The Autumnal Christmas Chronicles Preamble - Thread 2 further ramblings

[HannahDefoesChristmasHamper]

Hope nobody minds me starting anew thread as old one nearly full

Will pop some links in 🍂🍁

That sandwich looked tasty Rainbow. Also loved your tree photo - so striking.

So autumnal here today. Need to cut our small lawn as the rest of the front garden is done but it rained overnight and do we were thwarted!

Got our gutters cleaned which was on the to do list.

I'm off to London for the first time in 15 years next week. The last time I saw Nigel but unless he's hanging out at the Imperial War Museum or the British Museum then our paths are unlikely to cross!

I am truly looking forward to starting the Christmas Chronicles

Evening, all. It's gone rather quiet.

@ExquisiteIyDecorated that looks like the absolutely perfect vessel for paperwhites. I love going into a charity shop and coming out with just what I was looking for.

@MovingCrib I had all our gutters cleaned and cleared earlier this year. A job well worth getting ticked off the list, maintenance wise. Hope you enjoy your London trip. I haven't been in 10 years myself.

Weather has been up and down here. Awful forecast, but beautiful morning, then downhill this afternoon. We now have the typical North East coastal winds. Feels like hibernating weather!

Evening! Family trip to the vaccination clinic today, so we are gradually falling asleep on the sofa.

I think we’ve all been busy outside jumping in growing piles of leaves. I have been wearing the most deliciously soft and warm cashmere wrist warmers 😉 @RainbowZebraWarrior

it really does feel like there is a nip in the air. My dahlias are still going but I’ll have to clear them from their pots soon.

@RudolphsDashing Good studded winter tyres are the secret to driving in the snow. Mine are out of the garage ready to put on tomorrow morning. I used to spend my summer holidays in Scotland! We were always around Evanton and and I loved days on Nairn beach.

No more snow here last night, but a crisp -9! The sun is really low in the sky all of a sudden and it's getting darker quickly.

Today will be an old fashioned Sunday sort out day. I want to get the outside fairy lights out and sorted ready for November 1st. I'm always last minute and this year I'm trying to be more organised. My nearest town is about 3 hours drive, so once things sell out in the small local places they are gone forever! Everyone puts their warm white (it HAS to be warm white) lights outside on November 1st. Our daughters barnehage has a special festival for it every year too.
They stay up well into January. It's actually very pretty and now I'm used to it I associate it more with Winter than Christmas.
December 1st the light up paper window stars go up. I've got those ready in the cupboard too and they are in perfect condition for once!

My other goal is to clean and prep the snowboards today to get them ready to be taken for prepping next week. But i like doing this, so it's a fun job!

I hope that everyone on here is doing OK. I love seeing the pictures and reading about everyone else's life. The little ways you all share about leaning into life.

These are some pictures from Friday. It was half term here this week. You can see the sun is low, I think it was only between 11.30am and 12 when they were taken.

Morning all, very jealous of all the aurora photos, we’re too far south now we’re back home, they showed up in Denmark just after we left!

@IngenTing this is a close as we got to snow in Austria. It was lovely to have the sunshine though and we made the most of it with a lot of swimming in the (heated) outdoor pool. I also treated myself to an afternoon of knitting in the hotels reading room so that was lovely.

@Bimblesalong what a beautiful dahlia, it must be lovely with a bit of late colour in the garden, I hope they keep going for a while.

DS has requested a walk today around a local-ish farm that has storks and angus cows, do storks migrate? I have a feeling DS might be disappointed but the woodland walk should be lovely nonetheless.

@MovingCrib lucky you going to museums. I was just thinking yesterday that now it’s getting a bit cold and rainy it’s starting to be museum and cinema weather.

i’m planning a pumpkin risotto for dinner tonight so will enjoy an afternoon of pottering and possibly winterising my wardrobe. I bought a couple of lovely pairs of gloves on the ferry. Anyone else got any nice dinner plans for today?

Here’s the photos I meant to attach!

and a VN image of the fruit for my Christmas cake which I managed to get soaking in a fair bit of alcohol yesterday.

Morning everyone. I blitzed one of my food presses yesterday. It will be so much easier to see what I have in stock, when I'm putting together my weekly shopping list. I'd about six half-used bags of tagliatelle, so I bought a container and put it all together. I'm going to pick up a second one for penne pasta. I was thinking Nigel would approve, except he probably makes his own pasta by hand. And I don't imagine he uses gravy granules.

Lovely photos, everyone! Congratulations on a tidy food press @taytocrisps I keep tidying mine, but it soon turns back into a jumble.

My plans for today include gardening and making beef stroganoff for dinner.

Beautiful dahlia @Bimblesalong and gorgeous scenery photos @IngenTing and @Greaterthanthesumoftheparts.

Morning all. Gorgeous photographs.

Beautifully bright and crisp day here. It was 2 degrees first thing, it's now hit the heady heights of 5 degrees. Heating is on and I've spent the morning making cups of tea which I've then taken back to bed whilst reading waitrose magazine, and now listening to Miranda Hart on Audible (which, as a fellow chronic health sufferer, is revelationary!)

My plans for the day include more lounging / resting. Making Mediterranean lentil soup and roast potatoes (as this seems like a jolly good combo for a cold day) I am also going to indulge in something that makes me very happy and child like; using old Christmas cards and making them into gift labels with pinking shears and a hole punch! Deliciously nostalgic, gentle crafting.

This is basically my day in pictures...

@Taytocrisps I wouldn't think he'd use gravy granules (unless old-fashioned Bisto as a retro thing) but good quality dried pasta I think would be a bit Nigel.

Lovely tidy press. Mine's the same size but I have a baking press too, with a bottom shelf for spices

@RainbowZebraWarrior you’ve take. Me right back
to my childhood making gift tags out of last years Christmas cards.

I bought a red tinsel wall decoration and a striped tinsel big candy cane today. And some wrapping paper. I'm going to wrap a few presents later to cheer me up. I didn't use to like tinsel but I love it now, idk what changed. It's made me feel happier :)

Evening everyone 😊

Carrott and fennel soup going on here today, along with roast gammon. The house smells delightful again! No time for baking today since we've been to town to collect dd2's new glasses, but plans are afoot for next weekend.

Need to trim the gardens back before proper cold sets in too so may have an hour in each over the week, or at the weekend 🤔

Think I need to get my warmer coat out for playground duty tomorrow...but then I think hot flush & can't decide 🙄 I'm so layered up already, so I can strip & not be indecent, that I don't know what to wear any more 🤷‍♀️

Enjoying lovely photos and reading what everyone has been up to over the past few days. DH and I went for a walk on the cliff top this morning and took a sandwich and a flask of coffee. Had our picnic lunch overlooking stunning sea views; even though there’s been very little wind over the past few days there were some big waves rolling in and crashing with enormous force against the rocks - huge explosions of spray and foam - spectacular!
Trying a new recipe for dinner, no outlandish ingredients, pork steaks baked with onions, tomato, celery, potatoes and a dash of Worcestershire sauce; DH looking apprehensive when faced with something new, asking ‘Will there be gravy?’ - answer ‘No!’ Anyway, he’ll be happy because there’s apple pie for pudding; on our way back from the walk this morning, a kind person had left a box of windfalls outside their house, with an invitation to ‘Help yourself’, so I did, enough for a pie.

@lucysmam that looks / sounds lush!

@Bubblesbythesea as does yours. I'm tickled by "will there be gravy?" My DD is obsessed with minty gravy (as in, gravy with a couple of teaspoons of mint sauce stirred through). Waitrose have just started selling Beef Dripping Yorkshire puddings, so she had those with a gravy boat of minty gravy last night. I can actually make decent Yorkshire puddings, but chronic illness dictates that I have to make easy choices sometimes. And they warmed up / crisped up in the air fryer in just 3 mins! They did smell amazing.

@Bubblesbythesea glad to hear of a good walk and also pie!

we’ve had ds1 on FaceTime from my aunt’s pool again - it’s over 30° out there but I sense he’s ready to come back after almost 3 weeks away. He’ll feel the difference in temperature but he’s his own snug house to go home to - quite a few jobs left to do and the rest of his stuff to move from ours. It looks as if it’ll keep him cosy over the winter and I’m looking forward to seeing him carry on settling in.

it is definitely very autumnal up here. There are few tourist canal boats and a majority of boat-dwellers moored up now. Many have stacks of wood or bags of coal in their roofs, with a merry little stove going in their boat to keep them cosy.

the water birds are rafting up for the night on floating plants, keeping them away from mr fox.

@Bimblesalong that all sounds so lovely. Both DS getting ready to come home and get settled and cosy in his own place, and the boat dwellers hunkering down for winter.

We've been out and about a bit today and I was surprised to see thay many people have decorated for Halloween already. Some of the houses we love and we visit every year. They are older people who love to have the kids visit each year and we always catch up. One house, however, has a very realistic body bag hanging from their upstairs window. I feel it's in rather bad taste, and it just looks wrong.

New pork steak recipe went down (reasonably) well, despite lack of gravy! To be fair, DH is still suffering from six weeks of neck and head radiotherapy which has seriously affected his tastebuds - the apple pie was definitely the highlight of the day!

@Bubblesbythesea glsd to hear if at least some enjoyment. Have they said if things will improve with time? I’m not looking forward to my sense of taste being affected by chemo although I’m told I’ll be able to smell things more or less ok, hence the candle advent calendar!

rbz a body bag does sound tasteless. I usually really enjoy seeing the little ghosties and witches at the doorstep. Last year I prepared sweets for 100 children, thinking it would be plenty for the locals. Until last year we would have individual families calling, most of whom I know and loved to interact with. However, last year my stash of treats was gone within 25 minutes and many of the local callers left empty handed. People were driving in large groups of children and coming round in groups of 20 in some cases. Sadly, I decided that was the last year I’d be handing out although have made separate arrangements for children in the street to come earlier. I will have to be so careful this year if my treatment has started by then too.

@Bubblesbythesea I'm pleased DH enjoyed the apple pie. It certainly sounds most deserved after his treatment. I also hope that this now means there some peace, normality, and hope ahead.

@Bimblesalong I remember reading similar stories on here last year. We also have a reputation for being 'a good place to Trick or Treat'. We have always put a sign on the door when we are out of treats. When DD was very young, I'd do this at 7.30pm. That was my cut-off point, as after that, she would need to go to bed, and I had no desire to continually answer the door to much older kids. This year, I am going to prepare some 'special' treats for the kids we know. Some of our neighbours have always done this for DD, which is where the idea has come from.

@Bimblesalong DH finished his radiotherapy at the end of July and at first everything tasted sour, gradually he has begun to be able to taste some things and is eating better, but only much smaller amounts than previously. Oddly it’s random things, for instance potatoes, bread (starchy things), cheese, chocolate, he still finds difficult to eat or taste ‘odd’. The dietician has said it can take some time for taste buds to recover, especially as his radiotherapy was on his neck and face, but they should recover in time. We just keep trying different things, and celebrate when we find something that hits the spot! In the meantime he is having protein drink supplements to help maintain his weight and is feeling much better in himself.
it’s good that you should be able to smell things after your chemotherapy, I would assume that means you should.also have some sense of taste as these two senses are related.

My very best wishes for your course of treatment, and the very good news that you shouldn’t need another op.

I've decorated the outside of the house this weekend in halloween fairy lights and a giant cobweb and spider. And we don't even have a DC living here anymore. I just enjoy halloween and it makes me happy so why not?

Went to buy bags of sweets tonight but feel I need a lot more. We live in a new build estate so millions of kids, it's our first year here though so not sure! Will switch off all the lights and blow out the pumpkin when we're out of treats I guess- although making a sign for the door is also a good idea!

Not such a beautiful photo, but had a lovely day baking with the children, for their lunch boxes this coming week.

Apricot and dark chocolate flapjack, spinach and cheese tart (medieval recipe), with apple cobbler for puddings and apple compote for their morning porridge.

Have really tried to make the most of the apples we've picked this year, a mixture of cookers and dessert apples.

Your baking looks absolutely delicious @WeMeetInFairIthilien, would love one of your lunchboxes!