Another Mary Berry cake, and busy days

Yesterday was UJ's birthday so when he came over for lunch club today, I made him a fruit cake to take home with him. I looked in Mary Berry's Baking Bible and found her "Quick Boiled Fruit Cake" - there's a link to it here but this person has added bicarbonate of soda and brandy, which aren't in the recipe in the book. It turned out well, and UJ and the FH thought that it would make a good Christmas cake. They had a taste with a cup of tea this afternoon and then I wrapped it up and he took it home to enjoy this week. The FH hopes I will make another one soon!

This week I have been investigating the A level options for the EFG. There are a limited number of places she can go that are accessible from here, and so I have been looking to find out when all the Open Evenings are in order to be able to take her along to get a flavour of each venue and the courses available. We have about 6 to go to already! Most are in November.

Yesterday evening she and I attended an Art GCSE evening at school to find out how she needs to progress her art - she is in line for a good grade, but the teachers invited all of the children along last night to look at work from last year to inspire and encourage them. It was a very useful and informative evening.

Today I have entered some of my chickens in to a sale of chooks at the Autumn Show at the East of England showground. We sold some there last year, and so we are hoping for a good day this time. We enjoy the show, and UJ is interested in coming along with us this time.

My cousin turned up quite out of the blue this evening, in quite a distraught state. She had had to call in at a local bridalwear shop to cancel a fitting for a wedding dress as the wedding has been cancelled. It is a long story and not one to share, but needless to say it has come as a shock to her and of course, to us to a lesser degree - still a shock but much less impact on our lives, if you see what I mean.

Quite a few things to reflect upon this evening, and I have to take the service at chapel on Sunday, so I am thinking about that tomorrow too. Blogging has had to come second to real life at the moment, and I am sure that you will all understand!