Relax!

Sunrise looking like sunset

And the Oily One thinking of what we should do today...

 We had a visit to Nae Sae New in Mauchline...no Haynes manuals that he needed....and a couple of small but interesting and possibly useful hand tools for me.

Then to Ayr to pick up a thermostat for my car which he can fit tomorrow.

A modicum of fresh veg shopping for him to make supper.....

Which was roasted veges...small potatoes, some parsnip, yellow beetroot (thankyou garden) a couple of garlic bulbs (") and sections of a small white squash (seeds now saved) and steamed carrots and sprouts....my contribution to the meal...tomato mushroom garlic and olive sauce from the freezer!!

He has moved on from having three meals on his menu list fifteen years ago.. curry, pasta with tomato sauce and pizza!!

Apple cheese

 After a foray into town and Prestwick..just two hours to do four things, plus a cuppa and wander round the garden centre sale corner (nothing worth having)...which would have taken me a very long day by buses....

Back home to get the apple cheese done.

Some apple butter recipes don't add sugar...some do, 1 apple pulp to ¾ sugar by weight.  I use 1:1 as I want this to keep..I have just opened a two years old jar, and the contents are fine. Apple cheese is basically Apple butter cooked down further to get a more solid preserve that you slice more than spread.

Ideally you would put it in jars that have no shoulder so that you may empty the whole jar onto a plate..so easy to slice...and eat with a good strong cheese...or you can take it a little further like Membrillo and then spread it in a lightly oiled flapjack tray...then cut it into squares...

And while I was doing that, two machines were also busy for me, making bread and yoghurt!

The washing up and the floor can wait till tomorrow...

Duolingo French lessons and bedtime for me now!

Garden veges and health

 

I used the beetroot, root and top, in tonight's soup...along with tomatoes, sweet hot peppers, garlic, shallots, cucumbers, a small courgette , a few very small squashes....all from the garden...plus some ginger and harissa!

Satisfying...and clears a nice space on the kitchen bench!!

A good meds sort out today, thanks to our district nurse...and the surgery.

Pirate's UTI is no longer the one he started with..so quick change to a different AB.  On top of the internal "disinfectant" he was prescribed last week, that should sort that.

Plus raising the slow release morphine dose from the very low starter level.  Hopefully he will be a happier bunny in a couple of days!

He sent a chatty email to some of his family members...on health matters as well as other things. Hopefully that will get the message through that he is on palliative care...but still being positive and doing what he likes to do.

One especially has been rather dismissive...which hurts him.

Onwards and upwards...night all!! xx

While the cats away..

 Pirate has been away with our friend...I have been busy!!

Study cleaned and tidy, sorting out has begun.... It is too easy to keep far too many boxes...and still not have the one that fits what you need to post!!

Posting done in town, and bargains on our usual purchases scored!! No point buying other things just because they are cheap!

 They have had a successful trip, and enjoyed watching other friends race after our Fife mate had ridden his race.

Now we are relaxing, after a home made supper..pesto pizza, baked tatties, salad and apple and strawberry crumble with homemade yoghurt.

Watching the masters snooker and enjoying skilful play..and soon to bed.

Bike Ride!

 We ventured out, well wrapped up, but with a windchill of 6⁰C I decided to head for home..Pirate did a couple of miles more, with a diversion along a farm track!! I did about eight miles, he did a good two miles more...walking tomorrow I think!!

Yesterday Pirate had the inspiration to buy the last six poinsettia plants in our local nursery and present them to our neighbours as a thank you for being such good neighbours. 

It may be just ordinary to them, but it deserves recognition.

While I got fruit cake on the way, he ventured on a short walk. He is fascinated by our local birdlife..there is nothing much in the garden, probably thanks to the local cats, jackdaws and gulls, but the hedges are full of birds. Our Fife friend has lent him a small digital camera to practice with, before buying one of his own.  He is gradually deciphering the knobs and switches.

With the oven hot already, supper was done in there..baked potatoes, parsnips, beetroot, pumpin slices, and a mushroom and chestnut roast...

The idea then was to bake the batch of biscuits after supper...but a wee dram has put paid to that idea!!

Maybe tomorrow the study will get tidied....I have been trying to get there for three days...

So here's wishing you all good celebrations, whatever you celebrate! And a kinder New Year

Life gets in the way...

 Washing, shopping, cooking....no art today, but we did get a walk at teatime.

Supper was different..I made a batch of Ras el Hanout spice mix....it was voted a great success!

Busy..but not as intended

It rained again, so we got busy, Pirate on his new bike build..going steadily...and after collecting a new (to me)chest of drawers I got most of my knitting and sewing into them.

I say most...there are still three boxes of cloth stash and mending on top..and a jumper waiting to be finished on top of a dresser!

Then it was the turn of the study, as my friend who runs the secondhand emporium had managed to find a book press for me...and £30 less than I had feared I would have to pay.

Still not cheap...but I am looking forward to printing with less strain on my hands.

Still everything stacked up but more organised and two useable tables.

Then as the bats flew outside, a plane flew into Prestwick Airport, and the sun set, and I could catch a glimpse of Goat Fell on Aran between the houses.

I had intended to bake today...as it was , it was home style fast food all day! Lunch came from garden, freezer and larder and supper from garden,salad,  eggs from a neighbour and cooked potatoes. No point in making extra work.

Freezing

Amy asked if I freeze what I have baked..yes!
I kept out one of the small banana and date cakes. The long gingerbread, a third went to a neighbour who gives us eggs and a third to the freezer.
I made two chestnut mushroom and leek savoury loaves, and these divided into ten portions...eight for the freezer, two for last night's supper.

Every time I make a curry or soup it is a large panfull...two portions to eat then and the rest frozen in portions. 
It sounds very organised, but it isn't really...just a backup for when inspiration and energy is low...and a more economical way of cooking.
I would prefer to bottle(can) food rather than freezing...no ongoing power bill and no food loss when a power cut happens.
But you go with what is possible with what you have.

Life goes on

Our morning view as we ride our turbotrainers

Then healthy breakfast with a different smoothie every morning!

Pirate's walking exercise today was mowing lawns, this is next door's so that the grandkids living there have more playspace.

Today I learned how to make chapattis to go with our lunchtime curry...warming up was needed as the wind is strong and bitterly cold.

First Autumn cordial

Mainly blackberry and a handful or two of elderberries.
Not enough to last a year, but a start on the job...now for more picking!

And for tea...

Homemade Welsh cakes.. sorry, no currants available..just Raspberry jam and very mature cheese....

trying to be organised

Gradually things are coming together, but its nerve wracking and hard work!

So many things I want to get done, and just one month to go now.

We are getting back in contact with friends to let them know when we're coming..and daughter has had another breakthrough with the family tree hunting..one of my great grandmother's sisters emigrated to New Zealand,and married a Maori man..and we have cousins in Brisbane and Sydney and possibly Christchurch and northwest of Wellington.

The Pirate is away track racing on Derby velodrome track, and isn't a happy bunny...not winning, well,ok, he knows he hasn't put the work in to do that...but having to rely on someone else, and having to do as they want...and not much compromise...not good atall. At least he has been in the company of good friends. He'll be mightily relieved to arrive home tomorrow.


I've been busy Getting Things Done for three days!...No need to cut someone's hedge or grass as its a fine day...we've just about finished going round all the regular customers. No having to stop halfway through a job here on our house and garden to look after someone else's!

Yesterday the leeks were planted out, that should mean leeks to eat in April!

Today the car decided that its battery was exceedingly tired...it must have been colder than I thought, the last couple of nights and I didn't drive it yesterday..tomorrow morning's job will be to jump start the car and get it to a local garage to "drop test" the battery to see if it will last..or if I need a new battery.



Much washing has been done AND dried, apples juiced,filtered, bottled and pasteurised..twelve more half litre bottles in store.
I made a batch of Sophie Grigson's recipe for Carrot Garlic and Chilli chutney..nine jarsworth..its supposed to be like the chutney in M&S Wensleydale and Carrot Chutney sandwiches...which we've tried and were very good.  You're supposed to leave it for at least three weeks, however the eggcupful I had left over after bottling it was very good with tonight's curry!

The papering in the kitchen is finished, the tiling done all bar four L shaped tiles round an electricity socket.  Its good at last to move the kitchen contents back,and to have a clean,tidy,workable kitchen at last!

Now its feet up time.  I've watched a programme about the history of building the railways, which has been followed by one on the Ghan train from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs. All 37 carriages...

Its fascinating...no commentary, just filming the trip..and great camerawork.

planning

Planning our next visit to NZ..its getting nearer and nearer and my head is in a panic about how we'll afford it.
Pirate reckons that this will be his last visit, being 80 next year.   I say "never say never"...but I can see his point ,it is one heck of a journey. 
Our usual 'digs' wont be available, friends are downsizing...others are not well...lets say we'll be living exceedingly frugally!!

The full preserve jars are stacking up..shelves are being built...not easy on a flimsily built house with limited space. I'd like to get back to more bottling ("canning") next year instead of freezing.
I've bottled and processed one batch of fresh apple juice to see if that works. I'll have to stick with freezing in plastic bottles for now until I'm sure, but I want to get away from plastic and from worrying about power cuts and wasted food.

The next vege beds in the garden are planned and staked out, but Pirate says no work on those until the kiln is ready!   I've designed them so that I can put a mesh polytunnel over them..I know, that's plastic..but with the kids next door I'm not risking glass!!

We've been given some unused surplus engineering bricks and a few breeze blocks.  These are from a garden we cut grass and tidy. The owners will be moving in a year, have already sold, and are tidying the property slowly before handover.    We'll be sad to see them go,they are good friends...and also we work on their garden in exchange for specs...they are opticians!

The bricks and blocks will support the new  kiln flue. I have HTI ( High Temperature Insulation) bricks to build the flue that will go horizontally from the rear of the kiln to outside the shed wall. Then it will be metal flue from there up,which I also have.
After building that it will be down to mending the bricks that were damaged when the kiln fell on its side during the last move, and working out how to prop up the subsiding arch.

All good plans...all feasible..

 I haven't got my head around any of my printing work for months.  Head space is limited!! It is giving me that itchy feeling of should be -

Foraging

I've been hard at work foraging...and making cordials, chutneys and preserves.

It amazes me how much fruit is around..even the birds and animals don't eat it all, so I'm not depriving them.

Time and busyness and travelling meant I missed most of a wonderful blackberry harvest. The cold winds, rain and now frost have dealt with the masses of fruit left,leaving it soggy or shrivelled.

However, the weather has brought on a lovely crop of sloes and hawthorn berries. The only fruit I haven't picked so far are rosehips.  I'm hoping to find some Rosa Rugosa hips..nice and big, so less work processing them!

storm Ali

We're hunkered down now, 40mph plus winds and higher in a couple of hours.
The wind is whistling through the smallest of gaps and rumbling around the chimney.
Luckily we are at 400 foot above sea level, as with onshore storm winds , a flood warning has been issued for coastal areas in Ayrshire and Arran. Mind you, at 400 foot with a clear view to the Clyde we're facing the full force of the wind. Even things that we thought were well weighted down are moving.

Mango chutney made (surprising how small the yield compared to jam!) and wallpaper in the kitchen coming off...
Where I painted it in April, the paint is still sticky..even on bare plaster it has only just dried....moral....avoid cheap paint!    I have lining paper and wallpaper in house and Pirate will put up two more shelves  above the kitchen radiator after papering. A good use of the offcuts from the cupboard shelves!
To get the right length for the cupboard shelves we had to buy 2.1 metre lengths...which just fit diagonally in the back of our Berlingo car...with the larger set of rear seats out!
The cupboard shelves are nearly done..a little filler in the wall, moulding on the front of the shelf made of plywood and painting...

All for the aim of a tidy kitchen with a clear bench and produce and utensils in the cupboards.
I'll be glad when half the kitchen contents are back in the kitchen from the living room.
It will be a good chance to reduce them as well!

back into routine...sort of...

Easing..or rather rushing...from Summer to Autumn hasn't been easy.
We had a lovely warm two weeks away, but returning to the cold and wet has been hard going!!

I've been working through the bags of fruit..12 jars each of damson, and damson and apple jam. Four pounds of damsons in the freezer and another four pounds in the fridge.
Sorting through the pears, many are well bruised (after dropping from 20 to 30 feet...) have hard lumps in them and what looks like codling moth damage.
Two trays of pear slices in the dryer with two of apple rings,and a bowl of pear bits in water and lemon juice for a pudding tonight.
I'm hunting for a fresh fig and date chutney recipe....
Plenty more apples to be sliced for drying and juiced for freezing. I might try one batch of cider....

Pirate is fitting shelves in our kitchen cupboard...not the easiest of jobs as its 134 centimetres long.. and is at its widest 40 centimetres....and has an ordinary door to access it in the middle!
Much banging and a modicum of swearing...and stops for tea and toast with vegemite!!
It will mean the kitchen bench will be (fairly!) uncluttered and the preserves and cordials can be stored in the kitchen cupboards instead of the living room sideboard.

We've had one half-day garden job...paid in kind...overnight stay, supper, breakfast and lunch and a bottle of Rioja wine!  Four others are waiting for the grass to dry (some hope!) but that does mean things are getting done here.   I'm planning on moving the fruit bushes from their pots into the present deep beds, and starting on new beds for veges...so they need to be ready for the autumn planting of garlic,onion sets and broad beans.

I've had weird computer problems since updating the linux/ubuntu operating system...some have been solved by changing from firefox to chromium browser...but then have disappeared! I'll keep firefox as a backup in case of more problems.  However it sits on the "front page" for five minutes before flashing through a problems report page so fast that you can't read it...the general consensus is that something is interfering with plymouth, the front page programme...a plug-in or some such that didn't get deleted during the system upgrade... I have access to people with knowledge of linux, but not in person here!

Everything is eating into our Travelling to NZ cash..getting wed, keeping the car on the road, possibly getting a new laptop (or tablet).....all sorts...but we are determined..Pirate is 80 next year and reckons that this will, sadly, be his last trip to the other side of the globe.

So we are back into a sort of routine, ticking along, trying to keep warm and fit.

Whilst away I caught up with a potter friend...and now I know how to get the flue on the kiln!!...Now I need some breeze blocks to start the job....

Elderflower and Rose cordial

 and celebrating after the work! Cordial diluted 50ml to a glassful..and New Zealand Oyster Bay Merlot ...undiluted!!

Elderflower and Rose cordial is easy..I based it on this recipe, halved, and instead of 50elderflower heads,used 40 plus the petals from eight Comte de Chambord roses.
It should have a week's seeping before putting through a muslin/jeely bag..but after 24 hours its awesome already!!

storecupboard filling..and musing on blogging

The last batch of Seville oranges have gone to make a batch of dark marmalade made with Muscovado sugar.

I'm wondering if I should have a separate,but linked,blog for work, be it prints,cards or pots......

We saw it..

 Saw her coming up all great and rosy red, a day late...it was cloudy on Full Moon night. By the time we arrived home she was sailing across the sky ,almost like any other full moon.

Then we got on with life...three types of marmalade so far.  From the left, Blood Orange, Lemon Lime and Seville Orange, and Seville Orange.
 I've been lucky to find most of the fruit at reduced prices by shopping at the right time of day.
A good thing to do if you just go with what you find,nerve racking when you're looking for a specific item!

I'm gradually reducing our plastic use and reducing our "stuff" as well,trying to look at what hasn't been used recently.
It isn't always as easy as it sounds!

New print,Middle Road

The latest two prints are about to go on Etsy,  now to start work on the next one,especially as the rain and hail are beating down and the wind is roaring in the chimney, despite the draught excluder...

 The tool on the left I bought in the recycling centre in Blenheim in New Zealand.
I've just sharpened it and it is so good in the hand.

I've done two pencil rubbings as I go, but now the next step is test printing.

Today's job,however, was marmalade!!