mystery gifts and other lovely things

a few weeks ago i arrived back to the boat to find a bag of home grown tomatoes waiting for me. how lovely. i looked around to see if anyone was just leaving, or if there was some kind of clue as to who they were from, but nothing. leaving me wondering what kind soul had thought to give us such a tasty gift. for the next few days, my favourite thing to eat were these gorgeously ripe tomatoes on crusty white bread, rubbed with a touch of garlic, a pinch of sea salt and a generous glug of olive oil. so delicious and summery! i still don't know who they came from so i keep telling everyone how thoroughly i enjoyed them, just in case.


this was followed by a bag of pears from someones garden, that were so far removed from the unripe shop produce you so often find. i did discover that these were from our sailor friend whose boat is just opposite ours, (from his friends garden). we baked them with honey and chocolate and ate them topped with vanilla ice cream.

i feel very lucky to be surrounded by such a lovely community here at the marina. there's always someone on hand to give a bit of advice about varnishing or how to keep the rain out! swapping a bit of parsley for coriander or to lend a video to watch on a rainy night. and it's nice seeing friendly faces as you walk along the pontoons, stopping to find out how they are and what's going on. everyone always comes by to see how baby stan is getting on and he loves waving at everyone that passes by, including the 2 resident swans and all the seagulls that live down here! i remember when i was pregnant last year, receiving bags of cherries, freshly caught mackerel and baby advice! and j often shares a couple of beers and conversation on a sunny evening before dinner with a willing neighbour. another sea-faring friend caught some cod the other night and generously gave some to everyone on our pontoon. how nice is that! we had it that night dipped in seasoned flour and fried in olive oil with mashed potato, green beans and a cheese sauce. and of course a glass of red wine. very delicious!


now we, (my sister and i), had never heard of etsy before i bought this book for her birthday last year. i had spent my pregnant work lunch times in the local borders bookshop reading it and thinking how starting a blog would be the perfect outlet we needed to nurture our creativity and keep in touch with each other. so here we are. and then we discovered this wonderful site dedicated to all things handmade and sold by the actual people making them. what an antidote to all those large chain stores that have somehow forgotten the individual somewhere along the way.


well i decided to treat myself and baby stan. for him, i got the lovely map bricks from sparklepower. and for me, this gorgeous bag from tinyhappy. both so beautifully made and carefully wrapped, the gocco print below (now on my notice board!) was included with my bag from tinyhappy. it's such an experience receiving something in the post that has such a personal touch to it. if you haven't discovered etsy yet i recommend you do right away. it's a lovely place to buy gifts for people. we love it.


sw