Had my work cut out

I've been very busy this weekend. It's hedge-laying time and also time to cut down these self-seeded ash trees that are getting too big to have growing willy-nilly around the garden. I have other trees that are shading out other things so now it's winter it's the best time to do some chopping.

I started with climbing up the privet tree and cutting down some of the upper branches that shade out the sun. Then I set to cutting some ash out of the hedge because it's getting too tall and casting too much shade on the patio and flowering shrubs.

Big branches and young trees were lopped and sorted into three piles: trunks, branches suitable for kindling and thin whippy bits too small for the fire. This will be my kindling and firewood for winter 2015/16 I think, as I have plenty in store just now.

Time for lunch: goose & salad sandwich, cheese & salad sandwich, Christmas cake and tea. Yes, that is a bottle of Merlot hiding at the back. That was to be for after the sun went down, but I had forgotten how cold it gets when the sun goes behind the hill in December so I didn't have the wine in the end.

Kindling pieces cut. I'll leave the big tree trunks for another day. The thick ends especially are very difficult. I've propped them up in another tree so any rain should just run down them. What did I do with the thin whippy bits?

Made a 'dead hedge' which I saw done on Monastery Farm on the telly. We used to have a door here in this wall, made out of planks, but it has started to disintegrate.To close it off I pushed some ash twigs into the ground to form uprights then stacked the ash and privet twigs between the uprights and the door. Makes a sort of vertical green leafy wall.
I have three or four times as much wood still to cut down, so this cutting will be a project for this winter, and possibly into next.

Christmas

I hope you all had lovely Christmasses. We had a pleasant, quiet one. We all missed Ian and it felt just frankly strange to be here without him, his armchair empty all the time.

We had a goose which was lovely but I didn't do enough gravy. We did that thing of resting the meat for half an hour before eating because all the TV chefs tell you the meat tastes better if you do it. It certainly tasted really good but to me it wasn't hot enough. Maybe we just didn't wrap our goose well enough while it was resting.

I thought I would just sow you all the chocolates I had for Christmas as well as show you (top) what I bought for myself at great expense: a GPS thingy. It's not a satnav for cars, it's a walkers' GPS gadget. I am pretty good at following maps but when you get to forks in paths - which usually have no signposts - how do you know if that left/right fork is the one you are meant to be taking, or just a sheep track? I don't have my expert cartographer hubby any more but don't want to be less adventurous out in the country, so decided to get myself one of these. I decided to leave Ludo's paw in the picture, and I also decided not to hoover up the tree needles first either.

Ian always got ne a chocolate Santa so now my sis-in-law took pity on me and gave me two! The set of bars was meant as a birthday present from somebody, only I didn't know it and kept it for Christmas. It's a bar a day Advent set of chocs. I've eaten some chocs already but the above is what is left. So with my GPA and my chocs I can eat as I walk.

I did get a few other things too but chose these to show you.

Foody's Year

Dear Blogging Friends,
Merry Christmas, one and all.
It has been a long time since I was here but I have not forgotten you. Actually most days I think of the blog and all my friends there in Blogland. I have felt bad about just disappearing but sometimes you just need time out. It's been a hard year and when I look back I think things just didn't really hit me at the time. I think I knew it then, in February and March and onwards, that I was coping and getting on with life just a bit too well. It felt as if it had all happened somehow outside of me and I was numb.  Then somebody said something in September which just made me fall right back. The person didn't mean to upset me and it didn't even relate to my own bereavement, but I got very down from that moment and I haven't really come out of it. People say to me 'Maybe you should 'speak to somebody' '. I don't really want to 'speak to somebody' so I have just told myself I need to try to pull myself up. It's what my hubby would have wanted.
I would like to catch up a bit in Blogland so I decided to do a quick 'round robin'. I've never done one of these before but I just it might be the thing for the blog, though now I read it, it looks a tad self-indulgent.
Before I begin: Every day, every hour, all I could think of for months was Ian's illness and passing. It still is foremost in my mind and when I am not immediately attending to something definite, that is all I think about. People say that can take years to leave you.
Sorry. Anyway here is a potted Foody's 2013. Some of it you already know, some you don't.
I am not usually one for such long posts but the occasion demands it, I feel.

January and February: Very uncertain times, very worrying and very sad, culminating in a great loss. You know the details so I won’t ‘go there’.

March: Hubby's birthday and our wedding anniversary fell in this month, and so did Easter. The cold wintry weather went on and on but I still went out to favourite places, to be quiet and remember. Somebody sent me some Easter choc hens to cheer me up, and so they did.
I also met some long lost friends from distant parts. They wanted to comfort me. That is some good that has come from all that horror: re-establishing lost friendships.

April: Finished my 'real' job - well, not saying I won't ever go back to the law, but couldn't work for that boss any more. Though the last few months were gruelling, they were a taste of freedom from full-time work and I didn't want to give that freedom up. Took to the road and visited Ayr (and stayed with blogging pal Ann!) and Glasgow. This is the Spirit of Scotland statue at Loudoun Hill in East Ayrshire, which I visited on the way from Ayr to Glasgow. I keep wanting to say that I also went through Strathaven and if you ever get a chance to go there, it's charming but the main thing for me was its palatial public loo!

This is a fuzzy view of Loch Lomond where my Glasgow friend took me walking.

And I did some local exploring.

May: I took part in the Race for Life in the pouring rain and raised over £500 for cancer research. Did an organised 25 mile walk locally (pic above) - not to raise money, it's just an annual long distance walk. I then joined the Long Distance Walking Association but haven't been on any more long ones - yet. Nice pic, shame about the power line.

June: Visited Normandy and Brittany. Was very impressed with Rennes' medieval architecture. Survived the anniversary of us being in this house. Did a few shifts working at a local riding centre while I thought about how to earn a little spare cash. I was finding I could exist without work but not really live, and if I can't afford the odd cup of tea in a cafe, or meal with friends, then that isn't really living.

July: Visited my 'auntie-in-law' Wells, Somerset and visited a friend in Northamptonshire. From there we went to meet an old friend in Oxford and spent a whole afternoon eating lunch and chatting. Upper pic is a view of the bishop's palace gardens in Wells, the other of the (?)Poldens from Mendip. I left 89 year old auntie-in-law sitting on a bench. 

Then I had my annual church walk at home and made a big tea, as usual, which took quite a few days to put together.
All this time, slowly getting to grips with the garden and getting the right tools to do it with. I couldn't start the petrol-driven brushcutter and got angry and swore at it. After a couple of times paying someone to garden, I bought myself a nice electric cutter, and now I'm away!
An old 'friend' came to stay and spent four days grilling me with intense questions and giving me unwanted suggestions and advice on what I should do with my life. I hadn't seen her for about 20 years and that reminded me why!

 August: I worked quite a lot in August, training as a market research interviewer, because it's easy and it's flexible so I can choose how little I want to do and can go away as much as I like. So off I went to Exmoor for the Exmoor Pony festival.
I joined a new singing group this month. We just do extracts from big opera and nothing else. Have been told I will be picked for any solos that have a bit of pathos in them as it seems to have become my forte. I really think it is my sad circumstances of October '12 to Feb '13 that have brought in this depth.

September: The 4th September is the day my hubby and I first met so I went a long walk in his memory. 

I then did a three day walk from Ludlow, Shropshire to Kington, Herefordshire, called the Mortimer Trail. I WISH I had remembered to put the above photo in the Kington calendar competition. I also visited Northumberland in September as well as getting my proofreading certificate. No, I didn't say I was doing this because I was worried I might not pass, so kept it quiet. I thought of it when hubby was ill, because I decided that even if he got better, it would still only be a remission for a year or two, so I was not going to return to my normal work as long as he was alive. Proofreading was something I could do at home to get a bit of money. However, he died sooner than expected so I needed that bit of money sooner than expected, hence the market research work, which I had to start before finishing the proofreading course. I do intend to proofread though, when I get time.

October: Had one guest bedroom redecorated. I have no 'before' picture, but it was cluttered, dark and grotty. I bought that furniture too and built it up all by myself. Because it's difficult access I couldn't find built furniture I could get up the stairs, so got this kids' self-assembly stuff but it's solid wood and really nice. (The pictures hadn't been put back on the walls yet. My Christmas guests will help with that.) I booked the same painter to paint the outside in the spring.
Got approval for replacement windows in the house so gave the carpenter the 'go ahead'. I have to have hand made ones to match the existing because the house is grade II listed.

November: Visited Herefordshire and stayed in a converted hop kiln which hubby and I used to love. That was hard. I got very, very upset at nights. However I wanted to go this year. If I left it too late I was afraid he wouldn't still 'be there'. I had beautiful days, just walking alone, sometimes in places we had loved and sometimes in new places. I made some lovely meals from local produce.
Was cast for the part of Grandma in Fiddler on the Roof in March 2014. No, not because I am old. Grandma is a ghost and the dead do not age. She may have died young, soon after having her child. But she is still a grandma to that child's children. See?

December: Had my birthday which I spent touring countryside and villages that hubby and I used to like. Went to a festive food fair in Kington and bought loads of stuff for Christmas. Spent time at Bredwardine under the spindle tree. I bought myself this picture on the same day, from a gallery in Pembridge we used to like to visit. I feel that I am that hare, gazing wistfully at the moon in the night. Can you see the flecks of gold paint?
Have basically cooked my way through December. Had the church sale and our food stall alone raised £360 for Shelter. Since then, have cooked and cooked and cooked for Christmas, which I'll spend here with my sis-in-law and her husband. They will have a nice fresh bedroom to stay in.
I have been carol-singing four times and have done my throat in as well as my leg - running up the stairs whilst carol-singing in the local hospital.
Went Christmas shopping in Shrewsbury, as he and I used to every year except last year, and bought myself an expensive techno present that I dread learning how to use! I'll show you it after Christmas as it's wrapped and under the tree right now.

That's it!

As for home, I have Ludo and the ponies to look after and I keep the garden and land. Some friends helped me get hubby's wildlife field in some order and I hope to keep it up myself from now on. Riding I have done a lot less of this year, but always intend doing more. I've been twice more to Midlothian to see my Dad and deal with his house. I have only mentioned the good things of this year, and when I look back myself I see that I really am blessed. I still have my life and my health, kind relatives (by marriage) and lovely friends and have the freedom to see and do so much and I have to live life to the full and do and see everything I want to, make peace with everybody, because who knows what's round the corner?.

Fauna Friday: Venus (or Nessie) the Exmoor Pony

This is Venus, aged 10 or 12. I could only get a photo of her in her trailer because otherwise I was busy tacking her up, untacking or riding. There was a man in a green jacket taking pictures of everyone and although I have searched the Exmoor Pony Society's website and that of the Exmoor Pony Centre, I am not in any of them. Someone said the man in the green jacket would have all the photos but nobody can tell me the name of the man in the green jacket. If I ever track these photos down I will put one up. I do remember him pointing the camera at Venus and me more than once.

She gets called Nessie when she's being naughty. By 'naughty', all she did was put her head down quite often to eat, or when I was getting on and off. That I can cope with as it's a lot less naughty than what my two do. She was quite fat and unfit as she hadn't been ridden for two years. Although that made her quite frisky at the start and apt to jump logs and ditches without warning, by the end of the ride she was so worn out she couldn't be bothered.

Sweet, isn't she?

Ohhhh....h.h.h.h.h.......... and an older 'Ohhhhh......h.h.h.h.h.......' from the past.

I told you yesterday I had had a big 'go' at a local supermarket over their faulty Rug Doctor. I took it back last night and the man was so very apologetic. I had said on the phone I didn't think a free return was quite enough because I had waited weeks to have two days together and would have to do the same etc etc and had set the day aside. He was really nice and handed me a £5 voucher, then he said it was strange the bent plug pin hadn't been noticed because they usually check the plugs before hiring out. He went on to say 'I expect somebody just slammed it in their car door and didn't want to own up.' Then I remembered - I had had trouble shutting the back door with it in there. I didn't look to see what the obstruction was - I just pushed it in a bit more and slammed the door. It was me! It was all my fault! But I didn't feel I could say so, not after making all that fuss.

The £5 voucher burned my hand and my pocket. I felt so ashamed I couldn't wait get out. I have decided I will give either the voucher or £5 to either charity or anonymously to some needy person or family.

What things have you done in your life that you are most ashamed of? This is one of mine. The other is causing a whole class of boys to get 'the belt' or 'the cosh' - two tongued leather thing they used to whack children's hands with in school. They don't give it now. We were all left unattended and making an awful din, shouting, throwing things. I let out this almighty bear growl and just at that moment the teacher walked in. She demanded to know which boy had made the growl. One of the boys said 'Please, Foody ....' but he got no further. The teacher said 'How dare you tell such lies?! That was a boy's growl! If nobody owns up I will just have to belt all the boys.' Well, she was so angry I was scared of getting the belt myself so I shut up and we all sat in silence and watched all the boys queue up and be whacked. I don't think anybody except that one boy actually knew it was me. There were no repercussions. Maybe he just thought he had been mistaken.
I believe I looked guilty when the accusation was made and if she had asked me I was prepared to say Yes, but I wasn't going to volunteer it.

Rug Patient

I am pretty cheesed off. I hired this carpet cleaner last night, having planned for weeks when I would be passing that shop, free the next day and passing again that night, because you pay for 24 hours hire. At last the time came when those circumstances all coincided so I collected it last night - and paid. You have to pay extra for the cleaning fluid. Hmph.

I put it in the car boot and went off to a rehearsal, so it was dark when I got back. I didn't see the fluid floating in the car boot but I felt it when I lifted the thing out and it all ran down my trousers and all over my shoes. Somebody obviously hadn't checked it was empty.
I read the instructions this morning,, filled it with cleaning fluid and water, read how to use the hand tool and could not work it out. Decided the use it upright anyway even though it would just make the rugs move about. Went to plug it in and it wouldn't plug in because one of the 3 pins is bent. I've had a long conversation with the person in the shop but all he will do is let me have it for free then next time I have a free day with two journeys to that shop in between. He wasn't prepared to have anybody bring a replacement to me today and I'm not wasting the time and petrol going down there because I have loads of other things I want to do. Not happy. Rug 'Doctor' indeed.

Everything I touch some days just goes wrong. I go to do some banking online and for some stupid reason, when asked for my password I put in my 'memorable information' and try it three times, then of course you get locked out and have to wait weeks to be put on again. So in the meantime you go to the branch and ask if you can sign up for telephone banking, so that when you are stupid on the internet you can maybe sort it out on the phone. They give you some pieces of paper for you to keep, to remember your telephone password and memorable information, but while you are waiting for your telephone 'pack' in the post, you lose these pieces of paper and forget the words you chose. So you have to start that all over again and then, months later, when it's all set up again you've forgotten what transaction you were trying to do in the first place.

This all seems to be the story of my life these days. I seem to spend quite a lot of time complaining about things too, such as sandwiches with barely any filling in them or time taken to answer questions, which can turn into complaints about complaints. Oh dear. It's all quite trivial really but these things can really get one down when it's one thing after another.

Fauna Friday: Exmoor ponies!

I am so sorry I haven't been here for a while. Just things. Anyway guess where I went last weekend? Yes, Exmoor. These are some ponies from the 'Anchor' herd that graze freely on Winsford Hill.

Exmoor is beautiful and I had a whale of a time. I even got to ride an Exmoor pony on Exmoor.

Fauna Friday: Storks' nest

Here is a piccy from my little holiday in Normandy and Brittany in June - a storks' nest on some ruined castle walls. There was quite a colony of them. Maybe 40/50 nests.

A typical picnic

Back in April or May I went on a walk from home. I haven't blogged about it yet, but I thought I would show a photo of my picnic, which is a fairly typical walk picnic for me. It was about 18 miles because I was training for the 25 miler coming up, so I did need a lot of sustenance.

Bottle of weak squash. I don't like drinking plain water. Flask of tea. The two wedges in the front are cheese spring onion and potato bread. Sandwiches. I can't now remember what they contained but I think they would be of more than one type of filling. Egg or cold meat or pate or cheese. At the back a wedge of shortbread and a hunk of chocolate and pear cake. Left some little tomatoes and some grapes. I like variety. Hubby would always have been happy with about 10 sandwiches all the same and no fruit or veg in sight but I like a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Last Saturday's tea party

Clockwise from the blue mug: milk chocolate cake, Exmoor boiled fruit cake, cheesejacks, lemon cake, Victoria sponge, strawberry tarts, raspberry and white chocolate blondies and in the middle orange and lavender biscuits.

I did a lot of the laying out of tables, chairs etc the night before. Our garden is up 13 stairs from the house and through some outbuildings, so with just little me doing it all on my own it took some time. The company was really great though and they all helped me take everything back down to the kitchen afterwards.

I'm thinking of getting a water butt in the garden, having humped watering cans up and down for years and years. I can fill it at the stream in the field but that's nearly as far away.

Fauna Friday: Ludo's tea party

It's that time again. I had the church walk and tea last Saturday. Here is a photo of Ludo joining in on the patio. There were about 14 of us, scattered all over the garden. I'll put up a piccy of the cakes soon.

Not following any blogs???!!! Moi???!!!

I have just been to look at the list of blogs I follow, and none came up. There were these words: 'You are not following any blogs.' Well, how did this happen? Have I accidentally deleted all the blogs I follow or has there been a blogspot glitch? I am so sorry about this. I hope you all didn't think I had deserted you. Does it show on your blogs that I am not a follower?

This picture is my face when I saw that stupid message. Now I'll have to go and find and re-follow you all.....

.....later... It gets worse. Shirl, I've been to your blog but L need to be invited. I tried to send a message but was supposed to sign in to my Google account. Couldn't remember the password or anything.
Helsie, Bernard, Myrna, Ann, I went to your blogs hoping to click the 'follow' button at the top left but there was no such button. This is infuriating. It's like being told I have lost all my friends....

.... a bit later.....you all miraculously appeared again! How strange. So glad I am not without pals and blogging to myself.

GRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fauna Friday: Fauna in Glasgow's Coat of Arms

When I was in Glasgow in May I was intrigued by the coat of arms on lamp posts. A fish, a bell, a bird and a tree? I wondered if they all had to do with Glasgow's patron saint, St. Mungo, and indeed they do. I found pages and pages about it all on the internet but have cut many long stories short and he's the explanation:

There's the tree that never grew, 
There's the bird that never flew, 
There's the fish that never swam, 
There's the bell that never rang.

St. Mungo was tending a holy fire but some baddies came along and put it out. St. Mungo got it going again by prayer.

St. Mungo was blamed for the death of St. Serf's tame robin so he prayed over it and it came back to life.

The king of Strathclyde gave his wife a ring, which she then gave to a knight, for some reason. The knight lost it and somehow it ended up in the river Clyde. The king got St. Mungo to get a monk to catch a fish, which he did, and when St. mungo cut the fish open, the ring was inside.

The Lord Provost in 1450 asked for a bell to be made and tolled. Citizens were charged a small sum to strike the bell. I don't understand why it's said to have never rung because my untrusty website says that the bell rang from 1450 to 1578 so how can it be the bell thaty never rang? If anybody knows, tell me please!

So there it is.

Sorry about last week. I just forgot! I went away to see hubby's old auntie form Thurs to Tues and gave no though to Fauna Friday. Today I go away again to see some old friends for a long weekend. 

Fauna Friday: Limousin Cow in the City

During the couple of days I was in Rennes, one of the main city squares was given over to a 'Farm in the City' exhibition. They had live animals and talks on keeping sheep, milking Holsteins etc. If you can see past the bright shaft of sunlight you will see that this contented Limooooousin cow has a little sleeping calf by her side.

My own fauna: I had the farrier today. I am ashamed to say it was the first time in months because I took my eye off the ball with all that happened early in the year, but anyway their feet were not much the worse for all that time of neglect. There was a sad story. The farrier works with two apprentices. He often sits in the van while the two young lads do the work. Anyway, one of the apprentices was new so I asked if the former one had qualified and got a job. No, the sad tale was that he had just passed an important stage of his course and his driving test at roughly the same time, and off he went out in his little car and was killed in a road accident. I don't think he was even 20. I have to say I always suspect that being a young 'un he was speeding and with no experience of handling a car he was probably the cause of it, but it's still sad.
Other fauna: Ludo the cat is tip top.

Normandy and Brittany

As promised, here are a couple of pics from France. You can see the sort of weather we had, until about the Thursday afternoon.

The top is the view out across the marshes and down the river from Avranches. In the mist you can just make out the Mont St. Michel.

This was a very pretty Breton village on the Rance reservoir. It was called St. Something.

St. Something again. I feel bad not remembering the name. I will update this when I've spoken to my sister-in-law. I could remember all those Hungarian names in 2011 but can't remember the French ones and I even speak French! Heck.

The view from my bedroom window. There are some lovely examples of half timbered Norman barns in the village but these in the pic are not the best examples. Unfortunately the neighbours' donkey Victor is not in sight but you could definitely hear him!

I will put up some pics of the pretty city of Rennes soon.

Special meal

A picture of dessert to start off with!
It has recently been a significant anniversary of us moving to this house, so when these times come we have always celebrated with a meal here, at home in the kitchen, because that's where our first meal here was taken. The first time, we actually moved the table to the position it was in on that first night, but latterly haven't done this.

The day came and it seemed too sad not to have the meal so I had it anyway and set the table for one.

Pre-meal drinks and crisps. Tyrrells are great. Such natural flavours. They are a bit pricey but worth it for special occasions. Mini Cheddars are still a favourite of mine but they are no way as cheesy as they use to be. G & T nearly finished.

Starter was  duck pate with apples and Calvados. Not home made. I kind of planned this in a bit of a hurry.
Spot the deliberate mistake in the laying of the table. I didn't have any lettuce or any chutney to go with the pate, only lime pickle, which I didn't think would really go.

Next it was duck breast in orange sauce ( I did make that myself), mashed and roast potatoes, roast parsnips and carrots, leeks and beetroot. Oh - the wine. I don't normally choose Rose but in the supermarket I suddenly remembered that when we were in Limousin, which is not a wine producing area, the locals all seemed to be drinking Rose. I just felt the taste for Rose coming on so I chose a Cinsault. (Hubby would have pronounced it Chinsult). It was nice but a bit light flavoured and it got a little lost with the orange sauce. Maybe I should have had a smooth red instead.

Finally, lemon posset on a bed of rhubarb with more rhubarb on top. I always put some fruit on the bottom because I get a watery bottom in posset so some stewed fruit helps disguise it. I had ginger biscuits to dip in i t too but forgot to put them in the photo.
After all that I just wished I had a little choc to nibble on but I hadn't any.
No coffee because I don't like it. Tea doesn't always feel right on a full stomach.

It was OK doing this. I even feel I could d Christmas on my own.

Sometimes you just need to get things through and when you've done them, you've made a bit more sense of circumstances and you know you can do these things again.

Fauna Friday: Slow Worm

As you know I've been to Normandy to stay with my sister-in-law and her hubby at their house where they spend their summers. We were out on a walk and saw this slow worm on the tarmac. My s-i-l rescued it and put it in the verge but she found the end of its tail still in her had. She was quite distressed that she had injured it but I said I was sure that the shedding of tails was frequent and a mechanism for escaping from predators. The tails do grow again, but a little shorter each time.

I WILL be back to more regular blogging. I am just having more trouble from that bl---y woman and I have had a lot of journeys out and about lately. The former means my spirits are too low for blogging and the latter means I am away from the computer.
It's hubby's memorial concert tonight. Could be quite emotional but if I do cry I won't be the only one, I'm sure. Very big crowd expected. he was very much loved and respected locally.

Fauna Friday: My new 'job'

When I was on that 25 mile walk a few weeks ago, I met there the proprietor of a local riding centre, so I asked her if she had any work going. She didn't, but she welcomes volunteers. So I went down there yesterday and spent an afternoon mucking out, walking alongside a little child having a lead-rein hack, tacking up, grooming, untacking, sweeping etc etc. It might, just might, lead to some paid work eventually but the trouble is that if I get alternative paid work in the meantime I'll be off doing that, so it might not happen for me at the stables. Still, it's fun. This is one of my new friends, Robin. Here's another, Paddy ( a mare).

My favourite job of the day was with Paddy. She has a skin infection on her back and I had the job of bathing it. She was very good.

Yes, unfortunately I do need to make some money so can't do absolutely everything I want all day and every day, but largely my life is much more free. I spent two weeks in May invigilating at exams at a local education institution but that has come to an end. I'll try to find some other paid work when I get back from France. Yes, France.

But before that, let me just say Quasar and Skylark are fine. Quasar hasn't come out of the winter yet as well as she usually does but let's see what this present sun and heat does for her. I am still riding her and we had a nice ride out on Sunday and saw some donkeys.

Next week I will be in Normandy, staying with my sis-in-law who lives there for half the year. No doubt we will spend a lot of time reminiscing about 'The Lad' as she affectionately calls my dear departed hubby. I might or might not set up a post in advance.

I do still mean to return to more than a weekly post but it just hasn't happened. I am so sorry.