Kitten update

 

Scally goes to see Keith.

No holds barred . . .

Smelly slippers are fun.

Up and down the stairs.

And generally being wicked. . .

St Mary's Church, Fownhope

 

Fownhope is on the far side of Hereford.  Some years ago we viewed a nice cottage on the edge of the village, with lovely views of orchards, but the layout wasn't right and the approach was steeply down a garden and no external storage.  

        The church here has a central Norman tower with a shingled broach spire, and one Norman N window.

This font dates from 1670, and there is a later one which I overlooked completely.

This wonderful mid 12th C tympanum used to be over the door outside, but was brought in and unfortunately placed beneath a window, where the lighting made clear photography difficult.

It is dedicated to the Virgin, who sits with one hand up (take my word for it!) Can I just say at this point that words are going to be brief as I have not one, but two kittens draped around my neck!!

The draperies have close parallels with those used by the Herefordshire School of Sculpture (which is why I wanted to see this).  I will add some more details later when I am not a kitten playground :)

It would seem that the Lechmeres were the local family with a lot of influence in the parish, as you can tell from the monuments.

Gilded bosses high in the roof.

Only fragments of early stained glass remain.

This tickled me.  It appears to have been the parish chest (and an early one at that) which was tidied away up in the Belfry at the time of the Civil War.  335 years later it was brought back down again!  I'd like to have been a fly on the wall when that idea was first mooted!

I hope you can read all these.  All I can say is, I bet it came down a darn sight easier than it went up!!

Isn't this lovely?  Such a lot of work went into this.

Joanna Lechmere's incised slab, 1692.  A most unusual combination of letterings and drawings.  I've not seen anything like this elsewhere.

Out in the churchyard, this very  unusual tomb.  Backlater with more words and kitten photos - currently have Pip crawling right round my neck using her claws for balance! TCP is the new eau-de-cologne here!

I am now a climbing frame!

 

Please let us out of jail!  The little black and white one is a girl, the runt of the litter.  She has a Voice and has been called Pipsqueak.  (Full title Pippi Longstockings, as she has completely white legs).  The obviously half-Siamese one is currently called Scallywag (named by Keith).  I think it may be a boy, but lots of "bum-fluff" precludes a definitive gender ID.  Either way, they are SO much fun, but I seem to have become a climbing frame and they scoot up my legs - esp. Scally, and so I fear for my nice living room curtains!  I shall have to try and get the linings outwards when they're not pulled.  I think the Christmas tree will need to be very well secured this year or hung upside down from the ceiling!

I'm WICKED!!  Mum has passed on her bib and white paws.

Playing, not sleeping!  When they are out they are hurtling up and down, either the carpet or my legs, dangling from apron strings, and playfighting.  I had forgotten how kittens did the "I'm BIG" on tippytoes, with arched backs, flagpole tails and head on one side :)

You can just make out the slight tabby markings in the coat.  When the 3 obviously half-Siamese ones were tiny they were all cream with darker cream stripes.

I think you are going to soon tire of kitten photos!  I keep trying to get one of them fighting, but they move so quickly.

The 3 old boys are not impressed. Only Ghengis has met them when they are loose, and he clearly thinks, I'm too old for all this tomfoolery!  Alfie spat and hissed at them, and L. Whale ran away and won't eat in the same room now . . .  The crate is just a temporary affair, but I am very glad to Tam's partner for loaning it to me.

Enjoy your weekend.

It's KITTEN time!

 

I went to see the kittens today, and chose which ones were coming home with me.  I had a choice of three, two already being spoken for.  You will have to wait until tomorrow to see which ones are now in a puppy crate in my kitchen (and have already wasted hours of my day being entertaining as they explored the kitchen!!) They are ADORABLE and I am SO happy.

This is mum, who arrived as a stray, but is now in a very loving home.  Dad, we assume, was a Siamese . . .

In limbo

 I am still without a car, since last Thursday. Thankfully Tam and J took me grocery shopping in Llandod yesterday, so I am all stocked up again with perishable things.  (Plenty of tins in and stuff in freezer).  I phoned the garage again this morning and the part STILL hasn't been delivered. The Courier has really let them down, and they are apparently waiting for spares for other cars they have down there. Let's hope that they've given the Couriers hell and I will soon be mobile again.  I need to go to Brecon soonest to sort out a bank card, amongst other things.

    Tam brought me a goodly bag of crab apples yesterday, so I have been scrubbing them clean and cutting out any bad bits, and now my kitchen is smelling wonderful as I've been stewing them up for jelly, with whole cloves and cinnamon sticks in.

    There are curtains up at the half landing window to deal with any draughts, as Tam couldn't get the traditional sash catch in brass that I wanted (will go to Hay for that).  I was pleased to find the exact home for the lovely Dunelm curtains I had hanging in my office at Ynyswen.  As they had cost £70 or so I didn't really want to charity shop them or have the bother of trying to sell them on Ebay.

    The light fitting over the door has a problem (loose connection Keith reckons) so changing the bulb didn't help, but we do have a new functioning pull cord bathroom light.  The old one was Bakelite and ancient and J said that the ends of the wiring were too short and had just been haphazardly jammed into the fittings and the whole thing was hanging in there by the skin of its teefs as the ancient plaster beneath it was breaking up.  The joys of old houses.

    I've just been watching an Escape to the Country from 2014, set in Shropshire, where a lady of mature years from Woking wanted to move and have her own concert hall and room for her grand piano.  The 3rd property they looked at was one we knew.  It was next door to Bryn-y-Cagley Hall, which we wanted to buy SO MUCH a few years ago. (The vendors of Bryn-y-Cagley had done this barn up to live in, as it was all on one level). Of course, we couldn't sell, and still couldn't sell when it came back on the market again a couple of years back.  With the benefit of hindsight, it was probably for the best as it did have a very large garden, with over 70 David Austin roses, a very productive mixed orchard, masses of soft fruit bushes etc.  It was also a long way away from our offspring, so perhaps we were meant to be here.  

    I have also found out today why Ghengis has been going out in the yard, and then lurking behind the Wheely Bin until I go and open the door, when he trots safely across.  There is another young black and white tom about the place - Alfie has had a couple of set-to's with him this morning.  He's well fed, so I think comes from the farm up the hill where they feed their cats but sadly don't appear to neuter the boys.  Sigh.  I have chased him off but he's been seen several times through the French windows.

    Right, I had better go and put the crab apples in the jelly bag overnight.  I may use the pulp again to cook up with blackberries and sloes to make Hedgepick Jelly too.  Watch this space. 

Chocolate Gingerbread Recipe

 

This made two x 2 lb loaves.  I have added some of the varieties for it.  Recipes from Sonia Allison's Home Baking Book, which I've had since 1983. 

Serves 14 - 18

BASIC VERSION: 

1 lb (450 g) plain flour  (FOR CHOC version only, reduce to 14 oz (400 g)

(FOR CHOC version only, add 2 oz (50 g) cocoa powder)

6 rounded teaspoons (tsps) ground ginger 

2 rounded tsps mixed spice

2 1/2 level tsps bicarbonate of soda

8 oz (225 g) golden syrup

8 oz (225 g) black treacle or molasses

4 oz (125 g) dark-brown soft sugar (Muscavado)

4 Grade 3 eggs

1/2 pint (275 ml) cold milk

2 tablespoons cold water (FOR CHOC version only, make this 4 tablespoons)

    Well grease and line a Yorkshire pudding tin of about 11 x 9 x 1 1/2 inches (or grease/line two x 2lb loaf tins).  Set oven to 300deg F (150 deg C), Gas mark 2.

    Sift first 4 ingredients into a bowl. Put fats, syrup, treacle and sugar into a pan and melt gently over a low heat.  Do not boil.  Beat together eggs, milk and water.  

    Make a dip in the centre of the dry ingredients.  Pour in egg mixture followed by the melted mixture. Stir briskly without beating, making sure you work in all the flour, etc.

    Transfer to prepared tin(s) and spread evenly with a knife.  Put into oven and bake 1-1 1/4 hrs or until well-risen and deep brown, and a thin metal skewer, pushed gently into the centre, comes out clean and dry. 

        Leave in tin for 15 mins, then lift gingerbread carefully out on to a wire cooling rack.  Put into an airtight tin when cold and store in a cool lace (warmth tends to turn a gingerbread mouldy).  Remove paper just before cutting.

Variations:

Marmalade Gingerbread - Make as basic version but halve the quantity of treacle and make up the weight with chunky orange marmalade.

Fruity Gingerbread - Make as basic version but after sifting dry ingredient into bowl, toss in 4 oz (125 g) raisins or sultanas.

Date Gingerbread - Make as basic version but after sifting dry ingredients into bowl, toss in 4 o (125 g) finely chopped cooking dates.

Double Gingerbread (which I often make) - after sifting dry ingredients into bowl, toss in 4 oz (125g) finely chopped preserved ginger, well-drained.

Enjoy.

Here we are having sunshine and showers, and my favourite curtains from my office at Ynyswen, are now keeping any winter draughts at bay on the half landing window.  A x-stitch picture of a dragonfly I had sewn many years ago for my friend Annie (and I got back from her daughter after Annie's death) is now hanging on the half-landing wall, with my other x-stitch pictures.  J is just fitting the new pull switch cover to the ceiling and we have light again.  It wasn't checked by the Electrician employed to check all the electrics last year and when I asked him what about if the light pull broke (which of course it did a year later) he said it was easily fixable.  Well, yes, except that the wires had been cut off very short and more or less bunged in the appropriate bits and since the internal fitting was Bakelite it was probably put in when the house was first electrified!  It wasn't very safe, so just as well the cord broke when it did.

I hope you've all had a good weekend.  If anyone has contact by email or similar with Weaver of Grass (Pat), I know her blogging friends are worried about her, so if you've heard anything, please let us know.