Sunday 17th January - No..... :

Yesterday's letter was N for NO!

Today's letter is a punctuation symbol; semicolon : for a longer pause than usual

I thought of an interesting thing to post yesterday, but I have forgotten what it was. Maybe it will come back to me? Maybe not. There is so much almost nothing happening to fill the day that I am losing track.

Last night was a 'non-sleeping' night. They come along every so often and there's nothing much to be done about it. When this happens I listen to the World Service or other things - audiobooks, podcasts, Cds, through headphones. Some programmes will get me back to sleep quite quickly, and others are too interesting and I stay awake. This time I continued reading a C J Sansom book, 'Sovereign' on my Kindle which is backlit, remembering how I used to read books by torchlight under the bedclothes when I was little. 

There's a knack to managing headphones when you are half asleep in bed, turning over without tangling yourself in the lead and having the music playing device crashing to the floor. It pays to stay still - too much tossing and turning over and over can leave you in a bit of tangle.

I have been testing a number of recipes today - I'm slightly fascinated by all these 'Just 3 Ingredients' recipes that have been flooding the internet recently. Today we had '3-ingredient cheesy biscuits' and '3-ingredient tomato soup' for supper.

The cheesy biscuits , are a winner; they are American style biscuits, a sort of scone-like thing

2 cups S R flour, 1-2 cups 'shredded' (grated) cheese, 1 1/3 cups milk. You just stir this all together and dollop little pyramids of this onto a greased or lined baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 mins at 180C fan. I made half quantities which was 4 decent sized 'biscuits'. Split and spread with butter they were excellent with the 

3-ingredient Tomato soup.

Now, this reminds me more of the story of Stone Soup; The Tony Ross re-telling of the traditional tale is far more dramatic;

‘Stone Soup’ retells the classic folk tale of the Big Bad Wolf. In this story the Wolf decides that he wants to eat the Hen, as he is a little hungry and wants to steal all of the lovely things she has. The Wolf tells the Hen about his plan, she suggests he first eat some of her stone soup, the Wolf is intrigued as he has eaten many kinds of soup, but never stone soup. She begins making her soup with a single stone in a pot of boiling water, as she adds more and more vegetable to her soup she asks the Wolf to help her with some chores around the house. Stone soup takes a very long time to cook, so the Wolf completes many chores for the Hen, such as washing the dishes, cleaning & dusting the house, bringing in the washing, cutting fire wood, fixing the TV aerial and finally cleaning the chimney. By the time the Wolf finishes all the chores the soup is ready and the Wolf begins eating. Then the Hen asks the Wolf when he is going to eat her, he tells her that he can’t as he is too full!

The recipe calls for a tin of tomatoes, half an onion and some butter.It is also pretty quick to make; you won't have time for much housework! 

You melt the butter (I used a couple of tablespoons of olive oil), add the chopped onions and tomatoes, and two more cans of water, a bit of salt and pepper (that makes 5 ingredients) and simmer until soft. Then liquidize, check seasoning and serve.

Hmm. It is improved by the addition of more vegetables, (I added a medium potato to give it some body), and by using stock instead of water. A drop of balsamic vinegar at the end helped, and a bit of chilli warmth. It was a good soup, and I have two more portions set aside for another day.

No walking, apart from round the garden. Tooooo cold!

 

Friday 15th January - Mmmmmm

 That was the letter for today, Mmmmm.

We have discovered the pannetone left over from Christmas, hiding in a dark corner of the hall, and also a large bar of Toblerone that I was gong to use for home-made chocolate truffles, but never got round to.

We bought our first microwave in 1986. It transformed meal-making in a hurry for hungry impatient babies and toddlers; one child-rearing book I read had the simple mantra

microwave - freezer - microwave - baby

and it proved to be so true. The technology was so different that cook books were required, and I invested in a couple while I got my head round this miraculous machine.

One thing that caught my eye was this;

Chocolate fondue; (Sainsbury Microwave Cooking by Lorna Rhodes)

250g / 8oz Toblerone broken in pieces

142ml / 5 fl oz double cream

put these in a bowl and microwave on MEDIUM for 3 minutes, stirring while cooking, until melted

This does make a lovely rich fondue to serve with fruit and marshmallows.

I misread the recipe and heated it all on HIGH - it didn't matter then when microwaves were lower power, but would probably matter more now.

HOWEVER, if you also have a bar of dark chocolate to hand you can add this to the mix - how much? I'm not sure, probably all of a 100g bar, you get a much thicker mixture, which will set firm when chilled.

Then you can scoop out teaspoonfuls and roll them in cocoa power to make chocolate truffles to give to people, and to yourself, as presents. 

We have skipped the 'making truffles' stage and are just eating the Toblerone neat.

 In other news, Brexit has already hit this household in the most irritating fashion. Our printer reached the end of its useful life over Christmas, so we ordered a replacement, and were given a delivery date of 12th January. However, the printers are made in the Netherlands. 

We can track the progress of our printer from the factory to our house; the delivery date has moved a couple of times but that is not a great problem. There's not a lot of difference between the 12th and the 15th, after all. However the date has now disappeared to be replaced by a message stating that the hold up is at customs because of incomplete paperwork. I have a feeling that this is going to be a common problem in the next few months.

It has lead to complicated discussions on how we can use the tech we have in our house (quite a lot) to make it possible for me to read the music (which I am now unable to print copies of) on one screen, and still have two screens set up for the zoom. Two? Yes; after six months of having the screen side-on to show the keyboard, and me sitting in a contorted position as though I am squashed into one of those magician's boxes for sawing a lady in half, I have changed to having a screen on top of the piano I can talk to, and another at the side to show the keyboard. Goodbye neck ache, back ache! I should have done this ages ago.  I am getting more and more techy by the minute. 

I did get out for a walk; this time I loaded myself down with 2.5kg of books in my bag. Why? That's the weight of the light-weight oxygen concentrator that I have my eye on. I did 230 m in the first 6 min walk (without using oxygen) which is uphill, and later was surprised that I managed 280 m in a second test on the way home (downhill!). If 2.5 kg makes this difference, it makes it appear more worthwhile to try and shed a few pounds in how much I weight. I must give this some consideration once we have finished the pannetone and the toblerone bar.

   

Thursday 14th January - Wha?

 Wha? Where have the days gone? It was Monday, and now it is Thursday...

I know why I didn't post yesterday. It was because the milk was off... that is the beginning of the story. One mouthful of breakfast cereal and that was that.

Soooo, Himself had the slice of toast that could be slivered off  the heel of the loaf, to fortify himself for dealing with a Waitrose delivery at 7am. And I made some drop scones with the gone-off milk;

2 tablespoons SR flour, and a matchbox sides lump of butter (ordinary matches, not long ones) and the tip of the tablespoon dipped in the sugar, rub together and mix with enough gone-off milk to make a batter the thickness of double cream.

Drop tablespoonfuls onto a hot non-stick frying pan, wait for the top surface to bubble and lose its shine and look settish. Turn over, hopefully the other side is golden brown. Cook for a few minutes, long enough for this side to become golden brown too. I can fit three in the frying pan in one go, four and they start amalgamating into drop scone instead of drop scones.

There was enough for the both of us for a decent start to the day.

Well, the Waitrose order included items for friends who hadn't been able to get to the supermarket, and they brought us some milk. Which meant that we had to evict the bottle of wine and bottle of sherry from the holder in the door. 

So, later that evening Himself finished off the wine - a very full glass, and I finished the sherry- another very full (but slightly smaller than his) glass.

It was a good thing that I had finished typing up and sending the lesson notes for the first two pupils of the evening. I types and sent the third set of notes this morning. Much safer.

And also didn't blog.

If I had, I would have done the Alphabet letters - 

Tuesday J; Jam; Jam on toast, or stuck in a jam?

Wednesday; 'K; I'm 'K; R U 'K?

Thursday; L. No, not that kind of L, no dropped Aitches! Let's be Elegant, Elevated, and Eliminate unpleasantness

Today was weeeeet and dissssssmal alllll day. I looked at the weather and decided to stay in.

Then I stirred myself into action and forced myself out into the drizzle... 780m in total, no oxygen, several pauses to catch my breath. I did a 6 minute walk test; not very accurate in that the route was distinctly uphill, so I was pleased to have done 280m in those circumstances. I don't like taking our oxygen machine out when it is raining because there is not proper way of protecting the control panel.

Anyway, going out was a good decision. I chatted with a neighbour who is a Pilates instructor. He says I should learn 'thoracic breathing'. He says everyone should learn thoracic breathing, and he used to teach it at a @Pilates for seniors' course he used to run. He says that there's too much diaphragm breathing going on and not enough thoracic breathing. I shall investigate.

Right. I have reached the end of tonight's glass of intoxicating liquor. Time to stop typing while I can still type. Today's piano pupil's notes will have to wait until tomorrow!   

   

Monday 11th January - I, me, myself

 That's the letter for today - I

Me, myself, and what is in my mind's eye?

I'm sure we used to have a copy of this book; 

and now suddenly this poem has floated to the top of my brain

The Tyger

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain, 

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp, 

Dare its deadly terrors clasp! 

When the stars threw down their spears 

And water'd heaven with their tears: 

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright, 

In the forests of the night: 

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Ah, but it uses the word 'symmetry', not 'geometry'. As you were then.

I managed a 'quick' walk before lunch - I haven't been out while the weather was so cold. 

My Other Half was cooking lunch, so I had just 20 minutes. Being on my own I didn't have any oxygen support, and I can tell you I surely noticed the difference. Even so I managed 300 metres in my first 6 minute walk test, and then spent several minutes standing still until my breathing steadied. Once I was ready, I walked on a little further, stopped again to catch my breath, and turned for home. I made this a second walk test and covered 340 m. The further distance is because the return journey is slightly downhill. One again I paused, and then covered the final distance, just ten houses from home. Overall, 800 metres in the 20 minutes.

If I had been using oxygen, even at the lowest setting, I reckon I would have all this and more without needing to stop. 

My reward for all this effort was a glass of wine with my beef pie... well-deserved, I thought, although it made me quite sleepy all afternoon. 

I had a go at the next lesson of touch-typing. It is as I thought; adding two more letters has more than doubled the difficulty (although some of that might have been the wine??)

It does mean the little stories are getting more involved;

i sigh like jill; jed has a high hall; see jaffa as he jigs

a sad seal did fall; dad filled a field; a sill leaks alas;

i like a fig; half a heel has  held; jill has a gash; i hike

This is Such Hard Work now!

I'm spending more time going over each word, and then each line, until I manage to get it right. Then, of course, I ruin it by rattling in this post using my 'eyes on the keys, using three fingers' method.  Tomorrow, if I dare, I get to learn o, n and the shift keys. To be honest, a Bach four-part fugue is easier.

   

Sunday 10th January;;;;;;;;;;;

 Semi-colon;;;; an even longer pause than a comma!

I looked out of the window - the ice flowers are back!

Only on the salvia - they look like tiny curled down feathers escaped from a duvet. Other Half has taken proper pictures on a proper camera but is sitting with book and coffee and purring cat on lap so I won't disturb him. I'll put his pictures up later. 

Saturday 9th January - Letter H

 

H for - heaven, hell (the latter two tie in with the third of the Gifts of the Magi, Gold, for a King, Frankincense for a God, Myrrh, for death)

which reminded me of Blake's poem, The Clod and the Pebble;

"Love seeketh not itself to please,

Nor for itself hath any care,

But for another gives its ease,

And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."

So sung a little Clod of Clay

Trodden with the cattle's feet,

But a Pebble of the brook

Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only self to please,

To bind another to its delight,

Joys in another's loss of ease,

And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

I guess the truth is somewhere in between... too much clod or too much pebble in one's character is going to end up in tears either way... maybe H is for Happy medium?

I have discovered my new challenge - I'm not sure how well I shall stick to it. 

'Learn to touch type in just 10 hours'

we shall see. I spent some time on it today - lesson 1, or Hour 1, doing the drills and consolidation exercise. It is very like, and very unlike, learning a piano piece. \i think one problem will b that I am already quite a fast three finger typist, which means that I have a multitude of terrible habits to painstakingly eradicate.

Like I said, we shall see...

   

Friday 8th January - F and G

 It's quite handy doing alphabet letters on one day because then no one need know that I got them the wrong way round - I was so delighted that E coincided with Epiphany that I launched straight into 

G for Gold - gold moments in every day, even if they only last as long as it takes to drink a cup of tea (or glass of wine) or see the sun catching the leaves on the tress - I took this picture on my birthday while waiting for news of my father who was in hospital... 

The tree will be bare branches now of course.

This morning I realised that yesterday should have been 

F - frankincense, fragrance, and friends suggested frangipane, frangipani flowers, and, of course, friends.

I went out into the garden for a few minutes - just long enough to feel my face begin to freeze, to see why the salvias had suddenly all got white fluffy flowers

 

I don't know if you can make it out, but they were made of thin strands of ice, like little tufts of that fiendish 'angel hair' you can buy to decorate your Christmas tree.

I had seen some photographs of ice hair that someone discovered on Dartmoor a day or so ago.

This article states that it is a consequence of temperature and moisture and the presence of a fungus - I don't think fungus was involved in my ice flowers, but they looked very similar.

I've certainly never seen anything like it before - I'll have to look again tomorrow.

Christmas clearing up is in progress and will probably last for a few more weeks. The tree has been wrestled into a swaddling of bubble wrap and gaffer tape - it managed to destroy its box. It is a truism that artificial trees are reluctant to return to the compacted size they were when first put into the box in the factory. Baubles and tinsel are in their respective carrier bags and are being carted up to the back bedroom every time one or other of us treks upstairs. Only a couple more trips to go.

Last year none of the Christmas stuff made it into the loft - I suspect the same will happen again. It certainly made things easier this year.

We are sitting up waiting for the delivery of a new printer. The old one printed its last page a week ago. I'm impressed that it lasted as long as seven years, the rate I use it. This morning that tracking service said it had reached the Netherlands, and would arrive by 9.30 tonight. So that's thirteen minutes to go.... but when do we decide that 'running late' has become 'not arriving today'? 

Waiting up, did I say? We've been going to bed pretty early, taking hot chocolate and books.

Now, about hot chocolate... take an espresso mug, drop in a square of 90% and a square of 70% Swiss or Belgian chocolate, (I suspect 2 squares of 80% would come to the same thing, but I'm using what we've got) and a small teaspoon of sugar and top up with milk. Heat in the microwave, watching like a hawk, because after a minute it will boil over! I let it rise up once or twice (quick reactions on the stop button) and then give it a good stir.  

It makes a smooth, dark, rich, concentrated drink, and the small sized mug is plenty! I make it for himself, but not for me, much as I would like it, as my stomach no longer enjoys a milky drink at night. Sad, but I console myself by thinking of all the calories I am NOT consuming!

Tuesday 6th January - Alphabet (E), and burble burble

 Let's do the alphabet first - I promise it wasn't a 'fix, but I was very pleased that the letter E conincided with EPIPHANY!

So I went out this morning and 'chalked the door'

I only came across this custom a few years go, and this is the first year I have had any chalk (about 30 sticks - I ordered three packets by mistake)

20 + C + M + B + 21

the 20 and 21 make up 2021, and in between are C M B; this could be Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, the traditional names for the three wise men, or it could be for Christus mansionem benedicat, meaning Christ bless our home.

You can google and find complete litanies and make a ceremony, or, as I did, just stand there in front of the door for a second and say 'Lord have mercy' which is about all I can manage at the moment.

The letters will be gone tomorrow - it has been raining of and on most of the day.

No proper walk today - I did have a quick look around the garden this morning but it was so cold and raw outside that I didn't stay long. Just long enough to see that this year's sweet peas which came back to life after I cut them down and put them in the 'waiting to go into the compost bin' have all sprouted again and survived the frost, and to notice the shoots for bulbs poking up through the ground here and there.

I had some good news this morning - I've been using a new exam board for students wanting to take piano exams. Last term two young lads took their 'Prep' test and both passed. This is a slightly more nail-biting exam than the old Associated Board version which didn't have pass/fail - just an encouraging report. Today I leaned that the girl doing her Grade 2 a week before Christmas passed, in spite of being quite distracted by everything Christmassy in her life. I had my fingers crossed for her, and my toes, but all's well that ends well. Phew.

Today has been remarkably free of chocolate and so on - I expect we will hit the biscuits quite soon. We did have Christmas pudding after lunch - Green Thai Curry (Waitrose cook from scratch meal) followed by a Heston Bluhmental pudding and clotted cream> Perhaps a tad more international than normal but these are Strange Times.

Here's a poem to finish with, by Edwin Morgan;

Another view of things…

What I love about music is its scale  
what I hate about muesli is its adherence  
what I love about meaning is its itinerary 
what I hate about the printer is its reproduction 
what I love about the sky is its aspiration 
what I hate about the world is its weight 
what I love about saltires is their ire and their salt 
what I hate about Kings Cross is its intersections 
what I love about chickens is their coronation  
what I hate about morning is repetition 
what I love about Veronica is her proliferation  
what I hate about Janus is his duplicity 
what I love about the sprite is its effervescence  
what I hate about tower blocks is their eyelid-batting 
what I love about nostrils is their déjà vu 
what I hate about candour is its putridness 
what I love about closets are their ecosystems 
what I hate about springs is their optimism 
what I love about deviance is its recreation 
what I hate about absence is its omnipresence 
what I love about discretion is its sensibilities 
what I hate about poetry is its abandon 
what I love about headlines is their brevities  
what I hate about the universe is its expansiveness 
what I love about love is its inheritance

I found this poem here when I was looking for his first version of the poem, written much earlier, called

'A View of Things'. I like this one better. 

      

Tuesday 5th January - January Alphabet letter D, and blah blah blah

 

D - dismantle the tings/thoughts that have had their day, and deploy the thoughts/things that will help you journey onwards.

Not that I have journeyed further than the settee today. We were promised snow! Or, less welcome, but more likely, sleet. Instead we had Grey, cold and uninviting. It seemed to be already dusk by half past three.

'Half past three. Have-a-cup-of-tea!' That's a djembe rhythm I have been teaching to primary school children since I learned it myself twelve or more years ago. And that's exactly what I did, have a cup or two, of tea.

Tea tastes better from a cup in my opinion. These were at the bottom of a cupboard; I bought them in October 2015 from a charity shop - how do I know? It was my parent's 60th wedding 60th anniversary that month, and my mother stipulated that the table decorations should be small sprigs of flowers and greenery stuck in wodges of oasis stuck in white teacups and saucers... Ten cups and saucers took some searching out, but the end result looked very pretty and I have been using them for this purpose ever since, although nowadays I buy small pots of bedding plants (primulas, usually) and just plonk the pot into the cup. I wrap the pot in a but of tissue first if I feel so inclined. 

I've also been disposing of the candle ends by BURNING them - I do like a bit of flame and fire.

  

The red candles are meant to be wonky, I should add. I've had them for years and years, discovered them at the back of a cupboard this Christmas. (The one with the white teacups). They were twice that height to start with (the candles, not the tea cups); slow burning, and they don't seem to drip either.

We have taken down the tree and most of the Christmas cards. Tomorrow we will take down the rest of the card and the lights around the sitting room, but we are leaving the ones in the window until - Epiphany?, no, that's tomorrow. Candlemas - 2nd Feb? Maybe. Easter? Now you are talking. An act of defiance against the dark...   

We didn't go for a walk - grey weather, and a couple of glasses of wine at lunchtime removed all inclination for exercise. Tomorrow is another day.

 

Monday 4th January - Potificating alphabet

 

Bonkers Alphabet 

C

what do you see? 

what are you searching for? 

Sunday 3rd January 2021 - Ponderosa Alphabet

 I expect you had already worked out that January has 31 days and there are only 26 letters....

today I invite you to consider the comma

,

a tiny pause, a little breath,

a butterfly

Saturday 2nd January 2021 - Ponderous alphabet

Here are the pictures for A and B - but I'm not promising a picture every day!

2

B

To be - and how to be? Now that is a question...

Friday 1st January - To Ponder

 I've decided to create a crazy alphabet - a letter a day for January.

1 

A 

Alpha, 

the first, 

the beginning