Hectic

Life has been a little hectic this last week or so with my Gran going into hospital.  Trying to organise our extended family so we always manage to attend the visiting hours has been something of a juggling act, added to that J is having to travel away for work at the end of this week, so we are a car and a man down.

Her Next Door drives, but only really when she has to. The hospital is 10 miles away, so it is quite a trek with dodgy bends and people daring to either go in the same direction or approach her from the other way.  Did I mention she is a nervous driver...  The car park of the hospital itself seems to have very slim parking bays and it is continuously full to the brim. Which rather puts her off.  So whilst J is manning work Him Next Door and I tend to do the driving shifts for one of the twice daily visiting sessions.  J helps out with the odd evening and when needed at the weekend, although we have lots of other family visitors also sharing the load then. This is a great help as at least for the weekends it affords us natives of The Booth some 'down' time.

Added to the mix is making sure G9 gets to all her after school activities - although we are failing a bit at the latter end of this week when we only have the one car available.  My wonderful friend Preseli Mags is helping us out on Wednesday and Friday, so Wednesday it means Her & Him Next Door make it on time for the afternoon visiting session and on Friday G9 will not miss Brownies at least.

Where would we be without supportive family, friends and neighbours I ask myself.

Sadness

The rudder of our little ship is not so well.

Edith, Mum, Gran, Great Gran - 100 years young.

We all love you, get better soon - please.  xxx

UPDATE 15/03/11
Whilst I was at fy nosbarth Cymraeg my Mum and Dad went hospital visiting. Gran had not been so bright when I saw her in the afternoon but when I got home after my class I received this pleasant surprise...

Her Next Door reported that Gran was much better this evening than she has been since being in hospital. No more oxygen mask (still just little pipes of oxygen in to her nose) and she even had her wagging finger out, telling Her Next Door to buy her some nighties but not from M&S, Peacocks would do! She has also requested a full biscuit tin (of course she never snacks on these ;) ), some Eau de Cologne so that she can smell lovely and a hair comb (she's trying to impress the young male physio I think).
 
Simply amazing.

World Book Night

World Book Night, what is it?

An extract from worldbooknight.org explains it.

"... one million books will be given away by an army of passionate readers to members of the public across the UK and Ireland.

The book give-away will comprise 40,000 copies of each of the 25 carefully selected titles, to be given away by 20,000 ‘givers’, who will each distribute 48 copies of their chosen title to whomever they choose on World Book Night. The remaining books will be distributed by World Book Night itself in places that might otherwise be difficult to reach, such as prisons and hospitals."

Brand new books for adults - the list of titles of which I was not aware of before we ventured out.

Strangely I found I had connections with a few of the books being distributed:-

• A Fine Balance, this spring's read for an online book club I subscribe to.
• Stuart: A Life Backwards is also on the list. I just bought it from Amazon.
• Preseli Mags had given me the Life of Pi, right before we went to the World Book Night.

Quite a coincidence - these books floating around me within the last week, all three on the list.

Our local event was held at Narberth Museum Bookshop and we were invited to attend by Chris S Stephens.

Mags and I received brand new copies of Fingersmith, given away by Chris himself.  Daniel Sheen was also at the Bookshop and he was giving away Cloud Atlas. Mags has previously read both and told me they are fantastic, Cloud Atlas being one of her most loved reads. Can't wait to discover the magic for myself and Maggie has now been inspired by this celebration of adult books to read them again.

What is also pretty special is that each book we have been given has an identification number in it so you can register on the World Book Night website and see the journey the book has taken from Giver to Reader and so on (*).

The children could also choose a book each free - needless to say they couldn't choose but one.

Chris Stephens with the young readers.

I want to join in next year, as a giver. How special... incredible.

(*) Put your hand up quickly if you would like me to pass on my copy of Fingersmith or Cloud Atlas to yourself, once I have read.  First come first served.

Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant hapus i gyd

Today G9 went off to school in her Welsh national costume.  What another beautiful day too.

G9 in the Welsh national dress.

Daffodils basking in the early March sunshine.

Snowdrops joining in the spring party.

Happy Saint David's Day to all.

Cooking

Hmmm, I don't.  But G9 wanted to do some baking this morning and I thought why not.  Especially as it was for the dog... what could go wrong?

Now my friend Preseli Mags cooks like a demon, go to her blog Cooking is a Game You Can Eat to see some of her amazing culinary feats.

I thought I'd aim a little lower and picked a recipe from Canine Cuisine by Elaine Everest.

Ingredients

• 6 streaky bacon rashers (you can use bacon off cuts).
• 2 mugs of wholemeal flour.
• 1/4 mug of grated Parmesan cheese.
• 1/2 mug of warm water.
• 1 egg
• 1 vegetable stock cube.

Preheat oven to 190C, gas mark 5.

We actually halved the above as we have a small dog; the quantity we used made 12 heart shaped biscuits.



Grating the cheese.

We fried the bacon in a non-stick pan until cooked but not brown or crispy.



Hey, is that bacon up there I can smell?

Once the bacon had cooled down I blitzed it in the blender.

Then we put the sieved flour (which ended up being strong brown flour because that's what we had in the cupboard), blitzed bacon and grated cheese into a mixing bowl.  We used Cheddar as J thought expensive Parmesan cheese for the dog was an extravagance too far.  We crumbled the stock cube in warm water (chicken in our case) and stirred until dissolved.  G9 beat the egg into submission and added half to the mixing bowl, gradually adding the stock until the dough was firm.

G9 floured the worktop and rolled the dough out to about an inch thickness.  Then she cut the biscuits out in little heart shapes (no other shape will do).


I can smell something, now where are they?

We baked for about 40 minutes on a non-stick tray; or bake until brown and crispy.

We then put them on a trivet to cool, and packed them to store in an air tight container.


The finished product - they look good enough to eat.

Although G9 and J tried one (greedy gannets), I think the dog preferred them....


Please, please... don't tease... gimme gimme!

I quite enjoyed it... but I think I'll still leave the cooking to J.

The Gallery - Togetherness

My first post at Sticky Fingers - The Gallery, inspired by Preseli Mags.  This week's theme is togetherness.

G9 is an only child, so her friendships are extra special to her.  She and H9 are very close... very much together.  Almost joined at the hip.

And at the other end of the age range G9 is striding out with her Grampy. Two peas in a pod.  And to think they may never have met as Grampy was having a triple bypass whilst I was pregnant.  Yet due to his recovery he had time on his hands.  From a babe in arms with G9 in a backpack and Grampy in his walking shoes, they went off on their little adventures together.  They are having adventures still.

Living the "high" life

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.  ~Jim Carrey

Maybe it is the little, almost insubstantial things that matter.  And, to boot, they really don't have to cost much.

Thursday I helped out at the local Adran (after school Welsh club) at Maenclochog Hall. I was not being philanthropic, it was just my turn. I did though understand what was going on, a little, which was a minor breakthrough.

Friday night involved a Bingo evening at Maenclochog Hall again, this time to raise funds for the school.  I felt part of the community.  All inclusive.  Warm.  And it was fun.

Saturday Topsy and Scamp (who owns Preseli Mags) are going to get together for their first doggy date and I for one can't wait. It's almost like G9's first day at school. Simply daft I know, but we are taking a picnic and making a day of it. It's going to be a sunny day, so we will appreciate the soft warmth on our faces after such a bitter winter.

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.  ~Grandma Moses

Scamp; really enjoying the moment.

Just as I was about to publish this post, I learned that a neighbour of ours has a brain tumour.  The outlook is not good.  He does not know yet, but his wife does.  It is so tragic.  It drove home that in life there is nothing so valuable, nor so undervalued, as our health.  Please pray (to whoever you conceive Him to be) for them both.