Beauty in the rain

Today an artist from Poland knocked on our door with his charcoal sketches. We bought a sketch of a hare, a tall ship outside Gedansk and another of people huddled in a wagon in the Russian countryside. This reminded me a little of stories my mother told us of her father's background and a little of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. The rain fell as he walked away.

Fudge Cookies

225g Soft butter
110g Caster sugar
275g Plain flour
300g of very small chopped up fudge
Banana (sliced) or blueberries
Sprinkle of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas Mark 3
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy. Sift in the flour and bring the mixture together to form a dough. Then add fudge with your hands. Use a spoon to scoop a walnut sized ball of mixture, as almost too soft to roll out. Flatten with a fork and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until they are light golden brown. (Makes about 30)

Burned fingers warning .. if the fudge pieces are toooo big (because you thought this would taste even nicer) .. it will ooze out of the biscuits. If this happens it will be tricky to get the biscuits off the trays, wait too long and you will have fudge flavoured burned trays forever or not enough and you will have very burned fingers. Hmm.

Lola considering Formula One return in 2010

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/4/9227.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfoLMa8bET4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUpIIYysoS4&NR=1

"Monks of the Jain Dharma are forbidden to bathe any part of their bodies besides the hands and feet, believing the act of bathing might jeopardize the lives of millions of microorganisms."

Piano

Does anyone else have a cat that plays the piano, not like a maestro but with his four paws. My small black cat mostly prefers the high notes, but when he plays the low notes, i know hes feeling neglected

Martin Clunes: Islands of Britain

..searching for island paradise in Barra and Eigg in the Hebrides

www.itv.com/Lifestyle/MartinClunesIslandsofBritain/
www.isleofeigg.org
www.isleofbarra.com

Brighton Festival starts today

Beginning with the childrens parade with 4000 children parading and sambering through the streets and ending on the 24th May with the big splash at the marina - stilt walkers, jugglers, acrobats, aerialists and pyrotechnicians.

http://www.brightonfestival.org/events.aspx?p=i&i=FOUT
http://www.brightonfestival.org/