Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2024

@AuntyRach I make lots of different carrot cake recipes and a couple of beetroot cakes and one or two courgette cakes but have yet to try parsnip. I will tho since I have all those guinea pigs. BBC Good Food has a recipe and Nadiya has a spicy parsnip and orange cake here: Parsnip and Orange Spiced Cake

Today's Parkin is a hybrid of Prue's vegan and a traditional recipe using butter and I've added 2 grated carrots just for fun after seeing last night's show. It's cooling now and will then wrapped till Monday when I'll try it on the patchwork club ladies, tho almost everyone is doing embroidery at the mo with just a few doing knitting and crochet.

Salmon with herby, mustardy lentils for dinner. I reminded Possum she'll have to give up her crappy breakfast cereal if she's going no carb. Hadn't thought of that! Doesn't fancy eggs. High protein carb free muffins anyone?

 

Almost dark outside, rather depressing. We managed to get both green bins filled with leaves raked from the path and lawns. Didn’t take too long, but satisfying, although tempered by the fact that there are still loads of leaves to come down. The dog has gone home, it’s a relief not to have to organise ourselves round her but we will miss her. We didn’t get many jobs done while she was here, but it hasn’t improved since she left, and now we have no excuse for our laziness!
Hope Rob recovers quickly. Sorry to hear of the sore throats and coughs. It’s going to be a long winter, I think.

 

Evenin' all... bends knee
We've had a wonderful break and I had a great birthday.... thank you for birthday wishes.
We drove through stupendous scenery to Porthmadog, had a mooch around, then scurried back to Llanberis for an afternoon chuff chuff round the lake.
Evening meal was delicious (cod for me)
RVH_General Menu_A4_2024_Oct_Update.jpg

Now home with our pooches. Serious discussions about old dog, Miss Maizie's health. Very sad.
How's Rob @Goldenlily26 and your back?
Sorry if I've missed you... consider yourself all friendly!!

 

Hello everyone. I have just been trawling theough all of your posts and will try and comment on all - please forgive me if I miss anyone. @lizzie27, did they give you any idea as to when the results of your scan will come through? I discovered a young oak sapling in my garden the other day - courtesy of the squirrel who haunts my garden. Fingers crossed all is fine. Good grief @Goldenlily26, what a chapter of woes for you and Rob. I hope that the pair of you have a restful night tonight. @Busy-Lizzie, Night Nurse works for me. Enjoy your lunch out tomorrow. Yum @Obelix-Vendée I love parkin. @Ergates, I cannot get used to it being so dark at just after 16:00.
My heart goes out to you @Penny_Forthem. It sounds as though you have the most difficult of decisions to make. All we pet lovers have been there.
p.s. forgot to say that my freezer arrived at about 09:30 and, having unpacked it and let it stand for the necessary hours, I have just plugged it in so that it will be ready for action tomorrow morning when I have a delivery from Iceland coming. I do have to say I am impressed with how quiet it is.

 

I am going to sign out for tonight. See you all tomorrow. Its my Bestie's birthday.

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Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it. I 'fess up to being a humbug-er where it is concerned. Typically it was raining when I went out to retrieve my milk bottle so may be a crafting day. I started knitting three teeny C*******s jumpers yesterday. I'll post a pic when they are finished but here is Frosty who I finished the other week.

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Good morning everyone!

A sprinkle of autumn rain during the night. Cloudy but some blue sky so maybe a sunny afternoon. I programmed the washing machine to wash during the night, but found this morning that I hadn't clicked the door shut properly, so that's put off until tomorrow. Hope it's fine.

I would like to try the vegetable cake recipes @Obelix-Vendée but I don't eat much in the way of cake and my friend from Montpellier needs to lose some of the 100kg that he is carrying!! Mind you - once in a while - nudge nudge, wink wink!! I looked up Parkin - hmmm. Maybe.

I expect Rob will be feeling strange for a good week @Goldenlily26 You couldn't really expect otherwise. We had a German Short-haired Pointer that ripped her knee on a wire fence (in NZ). The vet sewed her knee back but many a night I'd be up to her when she cried out after a bad sleeping position. A gentle massage. It took ages for it to heal but as the vet said "Their idea of pain and discomfort is different from outs". Rob, I'm sure is getting all the massages and attention needed to see him through.

 

Morning all.

Happy birthday to your Bestie @Ladybird4.

I slept well, think my cold is on the way out. OH is still quite chesty but he says he feels OK.

We are going out to lunch in a Suffolk pub with someone we knew in France who moved back to the UK a few years ago. She always helped at the church charity events I used to do.

Looks misty outside but some sun is forecast.

 

Morning all,

Glad you’re feeling better @Busy-Lizzie, and can make the lunch out with your friend. My throat feels better than it did, still a bit prickly but not as sore.

It looks a bit grey and misty here, too, but is supposed to brighten up.

I like your knitted Frosty @Ladybird4.

Pilates soon for me, then I’m not sure but the hot metal thingy might get an outing if I can muster up the enthusiasm .

Have a good day folks.

 

Good morning everyone. I hope all lurgies and ailments and post-op pains are on the mend.

It is supposed to be bright and sunny here with maybe some mist but it's total cloud cover at the mo. Set to get to 20 or 21C this pm and tomorrow and then go down to 15C max. Having clear skies in the pm does mean it cools quickly at sunset so we've put the heating on for a couple of hours the last few evenings.

We don't do Halloween either @Ladybird tho I still have some strings of pumpkin lights and so on from when Possum was a bairn. These days she's keen on the old Celtic festivals so we're having a Samhain feast tonight with seasonal root veg and fruits and duck legs. Thursdays are supposed to be a thin day for me but I'll do it tomorrow instead.

I don't do Xmas jumpers but, since I can't get charity Xmas cards here or even packs of interesting commercial cards so I do embroider my own cards now to send to special people.

@Tui34 have a look at Nigella's recipe for Venetian carrot cake - gluten and dairy free - Venetian Carrot Cake It is delicious and not too cakey and does not need any accompaniment other than a good tea or coffee.

I'm off to do the weekly shop on my own today as OH has abandoned me for golf and tomorrow is a national holiday.

Enjoy yourselves, whatever you're doing.

 

Good morning all,
Thank you for all of your good wishes for Rob and I.
Rob is getting used to the bucket on his head. The noise of it banging against things no longer bothers him. His appetite seems undeminished and I no longer have to hold his food bowls while he eats. He is still sleeping a lot, he is taking a skinful of medication at the moment and he is having regular body massages to keep his circulation ticking over. He has always had a penchant for handkerchiefs and knickers! His previous owner told me he liked socks but mine have never interested him. Yesterday he presented me with a very very long poo as I was picking up in the garden. I could not work out what it was, looked liked squished up toilet roll but no, it was one of my new men's handkerchiefs which he had swallowed! I have no idea when he ate it or how long it has been in his stomach. Thank goodness it was natural cotton, it was 24 inches long, I measured one of my clean ones out of interest. That was an expensive poo as I treated myself to some new handkerchiefs recently, £16.00 each!
I seem to be going from one drama to another with him at the moment.
I am a bit stiff all over from my tumble, not even a bruise, I probably bounced with all of the surplus padding I have about my person!
I have done some cooking whilst confined to barracks with Rob. Yesterday I made a Cottage Pie, some meat balls in tomato sauce and finally a Stollen, using my bread maker. I think it must be nervous energy that is firing me on all cylinders.
I have to take Rob to the vet for an initial post op. check today.
I must try and get down to the greenhouse to check the tomatoes as it has been unbelievably mild this week so hopefully a few more tomatoes will have ripened.
I hope everyone else who is feeling poorly, under the weather, unwell etc. are recovering. I have just cancelled my shoulder scan booked for tomorrow, for a couple of weeks. I really do not feel like dragging myself over to Bodmin to have it done.

 

Morning. I had my covid jab yesterday; the vaccination centre was in a sports and social club which had seen better days. It was a depressing experience! Arm is a bit sore, but I feel OK.

My lovely SiL really made me feel a bit of a slob! Not only did she turn up for breakfast in the hotel with full makeup, but also sporting a fluffy jumper and a string of pearls! Here's me, jeans and sweatshirt, makeupless! (actually, she was the only one who 'dressed up' for breakfast! She was similarly elegant for dinner! I love her to bits!)
The hotel was full, with lots of families. We got chatting to a couple our age, who went to do the Velocity 2 zipwire, reaching 100mph. I wished we'd exchanged contact details, as I wanted to know what they thought of it.
https://www.zipworld.co.uk/adventure/ve ... wfEALw_wcB
Would I be brave enough to try it? In my dreams...
We're having 3 friends over for lunch tomorrow - another birthday celebration. I'm making a chickpea and veg tagine and a Tom Kerridge Chicken tagine traybake. One friend is bringing a starter and another, dessert.

 

Glad you had a good time @Penny_Forthem. Lovely setting for your celebrations.

Have to admit I wear very little make-up but never go out in public without mascara - light eyelashes so I look bald otherwise. I'd have done that zip wire when younger but not now I have a few spare parts and a tendence to slipped disks.

@Goldenlily26 It's good that he's sleeping a lot. Not so good about the expensive hankies!

I've done my shop - faster and cheaper without OH! - and had my thin tomato, orange and ginger soup. Now to pickle hose shallots. I really dislike commercial pickled onions (except some I once found in Italy and haven't found since) so I hope these will be better. OH will eat them whatever they're like. The only thing I've found that he won't eat is marzipan and that's OK as I don't like it eiher tho we both like almonds and bakewell tart and Gâteau des Rois.

 

Afternoon all.

I’ve just put a ‘no callers please’ sign up at Dad’s and closed all my front curtains and switched off the doorbell ready for avoiding any cheeky treat or trick’ers. Very much not into Halloween plus one of the cats is very anxious when the door knocks/rings and he legs it to a hiding place.

Half day in work so just having a cuppa outside (with the neighbour’s cat on my chair for company) before the sun goes down.

Have a lovely rest of the day folks.

 

Afternoon yesterday, but it feels like night time it's so dark out there. I'd better draw the curtains and switch off the outside light, I'd forgotten it was Halloween tonight so thanks for the heads up @AuntyRach. Hope your half day at work wasn't too bad, always a bit of a shock I always thought after being off ill.

I don't do mascara @Obelix-Vendée, but have to do eyebrows every morning! Mine were going white and wild so found a very nifty wax based brown eyebrow brush applicator thingy, much like mascara but thicker and very quick to apply. Hope the pickled onions will be to your taste when ready to eat.

Hope you enjoyed your lunch out with friends @Busy-Lizzie and similarly @Penny_Forthem .All this talk of food is making me so hungry and we've still got an hour to go.

I haven't had the scan results yet @Ladybird4, thanks for asking. As it was my GP who requested the scan, I was told they would send the results to him first so I'm waiting for him to call me. He's usually pretty good.

It's been another beautiful day so after our usual walk, I got stuck into more gardening. I thought I'd better tidy and weed up the wall sleeper bed as I'm hoping a friend's son will come over and re-do the leaning sleepers for us soon. It's not something we feel able to do now although I would have some years ago. I had to dig up plants that might be in the way, including yet more primroses so that's another lot for the Community Orchard. While I was doing that, OH cut the lawns again and swept the paths.

@Goldenlily26 . Hope Rob is beginning to get over his op and that you also recover from your fall .