Friday 5 January 2018

Getting back to normal

Feasting is wonderful, but only for a short while, a time that's special, and then it's good to get back to normal behaviour. (I can boldly state that now that I've devoured every bit of chocolate that was in the house!) The Christmas turkey served us well, it lasted through several meals and a good amount of the remaining breast meat is stored in the freezer. The bones made plenty of stock for vegetable soup.

We are harvesting a good range of vegetables from the garden, sprouts, parsnip, swede and turnip, spinach, leeks and cavolo nero.

I would like to be outside sorting things out, the garden is unkempt, it's rain- soaked and windblown and not an inviting place to be. Cold weather is promised so I'm contenting myself with hunting out the fleece to throw over the citrus in the greenhouse. They are already coated in dispiriting black mould which I've had no success in removing.

I've taken down the Christmas decorations and the house looks strangely bare. The nativity set is packed away and the usual windowsill objects put back in place.
I've bought some shop roses to cheer the place up.
£2 worth of pleasure!
I'll just have to hunker down for a while. These winter months are not a good time for me.
But, on a more cheerful note, the tips of daffodil shoots are already appearing under the apple trees.

9 comments:

  1. Pears? Love pears! Our winter is so mild this year (so far). Lovely Christmas stuff, and I applaud you for emptying chocolate bin.

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    1. Pears? Those are my poor lemons blighted by black mould! They will not be happy until the weather improves enough for them to be put outside, another four months at least.
      Chocolate, my downfall. But there is a family birthday this month, an excuse to bake a chocolate cake!

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  2. Pretty roses , the house always looks a bit empty after the Christmas decorations are taken down.
    Merle..........

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    1. It does look empty indeed, Merle, and, unlike you, the weather doesn't help!

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  3. Everything you do always looks so lovely, Rosemary. It is always a pleasure to come to your site.

    I am in the middle of putting away Christmas. It is a daunting task.

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    1. What a nice compliment from you, Maybe. Thank you. It wasn't too much of a task for me to clear away this time because I only got about half the decorations up in the first place! The rest just languished in the box waiting for me to do catch up - and I never quite managed it!
      It was such a happy time.

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  4. The flowers are lovely, definitely worth the cost!! Winter is tough on me too...we will get through it! :) Oh gosh, I still have to take down the Christmas decorations, I'm trying to avoid it but the tree is now shedding needles too much so it's time! And we are eating lots of soups and stews this month! :)

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    1. Yes, that's what I think, such a little cost for so much pleasure.
      We keep the same tree and it's very tidy because it doesn't have a great many needles to shed! It's kept in a tub and we've been dragging it in from the garden for years. It always looks a bit pathetic until the decorations start to disguise the lack of needles. I thank it very nicely before it gets dragged back out into the cold.
      Yup, leftovers, soups, curries- anything warm!

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  5. i love all your beautiful photos it's so lovely.

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