New Year's Resolutions - at last

 I always say I like the New Year to get settled before I commit to making resolutions. Well, this year I might have left things later than usual, but there are still ten months and some days left, so plenty of time :)

Instead of the usual 'de-clutter' and 'do something arty' resolutions with which I start so many years, I'm going to be re-hashing my 60 Things idea from a few years back. Doing something (anything) new in the middle of a pandemic seems tricky but it IS possible. Anyway, restrictions are starting to ease, and trying or learning something new is always good for us - it stretches the brain, expands our horizons, and gives us something to do while we're holed up at home.

In part I've gone about this the wrong way round - doing a few new things and then deciding to turn them into a resolution, but doing something different throughout January and February was good for me, so extending for a year seems like an excellent idea.

First up, I took part in Veganuary, trying to cut meat and cheese from my diet for a month (I gave myself a 'pass' on milk as I didn't want to cancel my doorstep delivery). Then I decided that, months after everyone else, it was time to set up a sourdough culture and bake bread. And lastly I stumbled upon the concept of online escape rooms, played with family members from the lockdown safety of our own living rooms. 

Going forward I have lots of hopes for new places to visit, new festivals to attend, but until the end of March we'll all stick be stuck at home, so I'm looking for ideas to tide me through, and re-visiting something I talked about doing last year.

Back in Autumn I joined in with The Good Life Experience At Home - a festival that should have taken place at Hawarden Castle but ended up online - and with my activity pack for the weekend I received a preview of The Good Life Handbook. It contains fourteen activities for fourteen weekends, ideas ranging from fungi foraging to darning, from making a slingshot to making herbal teas (the full-sized Handbook contains more). I'm not intending to do all of them, nor confine myself to these suggestions, but it seems like a useful starting point and a spring-board for other ideas. 

More on this as the year progresses with a complete list here

Jottings - 21st February - Spring is in the air

 After last week's freezing temperatures, Spring has arrived with a bound. Or, at least, in comparison it seems that way. 

In the garden, the snowdrops are now fully in flower, and the crocus trying to catch up

My first pot of daffodil bulbs has died back but a second had buds showing, so I brought it inside and within days had bright cheery flowers on the kitchen windowsill.  There's nothing quite like a splash of yellow to liven up the last weeks of winter.

Being able to get out and about doing useful things in the garden is such a help when I can't go anywhere else, so with it being so much milder this week so I've been busy in the garden. I tidied last year's dead growth up so the snowdrops can be seen, and started to sow seeds; some rather late sweet peas (they can be set in November) but hopefully they'll catch up, plus mizuna for spring salads, and cauliflowers and leeks to be grown on down at the allotment. I should be setting tomatoes and chillies now but I don't want to have windowsills filled with plants that can't go outside because of late frosts, so they can wait a little while.

This, plus the hope of news of lockdown easing, has made this a brighter week. Maybe it's just the lengthening days but there seems to be an air of hopefulness around. 

My husband's birthday fell towards the end of the week, and we decided to try an online escape room game with the rest of the family. It was puzzling and perplexing, but between us we managed to 'escape' in just under the hour it was expected to take. I rather wish I'd discovered these games earlier, but it proves my theory that even in lockdown there are opportunities for trying new things.

Trying to be vegan for a month

My intent behind taking part in Veganuary was probably different to most people's. To be honest I wasn't thinking of animal welfare or depletion of planetary resources, I was interested in something nearer to home - finding a project to occupy me through the latest lockdown, and making use of our allotment produce. The huge chest freezer is full with tomatoes, runner beans, cauliflower, and blackberries. In the garage sit bags of potatoes, the porch is home to recently dug beetroot, turnips and swedes, and on the kitchen windowsill I still have three squash. It's silly to go to the effort of growing them and then eat ready meals, but too often that's what we opt for. Veganuary would, I thought, be an ideal incentive to encourage me to focus on seasonal vegetables (and those frozen tomatoes).

A lot of my meals were already accidentally vegan - BBQ beans with baked potatoes, or the many pumpkin-based dishes I make, from curries to chilli - so starting with a list of these I decided to try being vegan for a whole month.

For keeping me occupied and giving me a focus it was excellent. Sticking to vegan food, I discovered, took more planning than my usual diet. 

The hardest meal was lunch. Being at home, I would normally have grabbed a ham/cheese/tuna sandwich. It's hard to find something as quick and easy. What I hit on was mashing up chickpeas to make a lazy hummus, and using it as a base for salad sandwiches, but some days I ended up falling back on jam or banana as fillings. Homemade soup was a better idea, but then I had to be sure it didn't clash with our evening meal; I didn't want chilli, curry or winter roots stew twice a day!

I wasn't an eater of huge amounts of meat before this and one idea I've certainly been shaken out of is the necessity of adding it to almost every meal. For example, I'd previously make a curry with tomatoes, chickpeas and spinach, and somehow feel I needed to add some chicken, or need to add mince to enchiladas, even if just a small amount. Now I feel I've embraced vegetables for themselves, not as just a side.

There are a lot of websites out there offering help and advice, and most importantly recipe suggestions, and another great source of inspiration was people I follow online sharing their own Veganuary journey. My favourite new meal was discovered accidentally by following one link then another and ending up with a squash and cabbage sabzi recipe on the BBC Good Food site. This fits what I was looking for exactly, as I still have autumn's pumpkins, and cabbage is doing well at the allotment; I even made flatbread from my sourdough discard to accompany it.

Something I've been experimenting with since first lockdown is using aquafaba (the fluid from chickpeas or beans) as a replacement for eggs. It gives a rather meringuey texture to cake but I like it. My attempt at making vegan mayo with it didn't work as well but I'm going to try again.

I tried as much as possible to avoid substitute meats, as it went against my hope of using our own vegetables, but I have discovered some mock-chicken pies just as nice as the meat version that I'll continue to eat. 

Has it changed my eating habits? Somewhat. It was definitely a lot easier than I expected, and I didn't really miss meat that much. I don't think I'll stay vegan permanently but going forward I will be eating a lot less meat and dairy.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Gardens

 As we were heading somewhere new on an adventure last weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to break the journey somewhere new on the way - Fountains Abbey and the adjoining water gardens of Studley Royal.

My intention had been to just stop briefly, have lunch and a half hour's walk around - but it proved too interesting, so we stayed much longer, though still without exploring everywhere

The abbey ruins sit in a valley, and approaching from the visitor reception area you first see what appears to be the normal-sized tower of a church. It's only as you drop down into the valley that the real height of the tower becomes apparent.

As we were limited for time, we didn't stay to investigate the ruins (something for another trip) but moved on to the water gardens which looked beautiful and serene on this sunny, chilly day.

A straight 'canal' leads to the circular Moon pond, flanked by crescent ponds, and overlooked by the Temple of Piety.

The waterside path then leads on to Studley Lake where manicured grounds give way to a more natural park. Having already spent more time here than we'd intended, we crossed the bridge and returned on the opposite side of the valley, leaving the deer park to be explored another time.

There's so much to be seen that I could easily spend a whole day wandering around. Maybe a plan for next spring ...

Hopton Hall Rose Garden

For our 'day out' this week we were heading to Youlgreave to see the well-dressings but, deciding to make a full day, we called in at Hopton Hall on the way there. The gardens there are open at two periods of the year - spring for snowdrops (which we've visited before) and summer when the roses are in bloom (which somehow I've never got round to, till this week)











The rose garden sits on the highest of a series of terraces, boxed around with low hedging, and interspersed with slim, columnar trees, which give the garden year-round interest (even when we visited in spring this area looked charming)






















We started our visit with lunch - if tea and cake can be called lunch - and it was a beautiful day to just sit, relax and admire the garden from the highest point.

















It's a wonderfully relaxing spot, and I could possibly have sat there all day, lulled by sunshine and the scent of the roses, but eventually we forced ourselves to explore further.

The outer wall of the garden is a curving, crinkle-crankle wall with fruit trees trained up it, and herbaceous borders in front.

Judging by my own garden roses and those seen at Locko Hall last weekend, I'd expected all the beds to be in bloom, perhaps even past their best, but they weren't. Flowering seasons are always unpredictable but another year I'll time things a little later just to try to catch the later blooms.

From the rose garden, a path leads to a lower terrace with a broad walk with more mixed borders and roses, then leads through a wooded area to the lake.

Again, a lovely spot to sit, relax, and enjoy the tranquility. I just wish I could buy a season ticket or similar, and return every week.

Resolutions again - 2019

Here we go with another new year, full of good intentions and resolutions.



I recently saw one of those word search squares that are supposed to predict what the coming year holds in store for you based on the words you spot first - mine were nachos, love, and wealth - but while I'm waiting for these delights to show up I'm going to try more practical measures




Last year was one in which external factors took over my life. This year could easily turn out the same way, so I'm determined to take charge of the bits of my life which I can control - from losing weight to finishing that Swedish Duolingo course. Primarily, I want to de-clutter my life, so I have more time to give to the things I really enjoy.


First to go is the online rubbish. I love social media so, no, I don't mean cutting down back on on-line chattering, but some things have to go - which means culling my social media 'friends', and unsubscribing from a stash of e-mails.
 Most of the folk I know online I chat to, we comment on each other's blog posts, tweets, FB updates, etc BUT there are lots of followers and friends that I haven't had a conversation with EVER. These guys are going.
I have an e-mail inbox that's straining every morning from notifications of all sorts. Obviously I can't delete the lot but so many are unwanted, and these have to go. Some I've signed up for as part of a competition but some seem totally random - I'd NEVER have signed up for cruise holidays so that was easily the first one to go.

Art and Crafts - inspired by making a jacket for my grandson in little over a week, I'm determined to pick up my knitting needles again. I've treated myself to some lovely maroon yarn in the sales with definite plans on what to knit with it, but also I need to clear the yarn stash that fills so many drawers and cupboards. Also, I'd like to add in the intention to take part in something more creative - embroidery, painting, dress-making, anything really though I'm not sure what yet. Again  this will have an added advantage of using up hoarded yarn, material, craft supplies, and making some space.

Taking charge of the garden. OK, winter isn't the best time to tackle it but it's got pretty neglected out there, and this IS a good time for planning - deciding what needs to be cut back, ordering seeds, and perhaps making a monthly planner of what I'd like to do and when.

Another thing to get on top of is the book blog. I've continued to read for the last few months but not find time to review, so there's a lot of catching up to do. Meanwhile, I've signed up to the Penguin Books classic books reading challenge - more details here - It's a bit of a cheat as I knew before I saw the list that I'd have read several already - turns out that if you include watching plays instead of reading them there are only two new books there - The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Communist Manifesto. Still, it's a good excuse to re-read some oldies.
Also after several months absence I've decided it's time to get back out to Book Club at my local Waterstones. It also ties in with my 'mini adventures' idea (see below) by getting out alone for an evening and seeing new people.


This is the other aspect to the year - inspired by the cover of my diary, I intend to make this year, as much as possible, one of mini adventures - small probably barely befitting the name 'adventure'. It's a sort of follow-on to last years's Sixty Things, continuing as #trysomethingnew. I expect that, as for the past few years, I'll have little chance of a holiday, so my adventures will be very much based around home - new places to walk, exhibitions to see, bands to watch. No matter what your age, no matter how restricted your life, there's always something new to be discovered. Let's see how many things I can find this year.

And, somewhere, somehow, I'll be so busy that all my extra weight will magically disappear :)

Sixty things challenge

 I set out last January with the intent of trying out sixty new things over the course of the year to celebrate my 60th birthday. I didn't quite make it, as circumstances got in the way but I managed  a nice round 50, and from making spaghetti carbonara to eating cold pizza it's been fun.

The full list is on the Sixty Things for Sixty Years page but here are some of the high (and low) points.

Annie's Burger Shack -
a converted chapel

I've stepped outside my culinary comfort zone and eaten lots of new things in new places from poutine at Woodside Festival to pizzas at Rudy's, and salad nicoise at The Wharf in Manchester, tapas at Lorente's, and burgers at Annie's Burger Shack in Derby. I've discovered I don't like squid or chicken in plum sauce, but I do love cold pizza!

Lodge Hill Bluebells, Yoxall

Circumstances kept me at home this year, and apart from an overnight stay in Manchester (booking an Air BnB in someone's house) I've not been 'away', but there are always things waiting to be found right under our noses, 

from visiting new snowdrop and bluebell displays, 

Timber Festival

to exploring places near where I grew up - regenerated pit and quarry sites, canals, and tunnels under Nottingham - to finding new music venues and festivals nearby (DPP, Woodside and Timber). 

The greatest surprise has been discovering how much I like Manchester. I'm not a city person, preferring gardens, countryside or the sea for a day out, but something about the mix of old and new in Manchester fascinates me. These two photos were taken merely by turning round!









The greatest disappointment? Trying to cook custard in the microwave - a horrible disaster I won't be repeating!
I was surprised how many simple things I hadn't actually done, so next year I plan to continue and #trysomethingnew