Snow...the British way.

Snow, snow, snow...!

Being lucky enough to have friends in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, not to mention some of the chillier US states, I feel a little silly making a big deal over a bit of snow, but for us it is not a regular occurence. Some years we have no snow at all and mostly when we do it is not deep and only lasts a few days. So, when on Friday we had 15cm of snow, I'm sorry but it was a big deal. It was the deepest snow Mark had seen in his life (I saw more in Chamonix, but that's in the world that lives with snow, without grinding to a halt). 

I don't work Fridays (thank goodness) but Mark does and could not get in to work. We could not have got out of our road, the A46 was barely passable and the M4 slip road at Bath was closed. There were no trains running from Templemeads, so even walking the two miles to the station and getting a train was out of the equation - and if he had got in, there was no guarantee he would have got home. The Met Office has been saying that global warming is actually likely to make our climate more Scandinavian than Mediterranean - if that's true, we are going to have to learn to live with snow! Maybe one day our transport systems will become snow-tolerant and Winter tyres and snow chains will be de rigueur - but not by Monday, when I have to get to work!!

Actually there was some melt yesterday and if I'm really lucky the snow forecasted for today and tomorrow will not amount to much. I am keeping everything crossed for blazing sunshine today and clear roads in the morning!

However, before the snow disappears, I would just like to appreciate the fun, pretty side of snow. I woke on Friday to a garden reminiscent of Narnia.

our garden in the snow

snowy trees in the garden

our Bath garden in the snow

Anne and John's garden over the fence

snow on the sycamore tree

the driveway

the gargoyle that was meant to go to Sweden but was too heavy for the baggage allowance

red car in the snow

I am sure the neighbours think I am mad (and not just because I spent much time on Thursday out with the cat-tracker-thingy tracking down the collar Max wriggled out of) as I was out before daylight yesterday, practising low-light photos with a tripod...

our road

It always feels like a sign of hope when I see tiny, delicate flowers surviving the snow - a reminder that this is just a seasonal blip and Spring is just round the corner.

Winter jasmine in the snow

Cats in the snow

The cats are not sure about snow. Rio gives it a go; dashing from dry spot to dry spot until his paws get too cold, at which point he runs hell for leather for the cat flap.

Rio hides from the snow

cold paws!

black and white camouflaged cat

Max in the meantime decided there was only one place he wanted to be!

Max keeps warm

Maybe Max had the right idea - a little cat doesn't want to sit still too long in the snow, or who knows what could happen!

snow kitty

Wildlife

It may be a good thing that the cats want to stay out of the snow, as the birds need as much help as possible when the weather is bad. We have been filling the bird-feeders every day for them.

robin on the bird table

we put out meal worms for the robin

next year's Christmas card?

well squirrels need to eat too!

We have a wonderful sparrow-hedge in the garden and it is always filled with squabbling sparrows - rather like the birds in the 'Rhubarb and Custard' cartoon!

sparrow in the snow

sparrow in the snow

I know starlings are not always very popular, but I think their markings are beautiful!

starling on the bird table

starling in the snow

There was also a fox in the garden (Mark saw the fox but I just saw the tracks), and I spotted this animal track in the snow. At first I was convinced it was a muntjac deer, until I realised it was not a single hoven print, but the print of four small squirrel paws leaping through the snow.

grey squirrel tracks in the snow

Of course, when it comes to wildlife, nothing can quite compare with the neighbourhood kids! They have all been having a whale of a time, having snowball fights and tobogganing down the road and in the park round the corner - and to top it all the schools were closed on Friday!

Bath wildlife

Warming up

hot chocolate

All the playing in the snow felt like justification for a big mug of hot chocolate.

hot chocolate with marshmallows

marmalade

My other indoor, warming activity has been marmalade making. Homemade marmalade tastes so much better than store bought - and I am not a fan of the tins of prepared oranges for marmalade making; I mean, what's the point? Last week I shared photos of my seville orange marmalade, and I thought perhaps I should share my favourite recipe (although I confess, I added too much water and it was too runny, so yesterday I boiled it up again with some extra pectin - now it's perfect).

I have several preserving books, but my absolute favourite is Fruits of the Earth by Gloria Nicol. My mum bought me the book (signed) at The Laundry at Taurus Crafts in the Forest of Dean - which sadly is no longer there (although there are still lots of other lovely artisan shops there). Gloria Nicol has written a load of books about all sorts of crafts and writes a lovely blog - very clever lady! Anyway, here is her marmalade recipe (also published in her column in the Guardian):

Seville Orange Marmalade (makes about 2kg)

1 kg Seville oranges

1 lemon
1.5 kg sugar
1.25 litres water

Wash the whole fruits and place in a heavy lidded casserole or a preserving pan that will fit in the oven. Pour in the water and bring to simmering point on the hob. Cover or if using a preserving pan make a lid to cover the top with tin foil before placing in a 180 C, Mk4 oven. Poach the fruit for two-and-a-half to three hours, by which time the skins will be softened.

Using a spoon, lift the fruit out of the liquid into a colander over a bowl and leave to drain. When the fruit is cool enough to handle, cut each in half and scoop out the insides with a spoon to leave just the peel, placing all the flesh, pith and pips in a muslin bag or a large piece of muslin over a bowl which you can gather into a bag. Collect all the juice as you go and add it to the poaching liquid.

Measure the poaching liquid and make up to 1 litre with water if necessary. Place the muslin bag in a preserving pan with the poaching liquid and bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Leave till cool enough to handle then squeeze the bag to get as much of the liquid as possible from the pulp. Discard the bag and its contents.

Chop the peel into thin strips and add to the preserving liquid. Add the sugar and stir over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and the liquid is clear. Turn up the heat and bring to a rolling boil until it reaches setting point. (Setting point is when a dollop of the syrup on a cold plate, readily forms a skin when you push your finger across the surface. This takes me around 15 to 25 minutes.)

Turn off the heat and leave to stand for 15 minutes then stir to distribute the peel. Pour into hot, clean sterilised jars, put waxed paper circles wax side down on each one and seal immediately. Label when cool and store in the larder.

When I follow the recipe properly, this works every time - I only had to add pectin this time because I thought I knew it all and added too much water!

As Ocado had ruby grapefruit on offer, I also tried making grapefruit marmalade  - as one of my old school friends mentioned her difficulty finding it (I will post a couple of jars to her when the snow clears, and hope they get there safely!). I tried the other method of marmalade making (paring the zest from the fruit before cooking):

Grapefruit marmalade (fills 6 or 7 small jars)
6 Grapefruit (pink, ruby or ordinary)
1 kg granulated sugar approx

Wash the grapefruit under a cold tap and dry. Use a potato peeler to remove the zest in strips. Cut the zest strips into match stick size pieces, either with a knife or kitchen scissors. Use a sharp knife to cut off the remaining pith - it's easiest to take a slice of the top and bottom first so it sits flat on the chopping board, and use as sharp a knife as possible.

Finely chop the grapefruit flesh, removing any pips, or blitz in a food processor. Measure the flesh and juice and add to a preserving pan with the same volume of sugar and the prepared pieces of zest. Bring slowly to the boil until the sugar has dissolved (liquid will be clear). Boil rapidly for 15 to 25 minutes until it reaches setting point (use a cold plate like the recipe above).

Ladle into warm, sterilised jars. Label when cool.

I have to say, I prefer the first method (cooking the fruit first), as the zest in the second method is not as soft and yummy - and I think it is also easier to cut the peel when it's soft. My next marmalade making is going to be Gloria Nicol's lemon and fig marmalade, so I will let you know how I get on with that one!

Photography: Bath, trees, marmalade and a pincushion-topped jar

Photography

Digital filters

Prior to starting a photography course, I was messing about with some of the digital filters around - colour splash, antiquing, 1970s etc. I know it's not proper photography, but it's good fun!

colour splash:

Christmas leftovers

cows at Westonbirt

in and around Bath:

St Swithins, Bath

marmalade making:

marmalade bubbling in the preserving pan

jars of homemade seville orange marmalade

Evening classes

So on Tuesday I went to my first photography evening class at City of Bath College - my only wish is that I had signed up for this sort of class when I first got my digital SLR. I have always felt that setting the camera to automatic is cheating. I know that it still needs a creative eye to compose a picture, but still I felt like I was cheating. Part of my problem is that I have very poor near vision. To spot a photo I need to not wear my glasses (distance vision becomes very burry when I wear my glasses), but to be able to see through the viewfinder, I need my glasses. It's a faff, but I do now accept that I must get on with looking silly as I take my glasses on and off when out and about, if I am to take photos and be able to control the result.

Clearly, my eyes are not the light-meter I hoped they were and in most cases my instinct for shutter speed is too fast and images were too dark. It is a little like starting afresh and I clearly need lots of practice, but it is very exciting as I start to see the images that - if I work hard - I hope could be at my finger tips. Bear with me if my camera control is not quite of the standard of the camera's own automatic controls!

Trees at Westonbirt Arboretum

Friday was a beautifully sunny day - and a day when I was not in the office - so I put my 'to do' list on hold and headed to Westonbirt Arboretum to play with depth of focus and shutter speed. I tried to capture the Winter light and shade and atmospheric mists. I am not sure how well I have done, but I have only had one lesson!

 This one is a little dark, but I prefer the reflection in the water drop to the following one, which has a slower shutter speed.

water drop number 1

water drop number 2

 In this one, I think I actually prefer the burry background to the subject of the photo...go figure!...as Americans say (or at least they do on tv).

sycamore keys

I spotted mist rising from this ha-ha (ditch to stop cows getting in to the arboretum) and set out to try to capture it - photographically speaking

mist rising from the ha-ha

 Water drops on leaves and needles was a definite theme for the day.

water droplets (again)

I have a love of benches - both photographs of them and watching the world pass by from them (when they are not too damp)

bench in the mist

 I also love paths - they always seem so full of possibilities; not knowing what lies around the next bend or in the misty distance.

pathway through the trees

dappled sunlight

reflections in the puddles

another bench

Westonbirt Arboretum

mist and sunlight number 1

mist and sunlight number 2

the long shadows of trees in Winter

experimenting with a light tent

Part of the reason for the evening class is that I will have to photograph the items I want to sell, and the photos make all the difference (at least they do to me when I am a buyer). I rarely take 'proper' photos inside, and have asked my tutor if - later in the course - he could give some guidance on lighting etc. Never one to wait patiently, I ordered myself a small light tent and just had to try it out. I made a pin cushion in the top of a screw top preserving jar, with the intention of keeping a small sewing kit in the jar - the first being for me for when I take my quilt to work to stitch on wet lunchtimes, and maybe I will make more when I open my Etsy shop after Easter, when I am made redundant. The pins came from Rubina Kadir on Etsy, and I love them...and am not sure I will ever be able to part with any!

The light tent folds up in to a small pouch and comes with a selection of backdrops. I am not sure I like the texture of the backdrops, but it all works well and I can always use one of the backdrops as a pattern to make my own selection - I think velvet would be nice and, for shabby chic items, perhaps a cotton with a pattern of faded roses.

I think the tent will be large enough for most cakes too - and you can close the front and photograph through a slot to avoid reflections, if necessary.

my new light tent

I think, because the glass jar is clear, the white background works better than the black.

pin-cushion topped preserving jar

kilner jar pincushion

However, the pins on their own really stand out against the black.

beautiful pins from Rubina Kadir on Etsy.com

My next task is to be brave, set the shutter speed to sensor cleaning mode and use the special puffer thingy to get the dust specks off the sensor. Courage mon brave...!

2013 New Year Resolutions

Out with the old and in with the new

I confess I am not a big fan of New Year's Eve. Parties scare the hell out of me and, even staying in, there is a temptation to mull over regrets and failures. This year's seasonal break has been particularly testing - a cough and cold combined with the year ending as wet and grey as it seems to have been all year (the second wettest year since records began apparently). I wanted to get out and about and feel cold, fresh air on my face and soak up gentle Winter sun, but instead going outside meant getting wet and muddy. The news has been full of poor people fighting to keep the elements out of their houses - and often failing to do so and facing a new year of clearing flood water out of their houses. After walking around Bailbrook on the first not quite so rainy day, Mark and I decided to carry on and walk down to Bathampton and along by the canal. The river looked wild and scary - and even the canal looked ominously full - it feels as though Nature is turning on its human squatters. Of course, the feeling is not helped by watching "2012" and "The Day After Tomorrow" on consecutive days!!

the rainy view with which we have become so familiar

River Avon at Bathampton

River Avon reclaims fields and trees

New Year Resolutions

While I find New Year's Eve somewhat testing, I really enjoy New Year's Day. Even though the cough/cold was deteriorating fast and Mark had to do most of the clearing of decorations, there is something liberating about putting the Christmas tree and decorations away and of having finished the rich foods of Christmas. It feels like a fresh start and I like to look forward to the coming year and the opportunities ahead. New year resolutions feel less like a straight-jacket than embracing the chances a new year brings. Particularly this year; the year I leave the job I have had for 16 years and set out on my own...well not really on my own, as I have a great support network.


Where to start with the resolutions? Well, firstly I will do my upmost to keep things in perspective! So when I get a cough and cold and miss my seasonal visit with my stepmother in London and she has to go to the ballet without me, and to "Matilda" with my sister's family, but with my seat left empty, I will not wallow in self-pity (well not very much). Mostly though I want to focus on positive intents - what I want to do, rather than not do:

• I want to keep up my FitnessPal log every day and stick to my planned calories;
• I want to take positive action where I can - for instance, the dark dreary days are a bit of a struggle, so I have bought myself a SAD (seasonal affective disorder) light box and will make sure I use it, and I will take my multivitamins and do the exercises to improve the movement in my left shoulder and not eat melted cheese or MSG or drink the sort of red wine I like but that gives me bad headaches. A lot of things are within my control if I choose to make them so!
• I want to make sure I add a photo every day to the my365 app (Six days in and I already have followers...but had not realised it is principally a Japanese (I think) app; how strange to think of people so far away looking to see what photo I add every day!);
• I want to keep a sketchbook...and use it. I love notebooks and sketchbooks and have a very silly reluctance to sully the lovely white (or black) pages with my words or drawings, but that is what they are for! At least once a week I will add to a sketch book; whether it be a drawing/painting for its own sake or inspiration for some craft item or other;
• I want to finish decorating the house. We have half-stripped 1980s wallpaper in most rooms and, when I finish work, I will allow myself a couple of weeks to focus on the decorating and finish all the rooms we have started;
• I want to make the garden both beautiful and productive, planning what I plant (for a garden with lots of clay and not a huge amount of sun), build raised vegetable/fruit beds in the areas with most sun, clear the once-shrubbery-now-jungle, fill my little grow-house with seedlings, plant up the hanging baskets with strawberries and tumbler tomatoes, replace the rotting wooden slats in the seat beneath the wisteria, etc;
• I want to go out to dinner or even a party (yeah, you know what I'm like at avoiding parties!) without trying on everything in my wardrobe and getting anxious and miserable because I don't like the way I look. I do want to lose more weight, but more than that I want to learn to like the way I look now!;
• I want to finish my 'sampler' quilt;
• I want to perfect my Bryony Bunny design and make up a few models for the real life Bryony's approval;
• I want to get my head round wordpress and put together a website for the business I want to start in April;
• I want to transfer my recipe notebook to a website/blog. I will probably make it open for others to see, but mainly it will be to get rid of the pile of scraps of paper with recipes that have not yet made it in to the notebook and to record how I get on with them; and
• I will keep my to do lists to a manageable length and I will pat myself on the back for the things I do and cross off, rather than beat myself up about the ones I do not complete!

2013: the first few days

As I have already whinged about mentioned, with the exception of New Year's Day (when I was too poorly to do anything but lie on the sofa feeling sorry for myself), the weather has been very gloomy. I like to put away the Christmas lights, but do miss the candles and twinkling lights, but this year I have not had to go cold turkey on the lights as my friend Tracey sent me a lovely lantern, made by punching holes in to a tin can to make images (in this case of cats). It is not really a Christmas thing, so I can use it even when the rest have been packed away...and I love it!

Tracey's tin can lantern

Another bonus has been Mark's new coffee maker. I suggested I got him one of these a couple of years ago and, not one to rush a decision, this year he decided actually it would be a good idea. The little blue and white mugs Irene gave me for my birthday are the perfect size for hot chocolate, cafe crema and cappuccinos and we bought a couple of the larger size ones from our local Scandinavian shop (Shannon on Walcot Street) for the lattes and I had also bought Mark a couple of latte glasses which show off the layers of frothy milk and coffee. It is a bit decadent - and I have to record the calories every time - but we are really enjoying these treats.

first latte from Mark's new Tassimo

Finally, I suspect our two cats, Max and Rio, have made a resolution to be brotherly as they have been inseparable all week. Even though it has not been very cold, they have chosen to snuggle up together.

Max and Rio: brotherly love

Of course it could just be they are competing to sleep on the old clothes (too big now!) I had left on the dining table before cutting them up to make things from!

Max and Rio cats

awww, cute cats!

Max is almost as big a fan of Amazon as I am...he loves the boxes, even when they are a bit on the small size!

Max the cat in an Amazon box

This must have been Boxing Day! (sorry...)

Max proves he can fit in the box