26. Mar, 2014

I just had to stop the car and look at it.

     ‘Good morning you hairy cow,’ I said as I grabbed my camera and opened the door. There wasn’t much of a response, just a glare.

      'No offence,' I continued bravely, 'you are rather beautiful...really!'

     They’ve been on the moors near our home for waifs and strays for a few years now and yet every time I see them it’s like seeing them for the first time. They fascinate me with their thick double layer of orange hair and horns so long they could pin a full grown man to the wall. But I wasn’t afraid, despite its eyes boring into mine.

       Just a few metres away were a herd of wild ponies and cobs, though many are just left untamed until mature enough to be broken in. Like the cows, they graze on brambles and gorse on one of the most beautiful places on earth.

       I noticed sheep with their newly born lambs close by and for awhile, I was mesmerised by the picture it all made. A cry above made me look up...it was a red kite, its wings the colour of autumn fuelled my imagination. I knew in an instant what I would be painting when I arrived home.

25. Mar, 2014

Our home for waifs and strays is full of items I have bought from Jumbles sales and charity shops. My kind and unassuming husband does not share my love for this particular pastime and sighs every time he sees the car pull up at the end of a jumble trip.

      ‘They will come in handy,’ I say to him as I unload the treasures from the boot. He usually nods in a sort of pacifying way. Sometimes, he is pleasantly surprised and his smile is genuine with a good hint of interest. I do my best to find things he would like, such as old usable tools and classic car magazines.  

        As a child, my mother often took me to the village jumble sale. I remember the stampede of people that crowded into the small church hall seeking a bargain. It was a frightening experience and I often hid beneath the tables which were piled high with clothes, books and bric-a-brac.

     It was those times beneath the tables, that I discovered my love for books. There were endless amounts to choose from but Enid Blyton’s famous five were my favourite. And although I was very young, I could read them quite well. By the time I was eight, I was writing my own adventures stories to read to my dolls.

     Those old books are still with me and sit on the shelves at our home for waifs and strays. And I still add to them every time I go to a jumble sale.

     Jumble sales were once a big part of village life and still are where I live in Wales. It is a great way to raise money for charities and one can have hours of fun picking up amazing bargains.

     When people come to visit our home for waifs and strays, there is always a story to tell about many of the items that I bought at a charity shop or a jumble sale.  

24. Mar, 2014

We recently had friends from America come to stay at our home for waifs and strays. It was their first time in Wales so, of course, I wanted to give them a Welsh experience. So I started with a good old, stomach filling breakfast which consisted of cockles, laverbread and Welsh bacon.

      Whilst my kind and unassuming husband tucked into his daily bowl of shredded wheat, our American friends, viewed their plates suspiciously.

       As a child my father taught us how to collect this edible seaweed called laver which clings to rocks around the coast of Britain and East Coast of Ireland, where it is known a slake. We would wash it thoroughly to remove the sand then boil it for hours and hours. I remember thinking how soul destroying it was to see the pile of laver we took hours to collect, boil down to just a small mound. But I have to agree with Richard Burton, that laverbread is a Welshman’s caviar. This I told our friends, who decided that Mr Burton couldn’t possibly be wrong so tucked in. I have added a great recipe belonging to the hairy bikers....why not give it a try? I mustn’t forget to add, that our American friends enjoyed their breakfast and a long walk across Rhossili Bay.

Cockles, laverbread and Welsh bacon

Ingredients

225g/8oz ready-prepared laverbread (available in cans from online

shops)

50g/2oz oatmeal

freshly ground white pepper, to taste

225g/8oz picked cockle meat, cooked

25g/1oz butter

1 leek, finely chopped

50g/2oz bacon fat

8 smoked bacon rashers, fried until crisp, to serve

Preparation method

1. In a bowl, mix together the laverbread and oatmeal until well

combined. Season, to taste, with freshly ground white pepper and set

aside for 20 minutes.

2. Melt the butter in a frying pan until foaming, then add the leek and fry

for 3-4 minutes, or until softened. Add the picked cockle meat and

cook for a further 1-2 minutes, or until heated through.

3. With damp hands, pinch off pieces of the laverbread mixture and roll

into golf ball-sized balls. Flatten the balls slightly to make small

patties.

4. In a separate pan, heat the bacon fat over a medium heat. Fry the

laverbread patties, in small batches, for 2-3 minutes on both sides or

until golden-brown all over.

5. To serve, divide the laverbread patties among four serving plates

and spoon over the cockles and leeks. Top each serving with two

rashers of crisp bacon.

less than 30 mins

preparation time

10 to 30 mins

cooking time

Serves 4

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