Tag: Life

Mince pies and stollen

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It was just me and my hubby together for Christmas, but that means no pressure to get all the trimmings done! I haven’t made a trifle yet, I will probably do so for New year’s day. We had a £3.80 chicken for our Christmas Dinner (a medium turkey crown in sainsburys was £27.90!) We had a few beers and I made pigs in blankets to go with the chicken. I also roasted all the veg including the sprouts. There are plenty of left overs for sandwiches today and I don’t have to think about turning a turkey into a stew and a curry later in the week. The one thing I miss though was having a party with my sister, but I’d rather make sure we are all safe.

Sprouts popping!

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A sprout tree, that’s what my hubby bought for Christmas Dinner. I wasn’t sure how to cut the sprouts off this knobbly stick. I don’t have sharp knives so they are hard to cut off. When I tried the springiness in the branch they were on I suddenly had a sprout popping up the air! It flew up and landed on the floor, rolled sideways, and ended up under the fridge freezer. Cue some scrabbling with a spoon to get it back out! It happened again with the next one so I realised I needed to hold the sprout with one hand and cut it off with the other. I didn’t want to use the whole sprout tree today, ten ot twelve sprouts are enough, but the branch was too long. I could not cut it in half so hubby snapped it across his knee after I’d tried to cut through it.

I part cooked them in the microwave and now I’m toasting them with out Christmas chicken (the turkeys for sale were four times more expensive).

Owl keyring

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I was keeping my hand in drawing even though it was Christmas day. Funny what you find to draw. I was doing the cooking so I could have drawn the food, but I was not doing the main meal till later on Christmas day night (If that makes sense).

It meant I could either draw or watch TV. But you can only watch so much TV. If it wasn’t so cold and wet and windy I might have been going out for a walk. But there’s always tomorrow. My hands are always restless and ready to draw, sometimes are better than others but you can’t beat drawing and sketching.

So what to draw? I was given this owl keyring as an extra Christmas present, I might just use it as a decoration though, its got coloured stones glued to a gold coloured body and I think they would soon detach if I carried it around. I have a mobile hanging in a window and I might try and attach it onto that? Next question is should I colour it in? I quite like the simplicity of black and white, so for now thats how its staying. I might work on it in photoshop. Not decided yet. anyway I’m posting this at 5.30am after yet another sleepless night. Aches and pains and whirling thoughts. I know I should not be looking at screens, but its either this or watching TV news…

Teddy bear

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He’s a lone Teddy bear looking for a home. Green jumper with shamrocks on it, sitting forlornly on the chair. What’s he doing here? Don’t worry about him, he’s actually a present to me! I think he will be happy here. He has Ireland on his jumper so he’s come across the sea. He came in a box, shut in a small place, but now he’s released, free to roam about the house. I think he will sit with my other two bears, upstairs in our bedroom. I don’t know if he will have adventures but he can gossip with his fellow bears up there!

Midnight hour

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As the last few minutes to midnight tick down I wish I was at a midnight service for Christmas. There isn’t one this year, and it makes me sad not to be able to go. It’s the carols that really get to me. I think Hark the Herald Angels sing is my favourite. I remember being in the school choir. I wasn’t very good, I think they used me for volume!

Stay safe this festive week, and kee well. No doubt I will add to this blog tomorrow… I don’t think it will be very exciting though!

If you are celebrating

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I know that not everyone celebrates Christmas or even the new year at this time of year. Different religious traditions, different calendars and different beliefs or non beliefs mean that we all think and act differently.

But I hope that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t wish goodwill and peace to everyone. Life isn’t always easy, and I realise I have been lucky for most of my life. The luck of being born in a first world country, having a good education, being able and allowed to work, even freedom of speech. I wish we all had better times and lives. I profoundly hope that humans get their act together and work to save the planet and its animal, plant and human populations. Living through a pandemic sharpens your thoughts.

So I really do wish you as much joy and happiness as possible in your life.

On the naughty list?

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Is big brother watching us? Sometimes posts get put on social media that are wrong or mistaken, not deliberately but by lack of knowledge perhaps. . I’m in a group that has had warnings about misinformation a couple of times. No indication why. The mistaken Post was about the colour of reindeer eyes?!? Not political or racist, not anti one religion or another, just a shared post with a misleading photo. It’s strange, it’s as if the police are taking action for someone lighting a sparkler on bonfire night when the Houses of Parliament are about to be attacked by Guy Fawkes on November the 5th. So what can we do about it? There’s no information what to do? Delete the post? Yes, but does that remove any threat to take further action? I just don’t know. But it feels like being on Santa’s naughty list!