Mmmm... Manchester Tart ...

Hello there ... 

Just a quick catch up .. it seems to have been a busy week ...

Earlier in the week we had some sunshiny days ...

 a good chance to sweep up the leaves .. 

again.

 I'm hoping there won't be many more .. 

the trees look pretty bare ... 

cold and stark looking against the cold blue sky ...

I think Winter is here ..

 Hubby P here wielding a garden fork ....

 I asked him to give the chickens scratching pen/run a good forking over. 

The run is only small and it soon gets wet and muddy  ..

 I thought the wind and bit of sun we had might dry it up a bit.

The Girls enjoyed it ... lots of tasty worms and whatnot ..

 indeed .. 

a feast!

In a day or two I will keep them shut in their hen house ..

 they have a lot of scratching room inside ..

 just to give the run a 'rest' for a while. 

They are only getting cold and wet if/when they go outside ...

 the older ones are sensible and stay indoors .. 

it was always thus!

 Work continues on my dresser ... 

inbetween the 'earning a living' work ... 

or rather ..

 at this time of year 'trying to earn a living'.

This side piece of the dresser has to be scribed /fitted to the wall ... the wall it is built to /against was the outer wall of the cottage which means it is very 'humpy and bumpy' ....

 a 'technical term' you understand.

The cottage is built from boulders and rough stone so the walls are very uneven ... 

but we like it that way.

 This is one of the huge shelves .. 

you can see what a big 'curvy bit' ...

 there we go with the techie terms again ....

that Hubby P has had to cut out of the plank ...

 so that it fits snug up against the wall.

Its all very time consuming ... 

but Hubby P seems to like the creativity of it all ... 

Watch this space for more updates ... doors next I think ...

 

 Much to'ing and fro'ing with bits of wood means the door is open ... house cold 

 so I may as well play outside too ...

 everything is looking a bit sad and weary.

 This is/was a rather nice bedding Geranium .. past its best now.

Being of the thrifty mind ..

 I wondered if I could keep it going for next year.

I remembered when I was a young woman .. 

fresh out of college.. 

I worked in a Lab..(testing animal feedstuffs)...

 near Grange Over Sands.

 Away from home of course.. so I lodged with a lovely family who ran a guest house. 

The place was packed with returning guests every summer .. 

 a nice warm lively place to live .. 

the rooms had big bay windows that looked out across Morecombe Bay.

Anyway .. back to the Geraniums .. 

the front of the gust house was adorned with pots of lovely bright Geraniums ... 

and every year the Landlady's Mother would take cuttings and root them and pot them up ....

 We spent all winter with the bathroom windowsils crammed with pots of 'next years Geraniums' ... 

the original plants went on for years and years .. and years ..

So in a last ditch attempt to salvage something of the plant ... 

I know its a bit late ..

but I took some cuttings and sat them in a pot of water on the kitchen windowsill ...

 hopefully they will take root .. 

and will delight us again next summer.

 

 And today's creativity ... a bit of baking  .. 

a request from the 'wood lads' for Manchester Tart ..

Who remembers that from School Dinners ?

and ..

What other delights can you remember .... 

I just loved school custard ...

 but the mashed potato was awful!

Anyway enough of me ...

Take care .. bye for now x