A Rather Random Selection.

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

- Charles Dickens

 

Hello my beauties.  Thanks for dropping by again.   How was your Monday?  Not a manic one I hope.

 

This was the sight which greeted me first thing this morning as I waited for the kettle to boil.  Please excuse the quality of the picture as it was taken through a (eek! rather smeary) window, and whilst still half asleep, but I had to share it with you.  This is Charlie - sitting on top of an old fencing post which is very precariously leaning against the bench and awaiting disposal.  I have a cat who appears to think he is an owl.  How could he have possibly been comfortable?

 

I'm sure Cassie is wondering how on earth he got up there!! 

 

 

I badly needed to escape from the office at lunchtime today.  It was such a beautifully bright day, it would have been a travesty to sit inside in the dry fug of the air conditioning, and  poring over a computer screen.  So, for one precious hour, I walked down to the canal and ate my lunch there, sitting on the (admittedly rather cold) wall and filling my lungs with crisp, 'relatively clean' air. I took the camera and took just a couple of shots.  This lovely little spot is right in the centre of huge office complexes and about five minutes away from the bustling Merry Hill Centre.  Just a few years ago there used to be a thriving cosmopolitan network of winebars and nightclubs right opposite where I was sitting.  Sadly, apart from a couple of chain-owned pubs, the majority of them have now closed, forced out of business by mega high business rates and falling trade.  It's left the area looking a little bereft and bleak; boarded up and unused it's  a rather expensive white elephant now. 

 

Still Waters

Dudley No. 1 Canal.  This view shows the Earl of Dudley Bridge - and a lone fisherman.  Wonder whether he caught anything?

This beautiful silver birch was almost glowing. against the clear blue of the sky

Back at home this afternoon I was really happy to discover that lovely man had put in a new gate to give us better access to our beloved field.  He'd dug out some soil from behind the old makeshift door which had been threatening to perform it's own mini landslide and block our exit for ever(!), and had also cut back some overgrown branches which were a bit of a hindrance.  He laid a few spare slabs as a solid pathway and that's another long overdue job completed.

 

I took this shot when I got home this afternoon -

ooh it looks all mystical and mysterious doesn't it?

 

My apologies for the rather random selection of photographs today. 

 

See you very soon.

 

K x

 

 

 

 



A Mixed Bag of Everyday Pleasures

Ok who pinched my weekend? Eh? Was it you?

Oh that's alright then!! I'll let you off!



Come with me... into the green...



Hasn't it been an absolutely beautiful day today? I escaped out into the field this afternoon. The back door is a little overgrown as no-one has been out since well before Christmas, but I fought my way out through the undergrowth, fighting off all manner of tigers and lions and bears. And tiny acid green, incredibly vicious baby nettles! Come with me... through the secret passage...

and out into the field. On a clear day you can see forever. Or to the corner of the field at least.

This field is an endless source of pleasure to me. We're blessed to have this right on our back door step and I never get tired of it. I watch the seasons change by it. I walk off bad moods in it. I breathe in it. I go blackberrying and foraging in the Autumn in it. My kids have grown up making dens in the hedgerows and hiding in the barley on the perimeter of the crops. My numerous cats over the years have struck fear into the hearts of multiple generations of voles and field mice in it! It's my little piece of heaven just yards from my back door. My house may be tiny – but I can't see myself wanting to live anywhere else but here.

Look how the shadows are lengthening – these photos were taken at around 4.30pm – how wonderful it is that the days are getting longer now. I can't wait to get out into the garden when I get home from work.



I cleaned out the coop this afternoon, ably hindered assisted by three meddlesome chickens. I wish I'd kept hens years ago. They really are the funniest, friendliest, sweetest birds. They managed to untidy the place more quickly than I could tidy it! But as they were burbling away to me all the time I was in there, allowing me to stroke them occasionally and making me jump by pecking at the holes in my bright pink Crocs (yes I know that's my fault for wearing hideous footwear!) - I can't say that the cleaning operation was a chore at all.

The bin bag full of spent sawdust and straw was lent an investigative foot by Leia – so tipping over the bag and spilling stuff all over the gravel. She also took a liking to the bag of barley straw and gave that a good kicking too!


Hiyeeeee-YAH!  Take that!!

 
Betty decided that I wasn't spreading the new sawdust quickly enough and also lent a hand foot, scratching sawdust everywhere – mostly out the bliddy doors of the coop thank you very much! 



What? I'm only trying to help!

Hattie merely looked on with disdain

Get on with it woman!

You've missed a bit!  Down there look!

until I'd finished and then immediately dived into the nest box to check whether I'd made her bed correctly. Hope it's to your satisfaction Ma'am. Now get your fluffy bottom settled and get laying!!

Whilst dinner was cooking this evening I decided to make the most of the warm oven and threw together a brownie mix.  These squidgy calorie-shocker slices of indulgence are a firm favourite in our house. I've made them so many time now that I no longer need to look at the recipe.

I always mix cakes/make bread/pastry using my late Nan's Pyrex mixing bowl. She had it for so long it was probably insured against Viking raids but I absolutely love it and use it at any opportunity.

For these brownies, you'll need 200g of chocolate of your choice. These bars of dark choccie are from Asda and cost £1.00 for the two – but they do an even cheaper version which would work just as well. The recipe (it's a Jamie one) calls for good quality chocolate but to be honest I chuck anything in. It's good to experiment and this recipe stands up to most types of chocolate. I've made Rum n' Raisin brownies in the past using some of that Old Jamaica chocolate which were A. Mazing! The flavoured choc is a great way of giving an old fave a bit of an update and there are so many different combinations of chocolate around these days.

Anyway – I'm rambling again.

I have to sing the esteemed Mr O's praises at this stage because I learnt a little bit of magic from his latest bible book.  

Greaseproof paper.  Annoying stuff innit?  You cut a suitable length with which to line your baking tray and it proceeds to do this: 

Well now,  the secret is... if you take the greaseproof paper and wet it under the tap, scrumple it and squeeze out the excess water.... (here's one I prepared earlier:-

You can do this^^^^^^^^^.   Wow eh?  It moulds perfectly.  I was so impressed!  I don't get out much though.

Next....smash up the chocolate. Now you can either do this with the end of a rolling pin but I will warn you that you'll be fishing bits out from the back of your washing machine/oven/fridge for weeks. I've found the best way is to take a hewooooge scary looking knife and chop it up into tiny pieces. It's very satisfying and makes a lovely crunching noise when you do it. This is a good stress buster too – particularly if someone has really hacked you off during the day!! (see – they do have a healthy edge to them!!).

Then... splat 250g room temp butter into your bowl and stir the chopped choccie into it so that it looks like a mess for a mad dog combines.

Then, 6 level tablespoons of cocoa powder. Mix thoroughly.

Add 200g sugar (I've used caster sugar but it works just as well with granulated. Use golden caster sugar if you have it but I've never been precious about me sweetening agent!)

Then, add a pinch of salt, and gradually beat in four medium eggs. Stand back, admire your handiwork, pat your hair, adjust your vintage pinny and look particularly smug if you have just retrieved said eggs from your own coop full of delightfully splendiferous chickens.

Finally, add 4 heaped tablespoons of self raising flour and mix, making sure all of the mixture is comple combined and looks glossy and decadent.

Utilise this lull in proceedings wisely by licking your fingers/bowl/utensils/bits spilled out over the worktop due to vigorous mixing.

Pour the resultant concoction into your prepared tin. Press some pecan nuts into the top if you like em – I have to do half and half because DD (Diva Daughter) doesn't particularly like nuts. Jamie grates some clementine zest over his brownies at this stage – and I agree this is a lovely touch. Bake at Gas Mark 4 for about 14 mins (although I never time anything). You need to remove the cake from the oven whilst it's still verrrry slightly moist on top but cooked through. Remove tray from the oven, flip upside down (the brownie tin not you – but if you're into kitchen gymnastics then who am I to question this activity?) Gently peel away the greaseproof. Then cut into as many slices as you wish.  Or don't cut it at all.  You could start at one end and your partner the other then see who gets to the middle first without being sick.

Et Voila! Shockingly, sinfully indulgent squares of gorgeousness which you might as well apply directly to your hips and thighs with a butter knife.

Or you could just choose a piece of fruit!!

See you soon!!



Random Acts of Chicken-ness

Hello again blogging friends. OOH! 9 followers!! How exciting! Welcome indeed to my little bloggy space.**waves madly** I hope you'll visit often... There are times when I can be quite lucid you know!


Brrrr! With a capital B and lots of RRRRs!! March has swept in on a blast of arctic air looking like it means business!! We're being blessed with some beautiful weak sunshine but my goodness it's freeeezing!! It's a lazy old wind too! Too lazy to blow around you so cuts right through you instead!

Anyway – enough of my weather observations. I'm thinking that you all KNOW that it's cold enough eh?!

Chicken-Pods (or should that be Chick-Peas?) News first of all. Well – we think that all three of our hens are now in lay. All of their combs have turned bright red, they're looking all plump and fluffy and pleased with themselves and they're doing a daft little squatting dance in front of our feet each time we visit the pen... which in our case is often cos we're in love with the little darlings!! They were making SUCH a din this morning I was fearful of neighbourhood complainants!! They'd already been let out and fed but my goodness they were so squawksome! I usually speak to my partner at lunchtime (he works nights and usually sleeps in until then)(not in the chicken coop I hasten to add) and he checked the coop – to find THREE eggs!! All in the same nesting box!! Now there were none when I checked this morning at 8am so we reckon that all the commotion was due to all three of them queueing to use the nesting box and yelling at the hen in front to hurry up!! Silly things! There are THREE nesting boxes in that coop and they all decide to lay on the same one!!

Please forgive my numerous chickeny ramblings – we're besotted with them – and everything is still very new to us!

“Daffy-down-dilly came up in the cold, Through the brown mould Although the March breeze blew keen on her face, Although the white snow lay in many a place.”

Anna B. Warner ("Amy Lothrop") Quotes

Source: Daffy-Down-Dilly

Changing the subject slightly(!) - aren't daffodils the brightest, cheeriest flowers ever? They're such a joy and it's wonderful to see swathes of them coming into colour alongside the park banks and front gardens on my way in to work this last week.

I don't mind telling you that we've had a really rough ride at work recently. Its just the usual office politics, bitching and back biting that sometimes prevail when a large group of women work together. We had a collective rollocking from the Dept Head on Friday which left us all really flat and fed up, particularly as a lot of what had been said was totally unfounded and it's becoming increasingly obvious that poison is being dripped into her ears. To escape the horrible atmosphere on Tuesday I took myself off for a walk up town and had a browse in the Charity Shops. Unfortunately there wasn't much doing really, but on the way back I spotted some very tightly closed daffies at four bunches for a mere 99p. I snaffled up 8 bunches and distributed them to all of the girls in our section when I got back and for the first time that day there were smiles all 'round. In the warmth of the office, they've opened up over the last couple of days (the daffies not the girls) and now there are eight pools of yellow cheeriness dotted around the department which everyone comments on as they pass by. It's probably the best £2.00 I've spent for a very long time. Random Acts of Kindness need not cost much (or anything at all) but you can certainly make a difference to people's days by such simple acts. I've seen some wonderful RAKs of late going on in blogland too. Long may it continue.

•How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it! ~George Elliston

In other ramblings ponderings of a consumer nature, I'm giving a big “UP” to Aldi this week. People used to be a bit sniffy about the likes of Aldi and Lidl but I guess that now they've proved their worth and staying power amongst the big boys, Joe Public is prepared to give them a chance. I know that if you shop at the likes of Asda, Tesco et al then their Super Value/Basics ranges come out much cheaper than some of Aldi's prices but I would like to sing said stores' praises a little here. Not only are their Super Six blooming good value for money at between 39p and 69p each week, I'm loving the fact that a good lot of their vegetable produce is sourced in the UK. (As, I'm pleased to say is their chicken, pork and beef)   Look see!! 

 This particularly pleases me to see Brit produce on the shelves.  I had a major rant in Asda a few months ago when I could literally find just ONE type of apple which had been sourced from England.  ONE!  We'd not long had our English harvest at that time and the apple barns must have been brimming with appley goodness!  I flatly refuse to buy French Braeburns/Granny Smiths/Pink Lady/WhatEVER from France when we have such a wonderful array of beautiful eating apples on our own soil.  So there. 


ANYway... back to the plot!!
This week it appears that they have pineapples, an eight pack of kiwi fruit, a six pack of oranges, a six pack of pears, 400g of plums, and a seven pack of funsized apples all for 69p each. This particular offer runs until 12th March so you have plenty of time to stock up. At that price just think of the amount of lovely fruit salads and smoothies you could whizz up. Splendiferous!

It's worth keeping an eye on their garden produce too. I've had some lovely shrubs from there over the last year or two at vastly knocked down prices which are now thriving in my garden. Just last week they had an offer on some lovely healthy young fruit trees for just £3.99 each – not a bad investment for a little apple or pear tree which will keep you in fruit for years to come I reckon, particularly when the prices of similar items at the Garden Centres are eye-poppingly huge. Aldi have Special Offer Days on most Thursdays and Sundays when they showcase an array of goods at a special price.  When the offers have finished - particularly on fresh produce (such as the garden plants etcetera) then it's worth keeping an eye on them for further knock downs!

I'm rambling now aren't I? I should be called Rose!!

Keep your feathers fluffed and I'll see you very soon.

All love

K xxxx

February - Signs of Spring?

"Why what's the matter that you have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?"

Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare

Hello there my lovelies,

I'm still croaking a little but feeling a tad more chipper than yesterday at least.  Hopefully the lurgy is on it's way out thank goodness.

Isn't the above quote fabulous?!   I used to think February was mean and bitter - neither here nor there twixt Winter and Spring and the quote sums it up beautifully.  Today is a case in point.  An icy cold blow, damp, grey and miserable.  However as we're approaching the latter part of the month, isn't it great to find that the evenings are gradually drawing out again as the wheel of the year gently turns. 

On the face of things, my garden is looking drab and dreary and so very different from the blaze of geraniums and lavender which graced my pots and baskets from mid-summer through to late autumn last year.  The cats have exploited the fact that I'm not out there every day scooting and scolding them out of my borders and I will leave the resulting damage to your imagination!  I'm incredulous that all three of them use my garden and - it seems - my lawn! as a proverbial 'dumping' ground when there is a ten acre field out back!!!   WHY?!!  The varmints!!   Despair was me as I was pottering around the garden this morning - the amount of work needed to pull it back to it's former glory weighing heavy on my heart (and turning my stomach a little it has to be said!)

Looking a little more closely however I was heartened to see some hints that Mother Nature is already in the process of donning her more glamourous garb and pushing Spring our way. 

A tiny primula with a single flower!

My beautiful Dicentra Spectrablis has survived another year it seems!  Although that picture makes it look like some weird anenomes under the sea!!  Mad!!

And..... hopefully....(dratted camera battery ran out before I snapped them) but I spotted the tips of the shoots of the deepest darkest black tulips planted last year which I had completely forgotten about!

Doesn't it make you feel a little better knowing that the earth is waking again? 

Now where's the poop scoop?!!

 OO!!! How could I have forgotten this very important happening!!  In other news - our girls have done us proud - they laid their very first egg today!  To say that I was chuffed was an understatement.  Here it is look:-

Is it sad to take a photograph of an egg I wonder?

Well..... probably even more sad to take a photograph of TWO eggs!!

Yup! After five weeks of cajoling and waiting they presented us with not one egg but two!! We found the second one (still warm I hasten to add!) when we returned from shopping this afternoon!  Double chuffed!!

Here they are - you can see how much they've picked up - they're all so glossy and healthy looking now - must be the mealworms and spinach they've been being spoilt with!! 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend, whatever you're up to.

K xxxxx

Hibernation (aka SLOTH!)

Ugh.

Is there anything worse than a common or garden cold to make you feel like absolute PANTS?!  I'm off work at the moment a) cos I feel like aforesaid Pants and b) I hardly think it's fair to subject my work colleagues to the sound of my nasal passages being cleared at very regular intervals, a cough-cum-bark of which  any self respecting seal would be proud and generalised moaning and groaning everytime I move.   Therefore I am camped on the settee for the day, wrapped in this:      

 

                 

drinking copious amounts of this:           (although that's no hardship cos I actually love it)             

 reading this:- 

          

and doing some of this:

(when I'm having a moment of strength and am not lying all pale and wan with a white lace hanky clasped to my brow.  I also think that it's very unpleasant of darling Mother Nature to also deliver my you know what when I'm feeling this way.  Thanks for that luv!   Double Whammy!!  Mind you, whilst I'm feeling like crap anyway I suppose it's as good a time as any to get it out of the way!! 

I usually hate lying around and wasting the day - but there are just some times aren't there where you have to admit defeat and give in to your body's need to heal itself.  Well that's my justification and I'm sticking to it!!

Bridget - pass those big pants would you!!

 See you (cough) soon!

xxx

Of Lustful Thoughts......

In an effort to provide myself with some blog-fodder, I had an idea today to be inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins.

According to Wikipedia, , the Seven Deadly Sins “is a classification of objectionable vices”. Well I don’t mind a bit of vice now and again - I’m very open minded, me! In keeping with good old Valentines Day just yesterday - I thought we’d do LUST first!

Lust. Mmmm…. I lust after sooooo many things it’s obscene. My Man, Howard Donald, Gary Barlow, Colin Firth, Handbags, the entire contents of the Cath Kidston catalogue, a tidy house (!)…. Although - if I had a pie chart representing the lustful portion of my brain, I estimate that 80% of that pie chart of lustfulness would be given over to s….. ss…(*grips laptop and grits teeth*)… ssshhh……………..

SHOOOOOOOOOOOES!!!!!

Mmmmm Shoes…. (insert Homer Simpson voice here and the rubbing of thighs in a Vic Reeves stylee!!)


Life is simply too short to have boring sex or sensible shoes. I can’t remember whether I’ve read that quote somewhere or I made it up. But it’s true!!

I Love em! The funkier the better!! The more straps and buckles the better. And my, MY are there some funky ones around just now!

Look at these babies:- I had to be prised away from licking the window  swooning pitifully outside of ‘Schuh’ in Merry Hill when I spotted these on display. I do embarrass myself sometimes.



Suitable attire for tea with the Mad Hatter and Alice, I feel



And these for tea with the Vicar!!

For other shoes of a beauteous nature step right this way

And these by Iron Fist!!! Dear Lord.    My rock chick roots may be grey now but they're still there!!

Actually no.  I'm wearing THESE for tea with the Vicar!  mwahahaha!!!

Ah how I’d love to own a pair of them!! I couldn’t bring myself to wear them mind….they might get dirty!! I’d be happy to put them on a shelf and stroke them occasionally!!

Unfortunately I’m really not built for heels of stilt walking proportions but it doesn’t stop me admiring them from afar…. And lusting quietly! And sometimes not so quietly. My Mr B raises a quizzical eyebrow in my direction if I’m making ‘When Harry Met Sally’ noises with the laptop perched on my knee and merely asks “pretty shoes darling?”. Hee hee…. He knows me so well!



It’s a bit of a hobby of mine to find the most wondrous of shoes for the smallest price tag - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.



Here are a few of my successes……..

 £1.50 from the Tenovus Cancer Charity shop. Viva La Diva. Tags still on when I purchased them. Ever so slightly stilt-like tendencies, but surprisingly comfortable thanks to the little platform sole and don’t make me walk like a vertiginous duck.

£8.00 from Matalan last year ….. Mental colour but oh so fab!! How could I have left them on the shelf?

£7.00 - again from Matalan just a couple of weeks ago and perfect for a girlie night out. I wasn’t looking - but somehow they found me…. 

I think I’ve found my ultimate pair of lusted after shoes now though. When I win the lottery I’m gonna get this pair, walk into my boss’s office, casually rest my feet up on his desk and let my shoes do the talking.....

HAH!!!!!  Check out this site .... Major Shoe Porn I must warn you!!!

What’s on YOUR Lust List?

Hello Again

Hey hey people!

Well once again that short interlude of non-posting was once again due to a technical hitch! However, normal (cough) service is resumed as some wonderfully clever person at a different computer repair shop to the one I previously used simply replaced my power cable (well - that of the laptop and not mine personally you understand) and now said laptop is behaving perfectly.

Enough with the boring tales of technophobia already!

I’m always looking for blogging inspiration. I follow some fantastic blogs whose number are growing at an alarming rate! I could spend hours reading blogs (and probably do - if I wasn’t so much in denial about how much time I spend online to admit to it!). There are some wonderfully inspirational, intriguing and hilarious people out there and I love having a little insight into their daily life. I’m more of a ‘lurker’ than someone who comments frequently, but I do visit my favourite ones each day. I’d rather read blogs than watch tv If I’m honest.

I’m really trying to get myself in to the habit of blogging more regularly. I always have good intentions but then sit looking at a blank screen for ages waiting for inspiration to strike. When that doesn’t happen I give up and go read some more!! I often think my days are far too boring for anyone to want to sit and read about! I’m normally asleep at my desk by ten past nine in the morning - I can’t believe anyone would want to hear about that!!

At the moment here at Peapods we’re decorating the bathroom. Well I say we…. In truth it’s more HE than We really - but I feel that I’m providing much needed assistance by providing coffee at regular intervals, making encouraging ‘Oooooh!!! It’s gonna look FAB’ noises, and, only this afternoon ….. Wait for it…. Pasted three whole lengths of wallpaper. THREE I tell you. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it! Said bathroom is being given a rather radical makeover. It’s being turned from aquamarine with an extremely dated and naff starfishy border - to stark black and white with some amazingly mad wallpaper on a feature wall! I shall share it with you once we’re a little closer to completion but at present I’m really pleased with the way it’s looking. It’s taken a little longer than anticipated as these jobs usually do. I was confident that we’d get it done in a weekend. PAH!! What do I know of such things! Man decided that the door would look great if we stripped it back to the bare wood - little did he know that there were layers of paint on that door which pre-dated the Viking Invasion so it took scary things like a heat gun, reams of sandpaper, much brute force and elbow grease and, when all else failed - a sound thrashing with a can of nitro-morse to get rid of it all. A brilliant job has been done though and again I’m really pleased with the result. Next we have to paint the wall tiles, lay new lino type tiles on the floor, take off the old naff yukky skirting board and put beautiful pristine posh new skirting board on, put up the new fixtures like the loo roll holder and towel rail … and buy another roll of flippin’ wallpaper cos the pattern ran out and left us up wotsit creek!! GAH!!

It will be worth it.  It will.   I’m sure of it!!!

In other news.... the chooks have settled in really well.  These pictures were taken during the week they moved in.  They looked a little shell shocked (groan).  They were in moult and a little distressed by their journey from Wales to the Black Country by car, so they're looking a little spiky around the edges.  Mucho good food and pampering though and they're in fine fettle now, plump, and shiny, friendly and burbling away as soon as they see/hear us approaching.  We know this is only cupboard love however - they're just looking for the grub bowl!! I'll take some decent pics of them soon so you can see how happy they look. 

It's been such a miserable day weather wise today and it's wet, dreary and yuksome outside now.  I've lit the candles to inject a little cosiness into the evening and don't intend on going anywhere.  It's the sofa and my crochet for me.  I love these candle holders.  I bough them from Asda just before Christmas.  The large ones were £4 each - but if you bought two it was just £5.00 for both!  The smaller ones were £3.00 each.  They cast a lovely warm glow!  Looks like Charlie-cat has decided that the best place to be is snuggled up indoors too!

Well I'm off to press the very last drops out of my rock and roll weekend(!)

See you soon!!!