My OH once plucked a brace of pheasants shot by his father to have one Christmas. But it was the sauces that really made the meal - one of those elaborate recipes where the sauce called for the inclusion of another sauce made previously. It was very nice - but I prefer partridge. Haven't had it for a while though - even though there is a very good farm shop just down the road that specialises in game!
I did not attend the Remembrance service this year. For some reason I have not been invited to lay a wreath for the bus. assoc. I chair or to take part in the parade by those that run it for the last couple of years. Silly small town politics.
But we were invited to a Diwali celebration yesterday evening by the chap who runs an excellent Indian food delivery service. He cooks traditional Indian dishes, some of them handed down through his family. Amazing - a whole different ball game from your usual Indian takeaway. He and his (English) partner put on a fantastic spread and we had spectacular fireworks. It seemed like everyone I knew locally was there - but somehow we all managed to get fed!
Much as I love the flavour of partridge I don’t eat it any more unless the provenance is such that I am sure it’s the red-legged French Alektoris rufa and not the native English or Grey partridge Perdix perdix which is now very scarce and on the Red List but still allowed to be shot
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Very windy here, but no rain, which is not what we were expecting. We were due to go to BILs for Christmas, but my surgeon has told me that if I am fit, he will try to do my hip between Christmas and New Year. He is not sure he will be given any theatre time, so I will have to be prepared to starve every night, on the off chance he gets a slot. It won’t help my nerves, but it might be the only way I get done. First I need to get better.
I have always been partial to a Grouse, which are readily available round here in season.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Hello all, a very warm day here today. We had to take the car for a service this morning, nothing untoward needed doing thankfully. I'm taking advantage now of the warmth and sitting on the terrace with a cuppa, only trouble is I've had to pull the sun blind down as the sun's low! 😎
Having a rest with a cup of tea, after our exciting weekend. Spent a few hours at Burford Garden Centre yesterday, had a very tasty lunch in their cafe, and and had an enjoyable couple of hours wandering round their extensive shop, and gawking at the prices! Too wet to walk round the plant section, but fun to see all the fancy goodies, the food hall and some very expensive clothing. Plenty of buying going on, not everyone is as frugal as I am! We headed out late morning to walk into Oxford, but just as we left the house, it started to pour with rain. We dived back in and tried again a little later, by which time there was a blue sky and the wind had dropped. We had a lovely walk round the colleges, visited the Pitts Rivers and Natural History Museum, before ending up at a lovely old hotel to have afternoon tea to celebrate daughter’s birthday. The city was peacefully free of too many tourists, and it stayed dry enough for us to walk home in the dark via the parks and the meadows by the river. We saw deer and a heron on the way in, but nothing on the way back, apart from cyclists. Home tomorrow morning. I’m not quite so anxious about the journey back. The most stressful part is negotiating all the roadworks on the ring road, so it will be better to get that over with at the start of the journey, rather than at the end. Once we are on the M4/M5 we are back in familiar territory. And will give a big cheer when we pass the Welcome to Devon sign!
Sounds a lovely weekend @Ergates, I know Oxford well, my mother's family having come from near there, son and daughter also both worked/lived there in their younger days. Was it the Randolph Hotel on the corner in the centre? I always meant to take my mum there for afternoon tea as a treat but we never made it and now's its too late.
I was thinking of suggesting you try the ring road to the east round the city as a way of avoiding the roadworks which I think are on the Peartree roundabout but if you don't know that route (lots of roundabouts!) then you may find more stressful.
Have a good journey home any rate.
It was very wet and windy this morning although we did manage our usual walk without getting too wet. Too wet to do any gardening so ploughed on with de-cluttering. Does anyone know of any method of getting rid of very old tea stains on an appliqued and embroidered small tablecloth/napkins please. It's far too pretty to throw away but I'm rather at a loss what to do about it.
Yesterday's endocrinologist visit went well, he explained a lot of stuff that previous doctors never bothered to do so I came out much more relaxed. Slight change of thyroid hormons dosage and a long list of blood tests in 3 months. 🤞 Today we are going back to Maastricht to pick up OH specs, weather not good but plenty of shops to hide in. Last time I bought a fantastic nutty/fruity bread so today am going to get 6! But o garden centres unfortunately @Ergates 😆 that Burford sounds heaven. I will Google it. Time to get up, hope all you Forkers have a good day.
We are going to the local town today, SM and OH wants to go to a couple of shops in the high street.
Not much to do in the garden apart from mowing up some leaves. There are fewer leaves now that the neighbour behind has cut down the big old goat willow. Our lovely gardening man, had been before we arrived and everything looks very tidy, mown, edged etc.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Posts
Wet and windy in South Norfolk.
I don't know what I'm having to eat at Christmas because I will be staying with Son 2 in France. OH will be with his daughter in Eastbourne.
Nothing planned for today, apart from a couple of phone calls.
I did not attend the Remembrance service this year. For some reason I have not been invited to lay a wreath for the bus. assoc. I chair or to take part in the parade by those that run it for the last couple of years. Silly small town politics.
But we were invited to a Diwali celebration yesterday evening by the chap who runs an excellent Indian food delivery service. He cooks traditional Indian dishes, some of them handed down through his family. Amazing - a whole different ball game from your usual Indian takeaway. He and his (English) partner put on a fantastic spread and we had spectacular fireworks. It seemed like everyone I knew locally was there - but somehow we all managed to get fed!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Very windy here, but no rain, which is not what we were expecting.
We were due to go to BILs for Christmas, but my surgeon has told me that if I am fit, he will try to do my hip between Christmas and New Year. He is not sure he will be given any theatre time, so I will have to be prepared to starve every night, on the off chance he gets a slot. It won’t help my nerves, but it might be the only way I get done. First I need to get better.
I have always been partial to a Grouse, which are readily available round here in season.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
We headed out late morning to walk into Oxford, but just as we left the house, it started to pour with rain. We dived back in and tried again a little later, by which time there was a blue sky and the wind had dropped. We had a lovely walk round the colleges, visited the Pitts Rivers and Natural History Museum, before ending up at a lovely old hotel to have afternoon tea to celebrate daughter’s birthday. The city was peacefully free of too many tourists, and it stayed dry enough for us to walk home in the dark via the parks and the meadows by the river. We saw deer and a heron on the way in, but nothing on the way back, apart from cyclists.
Home tomorrow morning. I’m not quite so anxious about the journey back. The most stressful part is negotiating all the roadworks on the ring road, so it will be better to get that over with at the start of the journey, rather than at the end. Once we are on the M4/M5 we are back in familiar territory. And will give a big cheer when we pass the Welcome to Devon sign!
I was thinking of suggesting you try the ring road to the east round the city as a way of avoiding the roadworks which I think are on the Peartree roundabout but if you don't know that route (lots of roundabouts!) then you may find more stressful.
Have a good journey home any rate.
It was very wet and windy this morning although we did manage our usual walk without getting too wet. Too wet to do any gardening so ploughed on with de-cluttering.
Does anyone know of any method of getting rid of very old tea stains on an appliqued and embroidered small tablecloth/napkins please. It's far too pretty to throw away but I'm rather at a loss what to do about it.
Yesterday's endocrinologist visit went well, he explained a lot of stuff that previous doctors never bothered to do so I came out much more relaxed. Slight change of thyroid hormons dosage and a long list of blood tests in 3 months. 🤞
Today we are going back to Maastricht to pick up OH specs, weather not good but plenty of shops to hide in. Last time I bought a fantastic nutty/fruity bread so today am going to get 6!
But o garden centres unfortunately @Ergates 😆 that Burford sounds heaven. I will Google it.
Time to get up, hope all you Forkers have a good day.
Luxembourg
10C and a clear sky … it’s still a bit breezy, I can hear the wind outside, but nothing like as strong as it was yesterday!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Grey sky here.
We are going to the local town today, SM and OH wants to go to a couple of shops in the high street.
Not much to do in the garden apart from mowing up some leaves. There are fewer leaves now that the neighbour behind has cut down the big old goat willow. Our lovely gardening man, had been before we arrived and everything looks very tidy, mown, edged etc.