Retail Therapy.

How is it that men don't appreciate the calming effect of walking around nice shops, looking, even without buying? I started early today to get lots of jobs done so that i could escape for a few hours to potter in Knowle & Solihull. I had a great time - there & back within 5 hours! I do try to convince G that we should both have a day out each week so that the other can have the house to themselves & then have a day out together. I only bought a few bits & pieces, including two T shirts from M&S sale & dinner from the food hall. I've even painted my toe nails, which have dried whilst I sorted e mails. Apart from the excess stone, I feel pretty good, for a Granny! Cold weather forecast - the down coat's earned it's keep already. G has chopped piles of logs & manfully removed the bags of dog poo that some dog walker of dubious parentage, bags up & throws into the hedges in the lane, daily. I may put up posters tomorrow, requesting that they take their parcels home. Any suggestions for the wording?

Bbbbrrrrrrr

Another frosty night - weather from Scandanavia, apparently, so we can share it with W & MK.Yesterday was bright & sunny, today wasn't! This may be why I moved mountains yesterday - played tennis, cleaned the cars , did loads of laundry, cooked a stew & dumplings for dinner & chaired a fundraising meeting here in the evening. Today we've not done much at all. One of us lets the chickens out when it gets light & takes tea up to bed.It is a big mistake to then start the DT crossword in bed. Suddenly it's 10.00am! It took the rest of the morning to write Sunday's sermon,I had a delicious lunch - tomato with mozarello, avacado & salad, whilst G finished the stew. We've been to the Mill for chicken food, visited Marg & Phil & taken cables back to the church. G has been doing his tax return, day 3 - of whom does that remind you? I have been aware of the birds singing at first light, for the last week. I'm not imagining it - the DT reports that the dawn chorus is weeks early due to the mild weather. This cold spell has given them a lie in again.

Badgers.

We have had holes in the wood in the field for many years, diagnosed as rabbit burrows by friends. i have doubted this for two reasons: *I never see any rabbits in the field *the size of the holes. I had favoured foxes, but have to doubt this on two counts: *no smell. *three healthy chickens free ranging in the field & spending a lot of time in the wood. We have now settled on badgers. From internet research, they seem to tick most of the boxes - large D-shaped holes, now taking bedding materials in. We haven't found the badger WC......yet. A new hole appears almost weekly - large amounts of soil excavated. We now want to find a way of spotting them - I've done a number of late-night sorties, to no avail. We gardened/fielded this morning - heavy tidying; G built a grand bonfire from tree & shrub prunings, bracken & waste card/paper. After a bacon sandwich I rested up & then attacked the ironing mountain - the largest for years. Later, having waited for the rain, I did a sortie around the village to deliver Xmas tree decorations from the church trees & letters inviting folk to our Burn's Night celebration on 25 Jan - proceeds to Sh church. Get in touch if you want to join us for haggis, neeps & tatties, with a wee dram & a host of homemade Scottish delicacies.

Impossible!

Does anyone know what this is,how to permanently remove it or where my spellcheck has gone? We have been to the pictures, the second time in three days. This is a lifetime record. G was disappointed in "Quartet" on Saturday - too many old people, predicting our own eventual decline. This time we saw "Impossible", the story of a family caught up in the tsunami on 26 dec 2004 - not high on the probability list for our future! It was a real weepy, only made bearable by the prior knowledge that the whole family survived, against all the odds. Another excellent film, even trailers for others that G fancies - "Die Hard" being the only one I can recall. This morning I played tennis whilst G moved timber in the field, before going to see Peter & Judith. G had volunteered to do some odd jobs & then take P to the airport, then we went on to Solihull, had a coffee, then on to the flicks. No eggs today - hens have lost all sense of gratitude! Weather has been mild & dry - work to finish in the garden tomorrow, if it's still dry, otherwise I shall attack the New Year ironing mountain.

Epiphany

We're sitting by a roaring fire, watching "Antiques Road show" - what more could you ask for on a cold winter evening, after a hard day? I was up early, to fill & ice a coffee cake, which I took to Sh church, for andrew's b'day, then came home to prepare lunch - roast beef, etc, before goint to NW to take the service. There were six of us for lunch as we were having a church mtg afterwards. How is it that W & B can make better yorkshire puddings than me? I even used today's eggs & whisked thoroughly in the blender. Perhaps it was opening the oven door to put in the vegetables, etc. It tasted good but was a big disappointment by way of appearance. The meeting concluded at about 5.00pm, we covered a lot of ground & have plans..... Yesterday evening we went to see "Quartet" in Coventry - a film set in a retirement home for retired musicians, starring Maggie Smith, Billy Connelly, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtney & a host of other stars. Not a barrel of laughs, but well worth watching.

12 drummers...........

The decorations are all down, thanks to G, aided by J, T &KP -they only missed about a dozen, but they were rather obscure. Yesterday morning there was a great deal of imaginative play in the garden,involving journeys in the jeep, KP "laid up" on a bench for a while & a lot of giggling. T checked the eglu for eggs on a regular basis - we were redundant! We went to solihull & had a late lunch of "Happy Meals, then bought chicken goujons for tea, so that we could compare M&S with McD chicken nuggets, then went to collect Th from school. He claimed the record for the largest number of people collecting anyone from school - 4! They all played with gusto, had tea - M&S won out over McD - played some more, then G & I took T & KP home. We were all delighted to see B & E. We had a good dinner together, when T & KP were in bed, tried B's welsh whisky, ate E's posh chocolates & had a sleepover. This morning G went to MG for a "back attack", whilst we went into Bicester & the family humoured me by having a potter around "Granny's China Shops" (GCSs). I am now the proud owner of a beautiful tapestry of The Laughing Cavalier - brand new, hand made, & a Welly 1:24 diecast model of a VW caravan. Open to offers! G & I came home around the lanes, stopping at Aynho - The Great western - for a light lunch - highly recommended. A good fun few days - sermon is done for tomorrow so all's well with the world.

Christmas day 10.

Where did days 7,8 & 9 go to?
We had a good lunch party here on New Year's day, with about thirty friends.
Peter & aj stayed & helped to put "the show on the road", aj washing & clearing up like a professional for the odd few hours.
On Tuesday fifteen of us, including seven grandchildren, went to The Little Theatre in Chipping Norton, to see "Cinderella"
It was really good & the children were transfixed for a good deal of the time - David Cameron took his family there last week, so he can't be all bad.
T & KP came home with us for a sleepover & today have helped with clearing the 27 Xmas trees from church, collecting eggs & badger hunting in the field.
I'm praying that the chickens oblige with a couple of eggs in the morning as there was great excitement this morning when T collected his own (enormous) egg for breakfast.

The salmon & baked pasta is all finished, so we can start afresh on the food - tomorrow J is coming for the day, Th is back at school.
We plan a late lunch at McD in Solihull, then collecting Th - great fun all round, I hope.