I confess that the only walking I'm doing at the moment is that which is strictly necessary for getting to the train/bus, and thence to work/supermarket. I absolutely loathe walking in snowy/icy conditions, and can't imagine why anyone would do it voluntarily.
Sainz Breeze has been braved; I was much luckier with the buses than last time, but although there was nothing falling from the sky when I left the house, it had started snowing by the time I was waiting for the bus to get back, and I was glad of (a) my hideous but hooded, waterproof coat; and (b) the bus shelter.
I'm now ensconced on the sofa with a cup of tea, biscuits and no intention of going anywhere else for quite a while, except possibly to set some bread going in the machine.
I've often wondered about those things; I actually bought a pair shortly before I left Canada, but I never used them, as I imagined the faff of taking them off when you go into a shop would be more than the benefit of them outside.
The boots I bought a couple of weeks ago are pretty good: they seem so far to deal with anything short of pure ice, and they're actually really comfortable to walk in.
There are clouds which look laden with white stuff, but according to the Met Office aren't. On the other hand, the settled stuff shows no signs of going away, and my mother used to say it was waiting round for more.
Meanwhile, checking out my grocery order, the supermarket keeps running out of things. I can, of course, make my own pancakes, but making and serving and getting to eat my own is a bit of a hassle which having readymade avoids. I can't make my own Tunnocks chocolate wafers.
The Cathedral in Fredericton used to run a pancake supper, with sausages, bacon and maple syrup, all made and served up by the Holy Joes (the Cathedral men's club) - no ladies allowed in the kitchen!
I've never made pancakes from scratch, although I used to make them from pancake mix when we were in Canada.
I'm honestly not sure I could be bothered making them for just me.
I used to make pancakes from scratch when the Nenlets were at home, but haven't done for years. They are not Slimming World friendly and I'm trying really hard with that just now, having put on Many Covid Kilos.
<snip> The urgent item was assorted New Forest mushrooms (farmed, not wild) <snip>
I'm curious to know what the assortment consists of.
Oh dear, I have no idea. Long spindly ones, white flattish ones, a bunch of little ones, and more besides. According to the shop’s post it was “a range from oysters to lions mane, from chestnuts to shimeji”. I couldn’t really taste much of a difference to regular mushrooms, and maybe not as flavoursome as portobello. I’m glad I tried them out but won’t rush to buy them again.
I have sent a pack of ready made pancakes with chocolate to my son at uni. At home we will have homemade pancakes made and cooked by Mr Heavenly, with lemon juice, maple syrup or honey. We might even have some chocolate sauce somewhere.
Today I made a pink ombré cake with pink rose favoured icing. We are having a Zoom family get together for a special birthday tomorrow so will celebrate with cake and bubbly.
Bitter cold easterly wind today. I went to a walk by the nature reserve but did not linger. There were people ice skating on the broad swollen shallow reed ditches which surround the main lake (safe there as it is frozen solid and not deep). The lake is not frozen and looks choppy.
Husband has just spent 15 minutes accusing me of moving or throwing away the antihistamines. When I directed him to the spare source in the holiday toiletries bag, he said I must have moved them there 🤦♀️ I have just found the original antihistamines under a packet of photocopier paper on the floor of the lounge. That would be the lounge he currently uses as an office. 🙄
Master S said that the Little Welsh Granddaughter (aged 18 months) was quite shocked at her Daddy and her Mamgu (sp? Welsh grandmother) shouting at the telly. I told him I hoped LWG hadn't learnt any new words!
HA - tell him that sounds like Sarasa's mother, accusing her neighbours of breaking in to move things around!
Would people mind very much Not Mentioning The Rugby???
ION, the weather looks set to get much warmer; Accu Weather says it's going up to 6° today and 10° tomorrow.
Double figures!!! If it gets rid of the sn*w, I'll be happy enough.
Having remembered while I was in Sainz Breeze yesterday what a Good Thing beans on TOAST is, I had that for supper last night while I was waiting for the bread to do its thing; tonight's effort will be M&S fishcakes with sundry veggies.
If the mood takes me, I might make a potato curry this afternoon to feed me for a couple of days next week.
Power was decidedly intermittent yesterday, and didn't get restored reliably until the early hours. Played merry heck with my encoding the video for our morning service (I use a laptop which itself was fine but I store all the components on an external drive which requires mains power) but fortunately I was able to get it done and uploaded this morning.
It's been One Of Those Days. The cricket was grim if you are English, the Knotweed had a migraine, and I can't get the fence sorted because it's raining steadily. It needs to be done soon so I can get the next lot of hedging in before it starts to shoot... And I haven't yet dared go into the attic to see whether the dahlia tubers have survived unfrozen.
Still bitterly cold here with lots of ice, which we took advantage of to check the very popular geocache trail that follows a long distance footpath, which is pretty much impassable without wellies most of the time. This is only the first stage, which gives us a 4 mile plus circular walk, and me a chance to earn the rubbish collecting badge. The path would have been completely dry shod had not some elephantine creature (larger bloke, horse) gone through ahead of us and broken through perfectly good weight bearing (for us) ice in places.
Now to curl up in the warm, finish the crossword and make like I'm at a festival this afternoon (from 2pm to 8pm).
@Doublethink I had a set of those snow/ice grippers for the last lot of snow a few years back, but discovered the rubber had disintegrated when I went to put them on for this time despite drying and storing them very carefully. But, whilst they worked, they were great!
@Piglet - I'm with you on the Not Mentioning. My blood pressure has just about returned to normal.
In the meantime, I'm opting out of using devices as much as possible for the half-term break. I have spent far too much time over the last half-term online educating and devising short on-line services to continue to engage the children of the parish and frankly my eyes and my devices need a break!
I had my jab yestersay and have developed a bit of a temperature, chills and generally feeling bleurgh ...
Sorry to hear that - hope you feel better soon. Glad to hear you're being looked after.
There's definite thawage happening; there was a quite easily walkable bit on the pavement along to the corner shop, and if it carries on at this rate it might be almost civilised by tomorrow. It was also nice to be outdoors without feeling your ears were in their own personal deep freeze.
I may have mentioned in the past that I'm an idiot. The most recent proof of this involved buying a tub of single cream (for putting in coffee), and discovering on taking it out of the fridge that it's "extra thick".
Now I may be missing something here, but if I'd wanted extra thick cream, wouldn't I have just bought double cream???
Well, it's been a miserable day here for weather; not so cold but windy and grey and wet. I went out to my car for something and that's as far as I got outside the house today.
We've had our usual Zoomy Sunday of catching up with friends and family and although it's getting on for a year since I finished work I'm grateful every week for That Sunday Evening Feeling of Not Going To Work Tomorrow.
I can't remember if I posted hereabouts about my silk filled duvet and the stains it returned with from the dry cleaners. I had eventually enthused about a proprietary stain remover which had done the job -I enthused on their review site as well! I don't often do that. But the stains came back, as fringes where they had migrated from the original sites like chromatography.
So I tried hanging the duvet up and spraying it with water to try and persuade the stains to migrate down under the influence of gravity, but they also migrated through the seams to the other side. I tried sponging with a eucalyptus based wool wash - not Martha's, can't get that here - and the stains migrated away from that.
So I have now got drastic. When I saw this sort of duvet advertised on a shopping channel they said they could be cleaned by submerging in a bath. Which is where the duvet now is, soaking in the said eucalyptus no rinse stuff. And the water looks very much as if the stains have now migrated out of the duvet. I have assumed that this is not what the label meant when it said no washing. It will be rinsed with the shower, left to drain again, and then lifted onto an airer over the bath.
Still unidentified. I am wondering if the cocoons were not cleaned properly. As no other bedlinen has had any marks on it, I'm at a loss.
All very exciting on the High Street here, the old police station is being used as a film set for a new ITV drama. The crew has also taken over one of the car parks. We saw HAT BASE and HAT LOC signs up yesterday and wondered why. The added excitement is that the other side of the road has the, currently somewhat denuded, weekly market, so it's chaos.
Apparently Steve Coogan should be about, possibly Hugh Quarshie and Adil Ray. What's obvious is the lighting rig on the road and film crew vans everywhere. The car park does have obvious dressing room caravans, and I guess catering vans.
The glaciers having retreated, I went out today - on a bus even! Scored a pot of white paint and a doormat, so am now equipped to start furbishing the interior of the summerhouse. Then, once the snow has cleared totally, I can see what has become of all the bulbs I put in.
My TV consumption has slightly lessened these days, after closely following CNN on all the US excitement, such as riot, inauguration, and impeachment. Some very intelligent and wise commentaries on there. (Everything is on my computer, via the cable TV provider, who allow us to follow the telly also online, with a one-week replay.)
For now, it's back to the BBC, with Countryfile, and documentaries such as 'Shakespeare's Mother: The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman' (BBC Two), 'Britain's Ancient Capital: The Secrets of Orkney' (BBC Four) and a couple of 'Digging for Britains' - all repeats, but worth watching.
And to my great satisfaction, I have just received in the post the brandnew DVDs of Series 3 of 'Britain's Most Historic Towns', with Alice Roberts! I saw some of the episodes by chance on Channel 4, and the places she visits this time are Lincoln, London, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester.
Much historical education and further insights shall ensue, although we're back at one of the schools this week; I start on Tuesday.
The weather has been mixed, occasionally sunny, but often the habitual fog and low cloud cover. Temperatures down to minus 10°C, as predicted, some days never higher that minus 4°, but this week apparently up to plus 10° again. Ach well.
Weather much milder here too, and even some sunshine, though there was mild misty drizzle when I went for my morning walk.
Admin and emails done, and I've done a little housework as a displacement activity before doing some marking. Only a couple of essays to do today, I'm letting myself in gently. It's also half term and it's really weird as my teenager is home in his room, as usual for the new normal. I'm hoping he will be released back into the wild in a few weeks.
I had a busy morning zooming. Mr Boogs did a woodworking job for a friend last week and a very posh bottle of single malt has just arrived as a thank you! 🥃
I should have thought a paintbrush would have been of more use than a doormat, unless you're aiming for a sort of *rustic white treacle* look?
No, dear: you put the mat on the floor.
I have been accumulating items for the summerhouse for a while, and think I now have all I need (small table, wall shelves, mat, bookcase, folding chairs, heater).
What - no wine rack???
@Boogie - what sort of Posh Whisky was it? Enquiring minds need to know!
@Wesley J - I rather like the idea of Orkney as the ancient capital of Britain - it is, after all, the Centre of Civilisation™!
The Brainlessness of Piglet, Chapter XXXIX
I had a Sudden Thought late last night, and looked at the box containing the table top. Lo and behold, it was labelled "1 of 2". This set me thinking: if the one with the legs is "2 of 2", there can't be any more ...
I looked in the leg box when I got home from work, and I was right - the way I'd looked at it when it arrived, it didn't look as if there were two fixtures in it, but there are.
This makes me a very happy but embarrassed piglet.
What makes me an even happier piglet is that the refund of the price has appeared in my bank account ...
I think this counts as a win - where's that spinning "yipee" smilie when I need it?
I wanted a summerhouse but the powers that be decided on a decking barbecue area instead. And as it was him who had to put it up (just before Christmas) I couldn't really object. But I'm now looking forward to some spring outdoor cooking I have a swinging cocoon seat on the decking; it was my birthday present last year. There are some good solid benches there and I also have some solar fairy lights to put up. Parkers tell me my plants will soon be arriving so I will have some light gardening to do; I have some patio buddleia for the decking.
A warm and spicy venison casserole for tea, with some fresh bread. We have leftover chocolate tapioca for pudding. I am currently drinking a glass of sparkling white burgundy leftover from last night Zoom birthday party.
What sort of spices were in the venison casserole, HA?
The venison stew also has lentils, barley and red wine, with a Knorr beef stock pot. It was a Steenberg tagine mix used for spices as I fancied something different; ingredients are coriander, cinnamon, chilli, allspice, clove, paprika and cardamon. I resisted the urge to add some apricots (just some peppers)
I had a Sudden Thought late last night, and looked at the box containing the table top. Lo and behold, it was labelled "1 of 2". This set me thinking: if the one with the legs is "2 of 2", there can't be any more ...
I looked in the leg box when I got home from work, and I was right - the way I'd looked at it when it arrived, it didn't look as if there were two fixtures in it, but there are.
This makes me a very happy but embarrassed piglet.
What makes me an even happier piglet is that the refund of the price has appeared in my bank account ...
I think this counts as a win - where's that spinning "yipee" smilie when I need it?
It did occur to me when you said 2 of 2 that you already had one parcel...
Congratulations on the free table!
I looked in the leg box when I got home from work, and I was right - the way I'd looked at it when it arrived, it didn't look as if there were two fixtures in it, but there are.
This makes me a very happy but embarrassed piglet.
What makes me an even happier piglet is that the refund of the price has appeared in my bank account ...
I think this counts as a win - where's that spinning "yipee" smilie when I need it?
Total win-win situation! Yay!
Very mild here today - I togged up in coat, scarf, gloves and hat for my daily constitutional and almost overheated. To add to the excitement, the online deliveries arrived early which means I've been able to get into comfies before 9pm and am about to blob in front of Long Lost Family (the last in the series).
A box containing legs? @Piglet's table came in two boxes - a top box, with the tabletop in, and a leg box, containing the legs. Except that she'd mistakenly though that the leg box only had two legs in, but now she has discovered that it has four, and she's not legless.
In the story so far there have been two boxes, one containing the table top, and one containing the supports aka 'legs'. So it is a box named for its contents rather than its constitution - rather as a chocolate box is not a box made from chocolate.
Comments
I find these sort of things give me more confidence https://www.scottsofstow.co.uk/snow-and-ice-shoe-grippers-pair/?apply=PPS2&gclid=CjwKCAiAjp6BBhAIEiwAkO9WuvZ-4GryN9Q8D-jWQOSJw97WV3p8T1GwQIbfi3F0XzqNNcCCi4tqkhoC9aUQAvD_BwE
The boots I bought a couple of weeks ago are pretty good: they seem so far to deal with anything short of pure ice, and they're actually really comfortable to walk in.
Meanwhile, checking out my grocery order, the supermarket keeps running out of things. I can, of course, make my own pancakes, but making and serving and getting to eat my own is a bit of a hassle which having readymade avoids. I can't make my own Tunnocks chocolate wafers.
I had no idea.
MMM
I've never made pancakes from scratch, although I used to make them from pancake mix when we were in Canada.
I'm honestly not sure I could be bothered making them for just me.
Miss S and SiL were lucky to get their takeaway* tonight - fortunately I'd done all the hard work before the rugby started!
*Prawn pathia, winter vegetable dhansak and home-made naans, sine you ask!
Oh dear, I have no idea. Long spindly ones, white flattish ones, a bunch of little ones, and more besides. According to the shop’s post it was “a range from oysters to lions mane, from chestnuts to shimeji”. I couldn’t really taste much of a difference to regular mushrooms, and maybe not as flavoursome as portobello. I’m glad I tried them out but won’t rush to buy them again.
Today I made a pink ombré cake with pink rose favoured icing. We are having a Zoom family get together for a special birthday tomorrow so will celebrate with cake and bubbly.
Husband has just spent 15 minutes accusing me of moving or throwing away the antihistamines. When I directed him to the spare source in the holiday toiletries bag, he said I must have moved them there 🤦♀️ I have just found the original antihistamines under a packet of photocopier paper on the floor of the lounge. That would be the lounge he currently uses as an office. 🙄
Master S said that the Little Welsh Granddaughter (aged 18 months) was quite shocked at her Daddy and her Mamgu (sp? Welsh grandmother) shouting at the telly. I told him I hoped LWG hadn't learnt any new words!
HA - tell him that sounds like Sarasa's mother, accusing her neighbours of breaking in to move things around!
Would people mind very much Not Mentioning The Rugby???
ION, the weather looks set to get much warmer; Accu Weather says it's going up to 6° today and 10° tomorrow.
Double figures!!!
Having remembered while I was in Sainz Breeze yesterday what a Good Thing beans on TOAST is, I had that for supper last night while I was waiting for the bread to do its thing; tonight's effort will be M&S fishcakes with sundry veggies.
If the mood takes me, I might make a potato curry this afternoon to feed me for a couple of days next week.
Glad to hear that the glaciers are retreating!
Now to curl up in the warm, finish the crossword and make like I'm at a festival this afternoon (from 2pm to 8pm).
The resident son and lodger are looking after me and I'm ensconced on a sofa watching Gerard Butler films until it's time for the rugby.
@Piglet - I'm with you on the Not Mentioning. My blood pressure has just about returned to normal.
In the meantime, I'm opting out of using devices as much as possible for the half-term break. I have spent far too much time over the last half-term online educating and devising short on-line services to continue to engage the children of the parish and frankly my eyes and my devices need a break!
Sorry to hear that - hope you feel better soon. Glad to hear you're being looked after.
There's definite thawage happening; there was a quite easily walkable bit on the pavement along to the corner shop, and if it carries on at this rate it might be almost civilised by tomorrow. It was also nice to be outdoors without feeling your ears were in their own personal deep freeze.
I may have mentioned in the past that I'm an idiot. The most recent proof of this involved buying a tub of single cream (for putting in coffee), and discovering on taking it out of the fridge that it's "extra thick".
Now I may be missing something here, but if I'd wanted extra thick cream, wouldn't I have just bought double cream???
P*ss*ng down with rain here now.
In fairness, it didn't spoil my coffee; I just had to stir it around to break it up. I'm sure I'll find a culinary use for it somehow.
We've had our usual Zoomy Sunday of catching up with friends and family and although it's getting on for a year since I finished work I'm grateful every week for That Sunday Evening Feeling of Not Going To Work Tomorrow.
There's the BA(rk), and of course the MA(rk) for a start.
So I tried hanging the duvet up and spraying it with water to try and persuade the stains to migrate down under the influence of gravity, but they also migrated through the seams to the other side. I tried sponging with a eucalyptus based wool wash - not Martha's, can't get that here - and the stains migrated away from that.
So I have now got drastic. When I saw this sort of duvet advertised on a shopping channel they said they could be cleaned by submerging in a bath. Which is where the duvet now is, soaking in the said eucalyptus no rinse stuff. And the water looks very much as if the stains have now migrated out of the duvet. I have assumed that this is not what the label meant when it said no washing. It will be rinsed with the shower, left to drain again, and then lifted onto an airer over the bath.
Still unidentified. I am wondering if the cocoons were not cleaned properly. As no other bedlinen has had any marks on it, I'm at a loss.
Apparently Steve Coogan should be about, possibly Hugh Quarshie and Adil Ray. What's obvious is the lighting rig on the road and film crew vans everywhere. The car park does have obvious dressing room caravans, and I guess catering vans.
Glaciers have retreated here, too, and the air is almost barmy balmy...
SOSSIDGES and CHIPS for a late lunch, I think.
For now, it's back to the BBC, with Countryfile, and documentaries such as 'Shakespeare's Mother: The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman' (BBC Two), 'Britain's Ancient Capital: The Secrets of Orkney' (BBC Four) and a couple of 'Digging for Britains' - all repeats, but worth watching.
And to my great satisfaction, I have just received in the post the brandnew DVDs of Series 3 of 'Britain's Most Historic Towns', with Alice Roberts!
Much historical education and further insights shall ensue, although we're back at one of the schools this week; I start on Tuesday.
The weather has been mixed, occasionally sunny, but often the habitual fog and low cloud cover. Temperatures down to minus 10°C, as predicted, some days never higher that minus 4°, but this week apparently up to plus 10° again. Ach well.
Weather much milder here too, and even some sunshine, though there was mild misty drizzle when I went for my morning walk.
Admin and emails done, and I've done a little housework as a displacement activity before doing some marking. Only a couple of essays to do today, I'm letting myself in gently. It's also half term and it's really weird as my teenager is home in his room, as usual for the new normal. I'm hoping he will be released back into the wild in a few weeks.
I had a busy morning zooming. Mr Boogs did a woodworking job for a friend last week and a very posh bottle of single malt has just arrived as a thank you! 🥃
No, dear: you put the mat on the floor.
I have been accumulating items for the summerhouse for a while, and think I now have all I need (small table, wall shelves, mat, bookcase, folding chairs, heater).
I just need some passable weather.
@Boogie - what sort of Posh Whisky was it? Enquiring minds need to know!
@Wesley J - I rather like the idea of Orkney as the ancient capital of Britain - it is, after all, the Centre of Civilisation™!
The Brainlessness of Piglet, Chapter XXXIX
I had a Sudden Thought late last night, and looked at the box containing the table top. Lo and behold, it was labelled "1 of 2". This set me thinking: if the one with the legs is "2 of 2", there can't be any more ...
I looked in the leg box when I got home from work, and I was right - the way I'd looked at it when it arrived, it didn't look as if there were two fixtures in it, but there are.
This makes me a very happy but embarrassed piglet.
What makes me an even happier piglet is that the refund of the price has appeared in my bank account ...
I think this counts as a win - where's that spinning "yipee" smilie when I need it?
A warm and spicy venison casserole for tea, with some fresh bread. We have leftover chocolate tapioca for pudding. I am currently drinking a glass of sparkling white burgundy leftover from last night Zoom birthday party.
Well done, Piglet! It didn't cost an arm and a leg (or two), after all!
The venison stew also has lentils, barley and red wine, with a Knorr beef stock pot. It was a Steenberg tagine mix used for spices as I fancied something different; ingredients are coriander, cinnamon, chilli, allspice, clove, paprika and cardamon. I resisted the urge to add some apricots (just some peppers)
Congratulations on the free table!
Total win-win situation!
Very mild here today - I togged up in coat, scarf, gloves and hat for my daily constitutional and almost overheated. To add to the excitement, the online deliveries arrived early which means I've been able to get into comfies before 9pm and am about to blob in front of Long Lost Family (the last in the series).
A box containing legs? @Piglet's table came in two boxes - a top box, with the tabletop in, and a leg box, containing the legs. Except that she'd mistakenly though that the leg box only had two legs in, but now she has discovered that it has four, and she's not legless.
It would be too light and too variable in temperature to store wine. Which is not to say the odd glass may be conveyed thither.
In the story so far there have been two boxes, one containing the table top, and one containing the supports aka 'legs'. So it is a box named for its contents rather than its constitution - rather as a chocolate box is not a box made from chocolate.