Dinner at the Saxon Mill

Our friend Jens is going back to Switzerland and we decided to have some drink with him before he leaves. Luiz suggested The Saxon Mill in Warwick. It is actually an old mill over the river that has been converted into a pub / restaurant.

Some really nice views over the river. We took our kids along and they enjoyed it even though it got a bit bit chilly later in the evening. Later on we went in to order the food. It was really nice and comfy inside and the food was not bad either. However, my son was not happy at all and I had to take him out. He was fascinated by the water rushing away.

Here are some pics:

Trip to London

Some pics of our recent trip to London:


Harrods at Knightsbridge

There was a Harrods sale going on and the crowd was unbelievable - mostly ladies and a lot of tourists. There were some people outside protesting against fur being sold in the store. Forgot to take pics.



Walking towards Knightsbridge


Natural history museum

Saw some dinosaur skeletons. Didn't have enough time to go round.



Leicester square. My son fell asleep. The Odeon theatre is in the background.


Statue of Shakespeare at Leicester square.

"There is no darkness but ignorance"
Quote from William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.


Crowds near Piccadilly Circus.

Trip to Marazion and St Michael's Mount

Marazion is said to be the oldest town in Britain and called Ictis during Roman times. Driving through the narrow roads was interesting. The sloping roads are too narrow to allow two cars to pass and cars have to give way to those coming from opposite directions at designated points. We had wanted to visit St Michael’s Mount. Unfortunately we were too late as the castle and gardens are only open till 5pm. However we were able to take some pictures of the island from the shore.






You can apparently walk to the island during low tide using the causeway.




Marazion


The plaque says:

HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD
Landed near this spot
April 19 1902

Trip to Land's End Cornwall

Land's End is the Western most point on the British Isles. They have several undercover attractions including a Dr. Who exhibition but we didn't go to any of them. Instead we walked around.

Here are some pics of our trip there.


Penwith House. Artist's Gallery and End to End Club room.


The First and Last House, where the actual Land’s End point is situated.




On board the Confide, a trawler.


A circle of granite stones. You will find granite pillars all around Cornwall, remnants of pagan beliefs.


The cliffs






A panorama from behind the Land’s End Hotel. In the distance you can see the Longships lighthouse.

Water suitable for vegetarians

Was reading the info on the bottle of Tesco's Scottish Mountain mineral water: "V Suitable for vegetarians". Made me wonder - Are there any mineral water brands not suitable for vegetarians? - Just a short "thought of the day" from Hayle, Cronwall.

As today is a Sunday, here are my 'Green thumb Sunday' pictures:





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Took loads of pics today. Will post them up after I get home tomorrow.

The cabbage that survived

Some of you might recall my post "Cabbage and caterpillars" that I posted last year showing pics of my cabbage plant infested with caterpillars.

You might be surprised to learn that the cabbage plant is still standing. It survived the caterpillars



the winter


and is now even taller than my son.


A true survivor.


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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

I am an Uncle

Say a big Hi! to my first niece Jade Océané. Congrats to Fred and my little sis Jules. Really happy for you guys. She's a cutie.








The mum


Proud dad

Cabbage and caterpillars

Haven't been posting any pictures for Green Thumb Sunday. The reason is that I don't have any new plants in my garden. Not really sure whether this is suitable but posting it up anyway.

Anyway, I have this huge cabbage in my garden:


One day I noticed that it had like hundreds of small caterpillars everywhere. My first thought was to kill them all but I changed my mind. I decided to leave them alone and see whether they turn to butterflies. My wife says I am crazy.

Well it's been about a month now and they haven't turned to butterflies yet but they are really huge now.






Join

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Search for the best cameraphone photographer

A friend of mine was showing me his latest Sony Ericsson phone that comes with an amazing 3.2-megapixel camera, complete with with auto focus and flash. It has promptly been added to my "object of desire" list.

Taking about Sony Ericsson phones, have you heard about "The Search" site. They are on the look for the cameraphone photographer of the year 2007. This site allows you to upload the cameraphone images to the voting gallery.



You can choose to put your images in any of the three categories, namely Fashion, Adventure and News & Sports. They have amazing prizes for each category. For example, in the 'Adventure' category, the winner stands to win an all expenses paid trip around the world. Isn't that amazing?

Hari Raya open house pics

We had an 'open house' - a Malaysian tradition, on the 13th Saturday. We planned to have it from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm but somehow it got extended by a around 2 hours as some of our friends were only able to visit later.

Here are some pics:


Our second Raya in the UK

FOOD



Serunding (squarish plate), Chicken Rendang (yellow bowl), Lamb Rogan, Dhal Curry, Saffron Rice, Pulut Kuning & Nasi Impit (on the silver oval plate), and some different varieties of raya cookies.

Most of the dishes were prepared by my wife. The cookies and serunding were gifts from my in-laws in Malaysia (came by Fedex). The nasi impit was prepared by Nana's family. I only made the Dhal.


Cadbury Cocoa pudding


GUESTS


Rahil and friend











Thanks to everyone who visited our house. Special mention to Nana, Mozard and Family and Min who helped out.

Blackpool trip 2

Here are some pics from our recent trip to Blackpool.


We stayed at the Travelodge hotel at Preston Central about 20 minutes away.
Comfortable yet affordable.


The Blackpool Illuminations




The Fireworks


Blackpool tower illumination at night


Ferris wheel called the Blackpool eye




Blackpool Tower in the morning


The Ferris wheel "Blackpool eye"


View from the top of the Blackpool eye


My daughter sitting opposite me. She was very brave. Not scared at all.


View from top 1


View from top 2


Sea Gull


My wife and daughter

Bees and flowers

Even though my daughter is not terribly fond of them, I really like to see honeybees in my garden. They are doing a good job pollinating my plants.

It's fun watching them buzzing from one flower to flower. They will suddenly stop flying for a while and the flower will suddenly bend under their weight and the bee would start flying again and move on to the next flower.


bee on our mint flowers


Bee on our marigold flower


bee on our lavender flower

This is my Green Thumb Sunday post for this week.
Join

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.