Monthly Archives: May 2015

A long catch-up updated.

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We have talked about it for six months.

Yesterday was the day and we had six years to catch up on.

First time round we were part of a larger group so the chat was general. Six whole years yet it felt like it was only one single day since we met. Just the two of us with no interruptions so the conversation flowed. Easily.

I was meeting fellow blogger Nelly, from Nelly’s Garden.  She suggested we meet at Clotworthy House where we had coffee before wandering the grounds of Antrim Castle Gardens.

I love this place and have visited and blogged about it on several occasions.

We walked and talked we sat to enjoy the scenery and talked until we talked ourselves dry so we needed another coffee before we parted and went our separate ways. I hope it will not take another six years before we meet again.

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Some of the photos were from a visit a few days earlier.

Thinking caps.

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I was working away in the kitchen doing this and that, baking, cooking and cooling food for the freezer.

As I covered a bowl, I thought of my blogging friends….. wondering if they were out of their showers for the day.

Now what brought that to my mind?

At this stage regular readers will know I can have some very strange ideas. Today it was shower caps.

Do you have a shower cap? Is it clean?

I bought a pack of three shower caps the other day in one of the local budget shops that seem to be sprouting across the land. The budget shops and not the shower caps!

These handy shower caps never made it past the kitchen. I washed and dried them and left them to air for a day or two. Now I have a new use for them:

Shower caps to cover bowls

Shower caps to cover bowls

 

 

The shower caps make great covers for bowls while hot ingredients are cooling, or perhaps bread or pizza dough is raising. Flies may look, but not get near the food.

 

 

Do you have a second life for a gadget in the kitchen or other part of the house?

Want to share?

Pull up a chair

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Any old chair

Any old chair

 

One of the displays at our coffee stop yesterday. In another section, there was a chair similar to the one above, filled with herbs.

A great way to fill a morning: Good coffee, a wide selection of food, great company and plenty of chat all before a wander through the displays and the gift shop.

The countryside as we travelled, looked really well, gracing fresh new greenery…. I love this time of year.

Pick and mix

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I have been quiet for a while, but I am still alive and very much so. Things have been happening. Some good and some not so good.

This was the sky on Tuesday 5th May at 17:44, it makes it hard to believe it is nearly summer.

20150505_174434

There was a birthday that I missed attending on Wednesday 6th May, it was a little too far away….  87 hours without traffic, otherwise it would take 89 hours (according to Google)! Mind you, this was beginning on the A26 and the journey would involve car transport, toll roads, include a ferry and have to cross through multiple countries. In other words a distance of 4,095 miles! Anyway, I had other plans that day.

A photo session with twenty questions!

Not that kind of photo session. I was allowed to keep my clothes on… so long as there were no buttons, zips or bits of metal. The pictures were rather revealing, in a good and not so good way. Livable with!

I made some discoveries. I lost and I gained. Twelve years ago, I discovered I was a full inch taller that I thought I was for all of my adult life. I was 170.5 cms, now I  have lost 1cm.

And the gain? I had put on weight. Middle age spread. Is it any wonder that gravity is winning the battle and pulling everything south! 🙁 I was on the scales at 09:45.

I do know for a fact that at that very time, thirty seven years ago I weighed in at all of 130 lbs, by late afternoon, I was so much lighter (114.5 lbs) and had a bundle in my arms. That very bundle was now celebrating her birthday in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.  She was working, but we did manage to speak by phone, and I was pleased to hear that her colleagues were taking her out for dinner.

No. I am not trying to hide the amount of weight that i gained in thirty seven years… I am all of 139 lbs today! Note to self: Avoid walking over grating incase I disappear! 😛

The following morning I was up and out early to do my duty and cast my vote. There was one other voter in the poling room and a couple joined us as I was adding my folded piece of paper with an X to the box. I turned to walk out of the room as the school bell rang for the normal start of the school day: 09:00. I walked home through the park, which I had to myself with the only sounds coming from the ducks.

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I do have a tip for you that I learned over the past few weeks

My last batch of antibiotics came in a bottle with a childproof lid. I am sure that every child would manage to open it unaided far faster then my aging hands with lack of grip. I am never stuck. living alone, I cannot afford to be stuck!

Nut cracker to open a pill pot

I used a nut cracker to grip the lid where it is meant to be squeased and turned the bottle with the other hand.

Today I had mail. A small package and the contents were described as ‘Flexible rubber, dimpled and ridged’ and there is a hole for a size guide! Now get your durty minds out of the gutter guys, I am talking about something very useful and simple.

Thanks to Kate I discovered an unusual kind of thimble. I asked her for details, and phoned around to see if I could get it locally. Alas no, I had to order it on line. For my sewing friends out there, I give details below. it feels really comfortable and I look forward to using it tomorrow.

Flexible thimble_1

Flexible thimble_1

flexible thimble_2

flexible thimble_2

Food Monday ~ Nana’s Barley Water

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I was asked to share this recipe, I promised to do so last Monday, but alas, I missed the date.  I apologise for the delay.
Nana’s Barley Water
approx 2 litres

1 light cup Pearl barley –6 to 8 ounces
2 litres water, more or less depending on how thick you want it.
Juice of 1-2 lemons.
Honey or sugar, to taste*

Rinse barley. Put it in a large soup pot with the water.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for at least an hour, until the grains are cooked and softened. Add more water if needed.

Strain the liquid and add honey/sugar and lemon, to taste. Cool refrigerate. Use within three to four days.

The finished drink will be cloudy and settle when stored in the fridge, Stir before pouring and drinking.

*Cranberry juice, can be used to flavour the Barley water.

NB: Avoid cranberry juice or extracts if you’re taking warfarin, Cranberry juice can make the effects of warfarin more potent, so there’s a risk of excessive bleeding.

Note: Mammy was known as Nana once the grandchildren arrived!