4 things from yesterday

Yesterday it snowed

it melted

I used my new oven for the first time

I discovered that my bread had not been reaching it's full potential in my old oven

The death of winter

Hey guys. Well the snow is still on the ground but there are mixed forecasts, some saying sleet, some saying snow and some saying thawing. So we will see if there is still enough for a snowman next Saturday. I think this is the death of winter, or at least the extreme cold and snow we've had. The 3 of us have spent the weekend sledging. This is the 2nd year running we've been able to do this which is great. This year is definitely better though. We tried out 2 different sets of hills. The first was over the road from Kirkstall Abbey, which is where we went last year. We also went to the hill just at the bottom of our road. It was quieter and steeper and has no trees. Man you get some speed up. This is the hill we went back to today. I didn't take part today as I have a misaligned pelvis and one day of sledging is about as much as I can take. So I stopped at the bottom of the hill and took pictures. There were a couple of gentlemen and their sons on sledges made of sign boards. They very kindly sold us one of the boards. I guess they made a tidy profit today as they sold another as well. They work for a sign company so I'm guessing the boards didn't cost them too much.



I managed to get a few pictures of the ice. I was hoping to get some of the icicles we saw the other night but most of them had thawed yesterday.







Now these are the icicles on our guttering. Quite impressive I thought.


There are also a few on the bin and a set of stalagmites/stalactites on the water barrel.



I can't remember the last time I saw proper icicles. It is just not cold enough for long enough anymore. We seem to have lost the seasons bit here. We get a couple of warm days in summer and a couple of cold days in winter and the rest of the time it is just damp in one way or another. These last couple of years have been more like the ones from my childhood, at least with the winters. Now if we can just get some sun in summer.

So if you thought my icicles were nice here are the ones at my mum's. Mighty or what? They're at least 3 feet long!



And just for pretty's sake here are a few other pics. But be warned dear reader, too many photos in icy conditions (especially after spending a couple of hours watching your dearly beloveds sledge) will lead to hands like this.

From a tiny seed

Our order of seeds arrived today. This is most of the seeds we are going to need for this years vegetable garden. We got them from The Real Seed Catalogue. These are all heritage seeds, some of which are varieties well over 100 years old. As we've looked into growing our own fruit and veg the kind of seeds we use has become more and more important. Here in England the weather is temperamental to say the least. We tend towards moderate and damp but we do get really warm patches and really cold ones too. We chose this company as they test all the seeds themselves, in Wales, to see how they fair in our climate. The ones in their catalogue should all work fairly well for us here. The reason we chose heritage seeds is simple. Less messing.

Most seed that you get from a garden centre of big catalogue are F1 hybrids. These have been bred to perform "better". This usually means more uniform in appearance and the plant fruiting all at the same time. While this is good for a commercial grower it's rubbish for us at home. F1s are bred from 2 or more kinds of plants to encourage certain characteristics. This means you can't really save seeds from them as they will revert back to the parent plants or just be sterile. Heirloom Plants breed true to type which means you can save your own seeds. In fact the company we bought from tells you how to save seeds from each different plant and actively encourages you to do so. What's that, a company encouraging you to not buy from them? Yup, that's right. So we have a bunch of really old varieties, a couple of which are weird ones such as yellow carrots and a cabbage tree! Did you know that orange carrots are relatively new, like the last couple of hundred years?

Anyhoo to get these cool kinds of veg they have to be a bit sneaky. According to EU regulations you can only sell certain kinds of seeds, those that have been certified, to the public. This is leading to many old varieties dying out. So by getting these seeds we have become members of the real seed club and that gets round it.

I like growing our own as we get the perfect ones and the ugly ones that supermarkets aren't allowed to sell. Under EU regulations (again) Vast amounts of fruit and veg are refused entry to our supermarkets based solely on appearance. Thankfully this abominable practice is being abandoned. So Will we eat wonky fruit and veg again?


Now I'm all out of pretty snowy pictures at the moment. I'm sure I'll take more this weekend.
So for now I leave you with a satellite picture of the UK at the moment.

Image courtesy of BBC

Everyone has dreams

When I was younger all I wanted to do was be a doctor. As I got older I wanted to be a teacher. My hidden desire for many years was to be a photographer. I went into training in a call centre as a substitute for teaching. But none of these things stayed with me for long. I was not one of those people who knows what they want to do with their lives and that's it. I had the traditional goals of marriage, children and a career but nothing more fixed than that. And, as with most women, all of these vague goals were to be achieved before I turned 30.

I am now 9 days away from my 28th birthday. So let's look at my 3 goals.
Career: I don't have one and don't really want one anymore. I am working towards a homestead/farm. In an ideal world I will be able to give up any "normal" job and the farm will sustain us.
Marriage: Hopefully one day. Me and Spadger have talked about it so it's just a matter of time. He says the proposal has to top the first date which is a bit of a tall order so we'll see.
Children: Me and Spadger aren't procreating. I'm sure there is another post in that somewhere. However he has a beautiful daughter that I am proud to say calls me her Stepmother. I have a ready made family with out having to go through labour, sleepless nights and nappies. Can't put a price on that really.

I wonder if there is anything more to life than these 3 goals. Once I would have said no. Now I'm not so sure. What is truly important in life? I am far beyond the belief that the latest phone, newest clothes and biggest house will bring me happiness. The consumer rat race is not for me. So what will bring me happiness? The Buddhist view point is that happiness comes from your own perceptions of everything.

Seeking happiness outside ourselves is like waiting for sunshine in a cave facing north.
Tibetan saying

I would be lying if I said that not reaching any of these goals would not make me unhappy. However I choose now to live my life one day at a time and try to find myself lying in bed each evening happy with how my day went. I don't see how I can do anymore.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama

This is something I think we have forgotten how to do. We no longer live in small communities and with greater amounts of disposable income than our ancestors had we seem to be finding less and less reason to help each other. Do you know the names of your neighbours? We do. Not many people can say the same though. On one side of us we have had several different tenants and the only ones we have known the names of are the owners, who are back in at the moment, and the lovely Polish people who were there when we moved in. No one else really made the effort to talk back to us. The little girl from next door came round to borrow a shovel the other day to clear their path of all the snow and it got me thinking. I can't remember the last time I would have felt comfortable asking a neighbour to borrow anything. How awful is that? We are becoming so insular and loosing touch with our communities.

Jenna at Cold Antler Is having a bit of a tough time at the moment. The sheer level of response from the Bloggosphere makes me glad that there is still some kind of community feeling in the world. Even if it is in a very widespread global way.

Wow so that was a bit of a ramble. How I got from the goals of most women pre-30 to community spirit I'm not sure. Ah well, you guys signed to to look into my butterfly mind :o)

So today I entreat you to say hello to the people you pass on the street, make the effort to become involved with your community and revel in the glorious feeling of connecting with your fellow man.

And just for AngelMC here are some more snowy pics :o) Kristen the place you mentioned in yesterdays pics is Kirkstall abbey. It's a 12th century Cistercian abbey that is 10 mins from my house.

This is the canal by our house. It's frozen solid with snow on it. Man the ducks we're disgruntled

Snowglobe

Image courtesy of Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz

So last night, while watching the snow, I felt like I was living in a snow-globe. It's just like God/Allah/Creator Spirit is shaking everything up then putting us back on the dresser and watching the snow fall. The long range forecast has this kind of weather, or at lest the temperatures, being here for a month. This means I am in with a very real chance of getting my eternal birthday wish of enough snow to build a snowman granted.


Spadger's declaration

However many others do not share my glee at the snow. In fact, most don't. There are complaints of the cold, how hard it is to drive anywhere, how days off work only make it harder to get through it all. Man when did everyone grow up? Children have the best idea. They just want to play in it. They know that school work will have to be caught up on but they are able to forget about it and live in the moment. My exclamations of "please can I just have 10 days more snow" and the small squeal I let out when it started snowing again today are met with derision almost. Now I am a responsible adult. I would not call in and say I couldn't get to work when I could just to go and play in the snow. However I do wish to be snowed in, to not be able to make it to work. Now this could in part be due to my job not being the fulfilling thing that the farm will be. But mostly it is down to my love of snow.



Snow makes everything pretty. Even the most run down areas look lovely in snow. When I was really small we used to get snow most winters. This has changed as I've gotten older and now it seems we never get it, or it waits until Easter! The last couple of years we have had snowman snow. This winter is the coldest one in 30 years I heard on the radio today. But instead of appreciating this season we moan about it. London and the South get brought to a standstill at the slightest covering of snow. The North of England (I'm in Yorkshire) and Scotland have had much more but have just carried on. Sure many schools have been closed and roads have been hell. But we've just tried to carry on as normal. Whilst moaning of course.



I just don't understand how people can make the complaints the first thing they do. I mean, I understand that very few people over the age of 10 feel about snow the same way I do, but come on. Lighten up a bit folks.

Ok, rant over :o)

More snow and a refashionistas dilemmas

On the way to work this morning

The view from my office

Argh. Somehow managed to not save everything I wrote this morning. I know I pressed save. Ah well. Quick recap then. Tis snowing and I am giddy as a loon. Am also slightly miserable as I am at work with no sign of going home yet. They keep talking about it but no one has made the final decision yet. The last time I went out with a ruler (yes I actually went out with a ruler!) it was 3 inches deep. It hasn't stopped since then so I'm sure there will be much more now. The forecast is for snow for the next 3 days at least with temps not getting much above freezing. It's slowed down a lot now but the sky is still heavy.

12:03
Well my whole department has gone home now and it's just me sat here waiting for Spadger to say we can go. Sigh.

The view from my house today

Not long after the above we went. Now I am home from a walk thorough the Abbey grounds and down the canal side (which included a flask of tea and chili chocolate muffins!) Te snow has currently stopped as 5 inches :oD Glee glee glee. The first thing I did when we got home was make a snow angel.



Someone beat me for ingenuity by making a wall angel at the Abbey.



A quick bit of tidying up and then I think I shall get on with some sewing. We are due for more snow this evening. I'm hoping for enough to stop us from going into work tomorrow.

9:47
I finished taking the sleeves off a dress and turning a too short jumper into a cardigan. Not bad for an evening's work. Almost had a hissy fit at the bias binding I have as it's too thin but I made it up as I went along and all was well. I'm off to play Scrabble with the man now. I wonder how long it will take for me to swear at him.

I leave you with some more pics from today's snow. How can anyone be unhappy when there is beauty like this in the world?

It's a New Year everyday

It's New Year's Day and there is snow falling from the sky. Only the tiniest amount but it is there. It's rained for the last couple of days and washed away all the snow we had so I'm happy to see new snowfall. In an ideal world we will be a foot deep in the stuff on the 16th. All I want for my birthday each year is snow. Being practically the dead centre of winter you would expect that to happen quite often but it doesn't.

Last night was a Blue Moon. Unfortunately this does not mean that the moon went blue. However it was a really clear night so I got some nice pics. I love taking pictures of the moon. Just a shame you always get the same side of it. Might have to get some traveling done and take moon shots then too :o)

Today is the day we are sorting out a couple of clothing patterns I bought. Well, I say we. Spadger is sorting them and then I'll sew them and then we'll make any more adjustments as they're needed. The sorting involved is doing a FBA to them. Bless clothing patterns and their being designed for a B cup bust. Man it's been a while since I was at that end of the alphabet! So we altered one of the dress patterns so I could make a dress for the Christmas do and it worked quite well. It wasn't totally right though so we're having another go. I want to get all the bodice patterns sorted so I can start knocking out some clothes. The plan is to have a pile of ready cut pieces so I can just make something when I feel like it. We'll see how that goes.

Before I go back to work I have one re-fashion I want to do as well. I have a green velvet skirt which the zip came out of that I want to turn into a dress. I'm gonna use the V where the zip was as a V neck, add straps to it, take the back in so it lays right and then either add some shirring to under the bust or put a ribbon on to tie it. Not decided that yet.

7:03
Spadger got the 2 different bodice pieces for the dress pattern done and then got bored. Can't say I blame him. Hopefully I can persuade him to do the top pattern tomorrow. I've embroidered our bread towel. Ok I know that sounds weird but you need a clean damp tea towel to cover rising bread with and we got lovely new tea towels of my Momma for Christmas as decided to set one aside for the bread so it doesn't get really grimy. So I've embroidered the word bread on it. Pics to come (yes I know you all really want to see it hehehe). I've also unpicked a duvet cover I got from a charity shop a while back. I'm making a sower curtain from it. More to come on that later. We're heading over to my Momma's in a bit for Dinner and to watch both parts of the Christmas Dr Who. Not having a tv is fine most of the time as there is the Iplayer for the very rare things we want to watch. However Dr Who should be given proper respect and good reception :o) I'll be taking a hanky as it's the end of David Tennant's run and I quite like him.


Lastly here is a pic of the soap at the moment. I got so eager to watch the film yesterday that I forgot to post the picture hehehehe

2 sleeps til Santa comes

We has sleet and hail last night but it's not melted all the snow yet. There are forecasts for some light snow most days for the next 5 days so we might still have white stuff on the ground on Christmas day. It is a clement 2 degrees C this morning so it's all kinda hanging on hope at the mo.



However the ice on the windscreen this morning formed feathers and I think they are just the prettiest things. The sky was also beautifully pink and the sun was a big glowy ball again.



The day started exceptionally well with breakfast. We had scrambled eggs made from the quiche mixture leftovers, scallion scones from this recipe and hot buttered toast made from fresh bread and butter made by Spadger. Round that off with coffee and it's the kind of breakfast all days should start with.


4:27
So far there has been no snow and it's been a balmy 4 degrees. There is still the forecast of snow though so I'll be keeping my eye out.

In my heart I'm on holiday already. I know there is tomorrow yet but everyone is bringing their kids into work so it will be bedlam with very little getting done. I Have a mountain of little things to do, mostly tidying, before Christmas so being in work tomorrow really doesn't appeal.

*-*-*-* It all goes a bit off track below *-*-*-*

If I'm being honest work appeals less and less each day. not that I don't like my job. I would like to stress right now that I like my job fine. The people are nice and generally I'm helping folk and making them happy with in turn makes me happy. However the world of marketing print really doesn't fit in with my ideals. It's a lot of paper and energy that essentially goes to waste. Not very Kermity.

More and more I long for the farm. Spadger has been in the mindset for a while. He is definitely unsatisfied. I've been plodding along quite nicely. However the run up to Christmas has changed my mind somewhat. I've put a lot of effort into a project that as of right now is still incomplete. I feel no joy in what was achieved because for all my effort I was let down by others. I long for the farm When everything will be down to me and Spadger and we will be the only ones to blame when things go wrong. Which I'm sure they will.

A lot of this longing has been stirred up by Jenna at Cold Antler Farm She is my inspiration. She works damn hard and loves every second of it. She is one rung up on the ladder (the very tall ladder as she puts it) towards getting her farm. I feel like I'm browsing in the ladder section of B&Q. But on that ladder I shall get. Thanks for your inspiration Jenna. I'll be introducing myself to her soon when I've caught up on all of her blog. I always feel I should read people's archive before making acquaintances.

*-*-*-* Thanks for staying with me there *-*-*-*

One of the jobs I hate most around the house is cleaning the kitchen floor. It's too small to warrant storing a mop so it's a case of scrubbing it with a brush on my knees. I've been avoiding it as I'm a messy baker so it was only going to get worse as I marathon baked. I've just cleaned it now and let me tell you folks, it gleams! Now I am doing some more baking tonight but with the whole kitchen tidy I shouldn't make such a mess of the floor as I have more side space. I hope.

Well it's now 10:10, I've baked all the stuff that I'm giving as gifts to my office. The pound cakes are just in the oven now. I haven't totally reclaimed my kitchen but it looks more likely that I will before Christmas. I've enjoyed a half of a nice beer and soon I will be going to bed. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow but it is the last working one for 10 days. Woot and indeed wahay!

And just to make my night this is happening right now!

3 sleeps til Santa comes

When I woke up this morning it was with a certain trepidation that I wouldn't have any snowy pictures to share with you today. We've had no new snow fall however there was a hard frost last night. So everything has a sugar coating this morning. Icing sugar streets.


As you can see our little winter hardy fuchsia looks like a cake decoration :o)


Our water barrel overflowed and then froze. Currently It's a giant ice cube.


My boots still have a bit of a drift against them and now have a furry coating of frost too :o)


10:23
It's just started snowing again! We're not forecast anymore snow so the fact that it's falling anyway makes me happy.

Well the snow continued on an off. Whenever there was a cry of "don't look out the window" I knew it was snowing. My office laugh at me glee over snow :o) All in all the day was ok. I'm still sick of my big project and it looks like it wont be completed before we break up on Thursday like I hoped. However I'm feeling pretty ok about this. I can only do so much right? So I'm leaving it to the fates now. This evening I plan on making quiche for tea, some more bread and some scallion biscuits. Who knows what else will end up in the oven. The rest of operation clean the kitchen will happen too. Bed time is an indeterminate thing. I have plenty of pennies in the purse from the baking so I may treat the Mr and I to some beer. We'll see. All in all I'm feeling quite relaxed about my evening.

Today is an especially beautiful day. Most of which I've not captured on film. (Yes Spadger, You're right, I really do need to take my camera everywhere!) The sun was a big pink ball in the sky, hanging low and totally round. Everything has spiky fronds of frost on it. Breaths fog out. I love these kind of days. they happen all the time and I think we very rarely stop and enjoy them. There is so much beauty in the world and I'm amazed at how little most people appreciate it. The little wonders that the world has to show me lift me up in a way that money and "stuff" never will. Flowers, bugs, water and sky are the balms to the soul. Nothing cures a Grumpy me better than standing at the ocean or on top of a cliff. Just being surrounded by the elements makes me happy. But this is all about mindset. Try putting me outside in the rain or walking up a steep hillside when I'm not ready for it and see the Grump return. The payoff at the end usually brings back the Chirp though. The views and the fresh air are always worth it. I think if more people took a moment to appreciate the beauty around them they would be happier. I genuinely believe this. You don't have to trek miles to see this, there is usually some right in your neighbourhood. Stop and take a moment to soak in the world we've been blessed with.

With that in mind I leave you with a few more frosty pictures. Man I love my camera!