Observations from a Hill

As promised, a cooking aftermath post. Pictured, tonight's repast of mutton chop, very slow-cooked with potatoes and carrots, etc., finished with some cream, olive oil, more paprika, and parsley. All served with a couple of hunks of halfway decent bread. Not bad, if I say so myself and I have to say the mutton really does have some heck of a flavour to it; and cooked for so long and so slowly - absolutely obligatory - it falls off the bone like chuck steak. The potatoes and carrots are soft but hold their form, and the sauce has most of the flavours I intended it to have. However, I won't finalise this recipe and post it until I've done some tweaking, as there are definite improvements I want to make to it. However, it wasn't a bad meal: the aftertaste of the thing is a good indicator of its potential to enter my roster of staple go-to's. The only thing that would stop me making it regularly is the absolute dearth of mutton available from normal outlets these days. ...

Pictured is today's  expérience culinaire: a sort of Balkan-ish mutton stew, featuring four large mutton chops purchased from the inestimable butchers in Bishops Castle as we were leaving for home yesterday. I browned the [floured] chops in olive oil and butter, then sautéed the potatoes [salted and just brought to the boil and drained], half a dozen whole cloves of garlic, a diced Romaine pepper, one chunked brown onion, one sliced red onion and three carrots cut into decent-sized chunks with hot paprika. Once everything was browned and softened, I transferred it to a suitable pan for the oven; deglazed the skillet with red wine and added that and vegetable stock to the pan with the meat and vegetables. I cooked the lot for around one and a half hours on a very low heat, then let it rest in its own juices. Tomorrow I'll separate the meat and vegetables from the sauce, thicken it and return the solid stuff to it and cook it down for a further hour or two on low. More jazz cooki...

OK, so the final post of the holiday. We drove back from the cottage in Shropshire today, and took it upon ourselves for once to stop at Chirbury. We've always meant to look at this little hamlet, but have invariably hurried through the place. Anyhow, the church interior pictured is of the twelfth century Priory Church of St. Michael the Archangel. From the image I took, it looks as if my choice of very wide angle lens has optically distorted the supporting columns to either side of the aisle. However this is not the case: the columns do indeed lean towards the walls at either side. Disconcerting, but I would guess, given the church's antiquity, not of any immediate concern or threat to visitors in 2026. Worth a visit, as I think it might be to make one to The Herbert Arms, just across the square. Re-opened and refurbished after some considerable time closed, the Grade 2 listed pub was always one which never seemed to be open whenever we passed by. Methinks next visit to Shrops...

Our last day in Shropshire today; John left for home in Aberystwyth this morning and we drove over to Ludlow to have a mooch around. After coffee and croissants we perused the market's offerings and I bought the above-pictured volume from the Oxfam shop. A splendid volume of prosaic US postcards collated into a collection by the late English photographer, Martin Parr [1952-2025], whose whimsical takes on ordinary life always tickled and amused whilst being quite barbed, in a very genteel, English way.  The beauty of this splendid little tome is that it offers no qualifying or explanatory textual context, reminding me of the splendid BBC2 TV programme from around 1968 - which I'm sure I've alluded to before - which without fanfare or announcement would simply start; no title sequence, no graphics, no context. It would then present an apparently random and quite surreal series of art and socially referenced mini pieces [visual articles?], with the only faces to camera being ...

Sometimes one has to stand back and observe events from a higher viewpoint in order to gain true insight into any complex confluence of events: seeing the whole rather than the components enables deeper understanding of just what is happening at component level. Nowhere is this more true than where our natural environment is concerned, and particularly in the case of the aquatic environment, currently in sharp focus in the media here in the UK. Yes, individual pollution events can be investigated at the micro level, although enforcement appears to be practically non-existent due to under resourcing, lack of funding and poorly or cynically drafted legislative tools. But whilst each incident, however serious its characterisation, is a cause for concern, very often it passes by little-remarked and un-dealt with until it fades from public view and concern. It's only when we pull back and take a systemic overview that the overall impact of pollution can be seen for what it is: a pressin...

Pictured - a tiny visitor to the conservatory here in our temporary home in Shropshire - a Wren, somewhat bemused and disorientated, having flown into a structure that it obviously couldn't quite fathom the without from the within. We left it to its own devices with both doors open and eventually it figured out an exit strategy and joined the rest of the throng of small birds feeding around the small wooden arch nearby. Aside from the usual garden birds and the small squadron of Wood Pigeons that all feed there, we had a couple of spectacular visits by a Woodpecker which obviously resides quite close by: a flash - literally - of colour and movement that reminded me of the occasional, exotic and glorious visits made by Jays to our garden back at home in Fairview Heights...