TARRAGON & THYME

If you can, now is the time to start putting up things in the freezer or the pantry to save the frustration of not being able to obtain this or that in the last few days before Christmas (that is unless you have already started and nearly finished it). I am specifically thinking frozen puff pastry or even fresh and then freeze it yourself, little pots of different pate (I am thinking M & S here) and of course other seasonal bits and bobs.  Frozen veggies, frozen gateau or fresh and freeze yourself.  Make your own uncooked mince pies, and tart cases and freeze then just shove into the oven from frozen to cook when needed. Sausage rolls the same little fruit pies,  Anything that will save you time and also a massive shopping trolley trying to push it through the hoards.  If you can it will be less stressful then the last few days can just be for the top ups. Also stockpiling on things like cheddar, butter, lard if you use it margarine, cake decorating suppli...

Oh what a busy day.  Think in total I have walked about 4 miles all told all in. It was really cold this morning and it took me a while to warm up whilst I was walking.It took me 45 minutes to walk to the hospital from home then 45 minutes back.  Then another 30 minutes into town.  Met my friend had a good chin wag and then wandered round town and then came back home which took another 30 minutes or so.  I have walked my legs off today.  Tad tight on the hips now so it will be an easier day tomorrow.  On the way back picked up a load of fir cones and intend to go back for a few more.  Shall take my Trug with me to collect some more.  I have friends who have open fires so I shall make some fire-starters with some of the cones for them. Amazingly enough whilst collecting some of the cones something purple caught my eye.  Three plants of wild violets all with flowers on.  Crazy. Consultant seemed happy with me.  He thinks i...

This morning I feel a bit more like my old self, calm, more in control and dealing with small bite sized chunks of things to be dealt with.  What a difference 24 hours + has made.  It seems to be working but the extra anxiety although not gone seems to have dissipated somewhat and I am anxious to get on with things, feel as though I have a little more energy (think the earlier nights have helped with that).  The course that has been cancelled I very much need but perhaps in reality was a step too far which was impacting on everything else.  It is very much tied up with my future work possibilities.  However with it not going ahead it is a chance to pull myself together and get on with other matters which in reality are a higher priority. So I need to get myself into gear and really start to motor in a practical manner. It does not help that I do not seem to have got very far with the projects I do need to do which is very disheartening.    I h...

I am a great believer in this.  I was due to attend a course this weekend which in reality I could not really afford.  It is training that I sorely need, and I  had managed to sort something out to secure it.  However the tutor has become ill with the flu and so I feel a little divine intervention has happened.  It was partially this that was upsetting me not all of it but partially.  However it looks as though that is being relisted for sometime in January. I feel I have been given a breathing space now I need to make the most of it and get things sorted out so that I can take full advantage of it.  I am very grateful for the intervention. I have family scattered all over, but my birth family there are not that many members.  I am a wicked godmother to my cousin's eldest child a girl and even though we do not see each other every so often we have contact on Facebook.  She was a great kid although I have not seen her for a few years (she...

I am a fan of classical music and I particularly like this piece Pachebel's Canon in D.  When I am stressed this helps calm me down as does a lot of other classical music. I used to listen to classical music with my Dad as he had the same deep enjoyment of the pieces that we were listening to.  I could not listen to the same with my mum or my partner and as yet have not found anyone to listen with.  Until then I listen alone and let my thoughts drift.  It takes you into an altered state of consciousness akin to meditation so that actively and physically you are enjoying the piece but not "Emotionally attached" and as a result view everything as it is rather than imbibe it with emotion.  That is what happens when the listening goes into the form of meditation.  When I am just listening though there is a lot of emotion and passion in these pieces that makes you feel the regality, processional, loving passionate pieces that are often used as the backg...

Thank you for your lovely supportive words of yesterday they are much appreciated. I did have an early restful night where I was cosy and warm and for the best part I have slept well which I think has put a different complexion on today as although not firing on all pistons I feel better than I did.  Better enough to start dealing with those items that were worrying me and getting me down. I know that in real life you have to make mistakes to learn but that does not make it any easier and as I aim high in any event (on the basis that if you aim high you pull yourself further up the ladder than you would without the motivation) it does get into a bit of a cats cradle with all the lines interlocking rather like a knotted ball of string. Wrapping me up in the centre without me seeing a way out. That's the easiest way of describing it.  In other words I have got myself into a right two and eight with me being way too critical of myself and thus freezing myself in the pr...

From bestselling author, Max Lucado, comes The Christmas Candle, a timeless holiday film for the entire family. Deep in the heart of the English countryside lies the enchanting village of Gladbury. Legend has it every 25 years an angel visits the village candlemaker and touches a single candle. Whoever lights this candle receives a miracle on Christmas Eve. But in 1890, at the dawn of the electric age, this centuries old legend may come to an end. When David Richmond (Hans Matheson), a progressive young minister, arrives in Gladbury, the villagers discover a new formula for miracles: good deeds and acts of kindness. While David's quest to modernize Gladbury sets him at odds with the old world candlemaker, he finds an unlikely ally in the lovely skeptic, Emily Barstow (Samantha Barks). Now, the fiery candlemaker must fight to preserve the legacy of the Christmas Candle. But when the candle goes missing, the miraculous and human collide in the most astonishing Christmas the vill...