Cakes, Decorations, Health

Gosh only another couple of days before Christmas!  I know this is a worn comment, but it really does seem to approach far too quickly.

My husband and I did our food shopping at 7.30 am this morning to avoid the crowds and rush, and I have to say it was great, hardly anyone in the store.  

Each Christmas I cook the Christmas dinner for us, usually the boys, my Mother in Law and her partner and then my Aunt and Uncle come round in the late afternoon/early evening for a light tea.  This year our older son and his fiancee can't join us as they are on their ship.  This year is the first year we will have woken up Christmas morning without one of the boys here.  Will seem rather strange.  Our younger son is coming for dinner this year which will be nice. 

A few 

A couple of Christmas cushions.

This lovely friend was made by an Australian blog friend of mine a few years ago now when I used to actively craft and take part in swaps.  It comes out every year and is very special.

Looking at the two trees one morning.

The teddies have their little Nativity Scene.

The Christmas sleigh came round the other evening so I took a couple of photos of it.

I love watching it go past as it plays Christmas songs and collect for Charity.

It was our Wedding Anniversary yesterday.  We had a lovely quiet day and enjoyed a lunch out at one of the local Cafes.  We then had a wander round the Vintage Shop nearby.  Popped over to a garden centre as we had some vouchers to spend and we bought our yearly Christmas decoration for the tree.  Each year we buy a decoration for the tree.  (I forgot to take a photo, so will have to show that tomorrow)

After Christmas I am going to try something else to try and combat the continual 24 hours a day pain I have.  I figure it is worth at try after having read lots of reviews and viewing several you tube videos from various people who have tried this approach with some amazing success.  I figure what have I got to lose (apart from the cost of the books) and hopefully will have something to gain.  I have to do something as the pain although not intense is constant - some days more intense than others of course. but it has spread and really is quite wearing!

Will obviously report back in due course.

Today I baked four cakes, two Lemon Drizzle cakes and two Fruit Cakes.  

These two cakes I took up to my lovely elderly friends for Christmas.  Elizabeth likes the Lemon Cake and Ray likes the Fruit Cake.

Tomorrow is tidying day!  

Sunday visitors and a slice of cake.

Imagine my delight this morning when I saw we had some more Goldfinch visitors to our bird feeder.

The news is obviously getting around and these birds are so lovely and colourfu.

It really was a delight to watch them.

I tried a new cake recipe the other day posted on a blogger friend's page.  It is very tasty - the only thing I should have done was use a bigger cake tin as I didn't have enough room for the topping, so had to transfer it to another tin and have it poured over more like icing.  But it still worked.

The recipe can be found here.

Last Sunday in August

I woke bright and early this morning - well actually I do most mornings - not necessarily feeling bright, usually stiff and sore, but hey 'bright and early' sounds better :-)

I was pleased to see that there weren't any puppy 'presents' awaiting me this morning.  Once the dogs had been out, had their breakfast, I took them for a nice walk.  I have walked nearly every day in August as I had planned and sometimes twice a day - more so lately, especially now Stanley can go out for walks.  So hopefully will eventually get fitter and lose a few of the extra pounds I have put on in the last year.

We had some very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl, and rather than throw them away I thought I would try a new recipe using them and made a Walnut and Banana Tea Loaf.  It is very tasty.

Wednesday is our day for taking my Mother in Law out for lunch  - a very enjoyable lunch was had sitting outside at one of our favourite Cafes.

I spent the afternoon in the garden, dead heading and pruning some of the roses, weeding and also planting a rose that I bought a couple of weeks ago.  The guinea pigs were also cleaned out, something they were happy about!

I picked some of the lavender and have hung it up to dry.

The bees really enjoy the lavender.

This pretty rose is one of my small 'patio' roses - I think it is called 'Carefree Days' and was bought many years ago - it is quite petite.  Very pretty rose that has just started flowering the last few days.

The Marigolds are still looking good

As are the Petunias.

I am on a quest to try and find a recipe for Madeira Cake like my mother used to make...I remember her cake so well and I know my sister and I used to really love it.  But so far I haven't been able to replicate it, although both recipes I have tried so far have turned out well and tasted nice, they haven't met the mark or had the taste or consistency of my Mum's cake.  Of course, it may have been her own recipe, and sadly I don't think she will remember now.  It may have been the difference in flour, as I have noticed that on a whole cakes and baking are definitely different here to how they are in New Zealand - my tried and tested recipes are never the same here as they are there, and vice versa...strange.  

This cake above was nice, although perhaps a little dry after the first day.  It still got enjoyed though.

Well August has almost reached a close...I can't believe how quickly it has flown by.  September tomorrow and the Sailor and his Fiancee are back home in just under two weeks!  I guess I better get his room ready again - I have been using it in my quest to sort and clear the rest of the house!  Yikes!

Time for a spa and then to watch the last of BBC iplayer - we are banning all BBC from our computers tomorrow - with the introduction of them wanting to charge a TV licence for Iplayer now, (we don't have a television)  we will no longer be able to watch it and to be honest we are quite sick and tired of their completely biased and one-sided reporting so have decided to block it altogether - we can get news from more reliable sources, especially if we want to know what is REALLY going on...but that is another subject!

A Wet Saturday Activities.

It has been pretty wet and gloomy here today with lots of intermittent but heavy downpours of rain.  Fortunately when I got up this morning at 6.30 it seemed to be a lovely day so I went for my walk with Percy bright and early.  I got home just after about an hour and the weather was already starting to turn with the odd spit of rain.

So what to do do but have a baking and sewing kind of day.

A jar of biscuits.

A slice of Madeira cake for afternoon tea.

A little bit of colour - one of my Celosia plants, (photo taken the other day).

I have been making little dresses to go with the little wooden dolls I have been carving.

I also had this 'almost vintage' Rag Doll Cloth Kit' in my stash of fabric dating from 1981 'Reproduced to mark the Centenary of the Church of England Children's Society - 1981'

She is a reproduction of a Pauline Gilbert Rag Knock-About Doll 'Mignonne' produced by the Deans Rag Book Co., Ltd.

The printed fabric sheet makes one doll and contains instructions printed in five different languages, English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. 

Here she is finished - now need to find a home for her.

A Lovely Sunday

Saturday & Sunday dinner...a lovely cheese, onion and pumpkin flan

Fresh bread rolls for lunch.

'Ingrid Bergman'

More luscious roses.

It has been a very enjoyable and relaxing Sunday.

Percy and Stanley have been bonding very well and have enjoyed playing together.

My MIL came round for an ice cream in the afternoon and we sat on the patio and watched the birds and dogs in the garden.

A little Blue Tit drinking in the hot weather.

A Lovely Sunday

Saturday & Sunday dinner...a lovely cheese, onion and pumpkin flan

Fresh bread rolls for lunch.

'Ingrid Bergman'

More luscious roses.

It has been a very enjoyable and relaxing Sunday.

Percy and Stanley have been bonding very well and have enjoyed playing together.

My MIL came round for an ice cream in the afternoon and we sat on the patio and watched the birds and dogs in the garden.

A little Blue Tit drinking in the hot weather.

A Birthday Tea

I was up early this morning baking.  I had prepared the ingredients for another Fruit Bran Loaf (of which I have been enjoying a slice for breakfast each morning since I made the two loaf earlier in the week) and also a Fruit Tea Loaf.  I also made some cupcakes.

My friend was coming round for lunch and I was preparing a surprise birthday 'tea' lunch.

Fruit Tea Loaf.

6 oz currants
5 oz raisins
5 oz sultanas
1 teacup brown sugar
1 teacup cold tea
2 teacups self raising flour
1 beaten egg.

Make the tea and allow to go cold.
Mix fruit, sugar and tea and leave overnight.
Add flour and eggs and mix thoroughly
Bake at 180 C/360 F/ Gas Mark 4 for 1 1/2 hours

I made some little cucumber and cheese sandwiches and some egg sandwiches.

We had a lovely time eating and drinking tea!