A Few Plans For The Year

Hello everyone. I hope you have all had a good week.

This will be a special year for my dear hubby because he is due to retire in the summer. We have a number of travel plans, and I have a steadily growing list of jobs to keep him busy. Happy days ahead.

We have already started some jobs, including a cover-up job. When D came back home after living in her flat for several years, she also came with all her furniture. We have accommodated it all in our small corner, and this particular item is living in the conservatory. 

At some point, when she can buy her own house, all her furniture will go with her, so we are mindful of keeping everything safe and protected. I have been reluctant to put anything on top of the unit in case it gets damaged or the sun bleaches it, so this was our solution.

Hubby made this cover, and everything has disappeared behind closed doors. When the time comes, the hidden space can be used for our own storage. I'm happy, D's happy, and for hubby, it's another job off the 'to-do list'.

Another job that has been worked  on over the last few weeks is the hallway. In October, I shared that our very tired stairs and landing had finally been updated with new carpet. Now the hallway also has a lovely new oak style flooring. It will be some time before the flooring is extended into the kitchen but I am really pleased with  how things are going so far.

The small chair was hubby's TV chair when he was a child 😊

As I mentioned, we intend to travel more this year, including the UK and further afield. While I would love to journey to the extremes of north and south and east to west, I know I won't visit everywhere. However, I found the next best method on Google and YouTube. I began my armchair travel this week and started in the far north, in the Orkney islands.

Balfour Castle

The castle located on Shapinsay, is reached by ferry from Kirkwall, on mainland Orkney. Thomas Balfour built the original building as a house called 'Cliffdale'. His grandson David commissioned the castle building around the original house. 

People sometimes refer to Balfour House as a 'calendar house'. This is due to the design: seven turrets, twelve exterior doors, fifty-two rooms, and three hundred sixty-five panes of glass. The other interesting feature of the building was the secret passage hidden in the library bookcase: ideal for a quick escape for the Balfour family whenever uninvited guests decided to drop by! 

 

The castle has some beautiful walled gardens and extensive grounds. Sadly, the castle is now privately owned, so there are no visits, but some good videos show what the inside of the castle was like, as well as the walled gardens. 

If you want to have a look for yourselves there are several travel videos on YouTube.

I hope you enjoy an armchair visit as much as I did.

Returning to Our Small Corner

Back at home, D and I have restarted our reading of Shakespeare plays, which we began last year, and I also finished reading 'The Killings at Badger's Wood' by Caroline Graham. This was the book on which the TV series 'Midsomer Murders' is based. D and I are currently binge-watching this in the evenings.

I haven't ventured into the garden much this week but have been cleaning and tidying in the greenhouse so everything will be ready for the new season. I hope it is a good year.

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Hello. It's D, just popping in.

It was also time to try something new. Every year after Christmas, we eat turkey until it comes out of our ears. However, this year, I had an excellent idea based on one of the recipes from my books, and I decided to make a pastry pie from our Christmas dinner leftovers. It had the turkey, small sausage balls, stuffing, carrots and parsnips - all served with a side of roast potatoes.

There were indeed no complaints when Mum and Dad tried it. In fact, there were requests for seconds.

This may become a new 'post-Christmas' tradition!

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Have a great week everyone

Beverley and D

Welcome to 2025

Welcome back, friends, and welcome to a brand new year. If you are visiting for the first time, thank you for stopping by and visiting this small corner.

Firstly, how did your Christmas festivities go? Hopefully, you all had a wonderful few days with family/friends celebrating in your special way. 

After attending the Christmas Day church service, hubby, D and myself had Christmas dinner at our son's house. Everyone bought something for the meal, and we sat down to enjoy eating it. It was a lovely afternoon and far more relaxed than in past years. Usually, I would be chasing around until the very last minute, but with other events this year, I couldn't contemplate Christmas until halfway through the month. 

Poor hubby was most disappointed that there was no homemade Christmas cake, and the shop-bought ones were hardly large enough for one who loves his fruit cake! A few days before Christmas, I found a simple fruit cake recipe and thoroughly adapted it to the existing ingredients in my cupboard. It has turned out to be one of the best fruit cakes I have ever made. 

Ingredients

140g raisins

140g sultanas

200g glace cherries

several tbsp rum, brandy or sherry for soaking fruit

225g butter

225g caster sugar

275gpl flour

1tsp baking powder

4 eggs

Method

1. soak the sultanas,raisins and cherries in the alcohol over night.

2. Grease and line a 20cm/8" tin

3. Preheat oven to 160c/140c for fan/gas 3

4. Mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the  eggs, one at a time.

5. Mix in the soaked fruit and liquid remains. Add the flour to make a soft dropping consistancy. Spoon in to baking tin and lightly level the top.

6. Bake for about 2 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted in centre of cake can be cleanly removed. 

I have already promised another cake before too long, and hubby can share it with our son, who also loves fruit cake.

As many of you know from the few pictures I posted last year, I started a cross-stitch project as a surprise gift for my son and new wife to celebrate their August wedding. I foolishly believed that I would finish it quickly. If you are a fan of this type of crafting, then you will likely be laughing uncontrollably by now. I have asked D to remind me of the reality of how long these projects actually take when I have my next big project idea.

Despite finishing it just before Christmas, I am super happy with the design. I changed some of the details to make it more personal to C and J.

The wedding was at Clearwell Castle, near Monmouth, so this is their special place. I used the picture from their wedding invite to make up a castle motif.

The groom's suit was a very pale green/grey, which I changed from the navy one in the original pattern. I also changed the bride's hair colour and style to more accurately reflect the day.

I had to change one row entirely as it wasn't right for the personalities and style of the day. C and J are adventurous people, so I kept the hot air balloon but not the Cinderella coach. I made up a sparkles motif because we enjoyed those in the evening and added the words 'New Adventure' and 'Sparklers'.

I can breathe a sigh of relief now that I have finished the project and know, most importantly, that C and J loved the Christmas gift.

Now, I'm looking for a new 2025 project!

The days between Christmas and New Year seemed to pass very slowly here, but D busied herself in the kitchen with more baking, and we both continued with some decluttering jobs. The biggest job for D was all the old paperwork she no longer needed. What a paper mountain that was- but it's all done now! 😊

The New Year was a quiet affair, apart from the fireworks at midnight, as it rolled into 2025. Can you believe we are starting the year that marks a quarter of this century? It only seems a short while since the new century began!

Have a great week, everyone. 

x

Ps I have added the missing eggs to the recipe. Thank you to Jan for pointing it out.

Returning with Christmas Greetings.

 

Hello everyone. 🙋

Thank you for all your kind and supportive messages over the last few weeks.

My health issues are being sorted out, thankfully, and although I will need two hospital checkups next year, all looks well, and 2025 is looking brighter.

I will return here in the New Year, slowly catching up with all your news.

I wish you the best Christmas and hope 2025 will be happy, healthy, and bright for you all.

Love and hugs

Beverley x

Taking A Break

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a good week.

I'm going to be taking a break for a while. A few health issues have surfaced for me, and my head is not really in the right place to be blogging. 

Hopefully, I won't be away for too long and will still be thinking of all my friends here.

Best wishes 

Beverley xx

Poppies to Remember

 

A moment's silence to remember the lives given and sacrifices made.

Thank you.

An Unexpected Week

 Hello everyone. 

I hope you have all had a good week. It has been an unexpected week here and not a very welcome one, either. Before I start, let me reassure you that I am okay!

For some time, I have had a few gastric issues, which have been under control, but on Tuesday, life took a different turn. I started getting chest pains around teatime, and hubby whisked me off to the hospital to get checked out. After blood tests, X-rays, blood checks and a 9-hour wait, I was given the all-clear. It was a scary evening but ended positively, knowing my heart was still ticking as usual.

The following morning, another of my teeth fell apart, requiring yet another dental visit. I jokingly said, " Shall I bring my bed next time? "

While I am very grateful for all the care I received, I now want to avoid dentists, doctors, and other medical professionals for as long as possible.

With such an eventful week, I'm afraid there's not much more for me to say, but D has been baking again.

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Hi everyone - D, here.

While Mum has had an eventful week, I decided to cheer her up with a cheesecake. When I mentioned the idea to Dad, his eyes lit up as well—I was definitely making the cheesecake then.

I used a recipe from Jane's Patisserie. However, I modified it slightly because I couldn't find shortbread biscuits at the supermarket for the base. I used Malted Milk biscuits and added melted white chocolate, so in the end, I made a White Chocolate and Lemon Cheesecake.

I was pleased with the result, and so were Mum and Dad. I only finished the cheesecake yesterday morning, and it's already half gone.

Mum and I hope you all have a far less eventful week than the one in this small corner.