Great hilarity!

 We have  had a lovely family Christmas, but I am still laid up fighting the remains of this cold and have absolutely no energy or appetite.  Weightwise I have lost 6 lbs and am heading towards 10 1/2 stone now.  Of course it hasn't disappeared where I would like it to disappear from yet but I've gone down a back size on my bra. Gabby was a hero and cooked all the food.  We had a leg of Salt Marsh Lamb on Christmas Day, lovely roasties and all the trimmings and Chocolate Roulade which we were too stuffed to eat until Boxing Day, then yesterday she did an amazing beef stew with so much flavour.  I have 3 portions stowed away in the freezer now too.  Plus Potato Dauphinoise.  Today is a good cheese board and cold meats.

I had some lovely gifts.  Plenty to keep me busy during the low-light days of January and February.  The little cat below looks SO like Pippi.

    

I asked for this lino printing kit as it's something I have long wanted to try my hand at.

A fabulous church book (thank you Danette).  Lovely scraperboard illustrations too.

More sewing and crafting ideas . . .

So, all in all a lovely family Christmas though all the good food and great wine was wasted on me as I couldn't do it justice.  A small meal, a mouthful of wine, a few nibbles, and the only thing I really enjoyed was a forgotten Tunnock's Teacake from the cupboard (recently bought).  That sugar hit helped me.

The "great hilarity" came yesterday evening when Rosie finally unwrapped The Dinky Donkey book I bought in NZ, and Gabby read it and we laughed until we cried.  It is the follow up to The Wonky Donkey.  Here - just to make you giggle too - is a link to Scottish Granny reading it to her unappreciative grandchild (too young!)  I hope that gives the video link - if not go to You Tube and type in Scottish Granny and Wonky Donkey . . .

Needing a plumber on Christmas Day . . .

 If you live in a city or in the middle of nowhere, you would think, not a snowball's chance in hell.  I came down to a wet utility carpet this morning, and thought, oh it's Gabby's cool packs have melted and there's a leak in the bag.  She then went out an hour or so ago and no, carpet definitely SOGGY and we found water dripping steadily from the connector to the UV system.  I put a bucket underneath it and sent a quick message to my plumber, asking him if he could pop out and fix it when he was working again.

Imagine my surprise (and delight) when he said he was waiting around and could come and sort it for me and he was there within 20 minutes and did just that.  Gabby has been saying, don't get him out he will charge £100 to come out on Christmas Day, but I have faith in him and am just SO grateful he was able to help straight away.  It was leaking quite a bit faster just in that short time.  A washer had perished.

Thank you all for your wonderful Christmas greetings.  I have had some fresh air, turned the heating off and had caffeine, so am slightly more with it today.  Gabby helped me make the roulade, although we did have a boughten Tart au Citron to fall back on if we both fell by the wayside.

Tam, Rosie and Jon on their way.  Hope you are having/have had a wonderful day, depending on which part of the world you are.  Shirley - too hot for me.  Hope you had ice cream to go with the 24/7 air conditioning . . .

A bit of a non-Christmas for me

 I just don't have the energy to do anything.  I have just vacuumed the kitchen (and believe me it HAD to be done as it was starting to look like a health hazard) and wrapped 3 gifts, and that is me, exhausted.  I need to go to the compost bin, so will have to rest up a bit before I meet that challenge.  I have been resting and resting for 3 weeks now, but this virus has just wiped me out.  I have to meet the challenge of making the roulade later.  I have just fossicked around in the freezer and found the bag of wild raspberries I picked last summer, when we had a bumper harvest of wild and tame ones.  They will be cooked up to make the ju for the roulade.  Not wasting the good tame ones to be smashed up!  

I had great pleasure watching the Puissance from - well it used to be called Olympia - but it's the London Horse Show now.  The best horse/rider won it - Rachel Proudly and Easy Boy De Laubrey Z - what sensible heads on both shoulders - but the crowd, me included, absolutely LOVED the thrill of the hot-headed chestnut Shanalough Luichew, ridden by Irish horseman Andrew Hodgkins, who had a very individual riding style - sat at the back of his saddle and with such long reins.  Clearly he knew his horse well, but could only present it at a fence at the last moment or else it would have gone absolutely flat out!  He finally got 4 faults at the wall at 7 foot, after the horse had launched itself on a wrong stride.

Another rider, Nathan Bull and Castaltonia, made the wall rock (but no bricks off it) and then the horse pecked badly on landing and he sailed off over its head, but landed beyond the finish line (a bit of luck).  The horse trod on him in passing and the Dr said he couldn't jump again, which was probably just as well.  So truly, thrills and spills, and I had a lovely evening watching that.

Gabby arrives today, so finally I will have some company.  Being laid up alone for weeks isn't much fun (though I did have Tam and Rosie here on the middle weekend, long enough to pass this on to Tam).  

The Christmas Tree

 

I've just had a lovely chat with my friend L. Lin, and she reminded me I hadn't put up a photo of the Christmas tree yet, so yer 'tis. A nice one, not too much skirt to it and dressed with so many happy memories.

It's one I bought locally, and is just the right size.  I suspect wee Rosie may redecorate it for me.  We will see!

I've been watching Olympia horse show on iPlayer, and had a lovely evening.  I gave up half way on a Netflix film The Great Flood.

What's on tv?

 I was convinced that Christmas Day was Wednesday.  That's what comes of being nailed to the sofa every day.  Very disappointing to realize I still have another day before Gabby arrives.

I have been watching You Tube videos, including Living Big in a Tiny House.  My favourite is from 5 years ago, when they visit Glen, who did an Amazing Lord of the Rings Inspired Van conversion.  That is his door, above, made using just plywood, which he planes to reveal the layers.  Below: 

Plywood carved into amazing cupboard doors, with coloured perspex backing.

Tiny house living wouldn't be for me, but it's interesting to see what other people create for themselves.

I thought I was mending, but suddenly yesterday evening, when I cosied in to watch a good film (Glass Onion with Daniel Craig), I fell asleep sitting up in the chair.  I had already had 3 naps that day, and then spent nearly all the evening asleep, missing most of the film.  Then I fell into bed and slept all night (bar the usual loo wakes).  It was 7.30 before I got up, and I am having a quiet morning.  Everyone I've spoken to says that they have had this bug and it lasts 3-4 weeks.  It has different add-ons (glad I didn't get the ear infection one).  It's been doing the rounds since October.

Right, time to hang up the washing and then have some soup for lunch.

A corner has been turned

 Yesterday I woke too early - 4.30 again.  Couldn't get back to sleep so just after 5 I got up and came downstairs.  I had planned to drive to Carmarthen area to get the Christmas meat and to see friends.  I now had time to play catch up a bit and having bought a bag of lemons with my Christmas shopping decided to make a Lemon Drizzle cake for P&D  and family, as I know they love it and P doesn't bake.  I opened the page of my special recipes book (all handwritten out, and it's hand-made heavyweight paper) to Tangy Lemon Cake and saw I had put double the quantities to one side.  Why not make two, one for friend N too?  So I did.  All before breakfast.  The hardest part was grating 4 lemons to go in the mix.  Then those lemons are ground on the glass lemon squeezer (that was my mum's) and the juice mixed with sugar to spoon over the cakes the moment they come out of the oven and you prod them all over with a skewer.

I was away by about 9.30.  Sitting down and driving is fine, I can do that.  Not up to much physical exercise just yet though.  I needed fuel, but wasn't paying the £148.9 a litre that Tesco wanted (will be the same down the town too).  In Llandovery I got diesel for £138.9.  A considerable improvement.  Then on to Llandeilo, to our old butchers at Ffairfach.  He sells Salt Marsh Lamb and I wanted a piece for Christmas and got a lovely leg.  Then a kilo of braising steak for the pie, and I got 500g of mince for meals for me.  

A whistle-stop drop off P&D's with Quality Street, cake, jam/marmalade and a book for P.  Finally back through the little lanes to N's, praying I wouldn't meet the mad neighbour who drives like it's Le Mans, when I got to the very very single track rock-cut steep bendy hill . . .  I survived, and had a cuppa and a very welcome chat and catch up on gossip with N.  

On the way home I stopped at the nursery for the last two gifts I needed to get for P and C and will drop those off this morning with a card.  

I just made a simple mince with onions and mixed veg for tea, and some of the lovely Organic Cauliflower which Tam had bought across for me.  I had decided to add a splash of Worcester Sauce to it but picked up the Tesco's own bottle by mistake.  Since having this bug, and despite emptying sinuses, I seem to have an area of super sniffing and a note of something will really be strong and pungent.  Yesterday it was a note of Anchovy in the sauce and I did wonder if I was going to be able to face eating it as my stomach had lurched at the smell.  By the time I'd added gravy browning, it had subsided, thank heavens.  I only had a tiny bowl - literally half a dozen dessertspoonfuls - and I felt really bloated afterwards (I have lost just under half a stone with this bug), but it will help to build me up.  More tonight.

The photo at the top is the River Cothi, which had clearly been up across the lane as ever, only a lot more frequently since we lived there.  It's much drier here.  

Oh, and to make you all giggle.  Tam left J in charge of Rosie on Friday, as ever, whilst she was in work.  They had bought a small sprig of Mistletoe and put it high, but J, being tall, must have knocked it and it fell within Rosie's reach.  They hadn't counted the berries on it but two didn't seem many and he was worried Rosie may have eaten some.  Off they all went to A&E, where Rosie was pronounced fit and apparently it's not the berries which carry the toxin, it is the stem and leaves.  At worst, she would have had an upset tummy.  Anyway, Rosie had been having a fine old time climbing all over the hospital bed and when it came to going home, actually wanted to stay and keep on playing.  They scooped her up and walked out through A&E with Rosie yelling "Help!!!" as if they were abducting her!!!  They didn't even know she KNEW the word "help" . . . where did that come from? 

Hoping I've turned a corner

 I took the decision to drive to the shops today (for grub) - if I felt rough by town, I would get bare essentials from Co-op.  If I felt OK, I would go on to Llandod.  I felt OK.

In Christchurch.

I managed to find a parking space I could drive straight into in the town (thank heavens as brain wasn't quite up to doing parallel parking yet).  I posted a card, and walked slowly back to the art shop.  I was looking for a gift for little "I" but the books there didn't quite hit the mark.  Art stuff - that was what I needed, as part of a Christmas gift.  I couldn't believe it - no art stuff at all - instead LOTS of birthday cards etc and a nice little gift corner.  So I am afraid Mr Amazon had to have my business this late in the day.

I got a trolley for my meander around Tesco's.  Oh my goodness, that challenged me.  I was ok with it empty but as it filled up (cat food is always heavy), so are bags of spuds, and I began to struggle.  I got the essentials (about half the Christmas list) and stopped whilst I still had legs under me!  I unpacked in bits and bobs (some still in car and I won't be able to haul the cat litter in I don't think).  Then I had a double Time Team nap.  

My tea was cooked by the chippy, but at least I've had something hot and it's not just a handful of Ritz or half an apple . . .