1914 - 2014

They shall not grow old,

As we that are left grow old. 

Age shall not weary them,

Nor the years condemn. 

At the going down of the sun,

And in the morning,

We will remember them.

Sue xx

(Photographs courtesy of Google Images.)

Ginger and the Cat Lady

Did I ever tell you that I'm a cat lady ..... through and through.

Some of you may find that strange considering we have four dogs and only one cat.  But when Lovely Hubby and I met I had two cats, I was down to only two as one cat had just died, coincidentally she was also called Ginger, a rare and beautiful big ginger coloured girl cat who I loved to bits, and another one had recently left home.  Fed up with being picked on by her larger big brother Toby she took up residence with an elderly lady on the same street as us.  Who was I to argue, as the saying goes ... 'you should never argue with women or cats'!!

Ginger is the most placid and easy going, accepting of cats I have ever known, and I have had cats since I was one year old.  He will share a bed with any of the dogs .....

.... as this little run of pictures shows.

If he wants to get in a bed and there is already a dog in it he will just snuggle on down next to them, luckily they all like a snuggle as much as he does.

If we want to go away for a day or two he is happy to be left at home.  He has access to the outside through his cat flap, his favourite dried food dispenser is there for whenever he fancies a meal, and he drinks from the same big water bowl as the dogs, so we simply leave him a fresh supply.

He does get a little bit lonely if we stay away for more than one night, but we always provide extra cuddles when we get back and, as is his nature, he forgives us immediately.  If the dogs are in kennels we always  make sure he has lots of our time before we go and pick them up and fill his world with their madness again.

He's gorgeous when he looks at you with those beautiful ginger coloured eyes. 

And when we catch him in places he shouldn't really be ......

... he just melts your heart and you let him stay.

Given the choice between cats and dogs, I would choose cats every time ... but shhh, don't tell the dogs!!

Sue xx

Around the Hills and Back Again

I went to Llandudno yesterday, just me no dogs ... a rare occurrence.  

Time to myself to do a bit of shopping, buy a few things we had run out of and treat Lovely Hubby to a new book from Waterstones, I might have accidentally bought myself one too and had a large cup of coffee in their lovely little cafe.

While I was drinking my coffee I spotted a Jamie Oliver book nestled between one by Jack Monroe and one by Allegra McEvedy, I had to move him ..... well you would wouldn't you .... can't have the cheeky chappie coming between two of my favourite cooks.!!  I love that the cafe is right in the midst of the cook book section .... but it's costing me a fortune ;-)

I pootled around the shops for two whole hours before deciding that it was time to get home and let my little doggies out to relieve themselves, before they chose to do it on the door mat as is Charley's way when we've left her too long without a puppy pad (yes, I'd forgotten to put one down!!).

I got almost home before there were blue flashing lights and road closed signs all across the road, the traffic was moving quickly and we were all streamed up the Tal y Cafn road.  I had a feeling as soon as I drove over the bridge that I might be seeing this particular bridge again before too long.  I drove the eight miles along the back roads, visiting villages I have only ever been detoured past before and never actually visited and stopped in.

I reached Llanrwst and the famous tea rooms, driving over the bridge for once knowing I wouldn't meet anyone coming the other way at the top of the hill as the police were directing traffic.  I drove through the town centre, heaving with traffic all in the process of being diverted.  Leaving the town I headed towards home only to be stopped just outside the town centre.  I asked the nice man in the hi viz jacket exactly where the cause of the obstruction was and he informed me of an accident near the railway station ...... I could have come the other way then!!

He smiled ruefully and waved me off as I about turned and set off  to cross the bridge again and see once more the delights of  the back roads and the villages I had only just passed through, although this time in the opposite direction.  I got to see the construction site that I can hear from our house banging the days away with their pile drivers, I got to see the pub where we stopped for lunch the very first time we came to view our house, now sadly all closed up, and eventually I got to cross the bridge again, get to the end of the road and indicate that yes, I wanted to go right.  

The nice yellow jacketed man now there instead of the policemen, smiled when I wound the window down and explained that I lived before the scene of the accident and moved the cones to allow me through.  Next time however fast the flow of traffic if the 'Road Closed' signs appear in the same place I will jam on those brakes, hold up the traffic and ask exactly where the accident is.  As nice as the back road are they are not the place to be when they are full of diverted trucks and coaches all squeezing past on lanes designed for farm vehicles.

One good thing .... I had been tempted to go through the car wash while I was out, but decided at the last minute to save my money and leave it, looking at the state of my car now .... that was the best decision of the day.

(All pictures courtesy of Google Images.)

Sue xx

There were three in the bed and the little one said .....

Every morning before breakfast and after going out for their first wee wees of the day, these three little monkeys pile into one bed ....

... Rosy thinks this game is daft and has nothing to do with it.

They don't mind which bed it is, it seems whichever the first one to come back into the house chooses to get into, the others all follow and snuggle down.

This morning the bed next to their preferred one for the day was vacant, Rosy had jumped on the sofa and snuggled into the cushion there, but still they preferred to be squished in together.

It's lovely that they all get on so well and really funny to watch as they wriggle to get as comfy as possible in as little space as possible.  Of course the moment I stand up after my first coffee of the day and gather up their food dishes ALL the beds are vacant and four little pairs of expectant eyes watch my every move.

Sue xx

Cold Weather Stodge

Yesterday was freezing, and although I've been eating lots of salads recently and really enjoying them I was in the mood last night for some 'cold weather stodge'.

It worked out really well as I had a bag of spinach leaves that need using up, some out of date goats cheese, a bag of carrots in the fridge and to wrap it all up in ... a pack of ready made pastry that I got a couple of weeks back on a 'yellow stickered' reduction, so two weeks out of date.  So this was a brilliant use it up before I need to throw it all away meal .... as if I would thrown food away ;-)

Simple recipe for those of you who like recipes.

Spinach and Goats Cheese Pasties

Wilt your spinach in a pan.

Drain in a sieve and then squeeze all the excess moisture out.

While this cools grate the carrot and then mix into spinach.

Roll out your pastry to the shape and thickness you want.

Top with slices of goats cheese (or any cheese you have to hand).

Brush around half of the outside edge of pastry and fold over, crimp to seal.

Brush with beaten egg or milk.

Make a couple of slits to allow steam to escape.

Cook for around 30 minutes in a moderately hot oven.

(I started mine off on the floor of the Aga top oven to stop me getting a soggy bottom and then placed on the shelf in the mid position for the final 20 minutes.)

Ta Da ..... Goats Cheese and Spinach Pasties.

Served with a quickly cobbled together salad, I just couldn't go a whole meal without any salad now could I.  Mum phoned half way through me eating this and after half an hours chat it had gone cold on me  ....... and guess what, it was even more delicious cold!!  Thanks Mum :-)

And proof that I'm still here after a night of pyromania with the wood burner.

Thank you for all the warnings, but I am sensible and do check the wood stacked around the wood burner.  The wood at the back heats up more quickly than that at the front so that is always used first.  Everything is always checked carefully before we retire for the night and we do have regularly checked, fully functioning smoke detectors AND a Jack Russell who beats any smoke detector in letting us know immediately if there is a chance of any smoldering .... she would have made a perfect fire detection dog.  She doesn't even like the toast being in the toaster for more than enough time to lightly brown it, and comes and sits by our side as if to say 'your toast's done' before it even pops up!!

Does that set your mind at rest Mum ;-)

Sue xx

The Reality of Keeping Warm

Minimal living is virtually impossible when you need to gather all the wood you possibly can to keep yourself and your house warm.  

When I see the pictures of lovely country fireplaces with a teeny tiny log basket, a handful of kindling artistically arranged and no stack of newspaper lying to hand to start the fire off, I always get the impression it's a set up .... or at the very least the central heating is working it's magic in the background.  Not of course that there's any harm in that, but it's not the reality of getting your warmth from wood.

The reality of keeping warm with only wood, whether it be foraged wood or wood bought in, is usually something like we have here.  It's no pretty picture however carefully we stack it around the wood burner .... but it is the reality.

Our wood comes mainly from our own woodland, we have around 2.5 acres stretching out behind the house and the paddock right up to the top of the hill.  It will, once we have worked our way through it coppicing and managing it properly, be enough to keep us warm through out the Winters to come. 

This year while we are in the midst of building works and setting things up we are making good use of stacks of wooden window frames that the house's previous owner left behind.  They have dried out nicely over the year we have been here and Lovely Hubby set to last week while I was away, sawing them into lengths that will fit into our wood burner.

Setting the fire is something I try to do in the morning, knowing that it is ready to put a match to when the temperature drops to make lighting it necessary or when we get back from somewhere chilled and damp, makes me feel better.  My first port of call during the day is always an extra jumper topped with my fleecy body-warmer, and then in the evening the blinds go down and then the curtains are pulled across, giving us an additional couple of barriers after the double glazing to trap the warmth of the house.

It all adds up to cosying the place up for the long evenings we now have.

Ready for action tonight.

And to finish off this post here are the final shots after yesterdays post about sorting out the kitchen.  All neatly arranged and fitting in snugly.

Something was bugging me when I looked at the first picture, so the offending items have been removed.  (Go on .... play Spot the Difference.)

I'm a minimalist at heart .... although you wouldn't guess it would you!!

And did you spot a little tail in the first picture ... and then a bottom in the second one.  Suky refused point blank to move while I took the pictures, although she did get fed up with me asking her to, hence the dropped tail :-)

Sue xx

I'm Back .... What Have We Been Up To!!

I'm back.

What have you been up to you might ask, and where on earth have you been?  

It's not often that I miss posting for almost a week.  Of course when I have a holiday I warn you and set up some fun little things to post in my absence, but sometimes life catches up with me and what I thought was going to be a 'holiday' with Lovely Hubby off for over a week from his day job and at home with me full time, turns out instead of giving me more time to Blog giving me less, much much less.

First we had a visitor ... one of our favourite visitors, as Lovely Hubbys'  little sis Alison fits in so well with our lifestyle ..... and the dogs love her to bits.  So the break from work started well with doggy walks and a nice meal out.  Catching up on family news from way up in Scotland and watching far too much television over glasses of wine and tasty nibbles.  But then on the Monday she had to go back to her real life and we had to get started on our plans.

The first job was emptying the conservatory, soon to be called the 'Garden Room' .... someone suggested 'Mud Room' as a name, but to be honest the last thing I want to have in there or think about after all the muck and mess of the last few weeks (and ongoing for at least another couple of months) is MUD, so Garden Room it is.  Everything was taken off the walls, and most of it will not be going back as we want to get more towards being a bit more minimalist.

So the main difference to the house this week has been this.  First the jars of dried food were removed from the top of the radiator cover, where they are in the top picture.

The things on the shelves over the worktop were streamlined, put away into cupboards to make room for .....

... yep, you guessed it the dried food jars. 

I love the new look, I think it looks more foody and less things dotted on shelves.  Everything is more to hand and hopefully I will be even more inspired to use the things in the jars.

The larder cupboard from the conservatory was then emptied and moved into the kitchen ...

... meaning that  LH had to take apart and reduce in size the radiator cover to make the gap next to the fridge freezer big enough to fit it in.   This was not an easy job at all as it was all glued and stapled together.   This meant half a day of woodwork and quite struggle for my lovely man.  But now it all fits together snugly .... as if it was meant to be.  

The dogs of course lended a helping paw by milling about and being constantly under our feet, something they are perfecting to a fine art.

Then we brought the larder unit in, at first we tried it without it's legs, thinking it would be less overpowering in the kitchen if it were not as tall, but after putting all the things back and living with it for two days we decided it look 'wrong'.  So we emptied it again and put the feet back in place and put it back into it's new position.

The small shelf unit that was on the wall in the top picture was not put back up and the rest of the wall things were rejigged slightly until we were happy with them.  Now I just need to take a final picture to show the finished look,  We are at last satisfied with it and this is how it will stay.  

The rest of the week saw LH chopping and stacking wood for the wood burner and having a general tidy up of the outside of the house, burning rubbish etc. and looking after dogs and chickens in my absence, as while he was busy at home I took to the road for a two day road trip on Thursday.  First heading up the motorway to Cumbria to spend some time with my eldest son who is just setting up a new home on his own, and then heading back down via Manchester to have a girly 'ladies who lunch' day with Mum.  

Suitably refreshed from time away from the mud-bath that is home and the mad milling hounds, I quickly got stuck in with LH finishing off the kitchen when I got back, and then we took some time to ourselves over the weekend.  We walked the dogs along the prom at Llandudno (and walked and walked)  until they were so tired we were ensured a calm and quiet few hours crashed in front of the television while the rain poured down outside on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings.  Using the time to catch up on some of our recorded programmes and snoozing away, taking it in turns to make coffee and fetch biscuits.

A good way to calm down after what had been a hectic and full week.

Now we are back to normal and while the dogs snooze at my feet I can Blog for myself and have a catch up with all the Blogs I have missed reading.

Sometimes normal is just so nice :-)

Sue xx