Berlin

On Saturday we went to Berlin- My excellent planning had us leaving the house as 4am for a 6am flight- landing in Germany at 7am.
We landed about the same time Traff got back from dropping us off at the Airport.
:S

Hayley met us at arrivals, and took us back to her flat for cake and lots and lots of very strong coffee. Their flat is amazing! it's really Soviet looking and the owners have made it really modern inside- all white painted plaster and exposed brick work with wooden fixtures and vintage furniture - Hayley has been collecting event posters to decorate the walls- which looks pretty cool.
 Once we were super caffeinated we headed out to the town centre to see all the touristy sites.

We started with the reichtag, Brandenburg gate and victory memorial

Then the holocaust memorial and the terror museum- Which was quite harrowing for a holiday visit.

Then the art market, Museum Island, the outside of the cathedral

And then the supermarket for chocolate and alcohol!
They don't sell spirits and mixers to go like in the UK- I ended up with bitter orange and sparkling water, crem de menthe and lemonade and a wine spritzer- everyone else had beers.

We stopped off for bagels and the headed back to the flat for an evening of alcohol and watching Frozen.
I liked frozen more than I'd expected I would.

On Sunday we started the day with breakfast cake!
:D

Then headed out to one of the markets- Second hand markets are a massive deal in Germany- in the trendy areas in the East they even have karaoke and entertainment- the items tend to be very expensive and it's really aimed at tourists.
In the West, it's still a place to trade things you don't want any more- loads of bric-a-brac and second hand clothes, bathroom fixtures and soviet era home furnishings.
Pretty cool way to shop!

I got a coat for 4 euros- and a pair of brand new green boots for 10 eruos, and a blue H&M dress for 2 euro.
:)
Pleasing.
Hayley bought her own weight in knitwear and ray picked up some skirts and t-shirts too.

After the market we got take away pizza and took it back to the flat to eat.There are loads of Turkish and Italian people living in the West, so you can get excellent pizza and kebabs very cheaply. And ice cream. 1 euro per cone. :D
I could not live in berlin and not be the size of a house!
In the evening we went to see the East berlin art gallery- it's graffiti art painted on the remains of the wall- and some of it is very powerful.

Then we went to check our a bar called white trash, which has flame throwers and a tattoo parlour.

Then for drinks on the way back to the station. the bar had sliding bathroom doors- which was weird.

We also stopped off for Burgermeister burgers- which are amazing! I could eat them for every meal-they even did a fried tofu burger!
:DIt smelled sooo good!
I had ment to take a photo but remembered as I was finishing the last bite of my burger! Ah well, there will need to be a next time!

Monday was Ray's birthday- so we had more cake for breakfast

and then went to the zoo.

After the zoo we had planned to go clubbing in White Trash, but after all the walking we decided on a beery and moochy evening in.
Tame, but 25 is an old age!:P

Whilst we were at the zoo, Dai  had got ray a birthday cake and candles!
Very impressive!

On Tuesday we went to Pottsdam- Pottsdam was the kings town and is a really historic place- with buildings and architecture in "quarters" so there are dutch buildings and businesses in on place, russian in another etc etc. It also has a number of impressive palaces.
We didn't see any of that.
Ray and Hayley spent 7 hours shopping.
:(
It was exhausting!

Then we had ice cream!
yay!
More famously delicious berlin ice cream served in a specific ice cream cafe!
Hurrah!

On the way home we got a double decker regional train! yay!


Wednesday was our last day in Berlin- We went to the resale shop- and bought traditional clothing with West germany or Soviet labels in them- I got two dirndle skirts for 4 Euros which was amazing! I wish I'd had room for more clothes!
I had a whole basket of clothes to try on but tricky decisions had to be made regarding bag space.
We spent ages in the shop browsing and trying clothes on- Ray found a leather jacket with a "made in west germany" label for 20 euros! It's just soooo cheap!
I suppose it's a part of history that many people our age or older remember, and would like to forget, which makes the really iconic clothing quite unpopular.
In the fashionable districts in the east they sell the same items to tourists for 10 times the price, but it just doesn't seem to have caught on in the west in the same way.

After shopping and lunch from the Turkish supermarket, we took our bags over to Whitr trash to meet Dai, Josh and Katie- they arrived 5 hours before we flew home and it was pretty weird seeing them in the middle of berlin!
We only saw them on Porthcawl last week!

After milkshakes and photos, Hayley took us back to the airport- which is where the fun started.
:(
Our flights were delayed by almost 2 hours- we had to eat an awful lot of zoo biscuits to keep ourselves busy.
We landed in the UK at 11.30 and finally cleared passport control an hour later!
O_o
We got back home at 3:30.
twas a very long day!

Wales

On Saturday morning we packed our tent and drove all the way to Porthcawl on the welsh coast. We stayed on a camp site on a farm just outside of the town- It was really busy- but Porthcawl is really really popular.
We put the tent up and then one of the poles snapped- we had to fix it with sellotape as thats the only kind of tape the campsite shop had- although it did hold all weekend.

On the Saturday afternoon we met up with Beca, Emma, Josh and Katie for the funfair and a BBQ on the beach- unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side! It was really windy all day and as soon as we tried to light the BBQ it was grey and started to rain!
Luckily as we were camping we had loads of blankets to everyone was warm and dry even if we did look like a load of refugees by the time Jay, Trist and Cat arrived later in the evening!

We decamped to the pub for some warming cups of tea and cake, and spent the evening catching up.

On Sunday Traff and I drove into Merthyr for breakfast- at Franky and bennys! You can have pancakes and blueberry ice cream!
Sold!
We text Jay, Josh and Trist as they all live locally for things to do- Jay suggested we forgo a foray into the rain and come over for tea.
So we did.



Then we headed into Cardiff for James and Lis's wedding rehersal and for the boys to try on their suits. Sah and I had a moochy afternoon and played with Alice.
After the rehearsal we went and had chinese at Jays, We ended up staying the night, as the weather was awful and we didn't fancy testing the strength of the sellotape.

In the morning, we followed him to work- And then carried on into cardiff to see Sah and Dan- We took Alice swimming in the pool with the slides in Cardiff bay- and we took it i turns to sneak off and have a go on the grown up slides too!
On Monday night Traff and I went back to Porthcawl and had chips on the beach for tea.

After dinner, we walked down to trecco bay.

And then drove out to port talbot to see the steelworks. They have an interesting smell all of their own!

On Tuesday we packed up the tent and drove back into Cardiff in time to have a cooked breakfast at Sah and Dans- The boys went to spend James's last day of freedom with him- so Sah and I had a lazy day and in the evening Jay come over and we had pizza and a catch up.
All very studenty.

Wednesday was wedding day- the boys were all part of the wedding party, so Sah and I had time to get ready in peace and drive to the church.
We even had time to buy sweets from the garage, as somehow we'd forgotten to have lunch as we were so busy trying to get everyone ready!

After the church, we headed out towards Caerphilly for the reception- the views were stunning!

The reception was held in a marquee at the back to the new house country hotel, so we got to look at the awesome views all evening!
James and Lis had also hired a string quartet who played covers of pop music- which was quite cool- and a bit different!
The speech from Dan and Traff went well- and dinner was yummy- especially the cake!


At the reception, Alice invented her new favourite game- "Hit uncle Traff in the face with a shoe"
Funny for everyone else
:D

How to crochet a snood

Snood instructions:

Yarns and hooks: Almost any kind of yarn or crochet thread will work for this pattern. For a finer texture, use crochet cotton, knit-cro-sheen, or pearl cotton, with a "3" or "B" size crochet hook. Heavier yarns (wool, acrylic, and blends) yield a lovely, rough texture. Use a "G" sized hook with
heavier yarns.

Finished size: Approximately 17" in diameter. Comes to about the nape of the neck when worn; for a longer snood, repeat Row 15 until desired diameter is achieved.


Round 1: Ch 6, slip-stitch to first ch to form a ring.

Round 2: Ch 4, [DC into center of ring, Ch 1] 11 times, slip-stitch into third
ch of Ch 4 strand to join.

Round 3: Ch 5, DC into first Ch 1 space, *Ch 2, DC into next Ch 1 space, Ch 2,
DC into same Ch 1 space,* repeat from * around circle, Ch 1, slip-stitch into
third ch of beginning Ch 5 strand to join (24 posts around circle).

Round 4: Slip-stitch into center of first Ch 2 space, *Ch 5, SC into center of
next Ch 2 space,* repeat from * around circle, Ch 5, slip-stitch into base of
first Ch 5 strand to join.

Round 5: Slip-stitch in first 3 ch of Ch 5 strand (to the center chain of the
strand), *Ch 6, SC into center of next Ch 5 space,* repeat from * around circle, Ch 6,
slip-stitch into base of first Ch 6 space to join, making 24 loops around circle.

Round 6: Slip-stitch to center of first Ch 6 loop, *Ch 7, SC into center of
next loop,* repeat from * around circle, Ch 7, slip-stitch into base of first
loop to join (24 loops around).

Round 7-9: Repeat as for round 6, increasing loops by one ch each round (Round
7 will have Ch 8 loops; Round 8 will have Ch 9 loops; Round 9 will have Ch 10
loops).

Round 10: Slip-stitch into first 3 ch of Ch 10 loop, Ch 5, SC into same Ch 10
loop, *Ch 5, SC into next Ch 10 loop, Ch 5, SC into same Ch 10 loop,* Repeat from * around
circle, Ch 5, slip-stitch into base of first Ch 5 loop (48 loops around).

Round 11: Slip-stitch to center of first Ch 5 loop, *Ch 6, SC into center of
next Ch 5 loop,* Repeat from * around circle, Ch 6, slip-stitch into base of
first Ch 6 loop.

Round 12: Repeat as for Round 6.

Round 13-15: Repeat as for Rounds 7-9 (Round 13 will have Ch 8 loops, Round 14
will have Ch 9 loops, Round 15 will have Ch 10 loops).

Round 16: Slip-stitch to center of first Ch 10 loop, *Ch 5, SC into center of
next Ch 10 loop,* Repeat from * around circle, slip-stitch into base of first
Ch 5 strand.

Round 17: To make bars for drawstring: Ch 4, *[DC into Ch 5
strand, Ch 1] 3 times,* repeat from * in each Ch 5 space around circle, Ch 1,
slip-stitch into third ch of starting strand to finish. Cut yarn and pull loop
through. Weave end in.

Drawstring: Use a braided length of the same yarn, or ribbon, or elastic, long enough
to fit around head plus 12". Weave drawstring through posts of final round of
crocheting. Fit to head size. Sew ends of elastic together or if using drawstring,
tie in a bow.

Crochet terms- American abbreviations into UK terms & how to make a mustache

slst - slip stitch
sc - single crochet
dc - double crochet
hdc - half houble crochet (aka pull-through-all-loops stitch)
trc - treble crochet (wrap over twice before sticking hook in)

Moustache:

Ch. 12

R1 – sc, dc, 2 trc, hdc, slst, hdc, 2 trc, dc, sc

R2 – ch2, turn, slst in 2^nd ch from hook, sc till middle three stitches (slip stitch 3), sc til end, ch 2, slst in 2^nd from hook, fasten off.

And it should look like this:

Bromham mill & Paddle boarding

I took my car for a service today- leaving me stuck in Bromham for a bit- I caught up with Tats in the swan pub (Their tea comes with fudge and is lovely, but we found half a sandwich down the side of the sofa which was gross!).
I worked on my blanket for my Nanna for christmas- The one I've been making since february- It's not difficult, the stitches are basic.It's just small stitches on a small hook and therefore it is time consuming, so I make slow progress every few weeks and then abandon it again- I'm on the 4th ball of wool out of 4 now though, so this is the home straight!
(Then I've just got 3 textile based presents to finish! woop!)

They started serving lunch in the pub and it smelled amazing, so to avoid feeling super hungry we decided to down tools and go for a walk around the mill. It's really beautiful, lots of woodland and wild plants. The had massive dragon files and ducks and I saw my first ever real life heron!
They are more leggy than I had expected.

I picked up the car all clean and waxed and polished, (just as it started to rain) and headed home to pick up the wife to go paddle boarding.

Emma at the lake had warned us that it was windy- and it really was- choppy with massive waves and battling against the wind was very hard work!
I like paddle boarding when it's windy as it's a really good work out and you feel really refreshed and capable. But there is a line. I almost got blown backwards off the board by the wind from kneeling, I didn't even try standing today. Traff did and immediately fell in. Twice. The surf from the waves as they broke over the board was going over my head- so even though I didn't fall in today I looked like I had taken a good dip.
Sometimes the board was almost at 90 degrees to the lake. Like a soggy roller coaster.
After 40 minutes my arms, legs and abs hurt from batting against being run aground/ toppled off/blown over/ pushed by the wind into the others or the wind surfers, so I called it a day.
I hadn't realised how cold I was until I tried to stand up to get off the board and my feet were numb and I was shaking.
Maybe it's almost wet suit weather?

Having not quite punished ourselves enough with epic paddle boarding, We decided a massive clear out of the cupboards was in order- including the loft cupboard.
We managed to get 3 boxes worth of clothes and items for charity, and 2 bin bags of blankets and pillows which we don't need any more.
So that makes up for last months rubbish sorting out performance!
We're still thinking about moving- we're just waiting to see what Traff decides to do work-wise- but obviously the move will be easier the less stuff we have, or hoard, even though we don't really need it.

This resulted in my missing the bake off, and having to watching it back recorded, but the recording failed! I'll never know who got booted off!
:(
I'll have to watch the extra slice to find out now!

I hope it's not Norman, He's my favourite.

The Crochet road trip & how to make African roses

Tats and I had planned to go to fenny stratford today in search of wool suitable for making leaves from- I have all kinds of garish colours, but no rusty reds or autumnal oranges or browns.
We got to the wool shop, after a 40 minute drive- only to find it was closed!
We went to the fabric shop and they had a very limited wool selection, although they did have their latest craft class brochure so the journey wasn't all for nothing.

Next we headed to Milton Keynes hobby craft- As the bedford one had loads of wool and most of the doubleknit was £1- The one in milton keynes had only baby colours or super fancy very expensive wools.
No luck there.

We ended up driving back to Oakley as theres a small craft shop/cafe there, and they did have all the colours we were after. And a 4mm hook- and we almost bought a book on lace making, but that's an adventure for another day I think.
:) Score!
And they also run craft workshops- much closer to home than fenny stratford- So, today has taught me many things, and I haven't even shown you what Tats and I made.

This is the Website for the workshops in Oakley:
http://www.tudorrosepatchwork.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_17

We tried the pattern for leaves I found on ravelry. If you're thinking of making leaves and following a similar pattern, Can I just save you the time and suggest that you don't?
It's pretty badly written. They're really fiddley. and the outcome doesn't look like a leaf.
It wasn't just mine either- Tat's is an ace Crocheter and hers also looked like someone had sat on it.

She did manage to find some different directions in a book- so we might try  these leaves again. We also found directions for holly and mistletoe. Too early for that yet.

We also had a go at an "african roses" pattern- which is a kind of granny square hexagon. It's used to make the dinosaur that I wanted to have a go at- but our hexagons ended up the size of a saucer so either we're making a life sized dino or we're doing something wrong!

I love this because it looks tricky but is actually really easy- It's the same stitches as a basic granny square- no halves or bobbles or anything weird:

Chain 6 and slip stitch together.
6 double crochet into the middle.
(Change colour)
3 chain and one chain, one double crochet into the gap, After that, one double crochet and one chain into each gap- no chain between the gaps- just go straight into the next gap.
At the end of the round, slip stitch to join and chain 3.
7 double crochet into each gap.
Slip stitch to finish the round
(Change colour)
Single crochet into every stitch EXCEPT between the sets of 7, where you put a double stitch into the 1st row of the second colour (This is easier to understand if you look at the photo! there is no easier way to explain!)
Slip stitch to finish the round.
(Change colour- optional)
Chain 3
Double stitch into each of the single stitches. Slip stitch to join the round and tie off.
Voila!

I think these would make nice coasters, and obviously a lush blanket if I had time to make 100s of them- I think they look like pansies!
I even saw one that had been made into a pot holder which was pretty cool. Someone else on ravelry had done them in citrus colours and whits so they looked like sliced fruit. Very swish.

I might experiment with making them into xmas tree decorations- doing the "flower" white or silver and the back black or dark blue.. maybe with some added spangly beads or something...
Urgh.
I have christmas on the brain since that newspaper article.

For anyone who's reading this thinking "I didn't know she could crochet!" I've been keeping loads of my crafty activities on the down low as I've been working on my Xmas challenge (All my xmas presents this year will be home made, useful- so clothes, kitchen ware, food, alcohol, teas, toiletries, etc- and hopefully completed by 25th December! I have 3 items left to finish and one left to start! I have updated my progress and given my reasons every month this year so feel free to have a look and join in!) Obviously, I can't really put pictures of my friends xmas presents on here, as they'd probably realise which was theres! I've been really careful to make things my friends will use/wear/go with their homes and to pick wools/ fabrics/colours that reflect their tastes- Which has backfired, as despite trying my hand at more than 50 different crafts and skills since January, I can rarely write about them!

Rain Rain go away

Today we are feeling the tail end of hurricane Bertha. It's rainy, and stormy and windy, and generally just not very nice.The rain is coming through the ceiling again. We even had lightening directly overhead and had to run round like idiots unplugging everything until it passed!

I spent all morning mooching about on the internet. Then made a trip to Tesco with the wilfely one to satisfy my addiction to Kallo chocolate covered rice cakes. I also bought "normal" rice cakes, which have made me realise that I only like my rice cakes chocolate coated. None of this healthy natural whole grain stuff!
I will eat them. But maybe with dairylea on them. OR nutella. Or my own addition of melted chocolate perhaps...

We spent the whole day- up until about 3pm watching rubbish on TV.
Then I walked to wilkinsons in town just for some fresh air and got unceremoniously rained on on the way home.

This has given me lots of opportunity to trawl the internet for interesting events- Which will be landing me with a new creative dressmaking project:
The Duchess of Richmond's Ball at The Assembly rooms, Bath.
The people who run this and dance in Bath were the dancers at the Balls on the 1995 BBC version of pride and prejudice- so we will have to get good at both dancing and dressmaking!


I'm trying to persuade my mum to come with me- as theres no way Traff will- but this will require no mean feat of dressmaking- I recall from my regency bodice making course at Kingston Lacy house, That Regency dresses are a massive pain in the arse to make.
Simplicity do make a pattern, but that doesn't mean it will be easy to follow.

There are a surprisingly large number of Regency events all over the world- this website has quite a comprehensive list:
http://regencydances.org/events.php

So, in the end my grumpy rainy day has found me some very exciting events to attend.
:)

Mooching about and more paddle boarding

I couldn't sleep last night- my head has this awful reaction to being over tired (because I worked hard on the lake against the wind, then went for late dinner, then stayed up until midnight watching my recorded bake off- much later than my usual bed time) where as I'm dropping off it plays out my fears vividly.
Sometimes it that I've left the oven on and started a fire, sometimes it's zombies but last night it was ebola.
It's so stupid, bit it's so realistic and horrible. Then I just end up lying awake trying to work out what I would do if that REALLY was the case. Which just makes me anxious and annoyed with myself for even thinking about it in the first place!
ARGH
So I ended up getting up and reading articles about kittens online until 3am. Then I got woken up at 8am by the bin men.

Being tired and grumpy this morning, I lacked any creativity or "get up and go" to decide what to do today.
Traff tasked me with the hoovering (Which I hate even more than ironing or drying up!) which I did after getting dressed.
With no real end game in mind I walked into town about 11, and bought a take-out tub of no-fat frozen yogurt as a kind of lunch/snack- I did make an error in ordering a "large" it was the size of the average cereal bowl.
I must remember in future than bluberi have very generous portion sizes- a small will be fine!

I walked down to the embankment and ate all my massive yogurt whilst watching the little fish in the water- they were all swimming close to the edge where it's warm.

That made me think of paddle boarding.
So I made to text everyone from yesterday and see if hey fancied an easier ride- as today it will be like a mill pond rather than like a storm.
And realised I'd left my phone at home.

I walked through the park and up castle road back to the house, sent some texts, cancelled my gym membership all pretty organised really.
I got an affirmative on the paddling from the wife- and a request for hula hoop sandwiches to eat in the car.
We have no hula hoops. As a testament to my love for him, I walked back into town in the sweltering heat to buy some.

We got to the lake about 4:40- and it looked like a mirror. Barely a ripple in sight. Paddling today was dream!
We got all the way to the opposite side of the lake- we saw goslings and loads of dragon flies - Sadly no otters or fish today. We had a good old explore.
And we got an extra 40 minutes as a freebie!

The Higgins, 50s diner & Paddle boarding

This morning started at a lose end, Traff asked me what I was going to do today as he was leaving to go to work, and I just shrugged.
Whilst it's quite nice to now be bored (I never get to be bored the rest of the year- I always have 100 projects all on the go at once and people to visit and things to make and things to buy and none of it ever really seems to be finished) In a few more days I will be so bored it won't even be worth getting out of bed in the first place!

In the end I decided to go to the higgins Museum- They always have something worth going to see- at the moment it's a commemoration for the 1st World War, which is both creative and horribly depressing, They also have a cityscape project, where people are invited to add to the walls and produce an unusual vision of a city.
My personal highlight was the dinosaur.

After that I had a walk up castle road, did some charity shop mooching and had a reese peanut butter cup milkshake from the new 50s style diner.
:)
superyummy.
What I really wanted was ice cream but almost everywhere has sold out!
I can't believe it's so hot still- it rained all night last night but there isn't a trace of it on the ground any more- it's just very sticky and humid now.

I picked traff up from work at 4, and we went paddle boarding with Karl, Emma, Salma and Ayesha- It was really windy on the lake- it was like being in the sea- some of the waves were actually pretty big!
We battled the waves and the wind for an hour- and mostly we were unable to stand up- I tried several times, and on my final attempt ended up in the lake.
Then I lost my paddle.
Traff had to get it for me and I had to paddle like a surfer to prevent being run aground- it was a bit chaotic.

After paddling we went for dinner in chimney corner again, which was delicious and have us a chance for a good catch up.
:)

Blackberrying, Red velvet cake & Val's leaving do at Eatalia

Today was an early start- I had to be at the top of the hill by the nature reserve at 10am to meet Helen and Si and their girls Ruby and Daisy.
The girls were very keen blackberry pickers- with lost of plans for how to eat them- they're having eaton mess, and pie and crumble and juice!
I just hope they picked enough berries!

We also picked some more apples for pies and eating- This time I only got 2 cooking apples, all the rest of mine were the eating variety, as I was disapointed with how tart my tarts were last time- and I'd like to actually eat some apples.
The girls loved picking apples, poor simon had to carry a whole bag for life of apples round the woods with him!

We also picked greenguage plums and we found a cherry tree but the cherries weren't ready yet- I'll definitely be going back in a few days to check their progress.
The proper plums still aren't ready and we didn't find any sloes.

We finished in the woods at midday- Helen took her family off to their grannys for some lunch- although they ate sooo many plums and berries I have no idea how they were going to fit any sandwiches in.
I headed home to wash the berries- and got a text from karl and Emma inviting me to join them for lunch- so I changed my t-shirt for one less covered in blackberries and grass and god knows what else and joined them in town.
I had red velvet cake and a dolly mixture milkshake for lunch- and honestly after all that walking and carrying things I deserved them both!

They headed of to the retail park, and I did a spot of shopping- Traff's photo of me with the owl made me realise that my denim shorts are now too big and not very flattering.
I found the perfect pain in M&S but they only had them in an 8 or a 10. The sales lady was like "Oh you'll easily fit a 10" so flushed with pride I scampered off to the changing room to be bitterly disappointed.
A 12 would have fitted perfectly.
The 10 needed one of those maternity extender things to do the button up with- the legs were a good fit though! It's my fat bottom (Traff calls it "Gheto booty") which causes all my sizing issues.
All the other shorts in town required me to want to walk around with said bottom hanging out of my shorts.
I am almost 30. I'm not sure my bum cheeks are pert enough for all that parading about.

After many hours of holding shorts up and muttering to myself about bum cheeks I decided to call it a day and headed home empty handed- Without my boyfriend who finished work at the same time :S I knew I was wasting time in town for some reason!

In the evening we went out for Val's leaving do- She's off to Manchester leaving me a guider short! We were going to go to Santaniellos but they don't open on a Monday, so Instead we're going to Eatalia, a new underground restaurant in the town centre.
2 courses for £8.90 in the week.
Bargainous.

The food was amazing- I have roasted aubergines on bruchetta with parmesan cheese to start - and it was massive- it would have been enough for a meal on it's own! Then pasta with peppers and chicken in a cream sauce which was amazing- I had regret for eating all of my starter.
They also gave us garlic bread and olives tooo.
Val ordered pasta with salmon and it

We shared a bottle of rose wine- 3 mills reserve rose- not very italian but possibly my new favourite wine!
Summery and sweet and perfect.
Sadly, It's probably a bit more expensive than my usual blossom hill white zinfandel.
but it's still a screw top! so that is a bonus.

Blackberry schnapps, more pies and kickstarter

Today has truly been a "nothing" day. I managed to sleep in until 10am, and when I got up I had to measure all Traffs limbs and belly for his suit for James and Lis's wedding.

He's such a fidget it took ages and he got stroppy.

O_o

Hopefully his suit will fit!

I then got a bit involved in kickstarter. I'm really addicted to looking at the the ideas people want funding for- Some are brilliant, others are bonkers- some are a bit of both.

However, What caught my eye today is a symbiotic fish tank/herb garden. you pump the fish poopy water into the plants, and they in turn oxygenate and filter the tank.

It's only 1/3 of the size of swimmy's tank though, so we'd have to buy more fish. it'd be cruel to make him live in a small tank now.

Or an axelotyl.

Actually, I don't know if they poop enough. many axelotyl. yes. :)

Anyway, this is awesome so you should look at it:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1880042535/ecofarm-food-of-the-future

I also want an andean woven bag and I missed the opportunity to pledge for a patchwork quilt of the southern hemisphere.

Maybe when I'm not on holiday I will make some pledges. Not being at work is very expensive!

By the time I'd done all that, had a bath, got dressed and done some chores it was almost 2pm- I had to go and see the dietician at 3, so that more or less ruled out doing anything productive.

Dietician was good- We now start the re-introduction of foods to my diet and see if they make me sick, as I know I'm not reacting to gluten,wheat and lactose my diet has got a bit toast/ milkshake /cake /slimfast /mini cheddar repetitive. Which sounds awesome theoretically. but in reality gets boring pretty quickly.

Yes, you read that correctly- a diet make of cake and milkshake gets boring eventually.

I have a 2 A4 page list of foods and I have to eat that one food in a normal sized portion for one meal for 2 or 3 days and see what happens.

Some foods on the list- Like Chocolate or peas- I know are fine. Others- Like sweet potato, beef, soya, miso, peaches, broccoli etc I honestly cannot remember the last time I ate them on their own, and I didn't realise that they're pretty common causes of stomach problems. 

I'm quite excited to have a dinner of peas! Less excited for eating a portion of onions, I'll be honest.

On the way home I stopped off in Tesco to buy some schnapps to put with my now washed blackberries from yesterday- I fancied a change- I'll deal with them once the wife goes out to football.

I also have a number of pies to make and apples to stew and store for in the freezer. Ah, a busy bakey evening.

Although, it's cooler today, so hopefully I won't end up frizzy haired and wild looking like last time!

The Bird of Prey Centre, Willstead

After all the drama of last night, We decided to have an afternoon out today, to make ourselves super cheery.

The Bird of Prey centre moved from Shuttleworth to Willstead over the last year- so we missed the centre at Shuttleworth as it was already closed to move everything to the new location, and then we've had to wait for the new place to be up and running.
It was definitely worth the wait.
Entrance was £10,but you can do the whole day, go to all 3 30 minute shows and have opportunities to hold the birds afterwards so really it's quite a good deal.

I was disappointed as we missed the 11:30 flying demonstration, because it was all owls!
We arrived about 1, so we paid and walked round all the birds in their shelters- most are just tethered on perches as they are either the falcons used to the day hunting experiences, or they take part in the shows- you can kind of tell which ones are ready to take part in the shows as they get a bit restless around 1:30 and 3:30!
It looks a bit mean, but actually, they all get a fair bit of free flight time and hunting time so it's probably much kinder than being in an avery.

The first show we were unprepared for- there were storks and bald eagles and hybrid falcons- and Traffs favourite was the caracara which is a scavenger from the falklands- and it's really clever- it was retrieving hidden food. The lady doing the show told us that they steal small items from washing lines to line their nests as it's more comfy than sticks and moss- and they steal food like seagulls do.

After the first show I got to hold a barn owl.
:)

We walked round and saw more of the birds- including the red kites- I don't usually miss Didcot, but the noise the red kites make made me think of my parents old garden- sometimes the Kites would land on the washing line! Then went and had a drink and linzer biscuits in the tea room (It's a very accommodating tea room, good selection of cake!).by the time we'd done all that it was almost time for the 3:30 show so we made our way back to the main field.
There were more Caracara's and turkey vultures (one of them landed miles away and had to be rescued), Eldis eagles and falcons.

After the second show I got to hold a tawny owl.It did not want it's photo taken.

Now, if we'd been clever we'd have realised that there was an open evening and BBQ today where you get to hold all the animals and see loads more displays, but unfortunately, as it was all a bit spur of the moment, we didn't book that. That would have been awesome.

Thieves, Robbers and Bandits (And many more names which are simply not polite)

I got woken up last night at about 1am, by someone reversing a van down the drive to the car park for our flats.
Loads of taxis turn round in the drives especially on friday and Saturday nights so initially I was just annoyed that I'd been woken up and nothing more.
But this was unusual, because the driver was there for ages and kept the van's engine running (Most drivers if they're dropping off, stop properly and if they're turning round it's pretty quick) and the revs pretty high, but was just sat between the houses.
No lights.

Then I heard someone get out, and Then I heard something I've heard quite a few times before- My bike is chained to the metal support to the stairs- and it's the only one there now- I heard the metal-on -metal noise of my bike chain on the post (It's a length of steel chain with a plastic coating- it would be more suitable for a motorbike, the "weak" point is the 4" Squire padlock).
My bike is pretty old, and it probably has a scrap value, I think you'd struggle to sell it on because it's just so unusual and because it's quite rusty. Even so, that hasn't stopped it taking someone fancy.

So, I'm lying there, in bed, listening to my bike being pulled about and thinking "Well, there goes another bike then, The same way as the last one".
And then I realised, The last few days I've come home from town, my bike has been pulled away from the stair support- as if to check it's locked or to test the strength of the padlock (haha, yeah, good one). I hadn't seen it like that, I just assumed someone wanted to check their gas meter or that it had been caught by someone getting their post. So I'm lying there in bed, angry and feeling pretty stupid because the writing had been on the wall, I just hadn't read it properly.

At that exact, perfect, moment a large group of drunk people came stumbling out of the road almost opposite, Singing.
The van took off with a wheel spin.
And my bike was saved, by the crime fighting force that is the drunk people.
Yay!

I went round some of the flats today and warned people to check anything locked up outside, and to remove anything they like from their cars (I know they're really after my copy of fern gully on VHS, and I'll ensure I clear all my "valuables" out of my car to prevent them being nicked- or tempting anyone to nick them).
I know they'll come back, if they want something badly enough they'll steal it eventually. In my hear of hearts I know all you need are some sizeable bolt cutters and my bike is yours- but carrying said bolt cutters would certainly count as "Going equipped to steal" I suppose a hack saw will do most bike locks in a matter of seconds and is much easier to hide.

The guy in the flat below ours told me that the house opposite ours was burgled on Thursday, in the night, buy some blokes with a van.

That would explain why the police seemed more interested than usual about a bike theft (or an attempted one) When I rang them at half one in the morning. They said if the van came back to call them on the emergency number not 101, and not to confront the thieves.
They said there had been "other reports" and that extra police were already patrolling the area- which when you consider how close this was to a theft, is not all too reassuring, their presence is so insignificant that they van-people are not put off at all.

I'm going to move my bike to the hallway, it can have an indoor holiday. god only knows how we'll manage- our hall is already an assault course of traff's bike and all our wet suit stuff- but I'd rather play military bootcamp for a few weeks until they piss off and terrorise another area than have for fork out for another bike. again.

People of Bedfordshire: Lock up your bikes.
And checking your doors and windows, and removing valuables from your cars wouldn't be a bad idea either.

On a more seriously pissed off note, It makes me so angry that people think it's OK to take something which is clearly not theirs.
None of us is so well off we can afford to have our stuff nicked and replace it, just so that someone else can make a few quid selling it on Ebay or Gumtree. What happened to peoples sense of morality and the concept of ownership?

Maybe they're really "hard up" and consider themselves hard done by- well, guess what? That's life, Life likes to fuck us all over occasionally. That doesn't give you the right to take something that isn't yours! Everyone else managed to be perfectly nice and law abiding when they're having a crappy time. You know where you can put your sense of entitlement?!

My bike might look like scrap metal to these people, but to me it's a rather beloved method of transport.

Blackberry Baccardi, Blackberry and apple pie and I've FINALLY finished that dress for the wedding.

I spent this morning trying to figure out what to do with my spoils from yesterday. Traff requested a blackberry and apple pie, I knew I wanted to make the baccardi after it's popularity and yumminess last year.

First I weighed out the blackberries fro the baccardi.
For every 2L of alcohol (Because you can do this with any spirit, it just happens that I'm using white rum- Vodka, Gin and Brandy work equally well) you need 400g of fruit and 200g of sugar (Some recipes say the same amount of fruit to sugar, but it doesn't dissolve properly so it's just a waste of sugar!)
I've also added cinnamon, and last year I added vanilla pods and cinnamon sticks- If you want to use cloves or anything solid like that I'd suggest either getting the "teabags" they sell for mulled wine, or making a muslin bag to put them in, or you might kill someone if they swallow a clove- or break all their teeth if you use the berries for a cake filling/trifle/on ice cream once the baccardi has all been drink!

I bought jars from IKea- £3 for each 2L jar- so thats much cheaper than branded jars or the ones they sell in Wilkos.
I sterilised the jars with boiling water first- but running them through the dishwasher will do the same thing as long as the food trap is clean- or you could milton them if you feel very strongly about it.

Whilst the water was cooling down in the jars, I prepared my apples from the woods- I peeled, cored and chopped them, and stewed them down with some sugar.
whilst they stewed I pre-heated the oven and made my pastry.
Traff's vegi, so I just make Pastry with margarine and plain flour- it tastes good but it doesn't go brown like pastry with lard in it- not unless you remember to milk and egg glaze it before you bake it.
I did not remember.
Put the pastry in the dishes, blind baked them for a few minutes, added the blackberries and sugar to the stewed apples and gave them a good stir- Rescued the pastry from the oven and added the fruit. I didn't make quite enough pastry for the top, so I went for a lattice.
Still looks yummy though!

I made Traff's pie and I made one for Karl, which I exchanged for a bottle of baccardi he won at one of the raffles at the white horse (after the quizzes) but had never drunk (He only drinks cider).

Pies ready and berries and jars prepped for the addition of baccardi I had a few hours before Karl's arrival, so I finished my dress for James and Lis's wedding- the blue sateen one- I made it a bit too short for weddings, it's more a cocktails and clubbing length- so I added a white lace trim to the bottom of the dress to give me a few more vital inches of modest coverage.
I really tried to get blue lace trim, but there was none to be had in the whole of bedford, so I've gone for a blue and navy ensemble for the wedding- I got a navy blue across body bag from primark and a white pashmeena to wear it with.
I was very tempted for some massive gold anchor earrings- to make it more nautical- but apparently it's not OK to have a dress theme for someone else's wedding unless they set one.
:(