The Weary World Rejoices

There is one word that seems to keep cropping up when I snatch moments to write my blog these days and that is, simplicity. It helps me to rest after even the most complicated days at work and it seems to make room for everything else. It is homemade food and singing old carols. It is the smell of our Christmas tree and the hum of my sewing machine. It is the bite of frost on my cheek and seeing my breath in the air. It is countryside walks and cosy pubs. It is my family, my friends and the time I get to spend with them. In short, it is everything I love about Christmas. Last Saturday, as we pulled-up outside our house, this song started playing on the radio. The Ginge silenced the engine, I rested my head on his shoulder and we sat in the darkness, listening. It is a song we have sung together for many years with our choir and it has a very special place in my heart. Once it was over, we went into the warm and decorated our tree. Christmas began in our little house; simply and beautifully.    

An Autumn Escape and the Start of Preparations

As you know, the Ginge and I like to partake in the occasional burst of escapism. During this year's very autumnal October, we packed our bags with warm layers, gloves and sturdy shoes and set off for a few days in Appleby-in-Westmorland. We stayed in a perfect little converted Pump House and enjoyed a week of solitude. We reveled in simplicity and ate hearty, homemade risottos, soups and cinnamon oatmeal. We chatted for hours in cafes, explored stone circles and wandered around deserted National Trust gardens, full of apple trees dripping with fruit. In many ways, Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love the homeliness, the root vegetables, the spices and the primal need to hunker down in cozy places and take stock ready for the colder months. Those colder months have most certainly arrived and with them bring my other great love, the festive season. Today is the 1st of December and the preparations are soon to begin. We are starting with a trip into the Peak District, where our friends are hosting a Christmas Fair at their pub. Bring on the hot, mulled drinks and the cheery red cheeks, nipped by cold. There is a lot still to do, including making our annual hampers full of goodies, decorating the house, lots of singing and sending out my Christmas cards (they have just arrived from here and look great. More on all of that soon. What are you doing to prepare for Christmas? 

Of Fields and Family

If you asked me 'what is the thing you miss most about being at home?', I'd probably jump to say 'my garden'. I have so many wonderful memories of family meals, summer birthday parties and other events that all happened out there, not to mention the hours of exploration and imaginary games it provided us with as children. It looked stunning this weekend, just like something from the Chelsea Flower Show. Yes, on first thought, I would definitely say 'my garden'. After that, however, a flood of other beloved ideas rushes into my head; the open fields, the cow-parsley-flanked lanes, the melee of different architecture set in Cotswold stone, the railway crossing, the river, the tithe barn. In short, everything that has been so familiar to and loved by me my whole life. This weekend, all I did was soak all of that up with my family and my boy. Heaven. On Saturday, we walked to our local Farm Shop, where we were rewarded for our efforts by delicious burgers and cooling, summery drinks. We picked wild Bath asparagus and spotted butterflies and some of this year's fledglings taking their first tentative flights. We spent the evening wandering through some of the back streets of bath. It was a perfect evening for it; the balmy air cooled by stone walls. We had drinks outside followed by a delicious dinner at Jika Jika. On Sunday, we had lunch in the garden (the Ginge fell asleep) and then spent the afternoon wandering again, this time around my little town. There was an open gardens event, so we got to be very nosey and look around some incredible gardens, which are only very occasionally open to the public. It's amazing that, even after living somewhere for so long, you can still see very different sides to a place, just by looking at it in a different way. Each garden was very individual, but all were full of character and charm, with picture-postcard views. We cooed over their choice of planting and happily sipped glasses of Pimms and homemade lemonade. We even made time to stop for a childhood classic - the cider ice lolly. If you have never tried one, I urge you to do so! I also urge you to visit Bradford on Avon and its surrounding area as it is perfectly lovely, in my very biased opinion. I don't know about you, but I cannot wait for the Jubilee Weekend - I hope you're all planning some exciting things to do, with lots of cake and bunting thrown in for good measure. Love to all!

Of Macarons & My New Toy

On Friday of last week, I found out that I passed my final medical school exams. It was such a huge relief, though I'm not sure that it has entirely sunken in yet. I still have six more weeks of shadowing to do and I have to graduate in July, but I am pretty much done, which feels amazing. As you can probably imagine, I'm feeling a little bit pleased with myself and so I decided that I deserve a treat. I have been dreaming of and saving up for a better camera for years, thinking that the end of university would be a good milestone at which to buy one. I am very excited to say that I have done it - I have bought myself a Canon 60D and a fancy lens. I was like a child in a sweetshop, whilst buying it; uttering little outbursts of glee every few seconds. The magnitude of my excitement, however, was only realised about fifteen minutes later when I stopped in my tracks and burst into tears; much to the amusement of the ginge, who is quite used to my tearful explosions of emotion. We both stood and laughed; me with tears included, the Ginge without, until I regained sensibility and we went off to celebrate with a warm cup of tea. The next day, it poured with rain, so I didn't manage to get out and take any photos. I did however have my first successful attempt at making macarons and I managed to take a few snaps of them. I was really pleased with how straightforward the recipe was, even the italian meringue buttercream, which is completely delicious. I made vanilla cases filled with either raspberry, chocolate or coffee buttercream. They are all delicious, but the chocolate is particularly good. I would thoroughly recommend this recipe (thank you so much to Tori for the recommendation). Here are a few photos of my exploits, taken with my new baby. Can't wait to take and show you more - hooray! 

A la Maison

As you might know, the Ginge and I have been working on our house for the past few months. It is still very much a work-in-progress, but we're getting there (slowly). The bathroom has been the biggest job so far; taking two weeks instead of the quoted two days. I guess that's what comes of living in an old house with brittle plaster, wonky floors and complicated plumbing. It all turned out beautifully in the end and is now a lovely haven in which to relax and imagine how wonderful the rest of the house will look, once it's finished. We've got pretty varied taste and a tiny house, so all of the rooms are a bit of a mismatch of different periods and styles, but it works for us. Anyway, here are a few pictures of our living room, kitchen, bathroom and my study. I hope to be able to show you more soon, but you can check out other bits and bobs here. In other news, I find out tomorrow whether I passed my big exams, so we are keeping our fingers and toes crossed for good news so that we can celebrate. I hope you are all having a lovely week, in spite of the miserable weather. 

Pin up

A while ago, whilst visiting the Ginge's parents, we stumbled upon a little brown paper bag packed to bursting with the badges and patches he earned whilst a scout. Being a sucker for nostalgia, I set out to find a way of using them in the house. Their sheer brightness and variety of colour reminded me, for some reason, of  butterflies displayed in cases. I have therefore been looking to buy a entomology display case for several months, with nothing more to show for myself than a few sharp intakes of breath and some silent gawping stares at the price of the things.  Apparently, taxidermy is an expensive hobby. The grand plan was to put every single badge in one big white case and maybe that will still happen one day, but for now we will have to settle with the smaller version. I found this 'memories case' in John Lewis of all places and apart from it's size, it is exactly what I was looking for. I therefore spent a very happy Sunday afternoon pinning in some of the Ginge's most poignant badges; the first ever Gang Show he took part in, a badge from Andorra where he would one day work as a ski instructor, the Natural History Museum (no explanation needed for geeks like us), a mountain (his most favourite place to be), the scout crest, the Sandringham gates which are just down the road from where he grew up, his 'Sixer' patch and one commemorating the 75th anniversary of the cubs. It's a lovely mix of childhood memories and the things that make him who he is. It's no great work of art and would mean very little to most people, but I am very pleased with it and I smile every time I walk past it. The Ginge loves it too, which is just as well. 

P.S. Thank you so much for all the lovely well-wishes. I am feeling much better this week; all the more so for your wonderful kindness. 

A Very Treacle & Ginge Christmas

Seeing as it is very nearly twelfth night and all of our decorations will soon be packed up and put away for next year, I think it's about time that I finish off the last of my Christmas posts. As you know, the Ginge had to work over the Christmas period, so we had our own little celebration on the 29th. We got all dressed up and laid the table all special-like. His lovely mum sent him home with some of their leftover turkey and cranberry sauce, which with a few of my family's special hedgehog potatoes (so named by me and my sister when we were little, now an absolute requirement for any Christmas meal) and some veg made a very tasty supper indeed! The Ginge gave me some beautiful sheepskin mittens and a replacement bottle of the perfume he first bought me two years ago. I gave him The Ginger Pig meat book, very fitting for a ginger pig who loves meat, and a beautiful Stanley thermos flask, complete with a plan for a day of walking in the Peaks. We also opened presents from each other's parents: a super-smart shirt and tie for the Ginge and   Lucy Worsley's book about the history of the home signed especially for me (I literally shouted WOW! AMAZING! for five minutes when I opened it). The whole evening left us feeling very smug; with our gifts both given and received, our scrumptious dinner and, above all, with each other. Added to the wonderful time I spent at home with my family and our brilliant New Year with friends, I can honestly say that this Christmas was the best ever. What a lucky Treacle! 

Festivities

I know it's not really Christmas anymore, but I thought I'd share with you some of the highlights of the festive season. Laughing and crying at the beautiful wedding of Jay & Kimberley, Christmas peppermint and chocolate cupcake at Fancie, crisp strolls around my hometown: Bradford on Avon, singing folk carols in the pub with my Dad, Bath all dressed up for the season, the best sandwich in the world at Jika Jika, reminiscing over the memories invoked by our family tree decorations, dancing in the street with the Ginge to the music of Jazz-band elves, feeling ten years old again by making croissants from a can (finally they have brought these back to the UK), the perfect Christmas lunch (following a famous family incident, we have guinea fowl instead of turkey with 'hedgehog' potatoes, lots of veg and a big dollop of homemade bread sauce), Boxing Day Christmas with my second family, dressing up in my Christmas presents and feeling so pleased with myself that I actually managed (with difficulty) to have a nice photo taken. The Ginge and I had a separate Christmas, which I will post about separately (that will be the last, I promise).