Breeze of Inspiration

Like the bird above, inspiration often comes into the picture in a quick and unexpected way.

My summer got off to a great start with a visit home to family and friends. It was only a week, but the days were filled up with impressions and activities.

The weather was a little rougher than we had expected, still relatively mild in temperature, but the winds were pulling in some rain and even a few storm clouds. Which, by the way, makes the landscape even more beautiful, as it creates the most amazing blue and white formations in the sky. I used to draw them for hours as a kid.

But it was nice enough outside for me and my husband to take frequent Nordic Walking tours around the village. On one of them, I discovered a treasure along the way: a box marked ‘to give away’ full of cookbooks … . Well, I have now added a book on traditional Hungarian food and two on whole grain cooking to my collection.

Since they needed a little care, I also tended to the Queen of Flowers and her sisters and cousins in my father’s garden. Some of the rose bushes are over a hundred years old and came from my mother’s childhood home. They are truly the royalty of plants and I love them.

I also took the opportunity to pick the ripe red gooseberries from the bushes there and made jam from them (recipe attached in the other post today).

While visiting dear friends, we were guests in an impressive garden scenery next to a historic farmhouse. A series of fascinating still lifes lined up one after the other. And giant blueberry bushes. I had no idea they could grow so old and so tall. All potential blueberry pancakes, muffins and pies, yum …. .

Since the weather was nice, but not too generous with the temperature, we were also able to relax indoors on some occasions, play cards, drink tea, eat lots of fresh fruit, and consume numerous cookies as well.

All in all, a wonderful little vacation to spend with people I care about. And of course I made food for them, too.

A series of fascinating still lifes lined up one after the other. And giant blueberry bushes.

Side Notes:

• I wanted to take pictures of the beautiful dramatic clouds over the moor. Later I saw that a tomtit had jumped in, obviously enjoying a ‘wind surf’.
• The recipe for the jam I made is [‘Golden Goose Berry Jam‘]. Gooseberry-banana jam was a specialty of my mom’s. I am sure she would have liked my version.