Windy.

Although it wasn't sunny the weather was still good enough for us to go for a Sunday walk along the coast at Morte Point. When we parked in the village, looking at all the holiday makers in shorts and t-shirts I thought I might be a bit over dressed but once out on the Point the strong winds made me glad that I had on trousers and a jacket.

It was quite busy out on the path and as we walked along everyone kept telling us that there were seals down on the rocks. I guess if you live in a city it is really special to see seals but we have become a little blasé about the seals. That isn't to say that I don't still stop and check them out through my binoculars. There were 3 on this rock and another 7 on the rock facing them. (On the other side of the headland there was a dead seal washed up on the rocks.)

It was too windy to sit comfortably at our usual spot so we climbed down to sit in the shelter of this rock formation which I call 'The Castle'. (That's a path running in front of it.) We had our coffee and some of my spiced fruit bread there.

Back home I decided not to do any gardening as I had rather overdone things yesterday. Instead I gave the small spice cupboard a thorough clean.

My first job was to take down and wash all the china and my rabbit collection. I think it's time to wean myself off the rabbits so I packed away most of the small ones. Then maybe in 6 months or a year I will be happy to sell them or even give them away to a charity shop. So many of the things on this cupboard brought back memories; we bought the tiny pink glass elephant (bottom right) from a glass blower at horse show we went to before we were married and the blue rabbit which is a container with a lid, was one I bought to celebrate our move into our first home. Unfortunately it wasn't properly packed and was seriously crushed and needed careful glueing together. The pot of birthday candles brought back so many memories of birthday cakes carefully constructed to reflect my boys' changing interests and yes they do still recall many of them. Some of the spices brought back Christmas memories and I can still remember buying the star anise at an amazing spice stall in Palma market 30 years ago with my mother. (The anise smells and looks fine.) Looking at all the whole seeds and pods as well as ground spices my kitchen looked like an ancient herbalist's workshop. By the time I had collated the various packets and jars there were still 3 unknown spices which took us a while to identify by smelling and comparing them to the labelled jars. If we were to have some sort of global event I would still be able to prepare tasty meals with whatever basics I could find.

This is one of the cupboards I tidied the other day with the overflow spices that don't fit in the small cupboard. I think it is quite fitting that the chilli powder is kept in an old laboratory jar.