A dog-sitting weekend

Eden went away for the weekend with her Mum and brother so I was aked to look after Tinkerbell. She has stayed with me before on a couple of occasions but Eden has always been here as well. This time it was just the two of us so I had a 'shadow' for the entire weekend because she searched everywhere just in case I had hidden Eden but she couldn't find her.
Yesterday I took her out for a couple of good walks which seemed to tire her out and when I got up this morning we went out quite early so that I could bake some bread and scones when I got back. While I was baking she sat in the kitchen doorway watching my every move because I think she was worried that I might abandon her too.
After lunch I decided to take her out on quite a long walk over Castle Green and she really enjoyed this especially when she saw the squirrels and other dogs being walked too. When we got back home she was tired out and slept for an hour or so just because I wanted to take some pictures of her. Anyway, I did manage to get a couple in the end just before Eden and Sarah called to collect her so I'm reasonably pleased with the one above.

Tag from Emma

Emma wondered if I would answer eight questions sent as a tag to her on her blog so here goes. (By the way, I think she was supposed to do eight new questions but I still can't get the hang of this computer stuff so hopefully I've put in a link to her blog that works!).http://mad-chickens-and-ducks.blogspot.com/

1. What is your biggest pet peeve? Having to queue to pay in a shop with BAD customer service. If I'm giving them my custom I expect to be treated as someone who is important to them. I don't expect to have to join a queue in order to keep them in a job and their shareholders and managers in big fat dividends from the profits.


2. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? I've got a duvet but when I did have sheets I always untucked them so I could hang my legs out or throw off the covers if I got too hot.


3. Do you think it's OK for guys to wear pink? Yes, as long as it doesn't come out of my wardrobe or clash with what I'm wearing.


4. Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some? I did once but can't remember where I put it! Seriously, if I did have treasure to bury I would keep the location secret otherwise you'd all be out there digging it up.


5. Do you have any magazine subscriptions? No. I only get a newspaper on a Saturday and hardly get the time to read that.


6. What is your song of the week? The tune stuck in my head is actually the hymn 'How Great Thou Art' but the best tune I heard this week was the song the robin was singing at five thirty on Monday morning.


7. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? About five months ago but because I have arthritis I'm glad I can do them on this contraption and print them off and I also use e-mail occasionally. I always write birthday and Christmas cards by hand.


8. What country would you like to visit? I think I would like to visit Morocco as I haven't been there.

Mushy brains!

Despite the migraine I made my weekly trip to the farmers' market this morning, but having taken some strong pain killers I was a bit 'spaced out' and not really with it. I really hate not feeling my best and try to carry on as though there is nothing wrong with me but sometimes I end up giving in later in the day and so it was today.
As I made my way across the front of the church on Castle Green, I met the park keeper who saw me kicking up the leaves the other day and this morning he was sweeping them into big black plastic bags. I told him that I would have skipped through them again today if they hadn't been wet from the rain last night. Then he said this week was the last week he would be there as his job was seasonal, so when the rest of the leaves come down, they would have to stay there and I would be able to kick them about as much as I like. I wished him good luck with his winter job and went on my way.
Because I needed potatoes today I had taken my big shopping trolley so that I could get all the fruit and vegetables in. You'd be surprised how much room a cabbage and a large bunch of carrots take up and then there's the meat, fish and eggs etc. One of the last stalls I visit is where I get my cooked ham and I had also ordered some cooked beef for my neighbour so I got those together with a few other things. When I asked how much it came to the man told me and I handed over the money. On my way back across the green I thought that it had seemed to be a lot for what I had bought so tried to mentally add up the prices. My brain doesn't function properly when it hurts so much, so I gave up and decided to do it when I got home.
When I got back I unpacked the shopping and found that there was a small joint of boned, rolled shoulder of pork without any label in the bag with my name on which contained the beef order. Now this was something that I hadn't ordered so I thought someone else must have ordered it and it had been put in the wrong bag. I got on the phone to the farm shop which is about twenty miles away and as soon as I said who I was the man laughed and asked if by any chance I had a joint of pork. The lady who had ordered it had turned up shortly after I had left the stall and that's when the mistake was discovered so the man on the stall had rung the shop to let them know.
The man on the phone told me that the other lady had been sorted out and apologised to me so I told him that as I had paid for the joint, I would put it in the freezer to use at a later date. He did say that they don't usually get people to try their produce by forcing it on them but I told him we can all make mistakes and if I hadn't had such a headache I might have realised that there had been a mistake when I paid.

Another trip to the madhouse!

Having yet another summons to attend the surgery today, I arrived well in time for my appointment only to find they were all running late so I took a seat in the almost full waiting area. With this doctors' surgery I think there has only ever been one occasion when the waiting room was almost deserted and the people waiting were what I would call 'normal', that was some years ago when I had a very early morning appointment before I went to work and the surgery had only just opened.
This morning was the usual chaos which didn't help me because I had not slept much again and had been woken very early with a migraine which can make me 'a little sharp'. Anyway, I sat down opposite a rather large lady who, together with her three teenage daughters, seemed rather bemused at the goings on around them. I had a feeling that this may have been their first trip to this surgery.
Most of those waiting were Somali women with an assortment of children of varying ages. The women were having a loud discussion in their own language while the children were either running around or arguing over which one was going to play with which bit of the puzzle that is fixed to the table.
To my left was another family of three generations, Grandma, Grandpa, daughter with her teenage daughter and small son who could scream to burst anyone's eardrums. He had obviously had new batteries inserted before coming as he was continuously tearing around almost knocking some of the old ladies over as they were called to the treatment room. I wasn't sure which of this family were waiting to see the doctor but I don't think it was the little tearaway!
On my right was a young man with a mobile phone glued to his ear, ignoring the notices around the waiting area which request mobile phones to be turned off, he was obviously speaking to a friend because he was telling him about his exploits on a trip he had made to London at the weekend. Then there were the drug addicts who can't sit still but are up and down like yo-yo's while they wait to see the doctor and they also take frequent trips outside for a smoke. Their comings and goings are enough to make anyone dizzy.
Finally, behind me was an elderly lady and her husband. He must have been very deaf because she had to keep repeating things, eventually shouting quite loudly at him, telling him he needed a hearing aid and should ask the doctor for one. He just mumbled back at her and I got the feeling he was quite happy not to be able to hear her!
At last my name was called so I heaved a big sigh of relief and went in. Hopefully, I won't need to go there again for a long time but I think they will be requesting my company in another three months.

S

A stroll in the park

The weather forecast for today was very good, starting off with a crisp frost together with sunshine from dawn to dusk. This time of year makes me very restless because I would dearly love to be in the countryside so that I could take a good long walk and enjoy the weather and the scenery. Sadly, I'm stuck in this wretched city and if I do go for a walk, I need places where I can either sit and rest every so often, or where there is something that I can lean on for a few minutes until my legs and back have recovered a bit.
So, unable to go back to sleep after waking very early, I got up and decided that after breakfast I would go for a walk. There was nothing I needed in town except some milk, so I decided to go over to Castle Park and thought I could get the milk in the newsagent's on the way home. I got my gloves out of the cupboard, put on my jacket and walking boots and set off.
The sunshine was very bright and lit up the colours on the trees with an almost flourescent effect and I was sorry I hadn't taken my camera. When I got acrosss the park I saw a blind gentleman that I frequently stop and chat to with his guide dog. He takes his dog to the park most days and this is the time when he can be a dog and not work so he gets to play ball and do what dogs do for a while. They had been away for a holiday last week so I asked how they had got on and he told me they had had a really good time as it was in the countryside and also on a canal barge. After chatting awhile we walked on and at the top of the park the man and his dog went on their way and I continued my walk.
There is one area where there are quite a few mature trees and as I walked along the path beneath them I could hear a couple of robins singing at each other from either side of the path. It was obviously a territorial thing and then I spotted one of them and a few minutes later I saw the other one. They didn't actually square up to each other to fight but both moved along what seemed to be an imaginary boundary, each trying to outsing the other. Some parts of the park were deserted and so I was able to watch the squirrels and other birds from quite close quarters but it's always the way though, just as they get used to you and start coming a bit closer, some idiot comes along talking on a mobile at the top of their voice and frightening them all away again.
If we have another morning like today, I must take my camera with me but it won't be tomorrow as we have been forecast some rain!

Maintaining my standards

I may be retired but I will not let my usual high standards drop probably because I have a degree of 'obsessive compulsive disorder' and that's the way I am. Eden often looks at me in disbelief if we are sitting down and I suddenly jump up to straighten a picture or make the folds of the curtains look neat, but that's the way I am, everything just so.
So, I still clean up regularly and when I do the washing, I iron the same day. I still iron my sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers too but everyone else I know thinks I'm barking mad to do it but I can't stop myself. Besides, there's nothing nicer than slipping into fresh sheets that have been pressed properly.
Even when I was working full time I still did the same as I do now, except that now I can do the cleaning and washing on a week day as well as the shopping so that my weekends are free for Eden and cooking. This is why I cannot understand some of the neighbours around here. The houses are back to back so I can't avoid seeing quite a few gardens, but most of the neighbours that hang out washing seem to leave it out for a week or more.
This amuses me because very often we have a few good drying days in a row then we may get a wet day then dry again but none of them seem to be bothered. My washing has to go into the tumble dryer because I don't have enough room in the garden although I have a very small rotary clothes line, the washing hangs all over the plants. Even if I could dry the laundry outside, I would bring it in as soon as it was ready to iron because there is so much dust from building work in the area and mess from the railway that the clothes are mucky and smelly if left out too long.
Perhaps I'm too fussy for my own good but I'll continue just the way I am, thank you very much!

Forever young?

This morning when I woke up there was actually frost on the cars outside and I was glad that I didn't have to get up and scrape the ice off of my windscreen. When the sun woke up it was beautiful. We had a clear blue sky and no wind so I decided that I would have a walk across Castle Green to the shops to buy Harley's birthday present because he keeps reminding me that it's now only two weeks away. There were also a couple of other things I needed which I wouldn't be able to get in Tesco tomorrow so I decided to get those as well.
After breakfast I went out and when I got along the road by the school field, even more leaves had fallen from the London plane trees so they were right across the pavement. The leaves are very big and because the weather has been dry, they were also very crisp. It was just like walking through giant cornflakes! I just love to shuffle through dry, crispy leaves in the autumn so I turned around and went back through them and then back again, and no, I don't care if anyone did see me. Then my inner child took over and I couldn't stop myself from running my hand along the railings all up the side of the school field as I walked along, much to the amusement of the men working in the little scrap yard.
When I had got across Castle Green in front of the church, there is a row of plane trees which had also shed a lot of leaves and these are usually blown into a heap by one of the park keepers before being cleared. Well, I couldn't see anyone around and although I can't skip anymore I did have a great time shuffling through and kicking the leaves up. When I got to the end of the row of trees I came face to face with one of the keepers who had a great big grin on his face and asked me if I was enjoying myself. Luckily, I frequently see him when I'm on my way across the green and we often stop and chat for a few minutes before going on our way. He laughed when I told him that I had really enjoyed that because it was a great way to relieve stress and anyway, why should I lose the child which is inside us all, it's what keeps me young!

Just get on with it!

I am sure that with today's spending review a lot of people are going to be moaning louder than ever and the ones making the most noise will be those who have enjoyed more than most of us for some considerable time.
Perhaps one of the reasons for our current predicament started a long time ago back in the seventies when people began to live above their means, borrowing from banks, loan companies and then credit cards and never paying back the debt. Instead the level of personal debt has escalated at a phenomenal rate.
When I got married in the sixties neither my husband or I earned very much and so we started our married life with second hand furniture in a small flat. We rented a small television because we couldn't afford to buy one, we didn't own a car and apart from a week's honeymoon on the Isle of Wight, we never had a holiday either in the UK or abroad.
We came from a generation where we were brought up to understand that if you wanted something, you worked hard and saved for it and you couldn't have what you couldn't afford. We managed to save enough money for a cooker and a small fridge and because it took us so long to save enough, I looked after both very carefully and in fact, when they no longer worked and we got rid of them, they still looked brand new! In those days my earning power was very poor indeed because women weren't valued in the workplace and it was still to be a great many years before I earned anything near what I was worth, so after the rent and bills were paid, we didn't have anything left for luxuries.
Today though, it's totally different. Most young people, if they do get married, usually have a honeymoon in some exotic destination, they both own a car, have brand new furniture and a large flat screen television but they also have massive debts on credit and store cards. Mind you, when I was working in the jobcentre I know that many of those on benefits also had large flat screen televisions and although I was working, even I couldn't afford one then and still can't now.
So, when the cutbacks are announced today the generation of 'have it all now and never mind tomorrow' will be whinging, whining and moaning louder than anyone. They will have to learn that we are all going to feel the pinch in some way or other, but some of us will feel less pain because we have been raised with a totally different set of values. They will need to 'put up and shut up'!

What a difference!

Being retired does have it's bonuses and one of them is being able to shop where I can get the best price. This is a necessity anyway and I like to think I've got it cracked.
When I was working I had to get most of my shopping in the large Tesco store because the weekend was taken up with shopping, washing and cleaning so it saved time but was also expensive, though convenient.
Now I get things in several shops and the fresh goods from the farmers' market every week. Although I say it myself, I have a fairly good memory when it comes to prices and very often make a mental note of where I can get the best value for money.
So it was this week. My elderly neighbour gets very bad heartburn and had been taking a well known brand of heartburn/indigestion medicine for a very long time but it had ceased to be effective. I suggested he try some Andrews liver salts which are an old fashioned but very effective remedy, so, as he is housebound he asked me to get some for him when I was in town.
Instead of going into a chemists I decided to get them in Wilkinson's as they sell a bit of everything and are usually cheaper than other shops. The tin of Andrews cost £2.41p and after a few days I asked how he had got on. He said that it had stopped his heartburn and he had even been able to cut down on some of the other medication he had been taking for years for his digestion because he felt so much better. Then he asked me yesterday if I could get him another tin to keep as a spare.
When I went to the surgery this morning I went into the pharmacy and got him a tin there which cost £3.10p. The tin is the same make and size but I couldn't believe the difference in price. I will have to have a look in the two main chemists in town and also the supermarkets to see what their prices are so that in the future I will know where to buy the cheapest.

Beware of the chuggers!

Every time I go into the centre there are always a lot of young people wearing bright vests depicting whichever charity they are trying to raise money for and they get on my nerves. I never make eye contact but try to keep walking, looking anywhere but in their direction. That doesn't stop them from stopping me in my tracks because they have a nasty habit of stepping right in front of you.
Now I'm no fool and I know that most of the money that they get people to part with every month does not go to the charity, but in administration fees and wages so I won't engage with them. Besides, I don't have the money and I prefer to give to my selected charities in other ways.
Many of these young people appear to have had a reasonable education so it puzzles me as to why they waste their time doing this as a job even if it is only temporary. I know from my last job that many of these youngsters could be in employment that would enhance their future as many employers have great difficulty in finding younger employees who are both literate and numerate.
I don't think spending time acting as a modern day Dick Turpin for a charity is the most appropriate thing to put on a cv!

Yummyliscious! mmmmmmm........

Coffee and Walnut cake

9 oz plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 oz light soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 eggs
5 fluid oz sunflower oil
5 fluid oz milk
6 oz walnut pieces
2 tablespoons instant coffee
3 tablespoons boiling water
Filling: 3 oz butter or sunflower maragarine
6 oz icing sugar

1. Line an 8 inch square deep cake pan (or 9 inch round) with non-stick baking parchment and heat the oven to 160 C/325F (moderate heat).
2. Dissolve the coffee granules in the boiling water and set to one side.
3. Sieve the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl.
4. Beat the eggs in with the milk and oil in a large jug then add to the dry ingredients with the golden syrup and about two thirds of the strong coffee keeping the rest for the filling.
5. Beat everything together until you have a smooth batter then add the walnut pieces.
6. Pour into the lined cake pan then place on a shelf just under the middle of the oven for 50 to 55 minutes until cooked (or when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean).
7. Leave to cool in the tin for about five minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and leave until completely cold.
8. To make the filling, cream the butter or margarine until soft then gradually add the icing sugar until it is all mixed in then add the remaining coffee mixture.
9. When the cake is cold cut through the middle then spread the filling over both cut sides and sandwich back together.

This cake is very moist and yummy and takes very little time to make. To make a chocolate version, just omit the coffee and boiling water and replace with 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder for the cake and add 1 tablespoon into the buttercream. Enjoy! I did! :D

Confused and bewildered!

Maybe I'm beginning to lose it, I just can't make up my mind. The thing is, I really don't know what time of the year it is because there are so many confusing signs so now I'm completely lost!
To start with, a few weeks ago I bought some spring bedding plants, wallflowers, polyanthus and daisies. The wallflowers are OK but the polyanthus and daisies have burst into flower as though it was spring. I have also noticed little green shoots on the honeysuckle and roses that I pruned at the same time that I put the bedding plants in.
There are also some other plants still flowering, the dianthus are all having another go while the michaelmas daisies are just coming to the end of their flowering time.
Today when I went into town I was shocked to see that the council have already put up the Christmas lights but there were people walking about in short sleeved and sleevless tops. I haven't turned the heaters on yet but the weather forecast for tonight says that the temperature is going to drop right down and there is also a chance of ground frost even in towns and cities. Perhaps that will help the leaves to fall from the trees because they haven't come down yet whereas when I was younger, the trees were bare by mid-October..
I can remember too, not that many years ago most people and businesses alike all turned on the central heating on the first of October even if we had a cold September then it was turned off on the first of April. Today we don't need the heating until almost the end of October and mine usually goes off at the start of March.
Somehow I can't decide whether it's me or the seasons that are out of kilter!

Spiders Beware!!

I don't know about other people's experience of these little beasts, but the ones currently availing themselves of very comfortable accommodation in my house had better watch out!
Now I'm not to sure whether they are all on diets or what, but while they are lounging about, contemplating their navels (if spiders have such things) or knitting and crocheting new webs, I am being overrun with plagues of very small flies.
Already over the last few weeks I have used up a couple of aerosol cans of fly spray which I don't really like using and it doesn't seem to be that effective anyway. I have also tried squishing them in the windows with tissue and a latex glove and today even resorted to sucking them up in the vacuum cleaner!
This is a problem I have never had during the twenty five years that I have lived here and despite hunting everywhere I cannot find out where they are coming from. They have obviously come in for the warmth now that the weather is getting cooler but they are certainly very unwanted visitors.
Although I don't have that many spiders, if they ate all the flies they would probably be the size of tarantulas but nothing seems to entice them to tuck in. So, I'm going to issue you little beasts with a warning! If you don't keep the numbers of flies down I'm going to get out my feather duster and whisk your webs down, so there!!

Looking for inspiraton

This weekend I won't have Eden with me so that will give me some time to experiment with some new recipes. I already have one in my head for a coffee and walnut cake that I want to try to see if it will work and I will also be making some bread and rolls.
Every so often, I like to have a good cooking session so that I can put things in the freezer which saves me time in the week so that I can do other things.
I don't know if anyone else is like me, but I have loads of cookery books which I love to look through and very often I will see a recipe that I would like to try so I make a mental note of the ingredients and method so that I have a rough idea of what I'm doing, then I do my own thing with it so that it suits me. The recipe may not be totally original but the finished dish certainly is.
Of course, there are some things that are easy such as pies, both sweet and savoury, because if you can make a pastry you can't really go wrong and a Victoria sponge mixture is also very versatile for cakes both large and small.
The easiest thing of all though is soup so I will be making a winter vegetable one on Saturday but as for the other recipes, I haven't yet decided. I think I may spend a little time rummaging in the freezer tomorrow to see what I can transform as I know I have some things that haven't been made into dishes yet.

Help! I'm a guinea pig!

Well it's that time of year when the local doctor's surgery sends out letters to the ancient, dribbling crumblies and those with compromised immune systems to hobble along for their flu jabs. Why they have put me in that category I really can't imagine!
Anyway, I dutifully rang and made the appointment (they won't let you rest until you do because the phone call comes next!), then I trotted briskly off to the surgey like any fit young thing.
When I arrived the queue was out of the door and I can honestly say I have never seen the surgery so busy. When I got inside the door, I could see the place was heaving because I suppose all the doctors were seeing patients as well as the ones who were waiting for the treatment room for blood tests or bandages and then there were those for the flu clininc.
I also needed to make an appoinment for a blood test and another to see my nurse manager because they had sent me another letter for that too but the queue wasn't moving. We have a computer touch screen where you can log yourself in so I used that as it's much quicker. I can only presume that every one else was scared of it as they were all mumbling and holding on to their various sticks and zimmer frames.
After I had logged myself in, I stood looking for a chair but they were all full and everyone was looking at me as though I had just dropped in from another planet. The nurse came out and saw me then called me so I went straight in. Last time I had to wait for half an hour.
The other nurse confirmed my name and date of birth and as she was giving me the jab I asked her if we were due to have any others this year such as pig flu, bird flu, cat flu etc. as we had to have two last year. She laughed and told me that this vaccine had some swine flu in it too, so I enquired as to whether they were using it all up before the 'best before date' especially as they had stock piled it in readiness for an epidemic that never came last year! Neither of them were sure of the reason for the 'two in one' vaccine as they told me that this was a new idea. Great! They're testing it out then?
Oh well! I am now fully covered against flu, but which ones I couldn't say and when I came out the queue had gone so I made my other two appointments and skipped home!

Art critic!!!

I can't really believe what I just saw on the end of the news. It seems some Chinese artist (although I wouldn't call him that) has an exhibition in London of millions of porcelain hand painted sunflower seeds that the public can walk on!
They make a crunchy noise when walked on but I can guarantee that you will get a similar noise walking on a pebble beach or a loose gravel drive!
What, I ask myself, is the point of this? I wouldn't call this art and I certainly wouldn't cross the road to see such a complete waste of resources either. Art should be something beautiful (and recognisable) which has been created with the heart and soul of the artist so that the observer can see and feel what the artist felt at the time of it's creation.
My daughter, Emma, is a very talented artist and does the most beautiful paintings that everyone likes but she has never been asked to exhibit at any of these high fallutin' exhibitions. Perhaps she should start making a 'sculpture' of paste 'road apples' (horse poo to the uninitiated) and paint them by hand. After all, she's got a plentiful supply from Star that she could use to copy!

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash (about 2 lb in weight)

1 large onion

1 large potato

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

1 litre vegetable stock

1 teaspoon each of ground coriander

ground cumin

ground tumeric

half teaspoon hot chilli powder (or to taste)

1 tablespoon single cream per serving (optional)

chopped coriander for serving

1. Peel the butternut squash and potato then cut into smallish cubes.
2. Chop the onion quite finely and heat the oil in a wok or large pan then add the onion and soften until translucent.
3. Add the onion and potatoes to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Sprinkle over the spices and the chilli powder then add the stock with some salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. Cover and simmer for about thirty minutes until all the vegetables are tender.
6. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary then blend until smooth.
7. Ladle into serving bowls then add a tablespoon of single cream (if liked) and swirl around then sprinkle on some freshly chopped coriander or flat leaf parsley.
   

Pumpkin can be used instead of the butternut squash. I didn't have single cream so tried a dessert spoon of low fat creme fraiche but found I could't swirl this for the photograph! I also found out that you can't really sprinkle frozen herbs and that explains why there appear to be large flies floating on top of the soup in the picture:) However, the soup was delicious.

Serves 4

Autumn colours, summer warmth!

Driving over to pick up Eden this afternoon the warm sunshine belied the fact that we should be having autumnal temperatures but in fact, we are having 20 degrees celsius as opposed to 14 which is the norm for this time of year and it is likely to remain this way over the weekend.
The warm weather also encouraged a lot of people to finish work early and head for the holiday spots because the traffic was dreadful and there were a lot of caravans on the road too. When you get stuck behind one of these, there's no way of getting past and the drivers will insist on driving slowly past the best views so that the missus can have a good look!
All the trees are bedecked in their autumnal shades of yellows, oranges, rusty brown and even some reds. There is a wall at Claverton which is covered with Virginia creeper and at the moment it is a rich ruby red colour so looks quite spectacular.
I might have known the weather would warm up because I put the thicker duvets on the beds this week and have baked every night since! The other thing I did was to buy a butternut squash at the farmer's market to make some soup with Eden tomorrow because she really likes it. We will try not to eat it all and I will put the recipe and hopefully a photo on the blog tomorrow.

About time too

At last a politician has stuck his neck out and said what many of us have thought for a very long time. It's time to cap the benefits and stop paying families with lots of children that don't work, more in benefits than many hard working and honest parents earn in wages.
For all those ostrich type of do-goody-busy-bodies, it's high time they got their heads out from their backsides and took a look at how the world goes round and listen to the people around them.
Governments in the past have encouraged a benefit dependant society but only now are they waking up to the problems and enormous cost to the taxpayers. When I worked in the Jobcentre we were all very aware of the problems. Sometimes we had three generations of one family who had never worked in their lives yet continued to produce offspring with almost the same frequency as rabbits. Most of the mothers were single and usually claimed they didn't know who the father was so consequently these men never contribute financially to the bringing up of their children, yet they carry on reproducing.
It isn't only the Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance that we pay to these people but the child benefit, child tax credits, housing benefit and council tax benefits too. Most weeks we can also open the newspapers to read about a couple who don't work and have eleven children and are now expecting their twelfth child. They proudly proclaim that they love children and always wanted a big family and also want the council to give them an even bigger house (at no cost to themselves obviously).
Well that's all very well but they should take responsibility for their actions and darned well make sure they have the wherewithall to support them when they give birth. Why should the taxpayer pay for their pleasures? I know there are some families where one or both parents may have been made redundant and are finding it hard to manage and who do deserve temporary support, but for those who have never worked, they should think themselves to have been very fortunate so far. If they were in any other country, they would not be supported entirely by the state the way that they are here.
Another thing the do-goody-busy-bodies should remember is that most child poverty is caused by parents who smoke and drink away the child benefit and child tax credits which are meant to help them provide food to put on their children's plates. You can see these mothers in any shopping centre, usually obese and unkempt with a cigarette dangling from their mouth, a couple of kids in a pushchair and every time they open their mouths it becomes obvious that they never received any English grammar lessons when they were at school.
If the benefits are capped and these lazy people don't like it, then I suggest they emigrate to another country and they will soon find out how lucky they have been to receive all this money for so long.

It's always the same!

I was shocked this week after the government announced that they were cutting the child benefit to those who are earning sufficient wages to be in the higher tax bracket (I believe the salaries are those in excess of £37,000) and the local television news interviewed some of the so called 'yummy mummies' .
The interviews took place in what appeared to be a very posh private nursery which is located in a very well heeled part of the city. You know the sort of area. You have to be very rich and privileged to live there, probably own two cars, do your grocery shopping in Waitrose and buy designer clothes for yourself and the kids. In the area that you live, you never have problems with noisy neighbours or gangs of yobs hanging around on street corners and if you can afford to buy (or even rent) property in this area you aren't short of a few quid. In common with your neighbours, your family also has a couple of holidays abroad every year.
For anyone who doesn't know, the child benefit for the oldest child is £20.30p per week and is £13.40p for each subsequent child. These poor wretched middle class women were complaining bitterly about how they were going to manage without this benefit and still make ends meet!
It never fails to amaze me that those who have the most whine the loudest if they lose even a little of what they think they have an absolute right to. They never give a thought to those less fortunate who have to struggle week after week and need every penny they can get their hands on just to survive. Nor do they give a damn about the number of families who live on an inferior diet because the money doesn't stretch to luxuries and good quality food and who have never had a holiday even in a caravan or Butlins. And what about those families where the breadwinner has been made redundant, their futures look very bleak especially as Christmas approaches.
No! These selfish, spoilt, over indulged, designer clad women would rather take the bread out of the mouths of the less fortunate in society. I'll bet they are all crying into their gin and tonics with ice and lemon, wondering how the hell they are going to make ends meet when they are deprived of this money. How will they be able to send their little darlings to private school without the child benefit.
Strangely enough, I never came from a privileged background and although my husband and I worked very hard we could never afford to buy our own home or to have a holiday and we certainly couldn't afford a car. Our children were far more important to us than the few shillings child benefit. After all, we didn't have them for the money!

The Martians have landed!

They arrived in my back garden probably on Sunday night after the rain. Of course, I never heard a thing and knew nothing about it until this morning when I went to dead head my cyclamen.
The weirdest thing is, they have two feet just likes ours because I could quite plainly see two footprints larger than mine in the soft soil. My garden is completely enclosed by a six foot high fence which isn't very robust so I checked to see if there was any damage to the fence but there wasn't.
After phoning the police and leaving a message for the local beat team I went back outside to check if there were any other tell tale marks but came up with very little. Then I wondered if the Martian visitor had done a bungee jump into the garden and bounced straight out again.
This evening one of the PCSO's came round and although it was dark we went outside and I showed him the footprints. He couldn't make out how the Martian got into the garden but I also showed him some other signs including a couple of broken leaves on a plant so we think we know how he made his escape.
Then I took him upstairs so he could see just how my garden is in relation to all the others and he was even more baffled. The place where we saw the footprints was obviously the place of entry but in order to get there, the culprit either had to clamber over about a dozen or so gardens with walls and fences of various heights, or fall out of the sky!
The PCSO made a few notes and went off saying he would do some house to house enquiries tomorrow when he comes on duty. In the meantime I think he will probably be looking out for a little green man!

A rod for my own back!

OK! So I'm soft and the birds and the squirrel have all worked this out for themselves. The sparrows like to have their seed with the husks removed because they can eat more in a shorter time so that's what I fill the feeders with. It also means that they eat what drops onto the ground and I don't have to clear up any mess or have strange things germinating and growing in the flower bed. I also put a handful of their seed onto the bird table so that nobody gets left out at busy times.
The great-tits and blue-tits enjoy the peanuts and also the suet and seed block, so they are in separate wire feeders but the peanuts are sometimes sabotaged by the squirrel! He has his own special box full of peanuts (but that doesn't stop the great-tits and blue-tits attempting to get at the nuts through the perspex front).
However, squirrel is also rather partial to sunflower seeds and as the seed on the bird table has plenty of these, when he comes down he hoovers up the lot!
This morning when he came down he sat on the fence at the top of the garden for quite sometime looking at me in the kitchen through narrowed eyes with an accusing look on his face. In the end I relented and went out and put a handful of birdseed on the empty bird table and within minutes he was down and scoffed it all. After that, I had to go to the dentist and on the way back I called in the garden centre to buy some more birdseed.
While I was there, I noticed they had bags of sunflower kernels which were a bit pricey but I thought I would get squirrel a little treat and when I got home I put a small handful on the bird table. When I looked out an hour later they were all gone and I didn't think he had come back because it wasn't at the time when he calls in. Then I noticed a pair of guilty looking collared doves on the roof watching me probably hoping for more. So now they know about the goodies that can be found on my bird table. I will have to make sure that this doesn't get too expensive!

Carried away

Well I've spent the entire weekend entirely lost in gardening and cookery books. I just love looking through them and planning my 'dream garden' that one day, I hope I will have. If it doesn't materialise at least I will be able to dream about it. The other thing I like to do is plan different dishes to cook when Eden comes down especially so that I can teach her different techniques.
The gardening books fascinate me and although I have studied them again and again, I still manage to find a plant that's different, although usually unobtainable in my local garden centre. They seem to sell those that are 'in the current fashion' but there has been the rare occasion when I have made a real find and come home with something totally unexpected. Sometimes I think they get a few samples of some plants to see whether they will sell or not because if I don't buy it when I see it, the next time I go in the plant is gone.
With the cookery books, I have several that are well over forty years old and I love to compare the recipes in those with the recipes of today. What a difference! The basic techniques are the same but the kitchens are vastly different and we also have a much greater choice of foods so consequently more dishes to choose from.
When I was young the only pasta that we used to have was canned spaghetti in a synthetic tasting tomato sauce and if we had curry it was 'cook in the bag' although my Mum did make her own curry sometimes because Dad had spent some time in India and Burma during the war so he liked a good curry. The only problem was, the necessary spices and other specialist ingredients weren't available as we didn't have supermarkets, but Mum's 'English style' curries were very tasty.
Maybe when Eden is as old as me, she will find what we are cooking now is very old fashioned!

Earwig oh!

We've had some diabolical weather today, heavy non-stop rain. Luckily I did my shopping yesterday because I knew it was coming, so today I got stuck into the cleaning especially as there was a bit more to do after I had spent a few days sorting stuff for the jumble sale.
It soon became obvious that a lot of crawlywigs don't like it when it's very wet either. While I was doing upstairs there seemed to be rather a lot of flies which were all different sizes but they did depart fairly swiftly when I opened the windows and flicked the duster at them. There were also several wood lice wandering about aimlessly in the bedroom and that's usually a sign that there's some damp wood somewhere but I couldn't find out where they came from so scooped them up and threw them out of the window. After all, they wouldn't suffer any serious injuries falling to the ground from that height because they have their own armour plating!
Downstairs there was worse to come! Earwigs in the kitchen! Ugh! I hate them and I wasn't going to spare them if I could help it. So I spent several minutes on my hands and knees trying to catch them in pieces of kitchen roll and I'm afraid they all died of crush injuries! One brave beasty tried to escape by hiding under the dresser but I knew he would come out eventually so I carried on cleaning the kitchen until he re-appeared and then I got him!
Well at least I have a clean kitchen which is now free of earwigs and other dreadful beasts so I hope they stay away if we have another very wet day.