Autumn Cottage Diarist

Lighting a Candle for the Beloved Dead - Samhain 2018

The Women of my Line: Left (of Image) to right….

Mary Amici/Latham (in crinoline) my Great-Grandmother. 1843 - 1929. Engagement photograph, 1867.

Kate Hosking/McCallum - my great Aunt. 1899 - 1929. Went to Australia to marry her beau - died in North Wales of Tuberculosis.

Lilian Mary Louvain Silcox/Latham (In candle shrine) - my Mother. 1915-1998

Lilian Mary Nankivell/Silcox - my grandmother. 1888-1955

Margaret Norris Humby/Nankivell - my great grandmother. 1866-1950

Esther Silcox - 1927-1929 - scroll/death certificate. No chance to grow to womanhood.

All on a bed of fallen leaves, to remind us that we all return to Mother Earth, to replenish Her and rise anew through root and branch

Today is Samhain - 'Summer's End' …the last of harvest time, the turning point of the Old Celtic year and the doorway to Winter. The time when I welcome in the memories of the Beloved Dead, as other traditions commemorate the Company of Saints (Nov 1st) and their deceased loved ones (All Souls, Nov 2nd). Collectively, these days are known in some parts of the world (Most notably Mexico and South America) as the 'Days of the Dead' - the Dias de Los Muertos. Much imagery abounds across the internet of the celebratory nature of such festivals - take a look - it's interesting and informative.

I follow the custom of creating an Ofrenda/Altar, upon which memories and reminders abound. Samhain is a Fire-Festival, so it is natural that we who celebrate are drawn to lighting candles…they remind me of the light that the women I celebrate brought into my life, particularly my mother and grandmother…and through them, I also feel the thread of compassion passing down to me from my great-grandmother, who lived and was loved in my Mother's memories.

Through them I have my existence - and to them, wrapped in the arms of the Great Mother Earth, I shall return.

  Kwan-Yin, Bodhisattva of Compassion, amongst human practitioners of boundless love.

 I wish you all a Blessed Samhain/All Hallows Eve - may you celebrate those of your line who have gone before you, but who still live within you and are a part of who you are. As we turn towards the dark days of Winter, 'Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness'...

Let's all be that light to lighten our sad and wounded world.

(You may also enjoy this old blog post from 2011 )

 

A Little Light Lunch - Home-made Hummous

One of my staple purchases in my weekly supermarket shop used to be a pot of hummous, but over the last year the quality of the purchased product has deteriorated considerably... so I decided to go back to making my own - which I had done many, many years ago, but given up when time was short and the children were rising.

I had forgotten how easy it was, how economical, and how delicious. I'll not be going back to what my mother would have very disparagingly called 'shop bought rubbish' in the near - or far distant - future.

Home made hummous it is for me!

Roz's Home-made Hummous 

400gm tin of chickpeas

2 tbsp good olive oil

Juice of two lemons or 2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp tahini (Sesame seed paste)

2 large garlic cloves (best) or 2 tsp ready minced garlic

Ground sea-salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (start with 1/2 tsp of each)

Tbsp mixed Italian herbs

 

Finely chop garlic cloves

Add to drained chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice and tahini in the blender/food processor

Blend until amalgamated - I like a bit of texture left in mine.

Season and taste, adjust seasoning to your liking. Add extra lemon juice, olive oil and tahini as and if needed for your own personal wishes.

Finally add mixed Italian herbs (or any other herbs - again to your own taste) and give a short burst in the blender.

Chill for at least an hour.

Serve with carrot, celery, courgette & spring onion crudites and good wholemeal bread or focaccia.

Enjoy!

This Fragile Autumn Cape of Gold and Green

Early morning sun filtering through the apple tree

The days of falling leaves are upon us. Storm 'Callum' passed through in the last couple of days, thankfully not causing the havoc here that Ireland, Wales and the West of Scotland have received, but even so, starting to 'take down' the fabric that clothes the trees and garden and spread it on the ground (and UP! in the air…and back down onto the ground again!)

So before it is too 'disrobed', here is a photo essay capturing the beauty-in-decay of the garden here at Autumn cottage in this second week of October, 2018.

Birch leaves falling and settling in a corner

The rest of the birch leaves...

The last of the beans...and vine...and pumpkins

My peaceful arbour by the herb garden pond

A sad time each year - packing away (but only until next Spring!)

Another carpet of leaves - already withered and brown - from the Whitebeam

The flaming Spirea

Sophia by the Summerhouse pond

Acer & Rogersia

Vitis 'Brandt'

The Cottage Garden pond

Waterlily & Hazel leaves ....goodbye, until next year. Thank you for your loveliness.

An Enchantment of Cherubs!

My grandfather ('Grampy' Latham) was a master baker by training - but more than that, he specialised in both patisserie and confectionery. He must have made many, many wedding cakes over his working time; he certainly made my parents' cake. (Mam told me that Grampy had placed sugarpaste dog's heads around the cake (she and Dad met through their mutual love - and ownership - of Alsatians), but unfortunately this image is not clear enough to see them).

Jump, now, to one type of item I have picked up on occasion from charity shops and places like Hungerford Arcade ... these little biscuit porcelain figurines, of which I have a few. I've always liked the white, matte body material and, as I keep a look out for small items that will fit in here at the cottage, these have often found a home. One particular little favourite has been this little putto, but I have always wondered why he was made holding linked rings? (Which have, amazingly, survived intact on this one).

Then, on my last visit to the Arcade, all became clear. I discovered that it is no ordinary cherubic figurine, but a wedding cake topper (hence, the rings!) - as there, in the glass cabinet in the Junk Shop, was a whole Heavenly Host of them, all in different positions. Some would have been used for cake toppers, and some (with hands held high) clearly as support pillars to hold the various tiers of the cake one on top of the other. (Do click on these pictures, to see a larger image and the items in more detail - it's worth it)

Several still have their fixing spikes in the bottom - which is why they are still standing, at the moment, on rather a scruffy old upturned box. I'll cover this with black felt sometime soon - and, I think, give them a little glass case all of their own.

In case you want some inspiration if you are a wedding cake maker yourself - or just an enchanted browse of your own, here is a delightful blog post which shows just how these little charmers would have been used. Guess what I'll be looking out for now, to add to one more collection!

( By the way, friends...after trialling the 'Scanner Sunday' images for a few weeks, I don't think there was much interest...so I'm discontinuing the theme from now on)