Ray Mears, eat your heart out

Christmas being Christmas means you get surprises. I for one had something unusual from Bri. Although, if you know me, perhaps not. It was the Worlds smallest whittling kit, but I have BIG plans for it. I have watched what you can do when abandoned in a wood in the snow and the bears are coming. You make a hatchet from the nearest branch, plus writing paper to send a note home, a bowl for the berries and of course, for fun, a fancy spoon with carving on the handle. So I am ready for the doing of. Armed with my new knife to go along with the knowledge, I thought I may have a go at a canoe. If I can carve a pumpkin, I can carve anything, give me a tree trunk and let me at it.
Molly had a lovely surprise too. It was a laser light thingy and she has been chasing the spot it makes and having a fine old time.
Bri's surprise was the book he thought he was getting turned into one he had never heard of on the way through the post, magic eh? I bet a lot of people got those kind of surprises this year, it was the snow to blame of course, not the post office...

I'm Dreamin' of a White.....

...out, well I don't mind one bit I've always wanted to step into the most Christmassy Christmas card and now I can. The reality has been a little chillier than expected but what the heck we are one day into winter now what else can we expect? One day is that all? We have embraced the weather, we are feeding the robins which come every couple of hours they know a sucker when they get one. The blackbird is on the berries back and front of the house in turn and Molly is demented with her own Christmas turkeys just lining up! We have decorated the cake with a snowman, complete with snowballs of course. But the exciting thing this week is we have finally, after all the Christmas movies we have watched, made a batch of genu-w-ine Egg Nogg and I can say it is really potent and scrumptious at the same time, bring me another cup Bri. I am watching the snow come down and listening to Andy Williams Christmas CD playing Let it Snow and thinking, for me, it doesn't get better than this as long as we can stay in by the fire toastie warm but of course we will have to go out and deliver presents, get those sprouts ready to put on Thursday for lunch on Christmas Day!!! But for a while it is Snow Day and Silver Bells is now playing and I'm ready to make Merry. Have a Good one everyone.

Highs and Lows

It's that time of year again to review what went right and what didn't down at the lottie. The obvious high is that we won Best Half Plot (Joint with Chris 2a) which was totally unexpected but we were glad that we did. The tomatoes in the poly tunnel did well, we made some fantastic tasting tomato soup from them (Sungold) however, it was a bit of a pain to have to water them on a semi daily basis during the warm weather (Yes, we did have some warm days this year!) Next year we plan to grow fewer (two per grow bag) and use our mini greenhouses instead. The broccoli was disappointing it wasn't the tight round green heads that we wanted but a straggly variety that was no use to man nor beast. The red cabbage, however, given to us by Reg, grew to huge proportions and was delicious braised. Raspberries, gooseberries and strawberries were prolific and made great jams and crumbles. Like everyone else, we grew too many courgettes so next year we promise to only have two plants which should be just about right. The potatoes (Desiree) behaved themselves admirably by growing in neat rows and not falling over. They have been really good to eat too and we will definitely grow them again next year. The swedes and the parsnips are still in the ground , swedes don't look too good but I think the parsnips will be o.k when we get to pull them after the snow has gone. Lettuce, beans, sweetcorn, apples, spinach, beetroot, onions and rhubarb were all good so overall we didn't have too bad a year. Plans are afoot for a new design next year so watch this space to see what happens.

Molly's Tale...

We can almost set our watches by our Molly, who does everything by the clock. At 5a.m. she wakes us just before the alarm goes off, 9.25 a.m is her breakfast time after her morning walk and ablutions. Then 12.30 lunch and 5 p.m. curfew, probably it will be 4.30 now the nights are drawing in. She doesn't do cold and dark and she is never late. Except, that is, when she is up to no good and we then always go and check on her. Sure enough this morning was one of those occasions. Bri found her nose to nose with a tiny little wood mouse so he fetched me and the camera. Bri doesn't do mice and spiders. We never imagined they would still be there when we got back, but neither had moved. What a surprise the mouse hadn't been bumped off, just stared at! We managed to pick Moll up and bring her home without any fuss and the teeny tiny mouse scurried away under the leaves. How lucky he was he'll never know. Unless of course Molly knows him well and they always have a chat in the morning, this we will never know. At least we got a photo of him in case he turns up again and we so like to recognise all her little friends. Hope this is one she won't be bringing home, dead or alive...

My own Gobolino (the witches cat)

I can't believe it's eggs for tea Sunday again, which is how I always think of the clocks changing backwards. It is also Halloween tonight and I have finally managed to carve a pumpkin. I have wanted to do this for years but always have done it with my niece and nephew who got to the pumpkin first. Now they are grown it was my turn so I thought I would do something less scary than theirs. I chose a cat and a bat and here it is my first solo carving. I love the colour of pumpkins they are so comforting. Now we have a great-niece I decided to save the seeds and let her sow them next year and grow her own to carve and keep up what has become a family tradition. This is so much fun I can hardly wait!

Return to Sender?

Bri's very favourite person in the whole world is the Postie, doesn't have to be one we know just the postie. Even the kids told him he should be one when he was made redundant, in fact everyone told him. This is because everyday he gets post, expects post, gets excited when it's post time until - a few weeks ago that is. What has changed you may wonder, has he stopped ordering stuff... No, we have a new dyslexic postman. He is driving us crazy! You can spot him holding the letters at arms length and scratching his head, this is not good we think. It isn't good we hadn't had mail in days.We finally got a letter that wouldn't go through the letterbox and when I opened the door (only because I saw him, not because he knocked) he was half way down the path. I asked are you our new regular postie? he shrugged and became confused, he didn't speak English. No hope for us then! The next day, however, he left a red card saying we weren't in for delivery so we trekked up to the sorting office having waited the 24 hours they said on the card, to be told they couldn't find our packet and when they asked our postie thet weres told he couldn't visualise our road. Tough, we want our parcel and we want it now! No chance! They took our phone number and would ring us if they found it. I hate our postie, I wish we had a dog and I'm not keen on the Royal Mail either. I might start a protest. I am watching with Bri at the moment as he is watching the postie going back down the road as he has missed someone and he has now gone past us yet again and we just know we are expecting something. No, wait he is coming back again, yes pushing post through, well half way through ....we have got mail... just not ours!!!

We Don't Get Out Much...

...which became VERY apparent this week when we went to Marks and Spencer for a quick coffee. They have the most up to date caff we have ever been to. So much so that we had to figure out how to order a cup of coffee and a teacake. None of your slosh it on the counter and no butter for the teacake affair. You order and get a thingy which you hand back when your order is ready. You then go to another island and get your coffee which came hot and steaming in large cups and then you go to your table with your thingy and wait. No one could have prepared us for the shock we got. We were just taking a sip of delicious coffee, and this thingy rattled and beeped and vibrated on the table and scared us half to death. It took us a full minute of this racket to realise what had happened, our teacakes were ready, that's all. It wasn't a fire alert or our phones it was a wonderful new fast way of letting us know we could collect our order. Genius! we thought and decided there and then we must get out more, we are being left behind by retail technology. So I thought I would just pop to the ladies powder room before I left and was met by a wall of plastic where I couldn't find which was door and which was wall, new fangled locks and all that. When I did get in I was met with square loos and square everything else, amazing! Came out to wash my hands and blow me the taps were automatic and the scary bit was you put your hands down a hole to dry them, I've seen too many horror movies to do this. I used a tissue which was swallowed up by a greedy bin that pulled it in. I left pronto, too much technology for me, perhaps I'll become a recluse instead.

It's Been a Funny Old Week

This week hasn't been a run of the mill usual one for us, it started with a party and is ending with a party and for anyone who knows us, they will know this has never happened to us before as we are not usually party goers. The first one was a very special occasion as it was Terry's 50th birthday celebration, Bri had written him a song and I had spent all last Winter and this Spring making him a quilt which I called "50 Quilted Leaves", there really are 50 I counted them after to make sure I hadn't missed one. I spent all the Summer worrying if he was going to like it. He did and it is now on the bed. The party was a great success and we really enjoyed ourselves. Sunday brought us another invitation from one of our neighbours who we cat sit for Elle C , Little Momma) this time for a 3 course Sunday lunch in October. Monday' we had a surprise from our friend Sarah who brought us damsons to make into jam which we've done. It is all dark shiny red waiting for scones or crusty bread. Tuesday our surprise was our little pear tree was ready for picking and although we feared that we wouldn't have many this year as it looked a poor crop, we still managed to pick a giant basket full, all sound which we share with our neighbours every year. Wednesday the postman started bringing our Autumn collection of books and movies. Thursday, a neighbour brought us round a box of chocolates to thank us for sharing our veggies from the plot with her, she especially loves the raspberries and a second box of chocolates on the evening from our cousin who had come to share information about our family tree. Friday, Bri won a cd in a competition from a magazine he subscribes to and today, being Saturday,we are about to get our glad rags on and go partying again to another cousin's 60th birthday bash. Blimey! time flies when you're having fun. Wonder what next week will bring?

Wild, Weird and Wonderful

We revisited our favourite village of Elford again last Sunday. The weather was wild and stormy and just the right setting

for a Scarecrow Festival. It was a terrific way to spend an afternoon. Terry, Yvonne, Bri and I went round the village searching out the scarecrows one by one, they were wonderful. There was even a scarecrow wedding in the village church complete with guests. I sat next to one of them and then thought better of it in case someone might poke me to see if I'm real or one of them, as I said it was really wild and windy. The scarecrows outside the Crown pub having half a pint were my favourite. Terry liked the Wizard of Oz scene, Yvonne and Bri loved the one made with flowerpots. We had hot dogs along the route and went through two old fashioned kissing gates passing a French man on a bike complete with onions and E.T riding in the basket on the front of Elliot's bike on a roof, Dennis the Menace and Fag Ash Lil. They were all just great and so much effort made by the people of Elford yet again to give their community a sense of togetherness. The village certainly knows how to have a good time and the atmosphere at any of their events is just fun all the way. I have never spent such a weird afternoon but I hope to again soon!

The Good Life...

..if you don't count Saturday standing out on the allotment in torrential rain picking raspberries for tea. We feel very Tom and Barbarish these past few weeks. We have been almost self sufficient in fruit and veg (we don't intend keeping any pigs). ..we have had peas, beans, beetroot, radish, lettuce, courgettes,cucumbers, tomatoes, red cabbage, gooseberries by the thousand, strawberries, blackcurrants and now, our Autumn bliss raspberries. So, it will be back to making jam in the next few days as our nephew has a partiality for raspberry jam. We are also going to be digging up our Red Desiree potatoes and the corn is coming along nicely, must be our scarecrow, Zak watching over them. Then later we shall have our very own plums, apples, swedes, parsnips, onions and leeks and perpetual spinach which we have just planted out. We have also risked a second crop of peas which are almost mature and Reg from further down the Hill says that they will more than likely mature before the first frosts and they will be o.k. As he has won firsts for so many of his beautiful veg, we believe him. Yes it is the good life if you don't count the pesky slugs.