October Daughters

Two of my daughters were born in October, a few days short of eighteen years apart.

Up at the top of the garden where Middle Daughter sat caring for the fire, we watched the darkening sky while food for a joint birthday celebration was being prepared in the house, tasty layers of minced lamb with chopped onion, tomato and aubergine, all wrapped in foil to be cooked on the fire.

By the time the food was cooked and we were eating these lamb burgers inside rolls it was quite dark. I enjoyed my roll and shall try the same mixture again but maybe cooked in the house. We don't do enough cooking on open fires to be expert at it. Perhaps we should practise more!

Pear and chocolate pudding cake followed. This was a roaring success. I shall make it again with some tweaks to the topping. The chocolate I used this time was dairy free for the sake of Middle Daughter's partner and, even with  dollop of vegetable fat spread in place of the butter I usually use and a good squirt of golden syrup, the high concentration of cocoa solids still made it set quite hard. The cake itself was perfect in its variety of textures from gooey centre to just crisp edges, with the pears giving an interesting–and delicious–taste and texture contrast.

We tried to light cake candles but a wind had sprung up and blew them out straight away.

When the older generation (Toad and me) took ourselves to bed the October daughters and their friends spent another hour or so first by the bonfire and then in the warm kitchen.

 Pear and apple pudding without its topping (which can be cream, ice-cream or custard rather than (or as well as!) chocolate if you like) and then, below, with eyes!

pear eyes

I found the recipe on the website baldhiker.com. It is by someone called Sally Laker.

Family gathering for mum's birthday

My mum and her five children together for her 88th birthday. Note to self: put satchel down for photo shoots. I've forgotten why I was carrying my sister's cardigan.

<< This pic shows my niece-in-law with her baby, my new great-niece, my eldest daughter, my sister, Mum, and my eldest niece. Below are my eldest nephew, Mum, eldest brother, uncle (mum's brother; my dad was an only child).

Mum has five kids, fourteen grandkids and, so far, five great-grandkids, with two more due this month.

I have two grandchildren, bro holding onto mum on the bank is about to become a grandad, next bro has three grankids (one of whom is just visible in the background; she didn't want to be photographed), and one due soon.

Because of my broken arm, DerbyshireDaughter and I travelled by train and bus from her house in Derbyshire (on the Manchester side of the Dark Peak) via Preston, to the meetup on the eastern edge of the Lancashire Fylde.

Penguin Cake

After the card and present opening, grandson 'DoubleAitch', whose fourth birthday it is today, tried on his new cowboy outfit while his big brother broke eggs into the cake mixture (DoubleAitch wants a penguin cake) and helped stir.

breaking eggs

DerbyshireDaughter has been reading the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher's Stone, to BigBrother so when they'd all come back from a jaunt down to the loch beach for 'treasure', they settled down to watch the film on DVD while I embarked on my first attempt at cake decorating that needed to go a bit further than slapping some water icing on it. I'm more of a cake than a cake decorations person.

Once I finished playing with icing, melted chocolate, black candles for a penguin beak, and a few sweets the four film watchers (DoubleAitch, HisBigBrother, their mum, and their aunty Toadlet) paused the DVD for a few moments while they scraped out the icing and melted chocolate bowls.

sticky dips

Soapy water was provided for destickifying and then the penguin was (cough!) admired. It's a roaring success! It makes people laugh 😂 and it'll taste just fine.

Penguin cake extraordinaire!

Toadlet's pals say it's a demon. These are the same pals who've nicknamed me "Shady" 😀

A sweet basket and some pelargoniums

It was my birthday yesterday and a friend sent me the sweetest little basket in the world. Check out the maker, Lois Walpole's, website.

beauty out of detritus

Since it was a dryish day and the pond level was low, I spent some time pulling gunk out of it. I liked the tree reflections.

pond reflecting

Then I spent some time on one of my favourite activities, pulling dead wood out of hedges. All but a few twigs of this are fuchsia wood. Nice to know it's not immortal. I must try and discover how to kill some more. Boggy Brae fuchsia is invasive and monstrous. We're not dealing with sweet little hanging basket plants here!

sticks for kindling

I bought some pelargoniums earlier in the year. The Lord Bute turned his toes up and fell into a mortal decline. P. Ardens has a fungal infection but since I stopped speaking to her she seems to be making an effort. She's the one on the right. I've just discovered that she is "flat-growing" so I guess a hanging basket would suit her well. The other two, moving leftwards, are 'Pauline Harris' and 'Ruth Lesley' and seem to be coming along allright.

Meanwhile, I've taken cuttings from a plant a friend gave me and shoved them into plant pots containing other plants. In good Boggy Brae style, the cuttings are now being vigorous.

A February visit to the Derbyshire family

Toadlet's Argyll school half-term holiday week coincided this time with that of my elder grandson's Derbyshire school. The same week contained my younger grandson's third birthday so Toadlet and I went south a-visiting. The following day was cold but bright so we headed out for a welly walk in Swallows Wood nature reserve.

                         

                          Found a bench, took a mug shot.

one poser ;)

two posers

Spotted some Water Figwort in the mud

A view looking back

We tramped up a hill well-trodden by cattle and horses. Just as well it was such a cold day and the ground a little frozen or we'd probably have lost a welly or two.

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The next day was 'Piglet's' birthday. Toadlet was on cake decoration duty. Piglet had asked for a blue chocolate cake with a reindeer, at least that was DerbyshireDaughter's interpretation of his specifications! It tasted good.

There was more cake baking the following day as some of us felt in need of a grown-ups' cake. DD made this blueberry cake from Kymmy's Kitchen on Facebook. She used a mixture of berries and I think she used a different cream cheese icing recipe. 'Moo' (elder grandson, age six) took me on a walk in the drizzle through ginnels and back ways to the nearest icing-sugar shop as DD had run out of it. He instructed me in my first use of a self-checkout and then, on the way home, tested me on whether I'd been listening to him on the way! At one point Toadlet answered a question. He said: "Don't tell her!" My 'creative' sense of direction is a family joke. I keep pointing out that I get unlost as often as I get lost.

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On the last day of our visit the weather was fine again so we went for a day out to Tatton Park. That is a brave pose by Moo on the wooden pig as he'd already tried and fallen off with quite a bump! His dad was making sure of no further falls when I took this photo.

A noticeable fungus on an old tree

With DD and Toadlet both giving directions, the latter from the satnav on her iPhone, and the former saying "Follow the road signs!" (Daddy and the boys went in a separate car as neither vehicle would hold us all) I made no wrong turns, the car didn't choose any extra-circuitous scenic routes on the way back. Just around the corner from where DD lives, we stopped to take in the last of the day's light.

Yesterday Toadlet and I came home. Rain and strong winds from the South Lakes to the Boggy Brae in Argyll and it's still pouring. It has been a wet winter even by wet western Britain standards.

Thimbly and toady mycology on my birthday

In search of a birthday present for me, Toad and Toadlet found themselves in the haberdashery part of a department store. Toadlet was intrigued by the word. What could it mean?

They found out and also found me some "heavy duty" fabric scissors. Fiskars have added some extra leverage to scissors, it seems, doubling their cutting power–great for cutting through several layers of fabric. I shall enjoy using them.

Scissors also turned up on one of my birthday cards. My friends know me well!

The mycological theme (see wrapping paper above) repeated itself in a thimble

and in a froggy, or could it be a toady, ornament?

Roses too:

What with newsy letters, cards and greetings from friends and family far and wide, I had a most enjoyable day. Thank you all.