Goodbye 2023

 What to say at nearly the end of this year.

There is so much negativity going on so let's put that to one side and focus on some positives.

Well, we had a bumper crop of apples and even the very old tree that suffers from codling moth had much fewer spoilt apples this year.

We seem to have had a good variety and plenty of birds visit our garden. Whilst we do have a large selection of plants, I think that it helps that we don't use any sprays.

A street party was great fun and the weather was reasonable the whole time.

It was pleasant to see so many Christmas lights and decorations around the town.

Let's hope for a better, happier and safer New Year.

Another week till the shortest day

Not long till Christmas. There seems to be lots of outside lights and decorations this year. Is it because led lights are much better at being used outside than the old type? Or is it because people want some relief from the unrelenting doom and gloom projected in the news?

There also seems to be plenty of events going on, particularly for children. Which during these short days helps.

Rain and wind, it would be prettier if it was snow but obviously not for people travelling or with limited mobility.

But I do like fog. The mysterious effect and deadening of sound I find enchanting. But I do appreciate that it brings many problems.

Will it be a white Christmas here? No.

Christmas shopping

 We have already done some Christmas shopping as we have had to post presents abroad. But there is something totally enjoyable about buying presents. 

Plasticine

 We found some plasticine, well not plasticine that I remember. The original mixture I seem to remember had a smell to it - linseed oil? But this modern version has no smell and is just as good if not better.

There is something quite theraputic about moulding it into various shapes.

Toffee or not toffee

 I used to enjoy going in to a Thornton's chocolate kabin not only for chocolate but my favourite - toffee.

Although the chocolates were great, particularly choosing single ones to make up a bag or box and the nougat casket was a fantastic treat, for me there was nothing to beat toffee. Whether original, brazil nut, nut and fruits, liquorice or more recently chocolate smothered.

I didn't like that it used palm oil/fat. Surely the recipe originally used butter? Was palm oil even around when Stanley created his recipe?

Thornton's has beentaken over by Ferrero but doesn't seem to be bringing back the variety or the shops.

Flying

 We were flying today but the plane was delayed due to bad weather at the airport we were going to - strong winds.

After we landed and got of the plane it seemed to us that there was still a strong wind - a side wind but the landing was very smooth.

I am not a frequent flyer but the flights I have been on have been fine. Only a couple of times we had some turbulence but nothing drastic. One of my friends flew one time and the flight was so scary that he seriously considered returning by ship.

Esso blues

We have a lot of small plants in the greenhouse so trying to be ahead of the game we bought a heater for it.

It does not seem worth the money to install an electric cable just for the few days and nights that heating will be needed. Particularly as it will have to be installed by a registered electrician in a protected sleeve etc. 

I thought paraffin was cheap but was it? It seems to be dearer per gallon than petrol or diesel now.

Playground

 We went to two different play parks today, one small, the other the largest in the town.

Both need improvement. I find it annoying that council money is wasted on idiotic cycle lanes abd not spent on the future citizens. 

There is a skatepark which also needs an upgrade. The children who use the skatepark are very tolerant of newcomers and there never seems to be a problem. It is not only good exercise in open air but they learn to mix with others of all abilities.

But do you remember the play parks of the past with witches hats? Seesaws like horses trying to throw you off? And proper high slides?

Back to school

 With Inset days - in service days extending the Summer school holidays, it was back to school today.

Who remembers their return to school? I have to admit that I don't remember any at all but I should think that my parents did. Obviously we would have all met up with friends during the holiday but it was great to see our other classmates too. Perhaps even slightly more exciting to find out their news after not seeing them for so long.

Picking

 We have picked quite a few blackberries but the season seems to be over early this year and no it's not a climate emergency con.

And what goes well with blackberries? Apples. We have three separate trees to pick from. One a large and well established tree with cooking apples - not sure of the variety. Another a dwarf tree with eating apples - Elstar and a second one with Laxton's Superb,

So we do plenty of cooking, sieving and freezing.

Play well

Bristol is fortunate enough to have a Lego shop. There are so many wonderful kits to chose from and helpful staff. 

If you are as old as me you may have been lucky to have had one of the first kits. In a wooden box with separate compartments. I think that mine had a mixture of red and white bricks, fairly basic shapes but it also had some slopes - used for roofs and some basic windows and doors. So it was imagination that was the main requirement there weren't detailed instructions.

Now there are kits to build specific models with some alarming prices! 

If at first you don't succeed

 We made our second attempt at a totally gluten free sourdough bread today.

The first attempt was not too bad, quite springy and tasty but it did slump a bit when being cooked then more slumping in the middle whilst it cooled.

It seemed to be a combination of over-proving and not a hot enough oven. Maybe too much liquid could be a factor too. But the fun is adapting the recipe.

So today's attempt had a packet of powdered egg white and a hotter oven. It came out better and not as much slumping - is that the correct term? It is still tasty though!

Your starter for...

 During the craziness of Covid lockdown a lot of people started making their own sourdough bread - I wonder how many of them are still making it?

We had started our sourdough well before Covid was ever heard of.

But what we had never tried was a gluten free sourdough. So we are now trying to make a starter. We are using a mixture of a ready made gluten free flour mix and adding sorghum flour and finely ground up quinoa.

It is starting to bubble so hopefully we will be trying gluten free sourdough soon.

Another bug

 Does anyone else get odd illnesses?

The latest one has made me poorly, nothing specific just poorly. The main side effect was that it was very hard to eat or even drink. Having zero energy too.

At least the weather has been good.

Flaming June

Another hot day so a good day to do some washing which takes a long time to dry. Nice to catch up on the gardening as well. Some fruit picking mainly raspberries. I made some frames for the gooseberries and redcurrants. It is lovely to have a mulberry tree in the garden but it gets completely stripped of fruit by the blackbirds. I wouldn't mind too much if we got a chance to have some ourselves but they get eaten before they are ripe.

Market day

 We went to the market in Clevedon today then on to Nailsea. An old chap we met asked us almost incredulously why we were going to Nailsea. Well why not?

A few different locally owned shops to look around is a bit of fun and hopefully shopping there keeps them solvent. The death of the high street will be yet another backward step for communities. Amazingly there were no roadworks in Tickenham!

Bedankt

 A trip to Holland. I was a bit apprehensive about travel post Brexit and post Covid but apart from a bit of a queue at Schiphol to get our passports checked - the officer was very friendly and efficient it was just the sheer number of people all at the same time that caused a small backlog I wouldn't have noticed any difference.

We went to Amsterdam first then Utrecht, what a delightful city. The Dutch are a very friendly nation and it was a super city break.

Election day

 Does anyone else feel dispirited when it comes to voting?

Naively I did think that a vote made a difference. But it does seem to me that whoever is elected, it is the faceless bureaucrats who make all the decisions.

But hopefully local elections and those elected will be able to make improvements to our local communities.

Nature

 Disappointing to see that the snails have got to the tomato plants that were starting to grow in the greenhouse. I didn't want to use slug pellets but...

Even worse is the box tree in the garden. This well established tree is completely overrun (if that is the correct word to use) with caterpillars, hundreds of them. They have basically eaten it.

I have read that the moth has gradually spread through the country and is decimating box hedging. What an awful pest. I do have some untouched cuttings but will it be worth growing them on in future?

Another day, another closure

 Another shop is closing in Clevedon, CM3 which we used to know under one of its previous incarnations as Cheapjacks.

But before then it was the only 'supermarket' in Clevedon really a grocers - called International.

I wonder how many remember it?

Biscuits and flapjack

Whilst not strictly the time to make some Easter goodies, because of very welcome visitors I made some biscuits today. Instead of Simnel cake I made some Simnel/Easter biscuits. 

I think that it is fairly specific to this area to use Oil of Cassia in cooking - for Easter biscuits, So I used that instead of mixed spice and currants, marzipan and whole almonds in the final mix.

I don't have the specific recipe as I made it up from a mish-mash of other recipes but they were very tasty.

Keeping in touch

 Does anyone else have close family/relatives that live abroad - if that doesn't sound too odd. What I mean is that we have children and grandchildren that live in different parts of the world.

The internet has been very useful for keeping in touch so when they come to visit - which because of the idiotic covid restrictions etc.  we are not completely unknown to them. We were fortunate recently to see our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Whilst unfortunately the parents had to still do some work and one day were both away for the whole day it meant we had to look after our granddaughter which was lovely and because of the familiarity of seeing us online she didn't get upset and enjoyed her day. I wonder whether she would have been so relaxed had she not had that 

Lent and no Roses

 Sugar. After a great Shrove Tuesday and plenty of pancakes, what to give up for Lent? I always like to do something extra for Lent too but what to give up?

Sugar. I am going to try and give up sugar wherever possible. So that means none of the obvious - sweets, biscuits, cakes, fizzy drinks and I don't add sugar to tea or coffee so what else? It seems sugar is in so many other foods it will be hard so I think I will stick to avoiding those listed above.

Is anyone else doing something for Lent?

Freeze

We have had some lovely weather recently, clear sunny and cool days. The air seems so fresh to breathe too.

Today I spent making a farm out of Duplo ably assisted by my five year old grandson. Whilst he enjoys Lego, he still likes to play with Duplo.

Did you know that Lego brought out an even larger version called Quatro? It was only around for a couple of years as it didn't catch on. It would be interesting to know if anyone has some.

Exercise is good for you, laziness is not - The Wombles

 January is traditionally a time when people take up exercising.

It is not a bad time to start either, short daylight hours means there is a good opportunity to exercise indoors when gardening isn't too much of an option.

There are plenty of offers on equipment too. Though apart from some weights I have never thought most pieces of kit are worthwhile.

YouTube has some excellent exercise videos from the BHF and NHS which are aimed at all levels of fitness.

Sale

 Some sales started before Christmas, which I have always thought is wrong. If someone has bought an item only to find that even before the gift is unwrapped on Christmas Day it has reduced in price it is very unfair.

Having never been someone who crushed themselves in Boxing Day sales anyway it was not until yesterday that I went to the shops for the first time since before Christmas.

Did anyone get any lights or decorations in the sales for next Christmas?