Thursday 27 November 2014

A late autumn walk…

We regularly try to get out for a walk to enjoy the countryside around our village and are fortunate that within 50m of our house we are on a public footpath, which leads into the fields. Saturday started grey and murky, but by mid afternoon the skies had cleared and there was just enough time for a five mile walk before we settled to watch the Wales v New Zealand All Blacks autumn international match. As rugby officianados will know it was a case of ‘so near, and yet so far’!

What did we see?

Sheep, which links well with both Wales and New Zealand.

P1020049

Houses nestling into the hillside.

P1020052

Reflections …

P1020058

Unfortunately the site of these photographs is all along the proposed route of HS2.

Some fungi…

P1020060

P1020063

Linking with Susan's post yesterday I wondered whether this is an Ivory Funnel mushroom as this seemed to be the closest to the identification in my guide. Later, reading Colin and Elizabeth's blog, by coincidence they had posted about what they originally thought to be the deadly poisonous Ivory Funnel, but later identified as a Snowy Waxcap – their photographs are much better. The habitat was as described in my guide; pasture land, on the edge of open woodland. I’m sure someone will point me in the right direction!

P1020064

P1020065

Lichen…

P1020068

An interesting post box…

P1020066

No doubt these same fields would have looked very different on March 19th 1643, as the Royalists and the Parliamentarians fought the battle of Hopton Heath.  Although a small battle by Civil War standards, the Battle of Hopton Heath is considered so important it is one of only forty-two in English Heritage's register of major national battlefields. It was a bloody battle too. Although only five hundred men out of roughly two and a half thousand on the field died, they were slaughtered in a matter of hours. You can find out more about the battle here.

P1020070

Thursday 20 November 2014

Fungi…

When we got back to the UK the first job to be done, after sorting the heating, was to rake up the leaves from the gardens and driveways. The leaves filled seven of the very large (one tonne) builders bags, and are still falling!

P1010975

As we were raking we came across a few fungi on the lawn areas.

We’d had a couple of walks in France with friends, Colin & Elizabeth and Susan & Simon, where we’d spotted some wonderful fungi. Feeling an ignoramus I ordered a couple of books to aid identification.

P1010983

They are good with lots of excellent photographs and information, but don’t include a key. A key would help to narrow down the identification and is always a useful tool to get started.

P1010999

P1010997

P1010986

Honey fungus.

P1010993

Dog lichen.

P1010995

P1010996

I think this is a Waxcap of sorts. Parrot perhaps?

P1010991

Sunday 16 November 2014

Welcome home…

At 2am on Friday morning to:

A very cold house,

An empty oil tank.

A broken boiler,

No hot water,

An electric shower fuse explosion,

P1010982

Pouring rain,

P1010978

Leaves to be raked up

P1010975

A leaky roof (although our very good neighbours, Rory and Gill, have obtained estimates for the replacement ridge tiles, damaged in the recent storms)

and

A stinking cold.

Thank goodness for the Boots Vapour Rub, even if it is 20 years out of date! My excuse is that whilst working I was exposed to all sorts of bugs, but I rarely caught a cold!

P1010984

P1010985

By 8am I was ready to book our trip back to Le Petit-Pressigny. Luckily by 2pm, with the exception of the cold, normal service had been resumed! Thanks, Tim.

P1010979

Despite the problems it feels good to be back, and we’re looking forward to catching up with family and friends.Rhiannon and Stuart popped in with some flapjack and chocolate shortbread, and to expose my ‘out of date’ cold remedy…

Monday 10 November 2014

At last…

Eleven pairs of doors, all to be lifted off their hinges, carried down to the sous sol and laid on the suitably covered table tennis table.

P1010869

This is the outside of the doors, which, prior to retirement, would be exposed to the elements in their closed position for about ten months of the year.

P1010870

Three thousand, seven hundred and sixty eight individual louvres to be rubbed down, undercoated and given two coats of ‘top coat’. A staggering eleven thousand in total!

P1010871

Half a dozen doors to be filled.

Two doors to have new pieces of wood scarfed in (scarphed, according to Wikipedia). Not the best photograph!

P1010872

 

One pair of doors to undergo this process a total of three times before the colour and finish was deemed to be right. We did have an attempt with one set of doors in 2012, which you can read about here. We eventually decided on white!

P1010849

Around one hundred and fifty hours of unpaid labour. I was going to write ‘unpaid work’, but in probation service terms this has an altogether different meaning!

P1010444

Your shutter painters extraordinaire.

At last…

Sunday 2 November 2014

October CCC…

For the October meeting of the Loire valley Clandestine Cake Club Tim baked a gluten free, date and ginger cake. It must also be said that when we were discussing cakes which fitted in with the theme, another consideration was to use up some of the items in our store cupboard which wouldn’t keep until next spring. The last time we used this rectangular silicone ‘tin’ the sides spread out, leading to a very distorted cake, so this was Tim’s ingenious way of ensuring it didn’t happen again.

P1010612

P1010613

The finished cake…

P1010617

Jean and Nick kindly hosted the event in their lovely new home. The idea is that at the meetings one samples very small portions of the some cakes on offer (along with some tea and/or sparkles), and then at the end of the meeting to take home a slice of a few of the cakes to enjoy later. There was a splendid array of delicious cakes.

P1010637

Jean starting off the meeting with Simon in pole position to taste.

My effort was a Nigella inspired chocolate fruit cake. My reason for baking this was to try out the recipe I’m thinking of using for my Christmas cake, although my nod to the Autumn theme came in the form of the chopped almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and pistachios sprinkled on the top. The cake was rather rich, but I think it would work as a Christmas cake.

P1010618

P1010619

To round off the afternoon we won the raffle! I think after sampling such delicious baking, the Lorraine Pascal book is most apt!

P1010847