ABC Wednesday.........

Welcome to ABC Wednesday Round 2!

How to participate in ABC Wednesday
1. Post your ABC Picture picture on your blog
2. Come to my blog and sign in on Mr. Linky
3. Enjoy the wonderfully unique ABC pictures of the other bloggers.

There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one.
Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you have a B picture posted on your blog.





B is for BEAR!
Not any bear.............
our very own Edmund Bear!





Click here to go to Edmund's blog and read about his forthcoming exciting adventure!

BYB Sunday and make a note in your diary....Wednesday!

Photo of the Day
27.01.08
Our Bike, Sutton Visitors Centre CarPark, a couple of hours ago.

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday CB1300, Happy Birthday to You,

Yes, our bike is 2 years old today.
The weather forecast was correct for once, promising today would be better than yesterday.
We did manage to get out yesterday, but we were watching the skies all of the time.
Today we went to Helmsely and then we went for a little adventure.
We stopped at the visitor's centre on Sutton Bank but the skies were quite misty, too misty for a photograph of the valley, but the sky directly above us was blue.



We were heading towards Thirsk but we decided to go down a country road we had never been on before and came to a couple of lovely villages.

We had a great time, both yesterday and today.
I decided to take part in Blog Your Blessings Sunday a few weeks ago.
Sunday is the day we try to keep free so we can go out on the motorbike and this is where I do my thinking and planning. I also do a great deal of reflecting.
We are so fortunate in being in an area which has so many wonderful scenes.
It is when I see these views I realise how truly blessed we are.

Today was no exception.
As we travelled along I could see evidence of Spring!
This really lifted my spirits and I remembered I had found evidence in our own garden yesterday....

The spring is coming by a many signs;
The trays are up, the hedges broken down
That fenced the haystack, and the remnant shines
Like some old antique fragment weathered brown.
And where suns peep, in every sheltered place,
The little early buttercups unfold
A glittering star or two - till many trace
The edges of the blackthorn clumps in gold.
And then a little lamb bolts up behind
The hill, and wags his tail to meet the yoe;
And then another, sheltered from the wind,
Lies all his length as dead - and lets me go
Close by, and never stirs, but basking lies,
With legs stretched out as though he could not rise.

John Clare

So today, I am remembering the joys of nature, we are indeed blessed with beauty on our doorstep!

Now tomorrow I am on a mission.......
I will tell you more on Wednesday so make sure you come back and visit!

I have something so exciting to share.........

it is something beginning with B!

Watch this space!

Skywatch Friday!

Out with Wilma, yesterday,
Skinningrove Beach,
5 minutes away.

“In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach,
in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.”

Rachel Carson

Walking Along The Beach

Calmly I walked along the beach, as if it were my first time.
There was water as far as the eye could see.
Surging waves pounding, beating blue sudsy waters,
Against the cliffs, the rocks, the sands.
The sands of time I'd long forgotten.
Now the sands from the hour glass run swiftly, freely.
Time is running out grain by each grain.

I would give anything right now ...
To recapture the noise of the sea gulls, smells of the oceans...
And to ride once more upon the waves.
Fill my glass full of sand again!
Oh! To go back living life to the fullest!
Fearlessly pushing all limits...standing on the edge.
To feel the peace and comfort of loving arms,
Like the waves that wrap the driftwood below.

Feeling the velvety grass of home, like the sands beneath my feet.
The fading sands...of time rushing out...being pulled by the tides.
As the waves move out to sea, I too must leave!
For the glass has run out...my walk along the beach is done!

Patricia M. Smith
Prince Edward Island, Canada

We are fortunate in living so close to the beach.
Although we can go to Scarborough, Whitby, Staithes, Runswick Bay, Robin Hood's Bay, bridlington and Flamborough Head, this has to be my favourite, Skinningrove.

The pictures tell you why.....
we have the place to ourselves.

The colour of the sky always inspires me, it clears my head and makes me appreciate the sheer beauty.

When it is windy, as it is today it can be a great place to blow away the cobwebs and wake me up.

I need that today as we slept in....
I pressed the wrong button on the alarm clock!
I didn't even know there was a special control.....the usual result of not reading the instruction manual! LOL!
It wasn't a massive sleep in, just an hour.
But isn't it strange what a difference it makes to the day?

I now feel I have missed part of my day yet it is only 9.05am!

I was going to start my new swimming regime...
to swim each morning for an hour....9am - 10am!

I will start on Monday! LOL!

Happy Skywatch Friday!

To join in Skywatch Friday, or just to visit some lovely skies across the globe, click here, Dot's blog, that's Dot, in Georgia!

This was her idea!
Good one Dot!

ABC Wednesday.........Round 2!

Welcome to ABC Wednesday Round 2!

How to participate in ABC Wednesday
1. Post your ABC Picture picture on your blog
2. Come to my blog and sign in on Mr. Linky
3. Enjoy the wonderfully unique ABC pictures of the other bloggers.

There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one.
Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you have an A picture posted on your blog.

Thanks
D

here is mine.......




A is for....
Atonement!







I thought I had everything sorted for my A post!
In fact I had planned the majority of my alphabet photographs one night whilst having a bath!
But things change!
I think I am going to try and keep my ABC Wednesday contributions as spontanious and current as possible, it is more fun like that.
My original idea was to use photographs taken round the house and garden, but this is when I found I was deciding what to photograph months ahead.
This doesn't allow for the unexpected./spontanety hence the change of mind.

If you look closely at the photograph you will see the date on the Evening Gazette...
yes, Tuesday 22nd January...the day the Oscar nominations were published...yesterday!
Atonement is a keen favourite, nominated for 7 categories.

Ian McKewan..........hmmmmmmmmmmmmm yes THE Ian McKewan!
Famous author, multiple award winner!

In all of my 25 years+ spent as a teacher, without a doubt the VERY BEST book I ever read with a class was "The Daydreamer" the first children'snovel Ian McKewan wrote.
It is the story of a 10 year old! Peter Fortune.

promise me, you will read it.............
you will cry with laughing!
This was really a wonderful book.
The chapter..."The Bad Doll" will have you screaming with memories from your youth....
The Chapter about the family cat will be the best account of the death of a family pet you will ever read. Priceless.

One of our nearby local cinemas was used as a set for the film and in fact a colleague of mine, Nick Murray was an extra.




Nick presents the Saturday afternoon radio broadcast on our local Hospital Radio.
I am a regular contributor to the show. I have a "green" slot where I talk about ways we can improve our environmental awareness. I will be appearing next on March 1st where I will share some environmentally friendly cleaning tips.

You can read Nick's account of the filming here
The date you need to find is Sunday August 27th 2006.

Also on Nick's web page is a list of podcasts of the radio show.
You can listen to one of my interviews if you click on "Going Green with Mrs Nesbitt!"

So here we are ABC Wednesday round 2!
I look forward to travelling around the globe and seeing the amazing creative angles you will all use in finding incredibly unique "A" subjects.

I am going to try and be as spontaneous as possible....
Watch this space!

LOL!

Spontaneity

oh, to be spontaneous in everything I do
no pondering, no worrying, no wondering what’s true
when I connect to Spirit, that’s how easy life can be
for Spirit knows so much more than either you or me

it doesn’t mean I turn my back and pretend that I don’t see
it doesn’t mean I choose to lack responsibility
I live my life just as before, no one will have a clue
that I am guided from within and live each day anew

the difference in perspective is I’ve let go of the past
and every experience is different from the last
we carry so much baggage that our shoulders sorely sag
we’re stooped and bent and surly just like a mean old hag

when we look for problems and expect the very worst every day becomes a struggle, every action has been cursed isn’t it much better to release that heavy load respond with spontaneity, it’s a truly enlightened road

Elizabeth Rose

BYB Sunday! Catching up!

Photo of the Day
BBC Radio Tees, Friday.

“It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”

Marilyn Monroe

The visit to the Radio went well, I really enjoyed meeting Alex Hall, the presenter.
I was listening to Radio Tees as I made the journey to Middlesbrough and I felt Alex put people at ease when she chatted to them on air. I would think this is a great talent and skill of good radio presenters.

To see Alex talk about her show click on the link from here

It was to be the case. I signed in at the reception and one of the techno-guys, Chris collected me and took me into the studio. I met Alex and within a few seconds I felt at ease.

We chatted about my new venture, my Living memorials and had a really good time.

Alex asked me to go on the show again, in March.
There is a special feature on featuring love between parents and children.

This was the reception area.

and this was the friendly receptionist.

Any organisation has many members, and what became obvious at Radio Tees was everybody seemed so friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about what they did. I enjoyed myself so much and look forward to the next visit.

My friends and family listened to the interview, telling me I sounded great.
Well they would wouldn't they! LOL!


Meanwhile back at the ranch....................

This is what my desk looks like as we speak!

One of my wedding commissions, for Catherine and Andrew, who are getting married on May 25th.



I spent yesterday in my study, but now just have some finishing off to do, then it will just be a case of packing up the entire order.

I must say this is the favourite part of the exercise to me.
I so much enjoy the parcelling up of the cards, envelopes, invitations, RSVP's etc etc...
then there is the delivering and seeing the looks on the faces of the couple.
It really brings home the fact they are getting married and the wheels are in motion!

Talking of wheels......
we wont be having a bike adventure today.
There is thick fog covering the Moors and a definate drizzle of rain.
We will take a rain check after lunch, but I am not raising my hopes too much.

So on this BYB Sunday I am blessed with a warm home, a home where I can work in my study , contented with my little part of the universe!

Thus humble let me live and die,
Nor long for Midas' golden touch;
If Heaven more generous gifts deny,
I shall not miss them much,--
Too grateful for the blessing lent
Of simple tastes and mind content!

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Happy Sunday!

Skywatch Friday!

The industrial revolution has tended to produce everywhere great urban masses that seem to be increasingly careless of ethical standards.

Irving Babbitt

Driving home in the pick-up.
Jon just becoming familiar with his new mobile phone's technology!
Conversation went something like this.........

(me) "Jon, Jon...........look at THAT!"

(Jon.....remember he is driving!) "What?"

(me) "The view....over there, the view!"

Jon glances over, briefly, parks up quickly in the near by car park, takes out his phone and takes these pictures.
He had has his phone only a matter of hours!
Now that is a sure sign of a man who reads the instruction manuals! LOL!

The smoke/emissions on the horizon are from ICI Wilton site.
Both my parents were employed there for many years.

Dad was a training officer, mum a personnel secretary.
This is where they met.

I would have liked to say more, but I have a busy time right now.
Early start as I am being interviewed on local radio, between 11-11.30am tomorrow, and I have 3 wedding commissions right now.....but I did want to celebrate 50,000 visitors to my blog!

Great stuff!

ABC Wednesday.........

Z is for.......
Zephyr.

Jon, France 2000
on our Kawasaki Zephyr 1100







Note...Photo not quite correct, so I loaded it over to Photobucket...which is under maintenance just at this very minute (8.15am Wednesday, but when it is resolved you will notice the sky is blue! Jon would not have needed his shades in the dark!

2000 was a very busy year for Jon. When the weekends arrived he always tried to keep Sunday free, but inevitabley it rained, so we didn't get out on the bike much at all.
The motorcycle magazines we bought often featured France as a good place to tour on a motorbike.

At the beginning of August Jon said it was a possiblility that he would have some free days at the end of the month.

We decided to go to France.

I contacted the bike touring company who had written the original article and asked what they would recomend for our first tour of France. They suggested the Loire Valley, Samaur to be exact.

We booked the ferry and two night's accomodation in Samaur.
We would travel to Portsmouth on the Saturday, ferry at 3pm. Arrive LaHavre around 8pm.

As luck would have it, the rain poured for the duration of our journry down to Portsmouth!
Once on the ferry our bike was secured in position and we made our way to our cabin.

Towards the end of the crossing we made our way down to the bike and noticed another bike parked next to it.
The rider chatted to us.
It just so happened he knew where we were heading so he told us to follow him.
So, there we were, 8pm, night time following this chap through the streets of France.
We eventually found the B&B accomodation our neighbour had booked for us and our adventure began.
The following day we made our way to Samaur and spent two nights there.
The following day we decided to head South to Bordeux.
We must have travelled nearly 350 miles by the time we arrived on the outskirts.
We came across a hotel and stayed the night.
It wasn't as nice as the previous one, but hey ho, on an adventure these things don't matter. It is all a case of driving through the lovely scenery, in the sunshine, coming to a place we lkiked the look of and finding accomodation. It is fun!
After Bordeux we headed North to Poitiers, then Dinard then Le Havre.

We were going to spend our last night in Hornfleur a lovely picturesque village near the port of LaHavre.
We arrived in the village around 5pm so we decided to go over the bridge to Le Havre, see where we had to check in the next morning, then return to Hornfleur.
As we approached the bridge the weather changed dramatically.
The wind came from nowhere and whipped up to an unbelievable force.
As I hung onto Jon I watched the van in front of us struggle to keep to the road. It's wheels kept lifting up!
I shut my eyes!
When we had crossed the bridge we decided to spend the night in La Havre! We didn't care if it wasn't as nice as Hornfleur! We just didn't want to cross the bridge ever again!

So, yes, the Zephyr has very special memories, our bike of adventures and many many miles of enjoyment.
The following month Jon bought a 99 Fireblade.
Again we did many miles on this, eventually replacing it in 2002 with a new version.
This would be the one we toured France on in 2005.




Here we are!
The bike is totally diffrent to the retro style of the Zephyr and indeed Jon vowed if we ever toured again we would get a different bike....which we did in 2006!





Yes, looks familiar doesn't it?



So, here we are on Z!
What an amazing time we have had over the 6 months we have been doing ABC Wednesday.
I had no idea it would bring such a fantastic group of creative, imaginative people together.
Each week I find myself planning the next picture! Indeed I all ready know what I will be posting for A next week, second time round.

To celebrate our achievemnt I have designed a little something for each blog which has taken part. If you would like to, please cut & paste onto your own blog.




Thanks to techno wizard, dot! I discovered Mr Linky.
If you would like to join in ABC Wednesday, please sign up, post a comment here and post your own contribution on your own blog.

BYB Sunday!

Photo of the Day
13.01.08
Jon, my husband.

I am blessed with a wonderful husband.
Today I was exhibiting at a local Wedding Fayre at Grinkle Hall Hotel.
For keen Hearbeat fans it was last week's location.

As I was talking to future brides and husbands it was great to see the excitement and anticipation written all over their faces.

The music was playing from one of the exhibitors speakers and when I was quiet I was thinking of the good marriage I have been blessed with and the fact we celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary in June. I thought of Jon, working in the workshop whilst I was at the wedding fayre.

A Husband...

A husband should be
Loyal and honest

A husband should be
Strong and protective

A husband should be
Loving and romantic

A husband should be
Patient and understanding

A husband should know
When enough is enough

A husband should know
When to fight and when to cry

A husband should know
all your goals and dreams

A husband should know
your strengths and well as your weaknesses

A husband needs to be a true man
A husband needs to love you unconditionally
A husband needs to know your heart is forever his

sarah holmes

As I drove home I thought of our warm home which we both love so much.

Now we are "In for the Night!" LOL!

Thanks for all of the comments about my pictures.
They were taken on the Casteton Road, heading towards Hutton le Hole, the most desolate part of the Moors.

The Cross is "Ralph's Cross"
This is the story....




Ralph was a guide for the nuns at the Cistercian Priory of Rosedale when they needed to journey across the moors. One cold, snowy day whilst out walking on the moors, he saw a hand sticking out of the snow. At once he stopped and dug down into the snow, to find the frozen dead body of a man. Ralph recognized the man as a traveling workman - he used to travel from farm to farm, looking for jobs to do. Unfortunately, this time the man had made the fatal mistake of stopping for a rest and falling asleep in the snow.

Ralph was so upset about the death of this man that he erected a big cross, with an ‘R’ carved onto the front of it. Only a few miles further on was an inn called The Lion Inn (which is still there today), so if the workman had seen the cross he would have know he was nearly at a place of shelter. Ralph made a hollow in the top of the cross so that rich people could leave money for poor people to take, so they could afford food or even a room at The Lion Inn.

Ralph’s Cross is still there today, on the road between Castleton and The Lion Inn. However, if you’re rich and you take the money then legend has it that you will meet a nasty end. A fog will descend and you’ll start walking, unable to stop until you walk off the edge of a cliff! At the bottom of the cliff lie many skeletons with little piles of money next to them.

Skywatch Friday!

Photo of the Day
Ralph's Cross, up on Moors, about 15 minutes drive from our house.
Taken January 04!

On this particular day i had set out for school inmy car.
Only a matter of minutes and the snow started to fall.
My car ground to a halt and I phoned Jon.
He came in the 4x4 and rescued me.
The car stayed by the side of the road, totally incapable of going anywhere.

I could not get to school, the roads were closed.

Later in the day Jon came home from work and suggested we drive on the moors in the pick up.
These were the views..........totally awesome.

In some cases we were the first vehicle to drive in the snow.

/a>











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ABC Wednesday....

Y is for...... YORKSHIRE

Aud Wheeaist "Wheea's that?" yelled oor missus When Ah waved as a tractor com near. "Whey, it's Aud Wheeaist," Ah said, "E's varry wheel knawn aroond here." "'Ow come thoo knaws him?" she aksed. "Thoo's nivver waved afoor!" Ah says, "Ah dissn't wave at sthrangers, ma, Aud Wheeaist lives ower t'moor." "Ah've knawn him for a lang, lang while, It's him that browt them logs, Last Christmas it was, thoo'll remember that, An' 'e breeds them Collie dogs." "Thoo'll 'ave seen 'im aroond," Ah said, "'E's nivver misses Thosk mart 'E's gitten an oss, an aud grey mare Ti tow his tonnup cart." "'E's a grand chap, Aud Wheeaist," Ah said, "An' 'e likes his drop of ale, 'E's in t'White Swan quite reg'lar away, Ivvery Thossder, wivoot fail." "Whey, Ah can't say Ah knows him," She chuntered and suffed and sighed, "Yis thoo dis," Ah said inoo. "That's 'is sister thoo can't abide!" "Noo 'od 'ard and mind that tahme, We went ti t'Yorkshire Show, Aud Wheeaist was there, 'e won that cup Wiv his pure-bred Masham yow!" "Was that Aud Wheeaist?" she aksed. "It was!" Ah was capped she'd kenned. "E' fettled that lawnmower that wadn't start And that kettle thoo took him ti mend." "'Im wi' them Friesians, that's Aud Wheeaist, An' 'is missus is good wi' lamb chops, She fettles rare tatie and onion pies An' sells 'em in t'village shops." "Aye well that might be," she said inoo, "But Ah deearn't knaw him at all, Seea 'ow's thoo ken him as wheel as thoo dis, While Ah's nivver bidden ti call?" "Whey," Ah says, "Ah've known Aud Wheeaist, Varry near for all of me life, But Ah can't just fetch his name ti mind, Nor t'lass he tyook as his wife." Aud Wheeaist - a poem in Yorkshire dialect Yorkshire Dialect Society Nicholas Rhea is a member of the Yorkshire Dialect Society and served on its council for a number of years. With more than a hundred dialects with Yorkshire alone, there is a considerable variety of local speech; the society exists to preserve those dialects in both the spoken and written form. Nicholas Rhea speaks and writes in the North Riding dialect as spoken in the north-eastern corner of the North York Moors and under his own name of Peter N. Walker, has written both prose and verse in his native dialect. As dialect writing is largely based on phonetic speech, some of the words might be difficult to understand - but he does use it occasionally in his Constable books. Here then is one of his poems. The popular TV series Heartbeat is based on "The Constable books" written by Nicholas Rhea. I was born a yorkshire lass and indeed missed the moors and the sea when I spent 10 years in Nottingham. Because we live on the moors we are known as "woolybacks!" This scene was photographed in August last year. You can tell by the purple heather. This is 5 minutes from our house. I never tire of the scenery, and as I write this on a horribly dull, misty day there is no other place I would rather be,

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, I am my mother after all!

Photo of the Day
07.01.08.
The Sky in the Village 5 minutes ago.

And the sky from the back window

It's another grey day!
Why oh why did I rush to get the washing out yesterday only to be rained off?
I could just as easily hung it on the airer in the warm kitchen, as it happens I had to do eventually when for a split second I did not look outside to see the lovely drying day had turned into a rainy dull episode!
But, when the wind is up I insist on it being a good "Drying Day" and set forth to wash for the nation. Indeed if there isn't sufficient laundry in the basket I go in search to justify a full load for the washing machine.
I guess it is one of the many facets of my nature which although I find strange, I know I am not alone and know where I get it from.......my mum!

Do you ever find yourself saying something and remembering your parents said exactly the same things?

I do frequently!
Is it my age? LOL!

A few years ago when I was teaching full time I was attending a management course at a local stadium. I hasten to add we were using their conference facilities, not the training area! LOL!

Talking amongest ourselves later on one of my colleagues announced she was going into the town to do some shopping! I said I was doing the same, I needed some new slippers.
"Are you getting Mules?" She asked.
"Mules? You can break your neck in a pair of mules!" was my reply.
We all laughed as others recognised exactly why I had retorted in such a way.

The words had been said many times and many years earlier to me by my mum.
What is more I remembered them and have never bought mules! LOL!

On another occasion, only a couple of weeks ago, I had to take a delivery from Jon's workshop to one of his customers.
I delivered what I had to and thought I would pop into the local shops and get one or two bits and bobs.
It would be about 11am.
As I packed away my shopping I said to the girl at the till,
"Well once I get home and put this lot away I am in for the night!"

It was 11am in the morning for goodness sake and there was I saying such a statement....
again a phrase from mum.

Other phrases I remember.......

"If you think for one minute that I'm letting you out of the house in THAT, you've got another thing coming... "

"Wipe that smirk off your face!"

"Don't make me come up there!"

"When I was your age I could have shown you a thing or two!"

"Money doesn't grow on trees!"

"Do you think, we live in a field? Close the door!"

" Do I look like I'm made of money???"

"Just wait till we get home!"

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times..."

"This place is a pigsty."

A particular favourite one, when I had not buttoned a blouse or coat right up to the very top button...

"Cover that bare chest up! You will catch a cold!"
LOL, the mere thought eh!

When I do find myself saying such words I smile, and just remember mum.
It is a part of her which will never disappear as it is in the very marrow of my bones.

As we enter another Monday, the sky may be grey but I have lots to be getting on with.
I have some food to portion off for the freezer and make a menu plan for, I have washing I need to dry and another load to deal with....and dry on the airer and I have housework to do.

Once all this is done, the dog is walked, the goose is put in his shed, Jon is home from work we will be in for the night!

Yes, mum will have smiled!



The Images of Mother:

4 YEARS OF AGE
My Mommy can do anything!
8 YEARS OF AGE
My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!
12 YEARS OF AGE
My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.
14 YEARS OF AGE
Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.
16 YEARS OF AGE
Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.
18 YEARS OF AGE
That old woman? She's way out of date!
25 YEARS OF AGE
Well, she might know a little bit about it.
35 YEARS OF AGE
Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.
45 YEARS OF AGE
Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
65 YEARS OF AGE
Wish I could talk it over with Mom.....

Author unknown

Waste Not Want Not!

Photo of the Day
06.01.08.
Vegetables left over from last night!

BYB Sunday....

Thank you for the food we eat,
Thank you for the friends we meet.
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you, God, for everything. Amen.

We are blessed with food, we don't know what hunger is.

Last night's meal was a great success.
The Beef was wonderful, do try out this easy peasy recipe....I made it up myself.
In a casserole I put about £9 worth of braising beef which I had diced and removed excess fat.
I chop the fat up and give it to the dogs for a traet!
In the casserole place 2 large chopped onions and stock. I use 2 pints of bovril.
Place in a hot oven for one hour.
Add another pint of stock and a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Return to oven for one hour.
Add one can of beer....whatever is your fancy.
Last night I added Newcastle Brown Ale.
Cook for one more hour.
Add more stock, worcester sauce, chilli powder to taste.
Cook for one more hour.
Check and add more stock if the beef has absorbed it all.
Leave in low oven till required.

Awesome!

The 3 root mash consited of turnip, carrots and parsnip.
mash with creme freche & pepper.

I do not like to waste food so today I am making cottage pies, using the left over vegetables for toppings. I also will add some to a large bolognese sauce I made up with some mince. These I will then put in the freezer and use them over the next few days/weeks.

Today is a beautiful day.
Jon is working so I am pottering about at home.

There is a breeze so there is a line of washing on the go and after I have finished in the kitchen there is some more tidying up to do and I will take Wilma on the beach.

Tonight it is Hartbeat on TV and I will cook spagetti for Jon's dinner.
I will have one of my quorn mince concoctions as I am back on the diet.
Weighing night is Tuesday!
I did attend the class over the holiday break and discovered I had gained 2.5 lbs.
I wasn't surprised or upset by this, in fact I lost the least in the group, some had gained as much as 7lbs!

A simple Sunday here but a contented one.

Although the people in Scotland were often poor, many had a reputation for being contented with what little they had (though many also were discontended and emigrated for a better life). Here is a poem written by Robert Burns in 1794, which he regarded as a kind of "self portarait". So much so, that he had an idea of linking it to his portrait which was painted a year later.

Contented Wi' Little and Cantie Wi' Mair
Contented wi' little, and cantie wi' mair,
Whene'er I foregather wi' Sorrow and Care,
I gie them a skelp as they're creepin' alang,
Wi' a cog o' guid swats, and an auld Scottish sang.

I whyles claw the elbow o' troublesome Thought;
But man is a sodger, and life is a faught:
My mirth and gude humour are coin in my pouch,
And my Freedom's my lairdship nae monarch daur touch.

A towmond o' trouble, should that be my fa',
A night o' gude fellowship sowthers it a':
When at the blythe end o' our journey at last,
Wha the deil ever thinks o' the road he has past!

Blind Chance, let her snapper and stoyte on her way;
Be't to me, be't frae me, e'en let the jade gae:
Come Ease, or come Travail, come Pleasure or Pain,
My warst word is:- "Welcome, and welcome again!"

Meaning of unusual words:
cantie=jolly
skelp=smack
cog o' gude swats= pot of good new ale
whyles=sometimes
claw=clasp
sodger=soldier
faught=fight
towmond=twelvemonth
fa'=lot
sowthers=puts to rights
snapper and stoyte=stumble and stagger
gae=go

It's Raining Cats & Dogs!

It's Raining Cats & Dogs


We have all heard the expression "it's raining cats and dogs." There are several theories about this rainfall saying. It is possible that the word cat is derived from the Greek word 'catadupe' meaning 'waterfall.' Or it could be raining 'cata doxas,' which is Latin for 'contrary to experience,' or an unusual fall of rain.

In Northern mythology the cat is supposed to have great influence on the weather, and English sailors still say the cat has a gale of wind in her tail when she is unusually frisky. Witches that rode upon the storms were said to assume the form of cats; and the stormy northwest wind is called the cat's nose in the Harz mountains even at the present day. The dog is a signal of wind, like the wolf. Both animals were attendants of Odin, the storm-god. In old German pictures the wind is figured as the "head of a dog or wolf," from which blasts issue. The cat therefore symbolizes the down-pouring of rain, and the dog the strong gusts of wind that accompany a rainstorm; and a rain of "cats and dogs" is a heavy rain with wind.
The Bible describes a rain of manna and quails more than 3,000 years ago. At the time this was looked upon as a supernatural event; it was actually not an uncommon thing. The rain of manna has happened frequently in modern times; the manna is really a lichen that grows in great numbers after rains.

There are numerous accounts of rains of frogs, hay, fish, and grain. All of these accounts seem to be due to tornado-like "whirlwinds." A good whirlwind can lift thousands of pounds and carry objects for miles. There is one reliable account of a fishing boat that sailed into a large waterspout. Fish flew everywhere. There are about seventy recorded rains of fish, but nearly all of the rains of fish are small ones. There is, however, one account of a fish fall in India in which more than ten people picked up fish weighing up to eight pounds each. There are many accounts of rains of ice-coated ducks, grasshoppers, fish, and frogs, but there is no account of a raining of cats and dogs (Lockhart, 1988)

Well as you can see Wilma settled into her very own armchair last night! LOL! What a life eh?

Yes, horrible weather again today, but I am not really bothered.
Jon is working and I am pottering about the house.
My SIL and her boyfriend are coming over for dinner tonight so I am cooking.
We are having.....

Melon

Chilli Beef Stew
Yorkshire Puddings
Champ Potatoes
3 root mash
Cabbage
Sprouts

Desert.........Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Thinking!

I will go to the local butchers and farm shop once the coalman jhas brought our coal.
Once I have been to the shops I will prepare everything and get the beef in the Aga, so it will cook slowly for the rest of the day.
This is the type of cooking I love....slow and relaxed.

We all like a relaxing evening in the Nesbitt Household!

Elsie, last night! LOL!



I don't know what our plans are for tomorrow.
We may go over to Machine Mart who are having a VAT free event.
Jon wants to get one of those devices for laying carpets.
It looks a bit like a cheese grater.
Infact, when he fit the bathroom carpet he actually asked for my cheese grater! LOL!
I pointed out to make sure he used it the right way up, otherwise his hand or the carpet may get grated up!
His return comment...
Improvise Denise! That's what it's all about!

LOL!

Skywatch Friday!

A Photo a Day
04.01.08
Songthrush in our front garden yesterday.

The winter's evening settles down
With smells of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves across your feet
And newpapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On empty blinds and chimney-pots,
And at the corner of the street
A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
And then the lighting of the lamps.

-- T. S. Eliot

I have a book called "Poem for the Day"
This was the poem for 4th January and I felt it was appropriate for today.
T.S. Elliot died on January 4th 1965.
I was surprised as I always imagined him from an earlier time in the literature scene.

Yesterday was quite a dramatic day here with snow falling quite quickly and thickly.
It was very cold too.
Although Jon unlocked Jo's shed door at 8am he was quite happy sitting inside until later in the morning, when he came out and stood with his old bag for a while.
He has bonded with the bag of sand which was delivered for the building work Jon did last year on the shed. Each day Jo will snuggle up to the bag and nibble some sand.
When the bag was used up we ordered him another....is he spoilt or what?

As you can see his pond was frozen but he has a big bucket of fresh water each morning.
It is situated under the kitchen window.




I empty the contents on the front lawn.
There are often bits of bread which all of the birds enjoy.

Yesterday I spotted the blue tits eyeing up the birdhouse, chaffinches, blackbirds, robins and the lovely songthrush.


Wilma was at the workshop with Jon so I had Elsie for the day, as indeed I do today.
We have had her a year now and it is all prt of the plan for a harmonious home life.....but dog lovers amongst you will know that with rescued dogs this is often an area of education and great patience.

Wilma is very nervous and we are going to be taking her to an animal behaviourist as she is still spinning around and wanting to rush through doorways. The patio doors in the kitchen have knocked off their runners several times.

Elsie has a "thing" for men! (No comment! LOL)
So we are trying to interupt this pattern and she is spending more time with me.

She had a great time playing in the snow yesterday!

Here she is in our paddock.
The paddock is on the other side of this tree.

This seat was one I picked up from the tip!
I thought it looked inviting yesterday.....lovely in the snow.

Looking out, the sky looks full of snow right now, although the road is clear I wouldn't be surprised if we had another fall.
I will get a few things we need but then will spend the day here.
I got lots done yesterday and can finally say the house is getting back to normal.
Once all is sorted I will continue with some more decorating...watch this space.

Happy Skywatch Friday everybody.
This wasn't the picture I intended to show, but I like to show pictures which reflect current season or feeling!

Have a good day!