The punishment of packing - and a good baking recipe

 

I was awake in the night again, and having bad dreams about people without masks on coming too close to me and breathing in my face.  Obviously my subconscious is struggling with processing the Pandemic again.

    We must have been right at the edge of Storm Bella last night - I remember it getting wild when I went to bed (earlyish, at 10 o'clock) but didn't hear any more till about 4 a.m.  Then I was awake awhile and came downstairs to read, an old novel by Phil Rickman - December - which is very good.  Then I just wanted to sleep and sleep and it was 10 a.m. when I dragged myself out of bed.  We had neighbours coming to pick up three boxes of good books which we hadn't got to the Charity shop in time.  They were delighted, and also went away with a big box of apples from our trees.  

It was a clear sunny day after the storm, though some clouds were piling up by the time Tam and I got out for a walk before lunch.  We dropped some more pots of plants off at my friend N's, for her to babysit until we have relocated, then we parked up at her cottage and went for a walk up the valley.  The sun was warm on our backs and it was SO good to be walking again, and out in the fresh air and looking at what was growing in the hedgerows - grass had suddenly shot up after being cut and there were fingers of Stitchwort starting to grow, and the overwintering leaves of Foxgloves were putting out fresh growth too.

It was a welcome break, but then it was back to yet more packing, which is starting to feel like torture!  I brought in things from the kitchen cupboards which I was unlikely to use in the next couple of weeks, and also emptied out my little pokerwork cupboard where small baking things live (muffin cases, sprinkles, vanilla pods, essences) and had a good sort out of the many out-of-date herbs and spices - there is a carrier bag full of outdated or unlikely to be used things.  Do I REALLY need 5 jars of pickling spices?  Especially when I can't make chutney any more (it irritates my lungs to boil up vineger).  I wrapped these on the ironing board as I watched the racing again, and did very well, although it is VERY difficult to try and pack away stems of dried Hydrangea!

Finally here is a recipe for a fruit and nut loaf I made as a gift for my friend N this Christmas.  I hadn't tried it before, but is smelt AMAZING when it came out of the oven so I shall probably make one for us, as something to grab a slice of when energy levels are low in the coming weeks (especially now we're out of Vimto Jelly Babies!)

The recipe was in this magazine - an American one bought at the much-missed Borders in Swansea. Some fabulous recipes in there but no time or reason to make any THIS Christmas.