Landlocked Mermaid

With the end of summer fast approaching and autumn on its way, the brambles are sporting a wonderful crop of blackberries. On our evening walks, we are often taking tupperware pots and coming home with a juicy bounty of blackberries (and purple fingers!). For me this means only one thing: Crumble time! I love me a good crumble. Apple and blackberry is my favourite. Especially when there is some spare fudge lying around to liberally sprinkle through the topping AND filling. But when is there ever spare fudge? I love crumble hot, cold, plain, with ice cream, for pudding, for breakfast - it is a diverse dish. After going for a forage last night and liberating some apples from a family garden (our family, I assure you), it was time to crumble! I had some fun making this crumble and not for the usual reasons. A thunderstorm was coming in as I made it, high winds and distant flashes of lightning. I love watching lightning and the wind kept blowing the sugar I was pouring out of the bowl! I ...

Guys. Guys! We have another draw! So prepare to wrap your noodles around two more famous fish. Although, once again, not really fish. Marine Creature of the Month Famous Fish Paul the Octopus and The Loneliest Whale Paul is a common octopus and the Loneliest Whale is believed to be a hybrid of whales. Paul shot to fame in 2010 after accurately predicting the World Cup results, all the way to the final, while we have been picking up the Loneliest Whale's odd frequency since the eighties. A LITTLE ABOUT PAUL... Our footie mad octopus belongs to the species octopus vulgaris and hatched in 2008 at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre. He only lived for two years, but rocketed to fame during the 2010 World Cup with his predictions. At the time, he was living in a German Sea Life Centre and his predictions were made with the help of his handlers. They placed two baited boxes in his tank, bearing the flags of countries set to play one another, and waited for Paul to pick his preference! Out of t...

I have said it before and I will no doubt say it again: I am not the biggest girl-girl that ever did girly-girl. That said, I do - on occasion - like to wear make up or paint my nails. I'm actually sporting a garish mix of orange and blue nails as we type. While I am not exactly in the market for any new make-up right now, my box is over flowing and I don't rightly have the money to spend on it presently, there is absolutely no harm in doing some research into some more eco-friendly options. This way, I'll be ready to spring straight into shopping when I am looking to replenish and revive my make-up collection. I think the last time I bought a lot of make-up was for my sister's wedding three years ago. I'm sure there are make-up experts balking at the fact that some of my make-up is three years old and still in circulation. I won't tell them about the items I have had since university... I've bought a couple bits and pieces since then - largely dark lipstic...