Wind and wood
I used to love a windy day. The prospect of picking up kindling and the occasional sturdy branch for the inglenook fireplace stir the scavenger within. I’ve always stopped and shovelled road kill timber into Jalopy’s back seat. Now that we are smoking our home cured bacon, finding the right type of wood keeps me alert. Apparently pine wood makes the meat taste nasty so I avoid those windfalls. The recent high winds had small hands clapping with glee until Jalopy and I narrowly missed disaster on the Debden Road. An enormous oak...
read moreRammel in the larder
The larder has been driving me nuts. We have bought loads of dry ingredients for our vegetarian drive. We’ve also been overwhelmed by events and have not had time to organise the space. The result is a rammel nightmare which would have a normal person weeping at dawn. A couple of weeks ago I got up in the middle of the night and wrote LARDER on the calendar across the four day Easter weekend slot. Although we have our own answers to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, cleverly fashioned from a selection of disparate unopened tins and bottles,...
read moreEnergise your day. Frogs and two great blogs.
It’s the first day of spring! The frogs must have known this. Our annual bacchanal had started in the large pond when I went down to feed the chickens on this cold and blustery morning. Six couples were clinging on and having fun. And then I spoilt it all by appearing with a large camera and small black and tan Min Pin. All frogs submerged as one. Still attached. I didn’t know that it was such a special day. I love frogs but still don’t speak their language despite living alongside them for 16 years. Two superb, upbeat blogs...
read moreThe Hottie
I feel the cold. As a child I used to question my mother closely. “What happened to me when I was a baby and couldn’t speak? I must have been freezing.” “It’s easy to check if a baby is cold. If you felt chilly I put an extra layer on you.” This was before the days of central heating when people could go to see a movie, eat fish and chips on the way home in a taxi and still have change from sixpence. I have used a hot water bottle on and off since I could indicate that I needed some extra warmth and comfort...
read moreThe promise of chocolate
I love Easter. The squeaky clean green of the grass. The first primroses. Drifts of daffodils in gardens rather than the supermarket displays. And chocolate. Good thick 70% armbreaking stuff. Savoured in the greenhouse, behind the wheel of Jalopy and in bed. One terrible year Danny ate my Easter Eggs. I’d offered him a bit and he took this as a green light to gradually, secretly, wolf the lot. I’m a one chocolate a day sort of girl. Danny is an egg an hour sort of guy. I was happy just admiring the boxes for a couple of weeks until...
read moreMess
A few years ago Danny admitted that he had considered leaving me. “The problem is that you are so untidy. You have too much stuff and too little space. At one point I just felt I couldn’t cope.” He stared at me with a slightly pop eyed look. Probably expecting an explosion. I could only agree with him. Luckily he has very little in the way of possessions. Even the Min Pins have more toys. His arrival at the cottage had a big impact on my life and a small impression on the space. Until he tired of living out of a suitcase and...
read moreGoing back
It’s over a year since I began working at Anna’s house, deep in the Essex countryside. It was a great job and the start of a good friendship. Anna is fun. She is also curious, sensitive and brave. If I was forced to go on a walking holiday in Cleethorpes, I’d love the resourceful Anna to be by my side. Today I cleared Jalopy and headed for Saffron Walden. It was a happy trip. Collected my stuff from Mike’s house and tweaked his staircase just hours before his dinner party. Then I took the long road from Saffron Walden...
read moreEscape
“Fiona, I have a problem.” It was Tessa. She had let the dogs into the back garden for their midday run. “I am minus a dog – the black and tan one. I’ve called and called and she hasn’t come back.” My heart sank. We thought that all the fences were secure. It was just after midday and I was in Saffron Walden, half an hour away. “OK, I will come home now. Go home, don’t wait.” Tessa works nights and needs her rest. Having been happy to play for hours in her own kingdom, Inca has...
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