As I write, it is late April and the first weekend I can recall this year, that for two whole days there has been brightness, stillness and a feeling of real warmth from the sun. I have been sitting outside for a long time in my chair soaking it all […]
Globe artichoke, ‘Cynara scolymus’, is a classic bitter herb, as well as a delicious food. The leaves are the part most frequently used medicinally for lipid control, of which the key types are triglycerides (fats/oils), phospholipids, and sterols (cholesterol). It is also used for liver-bile support and digestion. The immature […]
We got ourselves a completely new commission this month, babysitting our grandson in Budapest, all expenses paid. It was an offer impossible to refuse, especially as we’d never been to Hungary before It’s been a new experience, exploring an unknown city with a four-year-old who does find the city remarkable, […]
I was recently shown a photograph of something from a local beach that I hadn’t noticed before. It resembled a giant honeycomb growing over a mussel-covered rock. The thing was a colony of Sabellaria alveolata, the honeycomb worm. The individual worms are only about four centimetres long, but each builds a […]