A little snow, a chilly weekend and blooming fireworks! ⛄

Evening Everyone.
Hope everyone is well. We woke up yesterday to a light covering of snow and it was still actually snowing. It was also really, really cold. The first time this year that I've actually worn a fleece under my jacket and also had to wear a hat, scarf and gloves. I can't ever remember it snowing in October before? Yet again the seasons seem to be all over the place.
I don't know if any of you have pets? We have a 10 year old mad Cocker Spaniel. A mad Cocker Spaniel who is absolutely terrified of fireworks. We have tried absolutely everything to help him but nothing works.
We had him firework trained as a puppy, we have tried ear defenders that he rips off, a weighted blanked, we have bought plug ins and sprays from our vet all to no avail. We asked the vet about some sort of medication to calm him down but were told that they won't do that because tests have shown that the dogs can still hear the fireworks and are still terrified but showing no outward signs.
 After sitting in the house with the television blaring out and all the curtains drawn, putting him in the car and driving out to the middle of nowhere and sitting with the radio on and a flask, we have resorted to taking him to our local pub which has no houses around it and so no fireworks. In theory this should be ok. I will drive so that we haven't got to walk him in case any fireworks go off on route.
 The things we have to do as pet lovers!
I wouldn't mind if it was only one night be we seem to have them going off for weeks. I know I sound like a real killjoy and admit that before we had our dog I wouldn't of realised that pets could get so distraught.
Do you have any pets? Are they afraid of fireworks?
Take Care
Jules x


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Aborted mission to the Theatre

Evening everyone.
We have had tickets to watch a play at the New Vic Theatre for several weeks. It was a play written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn called Joking Apart.
It had a fabulous write up and was supposed to be really funny.
We get tickets free of charge periodically from a friend of our sons who works for the theatre. We do treat him to a selection of his favourite beers to say thank you. Its a deal that seems to work very well.
We do pick certain plays to watch that we think we would be interested in and if we can't get free tickets for that particular play we do still get a 50% reduced rate.
Today we made a mistake. We sat through the first half and then went to the cafe for our usual half time coffee. Hubby went to find a table and I stood in the queue for the drinks.  Any regular theatre goers will know that this queue takes forever to go down and so whilst waiting patiently I had tome to reflect on the first half of the performance. Guess what? I really didn't enjoy it. I was bored and didn't find it remotely funny. I thought I was going to just be bored for the rest of the performance until I returned with the coffees and Hubby asked " So what did you think of the play?"
 I had two choices here, lie and have to endure the second half in silence or be honest and ruin Hubby's enjoyment as he would feel guilty about making me sit through it knowing I wasn't enjoying it.
So I took the cowards way out and said "hmmm it was ok" to which he replied
" thought so, you looked bored stiff, I actually thought it was rubbish and not our cup of tea at all, lets go home. No point sitting through another 45 minutes"
Phew!! Thank goodness for that.
But, now, how do we walk out past our friend in the box office  without having to confess we hated it after he told us it was so good just an hour earlier. There was nothing else for it, we sneaked out of the upstairs fire escape feeling  like  naughty children! I think in future we will need to be a bit more selective about what we ask to see. Thankfully it hadn't cost us anything or I may of had to force myself to see it through to the end.
Have you ever had to sit through something that you found boring. What would you do in this situation?
Just in case you're interested in the play. Here are the details.

Take care
Jules x
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I'm Back!

Hello Everyone.
Hope everyone is well. Sorry for not blogging for a week but I have been away for a couple of days and also unfortunately wasn't too well when I returned. The joys of looking after poorly grandchildren. I had managed to pick up some sort of virus that made me dizzy ( more than my usual blond self!), upset tummy and nausea. I also seemed to ache all over. It was horrid! I rang my daughter who is a primary school teacher and she said that half her class and several staff were poorly with the same thing. Thankfully I am back to normal again now.

I was really really lucky to win my mini break at The Manor House in a competition. When we arrived we were given the keys to our room which we thought was rather nice and later found out that it was the best room in the hotel, in fact it was the bridal suite.

We were given a voucher for a couple of glasses of prosecco and £55 credit for our evening meal, which was more than adequate. We didn't bother with starters but we each  had a main meal, a sweet, a cheeseboard to share and two cappuccinos. I had glass of baileys too and the only thing we paid for were two beers for hubby.
 The following morning we had a fabulous breakfast. The menu was really good and as well as a full English breakfast there were pancakes, kippers, smoked salmon and various types of eggs. Alongside this there was a lovely selection of toast with good quality preserves,  fresh fruits, cereals, yogurts, danish pastries and muffins. The waitress kept asking if we would like more toast or tea and coffee. We really were spoilt for choice.
 Although we were incredibly lucky to win this, and so it was all free, I would honestly recommend the hotel to anyone for a short break. There is a swimming pool and saunas that are free for your use whilst staying,  lovely walks from the hotel and just a mile down the road a village with a good choice of independent shops, pubs and restaurants. Even though we had only gone for a couple of days we left feeling very relaxed and pampered.  Just what I needed after my horrid virus.
Hope you are all well and managing to dodge the nasty virus's that are doing the rounds. It's that time of the year when the coughs, colds, flu and tummy bugs seem to be rife. Have your flu jabs if you can, take some vitamins, try to wash your hands or use antibacterial gel after contact with anyone who is poorly or better still avoid going where you know you may catch something.
Take care
Jules x












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Mad, mad weather.

☔🌞🌈⛈⛅🌀

Hello Everyone.
Well the weather here has been mad this last few days. It has been hot enough to be able to go out without a sweater or jacket. Cold enough for my trusty Ugg boots to be dragged out from the depths of my winter wardrobe. So windy that we worried that we would lose the fence panels, the greenhouse door had to have a very large and heavy garden ornament pushed up against it to stop if flapping in the wind and whilst pegging out my washing under the carport I truly feared for my life as it rattled and banged and a piece of the corrugated roof flew off! :0  On top of this we have had a frost two mornings and so much rain in a few hours that I contemplated building an ark! What on earth is going on?
What has happened to our lovely predictable seasons here in the UK? I must admit that in the past I have always been more than a bit sceptical about the doom and gloom  and scare mongering of the scientists who appear on the news to tell us about the effects of global warming. Well, no more, I am convinced that they were right all along and hope that it isn't too late to try to reverse or at least stop this from happening further.
I was chatting to a neighbour who said " global warming, bring it on! I love the warm weather" I didn't say it but mentally I thought " then why not move to a sunnier climate?"
 I love our seasons.
I love the autumn leaves falling and changing colours in the garden, watching the birds and squirrels collecting the acorns from our tree to store for winter.
 I love the first snow of winter when I can go for a walk, wrapped up in my hat, scarf and gloves. Home again after into the warmth of the house and snuggle up with a hot chocolate.
I love spring when the snowdrops, crocus and daffodils start to appear and all the plants in the garden spring into life. I love watching the ferns in the hedgerow unfurl.
I love the long days of summer, walking on the beach, ice creams, eating outdoors and it still being light at ten o'clock. 
I love living here in my little cottage, with all the wildlife ( some not so much!) and having the privilege of being retired and having time to enjoy it.
Jules x



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Birthday treats and vegan dining.

Evening Everyone.
Hope everyone is well. The weather here today has been absolutely gorgeous, just like a summers day. I have stripped both beds and also washed up all the towels and teacloths and got the lot dried outside.
I made my first ever vegan birthday cake yesterday for my stepson who's birthday is tomorrow. I forgot to take a photo of it but it turned out really well. I got the recipe from the Internet and just followed it to the letter. It turned out perfectly. 

This is the photo from the recipe page on the internet.

Recipe is here if anyone would like to make it. best ever vegan chocolate cake
Even though I am not a vegan myself I can thoroughly recommend it and it definitely got the thumbs up from my stepson.
We took him out for lunch today as we are unable to see him tomorrow. We have really struggled in the past to find somewhere suitable to eat. At best you can find one thing on a menu and sometimes nothing. He actually found about the pub we went to through a vegan blog and lots of people had recommended it.
From the outside it didn't look like much and indeed we used to drive past it every single day on our way to and from work. Inside though we were pleasantly surprised as it was really nicely decorated. The lady behind the bar was very knowledgeable about the vegan menu which was in fact an entire separate menu to the main one.  Stepson was spoilt for choice but settled on a Cajun spiced falafel burger that came with huge homemade chips, a generous salad and several small pots with various dips and sauces in. He also had the vegan cheesecake to follow which was a large slice of vanilla cheesecake topped with berries and served with two scoops of a good quality ice cream. He really enjoyed the whole meal and the prices were extremely good too.
It is definitely a place we will go with him again in the future.
Take care
Jules x
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Keeping up local traditions

Evening Everyone. Hope everyone has had a good Saturday.
Today hubby said that he just wanted a day at home so that he could watch his sport on TV.  He doesn't do this often as he is very active but now and again he just likes to watch the rugby and football. Last Saturday we popped to our local rugby club to watch our friends son play. He has been away at university but has been popping home when he could to play.
To be honest I'm not really a fan of sitting at home and watching sport on the TV but quite enjoy watching anything live, especially if someone I know is in the team.
So because I, by default, have had a day at home, I've done a bit of housework, caught up on the washing, even managing to dry a little outdoors, got on top of a few bits of paperwork that I'd been pretending weren't there for over a week and did a little bit of decluttering. A few jobs well done I think!
Tomorrow we are both out all day. Hubby is meeting friends to go walking for the day and I have agreed to have our eldest granddaughter while her parents are at work.
As we will probably be getting in quite late I thought I would make a "pan of lobby". I'm not sure if anyone knows what this is as its a Staffordshire dish. I'm pretty sure that everyone has their own version of this and I do know that in Liverpool they have something called "scouse" which I think is similar.
It is basically a stew. It consists of beef that is cut into cubes, potatoes, onion, carrots, parsnips, swede and stock. It is slow cooked either on the top of the stove or in my case in the slow cooker. After many hours cooking the beef is really tender.

As a child we would have this once a week in the winter and usually there would be enough for the following night or at least lunch. I can remember having this with dumplings in and great chunks of fresh crusty bread. Delicious.
When my children were small I always made it with dumplings and they would count how many they had each in their bowls. Heaven forbid I miscalculated and someone got an extra one, there would be sulking for the rest of the night! Kids!
Anyway I've had a huge pot of this simmering away all day, enough for our meal this evening and the rest will be reheated tomorrow so that we can have something pretty instant when we get home.
Let me know if anyone else does have something similar to "lobby". I'd be very interested to find out all your regional dishes that are similar.
Jules x




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We are having "Mediterranean tray bake" tonight because ....

Evening Everyone.
Hope you are all well and looking forward to the weekend.
Well today didn't turn out as planned ( story of my life at the moment), and so the best laid plans that involved a lovely walk/hobble, a visit to my stepson and a coffee out followed by a few hours at home catching up on the ironing that seems to have piled up this week and then maybe a couple of hours just chilling didn't materialise.
Firstly I didn't get up till later than usual, I slept ok ish for me anyway, but I think the lack of sleep this week due to my back aching must of finally caught up with me. So, by the time I had got up, eaten breakfast and showered and dressed it was half ten. The plan had been to have a run out in the car to somewhere a bit different and try a little walk as I've not walked all week and I do think it does me good both physically and mentally. As we had arranged to visit our stepson at 12 we really didn't have time for this so went to a local marshland and walked/limped around the perimeter. I actually enjoyed this so sometimes its good to have your plans changed.
We then had a call from stepdaughter to ask us if we could have our grandson for a few hours as she wasn't feeling very well. We cut short our walk and headed over to collect him.
We then went to visit stepson and had a coffee there ( not my promised coffee out but saved £6 ). We decided to take grandson to see the trains at the station but on the way he fell asleep so hubby sat in the car with him on our drive reading his book while I did the ironing. ( Living the dream!)
It was then time to take him home, a journey of 20 minutes. Except that there had been an accident on the dual carriageway and so it took 45 minutes. A round trip of 2 hours by the time we had taken him into the house and handed over all the equipment that we took "just in case" and never actually used.
So we are home and I thought I had taken some chicken breasts out for our meal but no! In all the rush this morning I must of forgotten.
"What we eating tonight?" said Hubby, "I'm starving".
As I rummaged through the fridge for inspiration and all i could find was vegetables the Mediterranean tray bake was born. Hubby is a real carnivore and while he likes vegetables he usually sees them as an accompaniment to meat. He loves spicy food though so my theory being to throw in some chili flakes and hopefully I could win him over.
So, tonight we are having Mediterranean tray bake because.......
I forgot to defrost the chicken,
I am seriously short of time,
I have an abundance of half open packets of sad looking veg in the fridge,
It is Friday and the cupboards are virtually bare,
I can't be bothered to do much and so chopped and chucked into one dish which went straight into the oven. ( Less washing up too!)

For anyone who wants to know exactly what went into my fabulous creation (joke) tonight -
1/2 a bag of baby potatoes, sliced.
5 very small leeks that an old lady gave to me from her garden, sliced.
one red and one yellow pepper, sliced.
half a packet of baby plum tomatoes, slightly squishy, sliced.
1 courgette, in surprisingly good nick, sliced.
2 sticks of celery, sliced.
A shake each of dried mixed herbs, chili flakes and paprika.
Season with salt and pepper.
dash of olive oil.
You could actually use any veg you have left over though. These were just what happened to be in my fridge.

Put into one dish in a hot oven covered with foil. cook for half an hour then uncover for another 15 minutes or until cooked though.

Hubby said it was delicious and can we have it again! Who'd of thought it?

What are you having for your meal tonight? Was it planned or just decided last minute?

Oh, before I go I will just tell you about my little bit of good luck. Cant quite believe it myself! I entered a competition ( something I don't really do) for a night at a lovely hotel in a local village including dinner, breakfast and use of the spa facilities. I won! I had a message telling me I was the winner and thought it was a joke at first. It really made my day. The thought of a lovely meal that I've not cooked myself, time to relax in the pool and a lovely breakfast the day after too. We are going to use it as a mini break and on the second day we will go out somewhere before heading home. I so need it at the moment, so couldn't of come at a better time, can't wait.

Take Care
Jules x









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Dangerous encounters in the kitchen!

Evening Everyone.
Hope you are all well. Tonight will be a very brief post, I will explain why.
After a really busy and active few days, which consisted of - cleaning mums house from top to bottom, baking and cake decorating for 11 hours solid, carrying a two year old around for a whole day (who incidentally is no lightweight), helping hubby to carry some old and very heavy concrete garden slabs from the car to the back of the property and then spring cleaning my own cottage. I bent down to pop a chicken into the oven to roast on Sunday and something pinged in my back. It stiffened up (my back, not the chicken) and I was in agony. The upshot of this being that I have been a little bit incapacitated for the past two days and even though I'm walking about today, I  am doing so very gingerly.
On top of this I had a call at daft o'clock this morning from my sister in law to say that mum had been taken poorly. So, poorly back or not, I had to jump         (well roll on my side and whimper my way ) out of bed and go to her house. It was like the blind leading the blind, not sure who needed to look after who more? I stayed with her for the whole morning until my brother came home from work and thankfully she's feeling much better.
Thank heavens for my lovely daughter and hubby who have stepped in to cook, wash up and generally keep everything ticking over plus look after me. I am truly blessed.
Anyway, We will be having beef this Sunday as I didn't think chicken was so dangerous!
Take care everyone,
Jules x

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