Singing Chicken

Here I sit trying to catch up with the Christmas blog posts. The fire is crackling, my little brass lantern is revolving with a scented red tealight under it, my little Christmas spice cushion is on the settee, cat on fireside rug beside me (and paertially in the first photo) there's a jigsaw on the table behind me, the room is in a sort of Christmassy chaos with each of three nesting tables are in awkward places around the room causing us to take circuitous routes, each covered with jigsaw pieces, bowls of crisps, mince pies, glasses of drink, Christmassy CD's and chocolates, two settees taken up with rolls of wrapping paper which is now redundant for a year, tissue paper (for making hats), now also redundant, books I like to look at every Christmas, some presents, then the presents spilling out from their places under the tree, the odd few escaped spruce needles (but the plan does basically work), Radio Times, remote controls, cake and pie tins, teapot, mugs lying about the floor waiting to be slipped or stamped on. If someone called it would be embarrassing, but then they just don't, so that's OK.

I never really caught up with the preparations. Ended up taking the rest of the cracker bits to the rellies' with me and making them there, but here's what I photographed at home.




You get the bits together. Novelties: in this case, a gent's hanky and a potato brush. I believe in only using novelties which have a use.I get pends, rubbers, wine stoppers, bath fizzers, pocket tissues, teaspoons...anything small and not too expensive.

Two Foody-hand-made paper hats (which are always too big because I make them to fit me and I have curly hair, for which I forget to compensate!
2 jokes, courtesy of Kippers Dickie, two snaps (which I buy from an art shop) and this year for the first time, chocolate bombs as well. I didn't use loo roll holders. That would be a bit unsavoury.I just save a tube from wrapping papper and get hubby to saw it up for me.




Lay out the cracker paper then cut it into three bits. It doesn't work to just twist or crimp the cracker paper; it tears. Pinking scissors make a nice ziggy edge.




Stick foil between the bits of cracker paper.

Roll up the tubes stuffed with the goodies. Secure. Crimp the foil by winding string round them.

But here's why I think I won't have to!

Photo was taken today, Day 6.
One of our cars still stuck in a drift, abandoned in a 3 foot drift on Tuesday night. I am about 5 feet and I sunk in up to the top of my leg and still didn't touch the bottom. We were trying to go out to town but should never have tried. Took a shovel and wellies but could not dig the stuff; it was so sticky and was freezing hard, compacting under the car and round the wheels. There was a gale and it was driving horizontal so we had to give up. Net day got a farmer in a pick-up to take us to get it off the road at least, but he got stuck. Along came a landrover and he pulled the pick-up out, then pulled our car out of the drift but had to leave it at the side of the road and there it still is.

Walking back was grim. The ground isn't where you think it is and the wind was making the snow swirl about, which was quite mesemerising. It was just like steam whirling around and you couldn't see the surface of the snow or lift your face to see the way (in the dark) because it smacked and stung the face and sucked your breath away.



We walked 2 1/2 miles to the garage shop on Thursday, to see how the road was. This was it. It was OK for walking but too icy and snow too high in the middle even for tall Daihatsus.



Had another look yesterday. Here's the view on the way back.

Man who always has too much to say had a big "go" at the Council and they came yesterday with a snow plough and gritter, and that got stuck!

It has been fun. We have begun swopping food with neighbours. I handed over some potatoes and onions for a box of eggs. Tried to make Yorkshire pud on Thursday without egg. If only I had thought to use SR flour and not plain! They finished up as Yorkshire crisps!

If somebody needed an ambulance I don't know what would happen. However, each day the sun thaws about 1/4 inch off the top, but it re-freezes overnight. The farmers drive out each day in tractors, landrovers and quad bikes so gradually the snow gets whittled away. I hate to see it all driven over but life has to go on.

The Christmas journey brought more and made our trip to the rellies,I haven't even mentioned the Christmas journey. I didn't expect snow to be lying on main 'A ' trunk dual carriageways. It was very frightening and I was on tenterhooks the whole time. Some people just behaved as if it was a normal warm, sunny day, whizzing past at about 80, up each other's bumpers. Looking into the the passing hoary white trees with mediaeval carols playing was very atmospheric.

Don't make me go back to work tomorrow!!!!!

A fresh fall of snow overnight so once again the only prints in the snow were mine and the birds and animals. I wish I could tell the difference between a rabbit and a hare. Something hare-like ran across the road in front of me.

Oh, the cat killed a robin on Sunday and I fear it was "mine". He hasn't appeared since, flying along the ground in front of me in the before-light, "tic ticking" from fence posts, flitting about barely visible, like a little sprite.

Had to smash the ice on the ponies' spring again. Will have to ask the poor lad who's feeding them over Christmas to do likewise. He's got a walk of over a mile to his own pony, then another mile to mine, which makes about 2 or 3 miles home. I feel so guilty so I must buy him something nice.
What do you buy for a 17 year old who has just passed his driving test, works on a farm, goes to college part-time and loves his pony? I know nothing of youngsters, especially of teenage boys.



This is not Singing Chicken Land. It's from the web. Aargh, it's snowing now, even here where I work, close to the Laughing Turkey Hills. You know, we have not seen a postman since Friday. If I hadn't finished my shopping I'd be so cross. Just because it's snowing. Can't they keep a little fleet of Landrovers, or even walk, to get to people down ungritted, unclassified lanes? I know it would take them many more hours but couldn't they call on extra people to help? Next time I'm in the Post Office I'm going to ask if I can have stuff sent for nothing because we're not getting the service. We are getting out and in every day in our little Terios, which is nothing fancy. Postmen, it's a poor show.



Started on my crackers last night but forgot to photo them. It got too late so I'll have to finish them at the rellies. Will post a photo over Christmas - well, before they're pulled. The reason for the flurry of activity on the blog was because I thought I wouldn't be online over Christmas and I wanted to get all these things on before I finished work. Today is my last day before Christmas. Yahoo!!! I've now decided to take the laptop home so when I return from the rellies (if we get there in the first place) I'll maybe do a bit, but it won't be much.

I have a new follower but as I seemed to frighten the last number 3 off, I will just see what happens for a little while. Thank you, no.3, for at least calling.

Well, I will have to dash. A dying person wants an emergency will. Merry Chrstmas to one and all and thank you for your interest in the Chicken this year. I hope you hve lovely, lovely times.

First, the pies. I had pies to make to take to church carol service last night, pies to take into work today - it's something I do every year - pies to take to hub's Folk Club on Tuesday, pies to take to the rellies at Christmas and pies to just eat here. This is a picture of the pie-making scene on Saturday.



This is a picture after all Saturday's 71 pies were made. That isn't enough for all the different batches so I made another 29 and a half on Sunday, the half being the little runty one with no top, which the cook gets to eat. 100 and a half pies!

I forgot to photograph most of the food we had with our friends on Saturday. I had made pate on Thursday night (Tower Slow Cooker book gourmet pate)and that turned out very well. We had that with toast and salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Next was roast em... was it topside? Anyway, it was beef. I have to say I found it a bit tough, which was embarrassing. This came with gravy, Yorkshire pudding, carrots in orange juice, roast and mashed potato, leeks and roasted beetroot a la Hairy Bikers.



For afters, pear and chocolate tart with cream, and this was the only dish I remembered to photograph, and that was after we had eaten what we wanted.

Sorry, but there's more. I iced the two Christmas cakes on Sunday.



First. roll out the icing and coat the cake. Then cut out little pieces of holly with a little cutter.



Then arrange the holly leaves on the cakes, sticking them on with egg white.



Then put on the gold balls. They need a nice gold ribbon. Oops. There's a piece of icing missing from the square one.

I don't make my own icing. When I made Royal icing once, I needed a pneumatic drill ot break it. When I made fondant, it was walking towards the door to meet us when we returned form a carol service, so I buy blocks of fondant icing now.

To finish, a funny. I made this a couple of years ago and photographed it.

Here is a poor photo of the Norway Spruce. I do wish I could catch it in dim light with the lights twinkling. I tried and tried but the automatice flash will insist on going off and it looks rather cheerless. The curtains just look terrible and don't help the tree. It is much nicer in real life. Pity about the telly being there too but it had to be, to get the whole tree in. I could crop it but I haven't got time!

Under the tree and all the presents, there is a large square of red material. Under that is newspaper and under that some black bin bags. Any needles that fall will end up on the red material as it stretches far enough out from the tree to catch them.

I water the tree every day I remember; it is in a cold place by the window.

Of course when I wriggle in to shut the curtains or get some books off a shelf which is outside the picture, by crawling on my belly under the branches and string tether, I do drag needles out with me but try to shake them onto the red cloth before proceeding away from the tree.

When it's time to take the tree down, we spread any old tablecloths and dust sheets round about the tree, to cover a big area, take all the decs off then get the secateurs and saw in and start lopping branches and twigs off, letting them fall on the cloths etc. We put the branches and twigs into bin bags and carry them outside. Then we take out the trunk carefully. There isn't much left on it by now, but we give it a good shake onto the cloths. Then finally we roll up all the cloths which contain all the needles and take them outside where we unroll and shake them. There may be a few stray needles on the carpet after all that but really hardly any, so that's how we enjoy a needle-free real tree!

For Kath to know, we too could do with half a tree! With hanging all the decs on just one side, hub is afraid it'll fall over into the room so he tethers it with two lengths of string attached to two little hooks he has screwed into the window frame.

What a surprise to wake up to snow on Saturday. Although we had heard it was coming soon, I don't think anyone said when. It's very pretty, and I know all the blogs will be full of snow pics, but still I'm going to post one. It isn't from this year, it's probably from February 2007, and is rather similar to the one I posted not long ago, except it has no characters in it.

I feel I hardly saw Saturday. It was the typical last weekend before Christmas and I was trying, all at the same time, to prepare for friends coming for the evening (see other post about weekend food), hang up Christmas cards, light the fire, deliver cards on foot, clean, email people about Christmas food and presents, take down the hanging basket (at last), show my Christmas holiday pony feeder how and where to get and put the hay etc, then a man with a van came to the door and asked if we had a shovel. He had been fixing someone's boiler and couldn't get out of the village so we were digging under his van and going back and forth to the roadside grit box to clear two tyre tracks for him. Between all this I made over 70 mince pies (see said food post).

The friends rang at 3 to say they might have to cancel because their mile long drive was icebound. I offered to collect them if they would walk to the top of it. I don't know why they didn't seem to want to take up the offer and began thinking that maybe they had some other reason for not really wanting to come. I'm doing a conveyancing job for them that is not going very well and I thought they must be disenchanted with me. However, they rang at five and said they were going to "go for it". Hooray! It turned out they were having other problems whuch they hadn't mentioned on the phone. It's typical. I always think it must be some problem they have with me, but it wasn't.

We just weren't ready when they came. There was lots of cooking still to do and heaps of dirty crockery everywhere and cluttered surfaces. Stuff had to go on the floor or in front of cupboard doors, then one of us would open the door and send a heap of oven shelves crashing to the floor, then the other one would trip over some baking trays. We would then have to laugh very obviously, even if we didn't feel like it, because we didn't want them thinking the meal and the visit were inconvenient in any way. In the end, once we were all eating and the work was done, it was a very relaxing, warm, cosy evening.

On reflection, this post is a bit boring and all that I didn't want my blog to be!

Before I begin, that John Lewis chocolate is absolutely fine. I mean the one whose outer wrapper got drenched in cleaning fluid.

Today's advent calendar pic was a cockerel.

My two great lovxes about Christmas are carols and food. Over these 2 or 3 weeks, I'm listening to tapes and CD's of traditional carols but my absolute favourites this year are two CD's - one of Hereford Cathedral choir (the catherdral with the enormous stove!)and one of the Cambridge Singers singing exclusively John Rutter arrangements and compositions. I was loving "Walking in the Air" - the original with Peter Auty - but now I've learned it I am not playing it so much

[I also loved my "The Christmas Tape" but it has packed up; it's slipping etc. I put a replacement on my Amazon wish list last year but no one bought me it. Hmph. Hubby can't stand it. I said it would stay there every year until somebody buys me it. I've a feeling Santa will bring it this year. ]I put this in brackets because it's out of place. How do you cut & paste? I acn cut but can't find paste. Not typing all that again.

The Hereford one (Griffin labelGCCD4016) is very varied and it has a stunning, haunting little Ukranian carol called "Long the Night". I'm going to get the sheet music if I can. Gabriel's Message (by Stephen Gowland) and St. Joseph's Carol (traditional Flemish) are also of particular note. The soprano soloist in the first two of those has such a pure, clear tone.

On the John Rutter one (Collegium Records CSCD510 and it has a chicken on the cover!) there is a lovely arrangement of the Appalachian carol "I Wonder as I Wander". I do like his own compositions a lot but to pick a favourite is too difficult. Two or three do sound a bit "samey" - the same chord progressions turn up and you almost think you could just swop the words around between them. To some, those items might be too cloying, with rather sugary words at times and with only a hint of popular hymn tune about them (which would normally put me right off). It must be the musical arrangement that saves them, and they form a very small part of the whole. You have to hear them really. They are just so perfectly well done. I'll mention particularly the Angel Carol and one whose name I've forgotten but it has "candlelight, angel light" in it. There's the beautiful "Flower Carol", "The Very Best Time of Year" and a very happy, bouncy 5/8 time Donkey Carol. It's so true. They have 4 legs but the rhythm always sounds more chaotic than 1,2,3,4 because you don't hear all the hoofbeats and they don't naturally march in strict time! "Silent Night" is the best rendition I've ever heard and if that final little instrumental passage doesn't just make you melt, well I don't know....
The first year I had this CD I just couldn't bear Christmas to be over because I would have to put it away. I so looked forward to getting it out again as the next Christmas approached. There is another one of his which gets 5 star reviews on Amazon and now I wonder whether I should get that, but lots of the carols on it are the same as on this, or I have them on other CD's. Still, if there is just one beautiful carol it on that I don't have, it'll be worth it.

Some of the best of my choral carol collections are cassettes made from LP vinyl records that I borrowed from a public library in the 1980's!



To finish, a picture. I feel this post is short on pics. This one is here because today it's a beautiful crisp, frosty, sunny day. It isn't so sunny in the photo, but it was certainly cold. It was taken in the upper Wye Valley one cold, snowy Easter time.

This is a chocolate question mark.
Got the token, could I find the choc? Coupon was only valid until 31st Dec 09 and I tried four shops before I hit on Morrison. Yay! I came out of there with a real sense of achievement.

That was also because just the minute before that I had walked out of Currys carrying my free digital radio which we were supposed to have a year ago. We bought a hi fi a year ago and a free digital radio was meant to come with it but they were out of stock. They were supposed to ring us when they came in but they didn't so after about six months I rang and called a few times then another nearly 6 months went by, and then they started making noises about the radios being worth £60 now and they'd have to get head office to allow them to write it off and where had we been until now? So I asked them nicely where they had been until now and said we were still entitled to it. Well, a deal's a deal; they must have been worth something approximating £60 at the time of the offer and anyway 3 years is the limitation period so they can't take withdraw it yet. I didn't go into all that but had it all up my sleeve. Anyway, they handed it over last night. What a nice pre-Christmas treat. So off I went to Morrisons and found the Milka.



Then I got to the show practice and there was huge tin of Quality Street on the piano for us all to share. The group of people to whom we performed carols last week had sent it.
AND I am due more choc again. I ordered a Mermaid baking sheet online from John Lewis. Because I had a token I had a little more to use up so chose a large bar of choc and some mint scented glass cleaning fluid. Thought I would do the kitchen cupboard doors and make the place smell fresh too. Parcel arrived and the bottle top and bottle had become separated. The whole 0.8 litres had disgorged itself inside the jiffy bag. The baking sheet will be fine and I THINK the choc will, because it's sealed in foil but I emailed them to ask for more fluid. They are sending it and they also said I shouldn't eat the choc as it has been in contact with cleaning fluid so they'll send more choc too. I'm inclined to smell and taste the original and go by my instincts, as it is completely sealed. So what a choccy day!

Well this post isn't really very Christmassy. Let's make it so.

Advent calendar today - I thought it was an oast-house with a star in the background but it's a church.

Here's a picture of a Chjristmas planner. Looks like the sort of thing Kath at Railway Cottage could make some money out of. Actually there were better pictures but it was a job to find one that didn't say "Happy Holiday" or "Happy Winter". Apart from anything else, how inaccurate. Not everybody - not by a long chalk - is having a holiday. Christmas is not the whole of winter either.



I'm at home today so in between files I can go and do Christmassy things and gardually get myself less burdened now. It was just last weekend with being out so much that I felt I had more than I could do. All presents bought and wrapped now, bar one. Just need to hang up the cards. All non perishables bought. Because we are going to rellies we do have a couple fewer days to get ready than if we were staying at home, but less prep because of not cooking Christmas dinner. However we are taking a lot of extras with us and cake, pudding and mince pies. Also we are entertaining on Saturday night so all things considered it's probably the same work in a little less time. Anyway I'm enjoying carols CD's and being at home with the tree and the cat. It's beautiful outside too.

This is the Foody kitchen scene on Monday night. I made the marzipan then marzipanned the cakes. Yes, I've decided there can be a verb "to marzipan".
I used to use a recipe a friend gave me and it was a lot of bother, standing over a pan of hot water with a nylon bowl of sugar and egg mixture in it, whisking it all the time, getting it warm but not hot. It took ages and the sugar never ever dissolved as it was meant to. When I lost that recipe I found there were much easier ways to make marzipan and nnow it's really quite quick.

After that I made some short pastry, ready for mince pies. I made more last night. Think I have enough now. 4 packets of butter and only a little more of that weight in flour. I have to admit to making it really buttery and rich but for me it's the only way it works. For the first time, I used the dough hooks on my little mixer and how I wish I had done this years ago. All the mess of rubbing in, the aching hands and wrists gone and it was soooooo quick! It avoids over-handling and over-warming too, which is rather hard to achieve but is supposed to make good pastry.

Last night I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. My own fault for not cleaning enough through the year so I can't blame Christmas for that extra work. Then I photographed the Christmas tree but wasn't very happy with the picture so will try again maybe tonight and then I'll post it.




At the end of the evening, at 11.30 or so (Tuesday is my Foody's solo night in) I thought I would do the only thing I want to do at this time, so I shoved on a carols CD, poured a sherry, got out a Christmas poetry book and turned out all lights bar the tree, sat on the rug with the cat, helped myself to a choc, (I had a birthday last week, see) and just for half an hour relaxed and indulged and it was great.
Must post about the carols too but that'll be another day.
The above is not the actual book, of course, but I thought it best conveyed the atmosphere I was after.

I did my "Walking in the Air" last week. Doing it again on Friday.

Today's calendar picture - a snowman in snow. Wintry but not Christmassy. Not really. Anyway, better than the teddy and the bricks.

This is Tuesday's post. I prepared it on Monday and therefore it's dated Monday because I don't know how to change the date of it.

Today's advent calendar pic - a robin.

Before the post gets going, may I say that my Milka coupon arrived in the post yesterday, so, Milka, I apologise and take it all back.

I had to spend most of Saturday visiting mother-in-law, Sunday was in church twice cos I was singing in the morning and playing at night - which was a waste of time because the chosen carols were pitched too high for most people to participate. (I didn't choose them, by the way.) In between all that I had a show rehearsal and a cartload of shopping to get in 3 different locations in or near town. All indoor things. Grrrrrrrrr!!!!
On Sunday in Morrisons I spent £94. That's more than I have ever spent in one supermarket session. In Morrisons? Well, it's either that or the Co-op unless I want to go 35 miles. It's always exotic getting to go to a Sainsbury's or something but I think after a while the novelty would wear off and I would be thinking it was just as dull as Morrisons.



Now, I like a moan so I'm gonna moan. People constantly park their trolleys just where you want to go. Of course I never do that. Those big square baskets of goods are always plonked diagonally in the middle the aisles to halt your progress. They're heavy but I just shove them to the side if they get in my way.
The wine bargains were not as good as usual but then again they wouldn't be, cos it's Christmas and we're supposed to not mind spending. They say something like "price buster" but don't tell you what the original price was, or they say "50p off". 50p?????????? Is that all????
Icing sugar I wanted, for marzipan. They had icing sugar specially formulated for fondant icing and other formulated for royal icing, but no plain common icing sugar for those of us not doing icing. Hmph.



There was a whole wall of toilet roll. Aisles of stuff had been moved elsewhere to make way for all this extra loo roll. That says something, doesn't it? So just how much extra do they think we are all going to eat? I suppose it's all based on real stock figures from previous years so I'm sure they're right.
Currants. Until now I have always looked for the purple packet. The dried fruits are colour coded. Until Sunday. Now the currants are pink. They were hoping I wold fall for it and buy raisins instead, then have to come back in again and get currants and a load of other stuff too.
Tonic water. Morrisons NEVER have plain old tonic water. I don't want it with lemon or lime flavouring or with a little measuring cup, and I don't want slimline because it tastes funny. I just want plain unadulterated fatline tonic water. I thought I had found it but as usual got it home and it was something else so this time it's going back.
I noted their Christmas trees and they were all Nordman Fir. Hmph.
Have you ever tried the do-it-yourself checkout? Subject of another post I think.

You know, I didn't hear that "The Christmas Tape" once all day whilst shopping. How very unChristmassy can you get?

Well after that rant you'd think I didn't like Christmas. I just wish all the preparation didn't get so much in the way. But I love Christmas - even more than I like a good rant.

Well, I know it isn't Christmas yet, but we got the tree put up and now all I want to do is light the fire, put on a couple of lamps and lght some candles, put out the main light, put on a lovely carols CD, pour a glass of wine and sit and read one of my Christmassy books of poetry or extracts of Christmassy writings. There's too much to dooooooooooo!!!!! Even putting the tree up is quite a lot of faff - but it's worth it.

(This isn't my photo but it's the best I could find on google images to show the kind of mess I mean. Picture doesn't really say it though. It's far messier than that.)

I will photograph the tree when I have tidied up but that's another thing. There's a lot of upheaval as you have to re-arrange furniture a little, move the stuff that was hidden behind it, not to mention all the boxes that held the decs strewn over the floor, the presents, wrapped and unwrapped, all the wrapping paper and cards written and unwritten etc etc, shopping bags. Everything from anywhere in the house seems to be in that room and it's a tip! In fact the whole house needs a clean. There's just toooooo much to do. It's beautiful outside too and you just want to be out there. It's probably the same from everybody, I'm sure, it's just that you always get the impression that you are the only one who feels abit overwhelmed and left behind by it.



Advent calendar pictures - Saturday was best - A Santa pulling a hand sledge with a decorated tree on it, and in the background a forest scene with snow falling. Sunday a sheep. A sheep???!!! I suppose for the shepherds washing their socks. Monday - three geese.

Watched a Delia programme that I had recorded. Delia said "There are 8 days of Christmas". Eight? Delia should know better. But I think she only meant 25th Dec to 1st and she probably menat the days over which she indulges herself with lots of special food.

I have no time at all today for doing this post but I'm doing it anyway. Be warned - it's a long one!
Pictures today are not my own. Will put on my own when I've taken the pics. Sorry about typos. Have just rattled it out. I correct what I see but I never see them all.

I keep hearing people saying thet real Christmas trees are undesirable because:
1.It's environmentally unfriendly to grow trees just to chop them and chuck them;
2. They drop needles and make a mess in your house

I was very pleased to buy my Norway Spruce Christmas Tree this morning and here's how I justify it:
1. The way I see it is that those trees are grown as a commercial crop much as they are grown for timber or for use in MDF board; much as flowers are grown as a crop and are chucked when they wither in a few days or weeks; much as cabbages are grown and eaten; much as meat is reared, killed and eaten etc etc. All these nice looking cows, sheep etc wouldn't be there if we didn't eat meat. I could go on.
You could say that at least the cabbages and the meat are for a useful purpose, but then you could get into an argument about whether cut flowers serve any useful purpose and that we should just give each other plastic ones!

You can get trees in buckets but is that really all that practical? You'd plant the tree in the garden in January and then next December, do you dig it up and put it in the house? It'll have grown longer roots which would get damaged in the digging up and it would probably end up dead the next January, so do you go and buy another in a pot and then have two conifers in your garden? Then what about the next year after that? How big is your garden?

There are firms which will sell you a tree in a pot and then take it away in January and bring the same tree back next Christmas. That sounds good but it just seems to me to be taking things a bit far because after all they are not pets! The trees must get bigger even if they are in pots. they'll need to be re-potted; they'll eventually grow too tall for the house and what happens to them then? The chop I suppose. At least they get a few years though.



Personally I don't find plantations of conifers very visually appealling but I see that they need to be there because apparently we used not to grow enough of our own timber, and that's what the FC was set up for. I'd rather see more deciduous woods but our forbears have seen to that. When I see those blocks of dark plantations I just think "Oh dear. Well it's as it should be. We shouldn't be shipping/flying in what we can grow ourselves, just as with apples and lamb to mention just two examples. At least they are a means to an end". They were never there in the first place just for us to enjoy and think "how nice" if that's what we think. I just have no qualms about felling conifers.

It would be harder for me to justify if the tree was an animate object. If I didn't enjoy meat so much I would probably be a vegetarian because I hate the thought of the killing part, but trees don't have feelings and can't see the big saw coming. At least I don't think so anyway.



You do sometimes see hundreds of discarded, unsold felled trees after Christmas. Well, that's bad commercially. If the grower had known sales would be low, he wouldn't have cut them. Poor man. He has lost money. It is a waste of resources. The trees had a lingering death but they won't have known it.

Since yesterday (see my post and the comments) I am now of the opinion that the discarded trees are mostly the prettier (in my view) Norway Spruce, because "most people", which using Asda's interpretation is about 92% (thank you, Kippers Dickie of The Organ Grinder's Monkey blog) of tree buyers, favour other varieties.

Now that brings me to 2. The needles, but that will be the subject of another post in the near future. That's enough for today. Coming Soon: Foody's tips on needle management.

I have just put up my artificial tree in my office. I don't want to spend money if it's just for work!
Oh, and today's advent calendar picture was a bunch of 3 baubles.

A Norway Spruce above



Above is a Noble Fir



And this is a Nordman Fir.

Are the two last trees the same? Anyway, you see the difference between them and a Norway Spruce?

I have tried 6 places for not a Nordman Fir/Spruce or a Noble Fir but a lovely fat, feathery Norway Spruce. AT LAST. Focus has 45 of them and they're open 8 til 8. Will they be even harder to get hold of next year? Over 2010 must I therefore prepare myself for not ever having a Norway Spruce Christmas tree ever again?
I will justify this purchase of a real tree but not today. Just let me moan today. I am fed up with this. Just because "most people" want Nordmans and Nobles, we've all got to have Nordmans and Nobles. I am not "most people". It's the same when buying clothes, shoes, CD's, anything. "Oh we don't stock these because "most people" want X, Y, Z. BIG HMPH! BIG GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! So we're not allowed to be individuals and be different?


The worst thing is not stocking certain sizes because they're not in demand. If it's my size then not only do I want it, I NEEEEED it! Am I supposed to grow or something? Go barefoot because I won't be seen dead at work in kids' patent velcro-with-fluorescent-"Hello Kitty" shoes? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

Advent calendar today had three ships on the sea. Now that's pleasingly original.

I clicked on that "Milka" advert that appears on some webpage and I did win a choc bar, or so they said. I think everyone does. Anyway the thing I had to do to access the coupon didn't work. Why am I not surprised? What a Swizz. Anyway I filled in their form to say there was a problem, then I got to the bottom and found some more things I had to click, and when I clicked these, the details I had put in the form all disappeared. I ended up re-entering them about 4 times. I didn't know which problem to say had occurred. They are just blinding people with science and don't really intend handing over any free choc.

I don't know enough about computers to understand the big words so I just said "It just didn't work". I nearly said "This is a Swiss Swizz" but I thought I'd better not in case they didn't send me my coupon. I bet this form-filling faff happens to everyone and most go away thinking "Stuff this. It isn't worth it for 100g of chocolate". Well I wasn't one of them. I asked for the coupon to be posted to me. Will see if it comes.
Why would Milka be gettiing rid of all this chocolate for nothing?

Advent calendar today - a fairy.

Today's advent calendar window - Christmas tree complete with baubles and a star on top. Very satisfying.
We'll be getting our tree this week. A bit early but looking at the calendar we only have a short slot on Saturday morning and one on Sunday night to put it up, or else it's Thursday week which for me is a little late.
Yes, it'll be a real tree. I've put the case for real trees in comments on other people's blogs but think I'll post it on my own a bit nearer the time.

I'm not all "kill, kill, kill". I abhor bloodsports.

One niggle I have though, on the "kill v conserve" topic, is the use of natural cork. Cutting cork does not involve killing the trees and there is a lot of misunderstanding about cork production. About 10 or 15 years ago there was an excellent article in the RSPB magazine explaining how cork is produced, how sustainable the industry is and how beneficial it is to the environment and hundreds of species of wildlife. About 2 - 5 years ago there was a similar programme on telly. I feel it's vital that the cork industry is allowed to flourish. I do appreciate that you get less wine going "off" when alternatives to cork are used, but the argument that cork production is bad for the environment is just so misguided.

The bark is peeled off, which does not kill a cork oak tree. The tree grows another coat of cork over the next 10 years, when it is harvested again. The cork farmer will paint on the trunk the number of the year it was last harvested and then he knows when to cut it again. He harvests a tenth of his plantation every year. Those forests are beautiful places and they keep hundreds of species of bird and insect alive and look very beautiful. Because cutting the bark away is a delicate operation, the cork is cut by hand so it's a peaceful industry that doesn't use power tools and create noise and harmful emissions. Small producers cart their cork away to the factories on donkeys or mules but I suppose mostly it's carried by lorry on the bigger farms.

The above picture is of a Sardinian cork oak forest but lots can be found in inland Portugal and Spain.

Well I had no idea I was going to post about cork. It just came out!

C has gone home "ill". Again!!!! Grrrrr!!!!!!

Advent calendar Saturday: a set of child's building bricks (hmph)
Sunday - a star. OK. Three wise men followed it.
Today - a stocking full of toys. OK.

I was in a queue in Boots and by the till were packets and packets of false nails! Well, I didn't know people wore false nails! I had seen people show off their "new" nails and I just assumed that they had been for manicures and had had them all squared off and painted there. I didn't know you could get packets off the shelf. How do they stay on and how do you get them off when they aren't wanted any more? Why do people want big long nails anyway? Don't they get in the way of just about everything?

I don't fancy putting a picture of long fingernails up for today's post so I've put the equine equivalent - hoofs! (hoofs or hooves? Apparently you can say either. I'm a "hoofs" person)Those pictured aren't in great shape but they're not too bad either, nothing a trim wouldn't fix. They look a bit dry too so I would love to get in there with a bit of hoof conditioner.
Hoofs are kept naturally short by constant use. You do see long, curly hoofs whichare the result of neglect but I couldn't bear to post a picture of them. See, those long-nailed people would be seen as disadvantaged, cruelly treated and would be taken away from home if they were equines!

Here's what I am eating now. It's a "Chomp".




Here's what I ate when I last ate chocolate.
These little bars, along with Fudge, are so small that you can think of them as chocolate without the guilt, or without so much of it. And they cost only 15p.
Often it isn't so much the quantity of chocolate that's important; I just want to taste it.

It was a dove of peace in the advent calendar today.

I was in the gym today (hence the desire for chocolate) and Yay!!!!! they were playing The Christmas Tape! You know the one. At last! It's the first time I've heard it this year. I don't listen to any music of that kind; I'm a bit of a snob where music is concerned, but that tape is guaranteed to get me feeling Christmassy and it would never feel like Christmas without it.

This is my advent calendar - sorry about the bounce of reflected light. It's a happy farmyard scene complete with singing chickens but still traditional in style. Yesterday's door revealed a bell with some baubles and holly and today's was an angel so I am getting proper Christmas things in it now.

Had a practice for our concert last night and singing carols always helps one get into the Christmassy mood. "Walking in the Air" was taken at the speed of a jumbo "Jetting in the Air". I told the pianist when I could catch a breath but she just carried on. GRRRRRR. I'll tell her the exact metronome speed next time so she'll have no excuse.

As I'm home today I think I'll put on some Christmassy CD's.

I was going to post a photo of my advent calendar but I haven't uploaded the photo yet. For the benefit of those who like pictures I have put up something temporary and I will replace it tomorrow with the real one.
Anyway I opened the first door today and it was a......... teddy bear. "Hmph" I said. "What's that got to do with Christmas?". I suppose teddies get given as presents so that's why it's there. So tomorrow I could see a picture of a tie or a bar of soap, could I? The crib is always reserved for Christmas Eve but in between I do expect something like a wise man, a star, a shepherd, a bell, a bauble (bobble?) or a Christmas tree. Pictures of things that might be given as presents seem to me an easy cop-out. Come on, calendar manufacturers, you can surely think of 24 things to do with Christmas. I wouldn't even mind seeiing a picture of a plate of sprouts!

I do like teddies but you can get teddied-out. Walk into a card shop and there are just so many cards with bears it's nauseating. Mind you, cat cards are quite common and they're OK if not twee. I have also noticed that chickens are on the increase on greetings cards. Long may that continue.

Here's a pic of all the Christmas puds and mincemeat before they were taken to be sold at church.

Now I have a couple of blogging problems and hope somebody can help me.
I am delighted to see I have a third follower who has an eye like a horse's, and I thought I would have a look at that blog to see what it was all about, but find
I have to join up before I have even seen it. Well I suppose the only thing to do is to join up. So I think I have answered that one myself.

I thought I would follow Goose Breeder but when I look at Goose Breeder's blog I can't see anything to click. Maybe you can't follow it. Anyway I will wait and see what suggestions I get.



Enjoyed the Big Town Shops and lunch and got loads of stuff. Saw a nice coat to buy with Christmas money for meeee, but hummed and haa-ed and decided on the way home that I would get it after all so went to the internet yesterday and couldn't find it. Might have known this would happen. So now I will have to phone the shop and see about how I can still get it. Maybe someone else local will be going to The Big Town Shops or maybe they'll post it.

Enjoyed the Indian meal but felt I drank too much and therefore talked too much, so today I am trying to discreetly find out if this was so. If I ask them outright they will just say "No, you were fine".

Last night I had a dream that I was in a stage show and just before curtain up on the opening night I was told I was to be the donkey and sing the donkey's solo which went up to top 'C'. I was thrilled and hoped I would pull it off.
It had nothing to do with the Donkey Serenade.

The pictured donkey is Tufty and he lives at Redwings Horse Sanctuary in Norwich. I adopted him years ago (along with 100's of other people!). I didn't take the pic but found it on the net. I hope it can be enlarged because it was pretty tiny when I clicked on it!

I had four comments today, published them all, and now I can only remember where two of them were so sorry, KD, I think the other two were yours and I have no time today to trawl the posts looking for them. Should have written down where they were. Grrrrr to this blogging sometimes.

Here is the recipe for cheesejacks as requested by Kath at Railway Cottage.

5oz /150g porridge oats
6oz/175g grated strong cheddar cheese
1 beaten egg
2oz/50g butter or marge, melted
1/2 teaspoon /2.5 ml crushed rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Press into a shallow 7inch/18cm square cake tin and bake in oven at 180c/350F/gas mark 4 for 40 minutes until golden. Cut into slices and serve hot or cold.

Variations - try mixing in some cayenne pepper or try that Mexicana cheese rather than cheddar.

Home Alone today.I have spent toooooooo much time looking at things to buy for Christmas and family December birthday presents.Will see what the Big Town has but it's good to have the net to fall back on. You can only do so much and walk so far in a day.



Chimney was swept yesterday so we can have fires again. It's mostly hailing today which puts one right in the fire mood.