Sunny but soggy

Today has been a fine day, until about 7pm, so I can't complain, but the ground underfoot is seriously soggy. My chickens have very muddy feet, however much straw I put down in their yards, and I squelch from one yard to another to clean their water pots out and put their food in.

Tonight the FH and the YFG have taken three ladies from chapel to a brass band concert in a nearby town - it is free, but I suspect that they will be buying tea and biccies at half time. The ladies were all pleased to be asked to go yesterday when I saw them - it was rather short notice as I didn't see the advert until yesterday. I hope that they are having a good evening. There is a solo trombonist from the Royal Opera House and a trombone quartet from Trinity Music College, so I hoped that it would inspire the FH who is trying to master the trombone himself!!

Yesterday's trip to Cambridge was frustrating, as I explained in a comment yesterday to Susan - there were just three minutes spent with the dentist, to approve the YFG's suitability for treatment. We have to return on 5/11 for "records" to be taken, and then go back again on 20/12 to have the braces fitted. I so wish that they could have allowed time to take the records yesterday once he had checked her over.

The EFG and I have moved some chickens around tonight: the Light Sussex and GPO hens are sharing a nunnery to give them a break from their husbands for a month or two - until January - and I have freed up some space for the chicks hatched this year to have a couple of pens in the shed. The chicks are all growing well now and I am pleased with them. The empty pens can be cleaned out tomorrow and then the chicks can be moved tomorrow evening - it's always best to move chickens at night so that a) they can't see so they are more easily handled and b) they recognise the new house as their home and return to it at night.

Fangs at the ready

The YFG and I are off to Cambridge this morning. It will take us just over an hour to get there for the orthodontist appointment at 10.30am so the YFG has had a little lie-in and is just getting up now. She won't be going to school until after the appointment. The YFG has a "fang" - one of her teeth hasn't got room to come down properly and has emerged above the other teeth in her gum, at the side of her mouth. Our dentist says that her mouth isn't big enough!! Enough noise comes out of it.......

Today is also Jeans for Genes day so that is a £2 charge for me to pay so that the girls can wear jeans to school.

Juggle like mad or run and hide?

I knew last night was going to be interesting at the Governors' meeting at the school, but I was elected Chair of Governors. And that was being chucked in at the deep end, up the creek without the paddle and all the other sayings that mean in over my head!

The existing Chair decided he needed a break from it after about 4 years of doing the job, but there is really only me to do the job in his stead - we are short of Governors by three; of those that are there, five are excluded from the job by virtue of being employed at the school; one is going to live abroad any day; three more are brand new and were attending their first meeting, and the other one was just attending for the second time. I did manage to get the outgoing Chair to be the Vice-Chair, so that I can call upon him for help and support, but I will be spending sometime over the weekend doing an online "Taking the Chair" course on the local government portal, and reading, reading, reading all the papers I have now acquired.

I'm also helping a lovely lady on the estate with a community blog, running an afterschool gym club once a week, helping to run the big gym club, doing stuff at church, and slowly giving up on housework. The poor chickens have been shortchanged this week as I usually go up there and sit and natter at them now and again whilst I am looking them over, but there hasn't been the time this week for too long sat looking, and the rain has been atrocious too. More forecast for tomorrow!

I am SO looking forward to our holiday at the end of the month. No computers, emails, phone calls, housework beyond the bare minimum to keep the place tidy, little washing, no ironing, no school uniforms to wash, no chickens to feed and clean out for a week - gosh, what will I do!?!
We are looking forward to walking, sightseeing, and long, cosy evenings watching DVDs and reading!! And two eight-hour train rides will be bliss! We are going here whilst my uncle is in residence here to look after everything for us.

Happy Birthday, Adam

There was a boy back in primary school that I sat next to for a year when we were about 8, I think, although we had been in classes together since we were four. Adam's birthday is two days after mine, so it is today. I have no idea what he has done with his life or where he is now, although I did see his mother once a few years ago - but I always remember his birthday!!

Disappointed

I was very disappointed to read in the Daily Mail that the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England is encouraging the country to Spend and Not Save. Someone with an interest in economics may argue his point, but he hasn't convinced me, and I will continue to try to stash some cash away each month - and I won't be going out spending for his benefit!!

38 and counting.........

It was my birthday yesterday and one of my friends helpfully pointed out that I would soon be 40. I think not, my dear - that's a whole two years away and there's lots to do before then!! On the other hand, at least once I am 40, people will stop saying, "Oh, you're nearly 40!" Perhaps it will be a badge of honour to have made it!

Yesterday was a lovely birthday: the girls brought me a birthday candle stuck into a cupcake at 7am and sang Happy Birthday to me, and they gave me their presents - some nail varnish and a big selection of smellies for the bath. The FH doesn't "do" presents but told me to get myself something, so I did - Nigel Slater's Tender Vol II - all about fruit. (I saw it at half price in Tesco and thought it would be lovely - and it is!!) More cards arrived in the post. A friend came around for a chat with a present - a beautiful glass worktop saver with a huge picture of veg on it - she knows me well!! Later on, the FH cooked me a lovely lunch of steak, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage and potatoes. I went to gym later still, where I got another card. When we got home from gym, I made some pudding and the FH and I had a glass of wine and sat together to watch "Keeping Mum" - hilarious film with Maggie Smith, Rowan Atkinson and Kristin Scott-Thomas. I was thoroughly tired when I went to bed, but happy!!

Mincemeat musings

I made the mincemeat according to Froog's instructions, and then, after I had it all jarred up, I looked in my Delia's Happy Christmas book to see how the methods compared. Froog uses Delia's recipe with some adaptations.

Delia puts all the ingredients (she also adds some whole almonds) apart from the brandy, into a large bowl and leaves it to soak for at least 12 hours. She doesn't jar it whilst it is hot, but advocates stirring it occasionally as it cools so that the hot fat is distributed through the mincemeat and coats the other ingredients. She still hasn't added the brandy.........that doesn't go in until the mincemeat is "quite cold" which I take to mean - COLD - not "nearly cold". I suppose that means that none of the brandy is evaporated off during the cooking and could result in a more boozy mincemeat. Then she puts it into the jars.

I have more brandy now so I am thinking of looking for more jars and making a second batch using the Delia method to see if my chief taster can find a difference. I will need more as I always make loads of mince pies, so I may as well experiment a little. I am also thinking that the slow-cooker may have been a little too hot for this - I put it on the Auto setting - and I will try the second batch in the low oven. I may also treat myself to a proper zester so that I don't have to just grate the lemon and orange peel.

It may take a while to accumulate the jars, so I'll post the results in a week or two.