a children's toy. We had ambitions to connect the bell back up but so far have never got round to it and a tiny Georgian mirror.

29/09/2023

A bench
The porch has gained a bench made by . Take your boots off, shelter from the rain, gaze at the outside world. Neither in the house or outside but in between