Night Skies

Hello everyone. 

After I posted here last week and snuggled down on the sofa, Hubby stirred me from my slumber to look at the moon. February, sees a planetary alignment of the moon and Venus. Venus was visible in the night sky, shining brightly on Saturday night. Here are a few photos that we took from our front door.

This one looks more like a crochet hexagon!

In my last post, I shared a few pictures of St Albans Cathedral, which we visited, and promised to share a few more with you.

Alban lived in the Roman town of Verulamium, not far from where the cathedral now stands on the hill. Christianity was illegal then, but Alban sheltered a Christian priest and became a believer himself. Refusing to give up the priest and his new faith led to his execution and martyrdom. The earliest church on the site was probably a simple structure over Alban's grave.  

The Victorians discovered this wall painting, painted about 1400AD under whitewash paint, and carefully restored it in the nineteenth century. It depicts the story of Doubting Thomas in the Bible.

This is the shrine of St Alban. 

The cathedral had so much more to see, and our guide was very knowledgeable. It was a shame we couldn't stay longer, but a return visit is necessary.  

Back home, my new crochet blanket is growing beautifully and can almost keep my knees warm while I work. The colours are so bright and cheerful - almost like having a lap full of pretty jewels. There are 18 colours, just as Lucy from Attic24 used on her granny stripe blanket, but some colours are different due to my yarn stash. 

D decided to leave the kitchen this week and visited a local coffee shop. She even ordered a warmed chocolote orange brownie with a dollop of ice cream! It looked very delicious.

Meanwhile, it was my turn to play in the kitchen, so I borrowed D's favourite cookery books and made some Carrot cake blondies. I had some shredded carrots left over from a meal earlier in the week and wanted to know what to do with the excess carrots. 

They are proving to be just as popular as some of D's baking. Does she have a challenger to her crown? Probably not. However, my success is encouraging me to try out a few other interesting-looking recipes in the near future.

That's all for today. Whatever your plans are for the coming week, D and I wish you good health and hope things go well. Take care.

B and D xx

I'm Back Again!!

Hello to you all. 

Thank you for joining me here today. I am so grateful to D for looking after the blog while I was battling the germ bugs that were still hanging around. I feel much better now, although I still have a cough. 

So, what have I been up to this week? 

The crochet blanket gets brighter by the day, and I enjoy the gentle rhythm of the stitches while watching 'Midsomer Murders' on television. I still have a long way to go, but there is no rush to finish. 

Wednesday was a beautiful day here, so I ventured into the garden to clear my lungs and start some gentle tidying in the woodland part of our garden. I cleared a small area where the Hellebore and Hazel are planted, along with the twisted Hazel. I have removed some weeds and left the self-planted ivy to scrabble across the ground. The soggy fern leaves have been cut back, leaving just enough to protect the new fronds emerging this year. I also replanted a holly that had been a free seedling from the birds a few years ago. 

Since then, hubby and I have made a short trip to Essex to visit family, stopping overnight near St Albans. While there, we visited the Verulamium Roman Museum. There were many exhibits of everyday Roman life and some historical background to the area. I enjoyed seeing all the mosaics and wall paintings - all those tiny pieces fitting together to make wonderful pictures. Seeing a group of schoolchildren enjoying visiting the museum was also lovely. They were so excited but well-behaved.

I was also happy to be classed as a 60+ concession, as our entrance tickets were nearly half the regular price. Well worth the visit! 

😊

We also managed to visit St Albans Cathedral, but I will show more of these pictures next time.

D has returned to baking in the kitchen this week and made 'Cookie Dough Bars', another recipe from Jane's Patisserie. It is cookie dough covered in a chocolate ganache and absolutely delicious. However, we can only manage a small piece at a time, which is not bad! It just means it lasts much longer!

After a rather up-and-down week, I'm looking forward to a more settled new week. I hope you all have a great week, whatever you have planned.

B x