miss marie's miscellany

Terrific topiary

The weather forecast was good ( and correct for a change!) so I headed out for a drive. I decided to visit Drummond Castle Gardens near Crieff. And I'm so glad I did. When I turned into the gate, a long mysterious road stretched out in front of me

I drove along for at least a mile, wondering what lay ahead. No sign of any castle or garden, just trees, trees and more trees. Then at last a high wall appeared, with the castle just visible behind. Walking through a courtyard, one would never guess that just around the corner was this amazing panoramic view 

 

And to the left

And to the right

I wasn't expecting such grandeur! 

The topiary is amazing, and the garden was immaculate, not a leaf out of place.

The garden has an Italian feel to it, with lots of statues and some Tuscan style stonework

The topiary is the star in this garden and the simple blocks of floral planting set it off well

The castle sits above the garden, looking very impressive. 

There's a peaceful atmosphere, no traffic noise as it's a long way to the nearest road, just the humming of bees and not a lot else! I'd love to come back in the autumn to see the changing colours of the leaves. The castle isn't open to the public, but the garden is so impressive, it more than makes up for the lack of stately home viewing.

A lovely afternoon out, worth negotiating the terrible traffic on the way back for!

Veg with your cake

Not such a strange idea; carrot cake is a staple of most cafes, so why not try using other vegetables in cake making? This is the premise of this book.

You may have seen this in the list of books I'm reading, and it's proving to be a big hit with me (and my sister and mum). The recipes use butternut squash, beetroot, courgettes, carrots and parsnips, to name a few,  and these ingredients replace any butter/margarine/shortening, so they are lower in calories and fat than usual. Positively good for you!!? (I've also tried using light sugar and Splenda, for a diabetic friend, which work well too.)

The photography is beautiful, and the cakes look quite nice too! It's a girly book, some of the text is rather flowery for me. But I applaud the reasoning behind  it -  and the proof of the pudding etc etc, is how these cakes taste. The first recipe I chose to make was the Apricot and Almond Sunken cake and it was absolutely delicious; one would never guess it contained butternut squash. 

I've also tried the American Vanilla cupcakes, super low fat;  Beach and Blanket fruitcake; Almond Honey cake with Apricot and Vanilla, all yummy, tasting just as good if not better than a full-fat version;  and these are my latest bake, Chocolate and Cherry Brandy muffins- I tasted them

a) in the interests of quality control,

 and 

b) so I can tell you, dear readers, that they are to die for!

YouTube find

via www.youtube.com

I found this on YouTube - I really like it, clever and funny, catchy tune...makes me smile!

Moon

Arriving home last night I saw the moon bright with golden light in the sky above the house.

A little later, it was silver

I love this Roger McGough poem about the moon

Mrs Moon
sitting up in the sky
little old lady
rock-a-bye
with a ball of fading light
and silvery needles
knitting the night

Good weekend

Flowers everywhere at the Ayr Flower Show

Crochet hexagons, there's more of them!

Finished......I'm thinking it would look good with a partner!?

Some weekend light reading

Flowers on coriander plants

Raindrops on rosebud (I'm starting to sound like Julie Andrews!)

 Some snapshots of a good weekend. Hope yours was fun too, what ever you did.

Anemone love

I planted some pots with anemone bulbs in the spring and they've been blooming over the last 3-4 weeks. The flowers have been gorgeous shades of blue, pink and red so far, but this week this little beauty appeared. Isn't it lovely?! 

I'm very taken with it

It's all curled up after a rain shower above, and below, open to reveal the scarlet markings on the creamy white petals

When I leave the house, I stop to admire it- it'll soon be gone, like all flowers, so I'm enjoying it while I can!

Delightful!

Come for a walk in the park

After a wet morning, the sun came out and a long walk seemed a good idea. Very close to home is Pollok Park, a large country park with miles of paths for walking and cycling. It is home to the famous Burrell Collection, one of Glasgow's top attractions and also Pollok House.

A stroll through the woods to start

 

The trees are beautiful  but we're missing the sun, so let's go and stroll along beside the White Cart river.

Abundant wild flowers line the path

 

Standing on the eighteenth century bridge

 

To the right you can see up towards the old mill

To the left are some sweet little ducks swimming around 

I can see Pollok House through the trees

 

Let's walk up to the mill and watch the water cascading along

A look in the gardens and I see this bed planted entirely with iridescent blue thistles

and pretty pink echinachea

Heading back towards the house and the formal gardens outside. One can easily imagine it in its heyday as the big posh house on a grand estate. 

Nearly time to head home now, so let's enjoy a good look at the house

No time to look inside today at the wonderful paintings and Georgian interior, or go to the lovely cafe in the old kitchens in the basement; I will save that for another day in the near future!

I hope you enjoyed walking with me :-)

Works in progress

Here's how this week's crochet is faring. Hexagons keep getting made here and there 

So my planned blanket is taking shape, although I still have a lot more to make!

I bought this wool to use for hexagons

But it's a little more chunky when crocheted up than the other wools I'm using, so I started this

I think it will end up being a basket storage type thing, that's the plan, so let's see how it evolves.

July collages

It's been a lovely month, holidays, flowers galore in the garden, happy times spent with people dear to me. So many photos too; I counted them up, 650 photos, phew! So after much deliberation, here's the best of my July.

Over the hedge

The hedge in the front garden was disgraceful. I'd turned a blind eye to its rampant growth for too long, so yesterday when the sun shone, i decided it was the day for a bit of hard work. Shears out, gloves on and 3 hours later I had something more presentable, and can now get up the path without having to push back the Amazonian undergrowth. I couldn't bear to show a photo of how awful it was, suffice to say I had another 5 trugs full to add to these 2

That's better

Afterwards I enjoyed this wonderfully perfumed honeysuckle; I wish blogging allowed me to bring the scent to you, it's delectable!

Smiled at these fuchsia which remind me of old-fashioned boiled sweets

Noticed 2 lovely new rosebuds

Then I enjoyed a well-earned treat!

Lovely!

And watched the evening sky turn pink