Duvet Day

TThank you so much to everyone who commented on my last blog post and for your get well wishes. 

I'm feeling a little bit better now and the medication has brought my pain under control.  

I've had a really lazy day today. Not getting up until 1 o'clock I managed to catch up on some television programs I have missed over the weekend including the brilliant the Great British Year. If you haven't yet seen this amazing programme please check it out on iPlayer.  Catch it before it finishes.  There are four programmes in total covering each of the seasons.  The wildlife photography is second to none and they use timelapse photography to cover the changing of the seasons in incredible detail.

Another of my favourite programs is Country File and in particular this last episode covered a splendid array of beautiful and natural autumnal things.

It has been persistently persisting down today.   It has been wonderful to just simply be here in my cosy home.  I felt the need to bake.  I always seem to do this when I'm ill and some apple spice muffins found their way into the oven and even better than that out on to a plate when freshly baked!  They turned out really nicely. Pleasantly moist and full of good things like pumpkin  pie spice and chopped apple which had gently steamed to a melting softness.  The house smelled yummy. 

In other news:-

Magazines were drooled over. 

Candles were lit.  

Stews were stewed. 

And unfinished crochet projects were rescued from the depths of the under stairs cupboard.  This is probably the third autumn of restarting!!  

Aw. Makes me happy tho. Smiley-happy ziggy-zaggy, colourific completely out of shape blanket. Might be finished one day!

I'm ill you know..

Hello all. I'm afraid I'm ill. Insert sad smiley face here. I had to go to hospital yesterday with severe stomach pains and chest pains.  As you can imagine it was a very scary time. After an interminable time in accident and emergency department where I had an ECG and lots of blood tests I was transferred to surgical assessment unit whereafter another interminable wait the doctor finally informed me that he thought I had gallstones and an inflamed gallbladder.

I was discharged home in a huge amount of pain with just paracetamol for pain relief.  This morning I woke up in as much pain as I was in yesterday and my partner called paramedics to come to assess me. The paramedics who attended was very surprised that I'd only been discharged with paracetamol and after doing all of her checks  and writing out her report on me which took her just as long as it did to assess me she suggested that I go to my local walk in centre for some stronger pain relief.  As is usually the case with any assessment unit my wait this time lasted two hours during which time I was sick and once finally seen now have antibiotics anti-sickness medication mega strength painkillers and anti spasmodic drugs. 

Thank goodness the drugs are beginning to work and since around 2 o'clock this afternoon I have felt a little more comfortable. Its amazing what the correct medication will do. 

I now have another wait whilst I am referred for an urgent ultrasound scan.  Hopefully this will allow the doctors to further investigate my pain and make a correct diagnosis. 

Wonder of wonders I have dictated this blog post from my new iPhone and am seriously impressed as with only a few minor errors it has typed up everything I've dictated! Wow! The wonders of modern technology. I never thought I would be utilising something so exciting.  The fact that I am lying on my side speaking into my phone which is typing as I talk is blowing my mind!  I am easily pleased but there again I'm ill you know!  Have a wonderful weekend bloglies and I'll speak to you very soon. Love love.

Three Good Things on Thursday

1.  My references checked out okay and I'm on to the next stage of the selection process for The Samaritans.  

2.  I have just got back from THE most sublime meal I've had in a while.  There's a little independent French bistro in town which I've always loved but man doesn't like French cuisine.  (Or anything French for that matter but that's another story).  A friend and I dined from their "Rouge" menu tonight which was three courses from a selection for a very reasonable £16.95.  I chose pate on a bed of apple and celeriac which came with French bread and butter, Beef Wellington and fries and then an Oreo cookie cheesecake.  A cheeky Rose accompanied and a Calypso (Tia Maria) coffee rounded off a superb meal.   Swoon.

3.  This:  All lottie grown by my green-fingered mad bro!  I love this photo - it really made me smile today.

Park Life

Firstly, a very warm 'HELLOOOOO' to my new follower Fran **waves**.  Thank you for visiting my whitterings!


Hello all. 

Today has been a spectacular autumnal day, and as lovely as it was snuggling up to him indoors this morning and sipping coffee in bed, I had a bit of a realisation that we couldn't really guarantee many more sunny weekends this year and that we really should drag our lazy arses out of bed and 'do' something with the day. 

We decided to take a walk to our local park.  Man has never visited our local one since he's been living in this neck of the woods, and its been a good while since I've visited too, put off by a combination of rickety knees, an arthritic back and steep inclines - all of which combine to make a simple pleasure a rather painful one which rather puts one off. 

Stevens Park in Wollescote is a beautiful place.  It dates back to 1282 and has housed many families over the years.  In 1930, a hugely wealthy local business man and great benefactor of the local community, Ernest Stevens, 'gave' the people of Lye and Wollescote the gift of the land along with the house, which was "to benefit the community with the provision that there would be no discussions of politics, drinking of alcohol and ball games on Sundays."   

The changing of the season is becoming more apparent now.  Although the day was unseasonably warm, the colours of the leaves are changing.  The dew veiled the long grass in silver and beech masts, sweet chestnuts and horse chestnut casings covered the ground beneath their parent trees providing a banquet for the ubiquitous local squirrel population.  We saw lots of them this morning foraging and racing up tree trunks to sit chattering at us as we passed underneath.

The big horse chestnut at the bottom of the hill had dropped loads of its spiky encased bounty on to the floor.  I remember this tree from my childhood.  It was one of the best conker providers in the area.  I couldn't resist picking some up and putting them in my pocket.  That wouldn't have happened back in my day.  Every single conker would already have been removed by us local kids and borne home as soon as they started hitting the ground.  Sometimes we gave them a bit of help to fall with a carefully aimed stick.  They would be polished, perhaps pickled or painted with clear varnish to strengthen them followed by the scary bit of trying to make a hole with a bodger or a bradawl without also putting a hole in your own hand. Kitchen drawers were raided to find suitable string to attach and you were then ready to do playground battle on Monday morning.  Tips would be handed down from Grandfathers and Dads on how to preserve a potential prize winner; how best to aim, how to angle your string just right to smash your opponent's  coveted conker to smithereens.    Isn't it sad that this traditional childhood game has been chased out of the playground because of irrational fears about health and safety?   Death by conkering.  I've not heard any reports have you?  I wonder how many kids actually know what a conker is?  I know - perhaps they've invented a conker smashing game for the Xbox or Playstation so the kiddies don't need to go out in all that nasty fresh air type stuff.  Cyber-conkering.  

I digress.

But that's usual here at Peapods isn't it?

Anyways.... here's some photos to look at whilst I go and polish me soapbox. And me conkers of course.  You never know when you'll need a polished conker.  

No its not your eyes - its just a rubbish photo!

There were loads of fungi - I've been looking at Google to identify them - so far I think this one is Fly Agaric

Massive fail on the others though.  Anyone?! 

Ooh I say!   Is that a toadstool in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

**Chortle**

Not sure what these berries are but judging the colour they are more poisonous than a very poisonous poison!

Harvey's still traumatised by that toadstool.

That's better!

Terahh a bit! xx

Just saying ..........

Oh...... What a Beauty........

I've never seen one as big as that before........

Be warned......... photographs to follow contain graphic images of some HUGE specimens.

Steel yourselves now.....


Ready?


Would you look at the size of that! - that delicate little black thing at the bottom of the photograph is my dainty be-booted foot!

The teeny little white oblong sitting on the marrow is my BlackBerry 'phone - just for some kind of perspective!

The pumpkins were in a class of their own!

This first prize winner was like a zeppelin!

See how this little pixie-man is dwarfed by it!  Tee hee - thanks for posing bro!

Not so pretty giants now......

Swede!

Mutant Carrots!!

Look at these pretty potatoes!!

A lovely pair of caulis!

Pot leeks - these were huge - its difficult to get a perspective of how big things were just from the photos.

Such beautiful produce - 

This amazing trug of produce won a First and I'm really not surprised ... 

It was as well thought out from the back as it was from the front.

A rogue flower pic - these dahlias were called "Pooh" as in Winnie the Pooh - cos of the colours I guess!

More Mahoosive Veggies!

And my parting shot.............

OI!! Supermarkets!!

See ALL these bad boys?

AND all these other bad boys?

Guess what?

!

YEP!

THEY'RE ALL BLOODY BRITISH APPLES!

*sticks out tongue and blows a (British) raspberry*

Tee hee.

Love Love!

Buy British - if you can find it.... (in which I have a little rant and get a little sweary)

Twas necessary for me to go shopping in the big green supermarket of monstrous proportions this evening.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but is it not Harvest time here in the UK?  Are the orchards not currently abounding with mellow fruitfulness?  Is blogland not currently bursting at the seams from heavy consumption of appley based sweet eaty treats?  

Well according to the supermarket aforementioned, the only bloody apples available in the whole of the world come from bloody France, bloody Brazil and bloody New Zealand.  Oh there are lots of varieties of apples on the shelves alright - bags and bags of  the buggers in fact - sadly with more combined air miles than you can shake a ready made crumble mix at.   And the price of them shocked me.  Kilo bags of apples for £2.50.  Shocking.  I'd expect a bin bag full for £2.50!   I did manage to find just one variety (Worcester) which had been grown here in the UK and surprise surprise they cost  just £1 per bag.  

I had a look about online when I got home and learned that our lovely old varieties of apple are now losing out to the new ones (like "Pink Lady" for example which is Britain's fourth most popular apple).  The Pink Lady variety is now trademarked meaning British Farmers are (allegedly) not allowed to grow it.  They are prohibitively expensive - I've seen these fruits for sale at around £3.00 for four apples.  Yet our beautiful olde English home grown varieties such as Russets and Orange Pippins are sadly being overlooked.

Don't buy 'em people.  Go shake your neighbour's apple tree so they fall over your side of the fence if need be. Tell them I said it was ok and that sharing is caring!  Keep your peepers peeled for apple trees growing on waste ground.  Visit a farm shop or 'pick your own' orchards.  Plant an apple pip. Buy a sapling - it will fruit sooner than you think. Do anything but buy these long distance, bland tasting interlopers. 

Ohh!  I forgot to say - I found some pears too - proudly emblazoned with a big blue sticker which shouted "New Season".  

....

.....

Shame the new season means that new season currently happening in BLOODY NEW ZEALAND!!

 

Five Random Things

Time for a bit of randomness I reckon.

1.  I have never, nor have any intention to, watch an episode of Downton Bliddy Abbey.

2.  I have never successfully applied a pair of false eyelashes.

3.  My dog is obsessed with:-
     a)   Watering cans;
     b)   Steam Irons;
     c)    Bits of fluff;
     d)   Stealing tea-towels, single socks, empty toilet rolls;
     e)   The television, particularly Eastenders;
     f)    Aerosol sprays and will run from the top of the garden to the upstairs bathroom in
           0.03 seconds as soon as he hears the cap being removed;
     e)   The open freezer - he will stand trying to lick the drawers if at all possible;
     f)    The cats;
     g)   The chicken;
     h)   Going outside.  Even if he has just come inside.
     i)    Drinking from the bliddy loo even if he has a full bowl of water.
     j)    Pacing

4)  I passed my driving test first time at the age of 18 and haven't driven since.
      This is (one of) the bane(s) of my life.

5)  I know most of the words to the film Notting Hill.
     And Love Actually
     And Bridget Jones ....  ahem.....

Go on - tell me some randomness!

Love xxx

Six Smiles on a Sunny September Sunday

After my "Woe is Me" post of yesterday (thanks for your kind words peeps xx) normal service is now resumed and I am once again SHOUTING (with) LOVE (from Peapods (tee hee) ) AT THE WORLD!

Things that I have loved about this last week:-

1.  Fabulous Fashionistas

I caught this brilliant look into 'the art of ageing' by a complete fluke earlier in the week but I'm so glad I did.  This Channel 4 documentary (SEE HERE ) follows the lives of a group of women old enough to know better but feisty enough not to care. It was like watching the visual depiction of Jenny Joseph's 'Warning' poem - "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple...." ...and how! From the frightfully posh and terrifying Lady Trumpington with her endearing passion for catalogue shopping to the 87 year old dancing queen who is more bendy than a rubber paperclip, I watched the whole programme with a ridiculous grin on my face.  Quote of the show, however, came from Sue Kreitzman who lives her life in colour these days and refuses to simply fade into the background.  She says:   "Everybody should be living in colour.  You know what I really hate? I hate beige. Beige is the colour of death and it just leeches all the life out of you- my motto is - don't wear beige,  it might kill you."   We have been warned!!

Watch it if you can.   I want to be one of those dear ladies when I grow up!

2.  The Fried Chicken Shop

Believe it or not I don't watch much telly.  But I do love documentaries about every day life, particularly British every day life.  The Fried Chicken Shop is filmed in a fast food takeaway in Sarf Lahhndon which showcases the comings and goings of their very cosmopolitan clientele.  Quote of the show came from cross dressing regular, Jessie, who rocked up in a fetching purple shrug over a bare belly and a green micro short skirt which barely covered his modesty (or his grey undertrollies for that matter!!).  Eyeballing a student couple at the table across from him, he asked the girl disdainfully "when (she) was going to wear something interesting? Look how boring your clothes are.  All covered up in black and grey you couldn't look more boring if you tried"  Hilarious!  Perhaps she needed to take fashion tips from the Fashionistas aforementioned?!

3.  Harvest Gifts

Remember the sad little pepper plant I rescued from Aldi a few weeks ago?  I picked the fruit today - all teeny but will be fine roasted in a little oil and seasoning.

There was a knock on the door earlier and our lovely neighbour delivered a bag full of late runner beans.  Mum came up for tea later on this evening bearing gifts of an allotment grown cabbage from her and a pot of apple chutney from my brother!  Yay!

4.  Alternative Sunday Dinner

Cos we am punk as wossname, we sometimes **looks furtively over shoulder**  don't have a roast on Sunday!  Today, we had a home cooked Indian feast of onion bhajis, chicken pakora, sweetcorn fritters,  onion salad and poppadums, and a beautiful chick peak and chicken jalfrezi.   A dear friend of mine sent me a fab book for my birthday called "Miss Masala" which is a modern take on Indian cooking for busy people!  Amazon link is here  It has some great recipes with a humorous commentary and lots of  barking mad tips such as to test that the temperature of shallow frying oil has reached optimum temperature, small bubbles will appear around a wooden spoon (obviously you have to put it into the oil first *rolls eyes*)  - well it works for me and I always use it now!

Onions in their batter awaiting the pan!

Clusters of bhajis frying away merrily

Lovely crisp, little morsels, draining on kitchen paper ready to be reheated 

in the oven later.  (better eaten straight away though!!)

Recipe - 

Sliced Onions - recipe states 2 but I use more

100g Gram Flour

1 teasp bakimg powder

1 teasp garam masala

1 teasp ground chilli

1 teasp ground cumin

1 teasp turmeric

Salt

Mix all the dry ingredients together with a fork, to ensure all the spices are well mixed into the flour. 

Gradually add some cold water a little at a time, stirring quickly until a thick yoghurty type

consistency is reached.    Add sliced onions and stir together until coated.  

Drop a couple of tablespoons full of the mixture into little dollops in frying pan of hot oil, press down a little and shallow fry for a couple of minutes each side.  Don't be tempted to shove them around  - simply let them cook 

on their own until crispy and golden brown. 

Simply divine dahhhling!

Chicken and chick pea jalfrezi - Yum!

5.  The Moon

Yes - the moon - pictures take by yours truly.  I am very, very proud!   I worked out how to alter some manual settings on the camera (more by luck than judgement I have to say!) - thanks Mr T'interwebnet! - earlier in the week in time for full moon.  Sod's law dictated however as soon as I had done this, the batteries failed and so I've had to wait until tonight to test it.  Not too shabby - although these were the best of a bunch of twenty snaps! Hahah.

6.  Arty Fartyness!

The nights are drawing in and I need distractions.  New collages will do!  I've found a lovely little book with lots of tutorials and am currently playing with this effort - far from completed but just a quick peek.

That's enough smiling for one day - me face is starting to ache!

Love Love!

xxx

Autumn Blessings ...

A Blessed Mabon to you and yours. The Wheel of the Year is turning once again and the earth is settling down to snooze her way through to Spring.  

Gorgeous 'Autumn Goddess' picture sourced from Google but sadly no credit
given to the artist/creator.  Please let me know if you know :)

It has been a stunningly beautiful day today.  Today 'should' have been our wedding day.  Some of you may remember that we had booked a venue some 18 months ago and plans were being made.  Today was to be the day.  Unfortunately, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or a lottery win did not materialise and, realising that we could not put ourselves under so much financial pressure, we had to cancel.

I've felt a little subdued today; having a bit of a weep here and there.  Not through any sense of loss because nothing has changed at all; but in frustration and exasperation I guess.   The man has been amazingly understanding as usual, managing to say just the right things (which made me cry more) and being his usual loving and caring self.  As today draws to a close I know that I am blessed. I know that the ceremony will happen at some point, and it is not the "be all and end all".  That may be the case for many people; some may view the signing of a bit of paper archaic and unnecessary - but it is MY be all and end all right now.  I never thought that I would ever want to marry again but having found the missing piece of my jigsaw then something changed.  We know that we will make it happen and that our big day will be everything we ever wanted it to be,  but I'm strangely glad that today is done.  I'm cross with myself that I've felt so maudlin on such a beautiful day - its probably not helped by bloody hormones.  But its done.

All week long I have been seeing tiny pure white feathers in random places.  Like little markers of comfort and encouragement.  I never pick them up - just look at them and smile and know that they're there for a reason.

Time to breathe.   Summon some inner strength.    Be grateful for all that I am blessed with.   Time to (carry on) Be(ing)  happy, because although I am not wealthy in a monetary sense, I am richer than I ever thought possible.

Love and light, my friends, Love and light. xxx

More tales of Norn Iron

Hello there!

Hmm.  I've been looking through the Giants Causeway photographs to share with you - but having looked at them again, I'm not very happy with them really.  I dunno - I had some kind of romantic vision that the place would be as uninhabited,wild and untamed and as mystical and moody as the promotional photographs lead you to believe.  Of course, if you time your trip to be there at around 5am in the morning when there are NO BLOODY TOURISTS there, then this is exactly what you will see.

If you go in the middle of the day - then you can expect this instead:- lots of people throwing shapes on some rocks!  That bloke in the middle with his arms outstretched?  Every time he climbed another rock he repeated the exercise and his missus giggled and took another picture!  Bless.  Cough.

Anyway........ human sheep aside (and yes,  I have to include ourselves in that description!), it really is a very beautiful place.  It was great to clamber over the stones, feeling rather like a child crossing stepping stones, choosing exactly the best one to put your foot onto next.  The photo above shows 'the wishing chair' and we sat right on top of it (me rather precariously and hoping that my arthritic back and knees wouldn't snatch and give way on the way down!).

The following pics have been cropped to death to try to exclude annoying folk from them.  I'm such a grumpy bint! hahaha. 

The man was laughing at me whilst I was taking this as it took ages before people
stopped coming through!  It became a personal challenge to get a body-free shot!!
Yay!

I've borrowed the following description of the Causeway from http://www.causewaycoastandglens.com/ who describe this magical place far more eloquently than I ever could.

"Situated on the North coast of Ireland in  Country Antrim (about two miles north of Bushmills, 11 miles from Coleraine and 13 miles from Ballycastle), the Giant's Causeway is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption; however the legend is more convincing for those who prefer a more colourful story (See HERE to read about the legend of Finn MacCool - far more exciting than the geological explanation!).

The Giant's Causeway plays a major part of Ireland's heritage, attracting visitors from around the world each year since it was first documented in 1603 and realistic sketches were published in 1740.  The Giant's Causeway has often been described as the Eighth Wonder of the World and was declared as Ireland's first World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1986.  Once you have visited you will quickly see why it has become Ireland's top tourist attraction".