Old School Garden

This is the fifteenth in my series featuring simply beautiful natural things and I am going to feature an unusual looking flower as I did in the preceding “Simply Beautiful” post. This time I am going to feature a beautiful and very unusual flowering plant just as I did with the Commelina in my last […]

via Simply Beautiful – 15 — greenbenchramblings

Let’s return to our trip to Japan last September, shall we? Most of Tokyo has been demolished (by war, fire, and earthquake) and rebuilt multiple times. The neighborhood of Yanaka, however, was damaged less than most from the cataclysms of the 20th Century. As a result, it is one of the oldest areas of Tokyo.

via Welcome to the Neighborhood: Yanaka, Tokyo — gardeninacity

A note caught my eye the other day that now is a good time to think about adding nest boxes to your garden, if you want to offer accommodation to garden birds this year! Ryan and I were doing a bit of bird watching in the garden today and it’s clear that the blackbirds and…

via It’s time to think about nest boxes — The Unconventional Gardener

Alcoa, a pastry store in the historical town of Alcobaça, has been producing magical concoctions of flour, sugar and eggs since 1957. They use ancient recipes developed by monks of the order of Cister from two local monasteries, Alcobaça and Santa Maria do Coa. Alcoa’s pastries have always been revered in the Alcobaça region. But […]

via A taste of Alcobaça in Lisbon — Salt of Portugal

Russell Jones finds parallels between news of electric car sales and renewable heating. The news last Friday was full of reports about the drop in UK car sales with a 17% decline in diesel in particular focusing attention not only on the economic impact for the country, but also the environmental. Any increased use of petrol will…

via Are we driving towards an electric future for heating? — Specifier Review

This is the third of four posts telling the story of council housing in Walsall. Beyond any local interest, it reflects the dynamics of a wider national history of council housing. That fuller story will be told in my forthcoming book Municipal Dreams: the Rise and Fall of Council Housing which will be published by […]

via Council Housing in Walsall, Part III: Postwar Estates and High-Rise — Municipal Dreams

The Alhambra is Granada’s love letter to Moorish culture, a place where fountains trickle, leaves rustle, and ancient spirits seem to mysteriously linger. It is part palace, part fort, part World Heritage site, part lesson in medieval architecture, enchanted a never-ending line of expectant visitors. Years ago I was one of these expectant visitors and […]

via The Alhambra is Granada’s cultural treasure — Janaline’s world journey

Mark Swenarton, Cook’s Camden: the Making of Modern Housing (Lund Humphries, 2017) To Mark Swenarton, the work of Sydney Cook (Camden Borough Architect from 1965 to 1973) and his talented team represents ‘an architectural resolution unsurpassed not just in social housing in the UK but in urban housing anywhere in the world’. Usually that kind […]

via Mark Swenarton, ‘Cook’s Camden’ Book Review: ‘to take forward the project of the welfare state – but to do it better’ — Municipal Dreams

Codfish is the star of the Portuguese Christmas-eve supper, but a cabbage called “penca” plays an essential supporting role. It is a hardy variety, capable of surviving the frost that usually covers the fields in December. Penca is often planted next to “couve galega” a cabbage similar to kale used to make the traditional “caldo […]

via Holiday cabbages — Salt of Portugal

During our Portugal trip we spent a night in Coimbra, a riverfront city. It is home to a preserved medieval old town and the historic University of Coimbra which was built on the grounds of a former palace. Published as part of Wordless Wednesday

via Glimpse of Coimbra, Portugal — Janaline’s world journey