What a beautiful morning! And what's more, it's Mothering Sunday.  Do not confuse this with 'Mother's Day' as celebrated in Germany.
Mothering Sunday is always the fourth Sunday in Lent and goes back at least to the 16th century, maybe further. It was a Sunday when the fasting rules of Lent were relaxed, and  servants were allowed home to visit their families, specifically their mothers. The Housekeeper of the Big House where they worked would give them some eggs,or maybe baked goods to take with them, and so that's how it all began.

This year I arranged for cupcakes to be delivered to my mother,

http://www.cakesbyshellyanne.co.uk/

who was duly delighted.

As always, BBC Radio 4 is booming out as I write and I have just been listening to a Special Service for Mothering Sunday. One hymn was "For the Beauty of the Earth."
As a little girl I really hated this hymn. It had such a boring tune. Then I heard a

version by John Rutter - a British Composer, mostly of Choral Music - and have been captivated by it ever since.

Here's a Version with subtitles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaMkj4_H8WM

And here it is sung by the choir of St Paul's Cathedral:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0qQyW0W0Rw

So appropriate for this beautiful morning.

Good morning Friends, near and far!

This week has seen lots of emails whizzing between Morsum and the USA, Diane to be precise. It started when she sent me a Quiz to find out which Downton Abbey character I was.
I'm sure you all know (and love) Downton. It's been on zdf in Germany (I think) and is an ITV production in the UK leading to empty streets on Sunday nights when it is being broadcast. We Brits love a bit of historical Drama, makes us feel really cosy.
Some of you will remember 'Upstairs Downstairs' which I think was called Das Haus am Eaton Place in German.
Check this out for a series on the real life upstairs and downstairs, (this episode is about the Brighton Pavillion).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viHMteyA7TM

Anyway, Diane reported she had done the quiz and was Lady Mary.
Lady Mary?
Here's my answer:

"I HATE Lady Mary you can't possibly be like her.

She is wooden, shallow, arrogant and selfish."

 

Which has led to all sorts of discussions about all sorts of things.

 

Try the quiz for yourself here:

 

http://www.zimbio.com/quiz/WLF_ky-a_03/Downton+Abbey+Character

 

I'm the Dowager, by the way, and am quite OK with that.

 

 

 

Good morning PenguinChums,

The world feels a bit wobbly today doesn't it, what with The Crimea and the (still) missing Malaysian plane. Those poor passengers, and their poor relatives.

So what can one do on a gloomy Sunday but bake a cake, and this is  a real Corker:

Lemon Poppyseed Sponge

225g butter
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
225g castor sugar
4 eggs
100g ground almonds
100g self-raising flour (or normal flour with 2 tsp baking powder)
2 tablespoons poppy seeds.

Mix together and then bake in 2 sandwich tins until risen and golden.
Sandwich together with whipped cream and Lemon curd.

Good morning from warm and sunny Penguin HQ.
Lots of us had fun last week thinking about reading in English and I promised some links.

http://www.short-stories.co.uk/

...has a giant collection of modern and classic stories by well-known and new authors. Stories are classed in genres and/or length, and there is a featured Story of the Day.
You can also click on a link to word games.

http://fiction.eserver.org/
...has novels, biographies and all sorts of goodies.

Sadly, the audiogo web service I used for buying and downloading BBC Radio programmes has closed.
You can still of course go to www.bbc.co.uk then click on Radio 4 for the very best of the spoken word. Some programmes are available as Podcasts. It's all free.

National Public Radio was a lifesaver when I lived in the USA and I am happy to say they also provide free Podcasts:
http://www.npr.org/

Now the sun is shining, the crocus are blooming and the bees are buzzing so I will go outside in my lovely garden!

Ooops a day late posting but I am excused, having been away on a birthday jaunt in beautiful Brandeburg an der Havel.
This week lots of us are thinking about US First Ladies, try a quiz here:

http://www.factmonster.com/quizzes/firstladies/1.html

Others are reviewing the importance of Fairtrade, lots of Videos to watch here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Fairtradefoundation

The sun is beating down as I write and the snowdrops, cyclamen and crocus are shining in the garden.
Here's a nice site to check out just what all your flowers are called:

http://www.flowerpictures.net/flower_database/flower_finder_A.html

Back to normal next week I hope... but I do love a slice of Frankfurter Kranz!

Good morning from Giant Mushroom HQ in beautiful downtown Morsum.

We all enjoyed seeing Eddie the Eagle jump again last week, actually Michael Edwards was a much better athlete than we all realized, as well as being a very determined person. Here's a Guardian article about his career:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/04/reappraising-eddie-eagle-winter-olympics-ski-jumping

And he's still around. On British TV there's a Programme where celebrities learn to dive - Eddie was a contestant last year and won. Take a look at his dive with Tom Daley, British Olympic medal winner, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN-D8x2VeNM

Talking of TV, lots of us are talking about cookery books and favourite recipes this week, inspired by the magical Mary Berry of Bake off fame.

Watch the Mary Berry Story (lots of episodes):
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax7udjSxLzE

And, as we're into cooking, let me share somethingwith you. When we moved to Bremen in 1977, things were a bit lonely. This changed when I met Diane in 1978. With her, I experienced my first real American Food and it was so delicious, I culdn not believe it. Diane gve me my first American cookbook, The Joy of Cooking, and it is still a wonderful source for everything yummy.
My own copy, (With "Yum, I eat it! Keep on cookin' y'all" inscribed by Diane inside) is falling apart now, but fortunately there is  a 'Joy' Website. I'm directing you straight to the 'history' page:
http://www.thejoykitchen.com/all-about-joy/history-joy-cooking

Good morning Readers,
Well what a busy week we all had.
I know you are all thinking hard about which tense to use when; here's a bit more information about the Past Perfect:
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html

And even an online exercise!
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs11.htm


The news from Somerset is not good, the  water is still rising. Cornwall and Devon now have no rail connection to the rest of the country and more storms are expected this coming week.
Here is some film of Porthleven Harbour (Cornwall), with massive seas:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-26102776

This is all a bit grim, so how about some good news?
The Winter Olympics have started in Sochi so here's a lovely interactive map of the site so we know what is where:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25946582

And, leaving the  best news till last, Horst's Christmas present of a Mushroom Farm has produced GIANT and delicious mushrooms. Yum!