I've been thinking about you...

Hello!

Já estou a pensar na próxima festa... sim, faço anos para o mês e cada vez tenho mais vontade de oferecer alguma  coisa doce aos meus amigos! 

Ideias, aceitam-se! :-)

Credits: 100 Layer Cake

Hello!

I'm already thinking of my next party table... yes, my birthday's next month and I've been thinking about offering my friends some sweet thing... Ideas, anyone? :-)

 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Happy Birthday to you!!

Olá a todos!

Aqui estão algumas fotos da mesa que criei para o aniversário das minhas lindas sobrinhas. Apesar de gémeas, a Clara é loira de olhos azuis e a Teresa tem o cabelo e olhos castanhos! Estão lindamente representadas no maravilhoso bolo da Francisca, que adoraram!

Espero ouvir os vossos comentários e sugestões!

Photo Credits: Jorge Garcia Pereira / Susana Oliveira

Hi everyone!

Here are some of the photos of the table that I created for my niece's birthday. They are twins, although Clara is blonde and blue eyed and Teresa has brown eyes and hair! They are sitting on the cake, beautifully made by Francisca!

I hope you like the photos and I would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Teaching Children to Be Good Friends

blueberry flowers and nasturtiums

When I went to pick up my first-grader at school today he was hiding as usual with his two best buddies near the boys' toilets.    After I extracted my son from his (very stinky) hiding spot, I noticed that a new little boy from Pakistan was sitting all by himself, with no one to play with.  

Expecting his usual, sweet-natured compliance, I asked my son to go over to Abdullah and ask him to play.  To my shock, the response was, "No, I don't want to play with him.  He's stinky.  He doesn't play any good games, only boring ones like chasey."  Then he laughed with his friends, who repeated what he said.

I was appalled.  I couldn't believe my kind, loving, generous child could say such a thing.  Or be so thoughtlessly cruel, even if he was just being silly and showing off.  Fortunately, none of this was said within earshot of Abdullah.

Needless to say, I have talked to my son about how hard it is to be a new person and not have many friends.  And that I expect him to be kind and let Abdullah join in, in future.  I will also be speaking to their teacher tomorrow to see if the boys can do some activities together in class.  Hopefully I will have the opportunity to introduce myself to Abdullah's parents in the near future.
 

Have you ever dealt with an issue like this?  What did you do?  How do we teach young children to be sensitive to the needs of others?

Postscript: When I arrived at school yesterday my son ran over to say that he played chasey with Abdullah all through lunchtime and they're friends now.  I'll continue to keep an eye on this situation. 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Nasturtiums

I used not to like nasturtiums much because I thought they were too garish in their vivid oranges, reds and yellows.   However, now I like them.  A lot.

They quickly fill patches of bare earth between bigger plants, they cascade down rockeries, and they happily thrive in scorching sunshine.  Moreover, nasturtiums are very low maintenance, requiring little in the way of fertiliser and water.  The seeds are large and germinate quickly, which makes growing nasturtiums a great project for little people.

Even better, just about every part of a nasturtium is edible.  The leaves and flowers can go in salads, and the seed pods can be pickled like capers - or so I'm told, I haven't tried this.

Now that the nasturtiums I planted during winter are starting to flower, it feels like spring is really here!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Ugly Lemon

I think this is the ugliest lemon that I have ever seen.  It's ugly and lumpy and looks like it has dilated pores, like an unfortunate teenager recovering from acne.  Let's hope it's prettier on the inside!

It was the last lemon on our tree.  Admittedly, this winter's crop was a measly total of seven lemons.  The tree, which has looked sick ever since we moved here, is now covered in hundreds of tiny purple flower buds and a few baby purple leaves.  I am giving the poor tree as much TLC as I can, to get it back on its feet (I know that's a silly metaphor for a tree!).  Last week I fed it with blood and bone mixed with potash and I've been giving it regular doses of worm juice. 

And I've been encouraging the boys to, ahem, 'water' it themselves, if you know what I mean.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

It's my party!

Aqui ficam alguns pormenores da mesa dos 7 anos das minhas sobrinhas, e que tanto gosto me deu a fazer. São fotografias tiradas do telemóvel, pelo que a qualidade deixa muito a desejar... A jarra de flores também não está como eu queria, mas foi feita a correr, pois os convidados já estavam a chegar! :-) Mas é assim que se aprende a melhorar, depois de ver o trabalho feito e, principalmente, depois de ver as fotos. Tenho de aguardar pelas restantes... Até já!

Just a few details of the table that I did for my niece's birthday. These photos were taken with my cell phone, so their quality is not so good... the vase with the flowers isn't as I wished as well, but I had to make it in a hurry, as the guests were arriving!... :-) But this is how you improve, learning how to plan in advance and looking at the photos - that's when you can see if things work out or not. Well, I have to wait for the other photos!... See you soon!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Backyard Harvest: Garlic Scapes

I think my favourite thing about garlic scapes is their name.  It is such a great name.  It always reminds me of Severus Snape from Harry Potter, although of course that's Snape, not Scape.

Garlic scapes are really just the greens that shoot up when you plant garlic cloves. The scapes taste strongly of garlic and can be used any time you would normally use garlic.  I have also used them in place of spring onions.

My little boy and I planted a row of garlic just outside my back door so, as my husband jokes, there will be no problems with vampires in this house!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad