Tuesday 2nd February 2021 - Candlemas

I've titled this Tuesday, but it is actually Wednesday now - what with one thing and another this didn't get written yesterday.

Neither did my handwritten diary for that matter. Never mind - today can be catch-up day.

We have removed the last of the Christmas decorations - the outside wreath and tinsel, and the starry lights inside the front window. I am sad to see them go.

I came across this little rhyme

 If Candlemas day be fair and bright

Then winter will have another flight

If Candlemas day be clouds and rain

Winter is gone and will not come again

on a blog I follow. We should be in luck, as it did rain for most of yesterday, and there were only a few brief spells of sunshine.

We did go for a walk with the new oxygen concentrator in the morning even though it was dank and damp and cold. I pronounce the contraption to be an unqualified success. We (for Himself acted as porter) walked the long half mile to my father's flat and stayed for a conversation - us standing on the grass outside his first floor living room window. And then we walked back - a total of 2.2 km, heading for a mile and a half by the time you add in all the zigzagging across the road to avoid mad joggers and fast-moving infants on scooters. My legs felt a bit leaden by the time we arrived home, but that is probably the furthest I have walked since I don't know when - the Summer maybe? I am looking forward to going out again... soon. It is raining today, and the machine doesn't like getting wet so we will have to pick out time.

We had some books to take round to my father, but didn't take them on this trip in case we turned back half way. Sometimes he lets down a string from his window and we tie a bag to it, for him to haul up (all those years that he went sailing have their purpose still). We can play this game on another trip.

When we got back I found a message on the answerphone from the Surgery - I am to have my first dose of the Covid vaccination, or rather a Covid vaccination as I don't know which version they will use, on Saturday lunchtime. Whoop whoop! No news yet when Himself's turn will be, but it can't be long after mine as we are in the same group.

I made the last of the 'weird and wonderful' recipes that I have been experimenting with so far this year; it is an old favourite of mine - 

'Yoghurt Pot Cake'

empty a pot of yoghurt (ordinary small one) into a mixing bowl, use the same pot to measure in 2 pots of SR flour, 1 1/2 pots of sugar, 1/4 pot mild oil and 2 eggs and mix.

by itself this is rather a boring cake, but if you use vanilla sugar and a good couple of tablespoons of caraway seeds as I did you get seed cake. Or you could use brown sugar and cocoa powder and a bit of milk for chocolate cake, or mixed fruit and spices for fruit cake, or chopped apple for apple cake...

tip into prepared cake pan and bake in a fan over preheated to 170 C for around 35 mins.

At the moment I am baking everything in a little square pan, about 7-8 inches, which fits inside the basket of our Air-fryer. Even mince pies and scones and biscuits get cooked in it - I can fit four biscuits or scones or whatever, taken straight from the freezer with so little time and effort. It was a wonder purchase.

February's project is going to be 'separating puddings' - those concoctions that separate into layers when they are cooked. I know of three so far; Eliza Acton's rich rice pudding, a lemon curd pudding and 'North Sea Oil Slick', a chocolate pudding that makes its own sauce. 

I am delighted that the cats are at last, after 17 years together, beginning to tolerate each other

But this is where I like to sit. I didn't choose the settee for the cats to share. I was relegated to a different chair, not as comfortable or convenient. I need to give this situation some thought to reclaim MY place.

If it is now supposed to be Spring, then I suppose Spring Cleaning should be happening

Mole at the beginning of The Wind in The Willows

 I don't know that we will go as far as whitewashing anything, although there are rooms that need painting. I have decided to do one room per month; that makes it all more possible. Having looked at the downstairs rooms and despaired, I thought I would start with the bathroom and loo. I've a made a list of tasks and just get a couple done each week. I'll keep you posted; so far I have dealt with an outbreak of pink mould at the edge of the basin by removing it with determination and Cillit BANG.