What a bargain!

Started the week with what I think was one of my best ever bargains. Whilst doing a bit of food shopping, I spotted a 'reduced' Christmas hamper, at a price I could hardly believe. But there it was, written clearly on three stickers .......'Reduced to £8.50'. The wicker hamper alone was worth the asking price, and after a quick inspection of those contents that we could actually see inside, Mike struggled to the checkout with it, wondering if anyone would query the price. No ....not a problem. Back home we were delighted to find that it contained two bottles of wine and one of Champagne, along with all the other luxury food items (all with OK 'use by' dates) Naturally, I had to do some research via the internet. It appears that the original price had been in the region of £150! Well............if someone's made a big mistake, sorry, because we've already made a start on the contents and they're delicious! The empty hamper is just the thing for storing magazines in, in the conservatory.

We spent that afternoon strolling around Lichfield in the sunshine, pretending we were tourists. Mike met up with an 'old' work mate and spent some time catching up on all the news. That evening our friends D & D came round for a meal, to make up for all the events we'd had to cancel over the holiday period, due to illness. It was a lovely, relaxed evening and they too were very impressed with the 'bargain'.

Tuesday was Mike's regular appointment at the QE, where we met up again with one of the kidney cancer patients who started on the Sutent trial along with Mike, five years ago. It's good to share experiences and to note, that despite the side-effects, both the men look so well, and are leading active lives. We have a lot to be thankful for.

I took the opportunity of a bright and sunny day to spend some time on Wednesday down on the plot, planting out some more onion sets (better late than never). Last year the container grown carrots were a success, so I'll repeat the process again this year. However, as I intend replacing the mixture of sand and compost to make sure there are no over-wintering pests, I tipped the contents of the two containers onto my salad bed, and the strawberry bed, rather than waste them. Mike spent some time on Wednesday tracking our son A's flight back to Heathrow from Hong Kong. He'd spent a couple of days holiday there on his way back from Taiwan, where he'd been working for over a week. He arrived back at our home around 6pm where he was ready to tuck into a good, traditional English meal of toad-in-the-hole. I think he enjoyed it much more that one particularly gruesome tit-bit he'd sampled whilst away. From what he told us, it was very much akin to something we'd seen on 'An Idiot Abroad' (China). His next working trip is to Nigeria. Now that should be interesting!

It's ages since I've been out with the Walking Club. I decided to give Wednesday a miss, even though I'm more or less over the 'flu now, because my friend Molly and I were to do a pre-walk the following day(we'll be leading the walkers next Wednesday), and I didn't want to overdo things. I couldn't believe our luck, when I woke up on such a superb morning. There had been a heavy frost, but the sky was blue and the sun shining, as we set off to Hartshill Hayes Country Park, the start of our walk. I suppose it's too much to hope for the same weather conditions next week, when we lead the rest of the long walkers on the same walk, but it would be great. On our way back through Hartshill we looked around the very interesting boat yard, built to maintain the boats carrying stone from the Hartshill quarries. This part of the canal was built around 1733 for transporting the Hartshill stone, coal from Bedworth, lime, sand, sugar, timber and manure. Staring into the gloom of the blacksmiths shop we could make out all the tools and implements still in situ. The yard isn't open to the public, as far as I know, but there was no one about, and we couldn't resist having a look around. Molly, who had planned the walk and tested it out around Christmas, was keen to show me a plaque on the wall of a fairly modern block of flats in Hartshill, dedicated to the 'famous' poet, Michael Drayton, who I must admit, I'd never heard of. He was born 1563 in a cottage which once stood on the green across the road, and now demolished. Apparently, Michael Drayton was a friend of William Shakespeare, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. If anyone doesn't enjoy our walk next week, I'll make them stand below the plaque while I read them one of Drayton's very, very long poems!

De fences are up!

I realised, the other day, when viewing the allotments from our bedroom window, that something looked different. Then it dawned on me that new fencing had been erected at the top end of the plots.

This morning was rather dull and damp but really quite mild, and just the opportunity to make a visit to my plot, and inspect the new defences which should keep any intruders at bay. Mike drove me over and waited for me to dig up some pretty large and healthy looking parsnips, a few turnips and some rather pathetic leeks, and took the bagful off home with him, leaving me behind to potter about for half an hour or so. There are fat buds on the blackcurrant, green shoots on the two clematis, the cabbages under their fleece tunnel look OK, the garlic shoots showing at last, and the onions look OK. But, alas, no sign of anything under the second fleece tunnel, where I set the broad bean seeds.

A few days ago I checked through my seed collection, and it's time I began to think about sowing a few things. The first thing I'll do is sow some more broad beans, followed by sweetpeas (which I should have done before Christmas), but I can see that the greenhouse has, once again, become a bit of a dumping ground and will need some attention. If the weather stays as mild as today, I'll be in there tomorrow, with my mug of coffee and my music, clearing it out, and making room for the seed trays.

It's almost 6pm and I've just realised that, for the first time for ages, we haven't needed to have the central heating on, nor have we even lit the fire. After finishing off all the Christmas and New Year type food I've been craving salad, and I'm looking forward to our evening meal of cold chicken and lots of crunchy green stuff. Roll on the days when I can pick our own, down on the plot. In the meantime we are still enjoying all the fruit and veg we harvested from the allotment over the past year.

First gardening session of the year

Just come back in (4pm) after my first gardening of the year. Cleared away lots of stems, leaves and general mess, and uncovered the snowdrop shoots, the hellebore buds, and species tulip leaves. Planted out some alliums and small iris bulbs that should have gone in before Christmas. There was cat pooh everywhere, including the middles of the clumps of ornamental grasses. It's now all over my wellies and gloves. Ugh! Still, can't complain too much as we've had the pleasure of two cats ourselves over the past years, and I do miss them. Sorry to lower the tone after such a lovely day. Just looked out of the window, and there are signs of life on the allotments. I'll be there myself asap!

Escape to the country

I'm pleased to say that I am now 95% better - still coughing a bit and running on low power, but at last life is almost back to normal. Christmas came and went, without much participation on my part, and this has probably been the case for many others who were struck down by the'flu and other nasty things over the holiday period. I'm now in fidgety mode, particularly when standing looking out at the garden, or even more so when viewing the allotments from the bedroom window, and trying to spot any of my fellow plotters at work. So it looks as if it won't be long before I'm joining them.

After some pretty grim days, particularly Friday, when a thick blanket of pale grey mist hid everything from sight, we woke yesterday to another wet and miserable morning. But how it improved, and before lunch we had prepared sandwiches, Christmas cake (thankfully back to my usual standard, as opposed to last year's - I returned to Delia's recipe), and a flask of coffee, and set off to Fradley Junction, under a bright blue sky. As we sat in the car, enjoying our lunch, the car park began to fill up, and other escapees poured ('tumbled' in the case of children and dogs) out and set off along the tow path. Boat folk had turned up to check things out. Engines were running, and smoke rising from one or two narrow boat chimneys. Gangs of noisy ducks collected on the canal banks.

There was still a thick covering of ice on the lake, in the nature reserve and as a result, no birds on the water, but at the water's edge there were some good reflections. I've tampered with the second photo - I reversed it, and I'm quite pleased with the result. What looks like the gables of a building are actually the edges of the boardwalk, and the trees are reflections in the water.

It's another fine day, with a clear blue sky, and I'm seriously thinking of pottering about outside. I'm rather loath to go into the greenhouse as, despite covering everything with fleece, I can see it hasn't been a total success, and there are brown, shrivelled and probably dead plants in there, when I was hoping to see a few survivors. One of my first jobs will be to cut off most of the foliage from the hellebores in order to expose the emerging flowers, just as Carol Klein did, in the programme about her Devon cottage garden. I tend to leave this until now, so that the foliage protects the buds, and there certainly is a lot of leafy growth from last year. Also, without removing the leaves, the snowdrops would be well hidden from view.

Had an email from our youngest son who is in Taipai at the moment, where it's 18 degrees and drizzling. From Tuesday he'll be moving on to other cities in Taiwan, then spending two days in Hong Kong before returning home.

It seems ages since I was out with the walking club, but I've got to get into my stride again. At the end of the month I'm leading a walk with my friend Molly. What a star she is. Whilst I was on my sick bed she went out and pre-walked it. It will be her birthday tomorrow so, if you are reading this Molly - A Very Happy Birthday!

2011 and all that!

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE.

I can hardly believe that it is a year ago that I first began to Blog and unlike my poor attempts at keeping a standard type diary, I have managed, so far, to keep it going for a full twelve months. Hopefully, I can achieve a further twelve months of recording the events, people and thoughts that make an impression on my life, and in the process, maybe entertain my few followers.

Well, Christmas and New Year celebrations went ahead without me participating in very much at all as, like many others from the sound of it (i.e. the sound of sneezing, coughing and moaning), I was incarcarated indoors with the 'flu, despite having had the jab. So all the usual events were 'off'' and I felt too ill to even care at the time. No carol singing at Lichfield Cathedral, no get-togethers with friends, and for the first time in over 30 years, no walk to Shenstone on Boxing Day to watch the Mummers Play and Morris Dancing. Mike went on his own and left me at home in the warm. I did feel a bit sad when I waved him off, but soon got over it, as I curled up on the sofa. It looked very dull and grey outside. Mike and our two grandchildren attended the candlelit carol service at church. I was tempted, but I couldn't have sung without coughing.

Fortunately for everyone concerned, I wasn't entertaining a house full of guests for Christmas dinner this year. After Mike had returned from church, son A drove us to R & S's where, after present opening, we sat down to a wonderful spread. Well done to Sarah who was just about OK after being ill herself. Then it was time for dancing to the Wii, with even Grandma and Granddad trying their best to follow the routines, with great hilarity all round. About 7pm our little grandson asked "Can they all go home now? I want a bath." One of his presents was a rescue boat and he was eager to play with it.

The day after Boxing Day my sister and husband drove down from County Durham, to stay the night with us, before setting off back up to Hathersage in Derbyshire the following morning. This year we had to give the traditional carol singing at The Little John a miss. Still I was, by this time, beginning to feel a bit better.group

Our friends D & D were feeling too ill themselves to join us for New Year's Eve, so we celebrated on our own as we often do, with good food and wine, followed by champagne at midnight. All in the comfort of our own home. There were texts to and from the family - R, S, A & W at a party, and A & E in Ambleside with friends. I was definitely feeling much better as we both managed to stay up well after midnight. Last year's firework display from 'the folks on the hill' was not up to scratch. This year we didn't even have one! Times must be hard on Sherifoot Lane. We stood in the window clutching our glasses, watching a of young people at the end of our neighbour's drive setting off Chinese lanterns, their faces illuminated by the flames, looking up into the sky as the lanterns lifted off, up and over the houses. High above the fields, more lanterns drifted towards and over our house.

Today it's our turn - R & S and our grandchildren are coming round for a New Year's Day meal. Things are getting back to normal. I'm even wondering how the allotment is fairing. It's a dull, grey, misty, and raw day. Just as well, otherwise I could be tempted to make a visit to the plot. Besides, I need to take my first 2011 photos.

Talking of photos, I had a lovely surprise yesterday. A few days earlier I'd taken the opportunity of a free photo calendar offer in the Telegraph. As instructed, I downloaded the free 'creator' from Albelli and spent ages deciding on the photos I wanted for each month. I'm so pleased with the result, and all for the price of the postage. It looks so professional, and I'm chuffed to bits, so I'll definitely be trying out something else from their website.