New Arrivals....

...eight point of lay 17 week old warren pullets arrived yesterday.

They are very shy, never having been outdoors before today.

There has been a bit of squabbling.

Some of the resident matrons are positively sulking...

What was really amazing was watching a couple of the new girls enjoying a dust bath for the first time. They have spent their entire life in a barn but an innate instinct took over. The wonder of creation.

Speaking of which, there has been a positive proliferation of plum blossom in just one week...

I hope it means a bumper crop of plums. The tree is just two years planted in our garden and was a young sapling. There were approx five plums last year. So here's hoping.

Another arrival this weekend is eldest daughter home from uni for five weeks.

Eleven year old daughter made a lovely spring flower table decoration..

Here it is displayed on a recently purchased rather jolly charity shop tablecloth (£2.79.)

And  just the excuse we needed to bake a big cake to welcome her home...

Also managed some seed sowing, a bit of weeding and quite a lot of leaning on the fence enjoying the bird song. All the brood back under one roof, happy days.

Baking, Bernina and Brass.

Saturday mornings have a bit of a ritual around here.

I get up very early and do two paper rounds which is pleasant when the sun is shining.
After breakfast dearly beloved and 7 year old son depart for sons practice at Scout Band. He is new to it and learning the basics on his B flat cornet.
Meanwhile me and the three girls get down to a bit of necessary housework...

Imagine my delight when dearly beloved returns a little while later sporting....

a bloody B flat horn under his arm of which he now the proud keeper!

"It's only so I can help him practice" he says...a likely story.
And the youngest girl has thrown down the gauntlet, " Dad, I bet you can't play the theme tune to Rocky." 
And he says, "You and your sister can come along too if you like!"

Moving swiftly on, after piano lessons and all laundry duties are finished

I felt at a loose end with lots of things I should/could have been doing but didn't feel like.
It is too cold for gardening here today so nothing else for it. I had to bake a cake...

It's becoming a bit of a habit I'm afraid.

Oh, and a few scones too...

with a little help from my friend.

I've had a jaunt to the library returning five of my thirty books and bringing home six more despite my vow to finish reading the ones I have before loaning any others.

I couldn't resist a pop into my local cancer research shop where I picked up (amongst other things) this lovely little jug for £1.50, which I am of course going to need when my garden is in full flower in a few months I hope!

And to round off the afternoon I have done a bit of patching and mending for my Dad. I inherited my Mums machine when she died two years ago. He bought it for her in 1966 and it cost £40 then brand new, a small fortune. It is a Swiss machine I think and therefore brilliant. It is basic but ultra reliable and Mum made lots of our clothes on it when we were all little. We had matching swimming costumes and trunks for the boys in very retro blue spotty fabric I seem to remember.

That's all for now folks.
(P.S. I can hear the beginnings of Rocky from the kitchen. Thank God the neighbours are away for the weekend!)

Let There Be Light

Don't you just love the lighter nights? This is my bedroom window view at approx 7pm this evening.....

The children played out all day in the sunshine.

I have had a particularly good charity shop week with this bevy of beauties...

.....not one, not two, not three but TWELVE whole balls of Rowan cotton tape for the princely sum of 

99 pence! And doesn't the colour match up nicely with the pink hued blocks of my quilt?

And there's more....

...this serving spoon was languishing at the back of the bric a brac shelf and was all forlorn and tarnished. It is, I think, hallmarked solid silver and whilst a little battered has polished up rather well. It is perfect for little dainty cakes....

...now all I need is Lady Bracknell for tea. (£2.95 by the way.)

And the best for last......

...a vintage 1930's ish fireplace surround with original mirror (it's not cracked, that is my garage roof reflection.) Perfect for our 1937 built home. It needs a bit of a polish but is largely in good nick. The legs are my Dad's who kindly helped me collect it in a cattle trailer!
The great thing about this is it didn't cost me a penny. I got it from Freecycle. Check it out if you like getting stuff for free and helping the planet at the same time.

Finally a free recipe from Lancashire Living magazine. I made it today and it is very tasty, Hot Cross Buns and Butter Pudding.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients...

4 hot cross buns

50gm/2 oz butter

125gm/4 oz chopped apricots (I used raisins)

50gm/2oz soft brown sugar

3 eggs beaten

275ml/10 fl oz milk

200gm/7 oz greek yoghurt

Method.

Preheat oven 180 degrees C / gas mark 4

Slice buns into thick vertical slices and butter.

Grease ovenproof dish and overlap bun slices on bottom.

Scatter fruit.

Whisk eggs, milk, sugar and yoghurt together. 

Pour over bread and fruit.

Place dish in a large roasting tin and half fill with boiling water.

Bake for 30-40 mins till custard just set.

I would probably use less fruit next time as there is already some in the buns. It was good and a nice dish for Easter I think. It is a lighter alternative to my fave B&B Pud from the River Cottage cookbook which is sublime but not one for the cholesterol police!

Vintage linen, charity shop china and cake. Oh..and more marmalade.

Today I had a trot round my very small but very local market. Imagine my delight upon finding not one but two hand embroidered linen tablecloths for the tea table.

                                                

They were just crying out for tea and of course cake. Here is the other..

                                                                                                                      

with the obligatory victoria sandwich cake and a view of my cancer research shop 6 setting tea service complete with side plates and bread and butter plate in mint condition.(Phew, take a breath girl)
The two cloths cost a total of £4.50, yes £4.50. I thought I was seeing things. And the tea set a mere fiver.What a lucky girl I am!


Oh... and I had several very complimentary comments about my marmalade (in fact one person gobbled the jar in less than a fortnight.) So much so, how could I resist these seville oranges available today at only 70p per kilo?

I now have merely to brace myself for the skinning and finely slicing of 2 kilos of the blessed things!

Treasure

Here are two of my latest charity shop finds.

A rather handsome M&S teapot for £2.95. I like it because it holds a lot!




And a skein of what I think is sock wool. The label is German and French I think!*!!
Anyway, it is nice and soft, school boy grey and best of all, cost only 50p.




Off to work now. It's nice not to do the school run and even better not having to prepare 5 packed lunches. But somehow I always seem to be late when they are all at home and I supposedly have more time in the morning. How does that happen????

Vintage coffee set

I picked this up yesterday from my local cancer research charity shop for £9.95. Isn't it gorgeous? With 6 cups and saucers and only one very small clean chip on 1 cup. I am thrilled with it. The colours remind me of spring which seems oh so far away at the moment.





I was lucky enough to get this book for Christmas and I've just started a sourdough starter for baking bread. I've never baked sourdough before so am looking forward to it.

I am a bit of a technophobe and this is a whole new experience for me, so please bear with my terrible photo taking and I haven't a clue how to do links yet but am hoping to learn soon.