southern42

' morning all from red dragon land. Dry but may be interrupted with a spell or two of the wet stuff. Temp. shows no sign of rising, currently 6.1C. Quite a few bits of notsogood news on my catchup, on here. Hope everything gets sorted soon with some good news. Just had an email saying a parcel is out for delivery and should arrive between 2 and 3 this afternoon. Earlier than expected considering all the slow-go info given out re the company's Sale sales. 👍 Time to squeeze in a toot on the flute before getting another lot of veggies ready for the new "Turtle". At the moment I much prefer (minimal fat) hob-fried or oven-roasted food but with a bit of tweaking of the cooking options on the air fryer, I hope I can get it just as I like it! All in all, an attempt to reduce our energy consumption (prices!)... Take care all. Be good. Go with the flow. Polly

I remember reading, awhile ago, that it was put forward for maintained land as an environmental benefit to the woodland/forest. Not sure how far the idea went, though, but I did see uprooted/broken trees lying in Haigh Woodland Park December 2019. Maybe not such a great idea along thoroughfares, bridle and foot paths, pedestrian ways, etc.

' night all and nos da

Letter from council dated "December 2023 " saying our bin collection today (Tuesday) will not happen. Food and recycling bins will be collected next Tuesday - the food bin is full already!!! Non-recycling collected-once-every-3-weeks black bin liners - aka green wheelie bins to those not off the beaten track - will be collected Saturday. At least we were forewarned.

And one more previously forwarded to me. VIDEO-2023-12-25-14-16-21.mp4

Re parsnips. One of the tips I came across was a TV chef (forgotten which one!) advocating the removal of the tough centre piece. This means cutting into four, long ways, and cutting off the triangular white bit. It works for me in the microwave and saucepan (in stews).

' morning all from red dragon land and Happy 🥊 Boxing 🥊 Day. Dry and a bit nippy. 5.5C rising slowly. Santa knows what she likes... A joint presie was an air fryer we call "The Turtle". A quick test, yesterday, with the roasties - room for improvement but no doubt we will get it...er...perfect...soon? Off to have a toot on the flute. Take care. Be good. Enjoy your day. Polly.

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It depends on what state those leaves are in...by the time we get them, they can already be spotted with black mould, often going through to hidden leaves. This has been more predominant than usual, presumably due to the wet weather, that or the storage before sale is getting longer.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from red dragon land.

Stables, donkey diets and clear starry night skies aside, there's more than one way of capturing heavenly objects.

You can tell it is that time of year - stable diet indeed! Corrected on original post!

Bubble and squeak is a stable staple diet for us o'er C*tide. The sprouts here have been getting smaller...and smaller so removing the outside leaves may take me awhile... and that in the foreground is a small teaspoon. Ideal for lunch boxes! On my laptop screen, the sprouts are approx. full size. Some tidying up to do - after 3 o'clockses, that is.

One cake iced and decorated. Now to sort out the groceries.

' morning all from red dragon land. Wet, drying up - supposedly. 8.4C. *C* cake marzipanned. It will be treated to some icing this morning if I get my skates on - metaphorically speaking, you understand! Another long process of whisking 6 egg whites, blending in 2lbs of icing sugar and spreading it artistically patiently on top and around the cake. I maybe some time! 😜 Then it will be making room for the C&C groceries arriving this afternoon and storing it all. But first, <<Yes you've guessed it!>> a mugadecaf. Take care all. Be good. Be on top of it.

' night all and nos da.

*C* cake made, fruit having soaked overnight in my usual spiced ginger and blackcurrant & blueberry tea mix, the remnant juice diluted with boiling water to make a (nicely fruit sweetened) fruit tea for me and Mr Suvvern after the cake went into the oven. The process. The tin was first lined inside with greaseproof baking paper and outside with brown wrapping paper. Then, a long spell creaming the dark brown sugar and butter. That done, after two mugsadecaf made and drunk, another long spell mixing half a dozen eggs little by little (a third of an egg at time) into the mixture. Then, after two more mugsadecaf made and drunk, there followed the mixing in of half the flour and half the fruit, then the other half of flour and fruit. The oven was warming while I filled up the cake tin. 4 1/4 hours later (10pm) the cake was out looking good. The best bit? The fruity spicy smell wafting from the oven during the last couple of hours, getting stronger all the time. Tomorrow, all being well, it will be covered in marzipan. And I even managed a 20 minute toot on the flute while it was cooking. A long day, but worth it.

aarrrrghhhhhhh... get the brollies out ☔

' morning all from red dragon land. All quiet on the western front, now. Cloudy and damp. Quick 'ello n g'bye as I have yet to do my breakfast due to lots of oddsnends to tackle first and I got sidetracked by catching up on here. Take care. Be good. Gedonwivit. Polly

How? 🤣

Love the way the flute plays itself!

' night all and nos da from red dragon land. 😴

You can have it in camouflage colours, too!

' morning all from red dragon land. An email arrived in my inbox 23:10 last night from the Reykjavik Grapevine magazine. https://grapevine.is/news/2023/12/18/eruption-has-begun-at-sundhnukagigar/ At the same time utoob was filling up with Icelandic eruption videos. Close up view of the eruption near Grindavik in Iceland. Back later, loadsastuff to geronwiv

Have a look at these two videos. The second is a bit more wordy, but demonstrates it in more detail. Don't give up on it. It is a lovely flute to play especially when you can play in a variety of different keys: Theme to Judge John Deed in F minor for instance, as well as C and F major and A minor. There are quite a few Yamaha fife videos out there but most of the ones I came across were pretty awful but don't let that put you off. It will be as good as you want it to be. 10 minutes a day. Play it 4 times, 2 times, 1 time - repeat as necessary (this process keeps me learning and achieving). Tip - Keep the flute firm against the chin though, not loose, and keep working at it. Find a good flute player as I did (the one I posted) and it helps no end. Hope this helps. Using the head of a keyed flute - but the principal is the same. Using a fife.