This month, I have been mostly .....

.... Sewing, knitting and entertaining. As usual, my good intentions to be prepared well in advance for Christmas have come to nothing. I have a pile of almost-finished projects and I wonder how many of them will be ready to wrap on Christmas Eve?

Here are some that I finished last week because they need to be sent off this month.

 A sweater for Millie, who has suddenly grown out of everything she has.

Advent calendar for Millie and Benjamin. 

My daughter is making little figures to put in the pockets. They 

will then be assembled into a Christmas nativity scene.

A Christmas stocking for Benjamin.

He wasn't around last year when I made stockings

for Millie and Charlotte.

A Flower Fairies bag, the first of six that I 

hope to get finished for Christmas.

There are two more sweaters ready to be sewn up (the part of knitting that I really don't like), another Advent calendar almost completed and a list of requests from friends and family that I will probably not get around to this year. It would be so much easier to buy gifts but I really enjoy looking at the finished product and hope that the recipient will appreciate the thought that went into it.

When I was a child, a homemade dress or sweater was a sign that your parents couldn't afford to buy from the shops but it seems to be quite different now. Hand crafted goods are highly desirable and, though mine are far from perfect, family and friends seem to like having something a little different.

The entertaining that I mentioned at the beginning refers to this house guest:

Paws

Paws is a border collie belonging to a friend, who leaves her with us whenever she needs to go away. Paws is really quite happy with us but if we don't respond to all of her demands for treats, she sits by the back door looking sulky in the hope that we will try to win her favour again. She is a great actress with an amazing ability to look sad. Don't be fooled, she only wants doggy chocs!

Broken promises and unwanted gifts

Last week I resolved to get back into blogging mode. That promise to myself lasted  for precisely two days before domestic issues intervened but here I am at the start of a new week and we'll see how things go.

The 'unwanted gifts' part of the heading sounds rather churlish but it refers to a situation that is the cause of great mirth in the Random household. We are blessed with really good neighbours, whose properties once formed part of ours - in the days before we moved here.  We live in the original farmhouse with a large portion  of the farmyard and the kitchen garden, while our neighbours on one side live in a converted linhay (barn) and on the other side, a bungalow built on what used to be an orchard. We are all very friendly and helpful but can go for quite long periods without seeing one another.

The neighbours in the bungalow run an excellent nursery for children from a few months to 4 years and on Friday the husband, John, came round to tell us that they were refurbishing the nursery and he had a baby's highchair he wanted us to have. I explained that we already had one but he insisted that with three grandchildren another  chair was sure to come in handy and before I could blink I was the grateful, if reluctant owner of two highchairs.

On Saturday, John was at the door again. "I'm sure you could use a storage unit for books and toys, it is in excellent condition but we don't need it any more." So here we are in our overfurnished, cluttered house with two highchairs and a storage unit.

On Sunday my husband went to the door, he was going to be much firmer than I had been. Now we have two highchairs, a storage unit and a child's desk!

This morning we have been waiting nervously for the knock on the door, expecting to see John with two infants under his arms - in great condition but surplus to requirements! I think we need a bigger shoe!

 

Apple In and Out .... and gone

My mother-in-law, Dorothy, has been living with us for almost two years. She will be 94  at the end of November and is physically quite well, if not very mobile but her memory is poor. At first it was just her short-term memory and we have learned to live with the fact that she does not retain information for more than a minute. Her long-term memory, though, was pretty sharp until a few months ago. She loved to talk about her childhood in Devon, her experiences in the second world war and her years in Zimbabwe (then called Rhodesia) with her young family.

The memories began to be muddled, so I made albums of her photographs, letters and newspaper clippings with clear labels of the names of people and places but I saw recently that she has crossed out some of my labels and written new, incorrect ones.  I find it rather sad to think that such a long life can be fading into an inaccurate blur but she seems to be quite happy with her misremembered stories.

Dorothy was never a good cook but she had a passion for traditional Devonshire food as made by her grandmother and great aunt. She learned how to make Devonshire clotted cream so that she could have a regular supply in Africa with her other culinary success, Devonshire Apple In and Out.  She would never give anyone the recipe for this and now she has forgotten it but I found it in a book of traditional Devonshire recipes and decided to make some to stir her fading memories.

It is a very simple pudding, originally made with suet and steamed for an hour or more but I adapted it to bake as a sponge pudding and it worked very well.

Devonshire Apple In and Out
6oz flour
4oz fat
4oz sugar
1 egg
1lb apples

Rub the fat into the flour then add the sugar and beat in the egg. Peel  the apples and slice them directly into the mixture in a buttered pudding dish.

Bake at 350F/180C for about 30 minutes.
 (If using suet, steam in a greased basin for 1hr 15mins.)

I used butter and brown sugar in mine and this is how it turned out:

My husband prepared his mother for an exciting surprise and I brought in a portion of the pudding, served with vanilla ice-cream. Dorothy's reaction? "Oh, how lovely. Ice-cream!"

In, out, gone.

Speechless

My trip to Bristol to visit my lovely granddaughter, Charlotte, unexpectedly extended into a visit to Oxfordshire to babysit Millie and Benjamin. Having three grandchildren under the age of three keeps me busy in the nicest ways: I get to visit the zoo and parks and farms; read wonderful children's books, old favourites and some excellent new ones; find endless inspiration for knitting and sewing projects and get lots of cuddles.

The only downside to being a grandma is  exposure to the incredibly virulent colds that toddlers get when they are cutting teeth and both Charlotte and Benjamin shared their germs with me in a most generous fashion. By the time I drove home on Friday I had lost my voice completely and it still hasn't returned. The funny thing is that until I start to speak I don't know that I'm speechless! My voice ranges from strangled squeaks and whistles to the lowest register of Fenella Fielding's but in no predictable sequence! I can now empathise with teenage boys.

 There are some benefits though, as I sit on the sofa sipping my hot lemon and honey I am catching up on a lot of reading and I'm hoping to get back into a regular blogposting routine. Watch this space!

Prize draw for Real Readers

There are four special days in the year which feel like extra birthdays for me. The mail arrives containing a fat package bearing the image of a rather knowing fox

and I am assured of weeks of pleasurable reading to come. The package contains my quarterly edition of Slightly Foxed.

Slightly Foxed is more than a review magazine, it is an entry into the magical world of libraries that I discovered as a child. I find forgotten treasures, new delights and fascinating insights into much loved works of fact and fiction. Of one thing I can be certain, each book reviewed will have true literary merit and even though I know I will never get to read all of the books, the reviews themselves increase my knowledge and understanding of our literary heritage.

If you would like the chance to win a subscription to Slightly Foxed for yourself, or perhaps as a gift for someone else if you already subscribe, then go to The Dabbler  now and enter the competition.

Good luck!

La Stupenda

Dame Joan Sutherland 1927 - 2010.  The gretaest voice of the twentieth century.

Lost words

One of the most thumbed books on our shelves is this:

As a family of avid readers and crossword puzzlers, we have frequent recourse to dictionaries and this one has provided the solution to many a disagreement. When son and daughter were young, we had a weekly exercise where each of us chose a word from the Dictionary of Difficult Words to learn and use as often as possible during the week. I have to admit that we seldom recalled the words beyond a day or two; the only one that entered our family vocabulary was olid, meaning evil-smelling. You can imagine how frequently that was used in a household of teenagers and their friends!

I was reminded of this pastime by blogging friend erp*, who sent me a link to Save the Words. It is a wonderful website with an enormous collection of archaic and obscure words; you can even "adopt" a word, pledging to use it as frequently as possible in conversation and correspondence. Take a look, it is great fun. I thought I might adopt senticous, meaning prickly or thorny; it sounds far more interesting than grumpy, doesn't it? From now on I shall be signing any letters of complaint from "a senticous old woman."

*erp has asked me to credit the the Volokh Conspiracy with providing her with this link

War on the Margins update 2

Those of you who followed the progress of Libby Cone's excellent book War on the Margins will be pleased to know that it has been nominated for the Autumn 2010 UK People's Book Prize.

 My enthusiasm for this book has not diminished since I wrote about it here, here and here. The latest news from Libby is that it will soon be out in paperback*. She is also working on a new novel, set in Colonial Delaware. I will be reading that as soon as it is published!

You can vote for War on the Margins on the People's Book Prize website. It only takes a minute to register your vote.

*War on the Margins is now available in paperback from Amazon.

Traveller's tales #2

Stage 2 of our holiday was a very short break in the Peak District.   We haven't visited the area before and we only decided to go when our plans to see Lincoln fell through but we saw enough to make us want to go back for a much longer holiday.

The Peak District is mainly in Derbyshire but also extends into Cheshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire. Driving out to explore the countryside, we found ourselves crossing several county boundaries but our base was at Monsal Head in Derbyshire.

This was the view from our bedroom window, the viaduct over the River Wye.

This is great walking country but with only 3 days at our disposal we decided to drive around to see as much as possible and plan a future walking holiday. The landscape is truly magnificent, words like splendour and majestic peppered our conversation as we drove over peaks and down dales. It was a great contrast to our gentle rolling hills and lush patchwork landscape here in North Devon. Here we see very little of the farmland from the narrow lanes because of the high banks and hedges but the Derbyshire farmers use dry stone walls to edge their fields and it is easy to stand on the roadside and look across at what looks like a child's drawing of fields with heavy black-crayoned dividing lines.

I thought of the effort and determination of the men who carted all that stone into these remote parts and painstakingly built the walls. We had to drive many miles before we found a quarry:

Huge trucks carry the stone nowadays but I imagined horses struggling up the hills with their heavy loads in former times.

We stayed at Castle Cliffe hotel at Monsal Head. It has stunning views and is the perfect base for walking or visiting local towns and villages. We have stayed in very many hotels and guest houses in UK but none compare with the comfort and friendliness of this one. Jackie, the owner, helped us with our bags and then invited us into the lounge for tea and home made cake. The breakfast menu was superb; I  had to try a Derbyshire oatcake with bacon and maple syrup and it was scrummy. We had excellent dinners in the Monsal Head Hotel and at the Packhorse Inn in nearby Little Longstone. To get to the latter, we had to walk along a "special off-road pedestrian walkway" which here in Devon we call a pavement!

We didn't have very much time for exploring but we made short stops in Buxton and Bakewell. I went to one of the three bakeries that claim to be "the original Bakewell pudding shop."

I was relieved to find that the pudding was quite unlike the sweet Bakewell tart that one usually finds in the supermarket.

 This was light and not too sweet with an almond base.

As a regular reader of  Rattling On, where I have seen many photos of the wonderful scenery, architecture and other features of the Peak District,  I was delighted to come across one of the dressed wells that she has posted about.

Dressed Well at Longnore

Ours was a very brief visit, on our way to Yorkshire. We hope to go back to see much more of this National Park.

Traveller's tales #1

I didn't manage to get online at all while I was away but I did have my camera with me most of the time. I am gradually reading all the posts I have missed in my favourite places and I hope to catch up with everyone soon.

Where have I been? First to Oxfordshire to spend 5 days with my daughter and her family; then to the Peak District for a few days; on to York then a week in a cottage in the Yorkshire wolds. We saw parts of England we haven't visited before and our belief that England is the best place in the world has been reinforced!

 The family visit was, of course, about spending time with the grandchildren. Here is Benjamin, now 6 months old, wearing the sweater I made. And here is Millie wearing the tiger face that Grumpy made!

 

Abingdon is the nearby town and on the day we went in there was an Italian market in the market square:

We sampled (and bought!) lots of olive oils, vinegars, truffle pate and wonderful breads. The Town Crier put in an appearance and everyone joined in with his "God bless the Queen and God bless Abingdon!"

We assembled a picnic from the Italian goodies on display and headed for the river.

Millie wanted to swim with the cygnet but Grumpy rescued her

and she eventually joined us for the picnic. What fun it is being two and a half but how exhausting for grandmas and grumpies!

I couldn't resist the autumn/winter collection in the Abingdon stores and here is one of the winter coats I bought, although I will have to lose many inches before I can wear it

Tomorrow I'll be off to the Peak District.

The Dabbler

The Dabbler - www.thedabbler.co.uk is a new multi-contributor 'superblog' - bringing you all sorts of cultural curiosities. Make sure you add it to your daily reads! 

 

Brit - who is co-editor of The Dabbler - has asked me if any bloggers or readers in the Random Distractions neighbourhood would like to contribute to a regular feature - The 1p Book Review.

 

There are all sorts of forgotten, out-of-print and neglected books that can be bought online (eg. at Amazon) for a penny plus postage. The Dabbler will be recommending some of these overlooked gems.

 

If you would like to recommend such a book (fiction or non-fiction), email your nomination and review (100-400 words is fine) to Brit via editorial@thedabbler.co.uk.

 

The focus is on less well-known books (so no Great Gatsby etc), but otherwise the only stipulation is that the book can be bought at the time of writing for 1p (or 1 cent) plus postage. Successfully published 1p Book Reviews will receive the ultimate accolade, a Dabbler badge to put on your blog or website!

 

I will be submitting a review or two, you will know if I am successful if that Dabbler badge appears here. I hope to see some of your reviews there.

End of summer

Whatever happened to the summer months? After a very promising late spring/early summer period of brilliant sunshine, July came in wet followed by an even wetter August. We had lunch in the garden yesterday, the first time since 11 July. I have been filled with sympathy for the holidaymakers (those Grockles who usually annoy me! ) as they spent hours in traffic queues trying to get to the few indoor activities the region provides. North Devon has beautiful sandy beaches and stunning countryside but only the hardiest like to spend their holidays in the rain.

So what have I been doing on these rainy days? The cupboards are full of jams and chutneys, the freezer packed with vegetables from the bounty of neighbours' gardens. Friends and family have benefited from the time I have spent in the kitchen:

Courgette (zucchini) teabread

tomato and cheese pinwheels

Italian cheese crackers I saw on TV on a wet afternoon

choc chip cookies, for the fun of it

I have finished a little sweater for grandson Benjamin - the first thing I have knitted for him, I'm ashamed to admit. I have lots of patterns for girls' sweaters but I will have to look out for more for boys.

I will be very glad when August comes to an end tonight. I want to put the miserable weather and gloomy news that August brought behind us: two very dear friends were diagnosed with breast cancer but the prognosis is promising and September will be sunny and warm and filled with optimism. All will be well and all manner of things will be well!

So, tomorrow we set off on holiday. Our plans have changed many times because of family circumstances but we have finally settled on a few days in Oxfordshire to see Adelephant and family, then a few days in the Peak District before we go to Yorkshire. We are staying in a variety of guest houses, one smart hotel and then a week in a  farm cottage. I'm taking the camera and laptop with me so I'll try to keep you posted. It will be interesting to become someone else's grockles!


Just because I love it, here is the Eva Cassidy version of 'Who knows where the time goes?' Enjoy the end of summer.

Exaggerated reports of my immobility

This morning's mail included an invitation to test drive a mobility scooter. It was a personal invitation, not just a mailshot, so now I'm wondering who among my family and friends would think this funny? I may have the bus pass but I could still walk to the bus stop should I ever decide to use it!

A few years ago, on a Sunday evening, I answered the phone to hear a screech of surprise followed by sobbing and inarticulate mumblings. Eventually, I was able to establish that it was my friend Elspeth calling from Portsmouth to offer her condolences to my husband and children: my death had just been announced in the cathedral. It was a terrible shock for her when I picked up the phone and, I must say, I found it a bit unnerving too.

At the time of that incident I was undergoing chemotherapy and the death announcement, which I later saw in a copy of the cathedral bulletin, spurred me on to recovery. The offer of a mobility scooter will spur me on to increased activity. I wonder if I can make it to next year's London marathon?

Oh my hat!

I have just returned after a week of fun with the grandchildren. First off we had Charlotte's first birthday celebrations. Here she is showing cousin Millie how to play the piano, one of her birthday gifts.

 (There are lots of pictures of the birthday party on Charlotte's own blog. If you would like to see them please send me an email and I will get my son to give you access.)

I spent the last few days in Oxfordshire with Millie and Benjamin. We had a lovely time but there was very little sunshine. Just as well really as someone appropriated my hat!

It looks better on me, Grandma.

Dropping by

I'm back on-line thanks to the newest acquisition, a laptop to replace my dearly departed PC. Now I need a crash course in Windows 7 and I'll be off. Unfortunately this is a short visit as I'll be heading off again tomorrow for granddaughter Charlotte's first birthday celebrations and then to Oxfordshire for a few days with Millie and co.


Those of you who read my son's blog will be familiar with his series on the Chief Trading Post in Bristol - a garden centre with a difference. Well, at long last I got to see it for myself last weekend when he took me there for lunch. Here are just a few of the things I might have bought to add interest to my garden. Fortunately I had travelled by train and couldn't carry anything extra!

a boat to go with the MM's anchor

a Spirit House for the quiet corner

a child-eating crab (we saw only the remains of the chair!)

a garden bench that might possibly squeeze you to death

an elephant to hide in the bushes

or perhaps a tiger?

We had lunch among some unusual characters:

Charlotte was not put off by the Blues Brother

each dining area had its own interest

inside and out!

They do sell a wide range of plants as well. I particularly liked this section

with its appropriate statuary

It is the most interesting garden centre I have ever visited and just in case you are wondering if these items really are for sale, here are someof their price tags;

£704.17 for a giant crab (minus child and chair)

And who wouldn't want this handsome fellow

for a mere

£2,028.93

All of the price tags are as quirky as the goods. It is a great place to go for lunch with a difference.

A brief interlude

The combination of a faulty computer and babysitting duties has meant that Monix is unable to post for a short while, but the blog's readers' loss is the family's gain, as children and grandchildren will have the benefit of her fine company over the next two weeks. She promises to pop in when she can, so expect more family stories (unless there is something more interesting to say!).

In the meantime, for those of you who have taken an interest in the growing family: a picture of Millie in a dress created by Grandma, especially for potty training and playing in the garden on sunny days. We do love having such a skilled grandma!