Baking, singing Happy Birthday and chicken talk

Well I'm certainly glad that here in Brittany we didn't get the extreme snowfall that they've been having on the United States East Coast.  It has been colder, except for yesterday and today - temperatures of 13°C here both days and a warm night inbetween too, but thankfully, none of the white stuff has fallen.  

My first crocus and my first daffodil have bloomed in the bed under the sitting room window.  The daffodil bud was, sadly, pecked by my garden hens before it emerged, so isn't perfect.

The stock trailer has a rotten floor.  One of my village neighbours is going to replace it sometime this afternoon which is why it's outside the house at the moment.  

It was a lucky buy from ebay back in 2006.  I found it on the website and by chance it was located in St Austell which is where the family all live so couldn't have been more convenient.  It has served me very well over the last ten years.  The tops of the sides can be removed to make it a low trailer and then the final parts can be removed to make it a flat bed taking a full plaster sheet - all very useful.

At the weekend I went off to buy a wooden sheep trough to put their cereal feed into.  I asked the seller if it would fit into my Discovery or did I need a trailer.  No trailer necessary he said.  This big kiss in the sky was facing me on my 50 minute drive south to collect the trough.

The trough was huge and there was no way it would fit into or onto the Land Rover.  I tried to think of it as a pleasant, sunny, Sunday afternoon drive as I wended my way back home with no purchase.

I found this recipe, in one of the Facebook Groups I belong to, which was for a type of roll/scone - hard to classify really which I cooked up very quickly one evening.

Momma's Easy No Yeast Dinner Rolls

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tbs mayo

Combine all ingredients, spoon into a greased muffin pan, makes about five.

Cook in a preheated 180˚ oven for 15 minutes or until cooked and golden.

I made them to serve with my homemade pea and ham soup.  

They were ok - I added grated Cheddar cheese to mine which I think was a good thing.  If you run out of bread then they're an acceptable alternative to fill you up.  I also had one with butter and strawberry jam - in spite of the cheese - and that was ok too.  

You'll notice I'm not raving about them but they were fine and they were very quick to make.  I would do them again, maybe with a little onion and some cayenne pepper.

In the sunshine yesterday I took a couple of photos of my Jersey Giant cockerel - his partner was off in the other field so couldn't get them together.  He's growing fast and will, I think, be a lot larger than my other non JG boys.

There has been a bit of a discussion in an FB Group about whether if you keep hens you are still comfortable with eating them.  I don't eat my own hens, although I have had the occasional cockerel, which I've hatched, in a casserole, but I certainly have no problem with eating chicken.  Last night this home baked chicken, bacon and leek pie was supper.

The sunsets have been lovely this week.  This isn't the brightest or most colourful but I really like the stripey effect - tip your screen back to get the best colour saturation.

There is usually a cat or two sitting behind my laptop on the small circular table that's located in front of my chair.  Sometimes they take it too far though!

My gorgeous grandson, Charlie, turned nine today.  I sang Happy Birthday to him and we spoke on Skype before he went to school. He happily showed me the presents he already opened and still has some to unwrap when he gets home this evening.  I love Skype!

Years and years ago, in the 1970s, when I was working in Brussels, I 'phoned my father to wish him a Happy Birthday and as soon as the 'phone was picked up I sang the song all the way through.  As I finished, a confused Asian gentleman thanked me profusely!  I now wait for a familiar voice before I sing ...

Three things I like:

1.   Two of my garden hens have started to lay this week.

2.   I have sixteen mixed eggs in the incubator in the spare room, so if luck prevails, and barring power cuts, I should have some new chicks from 12 February.

3.   A friend and I collected a stock trailer full of old lambris for shed repair and kindling.

First half-hearted snowfall and what seems like good health news

Well the weather has certainly changed since the beginning of this year.  The guaranteed mild days have disappeared to be replaced by getting up in the morning to a frozen windscreen and even frozen locks on the Land Rover.  I have had to park facing the other way so that the driver’s door is protected by the house.  Lidl were selling foiled windscreen protectors for only €1.99 so I invested in one to make it easier to leave the house before the sun has a chance to defrost the glass.  This morning we had our first snow.  It was a little half-hearted and only managed to lie for any length of time on the large flower bed which is protected completely from the low sun at this time of year.

 

I’ve moved the bird table, which needs a bit of repair work, back to its usual winter position, just in front of the sitting room window in a direct line from my chair, so 

that I can watch all the visiting feathered friends without any effort at all.  

Any scraps that they flick off the high table fall to the terrace and the seven chickens I now have loose in the garden take advantage of the unexpected bounty.

This afternoon there have been lots of blue tits, a robin, a couple of chaffinches and two magpies.  I usually wave my arms about to frighten off the magpies but, close up, their plumage is beautiful and so smart. 

Last week, after I responded to an advert placed on Facebook, I had a Dutch girl, looking for peace and quiet to do some writing, living here for five nights in Small Cottage.  She left on Tuesday having written 110 pages – so it was a successful stay.  This cottage is now undergoing its annual redecoration in time for the next guests.   I have my first guests, for one night only, in Middle Cottage next week – things are starting early this year.

Since my last posting I have had a meeting with my referring Consultant, Dr Le Bihan at Guingamp.  He did an internal examination after which he said that he felt very positive and therefore I should too.  Obviously I await the Petscan end of March/early April, followed by my appointment with Dr Bruno Lamazec on 7 April, when I will get the final results of the scan.   The Radiotherapy Centre has moved premises – it is now located in a newly built complex which comprises  several different clinics in Plérin, St Brieuc so I’ll have to go looking for it next time I’m in the area so I know where I’m going on the important day and am not late.

It’s only ten days now until my grandson, Charlie, is nine years old.  I can’t believe how quickly the years have gone by.  He is such a lovely boy and will certainly grow into a wonderful man.  When my daughter, Libby, asked again him what he wanted to do for his birthday he said he wanted to go and see Grandma!  No wonder I love him so much!    Brittany Ferries are playing their usual game of treating their customers with disdain and not running any boats to the West Country until March, so it would be necessary for them to drive to Portsmouth and take the route to St Malo, so not likely to happen as a much longer drive and voyage unfortunately.

I’ve been trying to stick to one of my New Year’s Resolutions which is to use food from the freezer, particularly protein, instead of buying fresh fish and meat.  I have so far had the first roast lamb joint from one of my own beasts – absolutely delicious, chicken, sausages, prawns and pea and ham soup.  The problem is that the chicken carcass produces stock which then needs freezing and I also made soup from the prawn heads and shells so the freezer fills up a little bit again.  It will be hard to empty even one of them – I have four …

One of my Christmas presents was a sort of hot water bottle.  It doesn’t use water and it doesn’t need filling.  It has a short lead which plugs into the mains and then into a small socket in the surface of the fleece-like surface.  It never has to leave my bed and if I wake and feel cold I can plug it back in for ten minutes to regain a good temperature.  It’s definitely a good thing.

My Land Rover had a hiccup back in October when I was in Cornwall.  There appeared to be a problem with the rear suspension – I’d already had a new compressor fitted in June 2014.  Having carried fifteen cement sacks in the back for my oldest son’s new garden structuring and conservatory foundations an alarm started to sound.  However, since I’d been back in Brittany it hadn’t bothered me again and I’d assumed things were ok.  My son was here at Christmas and he said there was definitely a problem with the back end being far too low.  I finally gave in and went to my Land Rover garage where they  gave me the bad news that it needed another compressor – unbelievable!  I left €486 poorer but with the suspension feeling much more normal.  Not a good start to what was going to be an economical January.

I love my woodburner.  I know I'm always saying that, but I do so enjoy being warm and cosy and can't imagine what it would be like to have central heating and no flames and direct heat.



I haven’t got any Workaways booked in yet this year but am hoping that I will be getting some more of these wonderful helpers during 2016.  I have though, already organised my Housecarers for my next visit to the UK.  Another New Zealand couple – hopefully they will be able to shear the sheep while they’re here, I’m glad to say my electric shears have been sharpened and are ready to go.  It looks as if my Housecarers from October last year will be able to return for a similar period this year – always good to have returners and be certain that everything will be in good hands.

Three things I like:

1.   Hearing that friend has been declared "in remission" with his cancer.
2.   Getting a box of truffles for New Year from the children of my neighbour.  

 

3.   Seeing the mimosa which is blooming locally - I never remember seeing it anywhere else except in Brittany.  There are so many trees up on the north coast, but this is here.



What a gorgeous happy colour!

Happy New Year! May 2016 be a much better year than 2015.

Well another year has been put to bed.  Today is a very blustery and rainy day here in St André, 22480, and not at all representative of the very mild and benign weather we have been experiencing.  

Matthew, older son, landed as a footie from England on Christmas Eve morning having being delayed by the boat not being able to dock in Plymouth without the aid of a tug due to high winds and then a further delay of five and a half hours docking in Roscoff again because of high winds and low water too.  Nevertheless the weather was kind while he was here and we sat outside on the terrace on Boxing Day for a couple of hours - I was only wearing a camisole on top as the sunshine was lovely.  

Another Workway, this time Australian, arrived early in December and stayed for just over two weeks.  He carried on with my To Do List and I was able to cross a lot of tasks off the list by the time he left.  One of the things he did was to cut out and paint Christmas trees from some pallets my previous Workaways, John and Cora, had collected for me.  I decorated them with red baubles and ivy from the garage wall.  We hung them on the eyes which support the wires for the climbers in the summer on the house and garage walls - I love them!  The second one was made from the two triangular pieces which result from cutting a tree shape from the middle of a pallet and so is joined in the centre.

My tree, as usual, came from Sally and Richard - thank you so much!

We collected it when we went to Lorna and Alan's Christmas party, where we ate well, met up with old friends and new.  We also played consequences - something I haven't done for very many years.  

Because of the bizarre weather, I have so many flowers in bloom at the moment including, vinca major, bergenia, primroses, geraniums, marigolds, sweet williams, pinks, lobelia and antirrhinum.  The brambles on the shortcut to my field are flowering too and I worry about the frost damaging the fruit and there being shortages of everything next year.  

We had our Writers' Group lunch at Auberge de Guerledan in Caurel and it was very enjoyable.  I think we forgot to fix the next meeting date or I didn't jot it down.  

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve was spent at Daryl and Sue's with friends, good food and games - Us and Them and Cranium.  Good fun and athough it was really foggy on my drive home on 31 December it was a lovely night.

I decided, in a mad moment, to let out the hens from their area in my garden.  By the time I had walked back to the house I had two hens behind me on the terrace.  The cats were quite bemused by this, not knowing what to make of hens being free in the garden. I will continue to leave them free until things start to grow properly.  It will give them a chance to eat up all the nasties in the flower beds.

I am starting 2016 feeling well.  Everything has healed completely from my radiation treatment.  I see my referring consultant on Tuesday, 5 January and then have to wait for the scan results in April to know how successful the treatment has been.  Fingers firmly crossed.

I hope all friends and family have a very happy and pleasant 2016! 

Three things I like:

1.  Feeling really well as I go into 2016.

2.  Seeing my garden tidy and ready for Spring thanks to my brilliant 2015 Workaways.

3.  Watching all the birds visiting the bird table right outside the sitting room windows.