Boxing Day Walk

Tags

fields, oak trees, walking, winter

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a display of Easter chocolate at the supermarket.

Despite the cold and cloud Richard and I had a very pleasant walk on Boxing Day.  We had no wish to drive anywhere so we had our usual amble across the fields.

One of next-door’s chickens searching for grubs in the leaf litter of the road-side

Richard walking along the edge of a field of wheat or barley.

I love the look of leafless trees. These are English Oaks

Millet

Many of you will remember the walk I had along this path in the summer when I found this plant in flower and didn’t recognise it as millet.  I have Allen of nhgardensolutions to thank for the identification and also Rachel from coulddoworse.me for explaining links to me (though because of my ineptitude and through no fault of Rachel’s, I have still had a lot of difficulty and a lot of help from family in getting them to work!).  Allen’s posts are full of the small but beautiful things he sees on his trails in New Hampshire and he has taught me to slow down even further and look yet more closely at the natural world around me.  Rachel’s posts are packed with anecdotes about her life in London, her lovely family and the walks she takes through the city streets and parks.  She cooks and crochets and reads and gardens and is so inspiring!

This is what the millet looked like in the summer

…and these two photos show what it looked like in October when Richard, Elinor and I went for a walk after Richard had got home from work.  One of the last evening walks we took before the clocks went back.  We thought it would be harvested for seed but from the look of the field on Boxing Day it had just been left to dry and die.  A puzzle.

We also saw a few sugar beet plants in amongst the dead grass

and holes that we weren’t able to see when the leaves were on the trees.

A few tough Mayweed flowers that are struggling on even through a few frosts

The Beck was low but showed signs of when it had been very high a short time ago. It rose again on Boxing Day night and flooded the road at the Washes for a short while.

This little stream looks so much nicer in the spring and summer.

We saw lichen on branches…

…and a few rosehips.

English Oak

These pictures are of my favourite ancient oak tree seen over the hedge from the lane.  I went into the field it stands in and took a photo of the whole tree as well.

These are three more oaks we saw on our walk.

The lane with Richard in the distance showing how far I had lagged behind him

A wet and poorly drained field at the top of the lane. It looks like some heavy vehicle sunk into the soil here.

Looking back in the direction we had come

Looking towards Flixton where we had been to church on Christmas Eve. There is a wood there on a slight rise in the land.

We saw these new green leaves – the plants have become very confused as the temperature swings from freezing to 10 degrees C or more and then back down to freezing again.

The Washes don’t often dry out in the winter.

That photograph reminded me of one I took when we last walked this way in October.

The sun had set but there was such beautiful silver light in the sky and this was reflected in the shallow puddles on the road

A typical early winter scene. The field is full of dead thistles

These are Common Alder cones, the female catkins. I tried very hard to photograph the male catkins but I couldn’t get the camera to focus on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas

Tags

Christmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Tree, decorations, food, tradition

My mother’s Kissing Ring.  My mother’s family had no tradition of having a Christmas tree.  They had a kissing ring instead.  This one has a sprig of mistletoe for kissing under. 

We have had a very pleasant and quiet Christmas so far.  Christmas Day itself began at Midnight Mass held this year in St. Mary’s church in Flixton.  The Rector handed us all a slice of Christmas cake as we left and when we got home we had some hot mulled wine and a mince pie before going to bed.  I was a little late in going to bed as I still had a few presents to wrap which I did after quickly washing the kitchen floor.  Yes, I know what you are thinking, but it needed doing and that was the only chance I had to do it!

 

In the morning we gathered together in the living room where the presents had been put under the Christmas tree and drank a cup of tea while we exchanged our gifts.  In recent years our breakfast has been Italian pannetone which is luxurious but light.

For lunch this year instead of turkey we had rib of beef and it was gorgeous!  I had a lot of help from Alice who peeled and chopped all the vegetables for me and she also made a lovely lemon sorbet for a starter.  We had roast and mashed potatoes, mashed swede, roast parsnips with honey, carrots and brussels sprouts.  I had another attempt at making Yorkshire puddings and my usual failure.  Why I can’t make them I don’t know but this time they at least were light and in one piece but they were flat like pancakes!  I made some gravy which was rich and good and also some stuffing.  Why stuffing when we had no bird to stuff?  Because Elinor my youngest daughter loves it and it wouldn’t be Christmas for her without sage and onion stuffing.

 

Richard went to collect my mother who always joins us for Christmas lunch and she brought with her the Christmas Pudding.  She has always made her own puddings and they are very good indeed.  She makes them in October and they are left to mature until Christmas when they are steamed for two hours.  She brings our pudding hot from the steamer and well wrapped and insulated.  I make thick custard to go with it and provide cream as well.

 

The afternoon is spent quietly together, talking and drinking tea, coffee, wine or spirits and sleeping.  Richard spent quite a lot of time washing up and loading and re-loading the dish-washer – a seemingly thankless task but a necessary one and I am very grateful to him for doing it.

 

Mum had invited us to her house for a buffet evening meal the next day, Boxing Day, so Richard and I decided that it might be a good idea if we went for a walk during the afternoon.  Neither of the girls wanted to come with us.

We set off for Mum’s house just before 6.00 pm and it was just starting to rain as we got there.  She had provided a sumptuous spread for us and had worked very hard.  A gammon with orange, chicken pieces coated with sesame seeds, mixed roast vegetables, sausage rolls and a selection of crisps and savoury biscuits. She had also made an apfel strudel and a yule log with chocolate and chestnut filling.  The rain was pouring down when we left and continued all night and into the following morning.  Many of the roads and fields were flooded but we didn’t have the snow that fell just to the north of us.

 

 

Making Mince Pies

Tags

Christmas, Christmas cooking, Mince pies, mincemeat, sweet shortcrust pastry, traditional British food

We had our Carol Service at Rumburgh church on Saturday and I made two dozen mince pies to take with me as part of the after-service refreshments.

Sweet shortcrust pastry ingredients

Sweet shortcrust pastry is used for French fruit flans, tarts, little fancy cakes – and mince pies!  The following recipe makes about twelve mince pies.  I use the same method when making little individual apple pies which are lovely for buffets, packed lunches and picnics.

225 g / 8 oz plain flour

pinch of salt

50 g / 2 oz butter

50 g / 2 oz lard or vegetable shortening

25 g / 1 oz caster sugar

1 egg yolk

a little water

This makes 225 g  / 8 oz pastry

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl

Cut the fat into the flour

Rub in to a breadcrumb consistency

As soon as I think that I have finished rubbing in the fat I then tell myself to continue for another minute.  I always find a piece of fat I had missed.

Add the sugar and mix together

Add about two tablespoons of water to an egg yolk

and beat them together

Add the egg and water to the flour, fat and sugar

Mix them together

I always just use my hands, never a spoon, when making pastry.  I find it mixes together quickly and easily and I can feel when it is of the right consistency rather than just trusting to my eyes.  I have never used a blender to make pastry either.

Keep mixing the ingredients together, adding a very little more water if necessary.

Sometimes just dampening my fingers adds enough water to make the pastry smooth and elastic.  Too much water makes the pastry slimy and horrid and will never be anything other than tough to eat.

Knead lightly until smooth but don’t overwork it or it will lose its lightness.

The finished pastry – which needs to be rested in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes before being rolled out. I wrap it in cling-film.

Mince pie ingredients

Flour your work surface or pastry board and start to roll the pastry out carefully.

As the pastry is very short (crumbly – difficult to keep together) it requires careful handling or it will split and fall apart.  If you haven’t added enough water when mixing it will fall apart very readily.  This problem can easily be overcome by adding a sprinkle more water and re-kneading the dough.

Roll the pastry out very thinly, 2.5 mm / one eighth of an inch thick

Cut out 12 rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. I use a 7.5 cm / 3″ one.

Line a pastry pan with the pastry rounds and prick the bottom of each pie with a fork to help the pastry cook through

Fill each pie with a teaspoon of mincemeat

I have never made my own mincemeat but have been meaning to for years!  Bought mincemeat is very variable, some very poor and more like runny jam than proper mincemeat.  I have found one that is very good and I use it every year.  Some bought mincemeats can be improved by a little lemon juice or a small drop of brandy or rum.

Mincemeat is made from shredded suet (beef or vegetable), grated or finely chopped apple, mixed dried fruit (sultanas, raisins and currants), brown sugar, chopped blanched almonds, chopped candied orange and lemon peel, finely grated rind and juice of a large lemon, mixed spice, cinnamon, grated nutmeg and some brandy, whisky or rum.  Hundreds of years ago it did contain meat as well, hence the name of mincemeat, but no longer.  If vegetable suet is used then the mince pies can be eaten by vegetarians.

Cut out 12 smaller rounds of pastry with a plain or fluted cutter.  I use a 6 cm / 2.5″ cutter.  If you don’t have enough pastry to cut out all the rounds you need, gather all the trimmings together, knead them with a little water and roll out again.

Dampen the edge of the pie with a little water and cover the filling in each tart with the smaller round of pastry, pressing down firmly so the lids are secure. Cut a small hole or cross in the centre of each lid to allow steam to escape.

Place the pies in their pastry pan onto a baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven at 220 degrees C / 425 degrees F / Gas Mark 7 for 12 to 15 minutes or until well risen and golden.

Baked pies.

More baked pies!

A finished pie

Leave to cool in the pastry pan for a few minutes and then place on a rack to finish cooling.

If you so wish you can dust the top with a little icing sugar.

Mince pies can be eaten hot straight from the oven or cold, on their own or with custard or cream and even as an accompaniment to Christmas pudding if you are so minded.  They keep for days and days in a sealed container and can be re-heated.  I love them!

A Gentle Day

Tags

Christmas preparations, Christmas Tree, Christmas Wreath, crinkle-crankle wall, Halesworth, Rectory Lane

A beautiful sunrise on Tuesday of this week.

 

Term has ended and E managed to attend every day for six weeks!  We are so pleased with her and she is very proud of herself too.  She has found a really nice group of friends and is starting to relax and enjoy life.  She is on track with two out of the four subjects she is studying and just needs to do a little extra work to catch-up in Art.  The one subject that needs a lot of work is her Maths but I am hoping that R and I can persuade her to get on with that during the Christmas break.  She is going into college next Tuesday for an Art catch-up day which will be a great help.

I have got most of my present-buying done but I haven’t started on the card-writing yet.  I must clean the house properly as it has only had a lick and a promise lately and then we can put the decorations up.  I must also start baking and freezing food in advance to save time later.

R has one more week at work and then has two weeks annual leave.  He had a hospital appointment during the week for a bone-density scan in case he has started to get osteoporosis.  This is part of the investigation he has to under-go because of the tumour on his pituitary gland.  He has two separate hospital appointments next week, one to see if his adrenal gland is working properly and the other at the eye clinic.  We are not sure if the eye clinic appointment is to do with his pituitary problem (the gland is very close to the optic nerve) or whether it is a routine check-up.  He has keratoconus (conical corneas) and has to wear special contact lenses.

My eldest daughter Alice, will be coming home on Christmas Eve and will stay until New Year’s Eve.  My sister is visiting on Monday and I hope to be seeing my brother sometime soon too.  Mum seems to be fine at the moment.  I took her Christmas shopping in Norwich on Tuesday and then we did her usual grocery shopping on Wednesday.  I will take her to church tomorrow. She hasn’t been for weeks, sadly – I haven’t been able to take her as I’ve had other duties and there is no-one else around it seems, who could do it either.  This is very unfortunate especially as she takes great comfort from her church attendance.  Mum and Dad, when he was alive, give and gave so much of their time and skill to that church that I am surprised that she can be forgotten so easily.  Mum got a phone call a couple of weeks ago from a lady at the church asking if Mum could provide a cake for the Christmas Bazaar.  Mum said she was happy to but had no means of getting the cake to the church.  She was told that that would be no problem.  Someone would come and collect it and as there was a funeral of an old friend of my father’s on the same day as the bazaar, Mum would get a lift to that as well.  Mum made two cakes and phoned and left a message to say she had made them.  She phoned on the day of the bazaar and left another message.  No-one came and no-one has been in touch to apologise.  She is 84 and has very little money to spare and very little energy to spare either.  I am hoping that she will get an apology tomorrow.

I have become very tired because of the extra driving I have had to do lately.  I have driven over 11,000 miles since the beginning of September, spending on average 4 hours a day in the car.  The days I take Mum out as well as doing the double journey to Norwich and back I spend nearer to 5.5 hours in the car.  I have bought a lot of petrol, filling the tank every five days.  Fortunately the price of petrol has gone down recently – at the moment it is 118.9 pence per litre here.  I am still trying to do my household chores but I have had to give up my gardening.  I haven’t even had time to feed the birds for weeks and weeks.  Tiredness has made me grumpy, prone to upset stomachs, prone to tears and a  ‘Scrooginess’ comes over me when I have to think about Christmas.

Humbug!

Today, however, has been such a pleasant one.  We woke to another clear and frosty morning.  R and I enjoyed a relaxed breakfast and then I drove us to Bungay so that we could collect the Christmas wreath I had ordered a week or so ago.  We haven’t been out together for some while so this walk through the town made a nice change.  R bought a newspaper and we returned home.

Our Christmas Wreath

E had a hair appointment to go to in Halesworth at 1.00 pm so this time R drove us.  We walked with her to the hairdressers and then went to buy some dried ingredients for R’s soup-making from a delicatessen in the Thoroughfare.  In most English towns the main street is known as the High Street but in Suffolk many towns call their main street the ‘thoroughfare’.  We called in at a café and had coffee and then, as there was still about a quarter of an hour until E would be finished we walked up Rectory Lane back to the Market Place.  This is a narrow alleyway that runs behind the Thoroughfare from the north of the town to the south.

The lane goes alongside the Town River, a tributary of the River Blyth.

A few weeks ago when we had nearly two days of heavy rain, this little river was very close to breaking its banks and flooding the town.

A view down the river from the bridge.

The crinkle-crankle wall. There are twice as many crinkle-crankle walls in Suffolk than in the whole of the rest of the country

A small door in the wall. It is only about 5′ tall.

The end of Rectory Lane just before it emerges into Chediston Street.

R walking up Chediston Street

Halesworth is quite a busy market town but as you can see, even on a Saturday afternoon less than two weeks before Christmas some peace and quiet can be had.

We returned to our car and almost immediately E joined us looking lovely with her neatly cut and straightened hair.  We drove to Holton, a village on the outskirts of Halesworth where we usually buy our Christmas tree at a farm.  We quickly found a suitable one and took it home with us.

Our well-wrapped Christmas tree.

R will trim a little off the base of the trunk and a couple of the lower branches and then fit it into the tree stand after we have soaked it for a few days.  We will bring it into the house in a few days time and then decorate it.  This is the first year that Alice hasn’t been here to help us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advent

Tags

Advent, Advent Candle, Advent Crown, Carols and Capers, Medieval church, music and dance

I took this photo a week ago when, for an hour, the thick pall of cloud that had been over us for a week or more receded towards the coast and we saw the sun. I was amazed to see how deep the cloud was.  The cloud returned shortly after I took this picture.

We are now in the second week of Advent and Christmas is looming fast.  I like Advent – at least I like Advent in theory, if not in practice.  I wish time would go a little slower so that I could fit in all the Christmas preparations and still have opportunity for quiet reflection.  i wish to appreciate and enjoy anticipating Christmas.

There used to be a children’s programme on TV when both my girls were younger called ‘Bernard’s Watch’ in which a boy called Bernard had a special watch that could halt time, stopping everyone in their tracks, while Bernard rushed about trying to catch up and put things right.  I want Bernard’s watch!

Unfortunately, this time of year is so full of doctor’s and hospital appointments, check-ups at the optician and dentist, visits to relatives, trying to remember last postal dates and ordering of meat and wreaths, that the really nice bits are side-lined and fitted-in to our schedule almost as an after-thought.

Our Advent Crown with the first candle alight

At home we make an Advent Crown with evergreen and candles, we have an Advent Candle and Advent Calendars.

The Advent candle

While E and I make the Crown and also a table-centre decoration as well, it is traditional for us to play an ancient tape that we have had since my eldest daughter was little.  It is the most horrible of tapes with what my daughters describe as ‘cheesy’ Christmas songs on it.  If R is around he complains very loudly when we put the ‘music’ on but I don’t think Advent Sunday would be half as much fun without it.

My daughter’s table-centre arrangment

The Sunday before last (30th November) was Advent Sunday so the day before that, R and I went to Rumburgh Church to make sure all was tidy and in order and to put the church Advent Crown together.  There are plenty of evergreen trees and plants in the churchyard so I gathered a selection of good looking cuttings and arranged them as best I could around the candle holder.

Rumburgh’s Advent Crown

 

 

While I was wandering about the churchyard looking for greenery I saw this…

An extremely early primrose.

…and this.

A coral fungus. This was very small as you can see by comparing it to the pea-shingle next to it.

I also saw this…

Holly with berries. If you look carefully you’ll see the mildew on the shiny leaves. It has been so damp this autumn!

…..and this

The wooden churchyard gate has turned green too

as has the gate to the path which leads to the churchyard. Our church is not visible from the road.

We have no church services at Rumburgh for the whole of the Advent and Christmas period this year but we do have a couple of carol services, the first of which was last Sunday, 7th December.

We had travelled up to Manchester on Saturday 6th December so that we could visit my in-laws.  R had driven up from Gloucestershire in the West Country where he had been working and E and I had gone on the train from home.  Because of the new franchise there is no longer a direct train route to Manchester from East Anglia.  The quickest and cheapest route was to travel south to London, cross the city from Liverpool Street Station to Euston Station and then take the pendolino train north to Manchester from there.  My poor mother-in-law is still very unwell but has left hospital and is now in a respite care-home for a few weeks.  Since moving to the care home she has caught a chest infection which has added to the problems she has with breathing because of a faulty valve in her heart.  She also fell and broke her thumb so has her hand in a plaster cast.  We stayed with her for about half an hour at most and then left when we saw that she was tiring.  We then drove to a restaurant and met my brother-in-law and his partner, his son and his partner and their two-year-old daughter and had a meal together.  R’s nephew, nephew’s partner and daughter had all had the chesty cough and cold but my brother-in-law was still suffering with it and we have since heard that his partner has become ill with it.  This does not bode well for us!  We returned to our very basic hotel and had a restless night before driving home on Sunday morning.  We set off shortly after 9.00 am and got back home just after 2.00 pm.  We had a short rest before going to the church to get it ready for the carol service.

The interior of our church. R is starting to get it ready for the service.

There are many candles to be lit and the mince pies and mulled wine to set out before the congregation start to arrive.

Here is R lighting the candles on one of the window sills. R is 6′ 3.5″ tall and even by standing on the pew and stretching he can only just reach!

We set out the refreshments on the table at the back of the church and covered them for protection

Floral display round the font

 This service is called Carols and Capers and is organised by our local folk groups and Morris dancers.  (A caper is a skip or jump and is used in Morris dancing).  Unfortunately, this year we didn’t have as many people in the church as in past years, probably because of a number of other events going on in the area.  I usually make my own mince pies to bring to the service but I had been much too busy and so I brought bought ones.

The congregation began to arrive

The second candle was lit on the Crown

The service went very well with a mixture of communal unaccompanied carol singing, dancing, solo singing, recitation and instrumental music.  Three of us from church were asked to do some readings from the Nativity Story and the Rector gave us a Bidding-prayer at the beginning, an amusing talk on ‘Christmas Words’ and sent us home with a Blessing.

Gallimaufry are a dance group who specialise in Medieval and Tudor dances

Gallimaufry

 

Pearl in the Egg are a couple of very talented young women who play period instruments. Here they are playing the music for Gallimaufry to dance to.

Pearl in the Egg then sang and played to us. This is my favourite part of the evening. According to their web-site, Pearl in the Egg (Perle in the Eghe) was the name of a real minstrel, a blind harpist who performed for King Edward I in 1306. He performed along with the Minstrel with the Bells, Matilda Makejoy and Reginald the Liar.

Pearl in the Egg describe themselves as Historical Musicians and they perform in many places including in churches, at fairs and at schools. They give talks and presentations and not only perform Medieval music but also Tudor, Victorian and 1940’s as well. Pearl in the Egg was a term used to describe cataracts in Medieval England.

‘Rumfolk’ then sang to us

And Rumburgh Morris danced for us

A most enjoyable evening rounded of with the mince pies and mulled wine and lots of talk!  Our next carol Service is on Saturday 20th December.