New babies

After a (rather depressing) month of searching,  we collected two 16 week old kittens on Monday afternoon.

May I please introduce Shelby and Lewis.   

 
Rescued by a lovely lady near Daventry,  and turned into sweet natured little kittens.   She named them Shelby and Lewis, and those are the names we're currently using for them.

They are settling in well.

Izzy is unamused.

Bye, Boys

The Boys went off on Monday, leaving Simon (green ring) and Tan (brown ring) alone in the "chick" area.    DH said Simon started crowing as they left:  he hasn't crowed before. 

Yes, we're going to try and keep two cockerels together.  Barnevelders are one breed where it may well work.

I arrived at the allotment about an hour later, let the girls out s on to the path so they could eat grass, and let the two Boys out into the main area.    They came out of the "chick area", eventually,  and spent ages investigating.     They didn't meet the girls.

I did all the housekeeping,  and called the Girls in for some vegetables.   The Boys panicked a little, and stayed out of the way.  Over the next half hour or so, they worked their way into the same area that the Girls were in, but kept their distance. 

Violet, one of the previous year's Girls,  went up to them and stared at them.  She wandered off.

Simon was eating some spring greens when Elizabeth walked up behind him, and biffed him up the bottom.  He leapt in the air, straight up like a pheasant, and hurried away.

I sprinkled corn amongst the leaves, so everyone had plenty of reason to forage. Gradually the boys separated from each other  and worked their way around the area.  They came back together every so often, and exchanged quiet clucks.  They were definitely sharing info and trying to work out what had happened.

Much later, Simon tried crowing again,  and received a response from a cockerel a long long way away.  They had a convo for a while,  and then it all died down.

I left them to it.

We went back the next day,  and all was fine.   The Boys were in the same area as the Girls,  and were being ignored.    They have made no attempts to tempt the girls over with a bit of corn, and we've seen no activity (don't blame them, it's far too cold).     I think it'll be a while before they realise it's their job to find food and tidbits for the Girls.  They are a slow maturing breed, so they're still just young boys themselves.

Ping and Pong, our Dorking girls(bought in as chicks the year before Violet, Elizabeth and Bott), are looking much more relaxed and are milling around with the main flock more .    Bertie was vile to them,  I think they rejected his advances early on, and he never forgave them.

We don't know yet whether the Boys are sleeping in the Cube still or whether they've moved to the main coop.    I know the Girls were occupying 2 coops between them before Bertie went,  so it will be interesting to see how this works out.

I'm keen to shut the "Chick" area down so we can do something about the ground.  It's been very denuded,  despite normally only being used for a few months a year.    I want to move the Cube off it, into our current fallow area, so I can move 2 or 3 of this year's Girls down to the Allotment.   DH was rather surprised at this,   he assumed that I'd be keeping all 5 of the Newbies here at home.  

They need somewhere to stay for a short while before we introduce them to all the others.I wonder if the boys will recognise their hatchmates?  Will the Girls recognise the biys?

It was Other Chap's turn to name the cockerels,  so they have been renamed "Mutt" and "Geoff".

Onward and upward.



     

New DIgs

Tomorrow will be All Change for the Allotmenteers and the Boys.

Today, it seemed the right day to move the Littlees out of their Go and into the Cube, which means that they will be sharing the closed run (albeit with a divider down the middle) with the Big Girls.   The Littlees have had daytime access to their half of the run for a couple of weeks,  and they've visited the Cube before.

We cleared out the junk from their of the Run, and I moved their water, their chair, and their feeder from the Go pen.  Early afternoon, I shut their old run so they could nbo longer gain access.

At about 2.30, which is half an hour earlier than usual,  I shut everyone away.  The Littlees had a hanging feeder and some swede,  and were happy mooching about.   At 3.15, when they normally think about going to bed,  I put a torch inside the Cube.  At 3.30, I went out, opened the back of the Cube by sliding the roof open a bit,  and called them .  They came and had a look, but all went out again.

At 4.15, I coud see that they were hanging around by the exit door.  I went out, and could hear that they were calling, distressed at being in the wrong place.    I opened the back of the Cube, and called them.   Astrid and Sunshine, the two Golden Pheasant Leghorns, came straight up.  The others came up the ladder but wouldn't come in.

After about 8 minutes, I had 4 of them in.  I slid the pop hole shut, and waited.  I then opened it a crack so the torch shone out, but the girls couldn't get out. I called, and Sylvia climbed up the ladder.  I opened the pop hole so she could get in,  and Summer ran out.  I did the same again.  Summer was much more distressed, and was running around the pen.    I thought about going round the front to catch herbut I decided Id wait until it was dark to do that.   I really wanted her to find her own way in.

Eventually, she climbed the ladder.  I opened the door for her, and she went in, hesitantly.  When she was in, I gently closed th epop hole,   said good night to them, and shut the roof.

We don't have an auto opener on this Cube. The one I want to buy has an App, and the Android version should be available at some point. It would be possible to buy the older version and then retrofit a new circuitboard when the App is released on Android,  but the additional cost is quite big,  I've been hanging on, and hanging on, waiting.

The evenings aren't too bad,  it's the mornings that are going to be a bit tough.  (Every time I say that, I chuckle at how things have changed.  I used to start work at 6am!)

Lets hope that it's all OK tomorrow.

Princess Seams

I finally made myself make myself a top.

It didn't start well.

I bought Ellie & Mac's Tres Belle  wrap top drees pattern.  A lot of indy designers have been extending their size range,  and the pictures showed some ladies of a similar size to me.   I decided to make a muslin of just the bodice, to see if it would work, before I committed to the dress.

It was a disaster.

I'm experienced enough now to not get disillusioned by this,  but it did remind me of how I felt when I first tried to make an item of clothing (and then didn't try sewing clothes again for years).

I dug out my own cross over top pattern, made using my SureFit Designs body blueprint.  I wanted to compare the pattern pieces to see whether I could make some adjustments to one of the other.     As I contemplated the two patterns,  I thought about options.

And I decided to put away the cross over front for now,  and to make a princess seam blueprint instead.    I've been thinking about doing this for a loooong time,  I've just never been motivated enough.

I watched Glenda's videos on designing a princess seam,  and decided to try one from the armscye.  (I've done a princess seam from the shoulder when I made a jacket at Judith's Jacket Retreat) .

I also watched Glenda's video on sewing princess seams,  and that was a real godsend. it made stitching the curved bit to the straight bit relatively simple.`

So, I made my pattern pieces,  I quickly cut a muslin and stitched it together, and.... it wasn't bad at all.    I kept the blueprint,  and made another version with a lower neckline and a shorter shoulder seam.   I made this in reasonable fabric,  and it looked OK.       I was pleased with it. 

It's not finished.  I need to do the neckband, and I need to hem it.  I did put sleeves in though, so I could test the whole pattern before moving on.

And then I did another version of the pattern, with a still lower neckline.   I've cut it out (apart from the sleeves) and it's sitting on the cutting table waiting for me to get on with it.

I had some other bits and pieces I needed to sort out, so it'll be a little while before I can complete it.

time's nearly up

So we're already 2/3rds of the way through November!

The Littlees are no longer little.   Emotionally they are still little chicks,  keeping out of the way of the Big Girls, and dancing and flapping about.    Astrid is the boldest, and she'll eat from my hand without hesitation.  She won't let me pick her up easily though.      She's currently the front runner for staying with Sylvia (the Silver Laced Barnevelder) when everyone else goes off to the Allotment.  Sunshine,  the timid but ewxceptionally pretty golden leghorn,  is the other contender.   She's a little sweetie too.   Blondie and Summer, the two Silver Duckwing Leghorn girls,  will both go to the allotment. 

We're trying to make a final decision on the Boys at the allotment.   They are now the oldest we've ever kept table boys.  Teh Barnevelders are fine,  but the Leghorns are pains in the prioverbial.   Junior, Bertie's son,  is just starting to become interested in the girls, so it won't be long before he starts being a darned nuisance as well.

Bertie also has to go,   and he will be replaced by one of the Silver Laced Barnevelder boys.  It's time to choose which of the 3 stay.

Do we keep just one (in which case 2 girls will go down to keep him company the day the other boys go)?   Or do we try and keep two, and see if they will coexist? .  We have a flock of 13 ladies, not counting the girls from this year,  and that is too many for one boy to manage, so I'm thinking that 2 boys might make a better job of it.  Or it might be a disaster waiting to happen.     I don't want to be in the position of having to cull a boy later.


We need to make a final decision,  as I then have to start thinking about how to introduce the boy(s) to the flock.  The process is likely to be different if I have one boy vs having two boys.

  

Makes for Miss Tween

Miss Tween came to stay during Half Term,  and she tried on the new sized clothing I'd made for her.  I wanted to check fit before final sewing of waistbands and doing hemming etc.

Of course I only have pics of the unfinished items, but here they are

The tops are a little big, especially the pink one,  but I'll carry on with that size as she's growing.

In other (random) news

I have needed to keep my leg elevated at night for some months now. 

It hasn't been practical to raise the end of the bed so, at the suggestion of the consultant,  I had been packing under the mattress with a princess-and-the-pea arrangement of pillows.   It has worked well,  and we taked about maybe getting an adjustable bed.

Our horrible, waste of a vast amount of money, Technogel mattresses have been bearable since I bought a fab wool mattress topper (Devon Duvets),  and we hadn't had any plans to change them at the moment.

By chance,  an ad for an adjustable frame which fits inside an existing frame popped up in my Facebook feed.   It turned out to be an American thing, and I couldn't find the equivalent in the UL.  It did make me look at adjustable beds though,  and I found that the choice was considerably better than when we last looked many years ago.

We drove a reasonable distance to check out the beds and the mechanisms and the mattresses.  The mechanisms and mattresses were fine,  but the beds just weren't up to the quality of our existing bed. 

The lovely company checked out our existing bed, and confirmed that it wasn't going to be possible to insert their mechanism into it. 

Their metal frames looked flimsy in comparison (plus one of the options we'd had meant that they were out of the picture anyway),  I can't stand divan beds,  and I'm not keen on wooden beds either.

We took a couple of days to talk through what to do.  I really liked the idea of an adjustable bed, but I didn't want to give up my gorgeous Nights in Iron bed. 

DH wasn't so sure that the mechanism wouldn't fit.  He thought that he might be able to make some mods to either the bedframe or the lifting frame to get it to work.   We decided we'd order a bed, and then DH could see if he could do anything.  He and I managed to agree on wooden bed from their range that would be an OK fallback.

 We placed our phone order.  All the bits to make the bed to our spec were available,  they had a van delivering to our area in a couple of days,  so it all happened quite fast.

As we watched them install the new bed, we realised that there was no way that our fabulous ron frame was going to work with it.    It's too big and heavy to store anywhere, so we're having to sell it.      If I ever go back to a normal bed,  my first choice would be exactly that bed again.





We've had the adjustable one for  few nights now, and it's working well.  We#re used to having 2 3 foot mattresses,  although our previous ones had a protector on to make them feel like one 6 foot mattress.  Because we are both using the head raising option, at different heights, in addition to me using the foot raising option, we've had to get separate sheets for the two 3 foot mattresses. It doesn't feel as odd as I thought it might.

We have 7 nights to confirm that we are happy with the mattresses.

 It's looking good so far.

In other (chickeny) news: BAD Big Boy

Big Boy launched his first proper attack against DH today.   

According to our original plan  they have about 3 more weeks until they go for the chop,  but it is entirely possible that they won't make it that far.  Big Boy and Long John Silver are sealing the fate of all this year's table boys.

We've agreed that we'll see how it goes.  We also need to heft Junior and the Barnies, to see what weight they are likely to be.

We're (I'm) also going to have to make a decision on who stays.

In other (sewing) news

I finally managed to clear the table AND do some cutting out.

I've made a new-size pair of leggings, waistband only basted on. in some lovely halloween scuba.   I'm waiting to see Miss Tween so we can see how they fit.

I've also made a really lovely looking raglan sleeved top.  Well, the fabric choices are lovely - glow in the dark green spider webs on a black background, for the front,  and bright green for the back, sleeves, and neckband.    However,  I printed the wrong pattern (Bella Sunshine Reagan Raglan), instead of one I've made before.

This pattern has asort of crossover V neck, which I haven't done before. It's mostly OK.  The inside is a bit of a mess,  but I keep telling myself it's only a test garment, and my next one will be better.  On the plus side,  I might not have actually made htis pattern if I hadn't printed it in error, so that's a win.

I've printed out the correct raglan pattern now (Patterns for Pirates Jolly Roger Raglan), which I've made before in a smaller size.  I've also sorted out some fabric for it,  I just need to try and get on with it before my sewjo takes another holiday.

I also had the urge to make her a Dolman sleeved top.  I looked through my enormous stash of patterns,  and the only Dolman for youngsters is an A4 version.  I don't have the energy for printing and sticking, so that won't be happening any time soon.   I did look at the adult's version,  but the sizing is too off, even on the smallest sizes.   If I can find a free or cheap PDF A0 version, I might buy it.

Pattern Emporium launched two adult tee shirt patterns recently.  I don't need tee shirt patterns (I don't really need any  patterns!),  but they were doing a special bundle discount, and if I bought other patterns I got them at lots of money off too.  So I ended up buying 5 patterns (2 tee shirts, 2 trousers, 1 shorts).

A few weeks ago I decided to print out all my A0 PDFs, to keep safe in case the A0 printer broke,  They are all hanging beautifully from hang-a-plan hangers, organised in alphabetical order.   When I was printing them, it made me confront just how many patterns I had,  and how few I had actually made.    Almost all of the patterns were for the types of clothes I'd like to make,  and most of them were bought when the designer had a sale (and after spending time  in my cooling off bookmark folder  "Patterns I'm considering Buying" ).

I then realised that pattern buying was a bit like fabric buying... a completely separate hobby to making things.   That was a very comforting thought.     It made me feel much better, and less guilty (that I shouldn't need them because of my Surefit Designs blueprint).

I'm going to have to split the adult sized patterns  into two hang-a-plan hangers.  Technically they all fit on one,  but it is blooming heavy to lift off the hook,  AND having them split onto two hangers would make inserting newly purchased patterns a tiny bit easier.  Not that I'm planning on buying any more, of course.   

If the clothes fit Miss Tween I'll take photos and post in the next couple of days.

   

Ashes

We had the expected phonecall from the Vet last Tuesday, to say that Wash's ashes were ready for collection.

I said I'd collect the next day.  So, on Wednesday,  I braced myself,  and collected the ashes.  DH was out until mid afternoon, so I did it as part of a circular tour doing errands in the morning.

It was a big box.  When Maddie was cremated 12 (?) years ago,  we had a small box which was just big enough to conain the ashes.  This was huge in comparison.    I put it on the table,  waiting for DH to get back.

Later,  we opened the box together.  Inside, there was a smaller box, locked into a cut out in the big box.  Inside that, was a plastic bag containing the ashes.   Underneath the smaller box was an organza drawstring ba which intelsf contaimed a folded plastic bag. .  We thought that maybe the idea was to double bag the ahes, and then put them in the organza bag.

I opened the organza bag and pulled out the plastic bag, to do just that. 

Inside were clippings of Wash's fur.

It was completely unexpected.

Caught unawares,  a surge of emotion.

I opened it again just now,  to take the picture.  It was OK this time.

Life goes on

My cat loving friend sent me a short but sweet email.

My other, animal loving, best friend asked lots of questions and was very kind.  Her sister, who also knew Wash, sent me a lovely message.

My brother came round while we were out.  I messaged to let him know we were 40 minutes away.  He was still there when we got home.

Miss Tween cried.  She has messaged me every night to tell me that she misses Wash.  She likes to reminisce,  it's her way of dealing with it.    I'm not ready to reminisce too much,  it's like picking at a scab.  I need to let the scab heal before I start scratching at it.

Mostly I've just been pretending that Wash is in another room.   Sometimes, the realisation that I'm not going to see him again,  or hear his loud purr,  or smell his fur, pushes through my pretence.  

This morning we received a condolences card from the Vet.   It was unexpected, and it made me cry.  It made DH well up.


There's lots of other stuff going on, and I need to keep myself under control. 

DH is keeping himself busy.   I'm trying to clear up, yet again - nothing to do with Wash's stuff.   I've been in a bit of a circular "trench" (I can't clear A until I've doneB,  I cant do B until C, I cant do D until D,  I can do E so I'll quickly do that,  I can't do F until D, I can't do G until A... that sort of thing)  and I can't summon the energy to  break the circle.   I know that the clutter is preventing me from doing stuff.... or, at least, it's giving me an excuse for not dong stuff.

Yesterday I managed some unrelated clearing up. This was stuff which is not in the circle,  it's a whole different set of stuff but it adds to the general feeling of overwhelming paralysis.  It involved clearing a spce in the utility room,  moving a large, rarely used,  electrical item out of a cupboard into the space in the utility room,  (getting side tracked into taking the another item from the utility room and spring cleaning it)   then reorganising the cupboard so some smaller electrical stuff on the counter could go in the cupboard but still be easily accessible.

This made a surprising difference and let me sort out two sections of the worktop  that they just look untidy now (rather than a mess of stuff).


On the Wash front, we've taken up his food bowl we've disposed of his opened medication; we've offered the unused syringes to a local cat charity (no one local had a diabetic cat that used those syringes).    We haven't yet removed the sharps box.

I opened the door to the front bedroom. I was only ever closed to stop him sleeping on the bed in there.

I also decided to break the circle of paralysis. I looked at the mess and resisted the urge to bin everything.   Instead,  building on yesterdays quick rearrangement,  I looked at what was a relatively easy thing to do, but would have an impact.  It imvolved me literally sweeping a load of stuff from the bed in the guest room into a pile on the floor, so I had space to work.

I'd better get back to it.  

Onwards and upwards.

Washy died today.

They kept Wash in last night.

The bloods an urine didn't show anything, but he was very poorly.

Our usual Vet was out today (he told us yesterday that he wouldn't be here). I rang at 9 and the Vet in charge of Wash told us that he had improved a little and was sitting uphe outlined what the plan for today was, and we would speak to her at lunchtime for an update.

She phoned about half an hour later to say that Wash's pupils weren't dilating in response to light, which indicated a brain injury.   She explained the options,  which were few.  We ruled out sending him to a Neurologist as we didn't want to put him through even more stuff, when the outcome was likely to be that nothing could be done.   We we agreed that we would come in at 5 to decide what to do. 

I had an appointment on behalf of ny brother at 2, and I was on my way to him just before 1 when the Vet called.  I pulled over to take the call, as it could only be bad news.

Washy had deteriorated, and she wanted us to come in sooner.  Almost now ish.

I phoned to cancel the appointment,  messaged my brother (his phone was engaged), phoned my husband,  and drove home.

We went straight to the Vets to see Wash. He barely registered we were there, apart from when we scratched his chin.   I told him all the usual thing: how loved he was, who loved him, how lucky we were to have had him in our life.  This time I added that he was going to have one more injection, and he would be pain free.  

I had wanted him to die at home.  He hated the Vets so much.  But we couldn't put hi through bringing him home.

We consented.  We said goodbye.  DH held Washy while the Vet injected through his tube;  I held DH.

Later, I messaged my other, cat loving, brother.  I did't know what to write.  In the end, I sent just 3 words.

"Washy died today." 

Wash

Wash has been having a really rough time lately.

Some time ago, he developed a limp.   It's not unusual,  we assumed he'd probably landed funny (again).  It improved a bit, and then got worse, and then got a lot worse very quickly.  We took him to the Vet.

Our normal vet was on holiday. The Vet we saw was very thorough and very kind.  She ruled some things out,  she shared her fears,  and we agreed that we'd crate him,   so we could ensure he rested his leg, give him so metacam, and we'd review in a week.

It didn't get better, despite him being crated,  so we took him in for an x-ray, to make sure that it wasn't anything sinister.    It wasn't a cancerous growth,  but there was evidence of arthritis, swe had to continue with Metacam.

He was not a happy bunny when we got him home, which is really unusual.  He gets very very stressed being left at the Vets, and normally he's really happy to be home.  He wasn't at all happy.  We assumed that his arm was hurting from being proddded and poked,  and that he was recovering from the sedation.

It didn't get better.  As time went on, we realised that he most likely hadn't been to the toilet.  (He had been outside, hiding under some bishes, dso he could have been, but we didn't think so.  We crated him again, so we could could double check what was happening, and we dosed him with Kattylax.   He did not go to the toilet, things got a bit worse, and we took him back to the vets.  

Th Vet confirmed he was bunged up.  They kept him in for the day so they could xray him,  give him an enema to unblock him, and do some some other tests. They did a blood test, and all was clear.   He came home,  he was quiet, but a little better.

It took more than a week before he got back to more like his old self - getting up on the sofa,  wanting to lie on our legs, that sort of thing.  He seemed quite well, almost his old self.  He even slept on our bed for a couple of nights.

And then on Saturday morning, he was sick after eating.  This is not particularly unusual,  although it hasn't happened for a long time.  He was sick again after eating a bit later as well.    We decided to stop the metacam, as this can cause sickness .  On Sunday, we tried him on white fish, but he was sick every time he ate, even if he ate only a tiny anount.      DH did an ear prick test, and the results were low (as he hadn't eaten) so we didn't give him any insulin.    

I put the 'Orange TV' on for him, as he really loves lying by the fire.  We wanted him to stay in the sitting room with us, so we cold keep an eye on him.

On Monday he didn't eat, and we syringed water (laced with electrolytes) in to him,  just a teaspoon or so every few hours.  He kept it down, mostly,  but he went and had drink in the late evening and was sick again;  then, in the middle of the night I woke up because I heard him being sick yet again.

So, this morning we took him to the Vet.  He did a urine test immediately, to check for ketones (which would indicate an insulin issue).  Nothing, fortunately.

We've had to leave him there so they can put him on a drip to rehydrte him, do a blood test,  and check for other things (like an infection).  he's an elderly cat, and the Vet doesn't keep them in if it's avoidable,  so we're going back this evening to see what the status is, to see if he can come home. 

Poor little man.

Sisters

It's soon to be the birthday of someone very dear to me.  I un-hibernated the embroidery machine to make her a special card this year.

The design is from Nicola Elliot, Picturestitch Designs,  and it is called "3 sisters".  In the case of my dear friend,  it represents a mum and her 2 daughters.

Blondie Bombshell

It was very windy yesterday and, for the first time,  I let all the girls into all  the garden at the same time. Up to now, the Littlees have had a few hours extended ranging in peace before I let the Ladies out into the rest of the garden.

It wasn't too bad.  There was a bit of chasing, but nothing mean.   The Littlees kept themselves in a little flock,  and moved away whenever any of the Ladies approached. 

I was also vauuming and washing floors.  Mid afternoon, I carried the sheepskin rug out into the garden with the intention of shaking it.  I didn't get that far.

As soon as I stepped into the garden, with the rug under my arm,  pandemonium broke out.   The Ladies screamed and ran for cover.  The Littles exploded into a sort of chickeny fireworkfountain,. Unfortunately, they were standing in a corner,  between the summerhouse and the fence. They exploded up the side of th esummerhouse, and up the fence.... and one of them landed next door.

I ran into thehouse to get a step-stool but, when I got back,  I couldn't see her anywhere.   DH climbed up further down the gardewn to look, and still couldn't see her.


We rounded up the hens to make sure that we had one missing; we did.  

I called her, threw a few sunflower seeds into the garden,  nothing.  Not a peep. 

Our lovely next door neighbour (LNDN) was away, so we had no way of getting in to the garden.  I suggested removing a fence panel, but DH declined.    While we considered options (including me climbingon the log store nd into next door,  borrowing a child,  waiting until the LNDN's daughter got home so we could get her to come over and let us in......      There was another complicating factor, which I can't talk about.

And then she appeared on the fence.  She was debating which way to go.  Into our garden,  back into LNDN's garden, or move a few steps and fly off into the wilderness.

I ran round the gouses to the wilderness, just in case.  By the time I got there,  she'd disappeared.   I I assumed that she'd probably decided to come down into our garden. I hadn't taken my phone, so DH couldn't phone me to tell me one way or the other.  Just in case, I checked all round for signs of her before returning home,

She was shut up in the Big Girls run,  and was as jumpy as a jumping bean.  Any noise set her off.  I tried to catch her to calm her, but it was hopeless.   I left her to it for a while,  and in the end I had to let the Big Girls in to their run, in an attempt to 'force' Blondie to let me 'save' her.  

She sat on my lap in the big run,  eating the occasional sunflower seed.   I stroked her, talked to her, calmed her down.  And eventually carried her next door to go in with her sisters.

I'm hoping she forgets that there is a whole new world next door.

Fabric-buying incontinence

After 9 months of buying virtually no fabric,  I had a momentary lapse.  My Facebook feed was the trigger,  but I shouldn't have looked.  Once I'd decided the fabric was worth breaking my ban for,  I ordered a few more pieces to make best use of shipping (well, to get free shipping).

This then led to another lapse Which led to another lapse, as I decided to order the other fabrics that I'd so carefully rejected.  Then, while I was waiting for the fabric to arrive,  I saw some fabric I knew  my sewing granddaughter would love, and I'm seeing her shortly... so that was another lapse. And then there was another one.    I have another lapse due to be delivered today or tomorrow,  and a final lapse which I've only just ordered, because it was all Christmas and Halloween stuff. Not that I have any room in the boxes for "Christmas" and "Halloween" fabrics.

Despite the apparent   incontentince,  I have tried to be discerning.   There were so many otherfabrics that I didn't buy.     I haven't looked at the website since.  

On the plus side,  I haven't had buyers remorse about any of them.   Well, I've had buyers remorse about breaking my self-imposed ban and my lack of self control,  but no buyers remorse about the individual fabrics.  They are all really lovely.

I am going to do some emergency making in the next few days. If I use some of the new fabrics up,  maybe it won't seem so bad.

Maybe.

October 2nd

Well, I didn't make anything yesterday, and I haven't made anything today.

I did manage to get a huge amount of clearing done by midnight on the 30th,  and I could have done some cutting out yesterday.   I didn't, but I could have done.

I feel OK about it.  I feel mentallly in better shape.  I feel I achieved the important part of my objective:   clearing the mess.  Insetad of sewing,  I did some other stuff.

Part of the stuff was pulling together some bits for my sewing granddaughter, including re-buying some patterns I already own to be fair to the designer.

The table is junking up again (not quite sure how it happens!), so I need to keep on top of it.

Choosing my reaction

It's been an interesting couple of weeks and I am a little stressed.       Rarely have I more  needed to listen to my own advice about  letting things go.

I'm mostly stressed about things outside my control which are affecting me daily. I can't talk about a couple of the things,  as it is about other people and they are not my stories to share.

One o fthe things I can  share is about Wash,  who has been very unwell (we thought he was going to die)

Wash, our ginger boy, is improving.  He's still refusing to leave the living room,  but he's now spending most of his time on the rug rather than hiding away.   We took the big crate down today, and put up a small one, just for the litter tray (we don't want Izzy thinking the litter tray is for everyone to use,  and we don't want Wash thinking having a litter tray in the living room is  the new normal).  He looks happier in himself and, if we didn't know, we could easily believe that all was well.

The living room is a bit of a mess, and that won't change until Wash is properly back to normal.   The kitchen is a disaster, mainly of my own making.     I've tried to clear it to do some sewing,  but events overtook me and I didn't.  And then, after months of banning myself,  I  had fabric buying diarrhoea.   The fabric was in various stages of  waiting to be pre-washed,  waiting for the airer,  on the airer,  folded waiting to be put away.  Plus there were several batches of fabric on the table waiting to be cut and used.

I'd chosen this time to order a whole load of new Weck jars.  Some of these were to accomodate the home preserved tomato juice,   a load were for spices (in an attempt to sort out the spice drawers)  and so on.    Then, while waiting for them to arrive,  I decided to change th spice drawers completely anyway  and now the new jars I've ordered won't quite fit. 

I sold the old drawers.  In looking for the new fitting,  I also ended up buying some second hand full extension drawers for my larder,  so now the top of the larder has been emptied into the kitchen while I work out where I want them to go.

My sewing templates, which used to live on the back of the kitchen door, had to be moved so that we could close the door to keep Wash secure.   Everything is piled on to the front of the door to the hall,  or on the bed in the guest room.

The hall is awash with stuff waiting to go to the charity shop, or waiting for the people who've requested or bought it to come and collect.

On Thursday, I made a decision.    I'm going to get all this cleared by midnight on September 30th.  On October 1st, I'm going to sew something. Anything. I don't care what. I've got a list as long as my arm.

I've been making headway,  repeating my mantra "every thing you can remove will make a difference", and I've been chip chip chipping away.

DH is out today, and I wanted to use the opportunity to stitch out something for his birthday.  His birthday isn't for ages,  but the design is very complex, and has a 2 hour stitchout,  not counting me faffing around and thread changes.

Thirty minutes into the stitch out,  the machine decided to object.   It took me 20 minutes of faffing about, trying to resolve it.    In the end, I had to start again from scratch.

I was  feeling......frustrated .  I just looked out of the window and did some slow breaths for a while.  "I never did mind about the little things" I thought.  And then I thought it again, with a bit more conviction.

And now I'm not frustrated.  If it doesn't stitch, well,  I can try again another time,  or not do it.  I need to focus on my clearing deadline,  and anything else is a bonus.

And I can hear that the machine has stopped again.   Oh well,  good excuse to take some wet washing upstairs.

Hello Boys!

I went to see the Boys, for the first time in a couple of weeks, yesterday.  They are splendidly handsome chaps.

BigBoy continues to be the Cockerel in the group,   calling th others when he finds a trest,  picking and dropping food for them.

He and Long John Silver are the only ones that were crowing.  Bertie Junior is getting his cockerel colouring,  and the Barnies feathering is gorgeous.

European country cake

Miss Tween phoned on Monday.  I was unable to take the call,  and when I did get to look at my phone to call her back, I was a little worried.  I had many many missed calls from her.

She had to make a cake for her homework, and she couldn't do it at home because her parents kitchen was part way through being refitted.  It needed to be complex and complicated, like something form Bake Off.  It had to be a European cake.

I asked for clarification . Were we looking for a national cake of some country or other  or did it have to have a country theme (like colours, flag, you know the sort of thing).    It turned out that she wasn't really sure.

So, yes, of course she could come over on Wednesday after school and make a cake,  and I would see if I could come up with any ideas.

I guessed that people would already be making flag coloured sponges,  or icing cakes with flags, or whatever.     I wracked and wracked my brains.  DH and I chatted about it.  And then, out of nowhere, inspiration struck.

We were going to do Switzerland.

I desperately tried to find a suitable cake tin online, but there wasn't anything that could get here before Wednesday (and my local shops didn't have them).   In the depths of my cupboard I found a terrine pan,  so I had a go at making a base cake.

I had already looked up cake carvingon Youtube, so I knew that I needed a rigid serrated knife,  and I needed a firmer sponge.  One lovely lady suggested Madeira cake,  so I found a suitable recipe., and made the cake,

When it came out of the oven, as I expected, it hadn't risen enough. I calculated the volume of the tin, and the volume of the cake and compared them. The cake was 80% of the tin, so I needed to increase the ingredients by 25% *(Ha, maths, you can't get me.  I nearly only increased it by 20%,, but I' used to trixks like that!   T o my immense delight,  the second cake filled the tin exactly and was square!

I had a play with the first version, and realised that my initial idea (or cutting it along the diagonal length into 2 triangles) was unlikely to work,  Instead,  I had a play with carving, and achieved something...respectable.

I gave Miss Tween the ingredients list for the icing (Nutella and Philadelphia), but I already had the rest of the ingredients in my cupboard.

Wednesday came,  and we set to work as soon as she arrived.   Madeira cakes take a while to make because they aren't "all in one" cakes.    It took some time to get the base mix made,  and Miss Tween had to do it all herself.  It then took 45 minutes for the cake to cook, and then it had to cool.

We made the icing while the cake was cooking.  I wasn't sure that one batch was enough,  so Miss Tween had to run to the shop to get some more unsalted butter.   After we'd made the second batch  I had a minor heart attack when I notcied the foil lid of the Philadelphia tub.   How could we have missed that?!  What a waste of butter and icing sugar.   Disaster!

But then I realised that the foil lid is only an advert for a different flavour in their range.  What idiot thought that was good marketing?!

While we were waiting,  I got her to practise carving on my cake from the day before.  I showed he how to support the cake while slicing,  how too take a small bit off at a time,  how to clean the crumbs off (and why).

Then it was on to the real cake.

I made a template for her, showed her what to do woth the first one. She then took over and it took forever as she was, naturally, nervous about it.

 I cocked up slightly, I thought I'd made the gaps (in the template) big enough to get a small icing palette knife in, but I didn't.  It made the whole thing even more challenging that it needed to be.

We brushed away the crumbs, and then started on the icing.

 I showed her how to do the covering, and explained why we were decanting the icing , a bit at a time, into a separate bowl. [in case she got crumbs on her icing knife and transferred them to the icing bowl]

She started with the in-between bits,  then did the insde triangle sides,  then the outsides, then the top As time went on, she got better and more confident at it.  We stopped for dinner.

 Immediately after dinner,  she did the ends and the base,  re-covering the sides as well.  I got her to use a cranked palette knife for this.  She was insistent that she could do it with a flat one (she was understandably tired).   In a moment of slight exasperation on my part (I was also, understandably, tired),  I got her to try and do one side with the flat blade,  and I did the other side with a cranked blade.      She then swapped to the cranked blade without complaint.

And here we have it.

Switzerland in cake form.

UPDATE:  It was a success. All slices were quickly sold.

Although it's just occurred to me people might have been epecting a Toblerone flavoured cake.

Oh well.

Three flocks.

We're continuing to give bothe the Oldies and the LIttlees the full run of the garden for most of the day.   For a part of the day, I put netting up to keep them in the others' run.  This gives the Littlees an opportunity to explore the Oldies area without getting molested.

Mostly, things are quiet.    They are mainly going round in 3 flocks.  The Gang of 5 Littlees,  who beetle around in an arrowhead-shaped flock;  The pair of OldestOldees, Poppy and Gloria,, who are both 8 uears old and  moulting and really can't be doing with anyone;  and the 3 Younger Oldees, Fleur, Poppy and Fay. 

The three groups move around the garden, mostly avoiding each other.  Fleur continues to be a problem, attacking the Littlees at every opportunity.    

I expect we'll have more skirmishes when we try to put them all together permanently.  ANother few weeks before we get to that point though.

Trying, again.

Wash isn't right.   He's not himself.  He's spending all his time hidden away.   We're giving him some space, but we are concerned.

The sewing table is no less cluttered than it was last time I wrote. No real excuse,  just stuff.

I went to Pilates today, 3rd Friday in a row.  I will add the Monday classes back in to my routine soon.


My brother (DB) phoned me today, from hospital asking for a lift home so he could be discharged.   He'd been admitted on Tuesday, and was being discharged today.  He hadn't been able to let anybody know because his mobile phone, with all our contact info on, was dead.

He'd been unwell at the weekend. He mentioned it to his good friend and dancing teacher on Monday,  and the friend was concerned and said he should go to get ot checked out in case it was something serious.  At work the next day,  a colleague said the same thing.  Fortunately DB listened, and went to his GP, who called an ambulance.

I contacted his friend to let him know that all was now well, and he was very relieved.  He'd been trying to get in touch with DB aince Monday to check on him.

I could pretend that I would have done some sewing if only I hadn't been busy with DB.  But that would be a pretence.  

Something else would have occurred to prevent me, I'm pretty sure of that.

Gold Sta

MIss Tween's previous schookl were rubbish at marking her holiday homework, so she always did it knowing that they probably wouldn't even bother to look at it,

Her new school gave this year's intake holiday homework to do, even though the intake hadn't actually started at school.  I mentioned some of it in earlier posts.    Miss Tween wasn't happy about it, but got into it a bit as she did more and more tasks, and as her booklet came together.  

By the end, she was working really really hard at maing it look good, and shesqueeed in extra task after extra task.

The school use the homework to get a feel for child.  It helps them understand how motivated they are,  and what some of their strengths and weaknesses might be.    We didn't correct any of Miss Tween's work, because we wanted the school to get a true picture of her abilities and needs.

Since starting at the school she's had 'normal' homework, and tests in some classes,  which is still focussed on the school finding out what the intake already know.     She's been frustrated that there are lots of areas that she doesn't know anything about. She's very cross with her old school.    We've said not to worry about the actual scores she's getting,  just to use it to know where she needs to work extra hard.

We hadn't heard anything about the mammoth summer homework until she She messaged me last night.
 
"You know the homework.. I got gold, the highest mark"

We're so pleased...She really deserved it.  She worked so  hard.

Trying

After my last blog entry, I felt motivated enough to attempt to clear the sewing table.  I felt seure that clearing the table would free my mind, and I'd be motovated to sew,

Nearly.  Not quite.

I moved a whole load of stuff off (mainly crboard templates, and some random patterns which I squished up and stuck in an A1 hangaplan.   I couldn't put them away, as putting them away required a heavy duty hook to be drilled into the wall in the upstaurs bedroom.   Still, I got them off the table. And I moved the clean washing,  and some other random bits.

Then I had breakfast, and DH tried his home grown, home pressed, home pasteutised tomato juice for the first time... and declared it good.  Even better than the pre pasteurised pressing.  This is fab news, as it means  we'll get real valie from the tomatoes,  and my 500ml Weck flasks will come in handy at last.

We had to work out where we were going to store many such bottles, and it was going to require a bit of a reorg.    This morning, poor old Wash had to go to the Vet for x-rays/   When we got back, I did some chicken stuff (including trying to feed all of them corn kernels,  which worked reasonablywell as Fleur was no where to be seen.

DH had to go out this afternoon, so I got on with the reorganising,  rying to take my mind of Washy.   It took a looooong time,  it was like one of those puzzles with sliding pieces.   I put some saved bottles into the recycling,  I revamped my "glass jar" storage, moved stuff in the utility room, blah blah blah.   Anyway, it's all done now, and it all looks very organised.    I give it a week.


It's a good job I had cleared the sewing table, because it's right underneath the jars, and it was covered in stuff under review today.    Most of the stuff has gone now, but there are a couple of items I've posted locally to see if anyone wants them before they go in this week's recycling.

The Weck jars have just finished being spruced up in the dishwasher, and are ready for juice tomorrow.



We collected Wash this evening, and he's back in the big crate for tonight.   From tomorrow he doesn't need to be crated, but he's not allowed outside for a few days until his insulin levels stabilise.

I'm trying Feisty Tapas (Maria Bravo) pressure cooked meatloaf for dinner tonight.  I didnt have a loaf tin that fits inside the pressure cooker.  Or, more accurately,  the one loaf tin I had that would have fitted was too good to do it to.   I had an insert  thing from my old Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, so I've tried using that instead.  Who says meatloaf has to be loaf shaped?!

 

Changing Rooms

For the last couple of days we;ve been letting both sets of Girls out, with the complete run of the back garden.

It's mostly been OK;  Gloria and Poppy re both in heavy moult, so are keeping out of the way a bit;  Fleur is being a bit of a b*tch. 

The Big Girls like to get to the Pampas (which is in the LIttlees area),  or in to the Littlees run to eat the treats in their hanging feeder.  So, I took the opportunity to shut the Littlees in to the Big Girls run so theycould have a good look round.   I've done it for a couple of days now, and the Littlees are quite happy in there.

They are still in no way ready to stand up to the Big Girls though, so integration is a long way off.

The Big Girls run has been partially divided, and I've started to move stuff around.  I'll keep it at this "one day at a time" pace for now.

I've been leaving the Littlees coop door open at night for the last few nights so they can get up at the same time as the Big Girls (whose coop door is on a timer).   However,  I don't sleep well when I've done this, and have to get up at least once in the night  (3 times last night) because I can hear a noise and I'm afraid it's a fox.   I'm going to have to shut the coop door at night for a while, I need to catch up on my sleep.

...

My cutting table is full of stuff, and it is amusing that this is always a good barometer (canary in the coalmine!) for what is happening in my life generally.   A clear table means I have a clear head, I'm on form, amd I can tackle anythinh.  I'm also likely to be doing something creative.

A table cluttered with sewing stuff usually means I'm trying to sew something, but I'm stuck for whatever reason.  Maybe I can't find the right pattern, or the right fabric,  or I don't want to sew the pattern I've chosen, or I'm stuck on how to do something.

A table cluttered with different stuff usually means that I'm having a bit of a tough time, and I just can't get motivated (or I've got too much else on) to clear it.  That's where I am right now, although I'm hoping that writing this down will give me the kick I need to go and attempt to clear it.

I've been unable to set my mind to anything creative (apart from idly investigating a different craft to try,  because another set of carp  equipment and supplies is exactly what I need [sarcastic voice],  and it's much easier to spend a few hours looking at this and that than it is to actually do some clearing up. ).  I'd found a half day course, but it's about 4 hours away, and not 4 hours in a direction of any use for anything else. 

 

I found some fabric I know my DGGwill like,  so I've bought some.  I broke my self-imposed fabric ban to do so, but I've bought barely any fabric all year so I don't feel too badly about it. .  I messaged her to ask her if she would like it. I didn't mention I'd bought it because I didn't want her to feel obliged to say yes.   She was very happy about it.  And, on the plus side,  I accidentally inspired her to make a top.  She cut round one she already had to make a pattern, and whipped something up.  She's much more creative and adventurous than me.   I'm happy to know that she's still sewing. 

I made yoghurt last night, but the milk was a little too warm when I put the starter yoghurt in, so the end product wasn't as thick as usual.  I strained it today, so it's a little thicker, but it isn't the usual greek-style thickness.  

I used the whey to make a batch of sultana scones and a batch of cheese scones.   The cheese ones are great, I haven't tested the sultana ones yet.

DH has made tomato juice (for drinking) a couple of times now, nd the second time he got the balance of salt just right.   We decided to take the plunge and try pasteurising some.    He was using salad tomates (rather than roma type) for this as we have quite a lot of them.  He made 4 litres of jiuce last night.    We decided to follow the US processing guidelines, and add lemon juice or ctric acid to each bottle.   Unsure what impact it would have, we did 4 bottles with lemon juice and 4 bottles with citric acid.    I'm interested to see what the taste difference is, and I really hope this works as it is alwayse rewarding to preserve something DH has grown.

Last night I made a pressure cooker Pork Butter Curry, using the Butter Chicken  recipe from Urvashe Pitre's Indian Instant Pot cook book.   It was really good,  we both really liked it. In fact we both liked it a bit too much.  I normally use about 500g of pork, which gives us 2 portions to eat, and 2  portions to freeze.  There was only 1 portion left to freeze.  I'll be making it again soon.

I also got my hibernating water kefir out of the fridge and I'm attempting to revive it.  I bought a jar with a strainer on it, which (in theory) should make it a little less faffy.  I'd bought a half sized jar for my milk kefir the other day, and that seems OK.   If I can't keep it going, I'll put it back into hibernation.

....

Wash continues to be on cage rest. He's not improving, so he's booked in to have his shoulder x-rayed in a couple of days.  It's a little stressful.

Other family stuff, not my stories to tell,  are ongoing.

 

 

Let's try that together now

This morning was an unexpectedly gorgeous  morning.   I decided to try opening everything up so that both flocks could go anywhere in the garden.

The LIttlees were full of glee and ran, as a flock, to their old ranging area (our "lawn").   Sasha arrived soon after, intent on getting to the bird feeder area, and the little ones ran off, as a flock, somewhere else. 

They decided to try and explore the Big Girls area..At first it was OK


They passed a shell shocked Gloria, who only managed a "WTF??" peck.    Poppy, who has dropped loads of feathers in a moult over the last couple of days and is presumably feeling a bit vulnerable, kept out of the way.




 Fleur was around the other side of the garden, and hadn't yet realised what was going on.  Fleur continues to go nuts when she sees the Littlees,  hurling herself at the netting in an attempt to peck them.

It was OK.  The odd squawk as someone got in the way of someone else,  but actually both groups were so happy to be allowed somewhere else that their paths didn't cross too often.

Then Fleur arrived.

Four of the Littless fled.  She managed to get  Summer, on her own, in the covered run.   Fleur didn't attack,  she was pacing up and down keeping Summer cornered.  Summer was panicking and shrieking.   I went in and stood between them so Summer could escape.

The LIttlees had all returned to the safety of Pampas in their normal area.

I'm washing floors downstairs at the moment (when I'm not typing),  so I'll leave the areas open for now.

Good neighbours

Our lovely neighbour popped round the other day to tell us that she was thinking of moving.  I cried.

We moved the Littlees from our back lawn, so that it would be less off-putting for potential purchasers.  They are still in the back gardem, but their run now adjoins the older girls run.  I mentioned this the other day, so I won't go through it again here.

DH and I walked to Pilates this morning.  (I'm trying to restart now that my health is improving).  By the time we walked back an hour and ten minutes later,  a For Sale board had gone up.

I decided we should do something about our front garden, again so that we didn't affect the kerb appeal for her.      We raked out the front bed, and piled four bags of bark chips on it.  It instantly looked better.

I also spent some time hoeing the weeds out of the driveway paving,  and sweeping up the plant debris that had got everywhere.   It was very hot,  I was already cream crackered after Pilates,  and 30 mins in I'd had enough.

I'm not aiming for perfection,  nor even "neat and tidy",  I'm just aiming for "not too embarrassing".

There's more to do, but that's a job for tomorrow.

CBA

I feel like I'm always thinking/feeling/saying this.... I've been struggling with a severe case of CBA (Can't Be A*sed).

I've been bobbing along, neither drowning or sinking,  but just not quite able to overcome it.   Every time I get a puff of wind in my sails, it feels like something happens to make the wind dissipate.  Not enough to push me into a real funk,  but enough to keep chipping away.

It would be too tedious to write about those happenings,  and some of them are not my news or my story to tell anyway.

I'd been trying to motivate myself to do some sewing, but I'm here writing this blog post instead.

So, while I'm here, let me update you on the Girls and Boys.

At home, we decided to move the Littlees run to be right next to the Big Girls run.  We'd planned to do that at some point, but decided to do it sooner because we wanted to move the Girls away from our next door neighbours fence.    She is quite happy for them to be where they were, but she'll be having visitors soon,  and I know some people are really funny about that sort of thing.   We told her what we were doing,   and she emphasised that the chicks being where they were (and she appreciated why we were doing it).

Blondie

Sylvia

The Girls also have adjoining external runs, and space where they aren't adjoining.    Fleur, our cuckoo Marans,  has been outraged by the move of the Littlees,  and spent a lot of time patrolling the fence line and hurling herself at the Littlees whenever they got within striking distance;   Gloria and Poppy, our Oldies, are in full moult and are keeping their distance. Gloria has really slowed down over the last few months,  and I think she is on her way to losing her place as Top Chook;     Sasha, the Appenzeller,   complains loudly, most of the time;    Fay hops in and out of the Littlees' run,  and makes a point of puffing herself up whenever their paths cross.

Astrid and Summer

The  Littlees will be 15 weeks old this weekend.  The Leghorns are pretty much fullly grown, size wise abd are bigger than Fay (although they don't realise it).   Their wattles are starting to develop into adult wattles,  but they have a long way to go.  Their combs are also tiny for Leghorns.   They continue to be skittish, and I'm losing the enthusiasm of trying to tame them.   They aren't going to be like Lily or Lotti.

Sunshine, one of the Gold Partridge Leghorns, is the shyest of all, and I wonder if she's at the bottom of the pecking order.  Or at the top, and therefore not interested in being friends with me.

Sylvia, the Silver Laced Barnevelder,  is Barney shaped, but still small.  Barneys are slower growing, so it's not surprising.

I'd really really like to have chicks from the Leghorns, crossed with a Cream Legbar boy (to produce blue egg layers).  .  I know it's likely to be 2021 before that happens,  but part of me is hoping that we might be able to do it next year.

I don't have any recent photos of the boys.  They are all still getting on OK, and I'm hoping that they can have a longer lifespan than previous hatches.   It depends on their behaviour as they develop.   Currently BigBoy (Gold partridge leghorn) is top cock,  and treats the boys like his little flock.   The Barney boys are soft docile things (at the moment).    Long John (the silver duckwing leghorn) is developing quickly,  and Bertie Junior (Vorwerk dad, welsh black x Mum) uis looking more and more like a Jack the Lad every day.

I am already wondering if we might be able to keep 2 of the Barnevelder boys.  It seems possible right now,  but these things can change in the blink of an eye.

In Bertie Senior's flock,   most are moulting.   We've got some very senior Girls in the flock,  a lot of them from the same hatch,  so at some point I expect we'll lose a few in one go.   We don't cull the girls just because they stop laying,  we want them to have a long and happy retirement.

Bertie, who has had his card marked for repeated bad behaviour,  has had a short stay of execution.    We've decided to keep him until we take the boys to be culled,  and he'll be culled at the same time... unless he has another incident, in which case he'll go straight away.

End of the holidays

Yesterday was our last day looking after Miss Tween.  She starts secondary school today.

A large part of her time with us was spent in enabling her to do her homework.  She worked really  really  hard, and produced a booklet to detail what activities (from the assigned list) she had completed.  Each activity had to have photographic evidence, and be signed and dated by an adult.

I think she detailed documented 20 activities, and I really hope they read her work.  Her best friend's booklet content was atually written by her mother,  just copied by the girl concerned. 

One of the activities was to research and write about 5 different types of tree.    One of thetypes I suggested was Monkey Puzzle,  and we got help from our local village to find out where there were MP trees of various ages.

We took a photo of her standing beside each tree so we could get an idea of scale.

They ranged from about 8 years old to about 175 years old.

 

St Jude's Church

WIndsor Great Park, 25m, rare as it has babies!

 We were impressed by the tree at St Jude's church... and the we found the one at Windsor Great Park!

The oldest, tallest, tree that we found was in Windsor Great Park, near China Island.

I think we were responsible for about 15 of the 20 activities in her book.

Olfactory sensitivity

My brother's granddaughter, Miss A,  has very heightened senses.  We know that she is very sensitive to noise, and light, and smell,  and sometimes her processing system gets a bit overloaded and she has to do the human equivalent of going offline and rebooting herself.

My brither and I were taking her to London recently, to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.  It was actually a birthday pressie for two of my grandchildren,  and we were meeting them in London.

When my brother and Miss A arrived at mu house,  I asked if they wanted some breakfast.  Dinner, before the show, wasn't until 5.15    Miss A declined,  so I offered my brother some waffles.   I have a waffle maker, which I rarely use,  and I'd recently bought some ready-made waffle mix.  I was keen to try it before risking offering it to the grandchildren the following day. I guessed that Miss A might change her mind, once she saw the waffles.

My brother realised what I was doing, and saud he'd love some.  I got the two of them to make up the battr, while I sorted out the waffle maker.    When it was ready, I put some batter in - not too much, I've had major leakage before.

We waited and waited and wondered howto tell when the waffles were cooked.  We agreed I should open the maker and look.   I did.  They weren't done.  It was a mess, as i'd opened the maker right up instead of just opening it slightly.

We laughed,  I put more on,  and my brother and I ate some of the partially cooked rejected waffle. It wasn't bad,  Miss A nibbled on a bit.

We speculated again about how long to leave the second attempt.   Siuddenly, Miss A said "It smells different now".  We looked at her.  I sniffed the machine, and she was right.  There was a slight sweeter smell.  I opened it up,  and we had two perfectly cooked waffles.

MIss A decided she would like some waffles please.  She tried some maple syrup on her finger, and then decided to have that, and ice cream, as well.

The next lot went in,  and my brother and I smelt around the machine.  It smelled like....someone ironing clothes, actually.  I kept having a sniff,  and then suddently, the smell changed.  Just as I smelt it, Miss A announced from the other side of the room that the smell had changed so they were probably done.    We were right. They were.

That was all the waffle mix used up.

The next morning when my grandchildren got up, I offered them waffles.  I told them abouf Miss A's olfactory sensitivity, and the fact that you could smell when the waffles were cooked.

And do you know what?    

For the first set, I couldn't smell a change so I opened up the wadffle aker, just a teeny bit.  T=I hadn't smelt annythng, because they weren't done!.   A minute later, I could smell the difference.

It worked for all the waffles !