Day 59 - February 28th

Christopher has come home today for the weekend so as a treat I made one of his favourites - Rocky Road, stuffed full of biscuit, marshmallows and cherries.

I followed Nigella's 'Rocky Road Crunch Bars' recipe which can be found here. 

Day 58 - February 27th

Its been rather cold today and rained on and off. Tux managed to find a cosy spot for a snooze on someones unmade bed!

Day 57 - February 26th

Cut Daffodils have been available in the shops for several weeks now. I love how cheerful they look and at this time of year they are a regular addition to my weekly shop.

Day 56 - February 25th

Oh how Girl Guides has changed. Tonight Lara received her badge for taking part in a series of chocolate themed activities! Since when did they start handing out badges just for eating chocolate? OK, so she had to do a bit more than just eat chocolate but it still sounds far more pleasant than the challenges I had to do when I was a Guide.

Day 55 - February 24th

Although past its best, the bouquet of flowers that Interflora delivered last week is still looking lovely. The bright pink Alstramerias in particular look beautiful.

Day 54 - February 23rd

Yesterday was World Thinking Day, A day that is celebrated by Girl Guides (and some Scouts) around the world. Today Lara and other girls from her Guide Company went to a day of celebration at Alexandra Palace in London. She had a full day joining in lots of fun activities and came home with this cute little teddy.

Day 53 - February 22nd

After having to cut short last Saturdays walk when we got caught in a hail storm, todays walk was altogether different with blue skies and sunshine. It was a welcome relief.

Day 52 - February 21st

The Crocuses (or Croci as Wikipedia says is an alternative) in the garden are starting to flower.

Day 51 - February 20th

Despite what we may think, the weather must be improving because daisies are starting to appear on the lawn.

Day 50 - February 19th

This afternoon Lara and I went to the cinema to see Mr Peabody and Sherman, the new DreamWorks animated film.

Day 49 - February 18th

I found time today to finish a scrapbook page I've been working on. Lots of glittery snowflakes.

Day 48 - February 17th

Woohoo! Interflora's 'apology' bouquet was delivered at lunchtime today.

Day 47 - February 16th

Wayne has a dispute with Interflora. On Friday (Valentine's Day) they were supposed to deliver a bouquet to me but no bouquet was delivered. Yesterday, after Wayne complained, they assured him that the flowers would be delivered yesterday albeit a day late. No flower arrived! They have now promised that they will arrange for a local florist to deliver a bouquet tomorrow. We will see whether this happens but in the meantime, whilst in the supermarket this afternoon, Wayne bought me two bunches of red roses. Admittedly they were left over from Friday, were past their best and were greatly reduced (36 red roses for £3.98!) but even if they only last a couple of days it's the thought that counts.

Day 46 - February 15th

Last night was so blustery! There was a severe weather warning. The noise was so loud it was hard to sleep. According to the television gusts of up to 61mph were record at Bedford and the wind continued for much of today. 

Shortly after going to bed last night we heard a noise on the roof and this morning found that we had lost several ridge tiles. Also, part of the fence at the top of the garden has blown down.

Day 45 - February 14th (Valentine's Day)

Inspired by the heart shaped strawberry shortcake biscuits I bought on Wednesday, today I made my own heart shaped biscuits.

Day 44 - February 13th

The hyacinths that I took out of the dark garage a couple of weeks ago are now flowering. They are a little short (maybe I should have left them in the dark longer) but they a so pretty and smell lovely.

Day 43 - February 12th

Whilst shopping this morning I couldn't resist buying this tub of heart shaped strawberry shortcake cookies ready for valentine's day.

Day 42 - February 11th

Tucked away underneath a bush in the garden I discovered these violets.

Day 41 - February 10th

This Osteospermum seems rather confused by the weather. We're having torrential rain and gales and it has decided to flower. According to Thompson and Morgan is shouldn't be flowering June-October! Very strange.

Day 40 - February 9th

Last weekend Lara bought a ball of chunky wool and this weekend she started knitting with it. She's not sure what she's making ....maybe it will be a scarf.

Day 39 - February 8th

Homemade ginger biscuits. Paul Hollywood's Mums recipe from 'Paul Hollywood's Pies & Puds'. 

Ingredients

• 110g/4oz margarine, plus extra for greasing
• 110g/4oz caster sugar
• 110g/4oz golden syrup
• 225g/8oz self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 tsp ground gingerPreparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease a baking tray.
2. Melt the margarine, caster sugar and golden syrup gently in a pan over a medium heat. Once melted, remove from the heat and cool slightly. Add all of the dry ingredients to the pan to make a dough.
3. Once cool enough to handle, with floured hands, roll the dough into 50p-size balls. Place these individual balls onto the greased baking tray with enough room between each biscuit to allow them to spread during cooking. Mark the top of each ball with a fork. The dough should make about 30 biscuits.
4. Put the baking tray into the oven for about 10-12 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden-brown.
5. Remove from the oven, leave to cool slightly and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

 .

Day 38 - February 7th

Just over a month ago I posted some photos showing the rising water following several days of rain. Last night we had some very heavy rain and this morning when I took Millie for her walk we were stopped in our tracks.

No crossing the footbridge bridge today!

The road bridge further along the road was clear for traffic but there is a lot of water in the brook and its risen above the arch and can no longer get beneath the bridge. More water is forecast tonight so we'll see what happens.

The brook has burst it's banks and has now spilled out onto the lawn of The Old Vicarage. 

Day 37 - February 6th

This afternoon Lara bought home the mechanical toy that she made in her school design technology classes. Unfortunately it got a bit wet in the rain on the way home and some of the writing ran but otherwise it's brilliant. You turn the handle on the right and the cogs and wheels turn and the pictures on the top go up and down.

Day 36 - February 5th

Christopher has popped home for a couple of days for an interview for a summer intern position.

Day 35 - February 4th

During a brief break in the rain and gales I popped into the garden for a look around to assess any damage. Thankfully everything was alright and I even spotted that some of the bushes are in bud. Roll on Spring!

Day 34 - February 3rd

Have you ever watched the BBC subtitles? Have you ever seen all the spelling mistakes in them? Only last week the BBC was left red-faced after its latest subtitle blunder ushered in the Chinese New Year as the “year of the whores” instead of the year of the horse.

This morning whilst watching ITV's Daybreak I spotted a mistake on the backdrop of the weather map which the weathergirl was totally oblivious to. I know my spelling isn't the best but honestly, on national TV.

Day 33 - February 2nd

Today we went to The Gallaria Outlet Shopping Centre at Hatfield.

Inspired by the Faces in Places blog, Lara found this handbag in Marks & Spencer and whilst we didn't buy it we just had to take a photo of it.

If you have time to kill go and have a look at the Faces in Places blog - A photographic collection of faces found in everyday places. You'll be surprised just how many faces are hiding in everyday places!

Day 32 - February 1st

After a very wet week, this morning was surprisingly dry and sunny and our walk with Millie was quite pleasant.

There was however still quite a bit of water around with crops struggling to grow in waterlogged fields .....

... and wet, muddy footpaths.

Day 31 - January 31st

Gong Hei Fard Choy! Today is Chinese New Year. In Chinese and other Asian societies, a red envelope or red packet is a monetary gift which is given during holidays or special occasions so at Guides last week Lara made a red envelope containing a chocolate coin. We had to laugh at the chocolate coin. Clearly the guide leaders had struggled to find suitable chocolate coins as the one Lara had said 'I love Pirates' on it!