Category Archives: home

Christmas

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Phil and Selina came over for cheese fondue with pickles on Christmas Eve. Yes, tradition is still running. I can’t remember a time in the last 35 years when we have not had a cheese fondue for Christmas Eve. (Rosemary says the reason that we have it, is cos I had a fondue set when we first met and she thought it needed using, so we do, once a year). Very heavy rain overnight.

Christmas Day, Phil collected Julian for stockings, presents and Turkey Christmas lunch, followed by Turkey sandwiches in the evening. Julian won at Triominos.

Village Christmas Dinner

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Our annual Kingswood village Christmas dinner was again hosted by Ian and Julie. How they manage to quietly cater for 30 plus of us with no signs of stress is beyond me.  It was a lovely evening out with the various friends in the village. The weather was cold walking there and back, but dry. Snow forecast for tonight.

Christmas for Red Kites

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We treated ourselves to a Lidl Spanish Serrano Jamon for Christmas.  I had always wanted one!  The day came and I carved a thin slice.  It was disgusting.  So the Red Kites, Magpies, Crows & Jackdaws had an early Christmas present.  The leg tended to move around the field overnight, badgers or foxes would gnaw at it.  There now is a white bone in the field.  It has taken from before the 20th December to now (January 10th) to reach that state.

Some pictures of the Red Kite on the Jamon, and a few after the juvenile kite flew off.

 

Curd Dinner

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We had John and Carol Curd over for dinner. Main course served was the pan fried marinaded salmon on a bed of green beans.

Many bottles of wine consumed on this hot evening.

Starling being fed in old Rayburn solid fuel cooker

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Picture of a Starling chick being fed in an old, disused Rayburn solid fuel cooker which a pair of Starlings were using as a nest.  This was the second time Starlings have done this, the previous time being two years ago.  I managed to grab a few pictures of the chick being fed.  The next day it had fledged and gone.  The pictures were taken through an open window on a Canon EOS7D Mk2.  The lens was a 100 – 400 Canon.

Both parents were feeding one chick.  At least, I believe there was only one chick.  This was the same as the previous nesting two years before.

 

 

Christmas Day 2014

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Some pictures from Christmas.  First there was the evening party around Kingswood with the progressive supper, starting at Lin and Laurie, progressing to Julie and Ian, and finishing at Karin and Duncan.  Christmas  was a family day at home.

Herb Garden now completed after several years

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Herb Garden

Raised bed herb garden

The raised bed herb garden has now been constructed on the site of the ex Willow tree.  It is made of 6 railway sleepers and 30 barrow loads of earth and compost. The project has been on my to-do list for several years. The earth / compost was from several years of composting garden refuse.  It has been planted with Chives, Rosemary, Marjoram, Thyme and  Bay. Not sure the rabbits have yet appreciated this project, their home under and in the compost heap has been dug into.  They though may come to appreciate the tasty leaves as the herb project matures.

Larder Envy

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IMG_2824Several months ago, Rosemary had a serious case of larder envy (seems to affect ladies of a certain age) after seeing a friend’s. She came home and sighed at her larder shelves built of fronts of old wardrobes, bits of tongue and grooved, brick supports and even spare end pieces from new kitchen. She wrote a to-do list item and began her search.

She was triumphant and now has the larder of her dreams complete with three roll-out wooden boxes, one of which is a snazzy two drawer vegetable rack. The larder is under the kitchen stairs and the shelves have been designed so you can stand right inside and hence see everything and reach into the full depth.

IMG_2825Designer and maker, in oiled ash, was Mark Williamson of Mark Williamson Furniture.

She’s crossed the “larder shelves” item off her to-do list.

But shelves are an addiction…….