Burleigh House, My Ancestral Home

This grand estate is Burleigh House in Stamford, England. It was built for William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, Queen Elizabeth I's right hand man.
You may recognize it from the Keira Knightley version of Pride & Prejudice. In that movie it belonged to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Collins' patroness. It was called Rosings and the scene at the dinner table was filmed inside Burleigh House.
During a trip a few years ago, my husband and I serendipitously stumbled upon this great house. Inside was a display of the clothes that Lizzy Bennett and Mr. Darcy wore in the .. movie version. From the town of Stamford, the walk across the park to get to this house was probably close to a mile.
Lord Burleigh's daughter, Countess Anne, my 12th back maternal great grandmother, married Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, who is a very good contender named in the mystery that is William Shakespeare. Some think that Shakespeare was his pen name and that he actually wrote all the work attributed to the bard. Will we ever know? In 1596, Edmund Spenser wrote a dedicatory verse to Edward de Vere in Fairie Queen, his tribute to Queen Elizabeth. Anne is buried in Westminster Abbey.
And to think that I walked where my ancestors walked, saw their house and personal items...it's just too much to take in. I'll have to go back now that I know the history of our family.
Edward owned the ship Bonaventure which shipwrecked in Bermuda. That story later became Shakespeare's (or Edward's) The Temptest. The craziest thing about that wreck is that on board was a man named Jordan, who was my husband's ancestor! I guess the world has always been smaller than we thought.
My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Deaver. It was changed from de Vere when my ancestors came to America. It's of French origin and has been traced back to 1045. Another de Vere ancestor fought alongside William the Conqueror in the battle of Hastings in 1066.
Sorry to ramble, but I just love this stuff! It just makes history come alive. I'm trying to engage my soon-to-be teenager with our family stories hoping to fan into flame her smouldering interest in history. Wish me luck!

Our boat

I wondered if I was seeing things.

It was several months after we bought the land. We were driving on one of the paths, when I thought I spied something a bit odd. "Stop! Back up!"
Yep, it really was a boat. In the middle of the woods.

World's biggest planter?
Many country people don't see the point in paying to take things to the county landfill, when they've got so much perfectly good land of their own on which to dump stuff. So we're continually finding surprises in the woods.

Ginger Lemonade

Ugh. That's 43°C outside, 26°C inside.
Healthy Chef Alex's Sweet Ginger Lemonade (Serves 4)
4 cups filtered water
4 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed ginger juice
2 Tbsp. raw honey
You're supposed to make the ginger juice by grating fresh ginger and squeezing the pulp with your hand. Then you're supposed to simmer everything together until the honey is melted. Of course this makes warm lemonade, and if you want cool lemonade like most rational people, you have to wait for it to chill.
I'm glad to have gotten the recipe from Healthy Chef Alex, but this is how I really make it:
Karen's Quick and Dirty Ginger Lemonade (Serves 1)
(When you're in a hurry and don't have time to worry with all that)
2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup tap water
Small amount (to taste) bottled minced ginger
Stir it all up, and plunk in a few ice cubes. No waiting.
The amount of ginger you have to use is miniscule. The ginger I linked to is so fine that it practically dissolves.

Potions and Salves from the Old Farmhouse Receipt Books

We awoke to find that snow had fallen through the night - not a lot of snow - but enough to make the world look beautiful and certainly enough to cause problems on the roads. As the day grew lighter the snow grew heavier. The gardens were transformed into a winter wonderland.



Definitely a day for sitting by the fireside.

Time to pull out my favourite recipe books...the old, dog-eared and tatty ones which have probably done duty in five or six kitchens before they ended up loved and cherished in mine.

There is a huge vat of vegetable broth simmering on the Rayburn, the bread has been baked, the kitchen is warm and filled with delicious aromas. No need for food recipes then, but how about some good old-fashioned home cures for those pesky sore throats and colds?

Linseed Tea ~ a remedy for sore throats and colds. Take half an ounce of linseed, wash it, and put it in a saucepan with a print of cold water. Simmer for half an hour. Add half an ounce of liquorice and a quarter of an ounce of sugar candy. Strain and drink a little at a time.



Treacle Posset ~ Warm a pint of milk, and pour into it a tabespoonful of black treacle. Boil for five minutes. Drink it hot. It is very good for a cough.



Cough Mixture ~ To a pint and a half of water add a pound of black treacle, two ounces of liquorice and boil for half an hour. Add a pennyworth of paregoric*, a pennyworth of aniseed, and some oil of peppermint. When cold, bottle tightly. One tablespoonful every four hours.



* paregoric - a camphorated tincture of opium

Raspberry Milk~ No draught is more agreeable to a feverish patient than a dessertspoonful of raspberry vinegar mixed in a tumbler of cold water. It should never stand in any metal or glazed vessel for the acid would act upon the surface to an injurious extent.



Raspberry Vinegar~ Put two quarts of white wine vinegar and two quarts of fine freshly picked raspberries. Let it stand three to four days. Then strain, and to each quart of liquid add a pound of sugar. Put both fruit and vinegar into a pan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bottle when cold. Take two teaspoonfuls for a cold. Blackberry vinegar may also be used.



Honey Cough Mixture~ Put into a bottle 4 ozs pure cod liver oil, 1oz of glycerine, 4 oz honey and the strained juice of 3 lemons. Shake well. This mixture should be taken three times a day, after meals.



Perhaps you have a few aches and pains?



Liniment~ A drachm of oil of cloves and two drachms of amber, with nine drachms of camphorated oil. Mix together and rub on the chest or between the shoulders.



Old-Fashioned Sulphur Salve~ Mix equal parts of home-made lard and flowers of sulphur to a smooth paste. This very simple ointment is ready for use immediately, and has always been a wonderfully quick cure for most affections of the skin.



Farmhouse Herb Salve~ This salve is excellent for all sores and bruises, and is particularly good also as a veterinary aid for softening the udders of newly-calved cows, or for sore teats. Its healing properties are remarkable.

You will need 1 lb home-rendered lard and 1 good handful of each of the following: elderflowers, wormwood, groundsel. Cut the herbs into 1 inch lengths. Put into and earthenware pot with the lard, and bring to the boil in the oven. Simmer for half an hour. Then strain into pots and tie down when cool.

This salve can be made from dried herbs, but it is better to use them fresh.





***Do not try this one!*** A cure for lumbago was to carry a little bag of quicksilver in your pocket.



Household Hints



'Reviver' for Blue Fabrics~ Take an old saucepan - iron or enamel, not brass or copper - and fill it full of ordinary green ivy leaves. When as many as possible have been pressed into the pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. After boiling for 20 minutes, stand the pan by the side of the stove and simmer for 3 hours. Strain off the leaves and to every pint of liquid, add 1 tablespoonful of liquid ammonia. Put into a bottle and cork, and for safety, label "Poison" . It keeps indefinitely.



Spread the garment to be cleaned on a table, and with a cloth (preferably a piece of old blue serge) sponge, giving extra attention to the most soiled patches. Press with an iron afterwards.



...this next one could be particularly useful while we have so much snow around...



Waterproofing Boots~ Melt two parts of bees-wax with 1 part of mutton fat. Thoroughly blend. Rub on soles and uppers. More easily applied if slightly warmed.

Thought Pops, Edition 5: Buds to Iron Man to Rain

COMPANY IS COMING:
This Michelia figo was in bloom on April 3rd, .. when MSS of Zanthan Gardens brought MayDreams Carol to my garden but this year the flowers are open in March. We're expecting visitors in a few weeks and I hope a few flowers hold on so the guests can feel the silkiness of the petals and catch the fragrance that gives this plant its common name "Banana Shrub".
My April guests won't be here in time to drink in the grape soda scent of the "Big Drunk Bean" above (Nicknames for Sophora secundiflora include Mescal Bean, Big Drunk Bean and Texas Mountain Laurel) but this March guest buzzed in on time.
A month from now the Coral Honeysuckle/Lonicera sempervirens might still be blooming but the 'Lady Banks' rose/Rosa banksiae 'Lutea' will be done. The entwined green leaves enhance the metal arch year-round but this electric combination happens only briefly each spring.
ROBERT DOWNY JR
Philo was quite surprised when I moved Iron Man to the top of the queue because he didn't think it was my kind of movie. We watched it last night. It was pretty silly, and it sure would be great to see Jeff Bridges in a more Dude-like role instead of as a typecast power-driven executive with a shaved head. But I enjoyed most of it. Apparently any movie that has Robert Downey Jr in it is my kind of movie.
SLOW GARDENING
When our guests come the white iris will be done but the native Red Yucca above should be flaunting its first flowers along that stalk. In Spring .. I paid less than $2 for a tiny plant of Hesperaloe parviflora, but had no flower bed ready for it. The small plant grew and I repotted it into a larger container. Then in March .. Philo and I began the Pink Entrance Garden and the Hesperaloe had a home.
Could I have had instant impact by buying a blooming-size plant right away? Of course - but I would have lost the pleasure of seeing it grow and develop until it become mature enough to bloom.
PALM FLOWERS Do those weird yellow growths on the Mediterranean Fan Palm look like a promise of flowers to you? If Kerri hadn't blogged about flowers on her potted palm I might have thought it was some kind of fungus. Isn't it cool that an Illinois-born woman gardening in Austin, Texas can learn about Palm flowers from an Australian-born woman who gardens in upstate, snowbound, non-Mediterranean New York?
DRY SPRING IN TEXAS
The white iris (probably Iris albicans) are blooming in three borders - seen here with some snapdragons that just started reblooming after making it through a second winter.
In two facing borders the tall, fragrant, pale peach iris are in full bloom. Now 'Amethyst Fire' iris from Pam/Digging are in flower, too.
I hope Henry Mitchell is wrong, and that the perfection of the iris will not call down a major hailstorm. But if the iris must be sacrificed to make the clouds rain down on us so be it - we need rain that badly!
The Leucophyllum frutescens, AKA Cenizo AKA Purple Sage AKA Texas Barometer Bush says it might rain and so does Jim Spencer. And I have a new rain gauge ready to go.

A Sweet, Brown-Eyed Baby

I love this baby! He's my youngest grandson, and the one that looks the most like his mama, my oldest daughter. He and I had a rare quiet moment alone on our last trip to Williamsburg. So of course I spent it taking pictures of him.

Photos from Fripp

These photos are from the fabulous Fripp Island off the coast of South Carolina. This is the second year we've gone for a week in May while rates are lower, temperatures are cooler, and crowds are fewer.
I love this place! I hope we make it an annual event. I like it because there are only a few shops and no tourists. You can't even get on the island unless you're staying here. There's a gate where you stop and pick up your pass before you drive on the island. There are some fabulous houses to look at. We drive around and pick out our favorites and try and decide which one we might buy. Yeah, right!
The kids love the wildlife. The deer came up our front steps looking for food. You can even pet them. We saw two huge alligators sunning next to a lake. Scary! There are all kinds of birds and small animals. A raccoon had left green paw prints across the concrete when it walked on a freshly painted porch.
We get around on golf carts and bicycles. Last year we had a golf cart limo that would hold us all. This year we all piled on a six-seater cart and looked like the Beverly Hillbillies leaving the mountains of Tennessee. All I needed was my rocking chair to make the look complete.
Laurel and her boys are going again with a friend and her children in a few weeks. Needless to say, I'm very jealous. Maybe I'll crash their party! Laurel and Stacy...don't read this. I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Omaha Bike Summit

It was a short night - got home from Full Moon Ride about 11pm. Was after midnight when I finally got to bed, up at 5am to get ready for the Bike Summit. The summit was done by Bikeable Communities.
I was not sure about attending because the agenda looks like all geared to Omaha. Decided to go anyway - to get known more in the area.
There was some good information - for Omaha. Lots of Omaha officials, staff, etc. I did not recognize anyone from Council Bluffs (other than me). At one time, I wondered if I belonged there at all - but the logo of Bikeable Communities shows a map of Dodge, Douglas, & Sarpy counties in Nebraska and Pottawattamie and Mills Counties in Iowa.
My feeling - as usual, Council Bluffs is "step-child" to Omaha.
Anyway, like I said, there was good information. Speakers were:
Martin Shukert - City of Omaha Progress and Status Report
Robert Johnson - Ped Net (GetAbout Columbia)
Deputy Chief Mark Sundermeier - Bicycles & Policing in Omaha
Connie Spellman - Green Streets Master Plan
Mike LaViolette - Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge
Mark Wyatt - Bike Parking Opportunities & Alternatives
After lunch, we took a walk over the bridge.
I am thinking of starting a page of my web site with notes, photos, and impressions of Bikeable Communities. That would give me a place to put future information.
Oh. and one more thing, by attending the Bike Summit, I became a member of Bikeable Communities. And you know how I am, I volunteered to serve on a Communications Committee.

Hawaii the Big Island - East Coast

After hiking at the Volcano National Park we headed out to check out the East Side of the Island. We drove to Kalapana on the Southeast Side.

Kalapana was once a small Hawaiian fishing village. It was also the site of one of the Hawaii's Black Sand Beaches considered one of the 7 Natural Wonders of Hawaii. But in 1990, it was mostly destroyed by an eruption of Kilauea. Lava buried the town and the Royal Garden Subdivision under 60 feet of molten rock.

Hard to believe there was once a town here

We heard said not to feel sorry for those who lost their houses, but for those who did not. A few houses still stand, surrounded by lava without water or power or roads. Since the houses themselves were intact, the insurance companies would not pay out any claims on them.

This is a picture of the Black Sand Beach before the lava flow.

A local nativetook it upon herself to try and bring back the beautiful coconut grove that lead to the beach. She worked planting hundreds, then thousands, of sprouted coconut and other palms and encouraged others to join her. She was later diagnosed with cancer andrather than give up, doubled her efforts, continuing her campaign to replant and recover the village, the community pitching in even more after she passed away. Today there are thousands of young trees growing on the no-longer barren lava and a new black sand beach is forming.

Seems you can just toss a coconut anywhere and it will grow.

Though Madame Pele destroyed a beautiful beach and fishing village - the end destruction has its own beauty.





Back on the road as time is getting away from us once again. The road is covered by trees.

We stop in a small park and watch the surf pounding. Imagine this square rock was lifted up onto the shore by the waves.



Not your typical fishing hole.

Careful! You could get wet!

From here we head to Rainbow Falls. We take a short hike and find this great Banyan Tree.

Just how big is it? Pretty darn big!

Rainbow Falls. It is just a few blocks from downtown Hilo. It plunges 60' down into a 100' pool. There is a cavern behind it where legend says the Goddess Hina lived



2 miles further up the road are the "Boiling Pots" During the rainy season, which can be anytime, the river churns through a succession of "pots," resembling a steaming Jacuzzi. Some of the river water flows beneath a level of old lava, then suddenly bubbles up as if it were boiling.



Next stop is Akaka Falls. We get there just before sunset and manage to hike the trail there before it gets dark

It is quite impressive at 442 feet.

Time to head home - in the dark - in a dense fog!

Till Later,

Meanwhile, we keep on Trek'n

Melissa & Gary