Organic-Ally

This is the first time ever that I’m spending Christmas at mum-in-law’s house. I was really looking forward to a 'restful' time as recent poor-ish health has made me irritable and quite depressed at one point. It was nice that we could look out of the window and see sheep wandering on the Devon hill-side. When we did go out, it was not unusual to see tractors (real ones, not Chelsea versions) holding up long lines of traffic. There was no internet service. Ah.... There was also a lot of food. We had brought with us a lot of fruit from our weekly organic fruit bag, not wanting it to go to waste. My ‘job’ on Boxing Day was to make a fruit salad. With all that rich food, ultra-sweet Christmas puddings and all that, husband and I thought a refreshing and detox-ing fruit salad might be a good idea. So it was a bit strange, as far as I am concerned, that mum-in-law kept asking whether she needed to make a (sugar) syrup for the fruit salad. No, I said. And thought, 'Syrup on fresh...

And peace and goodwill to all man (ie including woman). This is supposed to be 'the season to be jolly', but do you see a lot of jolliness around? Go into a supermarket carpark and you will find cars parked most indiscriminately. Shoppers do not bother to look for a space. They simply leave their cars where they think they should. Getting in and out of a tight space in a supermarket is difficult enough at the best of times. When motorists choose to park in a non-designated parking area behind you, it is even more difficult to maneouvre out of it. So I was stuck in a spot coming up to Christmas some years back because some moron was parked behind me. The woman driver next to me was trying to leave at about the same time. I indicated to her that she should go first as her path was not blocked by this other car. She glared at me and through the window I could hear her say, "What? You can't reverse?" I've lived with that for a few years thinking that my driving sk...

Husband and I hosted our annual champagne party last night. Sounds a bit posh, doesn't it? Actually it is a very informal 'champagne and Cornish pasty' party. Husband (who usually has more note-worthy role models) took the inspiration from a certain Jeffrey A. We had champagne and shepherd's pie one year, but shepherd's pie for 15-20 guests without a catering size oven was a bit difficult to manage. Last year we experimented with Cornish pasties, bought from the best CP shop in the area (supplied by makers in Cornwall). This year we voted to have the same. 'We' are the eight or nine church members meeting fortnightly at our house as a 'fellowship group'. The party (a Christmas celebration, if I hadn't made it clear) normally includes those members who cannot usually attend due to class schedules, invited guests of the members and members of their families. Last night started out alright. I had cooked the pasties in good time, unlike the previous ...

Son came home today with a card from every other boy in his class. To be fair, he also gave a card to everyone in his class. So we ended up with a pile of torn envelopes and cards that he is not likely to look at again. Why do we do this? This card-giving business? When I was growing up we weren't so much into sending each other cards. Certainly we did not give cards to people we saw all the time. What a waste of paper, especially of the envelopes which can't go into the recycling (because of the glue, unless your local authority specifically allows this). Perhaps we should just put out one card for each child in the class, and everyone gets asked to send greetings (ie sign) to everyone else except himself/herself. Then each child takes that one card home before Christmas. Personally I can't be bothered to send cards to people I see the whole year round. Why send a card when you could send personal verbal greetings? Back to Organic-Ally .