Yes I have failed to keep this blog up to date of late. I spend too much time in front of the computer doing all the other things I need to do and my eyes often ache having done so. Hence when it comes to the blog I tell myself I’ll do it tomorrow when my eyes are fresh and guess what… I don’t! Anyway here we go again with a bunch of snap shots from the last weeks. I was away for a week visiting my Dad who’s getting a bit old n frail. Passing through London was weird, I felt a weird mix of being a stranger in a place I used to know like the back of my hand! Twas good to check a couple of great vegan restaurants with old friends and eat copious amounts of Gregs sausage rolls! Now I’m back and trying to keep my room warm. Enough waffle, on with the pictures….
Beware Nancy is watching you!All you need is a nicely pre dug hole in the ground, some compost, a trowel or spade, a new tree and if ya feeling soft something to rest your knees on so they don’t get cold n damp.Innit beautiful? My Sugar Maple tree kept some gorgeous colours as the rest of the flora went dark and dead looking, besides the grass that revelled in the rainy onslaught and grew greener than ever.Sid often comes to inspect what I am up to in the garden. Here he is checking out the replanting of some chestnut trees.We scrounged some furniture from a neighbour of Sanja’s in Belgrade. With the fireplace ablaze the felines gave the pair of chairs their blessing and promptly settled down and went to sleep.Sanja got her magnificent konk skewered and a ring inserted. As a consequence she had to bathe said protuberance is an anti septic salt solution for a week or two. She found the perfect sized mug from my collection and gave her nose a bath.Sid n Nancy came to inspect the tree planting around the wisteria bench, Nancy got the right idea for a bench but Sid just had to keep standing!I like this one, the picture not the bloke!What is it about cats and boxes? Sid spent ages investigating the possibilities of this banana box and it wasn’t even on its base!Lined up and ready to plant a selection of trees and bushes I bought from the Karlovac flea market and got from friends who are starting out in the plant business. See their website! www.bifurcaria.net. Nancy gave them all a thorough sniffing but eaaly liked this one! So much so that I thonk she might have weakend the stem in her ardour because it broke whilst I was planting it. We’ll have to see whether or not Nancy’s tree blooms in the spring or not.This dark looking picture is of the last defence fence I constructed before heading for the UK. It surriounds on eof the new trees I just planted and will hopefully keep the rabbits and deer off untill its big enough to weather their attention. I stopped work because the light was fading and wielding the machete in the dark is risky!For those of you wondering if my fear of deer is a tad too much the above was found within 10 meters of the house this morning. Deer poop, clear as day. How do I train Sid to scare them off? Pain black stripes on his side?Not long after I first turned veggie back in the 1980’s my familly went on our usual trip to my mum’s sisters for a Christmas meal, I think it was probably on Boxing day. I don’t remember much of these occasions but this time my aunty Anne had made the effort to source on of the few ready made meat alternatives available back then. It was, she showed me the can afterwards, Granose peanut loaf. I liked it alot but pretty much always considered it too expensive to buy for myself. I’ve had a can sitting around in my kitchens for years awaiting a special occasion. Maybe Aunty Ann payig me a return visit! Anyway I noticed the can had begun to rust at both ends, its sell by date was over a decade ago! But after a bit of judicious excising of mouldy bits and a good fry they tasted great! with a bit of mash and my signature broccoli and mushroom dish.I spent a fair whack of my time with Dad in hospital with him. During the last visit we ended up in a little room on our own for what seemed like hours. I suggested we reocord some of his memorable “funny faces”. This one is titled ‘Meeting Uncle Fester’.Scarlet obliged with a tourist photo of me and Tower Bridge. I needed a walk after considerable over eating at the Unity Vegan joint in Spitafields and so I escorted her back to London Bridge before hopping on a 149 to Hackney.Obviously one can buy chips or french fries all over the world but it rare that they remind you of “proper” UK chippy chips slavvered (!) in salt n vinegar. I’d been day dreaming about my reunification with a bag of such delights and finally got some in Ilminster. My sister popped down to the local chippy whilst I fried up three new types of vegan sausages I’d never seen before! She even got a pickled onion!Sid appears to be never happier than when he is stretched out next to or on me, flexing his claws, eyes half closed and purring like a dinosaur (!).I made a Barbrith cake as a thank you present for the neighbours feeding the cats whilst i was away. This was one of a few Bara Brith mini cakes I baked with the excess mix. Not bad even if I say so myself.My work rate in the garden came to an abrupt halt when the snow came down. It stayed cold enough for it to remain on the ground for about a week.I was sleeping in the kitchen with the working fireplace and two very happy cats (they don’t usually get to sleep on my bed with me in it). One morning I woke up early and thought wow it really light out there! I opened the door to let the cats out and discovered everything had turned bright white! This was the felines first experience of snow. Sid just ran across it, Nancy pawed it gingerly. Then they both decided to poo in the workshop when I wasn’t looking rather than risk getting their bits cold out in the snow.
