Christmas Wednesday

No photos today but a busy morning in the morning means we have some supplies on hand for emergencies. I'd soaked kidney beans and chickpeas overnight and have put a nice vegan chilli in the freezer and we have some homemade hummus ready for the feasting. I also got the lunch done which included a bought vegan haggis! Never had one before and it was fantastic. Seriously enjoyable. I think we got it at Waitrose in Wimborne and it seemed qite expensive at £3.00 but I would definitely go for it again. I used one of the butternut squashes to make some soup for freezing and it tasted pretty good.

Tomorrow will see Alison doing the nut roast while I am going to be doing an alternative vegan roast and getting the gravy ready for reheating on the big day. I will also shred the coleslaw ready for those leftover meals when you need a bit of a kick. In addition, I am looking at putting together various cocktails. To be honest I am intending to spend a lot of the festivities in a drunken haze.

Writing all of this as if everything is going the same as ever is miles from the reality we are facing. There have been 39200 new infections and 744 more deaths. The new cases is a new record, the deaths the highest since the end of April and Matt Hancock talked of normality by 2022! It is frightening and was predicted by the scientists who spoke of the virus being like any other, more likely to cause problems in the winter, and so it has proved. We can expect a drop in spring and summer with more of us outside and the warmer weather preventing transmission. We are very far from being out of the woods or in the midst of a fictional epidemic which is being used to deprive us of our freedoms. It would be accurate to say that the public are, on the whole, far more minded to accept harsher measures to keep them safe. I wish the politicians would catch up. I'd be glad to do the equivalent of hibernating for the next months if it meant people survived to take advantage of the vaccine. 

The one worry I have right now is that the vaccine proves less effective with the differing new strains and we are back at square one. That's not entirely true It isn't the only worry. There's also the worry that new strains could be more deadly for children and the younger population. That would be a complete panic inducing development. It doesn't bear thinking about but it seems we can't assume anything in these times.

 

Christmas Tuesday

 

We have had a lovely day with visits from Bridie and Joseph, as well as Evie and Amelia, very much part of our family bubble but likely to be parted from us after Christmas with impending restrictions likely to be put in place from Boxing Day.

The children took part in a treasure hunt taking them over the local area before finding the treasure of sweets and poppers, a toy where the spring is pressed down and then pops after a short period. That all went down well and the hunt gave me time to have a 4.3 mile run and to get some lunch prepared. We also put together the reindeer which came from wood cut in our local woods when I took the saw down a few weeks ago.

The festive digger is from my run this morning when I saw it in Cutlers Yard where they are doing impromptu Santa visits, covid secure of course. I also saw a pile of feathers in a ditch as I ran and then a female sparrowhawk which must have been enjoying its kill until disturbed by my clanking feet pounding the tarmac.

I took the photo of the bare branches of a tree whilst walking Maisy. Love the structure and simplicty of it.

 

Winter Solstice

 Feeling a lot better today and managed a 5km run, a 5km walk and a litter pick, all during the shortest day of the year, a suitably damp and grey day but one which has remained rain free for now. The dank countryside looks autumnal rather than wintry as I look back into Woodlands, walking to Remedy Oak which is a local landmark marked with the plaque you see in the second photo. 

I'm working my way through a number of jobs, catching up on correspondence, bins, wrapping, decorations and so on. Nice to be busy and to feel up to the different tasks. Collected a bag of litter as I went to the junction of the Verwood Road and back, lots of disposable coffee cups interestingly. Sad to see when so many people appear to have got themselves the reusable ones but I guess far from everyone.

The rest of the family are playing board games and Alison is knitting. She's been churning out these Christmas figures which are just lovely.

Christmas Sunday

 Feeling a lot better after the cold last week and no ill effects from the flu jab on Friday. We all enjoyed the Strictly final last night, especially after the latest announcement regarding tier 4 which has come out of nowhere and the narrowing of options for Christmas gatherings.

Today we had some lovely walks in the sunshine after the rain which seemed endless yesterday. The shadows are certainly long as we are on the cusp of the winter solstice but the birds were singing and chirping away. We saw a flock of long tailed tits in the trees and spotted at least two nuthatches and I was pleased to see several arrive in ourgarden later in the mornning. It doesn't look like much of a picture but I tried to get something for the record.

Maria and Joseph were being photographed for the cover of Sandra's book about vegan food and children and it meant we were able to enjoy an afternoon with her and Joy. Sadly, it was just me out by the fire under the gazebo but I enjoyed it. Maria and Joseph came out for a few minutes but the sunshine was very pleasant on the top patio which proved a greater draw than the fire. I'm hoping for better over proper Christmas.

Christmas gazebo

Despite the cold, which is nowhere near as bad today with far fewer sniffles, I got out and about today and enjoyed putting up the gazebo in the back garden. It's not occured to me previously but seeing Paul with his up, I thought it would be good to provide another opportunity for people to get some space should they require it over Christmas, as well as it being somewhere festive to enjoy one another's company.

The fire pit will come in handy and I've made a wreath to hang from the centre which will make it all cosy and welcoming.

In addition I went down to the woods and took my saw again, cutting some recently fallen trees up for our Christmas log. Nicely warming work it proved and I slung an extra long branch over the shoulder to use for burning or to make some outdoor decorations. My wine bottle holder has come out too. Nicely chilled wine will be the result.

Family time

We have been very busy with Christmas preparations and time with the children, sleepovers and child minding, which has now been joined by the arrival of full blown colds for Maria, myself and Alison, our granddaughters, Bridie and Joseph having all been sniffly and full of fruity coughs last week and into the weekend. It did make me very aware of covid and the spread of the virus, how easy it is to spread these things when in close proximity. It's one thing with a cold though and a very different prospect with coronavirus, especially with the vaccine in sight.

Alison and I have flu injections booked for Friday having been contacted by the surgery by phone and we are both going to take up the offer. 

We have had some lovely sunshine amidst showers and some heavy rain and have managed to get out for walks around Cranborne, the local park and down to the woods. I have been collecting materials from the woods for wreaths and to make reindeer, as well as planning to go down and cut up a recently fallen tree for a lovely big yule log. 

Paul has had his gazebo up and has a heater to allow a bit more mixing over Christmas and I am going to follow his lead in putting ours up and using the fire pit to allow us to spend some time outside and to burn the big log over a few days. I am also looking forward to making it look festive, trying to match the great job Alison has done indoors which looks lovely.

Brrr cold Tuesday

It's been the coldest day of the winter so far today and there was a hard frost, the sheltered areas still affected by the time I'd done the school run. Just a 5km plod through the countryside but enjoyable despite the slowness.

Picking the children up, I walked round Cranborne and took a photo capturing both the Manor House and Church, places I have become more familiar with lately with more walking and cycling around the place.

Good news - Green Energy Grant has been approved meaning we get £5000 towards a change of heating for the property, an air heater replacing the multifuel stove we've relied on for over 30 years! I'm looking forward to being greener but also not having the bother of the fire which needs careful nurturing during cold spells such as we have experienced in the past few days.

Christmas is coming

The photos capture Maisy dressed for Christmas. Glen bought the outfit on a whim for £5.00 and I didn't epect her to like it at all but she doesn't seem at all bothered by it and it looks like it could be keeping her cosy, as well as festive.

Lots of rain yesterday but colder and dry today which gave me the perfect conditions to get a 4.5 mile run done before setting out on my Sunday dinner cooking, the nut roast having been cooked yesterday. Turned out pretty well and credit to the avantgardevegan on You Tube who had videos for both the roast and the vegan gravy. I do like the food he prepares and have found them all, the ones I have tried, to be tasty and not too fiddly.

Lots of ingredients in the nut roast, mixed nuts, lentils, chestnuts, carrot, leek, cranberries, apricots, onion, celery, which made it a lovely moist dish with plenty of herbs to help it along and ground flax for egg replacement. We had lots of roast potatoes, spinach from the allotment, brocolli and turnip, also grown by ourselves. Alison had done an apple crumble as well which made for a very satisfying dinner. 

It was nice to go to the park afterwards for a little exercise, Evie and Amelia enjoying our pirate game, whilst Maria rested after dance exam practice.

It was all a bit of a dry run for Christmas dinner and a pretty good indication of what we need to do to feed our expected dozen party.

Walking in the rain

 The photo from yesterday is of a view in Cranborne where I walked prior to collecting the children after school. The unusual thing about it is the fact it is not raining, Friday being a pretty good day all round despite the cold. On the other hand, my walks on Thursday and this morning, both 5 miles, were undertaken in pouring rain which I am pleased to report my waterproof trousers coped with but the upper half was a different story, especially on Wednesday when I had two waterproof jackets on, knowing one of them was utterly useless but believing the weather wasn't that bad and would likely improve further. 

I left that jacket behind at Joy's as it was a waste of time using it on the return journey. I ended up having the rain leak onto my arms and shoulders.

The walk this morning, I went to Morrisons to buy ingredients for Sunday dinner tomorrow was unexpectedly difficult as a result of the sodden ground which meant I had to skirt round certain parts as the water was so deep. It was a surprise to me that there had been quite so much rain overnight.

At least I was better prepared this time and got home with just a soaking wet rucksack to dry out. 

The compensation was that I enjoyed listening to the audible book (Cormoran Strike) as I paddled my way along the paths which were full of running water. 

December walk part two

I took some photos of the allotment this morning where Alison was weeding the spinach and the sun was out in the east as we look out towards the A31 which makes it sound less appealing a view than it is. There is also one of the pigs which we saw on our walk.

This afternoon I went early on the school run and parked up allowing myself some time for another hike round Cranborne, 2.5 miles, listening to audible, this time the latest Cormoran Strike novel by J K Rowling, a massive 30 hours plus of listening. The skies were blue and it didn't feel too chilly with the absence of any wind allowing me to fully enjoy the wide views over Cranborne Chase. 

 

December walk

Alison and I had a lovely 5 mile walk this morning taking us down new paths in the locality. We ended up near Mannington and had to follow the Horton Road for a little while to get into Slough Lane, not something we had planned for and not the nicest experience given the speed of the vehicles and bends in the road. 

However, the remainder was lovely. We passed a farm where there were pigs roaming fields freely, the piglets tussling with one another, the adults rooting in the dark soil. It made for a bucolic sight, although we then saw a sign advertising the opportunities to purchase half a slaughtered pig. On the one hand, the reality of being reared for slaughter and consumption, on the other, the fact that these animals were at least granted lives which were free and more natural than those intensively reared in appalling conditions.

We also popped down to the allotment where I finished turning the compost and spreading the good stuff over the beds. The sun made it a real pleasure.