O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

 Just back from a day out working - I feel very dusty and rather weather beaten and desperately in need of a shower - well, I feel to need a mug of tea first and may be some lunch ..... hmmmmm decisions decisions decisions!

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments, it confirms that blogging is a far kinder and friendlier space in the tinterwebs. I'd sort of slipped over to IG coz of the whole 'vanlife' thing especially as our youngest son is about to set off for a stint in his converted landie. He and his partner are off to Spain meandering around, living off grid and exploring for the summer.  And since February, we'd been pretty feral in our own van travelling all around the north of the uk. IG seemed a good way to find out interesting things and to share lovely adventures however as I mentioned yesterday I was saddened how quickly I discovered the shallowness of the majority of IG users - not all - please don't get me wrong, I have found and met up with some lovely folk. But also IG itself seems to have programmed to pit the users against each other and have to fight hard to be seen - I do not have that level of neediness to constantly make content / videos / follow a 'hook' / play a trending track or follow a viral trend .... 

A couple of weeks ago we went to East Riddlesden Hall (Keighley) and watched an open air production by The Duke's Theatre Group. We loved it - not the first time we've spent a glorious summer's evening in a field full of people with picnics whilst bats fly over head and there is a stage full of thespians doing amazing things - this time it was Romeo and Juliet and it was really good. 'Romeo' had the best head of hair ever (and he knew it! He was cruising the audience leading up to the performance selling programmes and he tossed his heavy fringe like a Shetland pony tosses its mane!)

Leaving the performance at the end of the evening was rather a magical ending to a lovely production as the gardens were filled with twinkling lights -  we do enjoy these evenings, we take a small picnic of tea and biscuits or cake as we have already eaten by the time we get there and sipping a brew and chewing on a buttery shortbread whilst Romeo was breaking his heart over the fair Rosalind then falling instantly in love with Juliet, is rather good.

Silly question time ... Have you heard of / eaten American Breakfast Biscuits?

They are basically a type of scone but made with only three ingredients.  Tinned coconut, self raising flour and sugar. I tried them for the first time last night and although they are not quite scones they were tasty and a good vegan alternative.

So - one tin of coconut - mix the liquid and solids til it is a lovely creamy consistency, add two flat tablespoons of sugar, then sift in 325gms SRF, mix well. If a little wet, add flour until a gently soft dough, flatten slightly, use a scone cutter and bake at 220 for about 10 - 14 minutes. They rise to a soft 'bread roll' type shape and eaten warm with rapidly melting butter running down your fingers is rather yum indeed!

And a final picture of a happy dog from Saturday - we'd been for a lovely walk before heading home and she had thrown herself down with a happy huff and promptly had a power nap - silly girl.

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

By William Shakespeare

(from Romeo and Juliet, spoken by Juliet)

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot
Nor arm nor face nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.