Some Cotwold scenes.

This is the fantastic carrot cake & the milkshake!

A rainy Tuesday...

Well, we had a good weekend. Thursday I went to market and got stocked up for Mike's parents arriving on the Friday. I got up early to get organised with bedding and food and general tidying.
In the afternoon I walked round the perimeter of Abbey Fields with Mike's mum and then we all had dinner together. Saturday after some wood chopping by the boys we took a picnic to Stow on the Wold which was nice to wander round then on to Bourton on the Water where we went to a tea shop. I had gorgeous carrot cake and a milkshake - see the pic!
Compton Abdale was our next stop which was very cute. I went into the church there (amazing to still find a church open, but it is rural). The snowdrops were literally covering the ground - very pretty.
On Sunday we went to church then came home to a casserole dinner and rice pudding. The rest of the family popped in during the afternoon to have scones with us. In the evening we went to a Praise Evening which was great - lively and thought-provoking.

Mike working on the kitchen...

The man at work!

It's Friday again....

Got up early, as soon as Mike left at 7AM and headed to the shower, then had yummy toast (brown, floured bread from the bakery) and peanut butter. Afterwards made pavlova - very small and hardly sinful. Then scones - just 4 large ones for later and then sweet potato soup - such a nice vegetable. Janet and Richard arrive at lunchtime so I'm getting ready for that. Just got the minutes to do from last night's meeting and sort out the bedding and do some washing and have managed to email my Dad who is in Dublin right now.

Looked at Maligne Lake, Jasper website this morning -so gorgeous - also the Athabasca Glacier, it has up to 7 metres of snow a year. Looks awesome. I need to do a bit more route planning and looking at maps and costing accommodation.

Time for a cup of Lady Grey...

Worked

I have worked lots this week to try and get my work diary booked and sort out my holiday-cottage-sitting this summer. It's getting there.

Wednesday was another kitchen night for Mike. It looks almost done now .... white Shaker-style cupboards and tiles and duck egg blue walls. I like it :o)

Thursday we had 2 friends for a quick shepherds pie dinner and then to Witness. Good meeting in that it was fun and full of chat. Are we dynamic enough as a church? Do we think more about our homes, (new kitchen) careers, holidays than we do about feeding the hungry and sharing the fact that Jesus is risen?

Where did this week go?

Saturday we did coffee morning - it was very quiet - perhaps everyone is at the new Costa (much more expensive although they do cappucino there so maybe...)

In the afternoon, it was kitchen work - well, I lay on the sofa in the conservatory and read. Sunday was church then lunch then more kitchen and I lay on the sofa and watched "Girl With A Pearl Earring" It was very good - I read the book a few years back so had wanted to watch the movie for a while.

We went to view a house in Lowsonford but the garden wasn't really as big as we would like although the house and annexe were fab. Then we popped in to see Nev and Jean and came home to have pasta.

Friday 16th

Unexpectedly I ended up driving to Cheltenham to visit a craft fair - like a mini Crafts Alive - it was very good. I bought some quilting quarters and also a cross stitch to do of a stable scene - it gives me 10 months to get it done in time for next Christmas! I enjoyed lunch with Janet and Gillian then came home to get ready for our Valentine Celebration.

First we had Sabai - new from Tesco - it's white wine with hibiscus then I made beef stroganoff followed by Toblerone mouse which was rich but lovely (had to finish off the next day as it was too much)

200g Toblerone
150 mls of double cream whipped
3 tblsp of water
1 egg white whipped

Melt the Toblerone in the microwave with the water, fold in the cream then fold in the egg white. Chill for 3 hours. The nougat-y bits set in the bottom, a nice crunchy bit at the end.

Thursday 15th

Our friend janet came round for dinner - what a busy lady she is! We had a nice time with her and she brought us a new plant for the garden - burgeema?? - pretty anyway and in flower. Also a lovely bottle of Californian merlot.

Tuesday - Valentine's Day

Our first as Mr & Mrs!

Today I walked into town - it was a gorgeous day. Visited the new Costa place and did some shopping.

Tonight I have some work to do and Mike is at church.

We will have our Valentine meal at home on Friday.

Jigsaw Night

On Saturday we had some friends over for lunch (J&T) which was nice to catch up with them. Then in the evening we had a Jigsaw Social at church - about 20 people came and it was a fun night and very relaxed. people shared jigsaws and some played carpet bowls and we had supper (soup and bread and cheese then homemade cakes) and chatted. We thought it would finish early but we didn't leave til after 10pm and it was more tiring than we imagined!

Snowy days

Thursday it snowed several inches which meant driving was tricky for people going to work etc but it was very pretty and very quiet. The schools were off for the day. Friday it seemed to clear but started up again in the afternoon.

A stranger comes to call....

This is the neighbouring cat who comes to visit us sometimes. He's lovely and very friendly!

Tuesday

Well, last night we went to the Leam Spa house and did a few jobs for our tenant there. It was freezing cold outside so we were glad to get home afterwards. I browsed online for some fair trade baskets but didn't find what I was looking for.

Andy rang us to arrange to go see them for a weekend so we hope to do that in the next month. I read the local paper and looked at houses while Mike read his "Fred" book. And that was our exciting night!!

Today I waited in for my order and spoke to Abi on the phone for a quick catch up. I'm hoping to finish off some paperwork this afternoon and then make risotto tonight.

I don't seem to be achieving much this week plus I feel very cold all the time, perhaps it's the weather....

Things to do this week...

1. make more scones with cinnamon & sugar
2. write to the leasehold guys about selling the flat in east midlands
3. meet friend for lunch
4. post out rest of orders
5. apply for a table in Coventry for March
6. book a hotel in Amsterdam
7. shop for social on Saturday
8. bake for social on Saturday - apricot cake
9. book flights for August
10. catch up on reading

Sunday

We had quite a slow start to the morning. I was aching from painting and needed to soak in the bath. Then we walked to church which was lovely as it was beautifully sunny with blue skies but cold and frosty. Our service was good. Mark from Rugby spoke about the Psalms and our need for rest. He quoted from 4 songs of degrees. Afterwards we did a little shopping and walked back home to have soup.

At night (and before tiling) we had leek and potato bake :-

3 leeks cut in circles
2 large baking potatoes
some fresh grated nutmeg
sour cream (or cream fraiche or cream if you prefer)
a splash of gin
freshly grated parmesan (or Emmental if preferred)

Braise the potatoes and leeks in a pot of simmering water until tender. Mix with the cream and gin and spice. Season. Place in a gratin dish and sprinkle the cheese on top. Grill for 10 mins or oven bake for 20/25. Present the whole dish and spoon generously onto plates and serve in front of a wood stove in candlelight!

Our weekend

Friday I was working still in the afternoon so Mike did some shopping and washed the cars and the windows when he came home in the afternoon. Friday night we built 3 of our kitchen wall cupboards then got up at 8am to start clearing out the kitchen. Mike worked on replacing two doors while I emptied the kitchen, then popped in to coffee morning at church. There was a homeless guy there. He seemed nice and had fallen on hard times. We didn't get his full story but he was trying to get to a friend's house where he could stay. It had been a really frosty night and he's slept rough and was extremely cold.
Afterwards I went in search of paint and spent the afternoon painting the kitchen duck egg blue while Mike messed about with his chimney. We cooked lunch and dinner on the wood stove which was great as the kitchen was really out of bounds! In the evening we (mainly Mike) put up the wall cupboards. Mike's parents dropped in to see us at around 8.30 and we carried on working until about 10pm and then fell into bed.

Here are the flowers...

Here is a pic of the roses that James and Rebecca brought to us last Friday. Red, hot pink and white although this pic only shows two of the pink blooms.
They also sent a lovely card to us this week with a sheep scene on it - very sweet.
Also my cousin Dot mailed us to say she has donated to a Rwandan orphanage project in celebration of our wedding which was really lovely of her.
www.sendacow.org

New kitchen

We braved Ikea this week to get new cupboard doors and things to restyle our kitchen - we had hoped to be able to recycle lots of the old kitchen but what do you know they have changed the cupboard sizes so we have to renew a whole lot more which isn't so good. Anyway it will look great when it's done. Thanks to John and Sue B for Ikea tokens for our wedding :o)

Mum and Dad go to Dublin tomorrow. God Bless them on their travels.
Ali and John are in their new house - hooray - sounds lovely 4 beds and a big kitchen - we hope they will be very happy there.

February 1st - already!

Last week I spent a few days in Scotland which was very nice as I got to see a few friends over 3 days. Saw Abi and Josh and Kez who were their usual lively selves!

This weekend we saw Mike's aunt & uncle on Friday night with Samson the dog. It was lovely to spend time with them. Rebecca told us about a study she is leading on Revelation which sounded really interesting.

On Saturday morning I baked some scones to take away with us then we picked up our good friend Daz at the airport (he had been in China) and went over to stay with him and Sue for the weekend. We had a fab time. The fed us fantastically well and we had a couple of walks and watched the Wallace and Gromit movie which was funny! Andy and Caroline were there too so it was good to see them.