frayed at the edge

Thoroughly spoiled!

I had a wonderful day yesterday, starting with a delicious breakfast-in-bed made by Malcolm (sorry, no photo, much too early!)  ........ smoked salmon and scrambled egg, served with sundried tomato and parmesan bread which I had made on Saturday (ok - I put a packet mix in the bread machine!!)  Later, we popped down to Sainsbury's to get the Sunday papers, and while there we had a cuppa and shared a Belgian bun - a special treat for my birthday!  Stuart arrived at lunchtime and we headed over to the cheesery, where we bought several tasty cheeses.  We then set off for a spot of lunch - only to find that the place we had chosen was closed!  However, we went instead to the Jammy Coo, where we had very tasty paninis (Malcolm and I shared one, having had the bun!)

Now we finally get to some photos ....... the wonderful dinner which Malcolm made for us.  The dining room was just dark enough to light the candles and turn on the lamps

 

 

We didn't have a starter - just straight to the main course ...... and what a main course!  Wonderful, tender venison, with a raspberry and bramble jus, and delicious vegetables

 

 

Then ........ the lemon meringue pie!  It was sooooo good (and I won't tell tales about Malcolm and Stuart having second helpings!)

 

 

We had our wine in our beautiful engraved wineglasses - and I couldn't resist taking this 'arty'  photo of the candle shining through the glass!

 

 

I finally finished the scarf ...... I was glad to find that I hadn't missed another bobble - it had somehow gone through to the wrong side.

 

 

I have finished knitting the item for the swap I am doing over at Emily's blog, and have started on a pair of socks for me.  As there are so many colours in the yarn, I am just doing a plain sock

 

 

To finish ....... if you have a comment form like this one on your blog

 

...... you may have noticed that I haven't left a comment for a few days.  Every time I try, either the comment vanishes, or I get an error message.  I am still reading all of my favourite blogs, and if I could comment, I would say that it's the most wonderful/interesting/profound/moving/funny post, illustrated with the most amazing photos!!

A special day

I set off earlier than usual this morning for Borderland Fabrics, as we were having a very special day.  People all over Britain were today hosting coffee mornings for The Macmillan Fund - but instead of just a coffee morning, we had a soup, sandwich and home baking extravaganza!

Things got under way not long after we arrived, when we were presented with a plate of goodies to have with our morning cuppa

 

 

For lunch. there was a choice of sweet potato and parsnip soup, which I had (absolutely delicious) .....

 

 

...... and leek and potato - also declared delicious by those who chose it

 

 

Then a selection of sandwiches - I had mentioned to Malcolm that there would of course be  cheese savoury sandwiches.  He asked why I was so sure.  I replied that there would be a riot if there weren't any, as we all like them (they are the ones at the top of the photo)

 

 

Then more cakes appeared - but I have to admit I had an extra sandwich rather than a cake, as I prefer savoury things

 

 

We had just recovered from lunch, when afternoon tea was announced!!

 

 

Of course we all made a donation to the Macmillan Fund for such a wonderful day  ........ then Annette, the owner of Borderland Fabrics, said that she wasn't taking the usual payment for our Friday session, but perhaps we would like to donate that as well - which of course we did.   Many thanks to Annette and her helpers for providing us with such a wonderful day, in aid of a very good cause.

Back home, the robin was ousted from the bird bath by a sparrow!

 

 

 

 

While the sparrow was having his bath, a great tit was tucking into the peanuts (you can see that all the fat balls were eaten while I was out)

 

 

 

This is a special weekend ..... it's my birthday on Sunday!  Stuart is coming down on Sunday and staying until Monday, but unfortunately Alison can't come as she has to work on Monday.  For my birthday dinner, Malcolm is cooking venison (because Stuart likes it) and for pudding he popped up to M&S in Galashiels this morning for their wonderful lemon meringue pie (yes, you've guessed - it's Stuart's favourite!!)   I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

 

Sticky fingers

This morning, I measured the liquid from the apple/bramble pulp .........

 

 

....... poured it into a large glass bowl, and put it in the microwave on high to come to the boil.  Then I added the sugar - the ratio is a pound of sugar per pint of liquid.  Once the sugar had been thoroughly stirred in, I put the bowl back in the microwave for about five minutes.  By that time a scum had formed on the top, which I simply skimmed off

 

After boiling the jelly some more, setting point was reached, then I filled the jars and covered them

 

 

There was apause in the jelly making at that point, as we popped into Hawick for lunch.  We decided to go to the Damascus Drum

 

 

There is a small outside seating area, but since the smoking ban, these tables are generally used by smokers!

 

 

My lunch was delicious - a 'ploughman's bagel'.  Malcolm had a bagel spread with cream cheese, and the same tasty salad

 

 

Back home, I made the apple/rosehip jelly, but all did not go to plan!  It just didn't want to set.  First I added lime juice and boiled it again - still runny.  Then I got out the big guns - pectin!

 

 

I finally achieved a rather wobbly set - and I had decidedly sticky fingers from all the pokingof my samples to see if they were setting!  However, I ended up with another four jars of jelly.  The fruit was free, the electricity for the microwave was free, so all I had to pay for was the sugar.  I have eight jars of jelly for about £3!!

 

 

Years ago, I used to make curries from scratch, using Madhur Jaffrey's book (you can see I still have some recipes marked with bits of paper!)

 

 

I used to dry fry the spices, then grind them, and make a paste with onion, garlic and ginger.  These days, curry making is much simpler, with a ready made paste for my rogan josh

 

 

Soon it was simmering - enough for two meals.  We'll have one for dinner tomorrow and the other one will go in the freezer

 

 

When we got back from lunch, before I started on the second round of jelly making, I indulged in a bit of fun, inspired by Rachel.  It was very simple .... walk 132 steps from the front door, then take a photo.  I cheated slightly, as by the time I walked along the path, through the gate and down the drive, I would have used up quite a few of my steps, so I started counting when I stepped out on to the road.  The 132 steps didn't take me as far as I thought they would, and when I stopped to take my photo, it was a bit boring

 

 

So I went back to the house and walked 132 steps in the other direction - oh dear, it was even more boring

 

 

But then, back home ..... this was the view from the front door step

 

 

There was one last job to do after the jelly making - giving the 'jeely bag' a thorough wash and hanging it out to drip dry!

 

My poor thumb

When I was picking the rosehips, I had an unfortunate tussle with a very sharp thorn, which the thorn won, leaving a nasty gouge out of my thumb

 

 

It is a real nuisance, as the ragged edge keeps catching on things, so I have had to resort to putting a plaster over it, in the hope that it will heal underneath

 

 

However, I have still been able to get on with some sewing ...... although the needle keeps catching in the plaster!  I have done a lot more prep on the hexagons, with seven strips tacked over the papers, and another one part done.  Then I have cut the hexagons from another sixteen strips, and have another twenty six strips to go

 

 

I also got a bit of sewing done on the Baltimore block, stitching the birds in place

 

 

The redwork block is progressing - every time I look at it I laugh at the little lamb!

 

 

After leaving the the apple/rosehip mixture dripping overnight, I transferred the liquid to a jug.  After I put it in the fridge, I realised that I hadn't taken a photo.  As you can see the jug is rather full, so rather than risk spilling it, I took this rather strange photo of it in the fridge

 

 

The apple/bramble mix is now dripping through.  I will make jelly with both lots of liquid in the morning ..... it will be delicious to have on my porridge!

 

 

There has just been a slight pause in writing tonight's post, as I had to snatch up the camera and capture the robin in the birdbath!

 

 

 

Do you think I should put out little towels for him!!?? 

Foraging

We went for a walk yesterday morning, but we soon got distracted from the walk by these .....

 

 

..... lots and lots of wonderful rose hips.  And there were still some roses too

 

 

 

 

We picked lots of rose hips, and some brambles - more about them later.  But I wasn't so distracted by the picking that I forgot to admire the wonderful scenery

 

 

Malcolm dropped me off on the way home so that I could pick some more rose hips and some apples from the hedgerow, then I walked the rest of the way home, enjoying the warm sunshine.  The views have changed, now that the crops have been harvested, and some of the fields ploughed and replanted

 

 

 

 

The sheep were also enjoying the sunshine

 

 

 

Back home, I sorted out our foraged fruits

 

rosehips

 

 

brambles

 

 

The apples on the right are from the hedgerow, the ones on the left are crab apples, which Jennifer gave me.  This afternoon I washed all the fruit thoroughly, then I topped and tailed the rosehips and put them in a large saucepan, along with the crab apples and some of the hedgerow apples and added water.  I put the rest of the hedgerow apples and brambles in another suacepan and again added water.  Then, I left both lots to simmer

 

 

By the end of the afternoon, the first lot was dripping through the jelly bag

 

 

Malcolm, meanwhile, was working on his steps

 

 

The knitting update ....... the socks are finished

 

 

........ and the scarf is almost finished.  I have still to sew in the ends and block it.  I made a couple of mistakes - the first one was missing out a row of the cable ....... I had knitted quite a bit more before I noticed, so I didn't take it back.  Then I forgot to make two of the bobbles - but I simply picked up the stitch and worked the bobbles ..... it just means I have more ends to sew in.  BUT  as I arranged the scarf on the floor to take a photo ........ horrors, another missing bobble!!  I had planned to knit the scarf again in a different colour - maybe I'll just do it without the bobbles!  I can't show you what I am knitting this week, as I am taking part in a swap over at Mousy Brown's and of course I am knitting a little something for my swap partner Alyson.

 

To finish ...... I didn't just bring fruit home.  When I tipped the rosehips into the bowl, a spider appeared!  Don't worry, I rescued it and put it out in the garden!

 

Three soups in one day

No, no, I haven't gone on a weird diet!  We had homemade chicken soup for lunch, then I made two more pots of soup - I like to have lots of soup in the freezer when the weather gets colder.  Yesterday Malcolm had cooked a piece of ham in the slow cooker, with lots of onion, apple and apple juice.  This provided a big pot of stock for the first soup

 

 

Once I had brought the stock up to the boil, I added frozen peas, and simmered the soup for a few minutes until the peas were cooked

 

 

These are the ingredients for the other soup - parsnips, apples, butter, seasoning and chicken stock

 

 

I cooked the parsnips for about five minutes in the butter, added the apple - and an extra ingredient, a teaspoon of ground cumin.

 
 
 

Then I added the seasoning and the stock, and simmered the soup until the parsnip was soft.    Once both soups had cooled, I gave them a quick blitz.  Then I gave Malcolm a little sample of both of them ...... he declared them both to be very good!

 

 

I mentioned that Malcolm had another project for the remodelling of the front garden ........ we have never liked these steps in front of the lounge window (the middle section is actually a door)

 

 

so Malcolm is making new steps to stretch the width of the whole window using decking - this afternoon he has a trial fit of the supporting framework

 

 

The garden is looking good

 

 

except for this rather large weed, which had somehow escaped Malcolm's eagle eye!

 

 

The knitting update - I have finished the socks, except for the Kitchener stitch on the second sock

 

 

I've gone back to the Debbie Bliss book for this chunky scarf

 

 

It's a nice, quick and easy pattern

 

 

To finish ........ this is the bottom of an advert on the side of a van, which I saw in Hawick this morning.  Is the estate agent saying that he is the only independent agent (rather than the property department of a solicitor, which is the more common way of selling houses here) or is he saying that he is the only one who works hard

 

Rain, rain go away ......

....... come back another day!  We used to chant that as children, when it rained during the school holidays - and I'm tempted to start chanting it now, as it is raining heavily (yet again).  The workmen came back this morning to point the new path, but because of the rain, most of it looks like this

 

 

However, the section that was done first thing is uncovered - this is the view looking through the front door.  They have made a really good job both of the slab laying and the pointing.  All that remains now is for Malcolm to fill in the gaps on either side of the path with gravel - and finish  the latest project he has been working on - but I'll tell you more about that next week!

 

 

Earlier in the week, I did some more work on my Baltimore block.  I wasn't happy with the rose in the centre - I thought it looked too small, so I cut out some extra petals from freezer paper

 

 

After a great deal of fiddling, to make sure all the raw edges were covered, I was finally happy with the enlarged rose

 

 

I finished stitching it this afternoon at patch'n'chat ......

 

 

........ and although I have still to add the buds, I made a start on the next block

 

 

This afternoon, we were treated to Annette's cupcakes - delicious

 

 

I chose one with pink sprinkles

 

 

OK - I put that last photo in just to make you wait a little longer before announcing the winners of the giveaway!!  Malcolm picked two numbers, and I counted through the comments ........ the first winner is Judi, who wins one of my handmade brooches and a lavender bag

 

 

and the second winner is Rattling On, who wins this notebook, covered in beautiful embroidered silk Colefax and Fowler fabric.

 

Thank you to everyone who left comments -  I appreciate  them very much (Malcolm reads them too!)

 

It's still raining, but despite the weather, I'm sure we will still be out and about at the weekend - whatever the weather I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

On the road again!

This morning we set off in bright (but chilly!) sunshine, to drive down to Morpeth to see Jennifer.  As it was so glorious, we stopped at the viewpoint at the Carter Bar ..... but as often is the case there, the views were hazy!

 

 

 

However, to make up for the hazy views, further down the road we were treated to some dramatic skies

 

 

 

We went out for lunch with Jennifer, a belated celebration for Malcolm's birthday.  Both Jennifer and Malcolm had scampi and chips ....

 

 

...... while I had a 'New York deli' burger

 

 

Much as I love chips,  I couldn't manage to eat the whole helping!  We are still full, and haven't yet had any dinner - I think we will just have a light snack later!

As we went back to the car after lunch, we saw this horse and shetland pony

 

 
 

 

 

On the way home, Malcolm had to stop the car to let me take this photo - the road is like a roller coaster and  I couldn't hold the camera steady!  (don't worry, there wasn't any other traffic on the road)

 

 

When we crossed the border, we pulled into a layby, so that I could take some more photos of the stunning scenery - we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country

 

 

 

 

While we were away for the day, there was lots of work going on in the front garden .... the path was finally being relaid after being lifted for the drainworks.  The workmen just have to come back tomorrow to do the pointing.  We are delighted with the new look path  ...... the previous one was laid with large gaps and odd spaces between the paving slabs.  While it looked good, it was very awkward to walk on - it was like crossing stepping stones.

 

 

 

Remember you have until tomorrow to leave a comment, if you would like to be included in the draw for the giveaway (Malcolm has been practising his random number generating ...... or maybe he was just counting something!!).

To finish - every time I see this sign at the Carter Bar viewpoint, I want to take a big black marker to it and correct the mistake on the second line

 

It should be fahren, not fahran - the sign on the other side of the road is correct!

W'otter lot of fun!

When we were going out on Saturday morning, I realised that I didn't have a camera in  my bag, so I picked up my small one, which was next to the door, rather than go back for the big one.  Of course, this guaranteed that there would be a fabulous photo opportunity, which I really needed the big one for!   You have probably guessed from today's title ...... yes, there were two otters playing in the River Teviot.  I had never seen otters before, other than on tv, so it was wonderful to be able to watch them .  Unfortunately, they were so quick to dive again each time they surfaced, that the photos aren't very good .....

 

 

 

 

 

It turned a bit chilly on Saturday afternoon, so Malcolm lit the stove - the first time this autumn

 

 

Yesterday morning we headed over to the village of Eckford for a craft fair.  There were lots of stalls, but as it was so busy I wasn't able to take photos ...... except for this one of the wonderful plate of home baking that we enjoyed with our cuppa (we didn't have any lunch after feasting on the cakes - Malcolm manfully ate both pieces of scone, in support of my efforts to eat less!!)

 

 

I didn't buy any of the crafts on offer (as I make most of them myself) ....... but I did buy this wonderful yarn, from a lady who was selling off some of her stash.  It is pure silk

 

 

 

It is very windy today (the tail end of Hurrican Katia) - you can see that the grass on the verge has been flattened

 

 

The poor horses in the field across the road were thoroughly miserable, standing with their backs to the wind

 

 

The view over to the Mintos was hazy with all the rain in the air

 

 

It was difficult to take photos of the birds today, as the feeders were blowing about - in the end only two photos were usable

 

 

 

On the ground this little sparrow was making his feelings clear, shouting at anyone who would listen!

 

 

Fortunately these roses are sheltered, and have survived the wind

 

 

Monday means the knitting update ...... I have finished the first sock and made a good start on the second

 

 

To finish ....... this is my 800th post!!  So of course that means a little giveaway.  Leave a comment anytime between now and Friday (you can comment every day if you want!) and the random number picker (aka Malcolm) will choose not one, but two winners ..... one in the UK and one abroad.  I have no idea yet what the giveaway will be - I shall have to delve into my various stashes!

I can't think of a title .....

....... for today's post!  I think my brain has already gone into weekend mode and won't stir itself to come up with a clever/witty/humerous opening.

So let's just get on!  Friday of course means cake, and this week we had a variation on our favourite ..... instead of apple and sultana, Annette had made apple and cranberry. 

 

 

Katy recently won a 'best in show' with Gerald the Turkey (unfortunately he has been handled so much, his neck is a bit wobbly!)

 

 

I got a lot of stitching done on my Baltimore block, finishing all the leaves and buds

 

 

It won't be long until the swallows set off for Africa ..... in the mornings they congregate on the phone wires, planning their departure .........

 

 

....... while the other birds eat the bird food as fast as I put it out.  Yesterday evening there was a nuthatch on the peanut feeder, the first time we have seen one in the garden.  Unfortunately I was charging the camera battery, so couldn't take a photo!

 

a bluetit

 

 

a coal tit

 

 

a great tit

 

Yesterday afternoon, it wasn't just Malcolm who was enjoying the sunshine in the back garden - the butterflies were making the most of it too

 

 

 

you can see the curled tongue of the top butterfly

 

 

 

The forecast isn't very good for the weekend, so I think the woodburning stove may be lit tomorrow afternoon!  Whatever the weather, I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne