@Fairygirl it requires a pound of mixed fruit to be soaked in a mug of hot tea before being baked with a bit of butter, an egg, flour, sugar and nutmeg. Can't get the mixed fruit here so I do about 300g of raisins and some chopped lemon and/or orange zest and the rest is chopped apricots, cranberries if I have them. I might try dates next time.
I did one for our neighbour who has broken her shoulder and used some preserved ginger in that but didn't get to taste it so that's another one to try for us. OH sometimes needs cake for a big day at golf so that'll be another version.
I might have to try the cuttings route too as OH can be a bit too handy with the hoe.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I love tea loaf too, but like @Fairygirl and @Obelixx, find it's fatal to bake one unless there are lots of visitors to save me from myself...
Damp here. Got lots of gardening done yesterday, so feel better about having to do endless junk sorting today. Also having fun with a graph paper plan of the puppy cage we bought (second hand from the wonderful market), to transport the cat to Ireland. Logistics are difficult: problem one - car is a Toyota IQ, and the cage will only fit if erected inside the car. Therefore we need a method of getting the cat from the house to the cage. Fine, we have a cat carrier. Not fine - carrier won't fit through the door of the cage, and won't fit in the car while the cage is in it... I think we need to give the big carrier to Cats' Protection, and buy a folding one to replace it. I can custom make a cat bed for the cage, using a cardboard box etc. Problem two: cat will need a litter tray on the journey. Her covered tray will fit through the cage door, but will take up more than half the floor space in the cage... I could improvise with a gravel tray or something, but then we have to find a way of transporting her covered tray to Ireland (and it won't fit in the car with the cage erected... sigh...) I can envisage an "interesting" journey with the vacuum cleaner and cat litter tray between my feet/on my knees, while the cat expresses disapproval from the cage behind.
Hope Chicklet has a lovely time in Aus, @chicky, and you don't feel too bereft while she's away.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
@Liriodendron that brought back memories of my family moving from Bedfordshire to a farm in Suffolk in March 1956 ... the family car was a green Comer van ... in it were ... Pa driving, Ma in the front seat navigating (they'd only been there twice before) and in the back on the seats that Pa had constructed we had Granny, my three year old brother and my four year old self ... plus overnght luggage and a large Golden Retriever, a stroppy cat and a budgerigar in a cage ... the budgie was the only one restrained in any way. I've no idea what happened about the cat's ablutions ... it was a farm cat so wasn't used to a litter tray anyway. I do remember an immense sense of relief when we arrived at the farm ... even if it was a sea of mud after one of the wettest winters on record
I hope your move goes smoothly and that you are as happy in your new home as I was in mine.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Do you have a roof rack @Liriodendron? I use MB's Bara Brith tea loaf. I think I usually subbed some of the currants/raisins with sultanas a lot of the time, as I prefer them. It's so long ago since I made one that I can't really remember though. Nowt worse than a bloke who's handy with a hoe
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@Fairygirl - we've checked, and there is no option to fit a roof rack, sadly. It's only marginally longer than a Smart so it would look very funny with a roof rack... but the cat might have liked the fresh air... @Obelixx - mmm, not sure "fun" is quite the word... it's really quite a small cage, any smaller and we'd not get "toilet facilities" in as well as a bed. But thanks very much for the foil tray idea. Good to have some options.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
I hope chicklet has a good journey. Dove's childhood journey sounds horrendous!
Is it a feral cat? Can't it be carried from the house to the car?
Plumber came this morning. Water was dripping through the wooden ceiling onto the wooden parquet floor in the study. Spare room loo waste pipe had a thin crack in it. Must have been dripping for ages before coming through the ceiling as the wooden floor under the loo is sodden and rotten. Water got under the lino, hadn't made a puddle behind the loo so I hadn't seen it. Now we need a carpenter.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Lirio - have you thought about getting a cat lead and letting it out of the car for a comfort stop when you do? We did that for a long journey from Bicester to Plymouth for my daughter's cat.
Afternoon all. A few headaches for you all today then. Re the cat - can it stay in the carrier for the majority with some breaks to assemble a cat cage (or empty the boot) with litter box available for the break period?? What a faff, as cats are fussy creatures who may not ‘go’ on demand. Hope you can work it out. 😺 Done some ‘revision’ today - just having a break before doing another hour, then will stop for the day and settle down for the evening. Not sure what to have to eat tonight though...
Posts
I did one for our neighbour who has broken her shoulder and used some preserved ginger in that but didn't get to taste it so that's another one to try for us. OH sometimes needs cake for a big day at golf so that'll be another version.
I might have to try the cuttings route too as OH can be a bit too handy with the hoe.
I love tea loaf too, but like @Fairygirl and @Obelixx, find it's fatal to bake one unless there are lots of visitors to save me from myself...
Damp here. Got lots of gardening done yesterday, so feel better about having to do endless junk sorting today. Also having fun with a graph paper plan of the puppy cage we bought (second hand from the wonderful market), to transport the cat to Ireland. Logistics are difficult: problem one - car is a Toyota IQ, and the cage will only fit if erected inside the car. Therefore we need a method of getting the cat from the house to the cage. Fine, we have a cat carrier. Not fine - carrier won't fit through the door of the cage, and won't fit in the car while the cage is in it... I think we need to give the big carrier to Cats' Protection, and buy a folding one to replace it. I can custom make a cat bed for the cage, using a cardboard box etc. Problem two: cat will need a litter tray on the journey. Her covered tray will fit through the cage door, but will take up more than half the floor space in the cage... I could improvise with a gravel tray or something, but then we have to find a way of transporting her covered tray to Ireland (and it won't fit in the car with the cage erected... sigh...) I can envisage an "interesting" journey with the vacuum cleaner and cat litter tray between my feet/on my knees, while the cat expresses disapproval from the cage behind.
Hope Chicklet has a lovely time in Aus, @chicky, and you don't feel too bereft while she's away.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I use MB's Bara Brith tea loaf. I think I usually subbed some of the currants/raisins with sultanas a lot of the time, as I prefer them. It's so long ago since I made one that I can't really remember though.
Nowt worse than a bloke who's handy with a hoe
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@Liriodendron sounds like a lot of fun to be had and maybe a smaller cage needed and a temporary litter tray. One of those foil bake trays?
@Chicky - has she landed? Hope all goes well for her.
@Obelixx - mmm, not sure "fun" is quite the word... it's really quite a small cage, any smaller and we'd not get "toilet facilities" in as well as a bed. But thanks very much for the foil tray idea. Good to have some options.
I hope chicklet has a good journey. Dove's childhood journey sounds horrendous!
Is it a feral cat? Can't it be carried from the house to the car?
Plumber came this morning. Water was dripping through the wooden ceiling onto the wooden parquet floor in the study. Spare room loo waste pipe had a thin crack in it. Must have been dripping for ages before coming through the ceiling as the wooden floor under the loo is sodden and rotten. Water got under the lino, hadn't made a puddle behind the loo so I hadn't seen it. Now we need a carpenter.
Oh Busy-Lizzie, that sounds horrendous!
Lirio - have you thought about getting a cat lead and letting it out of the car for a comfort stop when you do? We did that for a long journey from Bicester to Plymouth for my daughter's cat.
Re the cat - can it stay in the carrier for the majority with some breaks to assemble a cat cage (or empty the boot) with litter box available for the break period?? What a faff, as cats are fussy creatures who may not ‘go’ on demand. Hope you can work it out. 😺
Done some ‘revision’ today - just having a break before doing another hour, then will stop for the day and settle down for the evening. Not sure what to have to eat tonight though...