frayed at the edge

It's beginning to smell ........

......... a lot like Christmas!  I know some of you will now be saying "what, you are only baking your Christmas cake today!!??"  But I have always made my cake at the start of December, and I don't think it suffers for not having been made weeks ago!  As always I turned to this book

 

which I have had for rather a long time!

 

I have always made the same size  ....... as Stuart has never eaten Christmas cake (or any cake with currants/sultanas/raisins) I didn't have to start making a smaller one when he left home

 

having already had the fruit soaking in brandy for the last three days, I assembled all the ingredients

 

after a great deal of beating and stirring, the cake was ready to go in the oven.  Years ago a cookery teacher gave me the tip of poking a hole in the centre of the cake mix, which helps to keep the top of the cake flat as it bakes

 

two and three quarter hours later, the cake was ready to come out of the oven

 

the easy way to remove the otside of the cake tin

 

once the cake is cool I will wrap it in greaseproof paper and then foil.  I'll feed it some more brandy, then ice it in time for Christmas

 

tomorrow is going to be a very busy day for me, as not only do I have the craft fair, but it is also our Christmas lunch at patch'n'chat.  The car is packed to the roof with all our goodies, ready to head to Jedburgh Town Hall for 11am, to set up our stall.  Malcolm will then drop me off at Borderland Fabrics for my lunch, then pick me up at the end of the afternoon  We will be able to get back into the Town Hall at 5pm, giving us plenty of time to do any rearranging of the stall before the doors open at 6.15.  It will be quite late by the time we get back home, so I don't think that I will do a post tomorrow night, so you will have to wait until Monday to find out how we got on!

 

Winter is here!!

We got up this morning to a heavy frost and a frozen birdbath

 

with only this little bluetit braving the cold to have breakfast

 

after our breakfast, having de-iced the car, we set off south

 

passing some very cold sheep

 

although Ruberslaw in the distance was frost-free

 

on through wintry scenery

 

almost at the border .......

 

........ then over it

 

as we came down into the valley, the mist created a spooky landscape

 

then we were free of the mist

 

we were heading to Waitrose (superarket) in Ponteland, as we had gift vouchers to spend.  Having bought lots of tasty food for Christmas (the freezer is now full!)  we headed to the  Blacksmith's Coffee shop in Belsay for lunch

 

Malcolm had poached eggs on a cheese scone, which he declared to be delicious

 

while I had cheese savoury sandwiches, also delicious (I gave the crisps to Malcolm, as they were a bit too crunchy for my post-extraction mouth!)  (I also gave him the cherry tomato, as you know that I don't like tomatoes)

 

we had more clear blue skies on our journey home

 

as well as some strange clouds on the horizon just after we crossed back over the border

 

on the way home we called in at Kirkeharle to do some Christmas shopping.  I have to admit that as well as buying some presents, I accidently bought some things for me!  A card with a wonderful illustration of a hare by Joanne T Kell

 

and two fun pairs of earrings from Spirit of Colour

 

Not the best start to the day!

I had an appointment with my dentist (he of the Scrabble name etc) at 8.45.  Bad enough to have to have such an early appointment, but even worse if you are having a tooth taken out!!  Obviously there was no pain, but I could feel him wiggling the tooth from side to side to loosen it, then I could hear the crunch (inside my head) as it came out!  However I was pleased to have it removed, as it was so badly broken that it was all sharp edges - the temporary repair had lasted about two days, then even more had broken off.  The worst thing now is that I have to rinse my mouth out with warm salt water (yeuch!)

So, back to Saturday, and more preparations for the craft fair.  Malcolm has now made 18 driftwood trees

 

I have made up little bags of shells, sea glass and pebbles, which can be scattered round the bottom of the trees to create a beach scene, after they have been used as Christmas trees

 

I've looked out some things which didn't sell at previous fairs - hopefully they will sell this time ...... photos, cards, and fabric covered notebooks

 

but these are my favourites, which I managed to do without sticking my fingers together with superglue!  I had bought the tiny frames recently, and when we were in Berwick last week, we popped into the picture framer's to get some little bits of mounting board.  The shells and bits of shells are from our beachcombing - I just thought they looked really interesting (and if they don't sell, I know exactly where I am going to hang them in the flat!)

 

at the end of the afternoon, I had a little play.  When I made the pieced blocks for the Aunts' quilt, I had lots of lefteover bits from making the Flying Geese ....... yes, Meredithe, I know you are jumping up and down shouting that I should have used your no-waste method, but I knew what I would use the leftovers for

 

it's quick and easy to poke the bits of fabric into the polystyrene ball .......

 

........ to make a flower

 

on Saturday, when I was heading back into the house from the studio, I paused to take photos of the sunset.  I have a setting on my camera for sunsets, which captures the wonderful colour in the sky

 

then I noticed the moon peeping out through the pink clouds.  However, the sunset setting wouldn't pick up the moon, and the setting that would focus on the moon lost the pinks from the sky!

 

More blue sky!

Yesterday morning, we headed to Melrose, as we had a voucher for free entry to Melrose Abbey.  The skies were blue - perfect for taking photos of this amazing building

 

the traffic cones are there to stop visitors walking on to an area which is being excavated.  They have found the foundations of pillars

 

you know that I don't like heights ........

 

........ but it was worth the fear and anxiety to climb an awful lot of steps up the bell tower to look out over the wonderful views

 

I was hanging on to the rails and the walls, but Malcolm was quite relaxed!

 

(un)fortunately, there was no access to the top of the bell tower

 

the blue sky provided a good background to these photos

 

safely back on the ground, every where I turned there was something to take a photo of ........ big things

 

........ and little things

 

when we have visited the Abbey in the past, we haven't paid attention to the house at the far end of the grounds, but yesterday we discovered that it is called Cloister House, and it is a holiday home.  It was open to the public just for the day, so we were able to have a good look round- and I was allowed to take photos

 

two things to finish - first, we didn't have a scone, we had a raspberry muffin

 

and second - have you ever seen a bagpipe-playing pig !?