Saturday, 31 January 2009
my life in tags...
Friday, 30 January 2009
pyjama party...
I remember the music that we used to sing along to, take a look at this pilgrimage back to the 1980's!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LQnqNLeiWKw
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WlYt8tvuB64
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gqbbqzwTpyM
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TZgSpB_zP28&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=j1GTf1T4_7Y
we all wore t-shirts with the slogan 'RELAX' on and it was always sunny! ahhh the power of memory.
What did you sing along to?
Thursday, 29 January 2009
the bulbs start to appear...

Wednesday, 28 January 2009
wassail away...

The word wassail derives from the Old English words wæs (þu) hæl which means variously ‘be healthy' or ‘be whole' - both of which meanings survive in the modern English phrase ‘hale and hearty'. Thus this is a traditional ceremony which seeks to start off the first stirrings of life in the land and to help it emerge from winter and to ensure that the next season's crop of fruit, especially apples and pears, will be bountiful.
After dark those taking part process down to the orchard, ceremonially bearing the wassail bowl filled with the prepared booze. They also carry large sticks and such items as shotguns, drums, kettles, pans and whistles - anything which can be used to create lots of noise in fact.
The ceremony generally begins with the tree, usually the oldest and most venerable tree in an orchard, being variously serenaded with traditional "wake up" type of chants and rhymes alternating with speeches by the group's leader in praise of the tree, its fruitfulness in previous years and exhorting it to do even better in the coming year. The following one was recorded near Painswick in Gloucestershire:
Blowe, blowe, bear well,
Spring well in April,
Every sprig and every spray
Bear a bushel of apples against Next new year's day
The custom usually continues with the tree or trees being beaten about the trunk (and any branches within reach) with the sticks. This is believed to begin the process of awakening the tree and starting the sap flowing up the trunk. It is accompanied by much shouting and the making of as much noise as possible, and shotguns are commonly fired up into the branches. Again, this is believed to assist the tree in awakening from its winter sleep as well as frightening away any evil spirits which might be lurking in the branches.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
all good things come to those who wait...

Monday, 26 January 2009
34 things...
- master the art of baking bread! ✓
- row a boat ✓
- make campfire bread ✓
- go for a wild swim in the River Windrush ✓
- catch a crab by fishing on a harbour wall ✓
- go for another road trip in a VW camper van - courtesy of winning Snail Trail's 'happy snappies' competition ✓
- toast crumpets in front of an open fire ✓
- stay in a tipi ✓
- see Paul Weller live at westonbirt arboretum ✓
- lie on the top of the highest hill and watch the clouds go by ✓
- see a glow worm for the first time on a summer's eve ✓
- make a pair of pyjama's for Ted's dog ✓
- travel to Paris by train from St.Pancras Station {this may be wildly ambitious and too expensive!}
- find a hat that suits me ✓
- Give Ted the best 3rd birthday party based on his favourite book 'We're going on a bear hunt' ✓
- Find an old photobooth and take loads of pictures!
- Celebrate our new 'allotments' and get digging!
- Make homemade marshmallows and toast over a bonfire ✓
- fill a jar with magical thinking - I wish I had found out about this years ago! ✓
- hold hands with the Mr. ✓
- get my eyes tested and accept the fact that I probably need glasses
- get a pedicure and paint toe nails red {I have never painted my toe nails!} ✓
- project a classic black and white movie against the wall outside and watch under the stars
- eat at Jamie's Italian restaurant Bath ✓
- make/source nature's kit bags to give as birthday gifts this year ✓
- swim in the sea filled rock pool at Cape Cornwall ✓
- leave a random happy message in a library book to make someones day! ✓
- help Alfie plan and organise his fancy dress party ✓
- go punting along the River Cam
- renew my passport {number 13 depends upon this one!}
- find a reason to dress up again after the fun we had on new years eve!
- learn how to load 600 film into my sx-70 vintage polaroid ✓
- find the perfect dressing up box for all of the boys dressing up clothes ✓
- slow down!
Saturday, 24 January 2009
grandad's birthday cake...
Chocolate Cake with Icing
ingedients
180g (6 1/2oz) butter
50g (1 3/4 oz) dark chocolate broken up
30g (1 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs, separated
180g (6 1/2 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
125g (4 1/2oz) plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons of milk
Icing...
80g (2 3/4oz) butter
60g (2 1/4oz) incing sugar
30g (1 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of milk
2 generous teaspooons of golden syrup
Method...

Butter and flour a 24cm (9 1/2") tin
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat, then add the chocolate and cocoa and stir until melted. Remove from the heat. Whisk the egg whites into a bowl until they are creamy and stiff. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they are foamy, then beat in the sugar. Add the chocolate mixture, a bit at a time to acclimatise the eggs. Next sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well. Add the milk and mix until smooth. Carefully fold in the beaten white, trying not to deflate them and gently mix until they are completely incorporated into a fluffy but dense mixture. Scrape out into the tin and bake for about 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely in the tin before moving on to a serving plate.
For the icing, whip the butter with the icing sugar unfil fluffy. Whisk in the cocoa a bit at a time so that it doesn't fly everywhere. When it is completely incorporated, add the milk and golden syrup and whisk until very smooth. Spread it over the top of the cake with a spatula.
lick the spoon!
Friday, 23 January 2009
tone of voice...
I have been stuggling to find the balance on the new website and 'tone of voice' and undertook a lot of research to understand who my audience was. So it is only natural for me to wonder who reads my blog, after all it is something that has evolved, from one or two random postings to regular postings that now attract comments. I love meeting new people through the blog and then linking through and reading theirs, marvelling how we are all the same, whatever side of the world we live on.
When I found the 'polling' option, I was delighted, being in marketing I love things like that! So I urge you to vote or leave a comment below and tell me where you live and I promise I won't change my 'voice' and start calling trousers 'pants' or anything like that!
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
we love books...

Sunday, 18 January 2009
reasons to be cheerful...
1. The new T-Mobile advert here - just makes you smile and dance!
2. There is a future for all Polaroid users and film will once again go into production, thanks to the impossible project.
3. Read about the guerilla art project, that Andrea did with her children, random acts of kindness - inspired!
the woodcutter's way...
Chestnut's only good, they say, if for long it's laid away.
Birch and Fir logs burn fast, blaze up fast and so they do not last
Elmwood burns like church yard mould, even the very flames are cold
Poplar gives a bitter smoke, fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Applewood will scent your room with incense like perfume.
Oak and Maple, if dry and old, keep away the winter cold
But Ashwood wet and Ashwood dry, a king shall warm his slippers by."
Saturday, 17 January 2009
a winter walk...

We found a great roe deer skull along the way, but felt it should stay where it was rather than on our nature table! There were also many puddles in which to jump... and on a grey day, that's probably the best way to spend your time...!
Friday, 16 January 2009
five senses friday...

five senses friday, idea copied from here.
see
the new little man pictured above for the first time and just sit and wonder at him
the clouds moving in quickly from the north, bringing colder weather with them for the weekend
hear
the sound of the cash register as the boys grow again and need new shoes
childrens feet running in through the front door, coming home after playing next door in time for tea
the sadness in a mama's voice as she copes with her little man's loss
taste
a fizzy orange vitamin C tablet disolved in water as I try and avoid catching another cough or cold
salt as I kiss away the tears from my little ones face as he has bumped his head
smell
the sea as I pay for the balance of our holiday
chimney smoke which lingers through the village on these cold winter days
notes of orange and cinnamon from my favourite winter spice candle
feel
a mixture of emotions when my son shows me evidence that a new tooth is pushing up ready to knock his baby teeth out of the way {so symbolic}
very broody because of the little man pictured above!
tired as this is the end of a long week and I have housework to do this weekend
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
give us this day our daily bread...

We tried out a recipe from the December edition of Country Living Magazine for Pull-apart wreath-bread. This bread is fantastic and my friend makes a plain version of it at the Steiner Waldorf parent and toddler group that we go to, where she hides a cherry in one of the segments. The bread is then pulled apart and shared out and the child who finds the cherry gets to be 'king' for the rest of the morning and wears a crown!
Pull-apart wreath-bread
ingredients
1kg of strong white bread flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 tablespoon of chopped dried apricots
1 tablespoon raisins or currants
25g fresh yeast or 1 teaspoon of dried
50g butter
about 500ml of warm milk
1 egg, forked to blend
method
1. Before you begin, set everything out on the table including the mixing bowl and leave to warm in the heat of the kitchen.
2. Sieve the flour, salt and spices into the mixing bowl and toss with the dried fruit. If using fresh yeast, mix it with a little warm water and a pinch of sugar to start it working quickly. If using dried or instant yeast, mix it straight into the flour.
3. Chop the butter into little pieces and add to the milk, which should be just hot enough to melt it. Make a well in the middle of the flour with your fist. Pour in the bubbly yeast mixture, if using fresh yeast. Add the egg. Stirring with your hand, work in enough of the buttery milk to make a soft sticky dough.
4. Tip onto a clean surface dusted with a little flour and knead till it forms a smooth ball and your hands are no longer sticky. Drop it back into the bowl, cover with clingfilm and set in a warm place for an hour - it's ready if it keeps the mark of your finger when prodded.
5. Knead it again and work into a rope. Chop into 18 little pieces, forming each into a ball. Arrange into a circle,a finger's width apart, on a buttered, deep edged baking tray. Cover and leave to rise for another 40 minutes.
6. Heat the oven to 220 oC (200 oC fan oven) gas mark 7. bake for 30-35 minutes until golden.
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Walk off those winter blues...

It made me think of 'Blue Monday' which is next Monday, 19th January and meant to be the most depressing day of the year. So wherever you are, get outside take a deep breath and stride out with confidence, so blue monday doesn't get you!
Monday, 12 January 2009
striving for a simple life...
I look at other peoples homes, such as Nicole, Liivia and Ellas, they are so lovely and simple, full of nature, beautiful furniture, art and natural fibres. Mine is full of hand me downs - sofa's that we couldn't say no to, but are pink - yes pink I tell you - I had an extreme case of sofa envy when I read this post here! The trouble is we have still so much to do to the house, A came along so quickly after we moved in, we have been playing catch up ever since.
I have managed to make a bedside table from vintage suitcases {pictured above}, inspired from our holiday in the railway carriage last year. But I need to throw away so much - do I really need all the paperwork/assignments from my degree ten years ago - does anyone still have theirs? The trouble is the longer I hold on to things, the harder it is to throw them away as they then acquire sentimental value!
Sunday, 11 January 2009
a quiet night's crafting...
Saturday, 10 January 2009
the simple things in life...
Friday, 9 January 2009
warm as toast...
...in new Toast flannel pyjamas and snuggly flannel bedlinen and a new lambswool throw. Perfect for long cold nights and toasting crumpets in front of the fire!
I have always been a pyjamas girl and usually buy mens as I prefer the traditional type and ladies are always pink or silky, but my husband found me these for Christmas. Striped flannel with pockets and a generous cut and straight out of the 1940's and I love them. I would wear them out if I could!
I had this DVD for Christmas too and I love the styling and fashion of war time Britain, just beautiful and filmed (in part) in wonderful west Wales.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
a little bit of summer on a winter's day...

The picture above is from this website here http://www.gartenart.co.uk/index.htm which has a gallery full of lovely pictures of ponds in very nice houses, indeed.
Thats enough dreaming for today...
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
the waiting game...
Monday, 5 January 2009
today...

...Am thinking of having a chinese new year party in February after seeing the above image in an old country living magazine.
...I am inspired by reading new blog 'In heywood's meadow' full of beautiful ideas, adventures and fresh air, I think I will give nature journaling kit bags to all the little people as gifts this year, with a petrie dish, notebook, pencils and a field guide inside.
...Am overjoyed as I was actually at home when a delivery man came! and he delivered a parcel of beautiful bedlinen bought in the sale from here.
...I have reached the point where my computers memory is all used up! Oh no what to do now?
What are you doing today...?
Sunday, 4 January 2009
winter wonderland
yuk, it's 01:08 in the morning and I can't sleep! I can hear my husband snoring and my youngest is tossing and turning as I have disturbed him by turning on the computer with it's low whirring. My mind is whirring more than the computer, only one day left of holidays before we go back to work and my son to school. My youngest is meant to start playschool but I think it's too soon but do I think that it's too soon for me or him? Do I hold back and risk losing a place? Questions going round and round in my head. Plus our roof is leaking, I knew yesterday was too good to be true!
It's now 01:14 and I really should be asleep and will regret not trying harder in the morning when the reflection in the mirror looks back at me all haggered. Why can't I make decisions?
I couldn't be doing nothing so am scanning in Polaroids, hence the lovely wintery picture of the Cotswolds above. It is cold outside and I have left my slippers somewhere, so my toes are now cold too, I think I will go back to bed and warm them up on the Mr - that should stop the snoring anyway!
Saturday, 3 January 2009
and the winners are...
Now do we stay faithful to Prudence or do we choose another of the wonderful campers that Snail Trail hire? Who would you choose?
Thursday, 1 January 2009
hello 2009...

I hope your 2009 has started with as many smiles and crazy dance moves as ours did...!