General Chat

Well that was odd with your washing machine display not lighting up Gwyn , good it's working again ,now your going to be wondering if it will do it again .
Bet its smelling good with the Welsh cakes cooking and yes Mel I've done them in my frying pan and they cooked fine .
I think they can be done in the air fryer too.

Mel you could make some sausage rolls with a little cranberry sauce mixed in with the sausage meat or just layed on the top of the sausage meat ,I cheat and buy the ready rolled puff pastry now when I make sausage rolls

Suns still shining ,its been a beautiful day for a change .

The only time I have had welsh cakes is when we went on the narrow boat in wales. There was a nice plate of them on the table with a small pot of cream and a jar of jam. I really fancy one now. Could I bake them in a big frying pan? as I hav'nt got a griddle.

BIL went up to get the new mower from by Em's in her fathers closed barn and it would'nt start!!!! He came down here and had been cutting grass with the old mower and he took the battery off that and took it up to the new one and it started first time so now the new battery is on charge. I must say that the new mower is making the grass look good.

I bought in LIdl at Christmas a sausage and cranberry wreath thing. It was all wrapped in puff pastry so I cooked that this morning and it was delish. We had some for lunch and I still have a bit left which I shall have tonight with salad. I like to cook in the morning when the suns shining as I don't use much leccy with having the solar panels.

I wish Lidl would do one for an easter wreath, I'd buy a couple. Wish I had bought two at the time now as there was two left in the cabinet. I should have known they would be good with only two left.

I cleaned the girls out this morning and when I went round there there was one of the old black ones inthe nest box and she then came out so I shut them all in the run and you should have heard the carring on she made cos she was shut out. anyway once I had done it and let them back in she went straight in the nest box so I thought thats another brown egg today.
Took BIL some luch round, a piece of the ring and a big cheese and pickle roll and fresh orange juice and while he was eating it I saw she was in the run so went to collect the egg thinking it may be a big one as she was disturbed. There in the nice clean nest was a brown egg but not even the size of a pigeons egg.!!! :-( Bless her she tried.

Its lovely out there in the sun but still chilly in a shady place. pc now says mostly sunny and 9 degrees. Better go and see if I can do the pond filters now.

:-D :-D :-D Vera. The area might be lively, but I didn't feel lively this morning :-|

I had gathered some washing together last night and loaded the washing machine ready to switch on when I woke this morning.This system works well for me and means I can do a wash load, while the cheaper overnight tarrif is still in play.
For some reason, I couldn't get the machine to switch on. I even tried taking out the plug and moving it to a nearby one,but still the display light was not lighting, so I switched it all off and went to sit in the living room and started to watch TV.
I must have dozed off and next I knew I was waking from a sleep and having a dream about living in a shared house and telling the other occupants that the washing machine was broken.
Back into the kitchen to make a cuppa and looked at the machine again. Switched on and set the programme and off it went all back to normal :-S
Goodness knows what happened earlier, as we certainly didn't have a power cut, but it obviously was playing on my mind if I ended up dreaming about the wretched thing :-| :-|
I can manage without some things, but the thought of doing all the washing by hand and then trying to wring it out dry enough to put on the airer was not good.

Anyway, beautiful sunshine this morning, although it is rather chilly. We've had no frost though.

It is good to get out Ann. I haven't been to Cheltenham since the early '70s when there seemed to be an upper part and a lower part. It has probably changed a lot since then. I used to catch a bus in from nearby Swindon Village, where we rented a bungalow, when first married.

Welsh cakes are being made in our kitchen :-D
Daughter is busy cutting them out, before a mammoth cooking session. As she says, it's not actually hard to make them, just labour intensive, as you have to stand over them rather than pop a batch into the oven and come back later.
Hopefully they are good and we will share some with son and elder daughter.

Afternoon all,

It's been a nice sunny day ,bit chilly first thing but I've been out in the garden doing a bit of weeding and tidying up, filled a tub and could have done a bit more but thought no think of your back so I stopped hopefully I can do a bit more tomorrow,if was nice to get out and be in the sunshine.
I came in for coffee then did a few indoor jobs .

Sounds as if you filled Stuart up with a good meal Mel , how's the foot now have you still got the boot on .

good job he was not early Mel or you would have still been in bed. :-D

BIL is here

Morning only just got up at 10am.

Its bright and sunny and 5 degrees at the mo but there was a hard frost last night before I went to bed and still some this morning when I awoke. The girls were all in the sunshine this morning when I looked out of the window. Pc is telling me its going to be partly sunny but at the mo theres a clear lue sky.

Slept right through the night no comfort break but did I need toget there this morning!!
Enjoy your photography group this afternoon Anng and I hope everyone else had a good night too as well as us.

Good morning all. it is a lovely bright sunny morning but is only -1 degree and there is a frost. I won't be going out this morning but will be going to photography group this afternoon. Slept well again last night got up twice in the night and once at 0615.

Gwyn I looked for the planets but wasn't sure if the 'three' were supposed to be close together or not. I could see one from early on, I am guessing Venus as it was really big and bright, then a bit later there was another one, in a straight line but not close. Never saw a a third.

That is interesting mel about your ancestors. I guess they would have been quite a large employer in the area.
Glad Stu enjoyed his meal, it sounds nice.

My ancestors worked in the Tiptree jam factory.

A good meal with Stu tonight and he went home full to the brim. I offered him another stuff potato but he said he was full up. We had the bacon and maple syrup sausages, carrots, broccoli, and creamy leeks and stuff jacket pots. A recipe from my school days except I did'nt eat cheese when young so I put marmite and onion in mine.

I haven’t heard of Pennywoods Vera so I guess it was not there in the 70s I do know Tiptree though. Isn’t it where they make jam? If not I am sure we used to go somewhere there to buy jam. It is strange but there used to be somewhere in that area that we would go with friends taking a picnic for a day out, it was I think In The grounds of a house. Weird that it sticks in my mind but I can’t really remember where it was except near Tiptree. These are the times I wish T was here to ask him.

And yes I went for a wander round Cheltenham, a few more shops than Gloucester and there is John Lewis.

That made me laugh Vera.

Ade came today and I did'nt hear him arrive so was surprised to see him in the orchard clearing away the brash from the big apple tree. He's put it all over the side of the orchard where we can work away at it gradually.

I did some hoovering and I think I may have ruined its rubber belt with gravel going up it as it started to smell. I hav'nt touched it since but did check the roller was going roung so maybe it had some of my hair in it. Just starting dinner but not heard from Stu yet so I hope he is coming.

A damp, grey start to the day though it brightened up by lunchtime. However, it’s very cold with a bitter wind.

Gwyn, you live in a lovely area. I hope it warms up a bit before the bulk of the lambs are born. There are a few animals round here but it is mostly arable farming. A lot of the farmland is now being turned into housing estates which seems very short-sighted to me. I know people need housing but once farmland is taken out of production it will never come back and we will have to import more food at whatever price is demanded.

Did you go into town today AnnG? Yes, I’ve just seen your post saying you went to Cheltenham. We were out and about a bit today. We started at our local Perrywoods. The main shop is a huge, independent garden centre near Tiptree in Essex which wins lots of awards. When our little local Wyevale closed they purchased it and quite a bit of land round it. They improved and developed the old Wyevale and are now developing the land. When it is all done it will be enormous. I have one of their loyalty cards so they sent me a voucher for a free scone during my birthday month. It expires tomorrow. I wouldn’t have gone just for a free scone but one of my presents was a Perrywoods voucher so I had that to spend as well. I had the biggest fruit scone I’ve ever seen and it came with 3 pats of butter and a little pot of jam. It was freshly made and yummy and plenty to share between us. Then I spent my voucher on a robust bird feeder. We’ve just broken one of ours so I got a more solid replacement. We are getting lots of birds now. Instead of 2 or 3 goldfinches we are getting flocks of them. Great and blue tits, a robin, a couple of greenfinches, the usual blackbirds and pigeons are very regular visitors and for the last few days we have had 2 blackcaps.

After Perrywoods we went on to Tesco as I had a number of vouchers there which expire tomorrow. We got several pairs of socks for OH and there was just £1 left on my vouchers when I noticed some nice shower gel on offer at £1 so I got that as well. When we got back we had lunch. I had a load of cold chicken left so OH made a couple of sandwiches and stuffed the whole lot of chicken between the bread slices, plus we had lots of salad stuff with it. I decided that was the equivalent of a dinner so I have just made some soup for tonight. I found the recipe in a Book of Soups and adapted it for the soupmaker. It was Creamy Carrot and Parsnip Soup. I had all the ingredients so gave it a go. It smells good but is a very thick puree. I don’t think I’ll put cream in it but when I reheat it I’ll thin it down a bit with a little milk.

We are still waiting to hear back from the plumber. OH emailed him and he said he would ring us……this year, next year, sometime, never. If he doesn’t ring back soon he may find OH has looked elsewhere. Thank goodness the smell went away completely but we still need the repair done to the pipe or it might come back.

I slept quite well last night. I woke a few times but went back to sleep fairly quickly and didn’t get up at all. Here’s hoping we all have a good night tonight.

Gwyn, I have just read this through and had to laugh at the typos I made. I had put “Gwyn, you love in a lively area”.

I went to Cheltenham this morning for a change but I had forgotten how tiring I find it for some reason. I think it is a bit more spread out with the shops I want to look at. I did buy a couple of long sleeved tops in M&S sale but nothing else. I had coffee and pancakes (small ones) with maple syrup and a latte in John Lewis as early lunch. Came home fairly early as my back was aching, no idea why. Still I enjoyed being somewhere different.

So sorry to read the sad news about your friend, Mel.
Good friends are very special. <3

A chilly but dry day here.
Twice this week someone has phoned late afternoon, when I was hoping to look out to see the planets. We did look a bit later, when it was darker and saw them as the cloud had cleared. We were lucky to see a shooting star too, which was a bonus.
I'm not very 'up' on the planets, so I might look again tonight, now I know which direction etc.

Lots of sheep in the fields near here, when we went out yesterday. They will be due to lamb in about 4 weeks, so I am looking forward to seeing the new lambs.
Over on the Marsh they have had some early ones apparently, but most are born towards the end of March, due to higher cost of care if they are born in the wintry weather. I remember one year, when farmers had to put little heat reflective jackets on the newborns to protect them against the cold, so consequently they aim for later in Spring now.

I was thinking that too Mandy.

Morning ,

Can I have some of your sun please as its another cloudy start to the day here ,shopping day for us so just having a cuppa before we think about going .

Hope Ann and OH are OK we haven't heard from her for a couple of days <3

good morning Mel and all, lovely sunny morning here. Makes me think I should make some sort of plans for the day, maybe go into town while it is not raining. I shall have a think about that. Slept well last night, got up twice. Straight back to sleep.

Morning girls,

Another lovely morning here and its 5 degrees with sunshine but pc says mostly cloudy so we'll see.

Took a little while to drop off last night even though I was tired but I slept well in the end withtwo comfort breaks.

I'm so sorry to hear your news Mel. As Mandy says you have often mentioned her so she must have been a good friend and you will miss her. Sending you a gentle hug <3