A Little Trip

Today sees me winging my way North to Sheffield for a few days to finally visit my new grandson. The animals and house are sorted thanks to my daughter who is back from uni for the summer and an assortment of neighbours who will keep an eye out to make sure she is ok and help out if needed. I am typing this on the train on a cute little keyboard that attaches to my iPad and connects via bluetooth. It's small, compact and does the job although it might take me a bit longer to write the posts as I seem to be making a whole pile of spelling mistakes because I'm used to a bigger keyboard and things on this miniscule one are in different places. I love train journeys, even though the journey is a long one and although the last 3 times I have been to Sheffield haven't been very happy occasions, I am hoping this time will be different.

I have brought along a little bit of stitching to do on the train if I get bored with people watching, a few hexies and some fabric to stitch all neatly packed into a little quilted liberty bag that I made, my first ever attempt at putting in a zip. I have to say I am quite chuffed with myself. It was easier than I thought it would be. 

I have no idea what this blog post will look like on a normal computer it might look totally weird ...... if it does, I appologise but for the next few days it's the best I can do. As it is I'm having to post in two different formats because one of them won't allow me to add photos from my iPad so I am writing in  one app and posting photos in another ...... heaven knows what it will end up looking like. 

Before I left, I sorted out the house, gave it a good spring clean and cleaned the carpets. The cats, understandably, don't like the carpet cleaner, it's very noisy and all of them dissappear the second I turn it on. All except one of them. Her name is Porridge. She is a sweetie pie who loves to be cuddled but she is also a fiesty little thing at times and when the carpet cleaner is around, she is determined not to let it scare her. As the other cats dissappear to the four corner of the house, Pooka ..... that's her nickname ...... stands her ground :-)   

Cat versus Machine ....... in this case cat won and I had to go around her because she refused ro budge :-)

More Bad Weather and a Trip to Sheffield

Well, at the start of last week, the weather was still battering us unmercifully here in deepest darkest Cornwall. The wind and the rain were pretty much non-stop and have been for the last couple of weeks and quite frankly, I'm getting a bit fed up of being wet and windswept, not to mention being in a constant fret about the house and the animals and reluctantly, on Tuesday of last week, I made a mad dash to Sheffield. Not that I don't love going home to Sheffield to see my mum and my eldest daughter and her husband but I do get kind of nervous leaving my youngest daughter to deal with all the potential problems that the weather could bring. Not that she's a child, she's almost 21 but I guess I always assume that no one can do things the way that I do them. The problem was my car. The exhaust fell off about 3 weeks ago and the tax expired and basically, it is no longer fit to drive. It would most certainly not get through an MOT without massive amounts of cash being spent on it and quite frankly ....... it's a horrible car! It was always meant to be a stop-gap car, bought when my lovely old Pajero blew it's head gasket and I couldn't afford to get it fixed but the time had come for me to sort out something different. Before my dad sadly passed away in September last year, he told me that he wanted me to have his car so on Tuesday, I hopped on a train and went to pick it up.

The countryside was in a sorry state. Flooded fields everywhere, massively high tides as we trundled past Dawlish and the only things that seemed to be enjoying the weather were the hundreds and hundreds of birds that were splashing about in the flooded fields. I have never seen so many birds! Swans, Canada Geese, little black and white sea bird that I have no idea what they were, all having a whale of a time in the newly created lakes.

On Wednesday, I made the 357 mile drive back from Sheffield to Cornwall so I could be back in time for the market in Thursday. It's a real shame that I couldn't stay a few extra days but I'm hoping to go back up there for a few days in a month or so. It's lovely to see my mum and my daughter and there are loads of lovely shops ..... not that I actually go shopping a lot but there are lots of lovely vintage shops and junk shops for me to spend hour rummaging through ....... bliss :-)

Today is a miserable Sunday. It's cold and grey and is definitely a day for sitting in front of the fire flicking through seed catalogues and planning what I am going to do with my garden this year now that the Nasty Neighbours have gone. As I mentioned in my last post, I have started a greenhouse fund. I have found a cute little wooden greenhouse in Argos and I am hoping to have saved enough to buy it by the end of March. I intend to paint it. Not pink, as everyone who knows me assumes it will be, but maybe pale green or a lovely duck-egg blue. I haven't decided yet. This is the one that I'm hoping to get so watch this space :-)

Henderson's Relish - A Taste of My Northern Roots.

Although I live in Cornwall now, I was actually born and brought up in Sheffield. I have lived in quite a few places in the UK but about 13ish years ago (I can't even remember exactly how long ago!), I finally settled here in Cornwall. Now, those of you who live in the Yorkshire area will probably have heard of Henderson's Relish. It's a delicious sauce type thing that's a bit like Worcestershire sauce but soooo much nicer and has been made in Sheffield, initially by a Mr Henry Henderson, since the latter part of the 19th century. It's one of the things I miss about Sheffield because you can't buy it down here in Cornwall. Whenever I get the chance, I stock up but the last time I was in Sheffield, I didn't get around to getting any so when a friend who lives in Sheffield found several spare bottles in her cupboard that she had bought "just-in-case" and offered to send some of them my way I jumped at the chance.

It arrived this morning ........

It has a spicy deliciousness that enhances things like chilli or spaghetti bolognese, it helps to make a fabulously tasty gravy in a steak and kidney pie and it's equally fabulous splashed on a full fried breakfast....... drool ...... I can't wait to get cooking.

Here are some lovely pictures of Sheffield.