A Chill Wind

 Oh my…what a night…having been alerted to some strange happenings the night before by neighbours we checked our CCTV and sure enough had had some visitors. 

Apparently they had spent the night down the dead end road opposite having driven in a ditch. Strangely waiting until 05:30 in the morning to start ringing doorbells. 

Not going to lie, they had at least one phone, which looked very much like it was used to take a picture of hubbies van and then our front windows. We actually heard something that woke us, but then it stopped so presumed it must have been the cat fence playing up in the rain. Then kept getting flashes of light through the curtains…that was the torch flashing to see round the back.

Now they really were in a ditch, so why wait all night then wake people up on a Sunday morning so early?

If you have a phone why not phone someone for assistance. 

Why cover your face with your hood when you look up and notice security cameras?

So many unanswered questions…

So you know the film Home Alone…yep we are out to protect our home in whatever way necessary…though I really didn’t sleep much last night.

Also both us and our neighbour found marks to the right of our doors that we’ve not noticed before, could be a coincidence, or not.

Turned bitterly cold here as the morning has worn on…I mean really raw. Is the Beast stirring?

Anyways, life still busy busy, and now have to be night watchman too…

I’ll leave your with my flattish fail loaf of maslin sourdough bread…now if I threw that at somebody up to no good they’d certainly know it…

Keep warm, keep safe, blessings J. x

Incognito

 Apologies, I have just realised that I have commented on several of your blogs (and replied to comments on my own) as anonymous…tut tut…

All down to new set up hiccups…hopefully now resolved.

Been having a few days off, today is dull and pretty lifeless here. Not sure how we’ll be affected by the impending storm but feeling unsettled knowing that I will have to travel to work.

Fire lit, and my first ever pitta bread dough currently rising to take care of some leftover lamb bits languishing in the fridge.

Thinking I have a case of the January blues…not helped by the recent stress…just can't get my head around the paperwork at all…brain feels stuck and know it’s not worth trying as I’ll just make mistakes at the moment. Be kind to self, be kind to self!

I spent half the night down on the sofa, though think the culprit to have been the mixture of butter and cream in my sliced potato and onion dish topped with some leftover pastry. It tasted wonderful, but in hindsight could have been the cause of my 2am wake up and subsequent failure to get back to sleep, at least in part.

Is that a glimmer of sunshine I see through the kitchen window? I really ought to fetch in some logs for the next few days as be it rain or snow, neither will make for fun trips to the log store. It will probably help lift my mood also. Best foot forward and all that…but it’s so hard when an invisible thread holds you back.

Not a very interesting photo, however this was our turkey after I spent an hour deboning, stuffing and rolling it. It made for much easier carving, and we’d sorted the carcass and eaten the stew and orts before the big day. I do not however own a boning knife so managed a small self inflicted injury during the process using a carving knife.

Make sure to keep warm and safe in the coming few days, unfortunately I return to work tomorrow, and will be taking stout boots and extra clothing with me just in case of unforeseen circumstances on my journey home.  

Blessings J. x

About Time Too!

 I fear I owe an apology for my prolonged absence however unfortunately there has been good reason for it. 

Back in November, life was good, and we even went on a short turkey and tinsel break with some of our friends.

The morning after we came back I found an unpleasant message on my phone. It was unsettling, even though I didn’t believe it to be true, it was from a new FaceBook account with no profile picture and referenced one of my daughters. Indeed after a few days mulling it over and chatting with work colleagues I reported it as harassment, not mentioning it to daughter.

A week or so later I had the good fortune to finish work a little early. I had an anonymous phone call which I only answered as I had sent off my bowel screening test the previous week. This caller hung up but then phoned again and advised me my daughter was in danger. I don’t wish to go into all the horrid details, however they seemed to know names. They rang again later to say they knew how upsetting this all was. Strangely no actual facts.

Hubby came home and having not mentioned the original message to him I decided I needed to tell him what had happened. He too had had anonymous calls that afternoon. I think it was 37 in under an hour.

After contacting my daughters Mother in Law we decided that we really needed to make them aware of what had happened, they had had nothing untoward, but us two Mothers put on a united front and went to the nearest police station that you could actually get to talk to someone. 

They thought it was some sort of scam, as did we but were then at a loss as to how it would develop.

Then whilst in dazed anxious mode I noticed our online accounting software was opening on a different page than it normally did. It also requested me to renew the bank feed, and in a totally different way to normal. Thankfully I did not carry this request out.

Passwords changed and the software went back to normal. I think we dodged a bullet aimed at us when we were very stressed.

I think just about all our passwords have now been updated, An old out of date laptop hubby was using has been evicted and new up to date device set up.

I stopped all media browsing, checking…everything…and am only now tentatively stepping back online.

So belated Merry Christmas to you all, and a Happy Healthy New Year be Yours.

I’m hoping to look back over my regular reads in the coming weeks to have a catch up.

Sorry it’s taken so long, my confidence was really knocked, then work became a whole lot more stressful than it needs to be due to staffing issues.

Just a photo of our tree this year, which sadly I had to remove earlier today due to it dropping needles, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, having only put it up on the Winter Solstice!

And so January is our new master for a few weeks, we have had a little snow, and lots of hail and ice.

Keep safe, blessings, J. x

Stepping Into November

I can hardly remember the last lime I was here…October was not the best month for me health wise firstly with a flu-like bug, followed by suspected food poisoning which seems to have triggered a UTI so a short course of antibiotics came next, within a week I thought I had reactive arthritis, but with some other symptoms now it seems I am indeed reacting to the medication. Fan-dandy not.

Anyway in other news, we had a few folks around to celebrate All Hallows Eve last Friday, 

Youngest daughter made a lovely cake…except it held a surprise when cut!

This witch is nearly as old as the hills…

Some special brew by the fire…with some mice, and spiders hanging around…

Think this poor soul missed out on the food…

The annual outing of the crow, and bat…

A suitably spooky dining hall…

And a glimpse of the curtains I made…

Grandma did an actual spell…that worked thanks to some special effect smoke paper…happy children, but dear me, I would not have survived the witch trials of old.

Yesterday being All Souls Day I made some soul cakes, and very tasty they are

Some of these could have done with a little more time in the Aga, however hubby liked them warm, so we are able to heat them through before eating without them being overdone..

Recipe from the lovely Cattern Cakes and Lace book…

This was the inside of the Halloween cake…hummm…

So for now that’s all, time for a rest before the usual get ready for the working week, tea and everything else…Blessings, J. x

An Inkling

 That’s just how it started, an inkling that something was amiss…last week on Wednesday I went out for what should have been a very enjoyable ramble to RHS Rosemoor with picnic lunch avec daughters and two little boys. I just didn’t feel quite right and a headache seemed to threaten. On Thursday afternoon whilst at work the strobing aura came on. Luckily it was near the end of the day, and I had medication and sunglasses with me, still…Friday came and off I went into work feeling like someone had hit me over the head with a cricket bat. I don’t think in reality this had happened, but I decided to struggle through…We didn’t meet up with our friends in the evening as we quite often do. Too tired, exhausted even.

Then came the busy weekend of childcare and kitchen duties…Sunday evening I crashed on the sofa and slept. Monday morning a sore throat. I wanted to tick some jobs off of my lengthy list so after taking paracetamol kept plodding along followed by a short rest. Deciding I needed something extra I downed a dose of Ibuprofen for good measure. That enabled me to peg out in the welcome sunshine. After lunch I tackled hubbies daily work diary. Two days in my brain refused to carry on. The headache returned, body ached, sore throat returned, legs wobbling, and joints complaining. 

I hate being ill…I hate having to phone work but decided it was better to heads up them sooner rather than wait for the morning and give them a nasty surprise. 

Thank goodness for wood burners, logs already stacked by the fire, and also for a kind daughter who upon hearing my plight brought tea around ready cooked.

So now hubby is out on an emergency job and will be very late home, I can’t physically do much or concentrate, so am bored, and achey, and ever so slightly snotty!

Well that was last evening, today I’m up and dressed, feeling sorry for myself with zero energy.

I have a cat for company, a hot water bottle for warmth, really don’t want any noise or music, this body needs to rest a while.

Have just had some unsettling family news too, but for now we just have to wait, ah it never rains but it pours as they say…

Blessings, J. x

On A Monday

 So we’ve reached the last Monday in September, not sure quite how we’ve arrived here so soon but there’s absolutely nothing I can change or slow down.

Busy week ahead so I’ve been up since silly o’clock trying to speed through some of the week’s jobs. I now use an app called Opus One, and for me it works. I can break tasks down so they don’t appear quite so daunting.

We have had a logging weekend. This used to mean I assisted in hands on logging. However this weekend it’s found me very much in Grandma role, and feeder of many folks, so the Aga has been kept busy the entire time.

There has been fresh bread each day, ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, homemade tomato soup, our tomatoes but thankfully courtesy of eldest daughter. Roast turkey on Saturday evening and leftovers last night. I cheated on the afters. Diam cake, which I thought would be nicer than it was and a sticky toffee pudding. Flapjack form the Aga, and toffee crispy squares from youngest daughter. 

I normally have a little boy with me on a Monday, however his Daddy is home today, so until the scaffolding arrives in order for them to re-do their chimney, I have a reprieve for which I am ever so slightly grateful, lovely though he is I have whizzed through a few bits and have been rather enjoying a quiet cuppa.

I am wishing that my work life balance would equal out a little, staffing issues have meant it’s been a heavier load than it should be for several weeks. Ever hopeful that this will improve shortly as not sure how my body is able to keep going at the rate it has.

Anyway as the first load of washing will soon be ready to hang outside on this sunny day I’ll just leave you with a couple of pictures…

Lovely fresh bread, but a nightmare to cut!

My lovely steaming cup of tea, complete with illicit biscuit and sunshine…sheer bliss!

Until next time, blessings J. x

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful

 As the song goes, the weather outside is frightful, but hang on a minute, isn’t it September…yes of course, still September. With the last vestiges of Summer now fading in has come Autumn, and isn’t she in rather a hurry this year?

Back in August we did indeed manage to get away for a short break. One lovely day spent in Ironbridge, followed by an overnight stay, then onto the Black Country Living Museum. It was all just so lovely, and a wonderful way to spend my Birthday this year.

I was mistaken whilst at the Black Country Living Museum for someone who works there, apparently my shawl was a red herring, and seeing myself later in the mirror I suppose my longish floral dress, woollen shawl, and black lace up boots did rather give the impression I was somewhat living in the past. 

Anyway after that we headed up further North to visit our Son and his family, including granddaughter.

All in all it was a fantastic few days, which now do seem rather a long time ago. Hubby helped remove Sons’ conservatory and old kitchen whilst he was there, they are having major building works in a few weeks time. 

One small disappointment at the Living Museum, well two actually. Firstly I consciously decided not to take many photos, and instead was going to buy the souvenir book, however there wasn’t one, apparently they are in the process of having a new one printed. Of course we only realised this when on our way out of the attraction. Secondly we purchased a set of three packs of vintage style playing cards including Donkey, Old Maid, and Snap thinking they would be lovely to take back home and play with the boys. Wrong, they are a load of old rubbish and I’d have been disappointed to even have had them pop out of a cracker. Moving on the rest of the experience was a joy.

Back home, eldest daughter offered to wax our multitude of small beams in the living room that have remained unloved since we had them sandblasted before moving in. They now fit together more with the large beams we have.

Earlier in the Summer I washed our two sets of living room curtains and the door curtain. unfortunately they’ve just about come to the end of their useful life, the layers all shrinking at different rates over the many years they have been in service across three properties. Sat in a roll on our carpet is some curtain fabric, Along with some nap lining fabric. I need to get busy at the machine soon to shut out the darkening evenings, and hold onto our warmth.

I expect I am amongst some good company in having been feeling a little under the weather for a couple of days, rather achey and tired. Medication and a willingness to pace myself seem to be controlling it to some degree. Youngest was unfortunately really rather poorly for a few days last week and I had to go and assist with her little boy as she was really off her feet. Once a Mother I guess!

Two out of the three little boys next door are suffering to some degree too…and guess what, it’s Grandma day tomorrow!

Anyway, a roast isn’t going to roast itself, so I really need to set to and help it along a little. Just a few photos of Ironbridge and the Black Country Living Museum…

Until next time, blessings, J. x