southern42

' evening all from red dragon land. Sunny, still, 3.5C this afternoon. A walk up the hill this afternoon to see how muddy it was. With the ground in north facing areas, in particular, hardened by the frosty conditions, it was not too bad, though after choosing to try out the stream crossing on the way back down, I did have to hose the mud off my boots when I got back. Long Tall Sally Polly on the way up and into the sun - view from behind. First muddy bit. A mixture of boot prints, and dog, sheep, and cow tracks. The home of the former logswing is a lot greener with the denser moss than it was three autumns ago when I made a drawing of the swing. Looking at my destination, sheep interrupting my thoughts. Facing the way back down, a bit of gold cast by the setting sun, the rest in shadow. Looking back at the stream coming down... to the crossing point for the public footpath. The sun getting lower in the sky. A Longer Taller Sally Polly back on flat ground.

' night all and nos da.

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Dry, some sun, fairly still, 6.3C. Earlier it was 5.6C but the job, which I promised myself I would do, was in the sun which felt quite warm, relatively speaking. The job in hand was to undress a tree fern Dicksonia squarrosa of its soaking wet partly blown-apart layers of bubble wrap and redo it before it rains again (tomorrow), and the temperature drops to minus numbers (tomorrow night). The lower layers around the plant tub were still ok, the middle ones coming partly up the trunk just needed adjusting. The top needed to be reattached but this attachment needed to be wind proof, which it was not. Now, a few days ago, after the compostable food bin liners ran out, Ray picked up what he though was an alternative roll of food binliners from Tess Coe's. It was neither compostable nor a food binliner. It was see-through white (just the job) and was a BIG sack (just the job). <<AHA!>> I thought. One upturned binliner <<No, no, no... Not bilinear! Stupid txt predictor!)>> coming up...now affixed (very tight fit round the tub itself) over the tree fern. Before that I had a rewarding toot on the flute session on the mat in front of the lovely warm fire (a Squirrel). Playing at an established beat of 30 bpm I progressed onto line 3 of the song. Three more lines to go and I should feel confident to tackle the twiddly bits on the rest of the song, at least I hope I will! It would be great to get there before the end of the month. My trick has developed into playing each line 7 times continuously, then add to the previous line played 7 times continuously. Part of the secret is playing on the first beat of the following round, every time. A fraction late and the whole thing can go to pot. This method is also building up my stamina and accuracy of playing, enabling me to keep going if I make a minor error, and giving me more confidence. Well, it looks like mugadecaf time. Take care. Be good. Look for the bare necessities of life. <<Yes, I watched it!>> I actually watched the newer version on the TV this Christmas. Fascinating watching it come to life in the snippet, below. Muddling comes to mind and wishing mine was closer to real life as some of this <<noting the build up of the landscape, in particular>>.

' morning all from red dragon land. Pine cone predictors changing their minds every five minutes! Dry, blobs, double blobs, no blobs, sun, blobs... <<Make your mind up or look out the window! You might be right!>> <<OK! 10% chance it might be dry. How about that?>> Weather aside, we spent a few days with family for the New Year. New Years Day we all went for a walk along the canal in Wigan, @The Q passing Wigan and St Helen' (WiSH) Sailing Club* in the distance. *Some views here: https://www.wish-sc.co.uk We parked in the small carpark at Wigan Flashes Local Nature Reserve, https://www.lancswt.org.uk/nature-reserves/wigan-flashes-local-nature-reserve, with a short walk across the reedbeds to the canal between the lakes - Scotmans Flash and Pearson's Flash. It was a bit chilly at 4C but, walking back into the low sun (I had my sunglasses on 😎), it warmed up. Map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wigan+and+St.Helens+Sailing+Club/@53.5282772,-2.6306136,1091m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x487b057ec0d5521d:0x3193e753f291f4f6!8m2!3d53.5288225!4d-2.6408704!16s%2Fg%2F11f42v89c5?entry=ttu Apologies for the lack of photos - I forgot to take my 'phone! <<Rats!>> ION Toot on the flute making gradual progress. Now playing up a notch ping at 30bpm so pleased about that - plenty fast enough for me at present. Now working on the bits that do not come out consistently well - amounting to getting a combination of blowing and fingering methods right. I want to get these few things sorted before I attempt to add the twiddly bits to the next part of the song. It may take awhile. Past elevenses so time to put kettle on. Take care. Be good. Keep dry. Polly

In my last job I worked from 08:45 to 17:00 with, thankfully(!), no option for working late due to the building being closed. However, I was dropped off at work at 08:30 at which time I would normally go grab a coffee and have a natter with staff members present but I could easily get caught in the office (before I even had my coat off) by staff members I worked directly for and get involved in jobs pre my working hours. To my advantage, though, they introduced flexi working whereby I could log the hours pre start time and/or during my lunch break which worked out nicely for me in the accumulation of a day off per month when I went to meet up with Mum usually by way of Euston (WCML) and Kew Gardens (Victoria Line then District Line). OK, I had to work twice as fast the next day to catch up, sometimes, but it was worth it.

' evening all from red dragon land and wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Caught up on here over the last hour. Now ready for some shut eye. Time to say ' night all and nos da. Take care. Be good. And may those waiting for or undergoing treatment or recovering be right again, soon.

' 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.

00

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