Year round Nigel Slater discussion thread Part 2

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello, all and welcome to this lovely space for our continued chats.

A bit of background for anyone not familiar with this topic:

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong usually takes place here between November and February each year (the Christmas Chronicles being a book written by Nigel Slater full of winter recipes and anecdotes) It's been running for a few years, and the contributors have collectively decided it would be nice to have it running all year round.

So here it is. It is a place to appreciate all things Nigel-esque. Think seasonal food and recipes, enjoyment of nature, gardening, appreciation of the weather, and sharing of news and small moments of joy. It's a calm, cosy space for gentle chat and merriment so pull up a deckchair, grab a drink and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old!

Having a lazy Sunday morning coffee in the sun with this view

@CrushingOnRubies What a beautiful view - envy you the lovely blue sky and sunshine, it’s grey and cold wind (again!) on the east coast.

Happy Sunday! Oooh @RainbowZebraWarrior I l9ved visiting The Netherlands. I've never been to Amsterdam, but it was so easy to get around by train, everything was so close! I can recommend taking the train to Leiden, it was a beautiful place. Also the Naturalis museum is so awesome! Especially if you like dinosaurs.

It was Norway's national day yesterday, we usually celebrate, but yesterday decided to take a day out instead. We took a trip to Sweden to do some fishing, the kids caught 3kg of beautiful trout. We met some friends on the road on the way home.

Today it has been a lovely day spent in our forest, doing a little fishing at the lake.

We did a Pure Boat Tour when we were there, it was just us and one other couple on a small boat and way better than the big boat tours.

Have you considered this little museum? Much more interesting than it may at first appear!

Whoops sorry forgot the link

🤦🏼‍♀️! Giving up on the link - sorry - it’s the Gratchen Museum, aka The Museum of the Canals. Very interesting and hopefully fun for your daughter .

Argh! I just typed out a long response to all your recommendations and lost it.

The basic premise was just to say thank you so much to you all ❤️ We have a good list of things to do now.

I agree with @CrushingOnRubies that some cities are the type whereby it's just lovely to wander and happen across some lovely places. We also have Kattenkabinet on our list, and as we have five days in Amsterdam, there's no big hurry to fit everything in. I also love your photo today. That was a beautiful blue sky! It's cold and dreary here again on the NE coast and we have the heating on. I also spent an hour watering the garden and then it rained.

Much love to all.

its been beautiful in Cornwall today. My parents have taken their motorhome to the coast a few miles away so joined them for the day with a walk on the beach and just got home after a bbq tea. What is it that even though I haven’t been camping as such, spending a day on a campsite makes me think I’ve had a weekend camping. Also there was no WiFi or phone signal so being disconnected from the world in that sense for an afternoon has been bliss too

yes it’s beautiful down by the lake on a day like today. And it was so sheltered and all the ducklings were having a paddle. There was also remote control boat club down there and it had a real community feel about it

Oh that sounds amazing @CrushingOnRubies

The sun is back here 🌞 and it's Chelsea flower show week 🌱 and it's my birthday week 🥂 and half term starts on Friday ✈️ Hurrah!

Seriously, what a difference it makes waking up to blue sky and sun again.

@CrushingOnRubies that sounds like perfection.

can’t believe how fast half term is coming @RainbowZebraWarrior it’s amazing how well you’ve done for dd and how well she is doing now. Fingers crossed.

🎶🎶The sun has got his hat on - hip hip hip hooray🎶🎶 - at last we’ve had blue skies and lovely sunshine today on the north east coast. A beautiful walk on the way to the beach, and the warmth brought out the gorgeous smells of the Queen Anne’s Lace/wild carrot.

Good morning all. Today is my birthday, so I hope the sun comes out (gorgeous photo @Seasidebubbles ) Yesterday ended up being a difficult day as DD had a meltdown. She doesn't want people to speak to her and can't cope with breaks and lunchtimes. Sigh. Rainbow-fixitall is officially out of energy so I need to carve out some time for myself today.

<Whinge alert> I have not had an evening out / child free evening since 2018, (Yes, 7 years with not so much as a meal out, a gig or theatre) but I do get some daytime peace, so that's what keeps me sane. So, today I am going frock shopping as soon as DD has been deposited at school. I'm after a plain black dress to wear kimono jackets over. Then I am going on a photography wander where I'm going to photograph everything that makes me Happy About May. Finally, I have charged my headphones and I am going to find a field to lie in and listen to Adagio for strings. It will probably rain lol.

Oh and DD has her first proper sax lesson tonight followed by an Indian food delivery as my birthday treat.

Happy birthday @RainbowZebraWarrior!

Happy birthday @RainbowZebraWarrior
I hope today brings you a dress, warm sunshine and tasty takeaway.

The evening thing is tricky. Although some things do happen in the day, most adult cultural stuff is in the evenings for sure.

That sounds like a lovely birthday plan @RainbowZebraWarrior I hope your day happens as you want it to - may the dress shops yield bounty! I hope dd is ok and able to manage a good day at school.

I visited a Toast shop after my trip to the Wallace Collection the weekend. It’s good to try things on that can only otherwise be bought by mail order. Nothing grabbed my attention but afterwards I was walking past a little independent boutique who was having a pop up for a company called “day dress” that has been on my social media. I found myself a lovely long dress in a blue provencale print. Goes well with my “new” short grey hair.

Happy birthday 🎂 🎂🎂@RainbowZebraWarriorxx

Happy Birthday @RainbowZebraWarrior glad you've got a day of nice things planned. That sounds very hard about the evenings though.

I agree about walking around observing and taking photos. There was an article in The Times yesterday about the benefits of a moment of awe every day for mental health, that is what we try and achieve when we share photos on this thread I think. Hope you can read it.

Finding wonderment is not only natural — it’s good for you

https://www.thetimes.com/article/12448d99-04a1-48a2-9de4-8d1737041ff7?shareToken=7471bc813230bdffe67ad3de79aa28b2

Thanks, all. I have had the most amazing day so far. Just a gentle day of mostly solitude and peace, doing the things I like to do. I bought three dresses in the end, as well as four tops and a pair of trousers. As I was hoping, One Hundred stars have sent me a £10 birthday voucher, so that's getting spent on my Willow dress later. Its been a pleasure to shop for clothes as im 3 stone lighter than I was last birthday. Most of the day has been spent at the nature reserve and it has been spectacular. The weather is perfect. Sunny and 14 degrees. That's perfect for me anyway. The bird life atm is at it's very best. Swallows amd swifts swooping, and some really rare sightings to add to my life list.

Here's a summary of my day so far in pictures. Oh, and it's World Bee Day too. Delighted to share the celebration with my wonderful little winged friends Also, here's a close up of a very busy bee from my nature reserve walk.

Happy Birthday @RainbowZebraWarrior , lovely pictures and I’m glad you’ve managed a you day. I find it so hard buying dresses now most things are only online and I really need to try things on - where did you get yours? Hopefully your DD will have had a better day at school and will be happy this evening so you can have a lovely evening together.

And lo! We are olifactorily VN!

smells amazing.

I got two dresses from New Look which was a spur of the moment dash-in. The other was from M&S. I have to say that I reallllly wanted a long black voluminous bubble hem dress, but I realise that this was likely because I didn't get a puff ball dress like Pepsi and Shirley when I was 16, so I reluctantly put it down. It may be a short lived trend (like the last time) and it sure as heck wouldn't pack well in a suitcase..

That looks gorgeous Bimbles. Wish I had a scratch and sniff screen! I thought of you earlier this evening as we popped into our local library. There was a file full of local self led walks and one was called 'Brian's Bimble Along' which was a walk along our lovely riverside.

I've done too much and had far too much sun today, so am feeling a bit lightheaded and have a wind burned face. Takeaway has been knocked on the head, but I've still had a marvellous day, and all your lovely messages have helped in that vein ❤️

Hope you've given yourself a voucher for that takeaway to be used just because you fancy it sometime.

Absolutely love the idea of a voluminous bubble hem dress - but wise to eschew it for ease of hand luggage. Also loving the local walks.

I absolutely second @HannahDefoesSpringFling ’s idea of a free pass for a takeout.