Still bejeebered

Morning all.  You won't get much sense out of me today as I have been awake since 3.15 a.m. (again).  I shall be glad when I can start stepping down off the steroids, although at the moment I do still need them as my breathing wasn't good in the night again.  From tomorrow I can start slowly reducing the dose.

I bought this little Arts & Crafts child's chair at the Fleamarket on Sunday.  I just fell in love with it.  It's so individual and quirky, and probably a one-off piece - I can't find anything remotely like it design-wise in Internet-land.  It will go in our Unit this week and hopefully someone else will fall in love with it and buy it.

When I was in The Range buying Seagulls the other day (!), I grabbed a couple of packs of 99p bulbs.  When I am better, I am going to get Keith to help me refront a little slate-fronted raised beds down on "mum's" patio and put them in there. 

Being a glutton for punishment, I bought a tray of about 8 lbs of very ripe Peaches when we were at Chris Thomas's Greengrocer's warehouse at Abergwili on Tuesday.  For £1 I couldn't leave them behind.  I peeled and stewed up half of them yesterday for desserts this week, and then turned the rest into Spiced Peach Jam.  Looks good doesn't it?  Shame it hasn't set properly!  I shall put it back in the Maslin pan this morning with some of my home made Pectin and boil it up again.  I hope I don't lose the lovely pale colour and have it going brown.  I'll put up the recipe later.  UPDATE: hmm, didn't use enough pectin, still didn't set much better, so Pouring Jam it is then!

It is feeling very autumnal in the mornings now  and I will have to crack on with sorting out the garden and tidying it for the winter when I'm back to normal.  Anything with Large Leaves is going to be hoiked out and since that is a job for the mattock, I need to be completely well again before I tackle it.  I have a nice White hydrangea (£5.99 from Lidl recently) to go in the spot where the Oriental Borage has been for years (that's all talk and no trousers - small flowers in early spring and then gigantic leaves the rest of the year.)

As I laid awake last night, more plans have been going round and round in my head and the to do (and to buy!) list is getting ever longer.  However, I had a surprise yesterday when Keith suddenly set to and made me a shelf to go in the bottom half of the built-in storage cupboard.  We dragged out the contents which had not seen the light of day for many a year, and sorted through them. I didn't remember accumulating 7 cake tins (recycyling ones from Christmas choccies or biccies), but there was a useful wicker basket which my gardening stuff in the Back Place will be transferred into, and a little wicker shopping basket which I will polish up today and offer for sale.   Ditto a lovely old sycamore chopping board - too big for my needs.  Now my mixing machine, bread machine and slow cooker/electric pressure cooker are all stowed away out of sight.

Today we are going to pick up the Fleabay shower (brand new one) and this afternoon going to view the auction at Brecon.  There is a lovely modern pine dresser there (guide price £300 - £400) which would look great in the kitchen, but we can't afford it and I have a shabby old dresser already. 

Right this won't do.  Enjoy the sunshine (hope you have some too).

Further update: whilst we won't be bidding on the Nice Dresser at the Auction (fortunately it is a bit too big, either for the room or for us transporting it home), there is another piece we both like.  It needs a little tlc though, so hopefully will come cheaply.  On our way back we called in to the shop where we have our Unit, and came by a small pine dresser as a swop with another dealer for 4 pine chairs we had.  How's that for serendipity and synchronicity?  She desperately needed a set of chairs for a rental house her daughter's moving into, and the pine dresser is just the right size to go where the dark and gloomy slidey-door ex school cupboard is in our kitchen.  That can then be freed up to be sold in our Unit.  We've had it a long time - probably 25 years now.  It has served its purpose.

BTW, I have been sitting all day today, being driven or driving, and feel a bit brighter tonight. 

Oh, and remember I took 7 damaged jugs down from the kitchen beams?  Well, when I had washed the blue and white jugs from the bathroom, I ended up putting the four of them across the central beam (which has had stuff taken off it and was looking rather bare).  Photo to follow.

Resting . . . but achieving lots

I had to go and visit my neighbour this morning to arrange about picking up a shower unit later this week.  When we were looking at her geese and new hens, I spotted she still had LOADS of rhubarb and begged some for Keith, who loves it stewed up with crystalized ginger.  So I cooked that up on my return.  Half to be eaten this week, and the other half in the freezer.

Lovely Dandelion puff motif on the new voile panels in the bathroom.  One wasn't enough, it had to be a pair so I bought the other one today.  They look lovely.

The other two Seasidey bits for the top of the cupboard.

The china wot was there.  John D Wood's "Yuan" which I still love, but am having a long break from.  I'll get it all washed and wrapped and put away tomorrow, and then think whether or not I offer it for sale (but no-one is really buying old china like this any more - yet it was so collectable once.)  I also (get me!) removed 6 jugs from the kitchen beams so I only have them along the one beam now, my favourite ones.  I'll never be minimalist, but I can be "lessist"!!

There are now a pair of these smart copper spot lights in the sitting room and it's made a big difference to the lighting.  I was able to get my way and suggest that Keith no longer needed the standard lamp which I have loathed for many years and couldn't wait to see leave the room.  It was surprising how it broke the room up and made it look smaller, probably because of the big shade.

New to me curtains from Fleabay.  £15 including postage and packing, which I thought was good.  A good bit darker than the other (now faded) curtains I made and had up there for several years.  Again, the dark colour draws the eye to the end of the room and makes it look bigger (it's about 23 feet into the bay).  The new terracotta paint will be darker than what is on the walls at the moment.  I have bought some vintage 1980s Laura Ashley curtains too, also from Fleabay, which are on their way to me as I speak.  They are "for best" - viewings only.

Above and below: after tea I finally found the time to pick most of the Golden Rod flowers.  Here they are with stems, and below, mostly just flowers.  84g (I need 100g) but I may get another handful from what is left tomorrow.  Then I shall boil them up, simmer for an hour, leave to cool and then strain off and freeze the liquid until I have the mordant (alum) and some more wool spun up.  I just need to be "ill" long enough to "rest up" and do the spinning!

The "tops" I bought in town yesterday.  I saw a machine embroidery of puffins in the Stitch magazine I brought recently and thought, that would be great done as a needle-felted piece.  Banging away with the needles at the moment is probably not conducive to healing my Pleurisy, so that will have to wait until I'm fully better.

This is the book I read about when I was researching my dye project.  It sounded right up my street and it IS!  I've only read a few pages so far but am going down to immerse myself in it now.

FINALLY,  a photo of the wallpaper I loved.  I went and bought two rolls of it today which will be enough for in here.  It has a little touch of the Strawberry Thief in it, along with the Moongazing hare, and also reminds me of scraperboard work from the 30s.  Keith HATES it!!!

Cranberry and Marzipan Cake recipe & Hedgepick Jam recipe

With thanks to Mary Berry.  Taken from The Great British Bake Off Everyday by Linda Collister.

CRANBERRY AND MARZIPAN CAKE

115 g cranberries (thawed if frozen - I used dried)  I think this would be FAB with Raspberries!
100 g unsalted butter, softened (I used Stork marg)
65 g caster sugar
200 g marzipan
3 medium free range eggs, at room temperature
120 g ground almonds
120 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
25 g flaked almonds
icing sugar, for dusting

Heat your oven to 180 deg C/350 deg. F/Gas 4 (slightly less if a fan oven).  Chop the cranberries fairly coarsely in a food processor or by hand and set aside till needed.

Put the soft butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat with a hand-held electric mixer until light and creamy (I just used my ordinary mixer).  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.  Crumble or cut the marzipan into small pieces and add to the bowl.  Beat thoroughly until very smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides from time to time.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl with a fork until broken up, then gradually add to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as before.  Gently stir in the ground almonds with a large metal spoon.

Sift the flower and baking powder into the bowl and fold in with the metal spoon.  As soon as all the flour has been incorporated, carefully fold in the cranberries, but avoid over-mixing at this point - stop as soon as the cranberries look evenly distributed throughout the mixture. 

Scrape the mixture into a pre-prepared (greased and lined 20.5 cm round springclip tin - though I used a springless cake tin) and spread evenly.  Scatter the flaked almonds over the top.  Place in the heated oven and bake for 40 - 45 minutes until risen and golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Set the tin on a wire rack.  Run a round bladed knife round the cake to loosen it from the then, then carefully unclip the tin side and leave the cake to cool completely.  (I didn't, and just tipped it out unceremoniously onto my cake rack and took off the used greaseproof.)  Once cold, wrap in greaseproof paper or foil and store in an airtight container overnight.  Dust with icing sugar before serving.  This is SCRUMMY!  One for the family cookbook of favourite recipes to use again.


With thanks to Sara Paston-Williams, who compiled the National Trust Book of the Country Kitchen Storecupboard, from whence the following recipe is taken:

"GRANNY SNEYD'S HEDGEPICK JAM"

2 lbs (900 g) Crab Apples, or any apples
2 lb (900 g) Blackberries
1 lb (450 g) Elderberries
1 lb (450 g) Sloes
1 lb (450 g) sugar to each 1 pt (500 ml) fruit pulp

(You can use any mixture of these fruits, but it's not a good idea to have a large proportion of Sloes!)

Peel, core and chop apples.  Cook in a little water until soft.  Beat to a pulp.  Wash other fruit, removing any stalks from elderberries and sloes and cook in a little water until soft.  Remove from the heat and push through a sieve.  Mix with apple pulp and measure the quantity of pulp together,.  Place in a large pan and stir in 1 lb (450 g) sugar for each 1 pt (500 ml) fruit pulp.  Heat very gently until sugar has completely dissolved.  Then increase heat and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.  Pour into warm jars and cover.

Enjoy!

Meanwhile, I haven't been able to rest as much as I should have done today either, as we had to get the grocery shopping done, but I did fit in a little rummage around the Craft shop, where I got some coloured tops for a needlefelt project, and found they no longer sold Mordants, so I will have to source mine on-line now.  wildcolours.co.uk seem to sell the small amounts I need.  However, I shall have to boil up, strain and freeze my Golden Rod flowers as they have started to go over after yesterday's torrential "showers".

This interest in dyeing again has all been set off by a good article in last month's Country Living magazine. 

I spent the afternoon on the sofa catching up on Poldark (but we have to wait another YEAR for the next episodes!) and just relaxing.  I didn't even sew today.

The end of a long day

I survived today.  Lord knows how, as of course I had a steroid sleep - e.g. less than 4 hours.  I was still awake at 12.20 a.m., got up for the loo around 3, and then woke for the day at 4.45 - 3/4 hour before the alarm was due to go off.  To say I started the day at the Fleamarket somewhat bejeebered is an understatement.  I could only walk at a snail's pace and felt like I was 95!  But then the steroids kicked in and I coped better, and enjoyed chatting to our friends down there, as well as customers old and new.  It was a 12 hour day so I am looking forward to my bed tonight . . .

Here is the de-china'd bathroom shelf.  The two seabirds were my friend Annie's and her daughter gave them to me when we were clearing her mum's house, so they remind me of Annie.  The yacht and the fish light came from the Range yesterday.

Here is a swiftly-taken and slightly blurry photo of the Cranberry and Marzipan cake before it got handed round at the Fleamarket today.  Definitely one to make again, and I won't scorch the top next time.  Recipe tomorrow, I promise.

Here was my treat from me, to me.  A battered old French enamel stew pan bought from my friend Ann, who is always stalled out opposite us.    This is my dye pan.  I will give it a good scrub tomorrow.   I've just been exploring the internet for dyeing with Golden Rod, and am going to have a go with this in the next few days.

Brick wall . . .

I hit one today.  I was feeling so much better this morning, having had 9 hours' sleep despite taking the steroids after tea.  I pottered about as Keith had gone to a Charity event he'd been asked to stand at with his militaria.

My tomatoes were blighted, so I took them out of the greenhouse and put them on the bonfire base, along with the cucumbers which had got sickly too.  Then as I had the secateurs in my hand, I cut back a few stems of the Buddleia at the gate, now it has mostly bloomed.  That was O.K.

I took down/out various hooks and nails which had been for the pictures I've removed from the sitting room.  Then I had the bright idea of moving some books, so I got a box full of mostly paperbacks from the Back Room and started carrying outdated editions of Millers Antiques guides to put in their place.  A Bad Move.  My chest began to feel the strain and protested, and then as I moved a few more (alright, about 50) books across to fill the gaps in the main bookcase, my legs went quite wobbly.  I got the message, and sat down for the entire afternoon, watching 4 back to back episodes of the first series of Outlander, as there is another series coming out in September (can't wait, though it will probably get delayed getting to us in the UK).  I also blew the dust off a x-stitch gift for a friend and carried on with that.  Bliss!  I was the real me all afternoon.  Carefully picking through and rewinding tangles of embroidery silks which had been put away untidily in the little ceramic drawer which is my work in progress store for sewing.  It was very relaxing. 

I felt well enough to mix and bake a cake (using the mixing machine), and make a loaf of bread (bread machine), and also put a tagine in the slow cooker.  Sitting down in between each little job.  The cake is one from The Great British Bake Off Everyday cookbook, and is a recipe of Mary Berry's.  I wouldn't buy the book new but was happy to pay £3 for it at a car boot sale from a lady who had every book from the series, given her at Christmas by her darling son, who didn't realize his mum didn't bake much any more!  The recipe was for Cranberry and Marzipan cake and it is LUSH.  Recipe later (and I haven't forgotten the Hedgepick Jam one either.  Monday.  Promise.

Stopped in my tracks

Another picture from the National Botanic Gardens - so colourful. 

Well, I have now discovered why I have been feeling rough this week and felt like I'd been hit with a pick-axe on Wednesday - during the night it became fairly obvious I have Pleurisy again, so that explains why my inhalers weren't controlling my asthma.  I feel the familiar tight band around my ribs and under my shoulder.  Of course, this coincides with a working day, and another very long working day on Sunday as it's the Carmarthen Fleamarket then.  No option to pull out of either.  Hopefully I can get a Dr's appt. late this afternoon but I shall speak to him this morning and see what he says.  There is always a spare course of a-b's in the cupboard just in case.

Still, I suppose I have "something" now which is better in a way, rather than my asthma just failing to respond to its medication, but I could Do Without It!!

Becoming ruthless

Hedgepick Jam puree.  It made three HUGE (Lidl Cherries) jars, and two smaller ones.  Probably about 8 lbs jam.  Recipe will follow later.

My brain is currently very much in neutral.  I wish I could go back to bed, but today we are manning the shop where we have our Unit, so no chance of that!  Whilst the steroids were still acting yesterday I decided in advance of redecorating in the sitting room, that a big sort out was needed and I have been taking down pictures - some just boxed away until we eventually move - some to go to the Unit to be sold.  I have been trying to persuade Keith that Less is More (HAH!) but he doesn't quite get the idea.  He thinks having lots of "stuff" in a house is OK but tbh, I am beginning to think that some people haven't the first clue about how their stuff will look in a house and can't see beyond what is already in a room.  The sitting room faces East and is a bit gloomy, and so with less on the walls it shouldn't close in too much.  There are certain things of his which I have insisted must go out of sight before another viewing - he's not happy about it, but tough.  I don't think he realizes that nothing much has altered in that room (and elsewhere in the house) in the last 10 years, except more has joined what was there already!  So, time to sort it out.  I just wish we could afford a new neutral carpet and a smaller sofa, but hey-ho, we can't. 

P.S.  He really isn't keen on my ideas for revamping the shower room either, but that HAS to be done, it really is shabby.  The Agents said don't bother, as someone else will want to change it to their taste, and indeed one woman who viewed would have turned it into a larder!  Just pricing things up now anyway and looking for bargains on Fleabay.