Happy Hallowe'en!

 

When my girls were young they always liked dressing up for Hallowe’en.  I suppose Paul and I encouraged them because we enjoyed scaring them to death!  Simple special effects added to the fun – a white table cloth and luminous glo-stick turned Paul into a very convincing ghost floating around in the garden.  The less said about Bloody Mary, the severed head we found in the attic, the better. 

Sarah is all grown up now and lives in Sydney, Australia.  She has continued to dress up every Hallowe’en and this year was no exception.  Her 3D makeup skills are impressive.  I find it hard to believe that the spider eyes are just line and shadow.  Well spooky.

 

extreme contouring

drawn on line and shadow

Sarah without the makeup

Happy Hallowe'en!

Italian Apple Cake

 

We still have loads of apples on the trees in the garden.  The apple wine is bubbling and fermenting away nicely and we have a chest full of apples stored away in the garage.  So when I saw an Italian lady showing how to make an ‘easy’ apple cake on YouTube I thought I would give it a go.

 

not the daintiest of creations but very tasty

I had to use cup measures because my scales are out of action at the moment, and my cake tin was the wrong size but I ploughed on regardless.  There seemed to be an awful lot of butter and sugar going into this cake.  It all looked a bit of a mess by the time I had finished playing around with the ingredients but I put it in the oven and left it to bake for 40 minutes.

Well, I was amazed at the result.  A cross between a tart and a cake it was crunchy on the outside with a soft, moist apple centre.  I probably didn’t put enough cinnamon into the mix but the lemon zest came through beautifully.  I shall definitely try this recipe again.

 

 

A Load of Rubbish

 

I took Rick for a longer than usual walk out of the village this morning towards Bishop Norton.  As we approached the public footpath that runs through the farmer’s fields I was horrified to see this pile of rubbish that has been dumped on the path.  Fly tipping makes my blood boil.  It is a disgusting practice carried out by scum who don’t give a toss for their environment and who are more than happy to let other people clear up their mess.

 

 

Apparently fly tipping has become more prevalent recently due to recycling centre restrictions during lockdown but it has always been a problem in the countryside.  I feel sorry for farmers who often have to clear the mess up after it’s been dumped on their land.

 

A New Body

 

I’m getting a new body. 

 

Paul has just been on a call centre queue for the past hour.  I don’t think I ever want to hear Vivaldi ever again.  We got quite excited when the wait time got down to ten minutes.

 

This morning my Dyson cordless cleaner died on me while I was vacuuming the bathroom.  We checked everything.  The battery appeared to be fully charged.  We changed the filter.  I shook it, I kicked it.  Nothing, zilch.  The only thing that seemed out of the ordinary was the on/off switch that didn’t seem to be working.

 

After checking the Dyson trouble shooting site we decided to ring their customer service department.  The machine is under two years old and still under guarantee.  It was worth the wait.  They are sending us a new body.  I hope it does the trick because my old Dyson is so heavy and unwieldy.

 

Rick is fed up, it is raining outside and he is sulking because he can't go outside and play.  He says he doesn't like Vivaldi's Four Seasons any more either.

Nothing Much To Talk About

 

Autumn has arrived in the garden. The leaves from the Poplar trees have started to fall. Paul has cleared his greenhouse and the vegetable plot is empty apart from some late spinach and a few Brussels sprout plants.  We brought the cushions from the garden furniture back indoors a few days ago to put in the attic room - a definite sign that the summer is over.  There are still a few splashes of colour in the flower beds; the Salvia was a new addition this year and has done really well.

Salvia (with Rick  in the background)

 The Amazon man delivered a present for me this morning, it was a kneeling pad for indoors. 

 

 

Apparently you can use it for doing yoga or praying but I shall be using it for more practical reasons.  My ceramic tiled floor in the kitchen looks great but is a bit of a pig to clean.  My steam cleaner just seems to move the dirt around and my latest purchase - a Bissell with rotating pads – also has disappointing results.  In the end I have realised that the best method is a good old fashioned mop and bucket.  Rick likes to spend a lot of time underneath the table and that area gets particularly grubby so I have to get down on my knees and use a scrubbing brush.  I’m hoping my new pad is going to make that chore a whole lot easier on my knees.