Winter Sunshine

It was really sunny today, and I had a chance to wander round the garden and see how everything is doing:

Hollyhocks and sweet peas

Winter peas Meteor in a makeshift cloche

And all the poultry had the chance to sit in the sun and preen. Mary still hangs out with the chicks, or rather, they hang out with her:

They are getting so big!

The bunnies had a run outside too, which meant the guinea pigs had free range of the shed for a leg stretch (not that I can get pictures of them):

There was the most fantastic mushroom up the track, which Amber said looked like a song thrush:

I went and saw Nicky during the children's Latin lesson, and we agreed that we were both a bit short on inspiration at the moment. Hopefully a peruse of the yarn stash will produce results! I have started some mitts to match my raven Erssie Major hat:

It's a Rowan pattern for silk twist but I'm using Debbie Bliss' alpaca silk, which seems to be working better than the cashmerino aran I'd tried before. I've pretty much finished my Christmas collection, although having found the crochet hook that Nicky loaned me, I would like to make something for a friend in the blue and black alpaca yarn I bought but haven't really bonded with! Maybe it was knitting a moss stitch scarf in it that turned me off :-/

Rosie made a Christmas cake at Brownies:

which we will save until Christmas.

Yeah right!!

Amber made biscuits with Laura this morning, and they decided to have a tea party, which roughly translates as lay out plates on a blanket and eat all the biscuits.

Oh and I got my results for my two OU courses that I took this year: Grade 2 for S366 Evolution and Grade 3 for S369 The Geological Record of Environmental Change. I practically gave up in the summer so I'm pleased I did sit the exams. Meanwhile, back to the books for hard rock.....

Crab Apple Jelly

Watching Countryfile last week with their feature on preserves and jams, I realised the 3 trees laden with fruit by the Village Hall near me were crab apples. So, digging a bag out of the boot on the way back from lunch at the Merrie Harriers, we picked about 0.005% of the fruit. They are such perfect red little apples, I've never properly looked at them. Anyway, the girls helped me de-stalk them and I decided to try some jelly according to this Waitrose recipe having had little success with past jam and jelly making attempts.

They looked very beautiful in the pan:

and once they'd softened, I left the pulp to drain overnight through a tea towel and colander. Having measured the liquid and done the maths for 10 parts juice to 7 parts sugar :-/ I left it at a rolling boil for 25 minutes. And guess what? It set!! Yes! I forgot to skim it so it has lumpy bits of foam in it but one jar looks pretty good:

Sooooo pretty. We have collected some more as I want to have a go at crab apple wine....

The girls were at Stagecoach in the morning and did some Fimo when they got back so that kept them quiet of a few minutes:

Charles came over and brought me some lard - to make bird cake (he did also bring chocolate and about 15 bottles of real ale to replensish stocks) and we made enough to last us a month or two at least:

The bunnies came in to the lounge this morning for a bit as it was rather wet and cold for them to go in their run. Scruff was extremely good and managed to supress all his doggy instincts, especially when Scarlet hopped up and tried to kiss him.

I think the dog struggles more with resisting the ducks due to his Springer heritage. John (the grey call) has taken to trying to grab my feet as I walk through the garden which makes it a bit difficult not to trip over him, but it does mean I get to stroke him sometimes if I am sitting down when he attacks me.

I didn't do so well with my geology this morning; Activity 1.3.1 rather exercised me - the answer to Question 1 was about 4 paragraphs long, significantly more comprehensive than mine which was 'No'. But the video footage was good as it was all about the Grand Canyon and Sierra Nevada mountains.

My knitting has reached a hiatus as I ran out of cream wool mid-bauble and I've got to the complicated bits with all the hats. Still, it's Countryfile and Downton Adverts this evening so I should be able catch up a bit.

Geological custard

It's been rather damp out so I have taken the time to catch up with some indoor things. I should probably now be launching forth with a run down of the housework chores I have completed but hmm, moving on...

I made a case for my dpns:

And have also done some more of the various knitting projects although I can't show them really; I should pixelate the photos of the hats and scarves and mitts like they do on Crimewatch so that it proves I have actually been doing something constructive with my needles not just indulging them with a more organised home.

I have found that getting up early and using the quiet time in the moring to study has helped me feel much more confident about tackling distance learning, which can be a lonely old business especially when I have no background in science at this level. I am taking the time to look things up and try and get my head around parts of the course that are problematical when they arise as I don't want to make the mistake I have in the past in assuming that I will be able to wing it! I really love the subject though and I have done this type of geology a number of times before so it is quite familiar. I decided to look at material properties this morning for the children's science lesson so we did about elastic and plastic deformation, and as an homage to my course text, I used a bowl of custard to demonstrate how earthquakes cause brittle failure of the Earth's crust:

Can you see the cracks on the cooled surface? - having simulated about a magnitude 15 earthquake by banging the bowl on the table. However the heat of the underneath layer keeps it sufficiently plastic to accommodate the stress. I do like science experiments that one can eat afterwards although a lack of forethought meant I didn't have a plutonic apple crumble or subduction zone jam roly-poly to go with it. I also helped Rose finish her lapbook about stars. The laminator then came out and she and Amber designed a range of characters for a show, with the usual Hollyoaks-inspired plot line. I had to sit through it but I was allowed to knit. The characters were quite sweet - I was rather sorry most of them ended up dying:

All the hens followed me through the garden this afternoon as they are being deprived of their evening corn ration in favour of their Flubenvet-spiked layers mash. Maud is still a bit blocked up but I'm hoping she'll be ok.