Wednesday 22 October 2014

Midweek miscellany


It was interesting to read your comments on these 'miscellany' posts; it seems people enjoy reading them on here as much as I like looking at them on the blogs I follow.

So I've decided to make a weekly thing of it. No particular reason why I've gone for midweek other than the fact that it makes a nice bit of alliteration when typed alongside 'miscellany'.

We've had some seriously leaden skies of late. It makes for much gloominess indoors (my efforts with the camera seem to be resulting in pretty dingy-looking pictures unless I just give in and position things right next to a window). I can see why in Nordic countries they paint everything white.


There have been village wanderings: peering into the florist's window at their seasonal displays, making friends with a lovely skewbald pony who enjoys me stroking his nose (and who looks wistful when I walk away), watching the leaves come hurtling down from the trees as the wind whips the branches about.

The garden's looking a bit dishevelled. More leaves - although I do like watching them rise up in little tornadoes - and the hosta which I know I keep mentioning but the colour of the leaves is amazing. They almost glow. And I put a couple of bird feeders outside. The coconut shell filled with fat and seeds has been decimated (mostly by starlings). The others are visited regularly by sparrows, blue tits and robins. We get some big scary jackdaws too. Joe loves to sit and watch from the window.


In other news: Jay has another cookbook to add to his collection. He and Joe are big carnivores. We could do with a new set of kitchen knives really, especially with all this carving and slicing going on.

My hyacinth bulbs are coming to life in their dark cupboard and the roots are starting to grow. Some lemon geranium cuttings have taken too. I do like how things slow down at this time of year in readiness for the big winter sleep. It's all about gathering in, sowing ready for the spring, keeping warm.

I found a bottle of ready-made mulled wine in the cupboard. I know it's nicer with slices of orange and cloves bobbing about, but we're a non-wine drinking household. I realise that sounds a bit puritanical but trust me, we're far from it. We just prefer beer and spirits and the odd bottle of fizz. I only like wine in mulled form, so would get a big pan on the go only if we had company. Otherwise it's just me and a bottle of ready-made. 

We've been eating autumnal things like lentils and (home-cured) bacon, and apple cake. And still salads but with more of an Asian theme: sliced white cabbage, spring onions, lime, coriander, mint, chilli. A warming kind of salad with sharp flavours.

I'm still ploughing through the Cazalet chronicles but am moonlighting with a book of ghost stories too. Oh, and I actually carved out some time the other afternoon to do something extremely indulgent: I watched a film. Recorded from the TV - The Family Stone. I sat under a blanket with a cup of tea and a biscuit and thoroughly enjoyed it. Apparently it had mixed reviews but I do like Diane Keaton...

I hope you're enjoying the week so far... and fingers crossed the weather calms down a bit in time for the weekend!


11 comments:

  1. I love the ready made mulled wine from Lidls, I must add it to the shopping list. I bought some hyacinth bulbs and wasn't too sure what to do with them. I gather they need to be in the dark to produce roots? I was thinking of you today, it is very rainy and for some reason I remembered you saying that you are a pluviophile. I am not such a big fan. Have a lovely rest of the week. x

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  2. Absolutely gorgeous autumnal moments! Such rich colours, I adore this time of year! Liking the miscellany! :) Katie x

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    1. Thank you... I enjoy writing this type of post.
      S x

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  3. The salad flavours sound delicious, I'm making a note of it. I love the pony with his long, long forelock. A lovely miscellany, very evocative of this period of autumn. CJ xx

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    1. The salad's a kind of mixture of Nigella recipes but very simple. I love it.
      And thank you for the comment. The miscellany is, I suppose, a bit of a reflection of the whole blog: this and that. As for the pony, he's so lovely. I fell in love with him and suspect I'll be paying him another visit over the weekend. x

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  4. What a soulful looking horse. And is that another horse's nose I can see against his neck? It would be good to think that that clearly sensitive equine sould had a chum.

    We're not wine drinkers either ... beer for him and cider for Somerset gal me ... yum!

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    1. The horse is so sweet - not one of those who checks your (empty) pockets then walks off! There were several ponies in the field but he was the one I wanted to take home...
      I must revisit cider sometime. It used to be our poison of choice for illicit drinking in the woods, then later at university: a super-strong cloudy one called Addlestones. Tasted like pear drops but it was lethal!

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  5. Thanks for the lovely midweek post. The weather calmed down at last. But for how long?

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  6. Love these pick and mix type posts and your photographs capture the mood of autumn perfectly. Lots of lentils being consumed here, too.

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  7. I love the miscellany. That home cured bacon sounds delicious! I love to watch a film on a rainy afternoon. At the moment it needs to be child friendly and usually ends up as Frozen (!) but I can tackle the world (or at least the ironing) with an old rom com!

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    1. I must admit, I turn to trashy TV when ironing. So trashy I'm not willing to divulge but there's no point trying to concentrate on anything too challenging when you've got an iron in your hand...

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