Weekends that Revive

Hello out there in Blog land. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are taking full advantage of all this great weather. It’s so cosy and warm-albeit a wee bit blustery, but who am I to complain?

It really cheers me right up to have days like this as they are so unexpected after last year, I really keep saying to myself as well as all that will listen, “we are so lucky it was this year we didn’t go on holiday and not next year.” If we had been staying in the UK then I’d be outside getting my bulbs in the ground, however that isn’t the plan this year. Because TH’s company is now saying they will organise everything we are presuming someone will knock on the door with a couple of boxes one day and somehow everything that needs done will get done. However, for now, I am enjoying this weather.

I met up with one of my dearest friends who lives far away and we laughed and chatted and made a great deal of noise late into the night. It was one of those evenings that lifts your soul right up and manages to fill you with lightness for no particular reason.

On Saturday we did the usual chores like tidying up and getting groceries as well as sorting out clothes that we’re putting into charity shops. By accident I managed to set my alarm for bright and early so ended up having a late afternoon nap right before The X Factor. I, by the way, can’t wait until Strictly starts again…you really know that the countdown to colder seasons has begun!  (Did you notice I didn't say any particular event in this cold season?  Much more of that to come anyway!)

 On Sunday we had the family round for Sunday dinner. It was so blustery and cold that we got a fire going as soon as we got down to the living room. We had about four massive packets of chicken browning at one point to make 2 dishes for fussy eaters. At least we could all appreciate and agree on pudding which was a giant strawberry/raspberry/banana Eaton mess.

TH had been a bit poorly all weekend and so we went to bed exceptionally early...although that didn’t stop Daisy Dog jumping up into bed at 3 in the morning only to stretch out and start barking at my feet…now if I could only have a nap on the grass..

Keeping Warm

Snow falls steadily outside of the window.  I have given up on Spring time thoughts, the weekends are for napping…

Snowy Weekends and Kitchen Plans

The radio this morning told me that more snow was coming, well actually, that “blizzards are to batter the North East.” We were also told to phone in when we saw the first flakes, and were reminded that the other end of the country has a red warning. I wanted to reply that yes snow can be disruptive, it can be dangerous, and it can be a pest, but we are not children that need to be told to wear our mittens, and not go out at play time. Surely this is not the way it has always been? Surely people actually kept calm and carried on instead of screeching it at the top of their voices from their car as they over take you on a bend in a snow storm? “Oh dear, the roads are bad, I must rush home as fast as I can to be safe!!”
This weekend I intend to be inside, safe and warm. I will toast crumpets and keep toasty. I will read specific chapters of books that contain any reference to snow. I have already started to re-read The Wind in the Willows, one of my favourite books, even if it is aimed at little ones.


TH is making a loaf and we will gorge on soup and warm bread this weekend. I would love to get into the kitchen and start the baking I always promise myself I will make time for. I would like to pull all of the things I need to make marmalade together and use the kitchen I fell in love with when we first saw the property. The garden needs work, but it will be hidden in a whirl of flakes, and I don’t believe you can be cross with a warm tummy full of good things.

The Snow, The Snow

Thick luscious flakes slowly float down onto the car, the garden and the trees in the field. The hills just beyond the garden fence have disappeared behind a screen of snow.

The journey to work is slow and cautious. The country roads are kind to us and we manoeuvre our way through them.

Once I’m in work I find that the big road into work has tail backs with people waiting over two hours to move less than a mile up a treacherous hill. That’s the way we need to go home…

At work I am constantly distracted by fakes falling on the Georgian sash window panes. I look onto a building made with solid granite, sturdy and strong, with rock that never changes. Its turrets are now softened by the dusting. I can see down the hill at work to the other side of town, everything is soft and beautiful. Brighter and more serine, it is impossible to rush in the snow.

I stare out of the window and speak consistently of the snowfall until I am told that I must head home. Worries have been voiced since the break of dawn that we will all be trapped in cars on the roadside-it has never come to this and doubt it will, but the thoughts of everyone are already at their fireside.

The Husband comes to collect me and we trundle through town, down the carriage-way and onto the country paths which lead us home. As soon as our boots hit the drive we are home.

We are home and can put the kettle on, we are home and light a fire, we set the table, we eat our tea and we talk. We are home, and this is ours and we had better make the best of it. It is cold outside and I know how lucky we are to be here.

January

January can so often be a gloomy sort of month. I know that I feel deep down inside that seeing as Christmas is over it may as well rush into spring. I want to see the bulbs and go from deep rich colours to more muted tones. I then zip forward a couple of months when I start to plan our summer holiday, and by the time that’s over its autumn and I might as well get planning the Christmas shopping trips all over again. This has been the cycle for a little while-but long enough for me to get into it-and I want to stop it.

How dull to plan your life away, constantly wishing I was a couple of months ahead of where I was. There are wonderful things in January that I should be grateful for now. I don’t want to get to a busy weekend in spring planting out seeds and wish I could be wrapped up cosy like I should have been in winter.

This January I hope to be different. I have read so much in papers about failed New Years Resolutions, and so I aim to make this difference through celebration of the season. I hope that by ensuring January is kept, well, January like I will see it for what it is and what it can give me.

This means buying in season, and following January pursuits-marmalade making included. It means being true to what your body tells you. I don’t crave salads, I want soups. Last night we had the most delicious bangers and mash, not exciting, just slowly sautéed onions made into thick gravy with gorgeous butchers sausages and lump free mash- heaven after a long day, and definitely worth waiting for.

We are still on for having game-feathers and furred, and although we can no longer pop out to buy super fresh fish from our little village harbour I still want to eat seasonal seafood. I am always keen on buying up veg and using it to bulk up meals and winter root veg is the best.

We now live outside of the village and rely heavily on a boxed veg scheme and a local butcher for much more of our food. I hope that this keeps me in line to succeed in my aim. I love reading about what everyone is up to this January and imagine I will be getting lots of ideas!!

Bertie

“Nothing in the world is quite as adorably lovely as a robin when he shows off and they are nearly always doing it.”

― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Winter Time

Hello winter, hello frost and smoky chimneys. Hello low suns and clear skies, winter fêtes and crnchy ground. The leaves from autumn yet to be cleared are no longer damp and brown. They are white; everything is tinged with brilliant diamonds with a million facets. The earth does not smelly musky. The air stings my nose and what little I can sense is logs and coal.

This is Winter

“The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves.”

― Roald Dahl, The BFG

Paradise would be...

"I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." Jorge Luis Borges

The walk to the bus stop is short but the wait for the bus is long. It has been held up again. The fences have been blown away and there is sheep on the road. The bus trundles into the village, fighting against storms that hurl rage and wind unparalleled in strength. I begin to wonder if I should just let nature win. If I have lost this battle and should return home where it safe and warm and familiar, I do not know what this weather will turn into. My hair is whipped around my face, but through it I see the bus. It is dark and I hold my torch onto the road in front of me. There are no street lights near me and I don’t want the bus to splash me as it passes by.
On board I squeeze down the aisle fattened like a Christmas bird, but with layers of jumpers, jackets and scarves. I'm undressing as I descend through layers of red weather beaten faces, I want to reach the back, I want two seats together to place my things. Seated at the back, wet throughout I rummage in my bag to find something that will make it better. I find my book. I'm not in the bus anymore. I'm on an island or reading about an amazing person. I am finding criminals or moving from poor house to big house. I am not on the bus, I am with my book, and that, quite frankly, is my kind of paradise.

 

Old Friend Jack

Jack Frost will be visiting us up here in the North very soon. Each morning when I wake up it is very dark, and as I stumble through to the hallway to blast myself with bright, bright light I take a peek outside. The car is a little bit too shiny, the paths are a little bit too laminated. When I finally step outside I catch a wisp of my breath twirl through the air. If I have time-that is, if the chores of the previous night do not need to be done-I slip away for five minutes into the garden. I take my cup of tea and walk around. I lean down to pick at some weeds and pretty much stretch out the last bits of sloth I can. The Husband on the other hand is gently sleeping, Daisy Dog will by this time have moved into the warm space in bed I have just left.

Soon, when I step outside I may have to wear a scarf and wellies as my little slippers will get much too wet from the cold and leave patches of darkness all over our flooring.

What makes me Happy

Sometimes when I get away from work early I rush home and get to see daylight.

When I leave for work it’s dark and cold.

And when I come home it’s dark and cold.

But sometimes, on very rare occasions I get home and its still daylight.

And on those very rare occasions that I do get home and if its still daylight I take Daisy out for a walk.

She always gets nice walks, but I do miss the evenings we had in Summer when it was still bright when I got home. So when it’s light enough to go for a longer wonder around the village we go off the beaten track and head over the golf course to the sea.

She runs around and I pad over the sand away in my own little world, day dreaming and planning, and letting my imagination flow where it will.

Daisy on the other hand runs like the wind, drags seaweed along with her, and snaps her little teeth at any shells coming into shore riding on the small waves.

January is here!

Oh January, I used to think you awful. You used to be plain and boring after the excitement of December, November had Bonfire Night, October is our anniversary and Halloween, and before that is the general excitement of Autumn. January used to just be exam time at University, or thawing snow.

This year is really quite different. Not only is there no snow, but the garden is completely untended to, and although it’s mild, oh my gosh is it windy-and the whole place looks a mess. This is not helped by the fact the fence is half blown over, the gate has been whipped off, and rubbish is strewn across the place from toppled over bins and recycling totes, and a busy, busy Autumn meant the place was never really tidied after Summer in the first place.

This means that on top of the normal things like sowing sweet peas (if you want to get lovely strong ones), I need to dig everything over. I would like to grow my own potatoes this year too, so will have to get a move on and start to chit some of the many varieties taking up vast corners of garden centres at this time of year.

January is actually quite exciting this year. My friend Holly who was involved in a terrible accident has an amazing outlook on life which has completely rubbed off on me. I feel like last year was a bit ‘Urgh’, I think lots of people have thought that. There seems to be a general consensus-certainly around the coffee table-that yes we did get through it, and yes we should learn whatever lessons it’s taught us, but it was a bit of a long hard slog.

I think we are still in comforting food mode, but a bit more ready for fresh things with bite too. Re-heated second helpings of Christmas and New Year dinner are long forgotten! We’re planning on going on holiday with my family this year and getting a villa in Cyprus for two weeks, so like last year I think I'm going to be having lots of Greek and Cypriot food as we’ll be booking our flights early and I tend to get in holiday mode early…very early! There is loads of gamey foods available, and we’re incredibly lucky that our local butcher has such a wide supply of really good food. Living by the sea means that we’ve got a massive choice in fish namely; John Dory, Mussels, Oysters, Scallops and Turbot. There are bundles of root vegetables about for filling up on, and the clementine’s are always there for a burst of colour.  I'm living by the BBC foodie website here which is full of really great ideas from a range of really great names.

Most of all I think its time to get like Paddington Bear and make some marmalade with Seville oranges!

I'm hoping to have a busy year, I'm planning to go out and do more, this means lazing about less, but with working one normal job means I spend less time travelling. I hope that I'm busy actually doing fun things, or at least a chore I need to do. I don’t want to fill my time with travelling, I don’t want to fill my time with nonsense I don’t want to do, and I don’t want to spend time with people that drain my energy. Those are pretty much my new year’s resolutions-but probably something that you should subscribe to in general-and something I should have had the sense to actually act upon long before now.

This is what we do

This is what we do...

when it gets too warm inside, when we wish to feel the crisp air on our noses.

when we want to go for a walk, when we want to see something other than the inside of the fridge.

when we want to feel healthier, when the dog starts to feel restless. 

when the sun is starting to give into twilight, when the warmth seems so far away. 

when we need to feel the harsh winds from the North Sea, when we want to see wildlife. 

when we need to feel small and the weight needs lifted from our shoulders. 

when we are tired from doing nothing,  

 when we need to get out of the house,

when we want another view of the village, 

another view of the things we always see and need,

We get the dog on a leash and taken 'em for a long, long walk.  We come back dirty, rosey in the nosey, happy, and very, very sleepy.

New Year Walkies

The air was fresh and calling to go outside.

Daisy Dog and i walked over the golf course 

and on to the beach 

it looked empty from here..... 

or not!  I guess everyone had the same idea!  It was nice getting lots of "Happy New Year" calls from strangers. 

The harbour and bay looked beautiful 

and luckily the tide was out so there was plenty of beach to share with other walkers

our friends live over the way, but i guess they were still wrapped up warm inside 

so we threw our selves on the sand and stamped our feet...OK, Daisy rubbed her nose in the sand and came up shocked and sneezing!

Peeping in

The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame and one of my favourite books ever.  I don't care how old i get, i will read this book forever.  I wanted to share this little snippet with you, because i think it sums up the season perfectly.  I'm awful, i constantly look in windows.  i dont mean to, and its not that im a terrible person and utterly nosey, but i do like to peep in quickly when the curtains are slightly open and the light from inside shines out into their gardens or paths as i walk past with Daisy.  The happy little houses remind me of dolls houses.  They twinkle of an evening and they all look so inviting.  So i can only offer an apology, albeit tongue in cheek, becuase i will also offer you this knowledge....other peole also do it: 

"The rapid nightfall of mid-December had quite beset the little village as they approached it on soft feet over a first thin fall of powdery snow. Little was visible but squares of a dusky orange-red on either side of the street, where the firelight or lamplight of each cottage overflowed through the casements into the dark world without. Most of the low latticed windows were innocent of blinds, and to the lookers-in from outside, the inmates, gathered round the tea-table, absorbed in handiwork, or talking with laughter and gesture, had each that happy grace which is the last thing the skilled actor shall capture— the natural grace which goes with perfect unconsciousness of observation. Moving at will from one theatre to another, the two spectators, so far from home themselves, had something of wistfulness in their eyes as they watched a cat being stroked, a sleepy child picked up and huddled off to bed, or a tired man stretch and knock out his pipe on the end of a smouldering log."