TARRAGON & THYME

Quite a laid back day apart from a little food shopping. Beautiful to see the sunshine and relatively warm but the wind has had an edge to it all day.  I think may be Spring is starting to arrive. So  much so I bought some polyanthus in yellow and purple and also some miniature daffodils for two of my planters in the back garden.  Thought it might be a start and cheer things up a bit. I paid a visit to the veg shop and managed to get some blood oranges to make a preserve/conserve that I have not tried before. Pears to do some chutney, tomatoes for general use and some plums to make some Chinese Plum sauce as I have now run out.  Some leeks, spring cabbage,cauliflower, a melon, some apples, some celery, carrots and mushrooms. From the reduced section at the coop I bought french beans, cauliflower, raspberries and strawberries and blueberries.  The soft  fruits are for use in breakfast smoothies..  I have been told to take a multivitamin bec...

 Well I managed travelling on the train with my Mum on Monday despite not being used to travelling on my own anywhere as I am used to being taken.  But it was a positive experience - so much so that I will travel to Lincoln on my own again to see my family members.  The service out went from Peterborough to Spalding, Sleaford, Ruskington, Metheringham and then Lincoln.  Through beautiful Lincolnshire countryside and changing landscape on a country service that was comfortable and where the conductor was helpful, helping mum with her walking trolley and we arrived in Lincoln for 12 noon.  My uncle was there to pick us up and we went back to his had a little lunch and then travelled to Ollerton.  The service was held at the same place that we had Uncle Stan's funeral seven years before, beautiful and simple.  We then attempted to follow the rest of the family to the reception and got lost.  We caught up eventually.  Although a sad occasion...

What you may ask - my crafting mojo is back.  After a long break of having lots of projects to complete and not being able to settle this week has seen me returning not to UFOs but two new projects.  In fairness I already had the materials for one of the projects but I did succumb to the lure of wool this week to make a present for a pregnant friend who is due her first child  shortly (a baby boy), so I am beavering away at this present but for obvious reasons this post is not going to be a show and tell as I want it to be a surprise for her although I suspect she may have an inkling that I am up to something. The second project is a simply stringed necklace, bracelet and earrings for me.  I have strung the necklace but now cannot find the finishing pieces and fasteners and I have a bracelet and earrings yet to finish.  In creams and coffees.  When I have found the said fasteners which should enable me to finish the project I will pop up photos, but so...

I have my Aunty Barbara's (Doreen's) funeral to attend today, bless her 87 when she passed.  We (that is Mum and I) are travelling by train to Lincoln to meet up with my Uncle before going on to Ollerton to the funeral and then the return journey later on.      The following verse is a well known one by A L Frink, but nevertheless an adaptation of the original.  I post this for any of you have lost loved ones. A rose once grew where all could see Sheltered beside a garden wall And as the days passed swiftly by It spread its branchest straight and tall. One day a beam of light shone through A crevice that had opened wide -  The rose bent gently towards its warmth Then passed beyond to the other side Now you, who deeply feel its loss Be comforted - the rose blooms there - Its beauty even greater now, Natured by God's own loving care Rest in peace Aunty Barbare reunited with Uncle Stan Pattypan xx

When I am working on a project or projects I tend to keep the Work in Progress in a carrier bag however every so often things go to pot and I end up with a carrier bag stuffed to the gunnells this is true of the little stash above but there are a lot of useful goodies therein so I need to make a start in getting things sorted out so that I can find things.  This particular bag has quite a lot of seed beads within it, but I have a large box on top of this somewhere in the back bedroom. It would be nice to get them in one place.It will happen eventually, boxes for different things.  It would be lovely to lay my hands on my craft items and be able to go to them just like that. I was specifically looking to see whether I had beads available to me in order to have a go at these beaded dragonflies.  I have some beads but the fittings within the wings that have a central coloured stone I do not have any of.  I am going to have to look out for some of ...

Well you do in my family and that is the way we have been brought up.  When it was my mum and Dad's anniversary one year when I was at home I think I was about 16 I wanted to treat them both to a meal but could not afford to pay for them to go to a restaurant  (I was still at school and not working) so I did the next best thing . I cooked it myself from scratch, arranged for my Dad to take mum out for the afternoon and early evening and then got stuck in, in the kitchen.  I think I prepared home made prawn cocktail (I made the sauce from scratch), Roast chicken with all the trimmings, and Black Forest Gateau also cooked from scratch .  Dear old Dad was in on the plan but not on what I intended to cook, so he got a surprise as well and my mum certainly did she had not got a clue but they both enjoyed the meal.  It was something simple, something that was not expected, so even more of a surprise, but the point of this little story is that I did not let a simple t...

I don't know about you but over the course of the month we use quite a few sausages whether they be in the shape of chipolatas, chunky sausages or sausage meat.  It is a very useful  versatile ingredient that I keep in the freezer. I use it for making home made sausage rolls, utilising short crust or puff pastry whichever is to hand; home made stuffing; (especially in stuffed chicken or stuffed rolled pork joints) mini pork pies; home made Scotch eggs;(best made fresh as they do not freeze more's the pity) sausage patties and sausage plait.  But sausages in their own right make a comforting warming evening meal of the old favourite Toad in the Hole, We also coil chipolatas into a frying pan with snippets of fresh rosemary and a little red wine fried in the pan  and then served rustically with either some pasta or balsamic tomatoes with herbs and chunky plain bread or served with butter.   Run out of sausagemeat but still have some sausages to ha...