photo – Page 2 – Yellywelly

Oh brother!

4 Aug 20164 Aug 2016 Yelly

Clara Ortega said “ To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.” And I agree.

To me you will always be the little boy who “break dances” by spinning on the floor, on his tummy, the one who invents words, our source of joy and entertainment. I pray that you will be blessed beyond your desires, because we are so very blessed by you.

Happy birthday (big) little bro!

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Yelly Writes

Making lemonade

31 Jul 20164 Aug 2016 Yelly

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!

It’s always a good thing to try to look at a bad situation from another angle. Focus on the positive…and all that.

I know! I sound very grumpy. I am. It’s really not a great way to end July but I’m going to make sure I try to find the positive spin because otherwise, I’ll be insufferable!

Yelly Writes

When disaster strikes

1 Jul 2016 Yelly

I made a cake for someone last night and finished it early this morning. It was a chocolate Guinness cake. And it was beautiful!

So I went to work, on the train as usual. When I got to the office, I opened the cake box to check on the cake not expecting anything. The trip was uneventful. I didn’t swing the cake, I didn’t hit the box with anything, no one hit the box…it was a really good train journey.

So imagine the shock when I find the top layer of my cake cracked right through the middle with a section of it fallen off. My heart tumbled down to my tummy then broke a little during the journey down.

I had to make the difficult call to my friend to say the cake broke and that I couldn’t give the cake to her for her party.

The silver lining? Everyone at work got the chance to have chocolate Guinness cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting. Oh yes. It was a VERY rich cake!

Yelly Snaps

A balm for the soul

23 May 201630 May 2016 Yelly

There is something infinitely comforting in walking in nature. I took this photo on a walk with Alan on Saturday. It makes me smile to look at this photo. Sometimes, when you need to slow down, when you need to centre yourself, a quiet walk, surrounded by nature, is the best solution.

When I flounder around in deep waters,
When the stresses of life take their toll,
A sudden deep hush steals upon me,
Your gentleness calms the soul.

Yelly Writes

So this is 40?

15 May 20168 Aug 2017 Yelly

It’s my birthday! Hurrah!

So this is how 40 feels? I don’t really feel any different from yesterday. Sure, there are aches and pains, creaking bones and clicking mandibles, but apart from the carpal tunnelly hands, I think I’m okay. Oh and I’ve seen (and dealt with) a few more grey hairs!

I have been thoroughly spoilt with birthday presents, flowers and birthday greetings. People have been so kind. I’m glad that I’ve done enough good to deserve the well-wishes. Thank you to my church baby Nikki who wrote me a lovely message. I wonder sometimes if I’ve become too distant, too protective of myself to do any good, to do something for other people. I’ve been struggling with myself lately, having internal arguments about how I’m behaving. I’m glad I am still doing something to make some people happy. Because that’s all I ever really want, I want to make people happy.

I want this year to be the year I make improvements to myself. I want this year to be the year I tick off some of the items on my personal to-do list. I want this year to be the year I officially establish my real “hustle” (it’s a little something I learned from Emma Gannon‘s podcast – listen to Episode 9 where Emma interviews Paulette Perhach. These millenials are so driven, you get energised just listening to them!) so that my current “hustle” becomes my “side-hustle” so that I can do what I really want to do!

It’s not going to be easy, because I am plagued with procrastination and I have the tendency to allow myself to be swallowed up by inertia. I am bolstered, though, by the desire to do something else, to do something creative, to work for myself.

I am determined to do something this year.

I don’t look too bad for 40, do I?

Yelly Writes

Happy Easter!

27 Mar 201612 Apr 2016 Yelly

Amidst all the feasting, all the fun and games, all the time off, not to mention all the chocolate, remember the real reason for the season:

Easter celebrates true, unconditional and everlasting love. God’s love for us. He gave up his one and only Son for our salvation.

Yelly Snaps

Monochrome

24 Mar 20169 Apr 2016 Yelly

I find that this happens to me all the time whilst on a London jaunt. You walk around this amazingly modern city, with all the sky scrapers built with metal and glass and then you turn a corner and find something that takes you back in time.

Verde & Company Ltd is a fine foods store just a hop, skip and jump (aka just across the street) from Spitalfields market. It’s Georgian front is indicative of the Aladdin’s cave of food to be had inside!

Yelly Writes

What’s in a name?

15 Mar 201619 Mar 2016 Yelly

The next Blogging 101 assignment is to take control of your title and your tagline.

It always takes me ages to think of a blog title…mostly because I think my blog title should also be my blog address. I must admit that it can be a frustrating exercise because when you think of a title that is completely you and you find out that someone else has thought about it and the domain name is no longer available, it can be frustrating and very disappointing. I’ve always known that blog titles should be snappy, unique and memorable. I am thankful, however, that my father named me the way he did. My name makes for interesting blog title permutations! Toda rabah Abba! Oh and no, he didn’t name me Yelly or Welly! Ha!

A blog tagline is certainly as important as a snappy title. I’ve gone from not having a blog tagline to having an über long one, to have a sort of acceptable one, to the one I have now. I quite like the one I have now. It focuses on the things that I am enjoying at the moment – food and photography, hence “bites and snapshots”. My blog really is a place where I talk about the absolutely ordinary life that I lead and the things that make me smile (a great recipe, good food, a great read, a breathtaking photo – all of which don’t have to be mine!).

I’m happy that people are coming to visit the blog a wee bit more. I’d love to be able to chat to people on the comments section of the blog though. Please leave me a few words in the comments section! I’d love to hear from you!

Yelly Eats

Absolutely magic!

7 Mar 201613 Mar 2016 Yelly

This should go wrong…even when I was making it, it felt absolutely wrong. The batter didn’t look like it was going to set at all. But let me tell you, whoever invented magic custard cakes is an absolute genius!

This is going on my must-bake-all-the-time list!

For those who have missed this growing trend, magic custard cakes are cakes is a cake with three layers, a spongy-meringuey top layer, a custard center and a pudding bottom layer. The magical bit is that all this happens with JUST ONE BATTER!

Don’t ask me how because I have no idea how it works…but it does and it’s so good!