Experimenting

Like many of you I watched the Festival of Rememberance coverage on Saturday evening. I’m afraid it has left me feeling a little out of sorts. My father fought at the battle of Monte Casino and coupled with losing him in the month of November old memories have surfaced. The video coverage of the battle brought home the realities of what so many suffered through and I know the nightmares never left Dad, not just of that battle, however he always maintained that his Italian campaign medal was the one he fought hardest for.

Luckily we finally have a few rays of sun here in Devon, so on the days I am not working I am making sure to spend some time out of doors. I was up early this morning and am more than halfway through my to do list so later I hope to take a quick stroll up the nearby lane.

On Sunday we headed out to youngest daughters for tea, we were not the only guests so for the first time ever I made some doughnuts…strawberry sauce and Holland cream were the fillings…

I weighed each dough portion into 60 grams, instead of the 100 grams the recipe called for, they were plenty big enough, and despite a piping bag disaster I was pretty pleased with them for a first attempt.

The Holland cream recipe made loads and I decided to go for the full amount as apparently it freezes well. Later today I shall see as earlier I made some rich sweet pastry and will be making an attempt at creating some pineapple cream tarts as I believe the Holland cream should go well in them. With a little luck the kitchen won’t end up in quite such a sticky mess as it did on Sunday…when left too long before sieving it strawberry sauce tends to set! Burst piping bags full of cream leave quite a clean up operation too.

Hopefully some will make it to my colleagues at work tomorrow, they would have liked the doughnuts but there’s no way I could make them before work and they don’t fare well overnight!

Right cup of tea finished, time to get back to the list!

Blessings, J. x

A Catch Up Of Sorts

Well well well…

How time has flown once again. For those interested my scarf came second in the knitting competition. It has also caused quite a stir. In all honesty, and not wanting to blow my own trumpet it should have won. What did win had the possibility of not warranting being placed, however the judge is sister to a friend of ours and is suffering from dementia. She has judged the handicrafts for several years. Sadly it appears she gets in a bit of a muddle and possibly recognises a name and puts that first in all classes. Oh dear. it doesn’t really bother me, but it is beginning to look rather strange and I just hope nobody decides to complain to her.

Anyway, other people I know have broached the situation with our friend, who of course is worried about her sister. 

We have celebrated with several of our friends last weekend who joined with us in welcoming the recent Mr. & Mrs. to Devon(Our son and daughter in law). It having been an away wedding was not conducive to inviting people just to the evening do.  Been rather busy, and we’re currently eating up leftovers. 

A day off today has been filled to the brim with computer accounting catch uping!

The washing machine we use to wash the really grotty boiler suits gave up the ghost and so our inside machine has been moved to the pig house to step into the role and a new one has been delivered this afternoon. Currently doing its first load. I hope it becomes a long standing member of the family!

The other week I took eldest grandson to the local pottery for his birthday treat. The scene has been painted and is currently in the kiln!

Hubby on that same day managed to have rather a nasty accident. He was up in the handler bucket cutting a branch when it flipped back and caught his foot. Somehow another branch then took him out the bucket. Luckily he managed to throw the chainsaw away, however there was only four year old second grandson with him watching from the cab. he climbed out and asked if Grumpy was going to get up then asked where his phone was. Poor little chap idolises his Grumpy and it really scared him. It really scared hubby too, he admitted a few days later he thought he’d lost his foot.

We think his foot was fractured however he did not go for an xray. His outer ankle is being dressed every few days by me, luckily I have access to specialist dressings from work, as his wound went slightly  narcotic. I also managed to measure him for some light compression that was safe to apply without having a Doppler.

Anyway, apologies for being absent from your blogs for a while, I hope to soon be back!

Blessings J. x

And Done!

 

All done!

Resting A While

So the weather has resumed its continuation of rain, rain, and more rain, just as it has been for much of this whole year. It just so happens to be the week I chose to take off from work. Big sigh…though I’m not sure quite what I would have got up to if it had been gloriously sunny. My energy has deserted me since falling foul of a nasty virus last week. Little steps I keep reminding myself as I wheeze my way through tasks. I’ve started taking my inhalers again, though the preventative one takes two weeks to get fully working and the instant Ventolin leaves me feeling like a wreck.

Hey ho as they say. With feet currently up and having just finished a cup of tea life can’t be all bad.

I need to complete the scarf I’ve been knitting as it is to be entered in a local show at the weekend. A lovely pattern I thought as I popped it into my Etsy basket, however upon printing it out on ten pages, yes ten, I began to realise its complexity. Should have been wary of the name…Everest! Anyway I now just need to weave in the ends and double graft the two halves together…oh my!

Most of the stitches are twisted…which made for fun taking back if I noticed an error. Something a little different anyway.

I have taken to getting a weekly delivery of groceries, and at the moment have been very pleased with how it’s gone. My first job of this week was tidy the pantry cupboard, a big tick, but I still need to defrost the two chest freezers and they’re in the old pig house so maybe not a job for this weather.

Any ideas as to what I can cook for tea, after two nights of chicken curry which was lovely my brain seems rather depleted on ideas. Knowing hubby will be out a night or two preparing for the weekend’s ploughing match has rather taken my mind off the what to have problem. That and a slightly wooly head.

Autumn has now well and truly begun, logs are in the storage shed and stacked in the rack in the passage…there are also the ones in the fireplace and yesterday was a day for lighting the fire after dinner.  Looking out at the rain, today could well end in the same hue!

I need to make a coffee sponge and some ginger biscuits for classes at the show too, so maybe this afternoon I will float off into my happy place and flick through a recipe book or two.

Looking forward to catching up on your blogs soon.

Blessings, J. x

It Was The Chocolate That Did It

Several weeks ago, when the sun was shining brightly in the sky I had an idea, which in hindsight turns out maybe not to have been a very good idea, however it was an idea all the same so I’ll tell you about it. Whilst shopping for our of course exceptionally healthy trolley of food I trundled up the confectionery isle and paused…for a little too long as it transpired…indeed long enough to get stirrings of want and need for chocolate. Now we all know that bars of melted chocolate are both messy and unappealing, so lightbulb moment of put chocolate in fridge occurred…and may I tell you how delicious that cold hard chocolate was to bite into…it was scrumptious…but then…I began feeling that all was not well in the area where I have had root canal work done..not really painful but wrong, and uncomfortable to chew on that side, eventually getting a funny taste too. In my head I decided that it would settle down, but oh no, settle down it most certainly did not, and so today on my lovely day off I found myself laying beyond flat in the dentist’s chair having all the filling removed and temporarily replaced. By temporary I thought a week or two, but no, temporary in this instance is six months, then if all is well I can have a crown fitted. So guess what I’ve had for lunch…no not crackers and cheese, but pasta and sauce. Am I allowed to be feeling a mite sorry for myself? That injection he gave me was horrible, and I didn’t even squeal. I did ask to sit up to spit all the old filling out repeatedly, as for some reason it kept settling under my tongue, and then one piece landed right at the back of my tongue. Not the most pleasant sensation.

Anyway I consoled myself with a trip to the garden section of a local sell everything shop and have come away with lots of mini cyclamen and some more miniature daffodil bulbs. I’ve rather given up on the taller varieties of daffodil, as we always seem to get such ferocious winds just as they come into their own, and in my humble opinion daffodils with broken stems do nothing to improve the beauty of the garden.

Having hung out the third load of washing on returning home today I had intended taking my lunch up in the garden, so was rather disappointed when reaching the back door, laden tray in hands only to be greeted by an overcast sky and feel the wind had picked up too. Maybe good for the washing, but not I feel for me, especially me with tender mouth!

Anyway I have more to do with my afternoon than idle it away upon the swing seat, even if it was more pleasant than it is outside, the inevitable paperwork always haunts me, and I have a new baby…not of the living kind, but an electric piano..well weighted keyboard to be precise, and am working my way through an online piano course. We had an old piano when I was young, yes I really was young once, eventually said piano was relegated to the garage, however I still enjoyed tapping away in a totally untrained fashion upon it. Then eldest daughter started learning the piano around age ten and we had a keyboard, progressing to a piano. However the piano was wooden framed and eventually we could find nobody to tune it. Eventually we said goodbye to it and later on the keyboard. Having had just a few lessons myself just before the foot and mouth outbreak I had to stop when we were forced to stay at home being farming folk and basically never took it up again, until now that is. I know I’m never going to be a great pianist, but I’d like to be able to bash out a tune or two and amuse myself. Middle grandson is also interested so daughter is relearning herself to then teach him. When Grandma is at work!

Well, it’s keeping me amused anyway, and hubby has been really really busy lately, sigh, though the job he’s doing is a good one, it’s taken some sticking as he’s trying to keep his regulars happy in the evenings and at weekends, leaving not a lot of us time…so the piano is my friend indeed.

Right, despite the weather forecast promising a dry day it looks as if the heavens could open at any moment so I’m off to pick in my pegged out!

Blessings, J. X

Rolling Down The Hill

Well rolling down the hill is just what life feels like right now…and it’s getting faster, sometimes scarier and hopefully with much laughter and love along the way.

Work continues to dominate, though in fact I now only do three days a week however these have been coupled with a few bouts of extra training as I have started my new role within the NHS plus our personal business paperwork so there has been much to keep me out of mischief.

Happily our honeysuckle repeat flowered so what I feared was a case of missing the boat in fact has become more opportunity to make honeysuckle cordial which I must say last Winter was the only thing that managed to quell hubbys cough! Quite a relief for both of us as it was disturbing both of our sleep.

I am looking forward in a few weeks to having a week off too, though I shall be happy to be home and begin the task of cosying up…you know what I mean…kind of an Autumn clean, thicker throws, fresh washed windows, de-cobwebbing the beams, and this cottage has rather a lot of both webs and beams at the moment!

Our day dawned wet this morning and was much slower to improve than anticipated, however now the sun is shining, though it looks rather blustery. Good enough for the entire washing line to be used up and I must  away up the garden path shortly to pick the next load of peas, beans and tomatoes. Of course after that comes the processing of said harvest! But that will be another story.

And I forgot to mention the carrots…we weren’t even sure they could have been of this Earth!

Blessings, J. x

The Air

Saturday…

And so once more the skies have changed to their post Summer Solstice hues…the feel is different…Autumn is but a few breaths away. Even shadows appear slightly changed.

Last evening my energy levels crashed to zero as soon as I made it through our cottage door. I just lay on the sofa for a good hour or more, and barely had the energy to drink a cup of tea. It has been an exceptionally busy week with training on top of my normal workload. It will be worth it , but my, the combination of the heat of the week, learning and physical work certainly depleted my store of energy. Hence today having been a very steady one. There is washing on the line, dishes are done and downstairs has been hoovered…but that is it. A simple stir fry for tea is the plan, I really haven’t felt this tired for a very long time. Some Olympic action has been on the telly and wow how do those dressage horses do what they do.They were so beautiful to watch.

Someone in the village is sawing wood, a sound I associate with the changing seasons and much loved from my childhood, and adulthood come to that!

The grandchildren next door have been interested in WW2 rationing for some time…we gave them a simplified reason why this was necessary, appropriate for their age and they each have a ration book and have to get things marked off from Mummy’s kitchen. An orange or banana is allowed but only one piece of fruit not from our locality allowed per day. They normally hoover up the fruit bowl so Mummy has purchased a large pack of British apples to supplement their appetites. God willing they never have to experience anything like this out of necessity. However we all feel it is a really good exercise in realising what foods are not from our country and so take more resources to reach us. I’m considering that Grandma and Grumpy should do something similar soon.

Sunday…

A trip out today with picnic lunch and browse around a very large car boot sale at Stratton…followed by a memorable family birthday party. I found a couple of pieces to squirrel away for later in the year and hubby was happy finding a few tool bits and pieces.

Monday…

Basically get ready for the working week!

Blessings, J. X