Year Round Nigel Slater discussion thread - Part 4

[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 has been running for a few years, and the contributors 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 chair, grab a drink and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old!

@LillianGish Lovely creatures, both. 🙂I can quite believe a characterful tortoise, they have a lot of thinking time...
@RainbowZebraWarrior Love the statue combination. If any use, I mainly use Tesco's veggie Pecorino as a Parmesan replacement..
@martha79 Hope the rest pays off for you. I still haven't got to the original wallpaper post catching up the thread, but love your little wardrobe snippet.

Our holly is busily scattering tiny blossom everywhere, too.
@petitpasta I hope this afternoon goes exactly how you want it. Your event and your husband both sound lovely . Well done with the redundancy decision, it's not an easy one but it will give you time to recover and think about what you really want and how to get it.
@Celiathebanshee You've summed up something with "...have to Get A Man In and then it becomes a much larger project than I probably want..." Every basic conversation I have with male family members in which I ask if they'd give me a hand - usually to move something, turns into a requirement to first do/buy XYZ before they can even think of just getting on the other end and doing it!
I'm suspicious it's a cunning plan to not be asked...
Hello to @Snooks1971look forward to hearing more about garden events. @RipplePlease Yesterday's Christmas prep here, was cleaning a load of pots in readiness for taking sage and rosemary cuttings so they'll be big enough plants for Christmas.Good luck to DD with the IB revision.
@MrsJLevinson How sweet of your dad.

Beautiful beginning of a seed capsule.

Bingo! @EphemeraleEudemonia I had thought Pecorino, but Sainsbury's one said it wasn't veggie. I'm at Tesco in the morning, so will hopefully pick up one of theirs.

Magic Faraway Tree was beautifully bonkers. I think a lot of that is probably down to Simon Farnaby's version of it. He certainly injected some camp craziness with the different land scenes. It felt like taking LSD at times! Overall, though, I loved it and was delighted to see Nonso Anozie in a massive white moon wig. I adore him!

Looking forward to the next bank holiday now. I love May - I know I say that a lot - but it really is the month that keeps on giving.

Had to have my photo taken with Grogu and Mando poster (so excited!) It's an atrocious picture, but what the hell, I will share it anyway as it represents true joy for me.

Off to look for fairies at the bottom of the garden now... 😁

Did you deliberately colour coordinate @RainbowZebraWarrior? That photo makes it look as if you are actually part of the poster. May the 4th be with you!

Ha, that's brilliant @RainbowZebraWarrior. On sweet animated Instagram accounts, do you know https://www.instagram.com/indiarosecrawford and https://www.instagram.com/tweedyandfluff ?

Excellent poppy close-up @EphemeraleEudemonia - I've got some like that in my front garden but they're a little way off flowering.

Made a start on my paint by numbers kit this afternoon - it's not terrible considering how cheap it was (the brushes are pretty poor) and what a clumsy painter I am. It'll probably look ok from a distance when it's finished 🤣 But was a nice thing to focus on for a couple of hours.

Evening all
you have been busy! Congratulations to @petitpastaand I hope your celebration was truly lovely.
And lots of lovely bank holidays by the sounds. I have been at work as the only bank holidays we don’t open are Christmas Day and New Years Day . We had a lovey day of sheep herding, planting some flowers out around our sheds and craft room, and fussing over Clover who still has not deigned to give birth. Although Autumn is my favourite time of year, May is truly beautiful on the farm and it’s so lovely to be working outside at this time of year .
We went to go ape yesterday. It was actually terrifying. I didn’t think it would be so high. Kids loved it. I did not!
Home to find DH and DSS2. Had been out and bought a table tennis table off fb marketplace and were locked in a battle royale match (and getting increasingly cross with one another as neither of them are good losers). I’m going to go and shelter in our room with my book and the Dogs.

Haha. I did actually notice that, too. I'd like to think that I am At One With The Force 😊

Hello everyone, I’m still finding my feet on this thread sorry. I’m so used to not ignoring anyone and I’m a people pleaser (not so much these days!!!) but never want to come across as impolite. In essence - I overthink! I get a bit overwhelmed 😳

Anyway…. @piscofrisco positive news on ddog ❤️ Pet owner all my life and I could write a manual. Our current two rescue cats were fine and dandy til one during the first year needed an op £6.5k!!! DH and me were “just do it” then when we needed a new boiler last year £3.5k we were debating the cost 🤣🤣 We have since increased the insurance cover!! (Cats not the boiler). Also @piscofrisco did you order the flower frogs? I would love to see how you get on with them.

@RainbowZebraWarrior bloody brilliant photo! PS I think I will go to see The Faraway Tree on my own. Or not go? The illustrations of Moonface and Silky in the books are too entrenched in my visual mind, I’m not sure if I want to see them brought to life! Dilemma - although me and DD17 went to see the Devil/Prada2 on Saturday. Really good!

@martha79 I’m interested in your painting by numbers, I did one over the Christmas break. Loved it! Although I needed a light up magnifying glass to see the tiny bits argghhhh I will post a photo of the finished product, it’s all rolled up, the fun was in doing it.

@EphemeraleEudemonia and @RainbowZebraWarrior so the Garden events are a v small collection of people (2 of us) who construct stone planters from scratch (we mix and mould the stone) then sell them at RHS show events. Here’s one I planted up today that I love - she’s about 16” across and quite tall!
Going to Malvern on Weds - wish us luck 🍀

Photo is too big apparently 😭

@EphemeraleEudemonia
Wow, your Christmas prep in May is very organised. I’d like to channel this somehow.
I always make my Christmas cake on Stir Up Sunday but think I might broaden my horizons this year and maybe make a Rumtopf or suchlike.

@martha79 my painting by numbers!

@Snooks1971 I want to see your pot!
Just settling down in front of the fire to watch Friday’s Gardeners World with the cat. What a nice bank hol.

@Celiathebanshee I’m trying I promise! DH told me yesterday that we should be breaking the heads off our dead tulips because Monty said. I did not know that!

edited for spelling x

@Snooks1971 beautiful!

@Snooks1971 (I'm guessing you were born in the same year as me)

"The illustrations of Moonface and Silky in the books are too entrenched in my visual mind, I’m not sure if I want to see them brought to life! Dilemma - although me and DD17 went to see the Devil/Prada2 on Saturday. Really good!"

Nothing will ever, ever, live up to my wonderful childhood imagination regarding the Magic Faraway Tree characters - and others from Enid Blyton - I was totally obsessed with her books. The film is definitely an adaptation. It is so different in many ways, there is no escaping that. I'm still glad I went to see it, though. Parts of it really reignited my childhood memories. Others were totally bonkers and way off, but I still have my original books and I will always cherish them.

Yes my lovely! Totally understand and get you! I have re-read that book (your first photo) so many times as well as the others.
Amazing characters
I know Enid Blyton is frowned upon but I can still see in my minds eye:
Dame Washalot with her huge buckets of washing water that she tipped down the tree and everyone had to dodge under the branches.
Moonface was so wise, his round shaped room within the tree.
I loved Silky, she was feisty!
SaucePan Man - take the bloody pans off!!! Too clanging. He means well.
The Slippery Slip (?) I would go down that now on a cushion that gets pulled up in a basket afterwards.
Mr Watshisname (spelt that wrong) cantankerous old git.
No wonder I have weird dreams

Lovely pot @Snooks1971. My flower frogs came but I’ve had no time to do anything with them.This weekend might be the time.
I had that copy of The Faraway Tree too. I liked it as a child but my DD’s weren’t into it at all. Maybe if I ever have grandchildren…
We should find out today when Doggles operation is to be and then we can at least start to plan around it a bit. I’m hoping soon as we have a week in Cornwall (with Dogs) end of July and it will be miserable for him if he can’t go out ( and we have to lug the crate with us).
I went to bed last night at 8 with a bad headache, and have woken up with it. DD2 was up all night writing an 8000 word essay due in today (in true ADD style) and she woke me up in the midnight shuffling about in the kitchen. Still, school run and work to get through so had best get up and on with it.
Have a lovely Tuesday all

I like your Tuxedo cat @Celiathebanshee. He looks like our Boo cat (dd named him Boo cat, no idea why but he is hers so I had no say) . He has gone to live with her Dad as she worried about him moving with us as we live on a busy road, plus he didn’t get along well with the sausage. I miss the little fella.

Morning all!

@piscofrisco I love Autumn and Spring equally I think. I have a very brief moment of sadness when the elderberries appear and I feel a bit sad that summer is over, then fully embrace the Autumn-ness and winter prep (the Nigel Months)

@Snooks1971 That paint by numbers looks fab, and I love your stone pots. As soon as I saw the picture, I thought, "Ooh I want to make a stone trough" (will never happen, my list of things I would like to do gets longer and longer. It also reminds me of watching Geoff Hamilton on GW around 1982 making 'home made rocks' for a rockery by mixing cement with a bit of mud, digging a hole in the garden, lining it and pouring the mixture in to set. I found it fascinating at the time, but still haven't gotten around to trying it almost 45 years later...

I hadn't seen that account either @martha79 but I am going to have a look through today. I love anything like that. My best pal sends me links to a little froggy account.

You both looked very cosy there @Celiathebanshee last night. Thanks for reminding me (via the stove) that I need to pick up more kindling today. Speaking of banshees, Mr D is wailing like one so I best get up and fill his food bowl!

Bank Hol was quiet, necessarily so as today I embark on a crazy two months at work. Started amazingly with all trains out of town cancelled so I'm on the much slower bus, resigned to being 15 mins late 🫩.
I loved the Faraway Tree books (and Enid Blyton in general) as a child. Until I was 10 I had the great luck of living opposite the local branch library and spent my primary school years going in on a Saturday morning, borrowing 6 books (mostly E Blyton or Narnia) then going next door to the sweet shop for my 10p mix. Truly I was living in a real life Narnia, if I but knew it.

Very jealous of your Peter Grimes trip, @Bimblesalong, I was fortunate to see Bryn Terfel early in his career, not long after Cardiff Singer, playing me! (At least, my mn handle 😀). I'm really missing Cardiff Singer this year, I always find some new singers to follow.

Morning all. I also loved the Faraway Tree - remember staying overnight with some family friends once and their young teenage kids (who will now be in their 60s!) reading it to me as it was one of their favourites.

@Snooks1971 your painting is lovely, and your cat as helpful as mine (one of mine jumped right in the middle of mine yesterday, thankfully no paint on paws). I'll share mine once it's finished.

@Celiathebanshee that looks so cosy.

Good luck with the busy work season @leporello

Lovely bright morning here. I've got some washing on the line and my gardener is due later. Not a very Nigely day - got my appraisal at work and otherwise just plodding on. Cheered up by this azalea (I think) having started flowering since yesterday.

Bank holiday was non eventful but full on. Didn’t seem to stop

mums birthday coming up and she wants a good sized plant pot. Any ideas on how to wrap a garden pot welcome. Thinking just stick a large bow on it

DP sent me some flowers the other day and now they are in full bloom.

@leporello I’m still riding the wave and listening to the 4 sea interludes. Like you, I love Bryn as a performer and have seen him a few times - here and in Paris as Baron Scarpia, which he does brilliantly. One of my fave times was when we took mum and dad to hear him sing Jerome Kern and songs of that era. I’d managed to get great seats and the performance was so lovely - my dad had a little cry, which meant that he loved it. I feel so fortunate to have had a lot of musical experiences either mum and dad.

Gorgeous flowers @CrushingOnRubies and @martha79

Ah, the brilliant Bryn, @Bimblesalong, I'd love to see him again.

Ghastly stress here last night as dd2's dodgy laptop struck again (did I tell you about thinking she'd lost her dissertation the other week? Can't remember) and she thought she'd lost all her edits from the last week. Dh (computery type) had even booked a Travelodge room and was going to hare up there to fix it himself, since deadline is Thursday. Sadly he did not pay the flexible rate as a frind of dd's boyfriend with an engineering masters managed to sort it for her. Jeez louise, I'll be glad when this deadline passes...one day to go...

Beautiful flower pics!

I'd look for a very large box @CrushingOnRubies If not, then I would go with the bow idea.

Freezing here. Literally freezing. Yesterday was so cold and last night the stove was on by 4.30pm. I stupidly went to the beach without a coat again and the wind was fierce. Everyone else was still in big winter coats. I had a reminder on my phone of the garden this time last year. My, everything was just beautiful. Mind, last Spring was something else. I think I had breakfast outdoors every day of April.

Had a spring clean last night. I like a good chuck out when its bin day. Pantry has been cleared of crap. Out of date stuff chucked, owt in date that I dont fancy bagged up for food bank. Bag of books for the book table and bag of clothes and toys outside for charity collection.

Have a good day, all.

Chilly here too. I’ve got a walk with a friend this morning and considering the big coat for it.

Lovely flowers @CrushingOnRubiessunflower season already!

Oh Lord re the laptop @leporello. DD2 couldn’t find hers on Monday and had a paper due by 7am the next morning (not ideal). Her sister had picked it up by mistake it turned out as they have the same one, but the half hour she couldn’t find it was not fun. So I can only imagine what your poor DD is feeling. I’m old enough to have had to hand write my uni essays so I didn’t have this issue! (DD was agog when I told her this).

My day off will consist of work with a friend, then taking DD shopping for some shoes to wear to a family wedding, cleaning and cooking in between and Pilates this evening. I feel like I’m actually getting a bit stronger through the Pilates. Arms are definitely less like useless bits of spaghetti and I do love how stretched it makes me feel.

Doggles operation will be next Monday. After which we won’t be getting out much for at least 6 weeks and he will be confined to rest in his crate (or more likely the utility room to limit him walking around). He will hate it :( Not looking forward to it at all.
Have a lovely Wednesday all