NEW PASTIMES

This has been a busy month. New activities have been added to the ongoing pastimes and more work is planned for the house. So we took ourselves off to Whitby and climbed to the top of the hill as many others have done before and let the sea breeze refresh us.There are outbuildings to the side of our house which are going to be refreshed as well. Fortunately the years have been kinder to them than to this old Whitby cottage but it will still be quite major with new roof, floor, walls and door! Then the inside tradesmen will arrive to swap their skills for a large slice of our retirement fund. The finished job will create a warm dry sitting-room to the side with a shower/cloakroom and a new entry with a porch, suitable for taking off muddy boats and hanging wet coats. The washing machine will also be allocated an inside spot and so will no longer freeze solid and be unusable for much of the winter. We washed clothes in the bath for a couple of weeks last month! The brochure for Spring Term courses at Darlington Arts Centre arrived. I have had a go at all the art and painting ones so I thought I'd better try something else. I chose "Art in Photography". It became clear at the first lesson that we were not going to be taught HOW to use a camera but WHAT to point it at. This in itself is OK with me but it does mean that I take a good picture only when my guardian angel is smiling, because I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

We were assigned homework. We had to produce a selection of urban close-ups for a group critique session next lesson. I don't really know how to take close-ups. There is a "macro" button that I employ but it doesn't get as close as I would like and I can depress the flash and keep the colour real BUT although I think I understand the term "depth of field" I've no idea how my camera copes with it.

This purely accidental shot of some wrought iron railings at the new free toilets in the carpark at Whitby was well praised for its composition. I'm still not sure why. I liked the rusty lamppost so much more. Anyway I have been sent back out to explore the chains further and add more fetters and vinculi to vary the presentation. I shall try to read the manual for my camera and learn how to get the blurry bits where I want them.

Apart from that we decided that long walks were not providing us with enough aerobic exercise. Well it was either that or gluttony which was causing our waistlines to expand. So we joined the local gym!!!

Now that I have been four times I can announce this publicly as being more than a nine day wonder. It is an hour a session and involves miles of cycling, rowing, treadmilling etc and you end up still at the gym! I'm trying to go twice a week. I hate swimming so I don't do that bit. People say that I'll be really pleased in a few months time.

Cheers for now, Gillian

IS IT SPRING SOON?

Hazel catkins grow along Burnshouse Lane at the bottom of Brusselton Hill, nearby. We walk the lane for a mile or so and then return along the ring-road footpath. We watch the seasons change, worry about the gypsy horses, wait for the first lambs, harvest the wild fruit and try to keep fit. Today it was very mild with no wind and slashes of blue sky in the light grey broken low cloud. These hazels have been coppiced in the past to provide new growth for interwoven fencing which is what they used before wire came along. There is also quite a lot of evidence of old hedge-laying along the lane. Hedge-laying is one of the traditional crafts that is being revived like dry-stone-walling. It is time consuming and slow to produce a hedge, but when it is done it provides hedging, homes for wild life and a softness to the agricultural landscape which lasts for centuries. The multiple thin stalks of the coppiced hazel can be seen here. They are regrowth from the base where a single trunk was cut. They were harvested when large enough and more would grow.Some colour is provided by xanthoria parietina, or golden lichen. It gets its name from the ancient greek for golden , so does crys(x)anthemum...its the "xanthe" bit which means golden and once upon a time all chrysanthemums were yellow.
Sadly a bit further on amongst the hedgerows we found a dead owl. Recently it seemed to have flown into a hawthorn and become stuck in the thorns and branches. It was impaled and the tree was strewn with feathers. It was too sad a sight to record on camera. The feathers were beautiful but I could not "trophy" them.

The little black cones belong to the Alder. An untidy tree which grows well in wet areas. Yes! Dear Reader, this is a wet area. I usually walk in gumboots.

As we returned along the ringroad path a large heron flew over towards the wetlands and reminded us of the wealth of wildlife near us. Even one heron means there must be some fish in the Gaunless River.

There is such a black, industrial history here that the river is still recovering and the litter and other debris can be depressing but a heron lifts the spirits because it indicates that the food chain is recovering.
And last but not least....the teasel. The forerunner of the hand carder, well known to spinners as a fleece loosener. These teasels were used to raise the nap on woollen fabrics and they exist in museums, mounted in rows onto wooden boards which were used for teasing out the wool before spinning it.

My sister is visiting and drawing up plans for re-jigging the outhouses. Last night she was on her way back from seeing a friend and encountered a large dog fox not far from our house. We have not seen one near here before but Tigger was behaving in a most erratic way last night and went off today with her bloodhound nose on, to follow the trail. She is back. Fortunately no fox with her.

We all went out for a Burns Night Dinner last night. We went to the Staincliffe Hotel at Seaton Carew.

There was no Burns Night!!! They said they were sorry but obviously no-one had informed us that it had been moved to next weekend. We had a wonderful time anyway. We didn't have to eat any haggis, the blokes were glad they hadn't sported their kilts and the pianist was really lovely and probably better than a piper. They gave us a free drink and we had a window table looking out over the North Sea with the lights of the shipping going past.

I can't wait to go again.

Happy New Year to you all.

Cheers Gillian

Seaton Carew Boxing Day Dip

HUNDREDS of people in fancy dress and not, raced from the Seaton Carew Club, down to the beach front and then.......another quarter of a mile to low tide level......into the sea for a well sponsored dip. There was snow on the high sands and dunes but the sea cannot be below freezing point and still splash you, so hundreds of us stood in the ankle deep water which was sloshing around at low tide, in order to cheer on the wave after wave of hardy partcipants. Amazing fancy dress ( pyjamas, kilts, 118 wigs and moustaches, army gear, sports teams, leopard print and bikinis of all shapes and forms and in pink) was worn by youths, men and women.
It's a hard trudge back up the beach. Some just drag themselves all the way in their freezing gear.

Others went in with less and came out the same way
They still shivered and so did we.

WELL DONE TO ALL YOU BOXING DAY DIPPERS.
Cheers Gillian and DJ

SHORT AND SWEET

Once again I admit to using "ready prepared" icing. It has to be kneaded into a pliable mass. Then you roll it out to fit your cake. My cake is quite small so there was a lot of icing left over. And so I made it into sweeties, dipped in chocolate and studded with cake decorations in the shape of penguins. There were a few short of a penguin so I iced them with a tasty morsel of red icing from the tube.
Fortunately, by the time I had finished these processes the cold water in the kitchen was back on tap.
It had frozen in the night... -12 dgrees Celsius last night and the kitchen water pipes are not lagged.
The rest of the shopping is done. Hoping about 20 will come on xmas eve from up and down the street.
Happy Christmas to you all out there.
Cheers Gillian
ps Heide the roast potatoes need white fat like dripping or lard to be really good.

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

DJ has been eager to improve the standard of the roast potatoes we dish up, so yesterday he began the quest for a method for producing the best roast potatoes in the world. The previous title holder for "Best Roast Potatoes" has been his sister, but her long reign may well be over.
The above picture shows potatoes that were of that standard. They were boiled till nearly cooked then drained, shaken and cooled before gently and carefully rolling in smoking hot goose fat and roasting for up to 45 minutes with occasional careful turns; they were perfection.
At the same time I made parsnips dauphinoise. They were very thinly sliced lengthwise in my new kitchen food processor (expensive and unnecessary kitchen toy but such fun), Cream, milk, nutmeg, bayleaves, honey and S&P were boiled and then the parsnips were added for a minute or two before transferring the lot to an oven dish. They were baked for 45 minutes too. They melted in the mouth but didn't photograph so well. Brussel sprouts with chestnuts were also produced but it was agreed that chestnuts spoil a good brussels sprout. We are both very fond of brussels and will have them steamed with a smear of butter on christmas day instead of tarting them up with posh bits.

Today I played with marzipan. I did the christmas cake and because I used ready made stuff there was some left over. I made some marzipan sweets by icing them and dipped some in chocolate to make small logs. Very small.

A sortie round Laura Ashley last weekend made me want a throw for the end of the bed made in super-chunky, big wool. I shall knit one, I thought. It will save me buckets of money and be finished by christmas. Well maybe not. To get it chunky enough I had to double up the wool so it will not save me buckets and I will have to wait for another lot of wool to arrive to knit it long enough. At least it doesn't have to come by air. I hear they are keeping camera crews out of Heathrow Airport because the scenes inside are not "happy christmas" ones.

It is quite quick to knit up at two stitches to the inch but the needles are a bit unwieldy and the throw is getting heavy. I have a circular needle the same size but I found it tedious to drag the stitches around it all the time, they slide well on the wooden ones though.

Cheers for now

Gillian

CHRISTMAS MARKET AT THE BOWES MUSEUM

We are very lucky to live near this wonderful place. It is The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle in County Durham. Today was the Christmas Market and while the rest of England has ground to a halt under a deep heap of snow, we seem to be in a sunny corridor of the country. It is freezing though. Our washing machine is in the outbuildings, which are next on the renovation agenda, and it is unusable because the pipes are frozen. The museum has rarely looked so splendid. There were craft stalls around the parterre and food stalls along the terrace.

We treated ourselves to real bacon, homemade bread, hand crafted cheeses, Tweed Valley honey and Cumbrian mustard. We had lunch as soon as we got home!

Apart from the stalls we wandered round the grounds and museum. A six month ticket costs only £9 if you are old enough. There was a Damien Hirst print exhibition inside and an overwhelming collection of glorious objects on display in the salons.

Santa seems to have a new way of getting his reindeer from one place to another and has found them some work for the rest of the year. I was surprised at how small they are and how very pretty and gentle they seem.

And Yes!!! They were eating snow!!!

Cheers Gillian

WINTER TYRES

The bad weather has encouraged us to be grateful for our ability to get around. We are agile enough to put on boots and walk to the farm shop for meat. The last time we did, however, a blizzard made us detour inside the cafe for a lovely homemade bowl of soup. The trudge home was very wearying.
So we have had winter tyres put on the drive axle of the Meriva, and will park it round the corner from the front of the house but facing the main road. That way there will only be a meter or two of ungritted road between us and the cleared main road. More bad weather is predicted by next weekend.
We have a HiQ garage across the road and they are very good to us. They will change the tyres and store the others till it is time to change them back.
Thankfully we have not needed to rely on Hindles! They are somewhere near the Tees estuary and I'm sure they do a great job whatever it is. We went down that way for some sea breezes and gathered another big bag of sea-coal and watched the shipping enter port. Then we went to the main seafront and plodged along the tide line. These sandstone rocks have been worn into smooth folds of chocolate blancmange by the waves and the seaweed grows on top like a green velvet table cloth.

I've enrolled for some classes in art photography for next term. I have done all the painting classes and shan't give up the day job. I like pointing a camera and would love to know a bit more about how it all works and how to do better pics.

We had a lovely couple of days away seeing friends and rels, eating, drinking and driving. All went without a hitch. Christmas will be at home and we plan to shop till we drop this week and then retire while the bad weather hits.

We are having great fun with Kinect and have supplies of fuel, food, drink, jigsaws etc to see out a siege.

Hope you are all going to be having much of the same.

Cheers and Happy Christmas to you all, Gillian