Last post of the year

 I know I’ve been gone for a while and this is my last post of 2020. Since my last offering, I’ve had a routine mammogram (that everyone of a certain age has in uk), a dental check up,  my first flu jab and a very deep sports massage to sort my aches and pains out! 

I’ve met my friend for much needed Haldon Forest walks and I’ve taken a couple of solitary walks around our lanes. I’ve got completely frazzled getting the Christmas presents and also putting six hampers together and then delivering them all to their recipients (they would normally be dished out at our usual Christmas get together).  I haven’t even read any blogs recently either.

I’ve not had time to do any relaxing baking, other than to try some Cornish Fairings. They did spread too much, but tasted lovely and on reading a couple of reviews of the recipe, apparently other people had ‘spreadage’ problems too! 

To top off a pretty ropey December, my daughter and her other half tested positive for COVID! She’s had a very tight, sore chest, which is thankfully tons better now. I think she is more annoyed about not tasting her food! Her partner didn’t have the chest thing, he had more flu symptoms. Their last day of isolation is Christmas Eve, so we shall have our traditional Christmas Eve cheese night by zoom. We’ve been dropping food parcels on her doorstep, along with some treats. I’ve been so worried about them both! 

So the following photos are just snippets of the last few weeks. I wish everyone a very happy and safe Christmas and hope you can see your loved ones, even if it is only by FaceTime or Zoom.....so until next year, cheerio for now, Ann x

A melancholy day

 Today was the 4th anniversary of my Dad passing away (only 14 weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer) It’s raw every year, but this year in particular I have been very tearful. Perhaps because it’s been such a crappy year. But Dad wouldn’t have wanted me to be sad, he was nearly always cheerful. A loving dad, who always went out of his way to help his daughter. We had so many laughs! So, today I’m just putting up a few photos of him, happy memories, to boot out the unhappy ones.

Fun at the beach

Dad loved his cars, something I shared with him

My wedding day

Helping us with our garden revamp

His last Father’s Day, about 9 weeks before his diagnosis 

Sorry this  has been so maudling, but weirdly I feel better for posting it. Tomorrow is another day and I’ll be thinking about Christmas trees. This year we have to get an slim artificial one, as our furniture has had to be rearranged, due to three people working from home. Therefore we have no room for a real one, which is a shame.

So tomorrow there’s Christmas trees, food delivery, a new mattress delivery and a routine 3 year mammogram, what an exciting life I lead! Until my next post, cheerio for now, Ann x

A week in pictures

 A strange week, a bit of lockdown lethargy in some ways. So here’s what happened in pics:-

 

A beautiful, but unwanted visitor in our garden. We allowed the Sparrowhawk to sit there while we took this photo, then I did a little ‘arm waving’ dance by the patio doors to scare him off. I don’t want any of my little birds being his lunch. He’ll have to eat out somewhere else.

I made a start on my Christmas cards. A couple of stamped ones and then some topper ones with extra embellishments. 

A bit of an accident with my finger tips. Inadvertently put them on the hob which had only just been turned off! Fortunately I only have a very slight blister left on one finger (thanks to holding them under cold water for what seemed AGES! and cling filming them after), which is going down nicely and I’m making sure the skin is being moisturised regularly. The downside was that it was on my dominant hand, so left hand was in use for a couple of days.

Karma had the devil in her several times this week. It was quite windy, so I’ve blamed that. She jumped up on to the narrow mantelpiece several times and then tried chasing her tail while she was up there! 

Further cardmaking resumed in small doses, once fingers were no longer sore. Still have more to do, but will be playing around with more stamps this week hopefully. 

Cuddles with Bumble a few times this week. My daughter’s partner has been working away in South Africa for a while, so we’re her support bubble.....and Bumble’s! 

Tier 2 for us on Wednesday, not that life will be much different to lockdown really. I am grateful that the golf course will be open though, haha. It’ll get hubby out from under my feet for a few hours and give him a much needed break from me too, I expect! 

So that’s it, all caught up! I must also catch up on reading blogs in the next few days to see what you lovely people have been up to. So cheerio for now, Ann x

The last couple of days

 The last couple of days have flown by for some reason, I’ve no idea why. Even my husband said yesterday, he couldn’t believe it was Friday already. Anyway, back to Thursday, I got stuck into the ironing (ironing tv of choice was Midsomer Murders....again) and awaited the Dart Fresh food delivery. Although they give a 7am-3pm window, it normally arrives about 11.15ish. Not this week, he arrived at 12.45, looking a bit frazzled. They’re very busy at the moment, which is good for the company, being local. But not so good for the delivery man, especially with all the roadworks/diversions that seem to be popping up all around Exeter at the moment. 

So I quickly put away the shopping, made myself a coffee and devoured my long awaited Eccles cake that came with the delivery. Mmm, delicious! Now, I would normally have gone straight to Greendale farm shop after that, but while I was scoffing my cake, my daughter asked if I’d like to meet her for a short dog walk. Best laid plans and all that! So I arranged to meet her at another farm shop where they have some nice walks around their fields, not far from Greendale farm shop where I do my shopping. It’s all very complicated! But it was lovely to see my daughter for a chat and give Bumble lots of fuss in nice weather and surroundings.

I love the shape of these clouds

Leeks growing nicely 

Bumble surveying the leftover pumpkins. Normally there wouldn’t be many left after Hallowe’en

Back home after Greendale, it was preparing the evening meal and tidying the place up. No baking this week, so far, as there is still ginger cake left. I spent the evening catching up with my Mum, my Stepmum and looking at my Christmas craft stash. 

Yesterday, I got my Joe Wicks workout under my belt, nice and early. I got the few chores on my list out of the way and popped over to my daughter’s to deliver an Ethernet cable to her. She is working from home for the next seven days or so and her work computer can’t work from WiFi, so she needed a very long cable to plug in her computer (in her dining room) to her router (in her hallway). Life is never simple, is it! A quick hello to Bumble, who couldn’t understand why I wasn’t staying to cuddle her and I was back home, to do what I had planned for the afternoon.....making Christmas cards. With a short break, for fish and chips, I carried on into the evening. I’ve only done 5 so far, a mixture of stamped cards and ones using toppers. I shall do some more today and some next week, so I’ll put photos on another time. 

If it stays dry today, I also want to trim back the remaining plants in the front garden, so it’s tidy for the winter. The little bit of garden between us and our next door neighbours is still in bloom with Busy Lizzies, so I’ll leave that for a while. It’s lovely to still have lots of colour there. 

So that’s my plans for the day. Hubby and Son will be about, but his girlfriend has to work, so she will be beavering away upstairs in the office. Hope you all have a good Saturday, cheerio for now, Ann x

Tuesday walk.......where did the sun go?

 

Oops, late post for yesterday, you can I’m a Celebrity for that!

So I left home yesterday morning to meet my friend at Haldon Forest for a walk. It wasn’t exactly sunny, but quite bright. Even so I threw my waterproof in the car, if only to use it as a windcheater. Thank goodness I did! It’s only a very short drive, but as you go up Haldon Hill towards the forest it can become a different world. Once I was in the outskirts of the forest I pulled over to take the 1st photo. The fog and drizzle was getting worse, such a difference from home. 

I parked up in the bit of the car park left that wasn’t a quagmire, pulled on my wellies & jacket and was greeted by Bruce, who never minds the weather! I have to say neither do my friend or I. As long as we’re dressed up, the weather can throw what it likes at us on our walks. We had too much to natter about to be bothered about a bit of rain or fog. We didn’t meet up last week, as I wasn’t sure whether we were allowed to drive somewhere to go for a walk (I checked police guidelines which said it was ok) 

We walked our normal route and there weren’t many photo opportunities, due to the weather. The ferns are all very brown now and dying off, quite a difference from a couple of weeks ago.

Just as you turn in to where the cafe is ( it’s been takeaway only since the end the 1st lockdown), the forest rangers have put a washing line up, where loads of bird feeders have been hung. There were hundreds of birds swooping in and out, filling their bellies. This photo doesn’t really show the volume of birds, as they were zooming in and out so fast. 

We ordered our coffees and cakes (Bakewell slice for me)  and looked around for somewhere sheltered to eat and drink. All the picnic tables in the area and the wooden gazebo were cordoned off, presumably because it can get a bit congested at busy times. But there was a wooden shelter in a play area ( no children around at all), so we devoured our goodies in there, while Bruce had a few gravy bones. While we were there, we had a little visitor. A robin came down quite close, to see if there was a morsel or two for him. By the time I got my phone out to take a pic, he had perched himself just above us. He stayed there for a while, chittering away. Treats consumed, we resumed our muddy walk back to our cars. 

The rest of the day was spent, doing chores ( washing, ironing, hoovering etc.) and feeding the home workers at various times throughout the evening.  But we all sat down to watch I’m a Celebrity. It’s the only reality tv I watch and I wasn’t bothered about watching it again.....until it was changed this year to a welsh castle. I’m enjoying the different location and I like it when the group all get on. I know it’s not ‘good tv’ if there’s no needle between camp mates and it’s early days, but I’m liking it so far. 

My son and girlfriend have their day off and are doing their own thing today. Therefore, after doing a Joe Wicks workout, I’m going to perhaps dabble with some Christmas cards ideas I have. I also need to walk up to the village, to the post office. So I’ll get my fresh  air and a bit more exercise then. Have a lovely day, cheerio for now, Ann x

 

A busy bee

 

It’s been a lovely, if busy old day! It’s started with a Wake Up with Joe (Wicks) workout and a quick shower before driving over to my brother in law’s to deliver his birthday present. We had a chat on the doorstep about this and that. He had to retire early on health grounds and spends a lot of his time on his allotment. We gave him money for his birthday, which he has earmarked for an apricot tree. 

Once home, I baked a white loaf, washing the dishes and feeding the washing machine while the dough was proving and then baking. A quick bite to eat for lunch and then a ginger cake was mixed and in the oven! More dishes and washing. 

I was just sat down ticking off my chores from my to do list, feeling quite smug, when I suddenly realised the time. I hadn’t started our evening meal and as our son has a weird shift this week (11.30am-8pm), he has his ‘lunch’ not long before we have our evening meal. I try to do meals that can be warmed up if necessary when there are funny shifts. (His girlfriend’s shift this week is 12pm-9pm!)

Fortunately I was only doing Chicken Pesto pasta, so didn’t take long to prepare and cook. 

This evening I have trawled the internet for slow cooker recipes on my iPad and put several in my favourites folder. I’ve got a few recipe books to look at too, at some point. The rest of the evening I shall just relax with a couple of a Good Housekeeping mags. Once they’re read, they’ll make their way up the road to my friend and then on to her sister, so they’re well read. Tomorrow I’m meeting my friend in the morning at Haldon Forest for a socially distanced dog walk , so fingers crossed for decent weather! Thanks for popping by, cheerio for now, Ann x

All done!

 

Just popping into say hello. I didn’t post yesterday as, to be quite honest, very little happened. I spent a lot of time at my dining room table writing Christmas cards and also feeding the family! The weather was diabolical, so I was happy to get on with things. 

Today, I finished writing the cards, well the shop bought ones. Everything is packed way in my storage container until the beginning of December when I’ll post them. Hubby has a few to write, but it’s far to early for him to get his head around Christmas cards, haha. 

I popped up to the top of the garden to feed the birds and realised that the black garden membrane that the feeding station sits on, was really disgusting and smelly from the residue of seeds etc. So the feeding station was moved, the membrane taken up, fresh put down and feeding station put back in place. All the time the black clouds were rolling in and I could feel the birds watching my every move. By the time I was making my way down the path, the sparrows and blue tits were already snacking. 

The garden is looking pretty awful at the moment with all the rain we’ve had, but our ornamental cherry tree is lovely in its autumnal hues. It won’t be long before the leaves have all dropped, but it’s not all bad news, as the tree flowers twice a year. There are buds already forming for a bit of winter blooms. 

I made a huge chilli and rice for our evening meal, which was eagerly devoured and I’m now going curl up to read some magazines. Hope you have all had as nice a weekend that lockdown allows. Cheerio for now, Ann x

Getting started on Christmas

 

Well, I started writing my Christmas cards this afternoon, after saying for a couple of days about getting round to it! I get my shop bought cards written and out of the way, so that I have plenty of time to enjoy making my special family and friends ones. Too many times have I left myself short of time and then I’ve felt so stressed. So this year I will enjoy myself. I do love writing Christmas cards, stamping a ‘Merry Christmas ’ on the front of the envelope and using a festive sticker for an envelope seal. The silver A4 notebook is my sending list, each entry is duly ticked off once I’ve written the card. I’ve stopped now for the day, but will resume tomorrow morning. 

I’m now going to curl up in my chair and relax. I’m aching slightly from the PE with Joe Wicks workout this morning. It was the finish to his 24 hour workout for Children in Need and unsurprisingly, he looked absolutely worn out! But through donations etc. during his workout, he raised a whopping £2.1m! So well done Joe! 

Apart from Christmas card writing, I’m not sure what else I’m up to tomorrow. Bad weather is coming in later I think, so I might have to hunker down. So until then, cheerio for now, Ann x

Sorting the kitchen out and a wallaby!

 Thursday is Dart Fresh food delivery, followed by a quick trip to the farm shop for other bits needed. I had time to clear my ironing mountain before the delivery arrived. My ironing programme of choice was Midsomer Murders today. 

After packing away all the fruit, veg and meat, it was off to the farm shop for me and my son, who had the day off today. His girlfriend was busy working in spare room/office, so with nothing better to do, he accompanied me! As you may have read on a previous post about Oscar the Ostrich, this farm shop has several animals on its many acres of land. But whenever my son comes with me, we have to say hi to the wallabies. Why, I don’t know, he was never a great fan of  them when he little! The farm shop has two, unnamed as far as I know, in a large enclosure. We were lucky that they were out, as sometimes they are tucked up in their little houses.....

 Once the obligatory ‘chat’ with them was over ( it was very one sided!), I actually got to do the shopping I had gone there to do. All the Christmas goodies are on the shelves, looking very inviting, but I resisted this time and stuck to my list. 

My afternoon was spent sorting out my very tiny kitchen, rearranging things to find space for my new slow cooker which is considerably bigger than the last one. Also, the small area of worktop above the fridge had become a bit of a dumping ground for things that didn’t have a home. So, after throwing out/recycling several larger items in the top of my larder cupboard, my food processor and my food mixer have new homes. Hence my shiny new slow cooker now has pride of place on my worktop. I can’t wait to use it! I felt very pleased with myself, but also very weary, it seemed to all take an age! Fortunately my lovely son had offered to cook dinner for us all which was very welcome. Homemade Lamb Kebab in pittas with homemade spicy potato wedges was on the menu.  This evening I’ve relaxed with some magazines, while hubby has been watching the Masters golf on tv. 

Tomorrow I’ll definitely be tackling my Christmas card list, as I haven’t got round to it, despite best intentions. So I’ll bid you goodnight and say cheerio for now, Ann x

A disaaaaaster!........and the final results

 Hello everyone, two days in one here, as the final scores for the millionaires shortcake came in late last night, along with the Swiss Roll scores. The winner of the Millionaires Shortcake was our daughter, much to the disgust of her partner (he did have an issue with the chocolate layer, so our daughter said) 

Speaking of Swiss rolls........I now know why I haven’t made one since high school ( good old domestic science lessons) and buy M&S ones when they’re on offer! Once I took it out of the oven and started to ‘roll’, it was a disaster! It completely cracked and became a rectangular roll. The actual sponge looked fine, albeit to deep.  Anyway I very quickly put it on a plate, covered it with clean tea towel and it was hubby’s turn. His bake also cracked, although as his sponge was thinner, it appeared to have more of a roll. So here are our offerings, mine is ‘B’ , please don’t laugh, haha...........

Anyway, the scores came in relatively quickly for ours........and I won!! Although it looked bloomin’ awful, it did taste really nice and the sponge was very light. Hubby’s sponge was very close, so I just goes to show even though two people use the same recipe, the results can be very different. 

So all the girls won and of course we didn’t go on about it........much :))

Today I met our daughter at Exmouth for a beach walk with a Blue Cross dog she was introducing to different environments. To say it was a bit windy would be an understatement! But it blew the cobwebs away for an hour or so and Ari, the dog enjoyed himself. He probably slept all the way back to the centre, with all the sea air! 

Tonight I’m going through my Christmas cards and sending list, to see how many special ones I have to make. The rain is lashing against the window now, so it will be a nice way to spend the evening. Thank you for popping by, cheerio for now, Ann x

Bake Off 1 and 2

 Evening everyone! I’ve eaten so much cheesecake and millionaires shortcake, I can barely move!

Firstly the New York cheesecake. They both turned out very well and were absolutely delicious. They were judged out of 5 for appearance and out of 10 for taste by 6 of us (me, hubby, daughter, her partner and two independent judges down the road) Our son scored 73 and his girlfriend 76.5, so she is Star Baker  on round one. We had a lot of cheesecake left, so various neighbours have been grateful recipients and dear son is licking his wounds after losing, haha.

Now the Millionaires Shortcake. Our daughter had to drive over to us to swap cheesecake and Millionaires. Bumble came along too for a visit. As we stood outside in the road, she couldn’t understand why she couldn’t go into our house, bless her. But she enjoyed her treat of a carrot nonetheless. The scores for this bake are not all in yet, as the judges down the road haven’t submitted them yet, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow........the suspense! 

Hubby and I will be baking our Swiss Rolls tomorrow, not a spectacular looking item to bake, perhaps more of a technical one, I really don’t want to crack mine! I’ve got my pinny at the ready, so cheerio for now, Ann x

A visitor in the house........

 I had internet problems yesterday, so it’s late again.

For those of you who don’t watch Great British Bake Off, it’s hosted by Matt Lucas, a little chubby bald guy and Noel Fielding, lots of hair and a penchant for huge jumper. 

Yesterday, it was our son and his girlfriend’s turn to do their cheesecakes. The kitchen was taken over first by our son and as he was just starting using his culinary skills, I remembered I had a dark wig in the fancy dress box. That, along with my ancient, very long, gardening jumper and some bristles painted on with mascara, turned me into Noel Fielding......sort off! Hubby and son’s girlfriend thought it was really funny, our son? not so much, especially when I was trying to interview him about his cheesecake base, haha! This is the real Noel Fielding.......

and are local Noel Fielding........

Post interview, I raced upstairs to get back to being me. I was bloomin’ baking ( sorry for the pun!) in the big jumper and wig. Also, I didn’t want to keep the mascara ‘bristles’ on my face any longer than I had to. Thankfully, a normal Ann, came down the stairs minutes later. 

Anyway, cheesecakes are in the fridge and we will be judging tonight. My daughter and her partner are making their Millionaires Shortcake today, so she will drive over to ours later ( a 5 min journey) to swap the samples over, on our doorstep of course. We’ve also got two independent judges (neighbours) who jumped at the chance of sampling everything. Photos of cheesecakes and millionaires shortcake will hopefully be on tonight’s post. Hubby and I are baking tomorrow.

Other than the Bake Off excitement, it was a normal quiet Sunday for me. I did roast pork for lunch and made an apple crumble for Sunday tea. Hope you all had a lovely weekend, cheerio for now, Ann x