Work Work Work...

Due to the snow, we have achieved very little today, unlike a usual Monday which is a hive of activity (!). Well, there were duckles paddling around:

And then there was a sled run to make in the field. I told the children to construct it down the footpath so that our rather draconian landlord wouldn't tell them off for trespassing. I realised afterwards that once it's all frozen solid in the sub-zero temperatures overnight, it's going to be great fun when I try to walk the dog up there tomorrow :-/ but they were being remarkably co-operative with each other so I left them to it:

It was a beautiful day though so I did venture out, and needless to say got roped in to having a go :-)

Transformation

The forecasters were right! We have had snow! The hens weren't sure:

The dog loves it though - he's the tiny dot between the two trees in this photo:

So as the children are with their father this weekend, I've got myself a big blanket, the February socks, the sweet pea socks, my half-finished crocheted wrap, 3 books which require concentration and the box set of Life on Mars which we watched 4 episodes of last night. Oh, and a really big tub of chocolate digestives...think I'm all set ;-)

And Breathe.....

Brrrr it has been really cold but beautiful here in Sussex, and despite hovering around freezing all day, it's been too dry to snow which I must confess to being rather relieved about. I walked Scruff this morning and saw a flock of lapwing in the field, and then the small herd of about 15 fallow deer sitting in the sun by the hedge in the next field. I know they are sufficiently common to be regarded as a pest, but there is something elegant and ethereal about deer, and in this little herd there is a pure white one who is rather stunning among its brown counterparts.

I cycled with the girls up to near the village hall yesterday afternoon to pick the last of the crab apples, and got many a strange look from the parents collecting their children from the local primary school. It wasn't a tremendous haul but we picked enough for a saucepanful and I now have another few jars of crabapple jelly. It also gave me a chance to try out my new bike basket that my parents got me for Christmas:

My lovely Scruff

Yesterday evening the children went to their father's for the night as they had a family event to go to today, so I had a much-needed break. The weekends that they spend with him have reduced down to 24 hours and I find I am just getting in to the swing of having some time and space when they come back, and bless them, they are understandably grouchy with all the changes and contrasts so rarely is it a particularly joyful reunion. So to have an extra bit of time is a real treat especially as Charles took the day off too.

We decided on a packed out program of a morning of doing nothing, then a pub lunch, followed by some more nothing. My nothing consisted of some crochet, sewing and giving extra food and bedding to the bunnies, guineas, ducks and chickens, and Charles' revolved around reading the paper and listening to the cricket on the radio, interspersed with the tastiest sausage and mash at the Three Cups. It has been bliss, even though I had to unravel my crochet 3 times and have come to the conclusion that my sewing machine definitely needs a service. The children are back tonight before going off to their dad's again tomorrow afternoon (the girls have Stagecoach in the morning) but I am hoping to retain some of my adult perspective and not get sucked in too much, with a view to seamlessly carrying on the weekend, and resting my poor addled and worrisome brain!

Sunny Sunday

It was a beautiful autumn morning and I forgot that Tristan and his friends had probably not gone to sleep that early, but Henry the cockerel was in full voice, as were the calls once I let them out.

Joanna watches a plane pass overhead

Maud

Tristan's friends left after the second round of breakfast, one of which was a fry-up and the other was Nigella Lawson's cinnamon buns:

Yum

and after I cleared up all the KFC and crisp wrappers and ketchup-smeared plates I thought Scruff could do with a decent run somewhere without undergrowth for him to disappear in to. The beach was really the only option so I thought the nearest beach with nice memories was Birling Gap, where I went on a Summer School trip a couple of years ago. It was glorious, although we had to go sufficiently far away from the steps for the 'Please Keep Dogs on Leads' sign to become less relevant. I was revelling in the geology, the girls were rock-pooling and Scruff was keeping his stitched ear out of trouble.

More Trips to the Vet...

Yesterday we bathed Maud as she was a bit smelly. She didn't seem to mind too much:

We then blow dried her with the hair-dryer which she really enjoyed. She is looking more spruced up now and has a more tea-tree than farmyard fragrance. We took her to the vet in the afternoon with Willow the bunny as she needed her foot checked from when she was bandaged up a month ago. We also took Scruff who was pertrified, to say the least. He urinated on the vet's shoes and then went and whined in the corner.

The verdict with Maud from the extremely helpful vet was that she was a bit underweight, suffered a bit at the beaks of other hens, had a dodgy leg and given she has only been laying soft-shelled eggs, I would be entitled to take her back to Middle Farm and get her replaced, as usually their hens are very good so she might be a bit of a dud/runt of the litter type hen. Of course, Maud would not be kept if she were returned...so I got her some antibiotics and gave in to my sentimentality. The vet said it was a head vs heart decision and he would be similarly exercised as to which way to go. Bless him, he only charged me £11.56 for the consultation and medication.

I also finished my little green hat which is much less like Smarty and much more like the Rowan Harvest Beanie but well, I like it:

I need to take Scruff to the vet now; as I said to Nicky, might be an idea if we stay in the waiting room and the vet views his wound with binoculars from a distance. Or look - I have a picture! And a webcam! Why can't we have a virtual consultation?

Anyway whilst trawling the internet for a pattern for a knitted periodic table, I came across this which made me chuckle:

Ups and Downs of Pet Ownership

When Rosie woke up I was able to tell her that the bad news was, I might not get round to crocheting her a guinea pig for Christmas, but the good news was that I had got her two real ones!  They are completely adorable, 8 weeks old and called Milly:

And Molly:

Molly looks like she's had a perm or been crimped; she is really soft but I can see her getting matted if we're not careful, so we got Rose a grooming kit as well. She wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up so what better practise. I can hear her now telling future clients: "Don't worry Mrs Smith - I used to style my guinea pig's fur..."

That was the good bit of the day. Scruff had an unfortunate incident with some barbed wire whilst out on our early morning walk which culminated in a rather traumatic dash to the local vet and a tetanus jab for me. He has been stitched up but his vet phobia has escalated to immense proportions and I am really rather concerned about me ever being able to get him to go back. It wasn't the usual practice I go to so that is something to be thankful for so hopefully he won't baulk at returning to the usual place for his routine vaccinations etc. He is lying next to me looking as sorry for himself as it's possible for a spaniel to look, which is a lot. An awful and horrible experience for both of us.

Moving on: I finished my bauble:

I have also found a really good pattern for a crochet scarf using 'granite stitch' - geology and crochet! Two of my favourite things! Gotta make something in that! :-)

I have also cast on a 'Smarty' hat in Debbie Bliss' Paloma yarn which is a lovely soft baby alpaca/merino blend knitted on 10mm needles so fast and easy. Two more of my favourite things...

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.

Autumn Day

The clock change is starting to catch up with me a bit - I seem to go to bed later than I usually do and yet still get up at 7am BST so am losing out on both counts. I am trying to study when I first get up for half an hour or so as it's the only bit of the day when it's quiet enough for me to concentrate, until Henry starts of course. It has been so mild and today it was sunny too so I wanted to get into the garden and check my bees. I had thought that if I tidied up the rose border outside the study it would glavanise me into tidying up the study itself, but I only managed the first half of that intention, unsurpisingly. The study is also my er, storage area for all my various interests so I have a spare beehive for a coffee table and numerous demi-johns and boxes full of stuff and frames and beeswax everywhere. It's a bit of a tip, but outside is looking more spruced up now:

I love my roses and they put on a fabulous show this year, and I enjoy pruning too, as I enjoy choosing which stem to keep and which bud looks good and thinking about how it will look and flower next year, and Maud kept me company. Lady Emma Hamilton had one final flower that I nipped off and put in a vase; the fragrance is wonderful. I always find rose essential oil or rose-scented toiletries rather overpowering which is such a shame, as the real thing is so complex and beautiful.

It was such lovely weather, all the animals had a spell in the garden:

Duckles root around for morsels in the lawn

Drew basks in the vegetable patch

Bunbuns enjoy a frolic in their large run

Emily helps herself to my winter salads

It was lovely walking the dog round the fields too. He needed a decent run as he ate half the loaf of brioche while we were out at Laura's for history this morning. He was probably hungry having shunned his breakfast with its pulverised worming tablet hidden in the warm beef gravy that I soaked his biscuits in. Little horror.

I have cast on the next project which, as with most of the other things I am currently doing, will have to remain incognito for now....