Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.
The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.
Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle.
The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent. Post
some
photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me.
Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
I usually run with a theme. Snippets from home this week.
Starting with skyscapes. I continue with the dawn patrols, and these are from three very different dawns.
Then to the garden. We have had another wet week and some of the garden has been beaten down by it. The double poppies continue to make a brave display.
Andrew inspired the last bit of this post. For more years than I care to count we have been making Christmas cakes for family and friends. They come in all sizes. The large and the very large ones have been made, and here are photos from the (hopefully) final batch this year which was made up of small cakes, and slightly larger ones to savour over a couple of sittings...
A little later I will do some more baking for people who don't like/cannot eat fruitcake.
I hope your week is productive - and delicious.
I love your beautiful dawn photos but I've noticed here that when we have those gorgeous ping skies in the morning we usually get rain the next day.
ReplyDeleteI repeat, I love those double poppies. They start gracefully and end in glory.
Wow on all the fruit cakes. I make light fruitcakes every Christmas but I find not too many love fruitcakes except my family so I make meat pies or tourtiere as the French call them. It has become a tradition at Christmas.
Enjoy the new week.
Hugs, Julia
Julia: We have had a LOT of rainy days - so perhaps there is some truth in 'red skies in the morning, shepherds warning'.
DeleteThe red poppies are lovely aren't they.
Fruitcakes are still popular here. Your Christmas tradition sounds good too.
I didn't know people still made fruit cakes. I thought there were a few hundred of them made hundreds of years ago and people just passed them around.
ReplyDeleteMike: If mine are being passed around I wish someone would tell me and I could skip the laborious work I put in each year...
DeleteYour skyscapes are wonderful and must be breathtaking to see with your own eyes. And talking about breathtaking, your poppy with the tutu certainly is. I don’t think I have ever seen one like that before. Enjoyed looking at the process of your cakes. My mother made her own as far back as I could remember. Always a special time at Christmas when she gave those out, and very well received as I am sure yours are.
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: My mother always made her own cakes too - though she used a different recipe to the one I use. Isn't that tutu wearing poppy lovely? People do seem to like my cakes but if Mark is right I have added to the myriad of endlessly circulating cakes...
DeleteBeautiful flowers, Elephant's Child.
ReplyDeleteThe fruit and nut mix startled me. I was scrolling down and I thought, "WHAT IS THAT???" 😂
Sandi: It does look different to the photos I usually post doesn't it?
DeleteHah! Mike's reply had me laughing. :) I do know that there are some fruitcakes which are delicious... a very few. Looking at your labor-intensive process, I'm sure that yours disappear quickly and would never get passed around! What an exhausting, laborious job!
ReplyDeleteLove your dawn photos. The ones where I am rarely have that mixture to present. And your garden is eye candy at any stage of it! Thank you for being so generous in your sharing.
Are your Blogger commenting woes done with now? Hugs to you and homage to the Furry Clawmaster.
River Fairchild: I have swapped browsers for the moment and most (but not all) of my commenting woes are gone. People ask for my cakes so I hope they aren't being passed around in perpetuity - though with the amount of booze in them they would last well. Spike will (probably) appreciate his homage when he reappears.
DeleteNow THAT is good-looking fruitcake! Lucky recipients :)
ReplyDeleteThe skies and double poppies are beautiful. And I love the avian guard ready to alert the rest that the breakfast buffet is open. I also love that you provide that buffet faithfully, every day. Critters depend on us doing what they've come to expect from us.
Have a good week, dear sister-friend.
jenny_o: The watch cockies keep a very good eye on us, and make their needs/wants very clear. And of course the buffet opens regularly, just after dawn. And has plenty of takers.
DeleteI hope your week is muck better than the last one, dear sister across the seas.
That tutu poppy stole my heart and I am amazed at your baking output. And I'm one who eats fruitcake. Side note: My youngest brother would fry slice of fruitcake up server with bacon and eggs. I have to say yum. But I'm in the minority....
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: Those poppies are special aren't they? I haven't heard of frying up fruit cake to serve with eggs and bacon. I will have to ask the egg and bacon eater in the house.
DeleteI wonder if the cockatoo perched on the lamp post has advance knowledge that you are baking fruit cakes? Maybe he has a taste for fine rum and brandy! In any event they look delicious, Sue. Would that I were able to taste them!
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoinge: I don't think that much escapes the eyes of the watch birds. And wouldn't be surprised if they would eat fruitcake - though I am not offering it to them.
DeleteWow, those are wild sunrises, precious. And, I love fruit cakes, yummy.
ReplyDeleteBob Bushell: Thank you.
DeleteChristmas is rushing towards us at a rapid rate of knots!
ReplyDeleteI'm not making Christmas cakes this year...not even for myself. I used to always make one for my ex, but since he passed away two years ago my interest in make cakes has waned.
I hope the week ahead treats you well, EC...and I hope Jazz is doing fine...cuddles to him. :)
Lee: Christmas cakes are virtually the only cakes I make these day. I hope you and your overlords have a wonderful weekend.
DeleteI'm not much of a fruitcake fan, but I suspect yours are consumed and not passed around. I also have to thank you for the smiles from the tutu flower. :-)
ReplyDeleteDJan: I am glad to share the smiles the tutu flower gave me.
DeleteVery moody dawn photos.
ReplyDeleteAre they carnations? Very nice.
The mini cakes are a good idea. I did do that one year, maybe inspired by you but I don't think they were really appreciated so I never bothered again.
Andrew: Double poppies, and standing much higher than carnations - which for some reason I rarely grow. I wonder why your cakes were not appreciated. Their loss.
DeleteYour sky photos are dramatic, and beautiful as always. And the double poppies are glorious!
ReplyDeleteWe are not fruitcake eaters in our family/families. My mother used to make them every year, but I can't remember the last time one was made or offered at any of our Christmas gatherings. It seems that people would rather have pavlova or heaps of strawberries... or my favourite baked cheesecake, which always disappears very rapidly. Times change, I guess.
Have a very good week, EC. I hope Jazz is being kind to you :)
Alexia: It is fruit salad rather than cake which I look forward to at Christmas. Mind you I started getting people asking in September whether I would be making them this year.
DeleteJazz is worrying me this morning, but has had a good week on the whole.
I LOVE pavlova and may treat myself to one this year. A bought one of course.
DeleteRiver: I hope you enjoy your pavlova. Mind you, like almost everything else I think that home made is better.
DeleteDear EC
ReplyDeleteBeautiful skies. I don't have any success with poppies, so can only admire those in other gardens - yours are gorgeous! I'm not a festive food lover (vegetarian and dislike dried fruit and nuts), but I am sure your cakes will be much appreciated.
Have a good week
Best wishes
Ellie
Ellie Foster: Thank you. As a vegetarian festive food often doesn't interest me either - and I don't eat dried fruit except (occasionally) in this cake. I do like nuts though.
DeleteSe ne avanza una...la prendo io, deve essere buonissima.
ReplyDeleteBuona domenica.
Giancarlo: Thank you. I think these are all accounted for. Have a wonderful day.
DeleteI have the same bakeware! The muffin pans are packed away though and I use the ramekins for baked egg custards.
ReplyDeleteSilly me at the beginning, I read Lawn instead of Dawn and spent a few seconds blinking at the screen in confusion.
River: I rarely remember these ramekins, and the muffin tins spend most of the year packed away. And no, you are unlikely to ever see photos of lawns (spectacular or not) here.
DeleteYou have been very busy!
ReplyDeleteLove the flower with the tutu. : ))
Have a very pleasant and peaceful week.
Catarina: Thank you. You have a wonderful week too.
DeleteAll that baking, it looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteEvery dawn and sunset is so unique, thank you for sharing these, and your lovely flowers.
My selections will be over here.
messymimi: You are right about each dawn and dusk being unique - and they change so swiftly.
DeleteI look forward to your selections.
I've never eaten fruitcake. What does "watered" do for it? Moisten it? I want to try one! Can you email your recipe for the smaller ones? The tutu poppy is so brave and cute too.
ReplyDeleteStrayer: I 'water' them with booze. It does add to the moisture - and also adds flavour. I will send you the recipe later, but it is a full sized one, which I just put in multitudes of smaller tins.
DeleteRico pastel y bellos atardeceres. Te mando un beso
ReplyDeleteJ.P. Alexander: Thank you.
DeleteMy mother and I used to make a fruitcake with Brazil nuts and Maraschino cherries rather than nasty candied fruit, which is the part of fruitcake that I don't like.
ReplyDeleteHere in the U.S., Thanksgiving is coming up. It was one of my father's favorite holidays because it involves tons of food and not having to work.
My Thanksgiving meal is not nearly so ornate. We got a turkey breast from the food bank and I will roast it in my countertop roaster with some potatoes and onions.
Ornery Owl of Naughty Netherword Press and Readers Roost (Not Charlotte): Do sultanas and raisin count as nasty candied fruit? Most of the ingredients in my cake are dried rather than candies - maraschino cherries are added here too. I think/hope that Thanksgiving feasts should be what suits you best, and hope that you and your son enjoy yours.
DeleteA gorgeous post, yummies and brilliant photos...x
ReplyDeleteaussie aNNie: Thank you.
DeletePhotos are lovely. Cake sounds rather yummy. Never made a Christmas fruit cake, we just don't eat it. .
ReplyDeleteMargaret D: Thank you. We both grew up being served Christmas cake so it is perhaps logical that we found and developed our own recipe.
DeleteI've never seen a seed pod like that before. So unique and different.
ReplyDeleteYour sky shots are amazing. I love how varied the colors of the clouds are. I have tried to show some morning sky shots, but the trees behind my yard get in the way, Same with a low hanging moon in winter.
My grandmother always made fruitcake at Christmas. She would usually start in late October, so the rum could soak in properly over time. Like yours, everything in hers was natural. There was never any citron which I can't stand and turns me off to store bought fruitcake. Yours looks great. I've never seen them made in muffin pans before, though. She made hers in loaf pans and I think one year, she used a bundt pan.
Hope all is well in your world, dear.
Bleubeard and Elizabeth: Thank you. I am lucky that from the front yard I get mostly uninterrupted views of the sky. The back yard is very different.
DeleteI thought of the muffin pans when I first decided to make tiny ones for friends - they work well.
Your photos are always wonderful...Unfortunately I cannot abide fruitcake for a host or reasons though I hope your friends enjoy it. Wishing you a lovely week and a hearty meow...
ReplyDeletee: I hope you and Lukas are doing well. I fear Jazz will be going back to the vet tomorrow. Some people cannot eat or loathe fruit cake - which is why I also make shortbread and gluten free brownies at this time of year.
DeleteSundays are good because of Sunday Selections. Even with fruitcake. I have to admit I would try yours.
ReplyDeleteBill: Thank you. Do I detect that you are not usually a fan? It does seem to fall into the like it or loathe category.
DeleteNot loathe, but not willing to seek it out...I would still happily try yours!
DeleteBill: If I am still making them next year, and our postal system has settled down, I may take you up on that and send you one.
DeleteYou skies look almost like mine from my the terrace in the 4th floor, but we have no flowers anymore, the trees are naked meanwhile !
ReplyDeletehttps://gattinawritercramps.blogspot.com/2021/11/sunday-selection.html
Gattina: We have lots of flowers at the moment, though wind and rain mean that many of them are lying down. I will be over to see your Sunday Selections in a minute.
DeleteHi EC - love the fruit cake ... looks just amazing and delicious ... lucky family and friends - shortbread and gluten free brownies too. Oh dear re Jazz - I do hope all goes well ...
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos of dawns and soft colourful poppies - gorgeous. Sundays - the best from you ... and more rain I note. Have a good week - Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Thank you. Perhaps Jazz heard us discussing the V E T. He has had an amazing turnaround this morning. His energy and appetite are back and he is a very different cat to yesterday.
DeleteWe did have more rain - but not as much as predicted. I hope your weather is being kind to you.
Your cake looks delicious! Happy Sunday!
ReplyDeleteashok: Thank you very much. Have a lovely week.
DeleteThat fruitcake looks just so delicious! I would like a slice for breakfast now please. ;) I really like that poppy seed emerging with the tutu. So Pretty. I think my marionette dancer could wear that. I liked the cocky sitting on the post, watching. It seems, wherever we go, there is always a watchbird watching. We cannot escape their beady, curious eyes. And finally I have to say congratulations on your WEP October win. Since I am not part of that group, I'm not sure exactly what its all about, but I believe its writing and I know its something good and obviously well deserved! xo
ReplyDeleteJ C: One of my sisters in law has her fruitcake for breakfast every year. And then dozes. Your marionette dancer would indeed look good in that tutu. You are right about the watchbirds and I am very pleased that ours know we mean them no harm.
DeleteAnd thank you. My WEP win was completely unexpected. Many of the contributors are published authors and the talent pool is huge. Clicking on that badge will take you to the (true) story I entered.
The silhouettes of trees against the sunrises look amazing. The shape of the trees is so much clearer this way, really beautiful. Beaut poppies too (some have just been planted here) and I think I can smell those fruit cakes!
ReplyDeleteKim: Thank you. Those trees feature in a LOT of my skyscapes and I love them. I cannot smell the fruit cakes (sinus woes) but am told that they do smell good.
DeleteYour Christmas cakes look so good. I have never tried my hand but have my mother's recipe and a couple others. Soaking the fruit and nut mix before hand makes sense. Some nurses I knew used a 20cc syringe to inject rum into the cake.
ReplyDeleteThe Blog Fodder: Soaking the fruit makes a big difference. A syringe for the after baking dose is a good idea. At the moment I just drizzle a capful over them every couple of days. By Christmas they are well and truly boozy.
DeleteThe photos of the sky look so pretty
ReplyDeleteThanks for share with us
Sakuranko: Thank you.
DeleteThe cakes look delicious. I always enjoy your photos of the sky no matter when they are taken. Hope you have a wonderful week my friend.
ReplyDeleteMason Canyon: Thank you. I am addicted to watching the sky and revel in its beauty. I am very glad that you are not tired of me posting photos of it. You have a great week too.
DeleteThe sky pictures are so pretty. The flowers are beautiful. I like fruitcake but only the ones without the alcohol.
ReplyDeleteMary Kirkland: Thank you. You would not enjoy my cake, and would have to join the shortbread/gluten free brownie team.
DeleteThe skies are all beautiful, so many wonderful colours within them.
ReplyDeleteI do like your double poppies and a big YUM on your baking, such delicious looking cakes.
Have a good week, November is certainly flying by.
All the best Jan
Lowcarb team member ~Jan: Thank you. November is speeding past isn't it? As I say every year, I have no idea where the year has gone.
DeleteHello and what beautiful flowers you've shared, and those skies, heavenly. Funny thing about Fruit cakes which pretty much just my mother enjoyed beyond all expectations. There are others just not in my family. Yours here would be just what she'd devour too. Enjoy your week and weather. We're going down to 12 Brrrr! degrees tonight!
ReplyDelete21 Wits: I much prefer winter to summer - but your winters are colder than the ones we experience. Fruitcake is like that isn't it? You like it, or you emphatically don't.
DeleteI'm not a fruit cake person, but yours certainly look lovely and I have no doubt they're appreciated by all who receive them. I would rather have the liquor alone and not bother with the cake. I saw Mike's comment. Hilarious. Penelope came to me from Claxton, Georgia, "home of the world famous fruit cake." We did not stop to buy one on our way out of town. The colors in your first photo are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Janie Junebug: I hope they are appreciated - and I do also cater for the people who don't like them.
DeleteThank you and have a wonderful week.
Oh, YUM! I love fruitcake! I haven't made it in decades, but fortunately I have one friend who always makes sure I get my 'fix'. I'm sure your fruitcakes are greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAnd your skyscapes are lovely, as always!
Diane Henders: They are a bit of a blight to make (time consuming and stirring them gets heavy), but I do it as a gesture of love.
DeleteI am glad that you get your fix each year too.
I am currently obsessed with fruit cake, something to do with it appearing on a few blogs :)
ReplyDeleteYou do well to do all that baking, I hope it is very much appreciated
kylie: It is the time of the year for fruit cake - though I am surprised at how many people don't like it. Which is fine.
Deletegreat your post
ReplyDeleteAzka Kamil: Thank you.
DeleteThe sky and blooms are incredible as usual but the fruit cake…takes regular cake by storm.
ReplyDeleteMarie Smith: Thank you. I hope your cataract surgery goes really, really well.
DeleteThe cakes look absolutely delicious!!! Looks like you are ready for the holidays!
ReplyDeletegigi-hawaii: I wish I was ready. I am not.
DeleteFeed me anything that has been soaked in rum and brandy!! YUM
ReplyDeleteGranny Annie: We describe that cake as the cake you have when you are having a drink.
DeleteLate to the party, not only to declare that herewith I join Granny Annie's club, but to praise the dawns.
DeleteAnd now I shall ask Tetrapilotomos for a stable
wormhole ...
Sean Jeating: Thank you. I have watered the cakes again this morning - a morning with a very grey dawn.
DeleteGreat sky shots - and I now feel quite hungry.
ReplyDelete:o)
Cheers
PM
Plastic Mancunian: Thank you. I hope you have something to quench your hunger close to hand.
DeleteOooh! I've been looking for a really goof fruitcake recipe and this looks like it! Do you share your recipe as readily as you share the finished product?
ReplyDeleteUgh. Good. Not Goof. Sigh.
DeleteDiane Stringam Tolley: I am happy to share the recipe. It is a forgiving recipe too, and you can (and we do) adjust the fruit to suit your own tastes. I posted it on my blog yonks ago and you can find that post HERE
DeleteDiane Stringam Tolley: If booze is not your thing (and I suspect it isn't) the fruit mixture can be soaked in tea or orange juice. I suspect you could 'water' cakes that way too.
DeleteDear EC, thanks for giving the posting--in your comment above--to where you provided the recipe. I'm copying and pasting it into my computer recipe book!!! I LOVE fruitcake. I'm the only one I know or have ever met (in the United States) who likes it. It's been a passion of mine since I first tasted it at age 22 in the convent. The German nuns who did all the cooking made their own fruitcake (bread) and we had it throughout the holidays. They had come from Germany before WWI and were a treasure. Peace.
ReplyDeleteDee: I hope you enjoy it. I really hope it.
DeleteBeautiful post Dear E.C.! Sky photos and flower photos look great. Good job. Bye the way, let me to have a slice of fruit cake. We make it alot here. Have a great day.
ReplyDeletebread&salt: Thank you. Isn't it interesting the way there is a divide between fruit cake lovers and haters?
DeleteOh my gosh. Your goodies look divine. What a labor of love. There's nothing better than a handmade gift, especially of the edible variety.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Sandra Cox: They are definitely gifts of love.
DeleteBuon martedi.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo: Thank you - and to you.
DeleteHow sweet and thoughtful of you to bake these cakes for family and friends. That is a lot of work! What do you bake for the people who cannot eat or don't like fruit cake (I'm one of those)? This is such a wonderful big gift.
ReplyDeleteI like the double poppies. I wonder whether they are the same that are called peony poppies here. I have never tried them, but since I saw your beauties I am getting second thoughts.
Carola Bartz: Peony Poppies sounds like the perfect name. The first of these popped up in the garden as a volunteer some years ago. I have been saving the seeds and broadcasting them ever since.
DeleteI make shortbread or gluten free brownies for those who cannot or will not eat fruit cake. This year one of my nieces has become a vegan. If covid allows it and we have a family gathering at Christmas I will make her a pavlova - I found an interesting recipe which will suit her dietary requirements.
Those double poppies are amazing! I've never seen!
DeleteAnd those Christmas cakes.....swoon.
Takes me back to my grandfather's bakery days when he started the Christmas fruit cakes in October and would keep them in the attic in tins and go up every week to replace the damp cloth he draped across each of them to keep them moist. He called it "working the cakes".....
I always ate just the sweet fruits and left the dense cake as much untouched as I could. Until I grew up and realized how wonderful the treat.
Thanks for bringing that back like a gift:)
Enjoy these last sips of November,
Jennifer
SingingRiverSoulSpa: They are delightful aren't they? I smile each and every time they emerge from the ground - and that smile expands as they bloom.
DeleteChristmas cakes need to be started early to develop the flavour don't they? And how wonderful to have a baking grandfather.
Can’t believe I almost missed this post. Glad I didn’t and got to enjoy the sight of your culinary art.
ReplyDeleteHope your week has been and continues to be fruitful.
Myrna R.: Thank you - you always leave the most generous comments.
DeleteSkyscapes are always amazing as they change into different colours. That large poppy will produce lots of poppy seeds for you to do more baking! I marvel at your industrial self to produce so many Cmas cakes in different sizes. They look pretty delicious too. What with all that rum, it will be a jolly merry Cmas. I have never baked a fruit cake, I tell my sis-in-law hers are the most delicious and she sends me some every Cmas! I return her some bought pineapple jam tarts.
ReplyDeletekestrel: I have never used that poppy in my baking. A thought to consider - and thank you. Pineapple jam tarts sound good too - and I have never had one, much less made them.
DeleteI was sick most of the week so I wasn't as productive as I'd wanted to be, but was still fortunate in that being a teacher, and it is a holiday week in the USA, my job was off for the week. That meant I got a lot of rest. :) I think it's sweet that you're doing the baking and I always enjoy seeing your photos. Have a wonderful day!
ReplyDeletemail4rosey: I do hope you are feeling better now. Much better.
DeleteGreat photos and sunrises, and that Christmas cake looks gorgeous! Well done for getting such incredible festive baking sorted :)
ReplyDeletekaren: Thank you. I do hope that the cake recipients enjoy them.
Delete