Random Ramblings :: Everyday Stuff

Hi there everyone 😀

The last few weeks have brought a right mixture of news and activity. 

Some days have felt decidedly wintry, though the colours of the leaves on the trees confirm that it is still certainly autumn and I actually decided that the pumpkins were too nice to just leave in the cupboard for a full year so sorted myself a little autumnal corner in the lounge ...

We also managed a bit of a leaf clearing session in the garden ... one of those jobs that can’t really be left until all of our leaves have dropped as we would end up being knee deep and the green bin collections will have stopped for winter ...

We also managed to have a bit of a Halloween wander ... Alison had really gone to town on her windows ...

Don't they look fabulous ...

Bobby was beside himself with excitement 💀💀💀 ...

The estate had done themselves proud and we had a nice slow amble round looking for pumpkins and other scary characters ...

A couple of days later and that was it ... Lockdown #2 ... just before the little man's 4th birthday ... thank goodness for Skype and WhatsApp ...

We’ve had a couple more '500 calorie days' and tried another new recipe ... this time a celariac, red pepper and chicken frittata ...

It was ok ... but if I did it again, I think I would switch the celariac and peppers for roasted butternut squash and mushrooms.

Whilst we are finding it quite easy to manage on a '500 day', if we want it to have the desired effect then I think we need to get out of the habit of 'feasting' on the other five days of the week.

We've also tried a new recipe for oven baked chicken passanda which was absolutely scrumptious ... so good we've had it twice in two weeks ... it will definitely be a regular on the weekly meal plan ...

Looking at the picture I'm thinking it actually looks a bit like the fritatta 😂😂😂. It was definitely a lot tastier though.

We also seem to be having a lot of deliveries of one kind or another at the moment. Lots of Christmas shopping ... some of which I can't really show you yet ...

Something new which I've been wanting to give a try for a while ...

And the loveliest surprise treat from the kindest of ladies ...

There has also been a few days putting the sewing machine through it's paces ...

I also have an order for a Christmas stocking, which I will be cracking on with next and I have to say ... it will be nice to make something other than a face covering 😜

I think that's all for now folks ...

I will be back next week with more Devon seaside and sunshine ... see you then 😀

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The Reading Corner :: October

Hi there everyone 😀

October was another fairly quiet month on the reading front but I did manage two assignations with my old friend Jack ...

Without Fail

Lee Child

This was the 6th in the series and for some reason I didn't make notes as I was reading so I've had to just refer to the on line synopsis to refresh my memory ...

This time Jack was working for the CIA and was very much under the radar.

It was another good read ... action from page 1, right through to the end ... where Jack again pretty much disappeared off into the sunset.

Persuader

Lee Child

For the 7th of the series we were back to a first person account from Jack, which was a little disconcerting.

As always from the very beginning Jack was right in the thick of it and once again things were not exactly as they seemed ... it wasn’t just chance that had Jack thrown headlong into yet another mission to help out the US government very much under the radar.

Again it was a strong woman that had enlisted Jack's help and again, it wasn’t long before he demonstrated that celibacy was most definitely not for him.

There was no mention whatsoever of Jodie in this book so I’m guessing that Jack has most definitely moved on but there was reference to her dad and there was a real parallel of how current events ran in line with something that happened way back in Jack's dim and distant past and he got the chance to settle a very old score.

There was another no ties ending as Jack moved on to whatever came next.

I have to say whilst each book so far has had some real similarities ...
... Jack getting drawn into some unlikely predicament
... Jack acting as an off the books operative for some government agency
... A strong female
... A short romantic liaison
... Jack trouncing the bad guys and saving the good
... Jack riding off into the sunset as though he’d never been there in the first place

... It was no less riveting than those I’ve read so far, I finished it up within 24 hours as I just had to know how all the threads came together in the end.

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Exploring East Devon #4 :: Sidmouth

Hi there everyone 😀 

As we head for another month of 'lockdown', in the hope that we can reduce the spread of Covid in time for Christmas, it may sound frivolous ... but I have a bit of sunshine and seaside for you today. 

It was the first Friday of our two weeks in Devon back in September and we thought we would give Sidmouth another try, in the hope that it wouldn’t be anywhere near as busy as it was when we last attempted a visit.

Well, it was still fairly busy, but nothing like it had been the last time we drove through, so we decided to park up and see what was on offer.

It was another glorious day and we parked up by the lifeboat station, which is at the Eastern end of the seafront and the plan was to have a good old meander along the front to see what we could find ...

The above photo is the view looking towards the east and the below is west ... the way we would be walking ...

It was another absolutely glorious day and it was lovely to be out and about in the warm sunshine.

These are the old balconied properties overlooking the sea at the eastern end of the seafront ...

We were pleased as punch to find that there was far more to Sidmouth than initially met the eye and as we came to the end of the promenade we decided that we would carry on walking along The Millenium Walkway ...

We were so glad we did. It was just beautiful along here. The long wide beach was lovely and sandy and the redness of the cliffs was just so vibrant ...

The walkway took us round the coast to Jacob's Ladder beach, somewhere that we hadn’t really thought would be on our agenda, the sound of the ladder putting us off somewhat ...

Well, the beach was just stunning ...

... and I couldn't wait to get my toes in the sand ...

... and to have a paddle ... with this as my view, looking back across the beach and up to the Connaught Gardens ...

Eventually I managed to drag myself away from the sea ...

... and whilst we couldn't face the walk up the hill to the gardens, we decided to retrace our steps along the walkway and double back along the road, where we passed some very grand old hotels ...

We had no idea what to expect in the gardens, we hadn't even known they were there. They were an absolute delight ...

... with plenty of autumn colour ...

... lots of spots to sit for a while ...

... and the most spectacular of views over the coast from the path running along the outside of the gardens ...

On the most glorious of days it really was the most idyllic spot.

It was time to retrace our steps back along the promenade, right back to where we'd started, hoping that we'd get to spend more time in Sidmouth during the rest of our break ...

I knew I'd need to paddle on that beach again 😀

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Random Ramblings :: A bit of this and that

Hi there everyone 😀

Well it seems that all things Covid are heading in the wrong direction with all numbers on the increase again. The government seem to be struggling to keep a hold on how best to manage things and Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland all seem to be taking a bit of a different route.

We were fortunate enough to be placed in Tier 1 under the new restrictions though our numbers locally have continued to increase and we are expecting to move into Tier 2 over the next few days.

We have still tried to make the most of what we can do rather than focusing on what we can’t and since we’ve been back from holiday we have managed to get creative and have a fair few catch ups with mum and dad in their garage. 

Technically we could meet inside but as a family we all agreed that we would rather leave the inside of their house just for them, with no need to keep sanitising every time someone visits.

The garage has become affectionately known as Café Robert and has worked brilliantly as a meeting place with carpet, a patio table and chairs and even a little heater. We visited on Mum's birthday with fish and chips and cake and a very nice evening it was too.

We have also managed to meet up with friends from a Tier 2 area. As part of the Tier 2 restrictions we could only meet outside but we've managed a couple of really nice get togethers.

Firstly back at the National Memorial Arboretum, where we had another really good wander in the autumn sunshine ...

This time we walked over 11,000 steps, which a lot for us, and we saw almost everything, though we still didn't cover the whole site ...

As always we were surprised to find new memorials that we hadn't come across before ...

There is plenty of under cover outdoor seating where we had lunch and sat chatting. The service wasn't the best from the kiosk, but it was most definitely a good spot to meet up.

Secondly we met in Sutton Park on a glorious autumn day where there are a couple of good options for meeting outside, under cover if the weather turns ...

There has been a little bit of baking ...

... and a try of something new ...

Whilst we haven't tried any recipes from this book yet we are trying to have a couple of 'fast' days a week, where we stick to a total of 500 calories. It's early days and we are only on our second week, but it's been easier than either Martin or I ever imagined it would be.

Our first meal was a cook from scratch prawn curry with cauliflower rice ... not up to the standards of the usual kind of curry we would make, but it was more than edible and certainly ok for every now and then. These were the ingredients that we used over the course of our first '500' day ...

... and this was the curry ...

I think it's fair to say that we both preferred the second meal we had, which was a chicken stir fry, using Barenaked noodles, which are just fab and sooooooo low in calories ...

Next time I will be able to use carrots from the garden ... I picked these today and I was more than a little surprised ...

I can't tell you how happy this little bunch of carrots made me. We have never really had any luck with carrots at all, in spite of growing them often in the past. I think the trick is to put them in and then just leave them to it ... gotta be patient 😋

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