Tag: ptarmigan

November Month 10

This has been the most difficult month so far and the writing of the blog follows suit. I feel I don’t know what to write about, but here goes.

There are no birds to spot – even the pigeons are in short supply – and so I decided to draw a few so that when the days are more conducive to ornithology, I may stand a better chance of recognising my feathered friends. It goes without saying that I can’t draw but I’ve made use of Matt Sewell’s Our Garden Birds and I’m copying his drawings. That doesn’t feel like much of an achievement, but better than nothing. I don’t think I’ll be sued for copyright any time soon!

I have another job. This is a voluntary one until Christmas. I’m calling myself Ms Am@z0n because I’m off to Book-ish every morning to pack the web orders from the day before. Every little bit helps I hope, at least Emma says it does. It’s good for my brain because I’ve had to learn how web orders work, how to check stock and how to order books. However, the real reason I’m writing about it here is that, yes, I am counting it as a job, albeit temporary, which was a challenge from a couple of months ago. It works really well with me being (still, yes still) on British Summer Time. I wanted to be able to work before the shop opens to reduce contact with people, and going at 9am my time is only 8am Book-ish time. I have plenty of time to not be able to find books before anyone comes anywhere near the shop!

Walking the canal is progressing with a bit of manoeuvring. This month was supposed to be Llangattock to Abergavenny, the plan being to catch a bus to Abergavenny and walk back. On the assigned day the bus was FULL and so the plan was quickly changed to drive to Abergavenny, walk half way to Llangattock and back again, and the next day to walk from Llangattock to the previous day’s destination and walk back again. A brilliant plan even though it meant walking this stretch of the canal twice. It was made even more brilliant by the fact that the ‘mid way’ destination turned out to be The Towpath Inn in Gilwern. We crept in to have a look, having not been in a pub for 10 months or so, and it was EMPTY. On both days. A drink was had and it made those two walks very special. Did you note how I managed to capitalise both full and empty in this paragraph?

Enjoying the pub. There’s brandy in one of those!
Canal sights 1
Canal sights 2
Canal sights 3

This month’s donation to Fine Cell Work. A charity which works with prisoners who make absolutely beautiful things. Have a look.

Matt sent me a ‘sweary’ cd this month. Kesha – High Road. He told me it was sweary to warn me and he was right. I didn’t mind too much. I actually liked most of it on first hearing. I haven’t played it a lot because I also ordered the new Bruce Springsteen. Not sweary. Very much liked my me.

Hard to see….. here’s Bruce:

Memory stuff. A real challenge this First of all the poem. I now know the second verse. I wonder if I’ll get it done before February? A friend Lorraine sent me a piece about the poem which I loved reading and made me think. Always a good thing!

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/89511/robert-frost-the-road-not-taken

Then the Chopin Waltz from memory. Even harder, but I can pretty much do this if I have the music in front of me, not to follow, but for a quick look if I stumble. Since I’m short of content this month, I planned to post a recording of me stumbling. I’ve spent half a day trying to work out how to do that, and I’ve failed. You’ll have to take me at my word that I’m hardly looking at the music at all. If you’ve received a link to the blog via an email from me I’ve added the recording to that.

Cooking – here are the best from the month. A roasted mushroom on butterbean mash, recommended this as it full of tasty spices, and chocolate chip muffins. The chocolate chip muffin recipe is from Candace who seems to have made me these muffins at important moments in my life. A pandemic feels important!

Another of those ‘tasted better than in looked’ dishes
Had to be done

This month I read Ali Smith’s Winter and Elif Shafak’s How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division. See how it is? Wintery. Divided. Neither were Bookclub books so another challenge by the wayside. It’s ok though. Elif says so!

On a brighter note, it is my birthday in a couple of months, and no, I won’t have completed my 70 things, but if the governments let us, we will be celebrating in style. I’ve booked something for the day itself and if it happens, it will be perfect. It does, of course, involve eating. Details to follow.

October Month 9

I’ve set myself another challenge (I still need two more). This one is a little silly. I’ve been on lockdown here, and when the end of British Summer Time was approaching I decided that I didn’t want to deal with the dark afternoons that the time change would bring. So, out came the computer, I drew up a chart, and I’m not going to change the clocks until at least a decent time after the equinox. I imagined this would fail almost immediately, but it’s been a week and has been surprisingly easy. And it’s still daylight at 6pm! It’s working partly because Pavel has joined in too. We have discussions at ‘odd’ times during the day about whether it’s coffee time, lunchtime or Channel 4 news time, but we’ve missed nothing yet!

This piece of paper will get more and more crumpled

On the first day of the month I completed task No 46. All 5 peaks reached – Table Mountain, Skirrid, Blorenge, Pen y Fan and now Sugar Loaf. It’s been a delight. It was Pavel’s birthday and we left very early in the morning with a plan to be back down to the Sugarloaf Vineyard for lunch. I thought we would be on top on our own, but no. At least another 5 people arrived while we were there. People get out and about very early!

Walking the Brecon Monmouthshire Canal Day 2. Talybont to Crickhowell. Who would build a canal half way up a mountain? I’m glad they did. The views are stunning. I understand the canal boaters love it too because, unusually, the canal contours the hills, so it is not straight, and navigation is therefore more interesting. Unfortunately the next stage – Crickhowell to Abergavenny – is not possible for a while due to local travel restrictions and now our lockdown.

It looks straight and you can’t see the hills to the left, but it’s not and they are

Bird watching! My lovely friend Jocelyn turned up with another bird feeder to join the one that Kathy sent. This one had fat balls in it. We struggled to attach it in the garden but managed and then watched. My ptarmigan – recently picked up from Arts Alive where I made it last year in a pottery summer school – did not go for the fat balls, but, after a few pretty tits had done their thing, the local jackdaws found them. That was very sad because Jocelyn confirmed that once found, they would not forget. As mean as it sounds, I really don’t want to feed and gaze at jackdaws and so that particular feeder has been abandoned. The apple on the heart still attracts a few small birds. Our garden is not the best place for bird watching though – we have an over-abundance of pigeons. I look to the Spring to work on this challenge. All being well I’ll be 70 by then and the blog will have finished. That is, unless I decide to stay 69 for another year……..

A ptarmigan I made

No. 67 completed too. We went glamping! I feel it may be a bit cheating as it was rather luxury glamping. In a treehouse, in the middle of Wales. Just us, sheep, books and a hot tub! How luxurious is that? I always forget how lovely mid Wales is. Wild, empty and beautiful.

If you look closely you can see the hot tub!

Music. Scales are progressing. I’ve tackled nearly all of them now and have moved on to more complicated arrangements. This month 3 against 2. Not easy.

I haven’t studied a composer. I don’t know why, I just didn’t feel like it. Instead I’ve been listening to minimalist music. Arvo Part’s Spiegel im Spiegal is 10 minutes of total peace. That, or it will drive you crazy! Have a listen.

And then there’s Steve Reich’s (short)) clapping song. Go on……

The chocolate course Lecture 2. Make truffles. I watched the lesson, made the water ganache (I had no idea there was such a thing) and ended up with a total fail. The ganache, even after a day in the freezer – where you’re not supposed to put it – is still too soft to turn into a truffle! We’re eating soft (not)frozen balls of chocolate with creme fraiche. Highly recommended! I’ll try again next month.

Matt sent me a hip hop CD. Marlowe. I had to ask for a copy of the lyrics as my head was baffled. I’ve listened. I don’t mind it but it’s probably not going to find it’s way to the top of the pile. It doesn’t matter.

Matt said: Well this one was always going to be a little challenging. I doubt many people start getting into hip hop at 70

I’ve cooked, as always. After last month’s blog, my vegan friend Annie suggested I try making ‘fake’ Rolos. Remember Rolos? They probably still exist! Anyway, chocolate covered soft chewy toffee. The vegan ones have a mashed date and peanut butter centre. I sprinkled sesame seeds on them for a bit of interest. As if mashed dates are not interesting enough.

It’s clearly a ‘sweet’ month as I made a rice pudding cake. Rice pudding cake you say? It was quite delicious, but actually not hugely more delicious than rice pudding itself.

I also made a spicy lamb dish and a chicken bake. Even though we’re almost vegetarian. Strange times.

This month’s donation has gone to the Longtown Mountain Rescue team. Chosen because a friend’s husband volunteers with them. They do great work and depend on donations.

Books. Only one this month for a bookclub. Patrick Gale – Take Nothing With You. A charming coming of age novel about a young gay man who plays the cello. The joy of music in the novel made it for me, but then I got close to the end and discovered the absolute best recipe for pasta tomato sauce ever. For some reason I thought it must be Patrick Gale’s recipe, but it turns out that it’s Marcella Hazan’s very own. Simmer a tin of tomatoes with a whole onion cut in half with three ounces of butter for 40 minutes. Discard the onion. Eat. Absolutely delicious. Pavel ate the discarded onion!

I’ve started to paint another picture. You really don’t want to see it.