Rough Seas

Yesterday morning the sun decided to shine for a few hours after a rainy week and a gale force wind on Friday and Saturday. I took the opportunity to test out the christmas and graduation present that my hubby bought for me - a professional Canon. I admit I'm still green but I'm working on it. I stopped my car near the abandoned Jerma hotel and took photos of rough seas pounding on the shore close to the hotel. It was such a weird situation .. with the eerily silent hotel behind me and the booming sound of the crashing waves in front of me. It was a sure scary sight to watch all those waves crashing and pounding on the rocks very close to where I stood.

A picture of Serenity

I took this photo last summer on one of my car trips in the countryside. I found this old narrow disused route which I started following and this is what I came across. This picture, for me, epitomises serenity. Three horses in a meadow, in summer, with no one to bother them - no cars, no people (apart from me) away from pollution and the humdrum of everyday life and with the sea as a backdrop. What more would they want?

This was taken in the Delimara area, very close to the old disused lighthouse. Horses are quite rare in Malta for the simple reason that it's very expensive to import a horse to our country. Moreover, to own a horse can also be a very costly matter because their upkeep and care can cause a really deep dent in one's pockets. We don't get to see a lot of horses grazing in fields and meadows in Malta. So I was really surprised to find these three beautiful horses grazing to their hearts' content out there far away from humanity. Their owner was nowhere to be seen but I have the impression that few persons come over there.

Catching up..

How time flies! It's been so long since I wrote a post but I was extremely busy preparing for another party which took most of my free time. This Christmas I decided to prepare a three course meal rather than the usual party with so many nibbles to create.

As starters I prepared three kinds of vol au vents with mushroom, salmon, and artichoke stuffing. This was followed by courgette and parmesan soup. Next came stuffed chicken and pork, potatoes, cauliflowers and a mixture of other veggies. As for dessert our friends helped themselves to pancakes with a selection of stuffing of their own choice, strawberries, nutella, banana, nuts, cream and ice-cream.

Finally, at tea-time, some of us played boardgames and the rest competed on the Playstation. We had chocolate dipped figs, (thank you Juniper for the recipe), Bacio-cake which I incidentally found in another bloggy friend's site (thank you Dina), log cake and mince pies. Our friends must have really enjoyed themselves for they came at around half noon and stayed till very late. And somehow I pulled it off once more!! Don't know how I managed but having two ovens did help me cheat a little bit in preparing everything on time. Oh I nearly forgot to tell you that I nearly freaked out when I went to take out my courgette soup from the fridge and did not find it there. My husband had put it in the freezer instead and when I peered inside the pot I found a green circular block of ice!!! I found this out at 12:00!! So you can imagine my panic! But I managed to thaw it in good time. Phew!

Now to come to the other subject...Another thing which kept me from posting was my surprise at finding I was pregnant on Boxing Day. That was one Christmas present that I was surely not expecting! Now I'll just have to get used to a new way of life - a slow-paced life -and I think this will take me time to adjust to. I'm so used to running so many errands at one go, carrying heavy stuff by myself, and eating so many kinds of food which now I'll have to give a miss. Now I have to think twice at whatever I do - is this wrong? is this good to eat? Can I nibble some more sweets? So many questions... Don't want to get over the moon or over excited because I might feel drastically crestfallen if anything goes wrong. So I'm taking it day by day. As the Maltese like to say "Issa naraw.." We'll see...

Incidentally this is my first blog post without a photo. Didn't know what to put up here.

Christmas lights in our Maltese streets

Come Christmas time and most of our busy cities are alit with beautiful Christmas lights. The pictures above were taken in Valletta and Paola this week, on my first two days of christmas shopping. I've still got a lot more shopping to do and so little time in my hands!!

My Third Award: Nenhum olhar e mais puro do que uma crianca...

I would like to thank - Crafty Sue - for this new award and I am honoured to accept it. Thank you so much! Please go over and visit her cute blog. She is an Anglo-Maltese married to an Italian and has been living in Italy for a long time now. She loves making crafts, posts craft patterns and shares her ideas quite regularly.

Have a look at the blog that created this award:"Arte da Li" http://li-katuki.blogspot.com/

The rules for this award are:
1. Post the sentence : Nenhum olhar è mais puro do que uma criança.... (done)
2. Post the award. (done)
3. Mention the blog that gave birth to this award: "Arte da Li" http://li-katuki.blogspot.com/ (done twice)
Mention and thank the blog that gave you this award and post their blog link. (done)
Pass it on to 10 blogs and leave a comment on their blogs to let them know they've been awarded.
The 10 blogs I chose are:

Capers and Olives

Heaven is in Belgium

Life is just like that

Accidentally, Kle

Around the Island

Malta Daily Photo

Anything Goes

Thrills, Frills and Drills

La Delirante

Reflections

Sequins, Beads and Polysterene Balls

This season, I decided to start up another hobby. I don't know what it's called - all I know is that you need jablo balls, small pins and lots of sequins to make Christmas baubles. One fine day I woke up with this craft idea in mind so off I went to my nearest hobby shop and bought what I thought would need to start off this hobby. When I went to pay for my stuff at the counter I asked the salesgirl to check if I was on the right track - she just changed my pin box because mine were too large.

Back home I opened up the boxes and bags and started planning my design. It didn't take me long to learn how to do this hobby by myself. My idea is to hang one handmade bauble on to the hamper bag that I will be preparing for each of my female friends that have invited us over to their place for Christmas. What sets me back is the lack of time. Although my husband thinks this is just a waste of time - when I could buy ready made baubles - I'm sure my friends will appreciate the effort I put in making their baubles. What's more - I hope I'll manage to finish the baubles on time for each party that we're invited to.

St Martin's feast

Next Sunday we shall be celebrating St. Martin's Day 'Jum San Martin' in Malta. The actual feast was last Wednesday, November 11th but it if it happens to fall on a weekday we usually celebrate it on the Sunday nearest to November 11. In the past the children used to hang an empty bag by their bedposts in anticipation for St Martin's arrival. In the morning, then the excited kids would find a bag full of goodies or a bag full of coal - depending on their behaviour.

Nowadays, at school children are usually given a bag called 'Il-Borża ta' San Martin', containing autumn fruits such as figs, oranges, tangerines, apples, pomegranates , nuts like walnuts, hazel-nuts, almonds, chestnuts and a sweet bread with an aniseed-tasting sweet on top (Il-Hobza ta' San Martin) associated with the feast. There is also a traditional rhyme associated with this custom:

'Ġewż, Lewż,

Qastan, Tin

Kemm inħobbu lil San Martin..

(Walnuts, Almonds, Chestnuts, Figs, Oh how I love Saint Martin!)

The feast of St Martin is celebrated in the village of Baħrija on the outskirts of Rabat at the the only chapel in Malta dedicated to this saint. It is the tradition that on that Sunday a fair is held to commemorate the feast. The Turkeys' Fair, in Maltese referred to as 'Il-Fiera tad-Dundjani' , originally took place in 1953 , when the rector of the time started the fair as a fundraising for the building of the new church to replace the small chapel that had become too small for the evergrowing congregation that attended. At this fair one can find plants, fresh vegetables, local honey, and other such local stuff and an exhibition of local animals.

At this time of year we usually have a temporary respite from Autumn and enjoy what we call in Maltese - Is-Sajf ta' San Martin - St Martin's summer. I always look forward to this feast because we get to enjoy a couple of warm days at this time of year. This feast is also associated with a substantial increase in hairfall too. Have you noticed how much more hair falls at this time of year? Men beware!

Open Weekend at Fort Manoel

Manoel Island is a tiny island which lies in Marsamxett Harbour between Sliema Creek and Lazzaretto Creek, and is accessible by a bridge from the Gzira seafront. The Knights of St John realised the potential of the Island as an isolated territory against the plague and other infectious diseases and built a quarantine hospital here in 1643. In 1722, Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena began to appreciate the value of the Island for the defence of Valletta and commissioned the fortress which bears his name, Fort Manoel. The first stone was laid in 1723 under his patronage and the supervision of world-famous engineer Francois de Mondion.

While its defining characteristics survived the ravages of time, over the centuries Fort Manoel fell into disrepair, especially following the heavy and extensive aerial bombardment endured during World War II. On 23rd February 1965, the Fort was officially handed over to the Maltese Government; Fort Manoel was subsequently abandoned and fell into a state of neglect. Further damage was also inflicted during peacetime by vandals, squatters and souvenir-hunters, and by the end of the 20th century, a derelict ruin was all that remained of this once proud and imposing fortress.

In the year 2000 MIDI developers took possession of Fort Manoel and works relating to the restoration of the Fort were initiated by a restoration team. Last weekend the MIDI consortium hosted an Open Weekend at the Fort for the public. Yesterday, hubby and I together with a couple of friends joined the thronges of people who paid a visit to this historical gem on our island. Below you'll see some of the photos I took of the event.

World War II lorry on display

World War II exhibition

The view of Valletta from the parade ground

The parade ground and Barrack Block B

a closer view of Valletta from the parade ground

St Anthony of Padua's chapel where the engineer Francois de Mondion was buried

a detail from the chapel's interior

St Anthony of Padua's chapel and its restored interior

exiting the Polverista

The Polverista



Couldn't help taking a photo of these 3 nuns...