Sunday, December 13, 2015

Crazy weather.

From floods to snow in less than a week. So many roads in the area have been closed due to flooding, no sooner had the floods started to retreat, yesterday we awoke to  a two inch fall of snow , and boy it was cold.
Certainly not the right weather to be attending a Food and Craft fair held in a marquee. I don't think the temperature got much above freezing all day,
sales weren't particularly good and did not warrant standing for five hours in such temperatures. I am also supposed to be doing  the same venue next weekend but I'm afraid I will be giving it a miss. I wonder how many other stall holders feel the same way. I do enjoy doing the fairs, but not when it's so cold, I will limit myself to indoor ones next year.
However you never know what you will find or meet at these fairs, one of the stall holders was the person I had done a basket making course with, I have arranged do another course with him next year, which will be fun.
Faversham Christmas Ale.
There was also a stall selling craft beers, they had the full range of our very local micro brewery,  we have already tried most of them, what we hadn't tried before was an English beer from Faversham in Kent, called 'Christmas Ale' this one throws a real punch, a little will go a long way at 7% it's a very strong ale, but it is lovely, we will probably have it in place of wine with our Christmas dinner.  For some unknown reason it was also cheaper than the local brew.
The plants in the garden  still don't seem to know it's winter, roses still blooming,
December 11th.
plus a crazy Lupin,
Three months early.
and the rhubarb has started to re-grow, we don't normally cover the rhubarb until February but we have had to put straw over it, it is after all just the beginning of winter and we will get a few heavy frosts and possibly more snow before the rhubarb should  start to awake.
Some of the carrots that we planted this year were a heritage variety, some  purple, some white and a few yellow ones,
Very pretty, but not too much flavour.
 the purple ones look very pretty, they would look great in a coleslaw, but they are not as strongly flavoured as the orange ones, I wonder if other people have noticed the difference in flavour?
When we first moved here we knew there were things that we would want to change and slowly we are making the changes, one such change was replacing the sliding French door in the kitchen. There were several reasons, not least that we couldn't lock it easily, and one of the cats is very clever at opening sliding doors, fine if we are around but not if we are out for the day,
A new cat foiling door!
so the door has now been replaced, much to Felix's disgust, he has been foiled, and he's not happy about it. Although it's the same space, it makes the kitchen seem bigger.
Poultry treat.
The hens aren't too keen on this weather either, so we have started sprouting grain again for all the birds, we had thought that the quail would appreciate a bit of fresh wheat grass but all they did was trample it down so we will reserve it for the hens.
These legs and feet belong to Freddy. You can just see an ear.
    

15 comments:

  1. Freddy is adorable! Too bad about the market. That must have seemed a very long day.

    Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

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  2. Awww, a basket of fur. Such a cutie. What a shame about the fair but I agree, no point doing these things if you come home frozen to death, I'd be giving it a miss too.

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    1. Thanks Jo,he is such a darling boy, when awake he follows me around like a dog would!
      I didn't get warm on Sat, until I had been in bed a couple of hours with the electric blanket on.

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  3. I know what you mean about the plants, my Camellia has lots of buds on it, what was in those big jars at the fair, was it Granola?

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    1. Yes, it was Granola but it was far too expensive even though the ingredients were Organic, the kilners are around 2.50 and the contents would work out to 75 cents max, she was asking 12 euro. She didn't sell any. I haven't had a good look at our Camellias but from what I can see from the bedroom there don't appear to be any buds at all this year, I must check the bushes properly.

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  4. OOO snow! It seems a magical thing though im sure i'll be reminded about how cold it is and the melting sludge. Does that mean you are going to have a white Christmas? Freddy sleeps like Tilly I love the door.

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    1. The snow was all gone the next day, hopefully we wont see any more this year, it looks very pretty but we can do without it. I'm pleased with the door, wish we had had it done earlier.

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  5. Wow! Well done on the beers! You will no doubt remember that Faversham was our town when we lived in UK and the local brewery (Shepherd Neame) - the oldest in UK - was renowned far and wide for their special beers, particularly the Christmas ones which were generally hard to find even in Faversham. We luckily lived next door to a Shep's pensionner who could get an allocation from the brewery shop, so we never missed one. Happy Days. Love the cat pic, btw.

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    1. We will be buying more at the weekend matt providing they haven't sold out, I didn't know that Shepherd Neame was the oldest brewery in the UK, so we should be counting ourselves as lucky to have found such a special beer, it certainly is very good, one of the best I have tasted.

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  6. Yes. One of their beers is famously named 1698 from the year their researchers had (by then) found the earliest records of the company. I think they have since gone back a few more years. They have a company historian/archivist (Theo Barker) who has even done a book called "Shepherd Neame: A story that's been brewing for 300 years". Enjoy your purchases!

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  7. Brrrrrr, I felt chilly just reading about that craft fair. These temperatures are confusing nature everywhere. My sister told me there is blossom on the trees in Norfolk. Great snap of Freddy, he looks very...comfortable?! x

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  8. We are back to damp balmy weather now, not much difference between night and day.

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  9. So sorry your show wasn't good, I certainly know how it is standing around in the cold. So unpleasant. I have heard of the terrible storms you are getting and the flooding in Kerry. We have been lucky in New England so far. But in the west and south flooding and bad weather is abound. Your new door looks great. My pussy willows are out now and many bulbs have started coming up. Tonight temps go down to the single numbers so that will be it for them.

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  10. There are plenty of floods around here as well Carole, even a local water pumping station has been flooded meaning that people depending of that pumping stating have no water, (water water everywhere and not a drop to drink)

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