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Absent Place - an April Day



Absent Place — an April Day —

Daffodils a-blow
Homesick curiosity
To the Souls that snow —

Emily Dickinson

I don't usually start with poems but the lines from this one by Emily Dickinson struck a chord with me. We all know what happened at the end of March and that for five weeks we have been living with so many restrictions. 

I have to say I have enjoyed working from home and not having to sit in traffic. Nearly every day I have gone for a walk or two within the 2km radius and have explored nearly every road in my area. There's so much to see and so many changes to note. 

Over the last five weeks I must have photographed nearly every paused construction site in this part of Dublin. It will be interesting to revisit them in a year's time to see what happened to them. 

Apart from walks my main activities have been cooking and knitting. But I have continued to cook and bake too, trying out new recipes, repeating older ones. The spouse and I have also been recreating paintings. So far we have done "Les Amant" by Rene Magritte, "La Mort de Marat" by Jacques-Louis David and "Boreas" by John William Waterhouse. Great fun! 

I'm going to leave it at that for now, apart from a big kiss to J'Zo who likes to check in on this blog. 

Stay safe, everyone! 

Minnie


Classic Madeira with lemon icing;
orange Madeira with orange icing
Flourless chocolate and citrus cake

Rhubarb and orange cake

Crusty lemon bake

Focaccia

Simnel cake

One tray pork and pasta bake

Tomato and cheese flan

Cream of onion, cheese and apple soup

Comments

  1. I've been enjoying all those pandemic treats. Thank you. x

    ReplyDelete

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