2024 Is Upon Us

I'd like to wish you all a very happy new year full of vim and verve. A new year chock to the brim with joy. New beginnings and fresh undertakings. Thank you for pressing the follow button so I can see who is listening to my musings and ramblings, that includes my latest follower Jules, a warm welcome to you. May we all continue to engage, entertain and support all of our wonderful blogging chums. I shall raise a glass to my blogging community folk tonight. Cheers.

Champagne !!!!!

Well I never, it appears that 'research' has shown Champers is good for us. Now that is good news. A few glasses a week can ward off dementia and heart disease. The article I read which is in The Saga Magazine says that hospitals even used to prescribe it in the early 20th century, for various ailments including vomiting, imagine that? The aid to memory loss is all down to Champagne's unique phenolic compounds that enhance memory by modulating signals in the brain's memory centres and preserves proteins which diminish with age and which are crucial for memory storage. It can also improve circulation and support heart health. So my best bloging chums it would be foolish of us not to quaff a few glasses this season. I do wish you all the best Christmas and a very happy and fulfilled new year.

Winter Solstice

(image by Joanna Kosinka, unsplash). When the rivers are frozen, the light is reborn. When the shadows grow long, the light is reborn. When the warmth has fled, the light is reborn. In the darkest night, the light is reborn.

An Unusual Christmas Tree

The Mr and I should have been holidaying in Madeira over Christmas but due to a family illness we are now going in February. I didn't much feel like buying our usual huge fresh tree and bedecking the house, although I have to say this is the first Christmas I have been looking forward to for a wee while now. I opted for a small 'Birch tree effect' twig instead. Of course I found it impossible to find something approximating what I had in mind that wasn't made of the dreaded plastic. So I cut an old Lilac branch off a bush in our garden, trimmed it and left it to dry for a week or so. I then wrapped it in white florist tape and glued it to a wooden base. I have decorated it with small glass baubles and not much else, apart from a small wooden hand carved angel I found in my favourite charity shop. I'm quite pleased with it. It's big enough to look festive and pretty. I have now put a few small presents around the base. I think less is definitely more in this instance.

I'm off now to watch Albert Finney in Scrooge on Channel 5 and I may possibly have a small piece of Christmas cake. My friend Amanda made us a superb cake for Christmas, she is a very kind hearted friend and much valued.

Maggie of Black Country Wench blog has 'won' the giveaway. I'll wait for her details and send the book and brooch off to her.

Nuff Said

Doings, Makings & A Christmas Giveaway

The Mr and I have completed our Slimvember challenge, where we had decided to cut out snacks of the biscuit, cake and chocolate variety, plus a reduction in our wine intake. We're not heavy drinkers at the best of times but we realised we were having a glass or two of wine nearly every night. We have both lost a good few pounds and are keeping up with our revised habits. I've been trying out a few different recipes too, which I'm glad about as I do get so bored with cooking the same things. I usually cook from scratch and try to use up anything lurking in the fridge. Yesterday it was cod loin with roasted veg and mashed potatoes. I used some herbed olive oil that I had saved from our little pack of olives we had earlier, delicious. I recently also made a superb Scandi style salmon soup with veg and fresh dill. We scoffed it all before I thought to take a pic, next time we have it I'll post the pictures with the recipe. You will thank me, ha ha. My Christmas tasks are going well and I feel that this year it has felt very pleasurable finding gifts for folks. I decided not to buy an expensive wreath this year for us, which I normally can't wait to put on our door. Instead I used some dried hydrangea heads to embelish the felted heart door wreath I have on the door all year round. I'm pleased with it and it has saved some money too.

And finally I'd like to present a Christmas giveaway to all my followers, why not? Adam Wide inspired me to recently buy a couple of Christmas Tree brooches and I'd like to gift one of them together with the most mystical book by an author who I have only recently discovered, Mary Webb. Her writing style is of it's time and quite unique, very immersive and a a wee bit strange.

If you would like to be entered into the giveaway just let me know in the comments section please, don't be shy and I'll endeavour to pick a winner and send it off in time for the Christmas festivities.

Bjorn & Ian Knitting Chums

As I race to finish my Christmas knitting projects I spied this funny knitting friends spoof. Bloomin hilarious. I hope it tickles your funny bone too. Thank goodness for humour.

Adam Wide Christmas Forest

I managed to bag a ticket for this totally amazing event at Chatsworth House last Thursday. Adam gave an enthusiastic, passionate and revealing talk on his immense collection of Christmas Tree brooches of which he has around 8000. There is a part exhibition around 1500 of them along the Christmas route at Chatsworth until January, so look out for them in the north sketch if you are planning on going. The jewellery itself was swoon worthy and this from someone who doesn't really ever wear a brooch, well that is until now. Adam was an absolute bundle of joy and mirth and has led the most extraordinary life and still does. He has just arrived back in Blighty after living in Berlin, but he has done many great things world wide. He really has so many stories to tell I could have sat there all day listening to him. He was such a surprise and subsequently so was the talk. I feel inspired by the man and learnt a lot, of course I told him a few things too, he never knew that Monty Don had made jewellery before he moved onto gardening. I fear I may have started him on another acquisition trail.

Warmth and Kindess Let's Have More Of It

This sweet advert warmed my heart and made me shed a tear at the same time, kind and thoughtful.

Ah Me

From Douglas Henshall today, made me titter.

Move Over Nigella There's A New Goddess In Town

Goodness me I'm late to the Nancy Birtwhistle party. My excuse is that I don't watch 'Bake Off', apparently she won the competition many moons ago. I adore the woman, can't get enough. I'm following her on Facebook now and she's always popping up with thrifty and sustainable tips. She's written a few books too, one of which I have just returned to my local library. Over the weekend I googled her shortcrust pastry recipe, now I rarely make pastry, but I thought I would make some cocktail sausage rolls in advance for Christmas gatherings. She didn't let me down,and although I say so myself it was perfection. In other thrifty news I've just discovered that my local M&S sell off ripe bananas at a tiny 25p a bag. They were in a rather nice brown paper bag on the top of the banana stand, with no price on them, but two recipes on the bag to make use of the ripe bananas, banana bread and vegan cupcakes.

I tweaked the recipe slightly by adding walnuts and some vanilla essence. I think this domestic goddess lark is catching.

Christmas Prep

My thoughts have turned to organising our Christmas. We should have been away for the season but because of family illness we have postponed our trip to early February. The last few years we have both felt that Christmas had somewhat lost its sparkle, which is why we thought it would be fab to get away somewhere warm and lush. As this was not meant to be I'm really trying to plan an enjoyable and fun filled time. We have booked a local historic restaurant for Christmas Eve lunch, friends maybe joining us for that. I have booked a Winter concert being held in an ancient church,and the new Willy Wonka film, which looks hilarious. I have bought or made almost all of the presents, so I'm ahead there. Getting a Christmas pud that doesn't contain palm oil has been a bit of a trial, can you believe that the top five puds recommended by Good Housekeeping all have palm oil in them, it's such a shame. Anyway King Charles came up trumps with his Highgrove organic pudding, of course it would have been rude not to order some Port from him too. I admit to splashing out a bit and have a new rather interesting 'party' frock, the pattern of which is made up of tarot card images. It's a good job then that my traditionally made besom, ordered a while back has arrived today, just in case I need an accessory.

Oh Dear King Lear

The Mr and I have just returned from a much anticipated London trip. I booked tickets to the Kenneth Branagh production of King Lear at The Wyndham, a few months ago, and indeed had been on a waiting list to ensure I would know exactly when the tickets went on sale. Much excitement!! It was a two hour performance, with no interval, which I thought was strange, but in hindsight perhaps it was a tactic to prevent folk leaving early, surely not? Before the start I was queuing for the lavatory, like you do, and chatting to a nice woman behind me who told me the play had terrible reviews. I remember thinking that anything with dear Kenneth in and with tickets at an eye watering £300+ for two MUST be a tour de force. Oh oh how wrong could I be. Kenneth Branagh himself had a decent stab at the part, but oh my, the rest of the cast were SO wooden and delivered an overly shouty interpretation of the story. A cast of maybe 15 ran onto the stage and off again continuously at great pace, hither and thither shouting, fighting most times and banging large sticks on the stage. The costumes were a tragedy in themselves, an earthy muted palette with a stone age man meets women in linen vibe. It was impossible to discern who were the royal party and who were the surfs, coupled with some actors playing different roles it was a story line which I was unable to follow. The set was made up of the same palette as the costumes and didn't change throughout the performance, apart from a few images projected on to it. The overall visual effect was totally unstimulating, lacklustre and frankly boring. It felt like a school production. My advice is DO NOT GO.

By contrast The Frans Hals exhibtion at The National was completely beguiling. All portraits of course. The Mr and I wandered around the eight or so small galleries almost intoxicated with the skill and beauty of his work. A 17th century contemporary of Hals, Theodorus Schrevelius said that Hals works "reflected such power and life, that the painter seems to challenge nature with his brush". I couldn't agree more.

'Ghost Fans'- Lady Button's Letter to The 'Teetanic'

I adore the Ghosts tv series and I'm so sad it has ended. Still we do have a Christmas special in the offing. I stumbled across this excerpt from a live performance, it's superb.

Early Christmas Cheer

My friend posted this and I thought it was so super cute I should too. For my chums across the pond Aldi is a British budget supermarket and their Christmas vegetable characters are full to the brim with Christmas spirit. Watch out for the trumpeting brussel sprouts.

Girl Power or Coprolalia?

THIS POST DOES CONTAIN SOME TRULY BAD LANGUAGE, SO PLEASE DON'T CLICK ON THE TRAILER IF YOU THINK IT MIGHT OFFEND YOU. It tickled my funny bone, once I got over the 'shock' but I'm a big fan of Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley both. If you're not you might want to skip this post and wait for my more modest outpourings.

Beacons of Light

I do so love the glow of candles especially now the weather has turned it's driech face towards us for the foreseeable. For a long time I bought my candles from IKEA. I know the really expensive ones give off an amazing fragrance, but I don't think they are generally worth the expense. I'm mindful too of the ingredients used in candles, because some have nasties in them, I'm thinking of the really cheap ones here. I gave up on the IKEA ones last year as they didn't burn in an even manner and so were a bit wasteful. I have been buying my candles from Aldi ever since and I've been very pleased with them. At £3.99 a pop good value too. Then it suddenly dawned on me that I have a basket of tea lights languishing in our cellar. So in a bid to use up anything we don't want to take when we move house, I will be using them up, before I buy any more larger candles. I think that will save a goodly amount of money.

I've also been sorting out all the small bottles of toiletries that I have collected over the years from different trips away. You know the mini bottles of shampoo etc I have started using them up at home, again so we don't have to pack them up for the house move.

Finally Pictures of The Compost Heap Jelly

The jelly is untried just now, but as blogger is 'allowing' me to upload images at the moment, I thought I should. I'm also working on socks for friends. The ones in this picture are made from a vegan yarn, which in this case I think translates to bamboo. The label on the skein was printed on plantable wildflower seed paper, which I thought was pretty cool. Second pair of socks finished, unblocked at this stage and I have another pair on the needles.

I hope all my blogging chums are safe from the floods. It has been awful locally but we live high up so haven't been flooded. The storm did scupper our plans for a weekend away though. Keep warm and dry folks.

Compost Heap Jelly

I hope this little film will clearly show you all the doings and the makings of this wonderfully thrifty jelly, which tastes like a rindless marmalade. 'Pam the Jam' is an expert preserve maker and I have splashed out and bought her book, a muslin jelly bag with stand and also a jam thermometer, because she has inspired me so. Although my own compost jelly has cost me about 25p per jar I'm still in for a few pounds yet with all the extras I have purchased. I haven't finished my current jar of shop bought marmalade but when I do I will crack open my own home made jelly and hope it is as nice or let's be optimistic even better. I will of course let you all know. You can probably tell m'dears that I'm planning to make many more jams and jellies, as I do have a lot of frozen home grown fruit in my chest freezer. But I'm perhaps getting ahead of myself. I had hoped to post a few images of my making process and beautifully crystal clear jellies in recycled jam jars. Sadly at the moment, blogger is, for some strange reason not allowing me to upload images from my computer. I will work on trying to sort this out but if any of you folk have ever had this happen please can you let me know the solution. Bye for now.

Domestic Goddess

I've come over all Domestic Goddess. At the same time I've set my Autumnal mind to even less wastage and more mindful spending and not just with food and so forth, doing okay so far. I have made my 'compost' jelly, using up lemon and orange peel primarily, destined for the compost bin but via the freezer first whilst I collected the 2kg I needed to make the jelly. When I say jelly, not as firm as a jam, tastes like a marmalade, no rind and very clear. It was not without it's problems but I'll let you know more of that later. Using up the tomato crops for soups and making delicious meals in the slo cooker, Afelia (Greek dish using pork, coriander seeds and rose wine). And last night Beef Bourguignon, both hearty dishes incorporating our home grown onions, celery, potatoes and bay leaves.

What's cooking with you folks?

In Other Cultural News - Bryan Ferry's 78th Birthday

Totally delicious.

Frans Hals Exhibition National Gallery

I'm a huge fan of Frans Hals and will be hot footing it down to London in November to see this exhibition. Two of the paintings on show I'm very familiar with as they are on loan from my local stately home. They are mesmerising and I have stared long and hard at them many a time. I'm excited to see more of his work. This little film is well worth a watch, go on, immerse yourself in a little bit of magic.

This & That

This is kinda how I feel about positivity and gusto. Strength of mind is a wonderful thing but we are all susceptible to things beyond our control I know. Something I'm desperately trying to control is precision sock making. I'm making socks as gifts for friends this year to keep their tootsies warm and snuggly. I've finished the first pair. The yarn is marketed as a vintage yarn because of the colours. This is powdered egg. Made from Exmoor Blueface and Bluefaced Leicester sheep wool. They are I feel perfectly imperfect.

Here they are drying on their slim wooden blockers in the sunshine. I think they will look very tempting when wrapped and ribboned. Especially with a little parcel of home made chocolates for company. Are any of you already starting the present making?

Torre Abbey Torquay Visit

One of the places we visited whilst in Torquay was the 12th century Torre Abbey. An ancient scheduled monument founded in 1196. It is set in 18 acres of gardens, which includes an area of potent plants, (poisonous). It was the perfect setting for a talk on the poisons used in the Agatha Christie stories. Unfortunately we couldn't get tickets for that event but we did have a nice wander round. The Abbey now houses an art collection and puts on various exhibitions through the year. The 'Spanish' Barn, a huge tithe barn which sits directly next to the Abbey itself is also used for events, weddings and is the refreshment area for visitors. I felt the barn had a strange vibe about it, I couldn't help but 'feel' the wretchedness of the poor Spanish prisoners who were kept captive there. On a lighter note, parts of the Abbey have some fab interpretation areas. You can hear voices deep in discussion as you approach one of the family rooms used during the 18th century early nineteenth century, by the Carey family who lived in the Abbey as a family home from 1662 for over 300 years. As you approach the table you can see the dinner plates have talking heads on them. I loved it. Unfortunately naughty blogger wont let me load up my little film of the dining room, BAH! A very warm welcome to another follower, Susan, thank you very much for dropping by and clicking on the follow button.

Disappointing Trip

I've been away for a few days to the English Riviera, Torquay to be exact. The International Agatha Christie Festival was on. I was expecting lots of old world charm and folk in period costume sprinkled throughout the streets and waterside. Sadly not. The two events I attended were great fun and some of the heritage buildings were nice, but I'm afraid everywhere else was past it's best. The Mr stayed at home and his two brothers came to visit with him. They had a great time together. The Mr beat both his brothers on the golf course, he's the eldest so he was most pleased.

The Agatha Christie Gallery in the Torquay Museum was a highlight. With costumes and props from the TV series.

Meet Rationbook Rebecca

She is such a joyful down to earth gal, I adore her. Watching her chat away it's like talking with an old friend. I wait every week for a post from her and have managed to view her musings on the tellybox now, most splendid. A very warm welcome to Sue my latest follower, thank you for dropping by and following.

Sunday's Joyous Things