the running wave

The last day of December, the last photo in my month of recording each day, and the last day of the year, and I have been trying to think about the best image for today's post.  I decided that a candle would do very nicely. A lit candle shines in the dark.  Its light shines in memory of those left behind during the year and, looking ahead, it is our enduring symbol of hope.  I think that we need hope, going into a new year. Hope that on a global scale the human race starts to behave itself a little better.  The hope that this new year will be a peaceful and happy one for as many people as possible.  I know that there will be millions whose fortunes will not change just because we tip from an old year into a new one, but hope springs eternal and my lit candle is keeping them, especially children, in my thoughts and holding them securely in mind. I hope you will visit the running wave from time to time in 2014.  Please leave your comments if you feel like it.  I would love to he

I got a new camera for Christmas.  It's a wizard bit of kit and my 2014 challenge is to learn how to use it properly.  I am not at all technical.  Working out how to use a new washing machine is a challenge, so, in order to get the most out of my new toy, I have downloaded the instruction manual.  On this horrid wet and dark, late December day, I am going to try and start the learning process.   Tilly shows absolutely no sign of wanting to go for a walk in the driving rain, so I am safe from her bright expectant gaze - for the time being anyway.

In these betwixt and between days of Christmas and New Year daily duties have to carry on! Bed linen washed and hung out in the fresh air .... and some lovely sunshine just about lifting itself high enough in the sky to touch the edges. Meanwhile, indoors, the little lioness is getting some furry comfort from the grand old boy of her household.  Jo has nurtured four kittens in his time, none of them his own.  He is the most glorious cat and I think these two photos show what a tender creature he is.

So, this is not Tilly sleeping off a lovely walk on the beach this afternoon.  She is just allowing the vet administered sedative to wear off. Our Christmas visitors left this morning, the sun was shining and the high winds subsided so of course it was time to head for the beach.  Where else would a girl go with her dawg to enjoy some space and time to breathe.  We climbed to the top of the sand dune and there was the view I love so much.  The beach stretching away to the right as seen below and ahead a couple of fishermen.   We walked down on to the beach and because Tilly can't resist a little scavenge she made a beeline for the fishermen to check out their bait boxes.  I pulled her away once and then turned my attention to the waves which were particularly beautiful.  It takes a while to wait for the seventh wave to start to break.  It's bigger than the preceding six, and while I was waiting Tilly was back, tucking into the fishermen's bait which was complete w

The little lioness is doing her chocolate-box best to fit in to the household.  She is holding her own nicely with the other cats and the dogs who view her with a mixture of motherly tolerance and total disdain! We have had sunshine over the three days of Christmas but today the weather is behaving in a very unruly fashion.  I've got the Scrabble box out and it's sitting on the table waiting for some players to come out of the woodwork, which they will in due course!

We had a chilly Boxing Day walk up to Hopes Reservoir which is set into the Lammermuir Hills behind Haddington.  The sky was blue and the sun golden on the surrounding hills but in the valley the air was cold and the walk brisk!

A little sunshine on Christmas morning. Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope you have a happy and peaceful day, once the flurry of presents and food has subsided!

It's not that I can't stand the heat, I just had to get out of the kitchen!  North Berwick beckoned for some last minute food shopping - due to a change of mind about what we were going to eat on Boxing Day, and I just couldn't resist taking a look at the beach.  I stayed long enough to take some photos of the sea. The wind is bitterly cold and extremely strong and with the cobwebs well and truly blown away I scurried back to the car and then the warmth of Tesco. I am now heading off to the kitchen again.  There's still lots to do.  We have the children's Christmas play tonight, a Skype session with our son and his family in Australia and then our big feast.  

A must-have Christmas ingredient.  We enjoy cooking and eating in this household but we don't 'do' turkey.  Instead we tuck in to Beef Wellington on Christmas Eve and have a relaxing cold table of food on Christmas Day.  However I couldn't leave Brussels off the shopping list because we love them and they will feature at some point!

Cooking for Christmas has begun.  Today I made Nigella's clementine cake and also a lemon version with a lemony syrup which came out well.  We've just had it for pudding with some Greek yoghurt.  I also put a piece of pork in the oven at 12 noon to slow roast for dinner this evening. The recipe came from a Hugh F-W recipe in the Observer magazine a couple of years ago and it was very good.  The house smelt wonderful all day and this is all that's left from a 2.5 kg piece of meat and there five of us at the table.   The rub for the pork was full of fragrant flavours.  Here's the link to the article.   http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/04/organic-pork-recipes-fearnley-whittingstall Re-reading the recipe I realise I forgot to add the chilli flakes but it doesn't matter a jot.  It's perfectly  delicious without.  I wasn't sure what to serve it with so I made HFW's Asian slaw dressing (freshly grated garlic and ginger, 1 tblspn runny honey,

Before.   After.

Time to start wrapping Christmas presents!

Pic of day above!  Christmas shopping in Edinburgh this morning and it wasn't difficult to resist buying Jimmy hats for everyone, although it would have proved to be much cheaper! In the midst of all the Christmassy stuff going on someone found time to sculpt a sand dog, lying on the pavement in Princes Street.  A bit random I thought! The highlight of our shopping trip was Valvona & Crolla.  It's such an emporium of all things Italian and edible.  Always worth a visit.

I was keen to take some photographs of some doors and details along the route to the big square. I snapped a few pictures as we made our way along the street.  One of the favourite tourist destinations on a visit to Marrakech is Jardin Marjorelle.  The property was developed by Jacques Marjorelle, a Frenchman who came to Marrakech in 1919. Subsequently Yves Saint Laurent acquired the house and garden and it is now held in trust and its future assured.  We decided to walk there from our riad.  Once out of the Medina it was not a very enjoyable walk but it helped to work off some of the delicious almond and orange flower water pastries we had overdosed on the night before! Jardin Marjorelle is planted up with a multitude of cacti, succulent plants, palms and bamboo.  All very structural but not pretty, except for the shocking pink of the bougainvillaea set against the wonderful blue. We left the garden and walked back, using a circuitous route, to the Medina for

Christmas Day is one week away and this is the time in my year when serious lists come into play.  Lots of them.  Most of them get left at home in the effort to get out of the door but just writing things down helps to lodge a few useful nuggets of information in the little grey cells.  So today I am going to be trawling through lists I have already made, tweaking them and re-writing so that they make some sense and become useful over the next few days . And this evening I am off to the panto, Peter Pan, in Edinburgh.  Should be fun and a great start to Crimble.

Day Two and my daughter had thought that a hammam experience might be worth a try.  Being plastered in black soft soap and then scrubbed ferociously didn't appeal to me but she was up for it.  The lovely lady who served breakfast, cooked dinner and generally 'did' in the  riad was going to do the honours in the local  municipal baths.  Our hearts sank a bit when we entered into this space through the door at the far end.  The slightly blurred photo was hastily snapped as they were not happy for me to use my camera here. Here's what I wrote in my notebook. Another cavernous building entered through an ornately tiled doorway straight into a slightly humid but still chilly echoing space.  The sound of water dripping.  Young children's voices echoing through the side spaces.  We were escorted there by the riad's helper.  She was wearing her hijab but she proceeded to strip off all her layers of clothing down to her pants.  My daughter had to do the same.  She