Saturday 26 July 2008

garden party love

I've been meaning to upload these photo's for a couple of weeks, but as usual, I keep getting sidetracked. The other weekend we had a family gathering at 'The Mill', my mother's family home, and still home to my grandmother and mother's brother.
You see the Mill is actually a real, still working flour mill that is in Ponder's End (located in between Enfield and Chingford) on the River Lea. It is the family business and has been for 140 years, and the Mill itself is even mentioned in the Doomsday Book, if you are interested you can read more about it here (if you do read it Ken was my grandfather and David who is in charge now is my uncle.)



You may have seen our bread and cake mixes in you supermarket (Wright's) we also make the own brand flour for Waitrose and Budgens and Warburtons (also a long standing family run business) use our flour to make their bread. If you watched 'The Great British Menu' last year One of the chefs from the South East choose our Sungold Pastry Flour to make shortbread for his dessert.



More than anything the Mill is full of lovely childhood memories for me. Since my mother was a girl there has been a swimming pool there, and I have fond memories of garden parties we had when I was a child, when all us cousins would clamber out of the swimming pool all shivers and goosebumps, wrap up in towels and feast on doorstep sized jam sandwiches made from Mimi's (my grandmother) homemade rasberry jam and freshly baked bread from from the test bakery.





We where lucky with the weather (as alway's with Mimi's garden parties) and it was a beautiful day, as always she took me on a tour round the walled garden



wouldn't it be lovely to have agreen house/potting shed like this...



on the way to vegetable patch, I managed to acquire some beetroot and a recipe for pickling them!



and this the window of a little out building, used buy my mother before and after my birth, as her pottery.



A glimpse of the River Lea, where the Mill would have originally got it's power from.



Finally, on a slighty less picturesque note, it's amazing what can happen after a few glasses of wine, and with the help of a highlighter pen, a uv light and few cousins.

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Lucky number 18


After giving everyone who entered the giveaway a number, and asking Ella to choose one, the winner is number 18, Cathy of Pink Green, Congratulations!

I will be sending of your surprise package off very soon, (please email your address!).

But please remember that everyone who entered the giveaway will receive a little token of thanks, so if you haven't already, please email me your postal address via the email contacts link on my 'about me' blog profile so I can pop it in the post (including Alison of So Tread Softly who kindly said not to worry about sending her anything as she lives in NZ, don't worry I'll send something light!)

Friday 4 July 2008

ISFJ?

So this is my personality. I would agree with most points, but I definately don't think I could take the pressure of being a chef, and I don't always get things done on time, maybe in the nick of time!




You Are An ISFJ



The Nurturer



You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal.

A good listener, you excel at helping others in practical ways.

In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music.

You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for.



In love, you express your emotions through actions.

Taking care of someone is how you love them. And you do it well!



At work, you do well in a structured environment. You complete tasks well and on time.

You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist.



How you see yourself: Competent, dependable, and detail oriented



When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, dominant, and stuck in a rut