Chinese meal with Poppy and Ben

Friday morning, Mas and I went for another short walk; as we left we saw Poppy and Ben and invited them for a meal when it was convenient for them. They said they would like to come over this evening. We saw Margaret, and gave her a birthday card, and chatted briefly.

I tidied up somewhat, while Mas went off to gather up a few missing ingredients for the Chinese meal he wanted to make tonight. Poppy and Ben came over as planned, and we had a fun evening chatting and eating; so much more fun than watching TV.

Today we had a bit of a lazy day, Mas spent time on the computer, and I went for a walk looking at the architectural styles around Edgware. In particular at some houses in a small road called Garden City where each house is painted a different pastel colour. They were built in 1920 by an E. Appleby.


















In the evening we watched one of the Rosemary and Thyme series.

Cat conumdrums and virus mysteries

On Monday after breakfast, Poppy called, and we walked with Lilu in the park, then down to Edgware as I had to buy something from Rymans. Mas spent a lot of time fitting the cat door today. Poppy also gave us an unusual dessert she had made from rice, cinnamon and lots of saffron; it had an subtle and rather perfumed taste, and it is fun to try different things.

Today the cat would not come through the cat door, and we found it had somehow got jammed open with the tunnel partially blocked. Salty refused to go near it, so we had to remove the whole contraption and just leave him a clear tunnel to run through, and gradually he began to use it again. I think somehow the door had snapped onto him as he was going through before.
















Joan sent this picture of a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, as he arrived in their tree so all the small birds wisely left; they must have known he thought they were breakfast.

I watched a Horizon programme about viruses on iplayer which I found fascinating. If they can be said to be both dead, and alive, when the conditions are right it sounds very much as if they have resurrections, and is it possible that they set up the life and death pattern that humans follow? Later Mas and I watched a Taggart together.

Coffee and crumpets

We ventured off to Stanmore before the predicted snowfall, to get some shopping, and had a coffee while we were there to break the monotony, and this was the highlight of the day. I am beginning to feel stir crazy.

Today we awoke to the predicted fresh snow fall



















We invited Poppy and Ben to come over for coffee and crumpets, and they did come over. We all chatted for a long time. We tried a different home made damson jam, and I suggested it should be called Park Jam as I had gathered the plums from the park. This was not considered a good idea generally. The jam itself was quite difficult to prise out of the jar as it had set rather too well. It was nice to have the cheerful company though.

In the evening we watched an episode of George Gently with Martin Shaw. We had seen this before, but it was a good story.

Shocking news

After another poor nights sleep we thought we would take it easy today, and Poppy called to see if we knew what was happening next door as they had seen the ambulance too. Mas went round to next door, and we found out that Glen was still in hospital. Mas invited Wynford and Barry to come round as we could cook something for them, but they were too distracted. In the evening Maheena and Satish called round and told us the shocking and sad news that Glen had died in the early evening. Everyone was stunned. They said they were going to tell Poppy and Ben next.
Mas was beginning to get a sore throat, so we took it easy all day, and kept warm, but I am sure both our minds kept wandering back to the sudden and unexpected death of our friend.
Today Poppy and Ben called around, both saddened and shocked by Glen's passing. They also bough some leftover dessert and a bottle of red wine which neither of them like. We took it easy again, Mas feeling somewhat worse, and both of us feeling exhausted.

Boxing Day

After a rather poor nights' sleep we had a late breakfast, and relaxed until 2.00pm. We had been invited to Poppy and Ben's for a meal with some of their family. Poppy had laid out a long table in their conservatory for the grown ups, and everything looked cheerful, bright and cosy.



















Poppy had made a huge meal with a roast chicken, lamb and a turkey, and rice cooked in a traditional Persian way, all of which were delicious. Later she served multiple desserts, which were also too tempting. At one point a sweet little 18month old girl was told by her mother to apologise to Lilu, the dog, for hitting her, which she did.

There was lots of laughter, and Ben was imitating the odd TV advert, making us laugh again. They have a really nice family, and everyone seemed so good natured. Eventually some people left, but we stayed on for a little while with them, before dragging ourselves home, across the road.

We were just getting ready to go to bed when we noticed that an ambulance was parked outside our next door neighbours' house. I noticed Glen and Wynford walk to the ambulance and get in, and it was a long time before it drove away; we wondered if Barry had been taken ill, or whether Glen had fallen and hurt an arm. We went to bed feeling rather concerned.

Feeling end of yearish

Salty was out all night again, and the reason was probably that he lost his collar, with the magnet on it ,and so he could not get in. Luckily it had not been so cold during the night. We went off to Borehamwood and bought another collar for him, and put it on him, with a spare magnet. Now he will look like a spectral cat at night...white with glowing eyes and a reflective collar. We deactivated the cat door until he gets used to the new adult cat collar. The Tabby cat found that the cat door was no longer locked for him, so came in at night and ate up all Salty's food as usual.

Mas continued to have problems with his recently opened bank account, and once again had to queue up in the bank to try to get it sorted out. It is like Ground Hog Day with these banks. Feeling fed up we had lunch in the pub, and came out feeling normal again (or what seems to pass for normal).

Today Mas had to visit the bank again, and when he came back he cleared up the last of the leaves from the front garden and cut the grass. I did the back garden accompanied by Salty.
This should be the last grass cutting this year!

Poppy called round, and we walked Lilu to the park. There were lots of different dogs in the park being walked by their owners. We got talking to a nice boy who was taking his dog Dizzy Rascal walking, but the puppy was not old enough to be taken off the lead yet. Poppy and Ben have also invited us to visit them on Boxing Day.

Party animal and racing dog.

In the morning I walked down to the library and poked about looking at the books and music for a while, and later Mas and I went to Stanmore to check our bank balances and look in some of the shops.

Salty went out as usual around seven in the evening. We watched a 'Lewis' detective story; they are putting one on each evening this week. This is a follow on series from 'Morse,' and is also set in Oxford with interesting and rather involved story lines. Luckily there is very little shouting or car crashes and the background music is good.

We prepared to go to bed, and Salty still had not shown himself; he usually returns for a snack before we go to bed, and the temperature suddenly dropped.

When we woke in the morning there was a thick frost everywhere, luckily Salty came indoors as we got up; I expected him to have frost bite on his toes, but he was looking as usual, but he had obviously had an active time, dancing the night away, as he slept all day without waking for food.












I walked down to Edgware went to the post office and made an appointment to get my eyes checked as it is about three years since I have been to an optician's.

Poppy called in for me, and we walked to Stonegrove Park with Lilu the dog. We walked round the park several times, but there were no other dog walkers around. Lilu rushed around like a miniature race horse looking very funny with bouncing ears and tail. She also ran through some muddy puddles, and chased Magpies.

When we walked home Poppy said she would bathe her dog when she got home; she had been for a job interview that morning and was waiting for a phone call with the results. Later she popped over and said she had got the job she wanted, which is excellent.

Mas and I watched a Poirot, with David Suchet and Hugh Fraser. I am always surprised by Hugh Fraser as he bears such a strong resemblance to my father, which is strengthened by the period setting. We also watched another episode of Lewis and eventually staggered off to bed with square eyes.

Thanksgiving meal

We planned to go swimming today, but somehow the time ran away and all we seemed to do was to go round one supermarket after another. Having generally exhausted ourselves we stayed home, and started preparing for the Thanksgiving meal tomorrow, and made ourselves a nice dinner in the process.

Today we tidied up the house and began the preparations for the meal. Poppy and Ben arrived first, quickly followed by Tania and Robert. Although we had put snacks in the conservatory, everyone was drawn naturally to the fire and we had drinks and chatted until Lorraine and Pete arrived.

I had previosly laid the dining room table, and we had our Thanksgiving meal in soft lighting with candlelight and sparkling white wine, followed by the red wine, and chatted for several hours; it was a very nice evening.

Lorraine and Pete stayed overnight, and the next day we had a light breakfast of pancackes and coffee, and spent time talking. Lorraine showed us pictures of the unusual house she will be buying soon.

After they left Mas and I, feeling at a bit of a loose end, took ourselves off to The Man in the Moon for a roast Sunday dinner. In the afternoon I listened to the classic serial on the radio: ' Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,' by John Le Carré.

Christian sent pictures from Basel which is having a food market, and everything gearing up for Christmas. In the evening we watched New Ticks, but it was rather a depressing episode. And so to bed.

Mas had to go off to the dentist again today, and came back with a very sensitive tooth. While he was away I cleared up and vacuumed as we were expecting Pete to come and stay overnight with us. we had also invited Poppy and Ben to come over for the evening and have a meal. Jana also flew back to the Czech Republic today.














Hibiscus flowering





Poppy and Ben arrived first and we sat in the conservatory chatting and having some drinks and nibbles; Poppy had made a lovely starter with aubergine and other ingredients. Ben was joking about some rather explicit books he had been trying to sell at the car boot which made us laugh a lot. Pete arrived looking very formal in a dark suit, and a bit tired. We went into the dining room when Mas called, and he had put out the meal which was chicken based and very nice followed by a blackberry crumble and a lemon meringue which Poppy had bought over, and we proceeded to overcook at the wrong oven temperature! Despite that we all had a cheery time together.

It was a nice evening, but we did not stay up too late as we were all rather tired.

Elstree car boot sale

After breakfast today Mas and I drove off to a local car boot sale, we knew Poppy and Ben would be there too, selling things, as we approached the place we saw lots of different people leaving holding bundles and bags of things they had bought looking very pleased.
There were rows of cars and vans spread over a couple of fields. We located Poppy and Ben, and Lilu was in their van; they had been there since 5.30am. We then went off to look at what was being sold elsewhere.

We found two good wicker chairs, and bought them for a total of £5.00. Ben and Poppy said they would take them home for us which was a great help. Mas and I wandered up and down until we got really thirsty and sat down and drank a coke each.














People began to pack away their goods, and I got talking to a lady about healthy diets. I bought a nice M&S silk shirt from her for 25p, and moving along, I saw a pretty blue sweater being folded and put away. I was offered 4 for £1.00, but just bought the sweater for 25p. We seem to have done well with our purchases, and Ben and Poppy were pleased with how much they had sold as well!

Cheerful evening and a cat on a hot person (not a hot tin roof)

I happened to see Wynford so invited him to come over for a glass of wine and snack this evening. Mas and I got a little shopping, and I saw Poppy come home so I invited her to come over as well with Ben.

They all came over about 7.30, and we spent the evening in the conservatory, and as we chatted a large apple and blackberry crumble disappeared. Poppy and Ben had bought Lila with them, so our cat would not come indoors, but at times he was looking timidly through his cat door at us.

We had a really nice evening, and as Poppy and Ben were leaving they invited us all to come to a BBQ with them tomorrow afternoon.
Our cat was miaowing piteously through the cat door as it had now begun to rain. We took some time with him reassuring him that the dog had left and things were back to normal. Unusually, he spent all night sleeping on the bed, pressed like a snake alongside my leg making me feel very hot indeed.

Sociable sunny days.

I went off to Edgware to the library and bank, and Mas went off and collected lots of shopping. Walking down Station Road I noticed that The Brothers restaurant has closed down again. We spent many hours in the Brothers when the original brothers owned this restaurant, years ago, drinking very good coffee or their excellent house wine and eating huge baked potatoes.

We were invited round to Poppy and Ben's for coffee, so we went about 4.30 in the afternoon and spent a long time talking, playing with Lila and drinking coffee and eating an apple crumble straight out of the oven. We reluctantly dragged ourselves away, and home, across the road.

Today we set off to St. Albans and got our groceries; this young King Charles Spaniel was attracting a lot of attention; especially from the children.



















Once we had our shopping we drove off to Tania and Robert's for lunch. Tania had made a delicious meal with very tender lamb, and a light dessert.

Tania wanted to show us the area in which she had been working, taking care of people around Great Gaddesdon in Hertfordshire. We drove first to Ivinghoe Beacon which is a prominent landmark in the Chiltern Hills, and site of an iron age fort, and as the name suggests has been used as a beacon.














While we were in the area we noticed an apple tree covered in apples and decided to gather some to make apple pies. We found the best method was to shake the apples out of the tree. We gathered them up, with a lot of banter from Robert, quickly and went back to the car. During this time Mas had been chatting to a group of people, and when we came back he was not there, and Tania immediately thought they had taken him away; he was looking at a huge white carving of a lion cut out of the side of one of the hills, and gliders drifting silently around another hill.

We drove around Ashridge, through the woods, and saw a deer walking through the trees. We also saw Asridge College which specialises in senior management courses now, but has a seven hundred year history and was rebuilt in the Gothic style by James Wyatt in the early 1800s. http://www.http//home.btconnect.com/peter-grainger/rhs/ashridgecollege.html

We drove through Great Gaddesdon, admiring some of the Tudor architecture, and also Little Gaddesdon; it felt really refreshing to see so much of the beautiful countryside with rolling hill. Eventually we returned to Tania and Robert's place for tea and ginger cake, and she gave me some of the herbs from her garden.

We drove home through golden evening sunshine, and had a warm welcome from Salty when we got back.

More poodling around

I spoke to Pete today, and went down to Edgware later to get shopping. I saw Ben fixing his gate so stopped to chat while Lila watched us from the garden. Mas spent some time trying to fix our video player, and worked on the computer.

















Lila

I did some gardening, and planted the rhubarb root that Tania had given us. Later I made dinner making stuffed peppers so that I could use lots of parsley (if it was good enough for the Romans it is good enough for me, and I don't go along with the quote " parsley is ghastly"), mint and Bulgar wheat.

Poppy and Ben called round with Lila, chatted and had a coffee and I managed to get these photos despite Lila getting bouncy and excitable; she is a lovely dog. Later we watched a Taggart before going to bed.

Good company and cat sleepover

Today we went up to St. Albans and got our shopping before going round to Tania and Robert's house for a leisurely and tasty lunch. Tania showed me what is growing in her garden, and we all chatted for a while before Robert and Tania took us off to see where Butterfly World is being made, it will be the worlds largest collection of butterflies. The drive to the site is through a meadow of wild flowers, we got out of the car to admire them. There is a mixture of varieties and colours that is absolutely stunning. http://www.futuregardens.org/feature.php

We drove back to their house and then Mas and I dragged ourselves away and drove home feeling rather tired. We unloaded all the fruit and vegetables.
Poppy called in to see whether we had the Swine flu, because she would give us medication if needed, but after answering a few questions it was clear we have a different bug. We talked for a while, and as Poppy left she said if we did not want Salty she would have him.

During the night Salty jumped onto the bed, bringing his hedgehogs with him, and lay on my feet. I eased him off as he is quite heavy now, and he spent the night sleeping on the bed instead of playing outside in the garden. I think he must have understood what Poppy said!

Short Haired Bumble Bee and Best Dressed Lady

Last night I heard that the Short Haired Bumble Bee (Bombus Subterraneous) is being reintroduced to England, back to Kent. It was taken to New Zealand to help with the pollination of red clover, which was used as cattle fodder, more than 100 years ago. This bee lives underground, as its name suggests, and has a usefully long tongue, and looks as if it has just had a sharp haircut. It has been extinct here since 1988; let us hope it will survive.

We went shopping, and did lots of gardening today, and in the evening watched The Contract, with Morgan Freeman and John Cusak which was entertaining.

Poppy laughingly told us that when in Guernsey she was recently voted the best dressed lady at the races, and was on the front page of The Guernsey Press paper, and won a bottle of champagne.

Kindness and returning friends

Today was another sunny hot day. We went off to St. Albans, and were surprised at how clear the roads were for a Saturday. Mas started shopping, and I went off to see if I could find The Rock Guy who sells all manner of beautiful stones which I always like looking at. He only works in the market on a Saturday. When I a saw him he asked me how I was, and I told him. He gave me a small piece of Petalite which he said was a good preventative for many illnesses, told me how to meditate with the stone and how to cleanse it afterwards. He would not take any payment which is typical of him.

We hurried to the Bua Thai restaurant and met Tania and Robert for lunch there, and caught up with all their news. We got a little more fruit afterwards, and I drove home while Mas snoozed. When we got home we saw Poppy's car and Ben's van parked opposite our house, so knew they had come back from Guernsey where they have been living for some time. The people who had been renting their house called by to say goodbye, and said they had found another flat to live in.

Kittens picture sent by Joan

Flying visits, phone calls and snow.

Yesterday Poppy and Ben paid us a flying visit, sadly we could not spend much time together as they had been unexpectedly delayed. Poppy did have time to tell me her good news; she is expecting a baby! Mas took them off to the station in plenty of time for them to catch their plane, and we hope it will not be too long before we see them again.

Monika phoned and we spent almost an hour talking! I did some cooking and made a soup with broccoli, tomato, garlic and sweet potato which was very filling. By mistake we began to eat the nougat (which tastes rather too nice)that Poppy and Ben had given us, while we watched a spooky film (that made no sense at all) on TV. Later I spoke to Diane who has just spent a week away visiting her family.

This morning we woke up to find it snowing.