White O'Morn Cottage

The Perfect Evening.....with precious loved ones

 

Well, who would have thought that the Perfect Evening would start with this?

...A cake baked baked with GREEN SPRINKLY THINGS ON TOP?  Does not compute!!!!! Not as far as this domestic goddess is concernced!

Ah sufferin' heart!...who ever heard of such a thing? Let's face it. Green and cake do not GO - unless it is St Patrick's Day. ....which is in March and this is  September! In all fairness now!...

Admit it...it looks like a cake sprinkled with oregano (or is that Oregono? ...Ah no, sure everyone knows that Oregono is a part of the USA)

...but regarding the green stuff on cake .....you are SO wrong...

'cos it is...

...in fact ...a home baked...WAIT FOR IT...

Blueberry, Rasberry and LIME sponge cake!

Yeah, ...what looks a bit like parsley/mareejooaannah is in fact: finely shredded lime rind.  DELICIOUS! .... SCRUMPsheeTIshoUS....AND verry nice too!

 Poor Marie,  - the girl who baked it. She took some slaggin' from us saying "You can't put parsley on a cake - Get with the program!"

She baked it especially for us. Thanks Marie!

Marie?

"Who's dah?" I hear you ask.

Let me introduce y'all to Herself....

Marie. My Steve's lovely girlfriend

(Ah sufferin' heart Steve...dat girl can cook...marry 'er quick!)    (No pressure now son!) Would I Mimi?  ;-)

 

Above is the said Marie..... Marie Irwin..future Mrs Flynn...MMMMmmm. I like the sound of that.

 I was going to crop this pic but I realised it showed so much of our ordinary everyday life.........such as it is........good or bad.......impressive or not.......rich or poor. 

Without meaning to I had snapped a photo of a little corner of our lives and so I share it here with you.

 So,......what does this ordinary snapshot show of our ordinary lives in this ordinary but extraordinary photo?

In the above pic you will see:

....The lovely Marie...petting our much loved yorkie, Pretty.

To left of them is one of) Paul's guitars. He is a multi talented musician/singer/songwriter who owns 5-ish guitars.

... in bottom left hand corner you will see Paul's feet wearing the hand crafted slippers I made for him...Cosy toes.

...and just below the guitar you will see our beloved doggie, Holly (highly strung, hyperactive, wired to the moon Yorkie (ha!- you thought that was meself!).........(I wish I had her energy....  but stress is the only energy I have left!)

And there's more to show ye'

A snapshot of me/him/and yer man...ye' know...what's 'is name?...the one with the tattoos.

 

I LOVE ME DA!

 Paul, my soulmate, and my much loved middle son, Steve.

Steve is the only of our three sons who followed Paul into the world of music. Paul is a very talented singer/songwriter, as is Steve.  Paul is presently banned from using his singing voice for a year-(ish) due to his recent skirimish with throat cancer (thyroid) from which he is making a remarkable recovery.

MMMmmm ...it does not stop him from moaning at me in his sexy gravelly Tom Waits type tones! Moan all ye' want Flynner, I can take it.

Anyway...Steve and Marie called over tonight with the scrumptous freshly baked cake. We had a lovely evening talking about old times and simply chillin'

Lovely evening. Couldn't be better. Thanks guys.

Poor Steve is showing signs of his recent biking accident...he has road rash on right cheek and a black eye. Still as handsome as hell in my eyes though! Below: Big hug with Paul and Marie.

 

...and a bug hig with me!

 

Now, a cute pic of Pretty suckin' up to Marie...

 

Awwwwwhhhh!!!! Does God make dogs any cuter than this?

Ooooh, something just struck me...God spelt backwards is Dog

*******************************************************************

........(and apparently - evil spelt backwards is live...as my son, Chris, just pointed out)...

Ah, feck off sirhC...this is MY Glob

Now that brings to mind a little exercise I use with my literacy students...this tends to  flummox them.

I love the English language and playing with words - indeed I have made a living playing with words for years. 

 So here is a little spelling exercise that I believe I am the ONLY  person in the whole world to have discovered! (Do I get copyright?...Ah feck, who cares!) feck is not a swear word by the way....not unless you misspell it  ;-)

This might do your head in, so be warned!...

Last time I did this, one student said in a lovely flat Dublin accent...(think of Colin Farrell here)..."Ah, Pammie, yur' doin' me feckin' buzz in!" 

(Just doin' me job son)

Well, what can I say? If I am doin' yer' buzz in ...well, so be it.

I'm not very religious at all but I am spiritual. Like or lump it. That's me.

Here we go....

God/Devil/ - Good/Evil

Take the work GOD...add the letter O and you have the word ...GOOD

Now...take the word DEVIL..Delete the letter D

...and you have the word...EVIL

Still not flummoxed?

Well, then... just put the two new letters together and you have the letters...D and O...= Do...

Do Good or Do Evil..... Suit yer'self.

Iz yer' buzz dun inn r do ah hav too carrie awn?

 

Vintage Sewing Lucky Dip Surprises & Irish Stew Recipe

I love a lucky dip and when I saw this little plastic bag in the British Cancer Charity Shop in Enniskillen, for 50p I knew I should have it without even looking inside.

When I got it home I had so much fun looking through it. Were the contents worth the 50p? Ooooh, yes.....

As you can see it had some handmade doilies and ribbon....

and this strange little kit for hanging your clothes up to dry indoors?

That's a great idea...but...will these tiny pegs hold up a wet sock? Methinks not!

 

There were several spools of lace making cotton, iron on binding....

and two truly beautiful hand crafted doilies - one in cream and one in emerald green...but the real treasure was this vintage,engraved, fine crochet hook.

 

I just love it and use it for picking up any dropped stitches when I am knitting (yes, I drop the odd one...(I blame the stew aformentioned)

 

So pretty.

 

I will treasure this little item and keep it close to hand in my knitting basket. It's both beautiful and practical. I wonder if it was a special gift for the lady who made the lovely lace items?

I have been on Ebay again and found this old needle compact. Such a beauty and again very practical. Why use drab, new packs of needles when you can enjoy using one like this?

 

 

 

Then I found these two in Virginia, Cavan on my way to Ballinamore. A lovely old decorative spoon and some sweet buttons.  It reminds me of the song..."Just a spoonful of buttons make....."(buttons  -huh?)

 

and a close up. Hmmm...these are just begging to be crafted into something SWEET! Let me work on it and I'll get back to you.

 

That put me in a frilly frou frou mood and so I piled my frilliest cushions on to the bed. The peachy roses one on the extreme left, I made - and the rest were presents and finds and the one at front right is a nightie case.

 

 

Remember in an earlier post I said I was going to copy this customised chandy?

Well I did it last weekend and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I may add some more to it and even fix some of the matching saucers around the stem. Like many of my projects it's a work in progress!

 

 

Also in the kitchen I have added the old 1940's cooker I collected from Carrick-on-Shannon. I found it on our freecycle site Jumbletown and the lady who gave it to me told me it belonged to her aunt who lived in Ballinamore. So it is coming home!

The old lady is still alive but getting on in years and had to move and was adamant that she did not want her cooker dumped and was sure someone would love it. It was in daily use until a few weeks ago. Her niece told her she would try to find a good home for it but did not think she would find a new owner.

Well!.... Mrs Reilly of Aughawillan, Ballinamore...your much loved cooker has found a new home in my kitchen and is wonderful. It makes a great Irish Stew!

 

...and here it is. Delicious!

As we say here: "Sure there's eatin' and drinkin' on it!"

Irish Stew Recipe:

Lamb or Mutton: gillions = loads!

Spuds: (whole potatoes) 2 each-ish

Onions & carrots: (chunky chopped)

Fresh parsley and thyme :(lash them in on their stalks and remove before serving)

Soup mix :(= dried barley, lentils, split peas mix)

Stock cubes: (chicken and/or veg)

Salt and pepper: (a whiff of each)

Water: (fill yer' pot if there's any room left)

Boil up until meat is tender and serve with crusty bread. DEADLY!

(I don't know the quantities - just use lots of 'em and make enough for the next day as something happens to it overnight and it tastes even better the next day. It's true! (I think it ferments into alcohol or something)

(update: day 3...I have jussss had wha' iz left and I tink it has moo-tated inna sUmm-ing illegal! Wheee!)

Day 4? Don't even go there! ...... We're talkim'  'bout nuke soup!

 

Serve it up on old Willow pattern mismatched crockery for a really old fashioned Irish meal.

Well, bye for now ...enjoy your stew!...Pam

 

Festival Fun

Just back from Ballinamore where they had their annual festival last week. Paul was tired so we only got out to one night of fun. There was something on every day and every night. We did a bit of a pub crawl on Wednesday night so as not to miss anything!

In the open air in High Street there was a great band on called Simply Tina....can't guess why!!!

 

We then headed off to Bobby Joe's Bar...Zinda, Paul and Angie getting into the spirit of it.

 

Next we went to the Poor Scholar...they were having a karaoke night...One drink, a good girlie giggle and a quick exit before we were tempted to sing!

 

Next one shows Paul having a scoop in Jackie's Bar where there was a country and western singer on.

He was good too and Angie and I got up to do The Tush Push (line dance) and made a holy show of ourselves and Angie pulled a hamstring......so it was off to Priors to see a Jazz and Swing band. Also pretty cool. We finished the night there.

 

The next day was Ladies Day but we could not get a ticket - sold out!

We had our own ladies day in Carrick-on-Shannon (shopping) and later in the Old Schoolhouse (party and craft night) Hmmmm....lots of party and not much crafting!

Katie arrived and showed us her gorgeous range of handmade, by her, bridal jewellery collection.

Talented lady Katie, she is a hairdresser, teacher, mother and jewellery maker! Well done Katie! More details to come over on Angie's blog The Old Schoolhouse (see sidebar)

 

Thrifted Finds:

Found some lovely goodies in Carrick - like this "Cross stitch" Home Sweet Home plate.

 

A sweet cake stand with...roses

 

 

Not that it was all fun and games...no, no, I had some home improvements planned. Above: Me shiftin' a mountain of sand and gravel to make what is locally known as a "street" to park on.

Talk to ya soon...Pam

 

 

 

Delight in the Little Things

What a marvelous weekend we had. In these hard times it is getting more and more imortant to find pleasure in the simple things of life. To that end we had a "Delight in the Little Things" weekend. 

This meant doing things that did not cost a fortune but gave great pleasure and being very aware of that pleasure and appreciating it. Counting your blessings sort of thing.

• Walking the dogs up the mountain...well, the weather was gorgeous and the air was fresh and we just strolled for as long as we wanted and then turned around and headed home for a nice cup of tea.

• Next we went to the local library where I found eight, yes, 8 gorgeous crafting books and took them home for a good browse and got lots of inspiration.

• Next we went food shopping where we found that they were selling off for very little lots of good fresh food that was nearing its sell by date. Lots of fruit and veg for nutritional meals. Good for the body, easy on the pocket and good for the spirit (bargains are always good for the spirit or lifting them!)

• Then we met Lizbiz in Ballinamore and gave her a bottle of wine and a pressie for her dog, Coco. Giving is one of life's best pleasures!

• Hard physical work...well, it was hardest of all to find pleasure in this one! We laid some more of the flagstone floor in the kitchen. This did of course, give us a fabulous appetite for our home cooked dinner that was to come.

• Gardening for the first time this year. Oh how I loved this one. The crocus were out and the daffodils were sprouting and the forget me nots had just started to bloom along with the wild primroses. I got lots done and was so pleased to survey my work.

• Crafting. Always a pleasure. I got to finish my first pair of socks! I need to stitch them up now and I will be modelling them for you. I did some more squares of the lap blanket I have been working on. I also made some red gingham curtains for under and around the Belfast sink and they look really well. It is one of life's little pleasures when one finishes a craft project.

Here are some pics of magic moments over the weekend.

Dogs really know how to relax. Every chance they get it's "Let's have a snooze in"  Chewy left and Pretty, right get settled in on the couch for a good ol' session of ZZZZZZZZZ-ing

 

Below is a pic of Betty's great pic of John Wayne in its new home  in my Quiet Man corner. Looks great.

  Below are some of the craft books I borrowed from the library and my first pair of socks and lap quilt which are WIP's at the moment.

   

After a hard days work it was so nice to sit down to a lovely meal and a glass of wine by the fire. The kitchen is a work in progress and we usually set the table on the coffee table in the living room. So cosy. It made a relaxing end to a very wonderful day.

Introducing ...the kitchen! ....and the Nualas are in the house!

I don't know it you have ever noticed but I have never put up a picture of the cottage kitchen  - and for good reason too!

It was a bit of a mess, storeroom, workroom and unusable as a kitchen or for dining. But this weekend it was the setting for the inaugaral dinner!

My two lovely friends, Ruby and Nuala came to stay for the weekend and this motivated me to sort out the kitchen for once and for all. Here is the table set for our special dinner. I used the lovely Willow Pattern dishes I have collected for years. Ruby and Nuala cooked and I set the table and we had a fabulous meal and finished it off with a bit of line dancing in the living room!