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Monday 27 January 2014

The Cake Thief

It wasn't me!
Oh yes it was. DJ's apple sponge had been left on the kitchen bench overnight. Billy the kid (aka Billy the Cake Thief) had removed the foil and enjoyed a midnight feast. He particularly liked the golden crust.
High as a kite on his sugar binge, he spent the rest of the day racing around like a mad cat...
...wondering whether to have another bath...
...adding his toy duck called "Chicken" to the nut shelf of the veggie basket...

...playing soccer with an almond he liberated in exchange...
...and playing hide and seek with a rescued "Chicken".
Today he's pretty tired out and has settled down for a long sleep.
Cheers Gillian

Friday 17 January 2014

Waiting for Winter

I sort of expected winter to start a while ago. I've been waiting since we got back from our New Year visit to my sister's in Dorset. It has rained a bit and the wind has been wickedly icy at times but the roses still have a bud or two and only the dark mornings belie the true season.
Some dawn skies have been very colourful...
and...
...but the bright mornings are followed by dreary afternoons. This brings out the slow cooker!
This stew has done two meals already and a third is in the freezer. The freezer is also loaded with soups. Food is a major preoccupation with me in winter and another trip to the farm shop for chicken and eggs is on the cards today. This is a biggish decision because a chicken lasts us four days and I have to have a mind -set ready for the use of it. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of using up all the food we buy but I do relent when something comes out of the fridge for the third time.
Billy is preoccupied with food too and had become a veritable dustbin. One session of night starvation lead to him demolishing the of a corner of this christmas cake. Those are his teeth marks! He must have enjoyed the icing and marzipan as well.
He was neutered last week and has been quite a bit calmer and far less demanding of food. Hopefully he will settle into a sensible eating pattern and also sleep through the night.
We continue to plough our ways through as many Robert Harris books as possible. I recently finished "Ghost" and "The Fear" and DJ couldn't put down "The Fear" and has now moved on to "Imperium". That could lead to a trip to Rome just as the reading of "Pompeii" last year lead to a holiday there.
However, I had already browsed the Travelsphere catalogue and found a holiday to Carcassonne, Andorra and Barcelona and we had loved the description of it and decided it would be terrific for this year. A friend asked if that was because I had read the Kate Mosse books....No, I hadn't! Not then, anyway!
I finished "Labyrinth" yesterday and shall start "Sepulchre" tomorrow but I had to knit another square for a baby blanket for a baby due soon and at the rate I'm going it won't cover her feet. Anyway, as they say, that settled it and the holiday to Carcassonne is booked and the volumes returned to the shelves for DJ to read when the RH books are done.
Also busy now with painting again. Classes started this week and production began.
I quite like this sort of work. It is easy and once the sky is right the moors are great fun. This is Cronkley Fell up in Teesdale where I once went to study lichenology for the day in a downpour.
Cheers for now
Gillian

Saturday 4 January 2014

Happy New Year .......High Force Falls

Happy New Year to you all.



We haven't had as much rain up here as some poor places but there has been enough to set High Force roaring. 
Cheers Gillian