gooseberry bread

gooseberry bread

Lost needle ?

This haystack appeared overnight and will probably disapear overnight.

Awwamat (Lebanese honey balls)

I only wanted to make about 6 to celebrate the end of Ramadam but its a yeast mix and it just grew and grew.

grahams new fly screen

 

Ruby wedding

My lovely friends at the W.I. bought me these roses and gifts to celebrate our Ruby wedding which is on saturday. 40 years!!??

I never seem to get around to posting a blog these days. I am so busy but what am I doing???
Ok so I go to the gym every morning at 9 o'clock which means I don't get back home until around 10am or 11am. Then I have to make bread (most days) and sort out the mail etc. have a shower and then it's lunch time. After lunch I watch the news and then Neighbours before preparing the evening meal. Ironing and other chores take up some time and a bit of time wasted on the internet. At 3 o'clock I have to watch "Without trace" which has grabbed me. Then it's " Tipping Point" which is a new quiz show. The evening meal is at 6 o'clock and after that I'm afraid the day is a washout! I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat, and frequently do!

Strawberries ripe Strawberries!

 

 

Graham ate more then he picked!

mouse

So I said to graham "i'm sure there is a mouse eating the chicken food  I'm going to start putting the left over food into the bin at night " (We have a bin with a lid ) so that's what I did. Next morning when I lifted the lid to take out the corn, there was the mouse looking at me! How the little blighter had gotten in there god knows. Graham wanted to kill it but I insisted that he take it some distance away and release it into the field. Thats what he did and then it started to rain and I just wondered what the mouse would do?

Trevor's clothing dilemma

 

fathers day

Graham wearing the England tee shirt that he got for Fathers day.

Yesterday the W.I went on a visit to a dairy farm. It was good. We watched the cows being milked and then saw the milk turned into ice cream. Then we were given a farm tea where I had the best chocolate cake I have ever had! Mind you it's the only chocolate cake I have had for months! We were very impressed. I bought some ice cream. Rum and Raisen for Graham and cinder toffee for me. we shall have that whilst watching the football tonight. my prediction on what I have seen so far is that Germany will win the cup.

It was quite a strange weekend. Firstly we drove to Rotherham. First to the art gallery to drop off Grahams paintings for the exhibition, then to the museum where Graham has an exhibition in the Cafe.
After that it was downhill all the way! To the Tay barn where the "as much as you can eat " was an invitation to undo all the good work I have been doing on my diet.
Scarcely able to move we then set off to drive to Preston. All was going well for a few miles and then we hit miles of traffic at a virtual standstill. I said to Graham "look at all this on the opposite carriage way It looks like CSI Bolton"  All the men in white paper jumpsuits were doing fingertip searching on the road. We finally got to Gina's about two hours later then we should have only to learn that she had been trying to ring us to tell us not to come on that motorway as it was blocked! we also learned that the police had been searching for body parts!!
Saturday was good though. We went with Gina and Andrew and Andrew's parents to view a wedding venue. We were supposed to look at a couple but once we had seen the first one we loved it so much that we decided there and then that this was the one.
It's a beautiful Elizabethan house built circa 1690 and has been renovated to the original . It's wonderful!
We also more or less confirmed the catering etc so we felt that we had achieved a lot. I can't wait now even if it is 10 months away.
Well to celebrate we felt the need to visit the "Tay barn" at Wigan thereby undoing ..........etc

grahams owl

graham's sculpture is so scary that a Pheasant has taken to roosting on it's head,

Lamb Lahmacun

For some reason the blog won't let me put the recipe for Lamb Lahmacun on the same blog as the photos so here it is anyway.
Lamb Lahmacun

A Quantity of Dough

All the following ingredients are in proportion to the size that you want.



Minced Lamb
red Onion
Fresh Tomatoes (peeled)
bunch of  Parsley
fresh Green chilli
Garlic
Cumin seeds
Ground coriander
Chilli flakes
Salt

Chop all the ingredients together. not too finely.( I used  a blender )

Roll the dough out and put the lamb mix on top. Spread  thinly.
Bake in a very hot oven until well cooked

Lamb Lahmacun

 

 

Blooming Lovely!

Here are some of the blooms that are out now that the weather has improved.

Almond Tart

First pudding for months. Well it is Sunday!

Two beauties.

Two family members as I remember them.

Funny looking chicken

 

 

A pheasant making eyes at my girl !

Bacon and egg sarnie!!

Well it is Sunday morning.!

Sisters!

Organised chaos at Tina's last weekend.

forget me nots

The lovely blue forget me nots are out with a vengence. the surviver looks at them longingly. I think she is very lonely since the fox took her mate.

Today something happened. As I was making my bread I looked out of the window and saw a big bright ball in the sky. It was a bit scary. Nobody seemed to know what it was although my neighbour said he thought he had seen it before but he couldn't remember what it was called.. Luckily I was able to google it and I believe it is called the sun! I am writing this so that any descendants that may follow me will know that their ancestor witnessed  the occurance on this day in may 2012.

Just had another visit from mr fox. Once again only the surviver remains. I don't know what to do next.

belly dancing

Last night at the W.I was wonderful. Who knew that belly dancing could be so much fun! 

This duck has spent hours standing in the front garden. Graham thinks it could be" Ed the duck" come backto visit us. He's only been gone two years!

old friends

Out of the blue, some old friends, who we haven't seen for at least ten years, rang to ask if they could visit us. They came on friday and we had the most wonderful day with them. We laughed so much my sides hurt.
Any way they brought me this pot that he had made from a piece of Laburnam tree. The photos don't do it justice, it is a work of art the way he has used the natural pattern of the wood. We were sorry to see them head off back to sheffield. I can't believe that we have been friends for 45 years and were able to catch up as though we have seen them every week.

1ST APRIL.
It's 11 years today that my mother died. How the time has flown.I don't think of her all the time as I used to but I always wish I had been a  better daughter to her. She is not forgotten
Sheila xx

homesick!

We have been back from Florida one month tomorrow and already we are all, with the exception of Andrew, longing to be back there.Gina and Andrew look apprehensive about their Parasailling adventure but they loved it.

What's it worth?

Graham was going through some boxes that we haven't opened in about 7 years and he came across this Japanese Noritake pot. He thought it looked a bit antiquey so he researched it on the net and found that it was around circa 1900 to 1920 and there was one for sale for £400.00. anyone know anything about Noritake ?

mothers day

 

Happy mothers day to all mothers where ever you are!

Gina bought me this wire hen. I think I will put flowers in it. Graham took me out for a carvery lunch and delicious it was too.
Sheila xx

spring buds

This morning, as I was getting "cluckingham Palace" ready for the return of the prodigal hens, I noticed that the apple trees were bginning to flower. Is this the end of winter?