Stir up Sunday.

Every year we go through the 'Shall we skip Christmas ' scrip, and each year there seems to be a good reason why we can't, this years excuse is that one of our past helpers will be visiting us for a couple of days at the end of the month.
 So we will be having Christmas, just not on the 25th.
Today, being 'Stir Up Sunday' saw a flurry of activity in the kitchen, this used to be my domain, however Simon loves making cakes and Christmas puddings so he has taken over, I let him get on with it and make my self scarce, today was no exception, I am redecorating the hall way, a lengthy job, it is a very long hallway.
 So the cake is in the range cooking, it takes four hours to cook, and the two Christmas puddings are made and waiting to have their first boiling of six hours.
This completes our preparation for Christmas, the ducks are  in the  freezer and the chickens, the veg is in the garden , the decorations are still growing in the hedgerows, holly and ivy, I am pleased to say it will be very lean pickings for the shops from us.

Looking for the green grass.

This is a nice titbit.

The weather is decidedly wintry , the last three mornings have greeted us with very heavy frosts, it almost looks as though snow has landed, the  hens were very confused, no green grass, but it still does not put them off from doing their normal things.
 Our La Bresse cock has taken to wandering down our drive way with HIS girl, she is a jersey Giant that we hatched the same time as him, they are inseparable, him finding nice things and calling her over, she has just started to lay, with her first egg weighing in at 52g, just 1g short of a medium egg.

The Jersey Giants first egg.

Jersey Giant pullet.

Uneasy truce.

                                                                             
The cats are far from impressed with the weather, three of them after having breakfast head straight back to bed for the day , two of the others lay on top of the range to take advantage of the previous days heat. These two hate each other, but are prepared to tolerate each other in search of heat.

An Artists palette

   With the cold weather we are getting the most wonderful sunsets, incredible colours that range from pink to orange, I love to see beautiful sunset.

And now for the pink.

Shower of golden light.

Farewell to another day.