2009 An Icy Christmas

Considering the amount of snow and ice we've encountered over the last two decades the last year of this decade,2009, has been exceptional. Two episodes of snow and cold icy conditions this year have broke the mould of a centimeter or two of snow that disappears the next day. Although it's not been anywhere near the wintry conditions I remember as a child. Back then we frequently struggled through snow deep enough to cover our wellies. Snow one to two feet deep was not considered an unusual occurrence. Skating on the fenland waterways and ponds happened every year at some point during the winter.

As we get older, snowy winters are not as welcome any more, pretty though they are. For seniors, any icy areas are to be avoided as any cost. Our increasingly unsteady gait over slippery ice brings worries of fractured hip or other bones. Not to mention cuts and bruises and the total embarrassment of a fall.

During this snowy interlude many of the small side roads and culdesac and pathments have been covered by ice sheets caused by compresses snow, melting a, little followed by overnight freezing. Holding the car steady and controlled in these conditions is a acquired skill that many younger driver haven't gained yet.

We had a fairly quite Christmas day, staying at home with D.J. as our only Christmas dinner guest this year. I cheated and cooked an already prepared three bird roast. I must admit though, as exotic as it sounds, none of us were overly impressed. Next year we'll stick with a traditional bird to roast.

The afternoon saw us driving over to Sean & Dawn's to see the Grand kids and Great Grand kids. DJ had suffered one of his usual sleepless nights and was sleeping by this time so we let him be and left him home.

A cold sunny Boxing Day saw us driving to Haconby, a small village North of Bourne in Lincolnshire to a family gathering at my Niece's home. Their home was toasty and welcoming with a newly installed log burning stove.

We had a festive fun day with the family. Bev and Barry are excellent hosts and the food and drinks flowed in abundant. Lately, in my senior years I have become a 'tea totaI' but having imbibed a fair quantity of Baileys last year while in Vancouver I just managed to keep the Bailey's on ice to just the one. Ever conscious of the increasing waistline!!!

Later in the afternoon the Twister mat was brought out. This is not a game for me or us oldies but the youngsters enjoyed and cheated at it. My long limbed brother in Law is usually an enthusiastic player but this year a rather delicate operation a couple of weeks before Christmas kept him firmly on the couch. The Wii was the next on the agenda Less energetic but mentally taxing was the Brain games, were, we were all well and truly trounced by the brainy 11 year old Lauren.

The increasingly rotund, pregnant, Bev decided to test out the reclining benefits of their new leather furniture. I think a rest was well and truly deserved as we all had a great day.

What Happened to November?

Well it's almost Christmas once more and whoops there's been no posts since October. No inspiration. No news. No time.

OK so whats been happening here.

Peterborough council has suspended Cathedral square's so called improvements until the New Year. Completion date keeps getting pushed further into the future. The 1960's Post Office block behind St Johns church has been demolished to make space for more 'beautification' of the City centre. There's now talk of an open grassed area in it's place.

The City's Christmas decorations are still dire. The same old tat has been erected as the previous two years. Pretty enough at night when the lights are on but real awful in daylight. The Queensgate Mall has also erected the same decorations as last year but at least they are pretty and cheerful.

I've got the usual ideas mental block over buying Christmas presents. I think after 66 years Christmas preparation gets just a tad tedious. Just too much preparation and expensive for a couple of days. How do these people get the energy to erect thousands of lights all over their house exterior? What does it do to their energy bills? Should we be doing this when Global Warming is such an issue? Is Global Warming a myth? Am I becoming a GOW (grumpy old woman)

Maybe I'm just getting slower finding the Christmas spirit. At least I've got all my Christmas cards made. Now I have to start addressing envelopes and post before the last posting date passes. Oh joy!

Sunny Sunday

I spent the first half and hour this morning after getting up at my usual time putting all the clocks back an hour. Normally I do this when I go to bed the night before. I just couldn't be bothered last night. I've decided we've too many clocks in this house! So now British winter time begins. I don't like the dark nights. Roll on spring.

After yesterdays miserable rainy day today was a pleasant surprise. Cold, but sunny with beautiful clear blue skies. We decided to do the last purge on the garden to wrap it up for winter.

This elegant grey eucalyptus tree was a 25th wedding anniversary present to us from Dave's work colleagues. We're now approaching our 45th anniversary! It was a small slender sapling when we planted it. Each year we slash it down by half and despite its drastic pruning it has grown into a magnificent tree. Each year as we get older it gets more difficult to prune. Its always a two man job for us. We have garden loppers and a long handled tree pruner but Dave still has to get out the step ladder out to get all the top branches.

The poor tree always looks sad after we've finished scalping it but it soon recovers in the spring and shoots skywards with vengeance. I think that sadly it will soon have to be removed completely as it's out growing it's allotted space. The roots of this tree can be a problem if its allowed to grow with out checking the yearly growth. It's a great tree though for flower arranging and I'll be sad to see it go.

These pretty pink miniature roses and all my golden fuchsia bushes are still flowering madly giving some welcome colour. They'll keep going until the first bad frost puts and end to the flowers. Then I'll have to nip out and quickly prune the bushes back by half for the winter.

An Accidental Day

Driving was a nightmare in City center this morning. Yes, worse than usual, much worse. A road accident at Bishops Road roundabout when I left the swimming pool this morning sent me and all other drivers completely around the city centre. The traffic at 10am in the morning was horrendous. Slow moving nose to tail. It took me ages to get to the coffee rendezvous. My coffee mates reported another accident at another roundabout which could account for the traffic chaos. Later when I left the car park to head home yet another car had ploughed it's way into the lane side railings at the Crescent roundabout. It sure had remodelled its front. Not a look to emulate!
Was there something in the wind today that made people drive like lunatics??????????????

Familiar processes in a new kitchen

After 23 years of making celebration and wedding cakes in my old kitchen I had all the processes down to a fine art. Each process took a certain length of time to prepare, execute and clear up afterwards.

Now it's like learning all over again in my new kitchen. I'm having to decide where and how to do things all over again to make the best use of my time and space. Where do I weigh ingredient and place them so they're easy to pick up and add to the cake mix, which area is best for rolling out the marzipan and icing to coat the cakes and where do I now store the coated cakes? I coated two cakes yesterday with marzipan and I think it must have taken me twice as long as it normally would have. First I had to find all the equipment I needed to use, then decide which surface would be best to work on. I had also reorganised all my sugarcraft equipment so even that took time trying to remember where I had stored everything! I eventually got it completed. Hopefully it will be easier next time.
Thankfully I don't take many commissions now. Kneading the marzipan was as painful on my thumb joint as making all the sugar roses I need for the decoration.

........and yes these photos were taken some time ago in my old kitchen!

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Why don't we go to bed for the winter?

Daisy's ready for her winter hibernation. She's been mooching about the conservatory now for a couple of weeks. She doesn't want to go outside, if I put on the patio outside she'll come straight back in and she doesn't want to eat either. Not even her favourite food, plump juicy grapes. As soon as the sun slips behind clouds she shuffles off to hide under the large Christmas cactus in the corner.

I'd put her in her hibernation box if only I could get to it in Madmooses overflowing den aka the garage! We'll have to get to it soon or she'll spend all winter out of bed!

Garden Wildlife.

This cheeky female squirrel makes frequent trips into our garden. She either expertly jumps, almost flying, from tree to tree just beyond the garden fence or when the dense shrubbery covering the fence top is hacked back she takes a run across the fence top and down into the garden. She's ruined many a cheap bird feeder by grabbing it and chewing away until the contents spill out. Even the squirrel proof feeders appear to be no obstacle to her. So now we hang a heavy duty metal feeder with peanuts in the tree and put feed in a tray on the ground.

This seems to have satisfied her appetite. She's obviously had kits (or whatever the squirell equivelent of babies are called) this summer. Fairly late in the summer by the look of her and occasionally a youngster comes bounding along the fence inspecting all the hanging bird feeders until it finds the food it can get at.

More Knitting

I'm getting really bad at keeping the blog up to date. Maybe it's because of all this Knitting. I bought a lovely dark blue with navy contrast for this blanket but Becs didn't want a predictable blue for her baby blue so I swapped the blue for a soft grey.I think it goes quite well. The wool is a lovely soft cuddly alpaca and Mohair.


The pattern has rows of cable running up the blanket with the contrast colour running through every twist.
When I started these socks I was experimenting with the pattern so I chose to make the smallest size. The patterning makes the sock quite chunky but I think they will be just about right for Nathan. He seems to have inherited the family's 'big feet' syndrome

Knitting Again

My grown up granddaughter was upset she had mislaid her favorite knitted fingerless gloves. Winter is coming and she now has a pram to push...............

So like a good Nannie out came the knitting needles and wool from the stash and soon another pair were complete. The knitting bug kicked in once more after a dormant few months

.............But not just one pair but two plus a cosy neck warmer. Although it might have been cosier with a softer wool.

I think I'll make me a set. OK...Well, when I finished all the other projects now on the go!

Garden Produce 2009

The summer we've had this year, i.e. plenty of rain, some sun and fairly warm temperatures should have produced plenty of produce from my little plot.

We covered the rhubarb roots very early in the spring with a large black plastic tub to force it. The slender pale pink stems emerged and we had some lovely stewed rhubarb, sweetened with Sweet Cicily and rhubarb crumble puddings during the spring.

I bought three tomato plants back in early spring and decided to plant them in pots instead of in the Veg plot. They grew well and I controlled the watering and feeding reasonably well. The result, a healthy crop of sweet tomato's. There are still more to ripen but the ripening slowing down now with the autumn approaching. I'll soon have to resort to picking them to ripen indoors.

I bought two 'Gardeners Delight' plants always a good choice and a variety of a small plumb tomato whose name escapes me at the moment. The plumb tomatoes has definitely been the best cropper.

My white grape vine growing up the garages south wall has grown vigorously this year and produced a good crop of grapes. I have no idea of the variety as the cutting came from a cutting surreptitiously removed cutting from King Henry the 8th grape vine in Hampton Court Palace in Richmond. Not by me I hasten to add! I saw this ancient vine many years ago. It's enormous, with its roots growing outside and the fruiting vine growing along the full roof length of a very large green house. My vine has been planted and growing now for about 12 years. It hasn't fruited very well so far and has produced sparse small sweet bunches of grapes.

This year it decided to be much more productive. Obviously the weather has been more suited to it's needs. Did I get to taste the grapes. NO. As you can see the pesky wasps found and stripped the vine of every bunch before I realised what was happening.

The green runner beans grew well and produced a plentiful crop. We had quite a few dinners from them but they were at their most productive during the three weeks of our Canadian visitors. So while we were gadding about and eating out they were growing tough and inedible. What a shame.

I still have some peaches on my dwarf peach tree that the wasps haven't found. So I'm keeping a very close eye on the ripening process as the tree has produced more peaches this year than it has done ever before. Maybe it sensed that I was about to give up on it and dig it out. Who knows?

Gardeners deserve Pimms

For several years running we managed to leave the autumn garden tidy up too late and have finished up doing it when the weather is cold and miserable or even early in the next Spring, trying not to tread on newly emerging plants. This year we've decided that it gets tidied up early even though there may be a couple more weeks of summer colour left. Today was the perfect day, warm and sunny but not too hot. Dave's outside in shorts and tee shirt. I get lathered in barrier cream, a long sleeved shirt and gardening gloves. Not the ideal attire for a warm day but it helps to stop me getting allergic reactions from the plants I'll be cutting back.

By Mid afternoon and almost a full wheelie bin of chopped up green waste from the front garden I decided the mid afternoon cup of tea ritual was going to be replaced by a a well earned Pimms. Much nicer on a warm summers day.

The only draw back was no fruit to garnish it. Just this rather dried up lemon. Not quite right.

So who needs strawberries, orange mint and cucumber, not us. I can assure you it tasted just as good without.

Mmmmmmm.................................. so refreshing.

...........and not a allergic rash in sight.

The New Ovens Major Try Out

The new oven has been performing well so far. No disasters to report. It's a little smaller than the old oven, but, with only the two of us to cook, for it plenty big enough. The multifunction microwave will make up oven space if necessary.

This afternoon though I gave the oven it's first real test. I had a wedding cake to bake. Just two tiers of a fruit cake not my usual three. I realise now I would have to bake a three tier in two seperate baking sessions. Just as well I don't take on many commissions nowdays. Anyway it passed with flying colours. The cakes came out just fine and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The finishing touched needed in the new kitchen were completed last week end after a delay of four weeks. All the shiney toughened white glass panels are now inplace and looks fantastic. I'm so glad we resisted the vogue stainless steel panels and boring ceramic tiles.

Now for the bathroom..........................................

Watch this space.......................................

End of Season Lido Party

Rather foolishly last Thursday I decided to swim in the indoor pool. The early morning was chilly and it was grey and raining. So I thought I'd 'chicken out' and swim indoors. I regretted my decision as soon as I walked in the changing rooms. They were hot, stuffy and reeked of the awful chemicals used to clean and sanitise the floors. The pool was overheated as usual and the place was airless. I'd robbed myself of a fresh air swim! The season was ending on Sunday. What an idiot!

Sunday afternoon was a pleasant 20 degrees the pool was quite. Just a few teenage lads larking about, not use to the cold water. I was the first of the 'early morning swimmers' to arrive. This was the first 'End of Lido' do I'd managed to get too. The water was refreshingly cold, a 'barmy' 17 degrees C. (Take the word barmy which way you like!) Still, it was good to be swimming and I soon climatised to the coldness of the water. The sun pushing through the thin cloud layer and the Cathederal bells pealing across the City made you feel good to be alive.

Soon the others bathers began to arrived and by 3.30 pm there were a respectably number of bodies swimming up and down for the last time this year.

Swimming over with and warmed up by a hot showers and coffee from our flasks we feasted on the goodies we had all brought for the very last 'Pool Picnic' of the year. Roll on May 2010.

Where did that final week of the Canadians holidays go to?

Our guests, the Canadian travellers aka Nancylee and John with Dave as chauffeur, visited the ancient town of Stamford, it would have been Nottingham but the A1 blocked by an accident forced a change of destination.

They went, by train, to London and did all the touristy stuff including Camden Market, Selfridges, Oxford street and the Eye at night.

We all went to The Kings Head at Wadenhoe in Northamptonshire and had a splendid lunch in the lovely old pub by the river.

We wandered around Oundle. We shopped in Spaldings Springfield shopping outlet.

We splashed out with the budget and went for fish and chips from Linfords in Market Deeping! and ate them in the street.

A last minute dash around Tesco's at Hampton for some new clothes, hula hoops and malt loaf, the last two unobtainable in Vancouver!

And a grand finale of a family get together in Mcdonalds.

I'm not sure how they managed to squeezed all the extra shopping in the cases but it all went in somehow.

Tuesday morning it was literally squashed in 'Old Faithful for the final journey of the holiday to Heathrow airport.

Bon Voyage and come back soon.

Homeward bound

Day 6 Saturday August 22nd. Homeward Bound.

It promises to be another beautiful sunny day. Unfortunately it's homeward bound for us today so we breakfast and pack all our luggage and purchases into the car, with great difficulty and head off.

Our first call was to the large new 'Lakeland' store in Windermere. This shop is modern, very spacious and stylish. The lower floor is devoted to all the Kitchen gadgets you could think off and the upper floor has a comfortable coffee shop. It's reached by a grand sweeping circular staircase with a grand piano playing on the half landing

From a store that started as a small mail order enterprise some years ago this is a fantastic large airy modern store. If you’re a kitchen gadget fan this store is to die for. We all mooch around the store happily for over an hour. There’s far more items on sale here than in the much smaller Peterborough store. Conscious of the lack of space in the car we restrict out purchases to a few small items. Shame.
The lakeside tourist town of Bowness is our next port of call. Dave and I spend a pleasant three quarters of an hour on a tourist boat ride around the Islands on Lake Windermere. The sun is warn but the breeze on the lake is quite cool. The lake is heaving with boats of all shapes and sizes.

Nancy and John walk around the little town and it’s heaving with summer tourists. After a late light lunch at ‘Costa’s’, the only franchise chain eating/coffee place we’ve encountered in the area we head off for Kendal where we have been given an address for a wool shop.

Kendal is a fair size town on the edge of the Lake District. Mr Tom eventually helps us out with directions to the shop we wanted to visit. It was located down a narrow cobbled street just off the small market place.
I can honestly say I’ve never seen another shop like it! It consisted of two rooms, one behind the other and was stuffed with the untidiest jumble of knitting wool you can ever imagine. Balls of wool are mixed up in the pigeon hole storage on the walls. Balls and bags of wool are heaped untidily on the floor so there is the narrowest of pathway through the shop. The owner appears to have drastically lost her way and direction and was quite unhelpful. There was so much ‘Old Lady’ wool with none of the modern exciting new wools and yarn to be found in the whole store.
Nancy and I decide to try our luck at the Chocolate and Tea shop next door. It’s a very ancient shop. To reach it you climb had a dozen narrow stone stairs set sideways to the outside wall and into the small door of the shop.

This is the main shop and tea shop part of the building but to the see the chocolates they sell you then need to descend down an incredibly narrow circular stone staircase to an windowless airless room with the chocolates on display. Not the best of chocolate shops we’ve seen. There was a much better one in Ambleside.
We gave up on the wool quest and headed back home to Cambridgeshire

Sunshine at last

Day 6 Friday August 21st
An earlyish start this morning as we’re now staying in a Guest House. Breakfast is served between 8 and 9.15 am. Full English breakfast is on the menu this morning. The Guest House is supposed to be 4 stars but I think it fails a little on the 4* qualities but its clean and comfortable if a little disappointing. It’s close to the town centre and all the eateries.
We’re going in search of wool today so we head for the north of the Lake District today to Cockermouth. The poet, Wordsworth’s birthplace. The Lakeland Sheep and Wool Centre is our destination. It’s supposed to be an award winning attraction. We didn’t get much chance to judge as we discovered there are no shows held on Fridays. The gift shop albeit very large is crammed with the usual array of tourist gifts. We were quite disappointed with the place especially as it had very little in the way of knitting wool. There was nothing about the spinning, carding dying and weaving of wool.
We weren’t the only ones to be disappointed as ‘Titus Pullo’ of ‘Rome’ aka Ray Stevenson was telling his girl friend the same as he past us on his way out of the gift shop. John had been the first one to spot him with his mother and girl friend looking around the gift store. With his height he’s a little difficult to miss but there were very few people around so he could shop unnoticed.
We decided to try our luck in Ambleside next, as I remembered a lovely wool shop where I bought some gorgeous natural Arran wool when we were there last many years ago. Again unfortunately we were to be disappointed as the shop was long gone and by the time we found the other only wool shop it was closed but we found a studio where two women designed and made the most exciting hand made carpets and rugs from Swaydale and Herdwick wool from the local Lakeland sheep. We spent a little time looking around the town. It’s like all the other Lakeland town its developed very much for the tourist industry over the last few years. The development has been strictly regulated though and the whole area had kept it quaint and rural character.
For our evening meal we decided on a promising looking Ambleside restaurant that had a delicious sounding lamb dish as it’s special of the day. The meal was OK but not as good as the Lazy Daisy and the service was strange to say the least. I mean who’s heard of a restaurant with no tea on the menu? We eat up paid up and headed back to Windermere where we went for a dessert and drinks at Lazy Daisy.

From Islay To The Lakes

Day 4. 19^th August Wednesday.
Rain on the bedroom window wakes me this morning. While drinking a wakeup coffee, Breakfast Telly informs me the day is going to be damp and wet. So no change there! The Lagavulin distillery is our first destination of the day.The rain has lightens a little. We’re welcomed in the distillery tasting room at the visitor’s center to taste their amber nectar. Samples downed we carry on to Ardbeg once more. Nancy wants to buy a blanket woven from highland wool. They are actually cheaper here. We have lunch in their excellent Café before back tracking across the island to the Islands ale brewing plant. There are several craft studios on the site as well that we wandered around. The whole site was a little run down with no on site tea shop. We’re all quite surprised about the lack of facilities for tourism and missed opportunities for the Islanders considering all the Whiskey and Birding tourist that arrive on the Island every year.

We carry on our tour buy driving to the north of the Island to Port Askaig and on to the Caol Ila distillery. The rain is still coming down so we decide on an early evening meal at Duffies in Bowmore where we had eaten an excellent meal before.

Day 5 Thursday August 20^th
It’s a wet rainy start to the day. We pack and leave the Bungalow and Hotel, and head for the ferry through some flooded roads.

The ferry crossing was uneventful and we began the journey back to Glasgow through the wet narrow windy roads. Road works with traffic lights slowed us at times so we stopped at a lovely old pub called The George in Invernary for a delicious meal. More slow moving road works through Glasgow slowed us once more. Once through these the road was clear and fast until we reached the north area of the Lake District. The narrow windy roads through the Lakes have to be taken at a sensible pace. ‘Mr Tom’ guided us to the Guest House where we thankfully unloaded rather travel weary. Just around the corner from our Guest House is a lovely welcoming restaurant called 'Lazy Daisy'. The food here is just wonderful. It's only been open a year and has done well from day one so it must be good.