My Christmas Diary

Christmas Day: White Christmas! Snow everywhere! Wonderful! Got lots of nice presents, drank lots of champagne. Lots of old people here. And Hannah. Watched Annie and Happy Feet until Pearlie sat in front of TV then just listened. Full of Christmas Spirit and did not mind. Boxing Day: Snow everywhere! Nice! Oven broke! Dinner disaster! Bert drunk! Had major huff. Got no dinner as gannet guests ate it all while I am outside in polytunnel sulking. Good bit - Martha Amy here for the evening. 27th December: Snow everywhere! Boring and disgusting! Stayed in house All Day. Ate nothing but turkey sandwiches and chocolate. Feel strange. Wonder why? 28th December: Snow still here! Hate it! Had lovely day with Zoe and baby Martha. Went shopping. Zoe shopped and I pushed pram. Junction One snow-free zone. Discovered joy of attacking queue-jumpers using pram as weapon. Had Ulster Fry! No turkey! Spent evening with Hannah and Mel. Made enormous dinner. Ate lots despite not being hungry. Feel odd. Wonder why? 29th December: Frozen slush everywhere! Am going to drive on it and don't care! Had day oot with Mel. Went to Lindsay's outside Coleraine and bought merino tops for Hannah and Snickers work trousers for Bert. Ate enormous lunch in Ballycastle and visited Dark Hedges. Hannah loved merino tops and Bert loved Snickers work trousers. Keeps discovering new pockets and says knee pads so good he could walk to Cully on his knees. Does going on knees count as walking? Despite Bert wearing work trousers all evening has only hung one picture. Tomorrow another day. Ate enormous pile of turkey sandwiches. Feel peculiar. Wonder why?

Happy Christmas...

A very Happy Christmas to everyone who looks in on the Garden from time to time.

That was the back lane yesterday.

That was the Head Robin yesterday. He is surveying his territory to make sure that those other three chancers stay away. He has his work cut out for him as Nellybert provide excellent bird dining facilities and other robins keep trying to muscle in.

Closer To Home Than That

According to the Daily Mail the average Christmas dinner travels 90,000 miles before it reaches our tables. Not so at Nellybert's.

The turkey will have travelled half a mile up the road from Clint's place. The ham will be our own, although it did take a detour via Stevensons and Marcus the butcher. Brussels sprouts, carrots and potatoes will come from the garden. 

I can't promise that a lot of my pudding and desert ingredients won't have covered a mile or two before they hit the kitchen island but not the eggs.  If the hens don't take fear of the snow we should get enough eggs for cakes.

Shame we can't grow coffee, chocolate and wine.

A Toast to Sobriety

Well. Seeing as it's the 20th of December and Christmas and all and I've been wrapping presents all evening and got the tree decorated....

So because of all that I have toasted sobriety a whole five days earlier than I intended. Two glasses of cabernet sauvignon and I'm totally toodled. Cheers.

Christmas Begins

It snowed last night. The whole townland is a veritable Winter Wonderland. Excellent snow it is too, all deepness, crispness and evenness - the right sort of snow for building snowmen and snowball fights.

We were reminded of a guy Bert worked for many years ago. This guy was very short on sense and when the guys told him about an excellent blue movie he'd be sure to enjoy he lost no time in getting himself to the local video rental store. Back home he settled down with the Pringles, his voddy and a box of man-sized Kleenex.

Next day he told the fellows all about it.

"There must have been some sort of mix-up or there's some other film called The Snowman! It was a bloody cartoon! All that happened was they flew about and then the snowman melted! A total waste of time."

dribbletime

dribbletime, originally uploaded by waveneyavenue.

Embrace The Peckishness

This time two years ago I was three stone heavier and several sizes bigger than I am today. This time last year I was, on average, 4-5 pounds lighter than I am today. That is how it begins. Weight creeps up. I got bored with watching what I eat all the time and quitting alcohol hasn't made a lot of difference. I've decided to try this alternate day diet that is much talked about.

It appeals to me in a way that other fad diets do not, as it is only restrictive every other day. Whether the health benefits that are being touted are real or not remains to be seen. I'm not convinced. However it does seem natural that a human being should experience hunger at times. After all that is how we came through the ages. Even our parents, and certainly our grandparents, knew what it was to feel hungry. Nowadays food is plentiful and many of us graze all day long. And then we wonder why we are getting so bloody fat.

The good thing about this eating plan is that I will be able to continue cooking scrummy food and making yummy cakes. I just won't eat them every day.

Yesterday was day one. I made delicious pizza and coconut tarts. Today I ate far, far less. Tomorrow I will have some more coconut tarts. I might even make pancakes. Tonight I go to bed feeling a wee bit hungry. Apparently I am to embrace that feeling. We'll see how it goes.

One Degree of Separation or Touched By Greatness

We had a visitor this evening, a guy who has been in the music business for decades. We were talking about the great performers, He told us that he shared a stage with Dusty Springfield in the sixties Said she was only a tiny little thing.A tiny little thing with a great big voice.

The venue? St Mary's Hall, Glenavy. Imagine!

Don't

Just noticed that I have 12 songs starting with 'Don't' on my iPod. They are -

Don't Be Light: Air

Don't Be Runnin' Wild (Problem Child): Ken Cook

Don't Cry No Tears: Neil Young with Crazy Horse

Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On: David McComb & Adam Peters

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone

Don't Look Back: Youssou n’Dour

Don't Mash My Digger So Deep: Bo Carter

Don't Mess With The Messer: Koko Taylor

Don't Smoke in Bed: Nina Simone

Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) The Beach Boys

Don't Walk Away: Youssou N'Dour

Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O: Van Morrison, Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber

Happy Birthday Katy Bo!

katy in the buttercups, originally uploaded by NellyMoser.

It is Katy's birthday today - and it is her last as a single lady. Hope she is wearing a happier face today.

Three Things

The kitchen island is nearly finished. The top has been tiled and tomorrow it shall be grouted. The shelves are full of saucepans and a cat. The cat thing might be a problem but we shall overcome it. I think a little water spray bottle might discourage them.

That's one thing.

Another thing is that I took Miss Martha Christmas shopping today. We had a nice time. She mostly slept and I mostly spent money. We're thinking of doing it again next Sunday.

That's two things.

And the last thing is - I got an email asking me to place an advertising link on the blog. Something about sport and betting. I declined. They would have paid me. I don't care for sport and I wouldn't want to encourage gambling. Did I do right?

Well I Never!

I called round to Martha's house the other day and discovered that her mother has taken to wearing the child! According to Zoe, Martha was enjoying this very much and, from what I observed on the day, I'd have to agree.



You can see from the expressions on their faces, as they admire their reflections, that mother and daughter think they suit each other very well.


But I wonder if Martha noticed the spare baby hanging in the hall?

The Dead May Go Unmourned By Me

Well for feck's sake!

Since Matty got a bit forgetful I've got into the habit of regularly checking the Irish News death notices, just in case a neighbour or far out relation popped their clogs and herself forgot to mention it to me. What could be more excruciating than bumping into an old school chum and blithely enquiring after the health of their aged parent, only to be informed that said aged parent passed away several weeks ago?

This afternoon I attempted my usual log on and found that the Irish News had removed their free access to the family notices and replaced it with a subscription only service. I suppose journalists and newspaper workers need to earn a penny too but I'll not be subscribing. Far better, if I must, to buy the bloody paper then I'll at least have something to line the compost bin with. 

Couldn't someone, anyone, get our Aunt Em, who is sharp as a tack and an avid Irish News reader, on to the web and then she could provide us with an email service, alerting those who live far, far away  in the wilds of Cullybackey, Dingle and Vancouver to bereavements in the community. I think that would be an excellent idea. A laptop in Aunt Em's Christmas stocking Mr Santa - if you please!