Happy Halloween.

Samhain blessings to all those who celebrate the old ways.

And for those who just enjoy the silliness and fun of Halloween a funny from Simon's Cat.

Arilx

The Time of the Ancestors

As the wheel turns again and we approach Samhain, my thoughts turn to  the thinning of the veil and to my own personal ancestors, both those known and unknown. Probably because it was her birthday on 19th October memories of my Nana have been at the fore.

Born in 1903 Nana was of the generation which saw great changes. She left school at 12 and always embraced new technology. Back in the 1980s she was the first in the family to have a microwave- anything which saved time and labour got her vote. For her having had to do everything manually it must have been a marvel- she was always one to drive rather than walk! I suspect had she been alive today she would have been up to speed with the internet and using a mobile phone.

During the 1920s she had her hair cut into a bob and shingled up the back. Quite what her parents thought I have no idea! The week was spent making a new Flapper dress for the dance at the weekend and Saturday morning practising her dance steps on a wooden floor with her friend. The noise they made must have driven anyone else in the house to distraction. If she wasn't overly keen on her current boyfriend she was known on occasion to arrange to meet him on the corner at a specific time but actually stand him up in order to meet another chap elsewhere.

Later on in life, after she had been widowed, she turned down the marriage proposal of an old miser she was housekeeping for with the famous putdown "I wouldn't marry you if your arse was stuffed full of diamonds". I would imagine that he knew where he stood after than particular exchange. Eventually she married for a second time- her husband had also been bereaved. They were the remaining partners of their best friends and had got to know one another because they had adjacent beach huts. Widowed again, at 77 she spent three months in Australia and New Zealand visiting family and friends. She died in 1988.

Arilx

Breaking Old Habits and Breaking In New Ones.

[Image from Freeimages.com]

Confession time [it's ok you don't need to run for the hills I am not about to air my dirty laundry in public!] I am a book addict. Always have been and always will be. Despite previous pledges to myself to curb my habit by not buying new books, I simply worked out effective ways to get round it- you can get your hands on a surprising number of books via the charity shops, jumble sales, freecycle and even friends kindly passing them over. This freestyle approach brings me into contact with all sorts of unexpected treasures along with the odd shocker or two which are rapidly abandoned. I have no patience with anything that doesn't engage me quickly or is badly written! Part of the joy of this is the sharing of my passion- books are quickly passed on for the next reader to enjoy [or not as the case may be] and for this reason alone I am not a Kindle devotee [having said that I can see the many advantages of owing one]. Until they manage to make the Kindle smell like a real book I'm sticking with the old technology.

Back in the day I studied English and American Studies. It was a degree with a huge amount of reading involved which took me along many avenues. Sadly one the lasting legacies for me though has been an absolute aversion to reading any type of book which might be termed a "classic". The problem has been that it has killed the reading for pleasure aspect for me as the overwhelming urge to pick up a pen and start marking up the text has become so ingrained. In reality the only book I have read since that period which would fall into this category is Jane Eyre and even that was many years ago. However, dear chum W has just passed her English MA and she passed over a couple of copies of duplicate texts she had. Initially when she asked me if I was interested my natural instinct was to decline, but I accepted her kind gift. The two books have been moved around my reading pile since the summer and you would be amazed at the level of resistance I put up to even actually starting them. This week though I have made a breakthrough and begun "Far From the Madding Crowd". Having spent forever studying Tess of the D'Urbervilles I swore that I would never read Hardy again. Even a chapter or so in I was still contemplating jumping ship but I have persisted and am now up to chapter eight. I am so thrilled that I have finally got into it and I am really enjoying it. Long may it continue- next up is Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde!

As for my book buying habit- why only this morning the marvel that is the second hand market place on Amazon provided me with my latest title- The Reader's Digest of Folklore, Myths and Legends. Yes siree- I have bought myself my Christmas present to me from Mr GBT. That way I haven't "really" bought it have I!!

Arilx

What a difference a decade makes.

Go back ten years- one small person resplendent in his homemade wizard's cloak.

Tonight the teenager is going out  to the first of this week's Halloween parties he's attending complete with a scythe dressed as the Grim Reaper. Actually he's gone full circle except this time round it will involve copious amounts of witch's brew!

Arilx

P.S. He tells me that he won't be travelling on the bus in his fancy dress costume- spoilsport!!

Reinventing the Wheel

Now I like brandy and I like butter but not together. I am similarly peculiar about Christmas pud...once again I am fond of all the components separately yet not all combined into one. I have pondered this and still am unable to fathom why. For this reason we always have an alternative come the big day.

Having strained the Christmas Pudding vodka yesterday [and yes it tastes delicious] I thought it a shame to waste all that lovely fruit which has been soaking away for the last week and when housesparkling I hit upon the idea of somehow reusing them in an icecream. I wish I was one of these imaginative people who could just open their fridge door, view their leftovers and produce gorgeous food there and then. Sadly I am definitely not in this camp so it always requires forethought and planning with me. Yesterday I whipped up a pot of cream and then stirred in the said fruit, checking first that all little dastardly cloves and bits of cinnamon stick had been removed- no one wants to lose a filling when they inadvertently gnaw on a twig do they now! Originally I had intended to stir in some sifted icing sugar to add a little more sweetness but I swapped that for the leftover custard I found lurking in the big white box. It's now safely frozen and here's hoping that I have managed to create my own version of a Christmas pudding icecream!

Whilst on a roll I've also got my act together and made the sloe gin. Intent on finding a use for all those lovely sloes once they've done their duty I now hear wicked rumours that you can make sloe sherry with the little blighters. This recipe is calling me http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/sloe-sherry-recipe-104/

Arilx

Autumn Glory

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolour, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all."
Stanley Horowitz.

I know everyone is busy posting up foliage photos at the moment but it's not hard to see why. These two glorious examples are within spitting distance of my home. I enjoy their beauty all the more because they are transient. The leaves will probably be down by the end of the week.

Arilx

Guard Doglet

One wonders what the hell the smallest woof could be...quite make my tiny mind boggle!!

Arilx