Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New!

All the Very Best for 2013!

Christmas Catch-Up

A quiet Christmas - had a few days off in the run up, and had actually got most of the food prep done by Christmas Day, which made for a slightly more relaxed morning.

Cooked far too much food as always - expect the leftovers will keep us going for days to come . . .





Had held back on the baking front though - have yet to make a mince pie (that's tomorrow's job, ready for the New Year visitors) and have only just iced the cake!

Hot Buttered Crumpets

Had been meaning to try to make home-made crumpets for a while now, and finally got around to giving it a go.

There was a fair bit of trial and error in terms of finding the right temperature to cook them through, without burning the bottom, but got there in the end.

And they came out looking like proper crumpets - and tasting just as good - think they were even better reheated the next day though.

Switching on the Lights

Visiting family took us across country this weekend, just in time for the switching-on of the local Christmas lights.


Must say they do a good job, they'd closed the town centre to host a small fair, and some river boats were decorated for the occasion making a real picture of the river:

All in all, a fitting start to the festive season . . .

Timber!

We had our own version of a 'superstorm' today - the winds were gusting up to 56mph at one point, and unfortunately some of our garden flora couldn't take it.

The ornamental pear tree is probably the major casualty - we now have a stump, and a lump on the other side of the garden:

 

Ah well, it'll all be fodder for the wood burner in due course, and luckily the 'big' trees made it through in more or less one piece.

Cucumber Soup

Having finally cleared the greenhouse of cucumbers had to decide what to do with them - distributed some to colleagues - but were still left with a fair number, and it isn't exactly salad weather.







In the end settled on cucumber and potato soup - which actually turned out really well.


Had pretty much decided to give up on growing cucumbers (we just weren't using them), but on the back of this, we may finally have found a tasty solution to the annual cucumber glut!

Has it Stopped Raining Yet?

Well September and October had their bright spots, but again the weather was generally unsettled, and continued wetter than we would have liked.  Indeed, it was sufficiently wet to flood the bottom of the garden again in October:

So we didn't get our Indian Summer - luckily the weather dried up for a few days to get some gardening done later in October - but otherwise we'll just have to hope for a better Summer in 2013!

Fairy Cam?

Have a Magical HALLOWEEN!

Sleeping on the Job . . .

After two weekends of cutting and clipping, and raking and digging, the garden may be ready for winter - but someone else is ready for bed . . .

A Pond Too Far . . .

After a mix of damp days and heavy downpours, got up on Saturday to find we'd got another pond at the bottom of the garden - and by dinnertime (after more rain) it was a positive lake, which had flooded back into the fruit cage.





Fortunately the rain stopped in the afternoon, and we were able to get the drain rods out in (what turned out to be) a vain attempt to clear the drainage pipe into the field next door.


In the end we had to resort to running hose pipes from the 'lake' down to the bottom of the drive, to siphon the water off into the roadside drains, and to clear enough water to hopefully find the drainage pipe.

The hosepipes did sterling work and by Sunday morning, the lake was back to pond, and the fruit cage was clear of water.

We even got a small pipe draining through the hedge into the field, but weren't able to clear the main drainage pipe, which we thought had probably collapsed.


Overnight it rained heavily again, but the hosepipes etc. kept draining and at least  on Monday morning the pond if it wasn't any smaller, wasn't at least that much bigger.

Finally, today, it stopped raining - the 'pond', now little more than a muddy puddle, finally allowed access to the old drainage pipe, which had indeed collapsed.  Luckily we had an old scaffolding pipe lying around the place, and Martin was able (with some brute force, and getting rather muddy in the process) to hammer through a new drainage channel.

We'll have to do some more work at some point to establish a clear path through to the pipe - but that can wait for another day, and some better weather!

Watch the Birdy!

The birds have been posing for the camera again:

 

 

Sunflower!

We haven't seen much sun this Summer - and of the 12 sunflowers we planted, only two didn't get eaten by the snails and slugs (mainly due to Martin's vigilance, and regular bouts of 'snail-tossing') - finally as we enter Autumn, the remaining two plants are coming into bloom:

A final splash of Summer colour . . .

Coed y Brenin Enduro

Having completed his first Enduro in May (and muttering about 'not doing that again'), late September saw Martin back for Enduro #2 in the woods of Coed y Brenin.

At least this time he'd done some training, and was generally much fitter - although it was a slightly longer and supposedly more challenging event.

As it turned out, 'challenging' was a bit of an understatement - the course soon became something of a mud-bath - and it all took a lot longer that anticipated.  In fact, some 7 hours 13 minutes and 33 seconds - a real endurance experience!

He placed 231st out of 270 who finished the 60km route (another 115 completed a shorter 30km route) - given that over 500 people had registered, some 100 + people presumably couldn't stay the course!

Map of total route

Distance:
62.44 km
(38.8 miles)

Elevation:
1848 m







As he finished the words 'never again' might have been mentioned - but somehow I think I'll be reporting on Enduro #3 next year . . .

Out with the Old and In with the New

Harvested the last of the courgettes (well marrows in some cases!) today - which meant turning last year's frozen leftovers . . .

. . . into this year's soup:


Before refilling the freezer again:



Although some did find its way into a very nice marrow curry!

Rapt!

Finished our few days away with a visit to my folks in Cambridgeshire, including a day out to the nearby Raptor Foundation. We had visited before, a couple of years ago, but it was just as fascinating second time round.

The birds are stunning looking creatures, and the flying displays are really interesting - good commentary, with the added excitement of some of the birds flying right through the audience!

There are three displays each day in the summer, each lasting about an hour and with different birds each time - we actually stayed for two, and I even got to hold / fly one of the owls.


Overall, a great day out, if only for the photo opportunities!

South East Sights

Finally got away for a few days actual holiday - first stop Winchester, a rainy evening, but a glorious day - enjoyed visiting the Great Hall, and seeing the Round Table, and wandering round the town and cathedral precincts.

Next stop, Tunbridge Wells - weren't that fussed on the town - but it was a good base for various National Trust properties.  It isn't often you get to see a listed dog kennel (Ightham Mote) - lovely property too - were less impressed with Knole, which was a little too 'stately' for our liking.  Fell a little bit in love with Scotney Castle - the old castle in particular is just too romantic for words . . .

From there it was on to Rye, an equally picturesque historic port town, with winding streets, and ancient inns (abounding with tales of smugglers).  Completed  a mega-walk (11 miles - in new boots - not the best of ideas!) - out to Winchelsea, via Camber Castle and back to the harbour along the shingle beach. Definitely one to return to!

Out by The Arch

Started our September holiday with an extended walk out by The Arch - started with the shorter Panorama Walk, but that didn't take very long - so headed out then on the longer (some 5 miles) Pwllpeiran Trail, which took a lot longer.

The 'trail' was signposted - but most of the signposts were in a pretty poor state as were a few of the stiles . . .


Enjoyed most of it (some lovely views), but could have done without one particular steep (and I mean steep) grassy slope - oh and the muddy bits of course!

Summer???

Summer this year has been a definite wash-out - that wet June gave way to generally rather dismal July and August.  That's not to say that there weren't some nice days, but for the most part the unsettled, damp and coolish weather continued:

Can only hope that September and October bring in the sunshine!

Brighton Beach

This year's ARA conference came from the Grand Hotel, Brighton (a faded glory currently, but they are obviously working on it).

Initially not to impressed with Brighton (looks like a right dump on the walk down to the sea from the train station), but  the area round the Pavilion and the Lanes is much nicer.



The Welcome Reception was on the Pier - not quite as grand as Edinburgh last year - but hey, the wine was free!


Good conference on the whole - learnt some stuff - including some salsa steps on the final 'Latin Night'.  It was a late train back on the Friday though, and glad to be home . . .

Not Exactly Small Potatoes

Not a bad potato crop this year - including some absolute monsters (egg shown for scale):

Kept a quantity of the smaller / better specimens for ongoing use - and spent a happy few hours peeling, chopping, boiling, ricing and packaging the rest for the freezer. Should keep us in ready-to-use mash for a good 12 months at least!

Yes Peas!

Peas Please?  Time to report back on the success (or otherwise) of the 2012 pea strategy.

Tranche 1 did very nicely thank you and yielded a fair crop of peas - tranche 2 was less successful and the peas didn't really swell (but I'll blame that on the weather!).

All in all the strategy seemed to work fairly well, and I'll replicate next year, but might plant a bit more densely to hopefully increase the yield.