Month: July 2017

Magic Monday

/ Su Leslie / 32 Comments
Still warm. Two homemade loaves of wholewheat, seeded sourdough bread, resting on a cooling rack. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Still warm. Home-made sourdough bread. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Today has been bread-making day, and now there are two loaves of wholemeal sourdough cooling on the kitchen bench.

All cooking is slightly magical, but sourdough is especially so. A paste of flour and water  that we first made two years ago (called a starter) provides food for the natural yeasts and bacteria that hang out in our kitchen. We add flour, water and salt; and natural fermentation does the rest.

Two loaf pans with sourdough, kneaded and ready for proving before being baked. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Sourdough; mixed, kneaded and ready for final proving. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Regular Random: an impatiens five minutes

/ Su Leslie / 14 Comments
Close up shot of pink impatiens flower on stem, with bokeh effect of water on leaves. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Straight from the garden; stem of impatiens. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Impatiens flower. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Impatiens flowers. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Impatiens flowers. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Impatiens flower. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Picked in the rain. Stem of impatiens with single flower. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Impatiens flowers. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Impatiens grow wild on the boundary of our property; strong, hardy bushes that reach upwards of a metre and would take over the garden if we let them.

Still, they do provide a welcome burst of winter colour.

Five Minutes of Random (the RegularRandom challenge), is hosted by Desley Jane at Musings of a Frequently Flying Scientist. 

DP Photo Challenge: when is a bridge not a bridge?

/ Su Leslie / 50 Comments
Aged colour photo of sculpture called "The Mermaid" by Marijke de Goey. Consisting of a series of steel frame cubes forming a bridge over a small stream, the work is sited at Gibbs Farm Sculpture Park, Kaipara, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2015

Marijke de Goey, “The Mermaid” (1999). Sculpture located at Gibbs Farm Sculpture Park, Kaipara, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2015

…. when it’s a sculpture.

“My jewellery is sculpture for the body,
my sculptures are jewellery for the landscape.” — Marijke de Goey.

For me, art can bridge the gap between the mundane and the profound; the taken-for-granted “real” world and the dreams and imaginings of our souls.

Daily Post Photo Challenge | bridge

DP Photo Challenge: bridge

/ Su Leslie / 35 Comments
Aged photo of old stone bridge, Tyringham, Bucks, England. Image: Su Leslie, 2013

Old stone bridge, Tyringham, Bucks, England. Image: Su Leslie, 2013

Just off the road between Newport Pagnell and Northampton, this old stone bridge designed by Sir John Soane in 1793, has a Grade I Historic Places listing. Obviously never designed for cars, it is used for motor traffic. A bridge between past and present?

Daily Post Photo Challenge | bridge