A Day Out

I met up with my friend in Hebden Bridge.  The weather was wild, wet and windy and the river was full

We still had a wonderful gossip about everything and anything.

Hebden Bridge is a place with lots of very interesting hippy type shops, and we browsed them all, and all the charity shops.  I got a hoodie for bear, which I gave him straight away while it still fits him, a fake leather jacket which is not only gorgeous but immaculate but sadly is far too large for him.  However getting an immaculate, leather-look, Next jacket for £3.50 is worth seizing the moment and getting it to stash.  It is really nice.  I also picked up a book I shall probably give him for Christmas, which is book about football by Pele that was also incredibly inexpensive.

Tonight is a night to stay in, knit and listen to the storm.

When Will I Learn

A while ago I decided to buy some Christmas cards in January and stock up.  I found a whole slew of them at 99p plus reasonable postage for 100 cards, so I bid on them all, convinced I would maybe get one or two.  That is why I have literally hundreds and hundreds of good quality cards.  The cards will outlast me.

I also make a practice of buying wrapping paper on Boxing Day.  I've picked up some very good quality and elegant wrapping paper, that not only covers Christmas but is generic enough for all occasions, for a song.  The rolls of paper that were 10p a roll, well, I got an armful.  This is why when I cleared the space for the piano this summer I found over fifty rolls of wrapping paper.

I've found some bulk sales of tinsel for auction on eBay.  Please let me be outbid, please.  Otherwise there will be a very festive heap here and I've nowhere to put it.

The weather is very wild here.  I'm glad we're not on the top of the hill, or I would worry for the roof!

Another Day

Thank you again for all the kind words and thoughts.  I have felt wonderfully hugged.  I am getting back to normal.

I have been to the doctor who said that I have a very bad cough.  It sounds horrific, it sounds like I am about to collapse.  However my lungs are lovely and clear.  So I have come away with a bottle of stomach medicine and an inhaler.  At least there is no sign of bacterial infection, as I was worried about bear catching something.  Bear has been practicing his cough, but it is still a supporting act to the drama that is the Sore Ankle.  This Sore Ankle is a strange beast.  It stops bear from being able to carry his dirty clothes downstairs, and leaves him limping bravely to school, but doesn't stop him playing football.  That is one child that is not getting drama lessons.  He really doesn't need them.

I'm considering some stuff on eBay.  I've seen the ideal door curtain that would match with nothing.  I'm not even sure that DH would like it.  On the other hand I haven't done anything crazy on eBay for hours.

I'm going away to sit on my hands.  If all else fails, there is the Nessie ladle.

Sorry

I've pulled myself together now, and I am really grateful for the kind thoughts and comments.

I did spend some time talking to my friend eBay.  Fortunately eBay didn't talk back to me so I didn't get anything silly.  I was tempted by a loch ness monster ladle, but I got past that.

Instead I did a little writing which always makes me feel better.  It's here, if you are interested, and while it isn't great, it did help.  All is well here.  Bear is complaining of mysterious aches and pains in an effort to avoid school, DH has his oIwn aches and pains and I'm doing alright.

I may yet go back to the loch ness monster ladle, though.  It looks like it may be actually useful.  In fact, it looks perfect to put on my Christmas wish list for my brother.

Image actually from a site called Geek Alerts which looks really interesting

Grief

Last night I dreamt father died.  I visited him as he was dying and then he died and I organised his funeral.

He died July 28 2015.

Grief is a peculiar thing.  I don't suppose anyone reading this is surprised that it has hit me again.  The funeral directors thought I hadn't cried properly back in August and I don't suppose I have yet.

Today has been an epic fail on a heroic scale regarding anything except self pity.  I'm posting this because I am sure I am not the first one to be unexpectedly ambushed by grief, and I'm sure I won't be the last.  Sometimes it is good to see it in print, that you're not alone.

Really, I'm doing okay.  More or less functioning, more or less ready for Christmas, more or less okay.  I have a lot of good days, a lot of days with lots of fun.  The world is still an amazing place.  A lot of people are worse off, and I know that.

I am going off to read about predictions for the weather after Christmas.  I won't desperately believe any of them, but it's fun to think about it.  The berries think it's going to be a tough winter, but they've been wrong before.

That's the hawthorn a few yards down from the apple tree with two types of apple.  I wish I could tell father.

Paying Attention

Yesterday I wrote about the apples.  Today I was walking past on the way to the shop and I had my phone with me so I thought I would take a photo.  I looked down and saw lots of the big apples, and looked up again - and winced at what I had missed.  Most of the tree is crab apples, but there is one large branch coming off the tree that isn't but is heavily loaded with eating apples.  This is the best photo I could manage

If you look closely you can see lots of little, golden crab apples and a very large sweet apple, all on the same tree.

I remember a while back watching a programme on PBS (which you can get in the UK and is well worth watching) about Johnny Appleseed who went around the settlers in the Mid West selling apple seed and planting it.  However apples do not grow true from seed.  You can plant a seed from the most delicious apple you have ever eaten and anything could come up.  A lot of the seeds planted by Johnny Appleseed and the pioneers apparently did not bring up eating apples but they were okay to make hard cider, which led to problems with drunkenness, which led to the Temperance Movement, which led to all sorts.  Nowadays if you are growing commercial eating apples you choose a healthy rootstock, which could be a crab apple type, and graft a cutting of your choice of apple onto the stock.

I think that the apple tree here may have got confused.  It just goes to show how wonderful the world is.

By the way, I did some crafty conversions on the post following this, and I used Online Conversion.  They are awesome, and I now know where to go if I succumb to some of the absolutely gorgeous stuff on The Greater Good website which has some of the most amazing things but I would have to convert the clothing sizes.  The Online Conversion people not only convert litres to pints but have conversions for clothing and weight and if you look under miscellaneous there are calculations for radioactivity and armour penetration.

You Lot are Awesome!

In general, people who read and comment on this blog are awesome.  I've had a tough few years and this has been a safe place for me with incredibly supportive comments, good wishes and inspiration.  I am sincerely grateful.

And in particular today I am thanking Bless and Jean from the centre of Canada for their ideas in the comments of the last post.  I had never, ever heard of potato fudge nor had I heard of orange rolls.  I will investigate if I can get my act together this morning as I am feeling meh still.  I am not forgetting either (though I am not sure how safe I am with boiling sugar - it's worth a risk) and I am very grateful for the ideas.

I tried a new recipe last night.  It's supposed to be around fifteen minutes to make.  By the time I had faffed around it took much, much longer, but that is always true of a new recipe.  I had surplus lettuce from a delivery that needed using up so I tried Pea, Lettuce and Bacon soup.

You start by gently softening two large, finely chopped onions and 200g (around half a pound) of bacon.  I thought that sounded a lot.  Then you add 1.5 litres of stock (around three pints).  I thought that sounded a lot.  Then you add 1kg (around two pounds) of defrosted frozen peas and half of the finely shredded 1.2kg (about two and a half pounds) of lettuce.  How much?  I weighed my two lettuces.  It's winter and they were the inexpensive supermarket ones, so they weren't the fattest, but they only came to 365g.  Just around a quarter of what the recipe asked for looks like this.

It is a massive bowl full,  I just tipped it all in.  Then you simmer until the peas are soft, allegedly around five minutes, and then blend.  You add the rest of the the lettuce (I skipped this as I had none left), simmer through and then serve.

There seemed to be oceans of the stuff.  I checked and the recipe said that it served four.  I assume they meant four very large, hardworking men who had been on a starvation diet for a week.  If you look at how much stock alone, one and a half litres between four is 375ml or nearly three quarters of a pint.  We had gallons left (lunch is sorted).

It tasted gorgeous, really nice.  Both bear and DH would like it again, please.  Bear utterly cleared his large bowl full, which was impressive.  I'll do it in half quantities and I may well add a tiny drop of mint sauce and a few croutons.  I may also wait until summer when you get more lettuce to a head.