T is for Trip Planning

As the cold, damp gloom takes over, I begin to plan next year's holidays. It is a lifelong habit, which I began when I was a child, looking through brochures with my mum. Those were the black and white booklets put together by seaside resort councils in the 60's, like Ilfracombe in Devon and the Isle of Wight. We would spend hours poring over it, looking for the perfect 'private hotel', ie. small hotel. In memory of those times, when I saw an old Ilfracombe brochure in a charity shop, I bought it and it could be the one, who knows. But anyway, the Cavendish Hotel is in it, advertising the dancing, among other things redolent of that era. My sister Jenny and I will never forget the laughs we had attempting ballroom dancing to the music of three very aged ladies, who looked as if they'd climbed out of the grave! We had so much fun.

I have always loved holidays, who doesn't, but it is more of an obsession with me! Once I had my own children, the brochures changed to coloured glossies of places abroad, Spain, then Greece and again we had loads of fun planning and then going on family holidays with their dad, Brian.

 Since I met George we have always planned our own holidays on the internet, until this year,  when we happened to find the perfect house in the perfect place with free car hire, so we booked through an online travel agent. it was indeed perfect in every aspect.

Assos

And now we are thinking of next year's holidays, and we want to take Ruby with us, so we are planning to go to France, probably staying in gites in Normandy and Brittany. The basic plan is to drive down, take the Shuttle, so Ruby doesn't have to be left in the car on her own and I don't get seasick, then drive to somewhere in Normandy. We hope to spend a week there, then go on to Brittany for a further week. I have a very longheld wish to go to Giverny, to see Monet's waterlilies in the flesh, so to speak, as I fell in love with them and the garden years ago in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. I'm just not sure it's possible with a Greyhound!

Giverny

I get really nerdy every year, saving accommodation, images of places to visit and articles in folders, but I have to say, we always love every minute of  our trip. It's so exciting and it doesn't half help me (as I'm a dreadful pessimist) to look forward to something positive. Roll on the summer and a happy, doggy holiday!!

S is for Scrumpy!

I adore scrumpy and traditional cloudy cider, but it’s not that easy to find Oop North, so I often have to make do with bottled fizzy ciders, which aren’t the same. However, yesterday I found a lady on Freecycle offering loads of cooking apples, so following on from our embryonic wine-making career, I asked George if he thought we could make some cider. I phoned the brewshop and found we could hire a fruit press, so I asked the lady for some of her apples, we collected them and we were off!

We got four carrier bags of apples, and I started washing and cutting them, while George manned the scary drill/chopper bucket and the fruit press.

We’ve got half the juice pressed, and will do the rest tomorrow morning. The apple juice is divine though not the usual colour, and a lovely accompaniment to dinner. Now I can’t wait to try our Derbyshire Scrumpy, though the apples are from over the Stockport border. Thankyou so much, Lorraine, for your generosity. If it turns out ok, we’ll bring you a bottle! I do love Freecycle, especially when it gives us free food.

And another food freebie - George has found watercress growing locally, so I made a panful of watercress soup - a drizzle of cream on the top, and we had a perfect starter, plus two packs in the freezer.

                                                           Goyt Valley Watercress Soup

R is for Ruby....

...our Greyhound, who we adopted from Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue in Yorkshire, three years ago, as we had a dog-sized hole in our lives. She was about five years old and had been taken to the rescue when her owner had gone into hospital, arriving with her mum and four sisters. We asked for a quiet, gentle dog who would be good with our grandchildren and not pull on the lead, and as we walked her up the lane, we knew she was the one for us. Many Greyhounds have had rubbish lives before they end up in a rescue, and it is so rewarding to give them a chance to enjoy life. We don't know a lot about Ruby's previous life, except that she lived in a concrete kennel and may have been run on the un-registered flapping tracks, but we took her home and she settled in as if she had always lived with us. 

Ruby - The first day, looking a little unsure of herself

Many people think Greyhounds and Lurchers are too big, or will need too much exercise, but they are happy with two normal half hour walks a day, and if they can be let off to run in a big garden or secure field sometimes, that is even better. It is a wonderful sight to see a Greyhound running at full speed.

Ruby running on the beach

They will then flop in their bed or on a sofa for hours, and can squeeze up to make space if you need them to. They are usually sweet, funny and gentle dogs and they really love people. If Ruby passes a door as it is opened, she will always try to go in, as she just wants a bit of a stroke - and maybe a dog treat, if it's one of her 'special friends'. These dogs are such lovely pets. They are well worth adopting, and wherever you live, there will be a Greyhound and Lurcher shelter near you. We have just raised money at our garage sale for Lurcher SOS, a shelter based in the south east, which re-homes dogs across the country.

Ruby doing what she does best!

Q is for Queen

Sorry if this is controversial, but Q is for Queen, because yes, I really like her!

 This may seem odd to some people, but I have a lot of respect for the Queen and some of the royal family, especially Princess Anne and the two princes, William and Harry, and I did love the royal wedding. The Queen and her OH, even if he is bolshy, have always worked like trojans and there is no doubt that they bring loads of visitors to Britain. I think we should keep the status quo, with the monarch as a figurehead, as it does us no harm and the pomp and circumstance occasions are watched with envy, particularly from America (and lots of us like them too). However, I'm really not keen on Charles being king! Nuff said and please don't get angry!!

Being the age I am, I also rather like the music of another Queen, especially the twiddly guitar stuff of Brian May, though I never appreciated it until the last few years!

I can't believe I just put this on my blog!!

P & O - No, nothing to do with Cruising!

I'm doing O & P backwards, as P has caused O!

P is for Polly & Abbie's Garage Sale, as mentioned on earlier posts. The fundraising sale took place on Saturday, after frenzied activity in the kitchen, making preserves and baking cakes and dog treats. The Lurcher SOS sponsor woolly lurcher, Myrtle was on hand to open the sale and promote the jams.

After all the weathermen's threats of heavy rain and cold, we had a wonderful day, chatting to lots of lovely neighbours and local people.

We sold and sold to our hearts' content, until every single pot of jam and chutney, including raiding the pantry for jars we'd stashed away for ourselves, every single cake or piece thereof and nearly every dog treat was gone. Yet still more people came to buy, who were disappointed to find the edibles gone, so we took orders for more jam and scones to be made in the next week or so. Ruby spent most of  the time lying in her bed and being made a fuss of, but it was obviously much too tiring for a princess Greyhound!

The total raised on the day was an amazing £270, which stunned us both, and with the extra things we still have to make, it should eventually total around £300. Thankyou so much, New Mills people, you are all fantastic and very generous, and hopefully we can do something similar again next year, because we loved the social side of it. I know the money will help Polly and Abbie to get well and find loving homes very soon.

O is for Ouch! and Osteoarthritis, as I am now reaping the rewards of running up and down our front steps for cake and dog treats! My knee has swollen up in a big hard lump, so it's off to the doctor tomorrow, and I will have to rest for a while and hope this darned damp weather changes! I do hate the effects of ageing, but then, who doesn't!!

N is for Nice House in France!

Well, actually, amazing house with everything we would love, in Brittany. I can't believe it, but I opened my groomers' magazine and saw this beautiful house staring back at me, with a working grooming salon, a huge barn, various outhouses, 7 acres of land and a gite! I looked for it on Google, thinking it would be gone, but no, there it was looking fabulous and still for sale, at about the same price as our house would go for - but with so much more. It is horrendous, as I keep looking at it, and thinking how perfect it would be for us, but there is no way we could go now, mainly because of family, but also because of the price added to the cost of moving, plus we have just got new businesses. The businesses are the least concern, as we could move them anywhere really, but the other two factors are the deal-breakers. If anything makes me want to scream long and loud, this is it!

Aaaaaaarrrggh!!!!!

Delicious Damsons

We have already made damson and orange jam and damson chutney, and I thought that would be it for this year. However, a really nice, anonymous person left loads of the truly scrumptious little fruits in the playground near us, with carrier bags and a note, inviting people to help themselves. George saw them when taking Ruby for a walk and brought some home.

I felt, never having made it before, and with a sister living near the damson-growing area of Cumbria, where this dish is a speciality, that I had to make a Damson Cobbler, so put the words into Google and up popped pages of links. The one that caught my eye belonged to Rick Stein, who George and I love, so that had to be the one! It is from his Food Heroes book, and is very easy to make. One note for anyone who wants to make it - if you can't buy buttermilk, or don't want to buy a larger quantity than you need, use the same amount of natural yogurt - it works brilliantly.

As for the finished dish - WOW!!!! It is the most delicious, tastebud-tingling pud I can ever remember eating, and the crunchiness of the almond-topped 'scones' is lovely. It is also very pretty, with the deep crimson juice bubbling through the topping. Now I need more damsons - in fact I may have to get a tree!

And a big thank you to the generous soul who left the damsons in Hague Bar playground.