Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

Yay, my hot chocolate arrived this afternoon, as did the book

I expected it to be in a wee tub, but it's in a foil sachet, a bit like the packet you get Liquorice in (ask me how I know )...


I've already had a mug and it's lovely. Farway, I used 25g of the 25-30g recommended and it was perfect. It says to give it a bit of a froth when it's made up, so I used a whizzy thing that my DD left here, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary if you haven't got one. I do feel like I've tasted something similar before and the only place I can think of is Hotel Chocolat. Anyway, I don't think I'll be going back to drinking the mouldy purple one now   

Dusty, another wee treat I can recommend are Fox's Winter Spiced Cookies half coated in milk chocolate. Very nice and currently on offer in Tesco. I'll have a look for the Lidl ones you mentioned, as well as the salmon Ps it sounds like you need a pair of braces for your troosers   

twopenny, if you have a Home Bargains near you, they sell packets of mini Lebkuchen gingerbread men for 99p - I prefer them to the big 'biscuits' you get in Aldi and Lidl.

It was supposed to be sunny today, but it's been grey and cloudy all day and 2 degrees.

twopenny

I'm relieved that you like the chocolate and it seems to have done the trick

I love his dark chocolate but it's hard to get. People seem to just go for the same old that's advertised. Though Poundland did a whole range of Milka which is pure and delicious.

Perhaps I'll treat myself to some online order and add the chocolate drink. I used to love Morrisons Cocoa powder but it's gone from 85p to £3! !!! Anyone wonder if the supermarkets are taking the mick? So much I've stopped buying from Tescos because of their tricks and price hikes.

Well gardening? I've put my brown looking cuttings that the leaves have shriveled to nothing in this wind chill, lower down on the shelves. I think it's a bit late to cover them so I'll just keep my fingers crossed for spring buds.

With nothing much happening and it being deadly dull round my house I've spent another hour in the library translating old wills. Really interesting as it happens. And of course it's warm and bright there.

Got the heating on and fingers crossed it doesn't kick up a fuss. Having had 3 heating guys gaslight me after saying they'd come and the one that said they'd come to look/buy/exchange the mahogony table I don't have a lot of hope of one turning up. All I can do is hope for Karma to kick in.

Still bitterly cold, wild wind, and dark. Street lights came on at 3pm. Why is it all those things you say you'll do in winter seem so unappealing when it actually happens?

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Dusty, another wee treat I can recommend are Fox's Winter Spiced Cookies half coated in milk chocolate. Very nice and currently on offer in Tesco. I'll have a look for the Lidl ones you mentioned, as well as the salmon Ps it sounds like you need a pair of braces for your troosers  

Thanks. I do need something like braces or a belt. Don't want to be called 'Donald!'

twopenny said:

Why is it all those things you say you'll do in winter seem so unappealing when it actually happens?

I know what you mean. While I must do some things, others stay on the to-do list. One of those is standing in the stream, planting foxgloves and other species I want there. The warm day for it never seems to arrive! 

Today, you'll see people in the capital cities who have to go out in all weathers because their livelihoods depend on that. They'll take time out to protest at being singled-out for new taxation when they have the temerity to die on the job. People like our farmer partner are finding things scary enough already, with none of their children now willing to take on the hours and commitment involved in the family enterprise. When he goes, it's likely his farm will be swallowed up by the conglomerate working from a larger farm a mile away, using hired contractors. They don't respect the land in the same way as the traditional guys.

Back to yours truly's land and jobs. Here's the fallen and semi-fallen willows I dealt with yesterday:

Willow isn't the best firewood, but if it's free, it can be OK! Sadly, after reaching this point (above) I wandered to the end of the grove and found two more willows supported by a walnut, so they'll have to come out too. These aren't long-lived trees. In a totally natural environment, they'd fall, grow roots along the trunks, and sprout up again, forming a dense thicket. We'll have to replant with something new. Not sure what yet!

pink_poppy

Another freezing cold day here. I didn't put the storage heater on last night, so it's 9.1 degrees in the front room, compared to 13.8 degrees with the SH turned on overnight the day before... As my DH says, the SH being on doesn't make the room warm, it just makes it less cold...

The hot chocolate is lovely, twopenny, I'm looking forward to having one later   I like Milka chocolate too, we used to get it from Home Bargains. Are you a chocolate in the fridge person like my DH?? I prefer mine room temperature, which is difficult when your house is only a few degrees warmer than a fridge    

I saw this on FB last night - something to make with those foraged pine cones...



OT - cold, cold, cold. We've just had a council gritter gritting our road, unusual because they don't usually bother with residential roads.

Just refreshed and saw your post, Donald Dusty. I feel for your farmer friend, he must be completely disheartened by the new taxation and also knowing there's no one in his family wanting to carry on after him. Well done on dealing with the fallen willows, all that chainsawing will have kept you warm, at least.

twopenny

I LOVE those Poppy.

 Any idea what the legs are made of?

I'd like to pass the idea on to our local maker, he does Reindeer each year. This might be an earner. He works with windfall wood within 10miles. Guess he'll have a lot after the recent storm

In case you haven't seen them previous years these are mine, a bit dog eared now but still loved

Wish my garden looked like that this winter. It's bashed and beaten with hardly any leaves on anything let alone flowers  

Cold here, not bitter, just very cold and the wind has dropped for a bit. 5c now and half dark. Can't see an end predicted so far.

Bulbs still in the garage. No way am I staggering around out there freezing. I do have a big empty pot with compost in, if necessary I'll tip the lot into that and worry about them come summer.

On the plus side, sort of, my Daphne which has spent a couple of years deciding whether to live or die is small but looking healthy with single flowers on the end of each stem. Not quite the bush I'd thought of when I bought it for winter bunches indoors but we live in hope.

And yes, I have a chocolate drawer

Dark chocolate and smarties stay hard. The choco mints are in the fridge though.............. I like the snap before the soft mint, not that I'd thought about it until now

I can recommend leaving a Mars bar in a hot car though. It melts into one delicious beast.

wort

No garden photo, but loving the colour and scent of these beauties.
Duller than yesterday still very cold, but washing out as yesterday's was almost dry and a few hours with dehumidifier on finished it off. 

Farway

Dull, grey & cold, but my Hot Choc also arrived yesterday, and my pint of creamy topped Gold Top was on the step this morning.

That's me all set for this afternoon

Sorting out my external HD and the photos, slow but getting there. 

The photo cataloguing programme is magic, facial AI and seems to work, supposed to sort out similar scenery but early days on that.

I'm hoping I can type in Flowers and up the photos will pop.

Hope so, it found 45,399 photos on my drives! Some duplicated no doubt but not got round to that yet,

twopenny said:

 I've been to the library where it's warm and bright doing the family tree. Seems over the centuaries there's a few fell into jail or the asylum though thankfully not for long.

I did find that not only on one side being farmers there were gardeners too. So no wonder I like to be outside with plants

It does make one wonder if it's [gardening] in the genes somehow when I look back over my previous generations. 

But of course way back there was a very limited choice or option for paid work, only a few generations back some of mine were still "Making their Mark" [X for signature] at their wedding for instance.

Only found one naughty boy, throwing stones and fined, he was eventually packed off to Australia and became a Pillar of the Community

Looks like steady & cold work with those willows Dusty, would some sort of nut bushes suit as replacement? Only asking because of me getting one on offer, the one I've ordered is a fancy red Filbert, I expect the squirrels will love them while us humans have to settle for young red foliage & the red catkins.

https://www.blackmoor.co.uk/hazel-red-filbert-p15569

Love those cone ostriches PP, look far beyond my bent fingers, but what a clever idea.

Just refreshed & seen 2P post, I was thinking about pipe cleaners for legs? If you can still get such things, of course.

And my hyacinth bulbs are still not planted, so you are not alone.

wort

Pp what are the beaks made from? Is it part of the stick that’s carved? The legs look like sticks.
I had one of those reindeer , but didn’t last long before he looked decrepit.
Farway a little nut tree with red catkins sounds lovely. Hope it’s not like the song about a little nut tree though😳🫣

pink_poppy

It's been sunny all morning, but I've just glanced out of the window and there's mist rolling in. No more free solar heat I think the fire will be getting lit very soon.

I thought the ostrich legs and necks were thin twigs, twopenny & wort. Not sure about the beaks though?? Good idea from Farway to use pipe cleaners. Tobacconists or craft shops would sell them.

wort, those lilies are absolutely stunning - what a gorgeous colour. I was trying to remember the little nut tree song, but it kept morphing into I'm a little teapot, short & stout   

I love your reindeer, twopenny, they're so jolly looking

I don't mind peppermint creams or after eights from the fridge, but no other chocolate. Your melty mars bar beast sounds right up my street    

Talking of chocolate, it must be time for my hot one. I'm trying to just have one a day...

wort

I had a little nut tree, nothing would it bear
but a silver nutmeg and a golden pear
the king of Spains daughter came to visit me 
All for the sake of my little nut tree.