Weds 31st December 08

Hey, yet another late morning.

Did do a quick visit to Richard at Country Fresh to buy some veg and be given two sacks of other stuff. Nice one Rich! My fruit-drying racks are piled high!

Our youngest had a visitor and all three of them played quite nicely with computer games, until his parents came, had a tiny sherry and chat and took him away again. Nice to share our cozy house..

Before tea I had a go on 'Mario-Car' racing on the Wii with my eldest. I came 8th, first, last and I've forgotten my final position. It was ok but not that good. My son enjoyed it.

Gill made a good stir-fry with veg, cashew nuts and fresh noodles. Afterwards I had some of the Christmas Pudding Gill made yonks ago using home-made dried fruit soaked in brandy... it was delicious! But Gill didn't like it, and the boys don't like the brandy flavour. So it's probably all mine! OMG!

Kinda lazy evening interspersed with fruit drying... did a load of Asian pears which are pretty crap fresh but nice when dried.

Saw in the New Year whilst watching out of our loft window: an excellent view looking North over East York... the Minster on the left and lights from Next Generation shining into the sky on the right. Just a reasonable number of fireworks. Boys got cold at the open window and by 12.15 were in bed.

Happy New Year everyone!

Tuesday 30th December 08

Another late morning which was good... I like these late mornings!

Once again a fairly productive day but relaxed enough. Gill took our youngest to the aquarium shop which is part of Wyvale Garden Centre near Poppleton... Gill and I both call it Challises as we both worked at Challis of York, although at different times. But it changed hands although is still a garden centre. With a fishy-pet shop. They came back with two tiny fish... apparently 'leopard fish' although they look nothing like leopards! Also some pondweed and a wooden aquarium decoration.

I was on Facebook and one of our friends round the corner came on so I messaged her and asked if her son was doing anything, as our eldest was at a loose end... so at 3pm, both Maria and her son came round which was good, as then both boys had their loose ends tied up, and Maria could tell me all the ins and outs of her new job teaching. It sounds tough.

I prepared some more grapes, blanched them and put them to dry. Did some pears and mangoes too. Did some baked potatoes for the boys, and warmed the red soup which is what I had for tea.

I had a meeting at 7.30 with Jess from York in Transition, about accessibility and inclusion. Both of us feel this is absolutely vital to a Transition Initiative. Jess had a couple of her friends there, Tom and Emily, an artist and a writer, both also keen on inclusivity and equal opportunities. We had some interesting if rather rambling discussions, but Jess took notes and I think we will have got something concrete out of the meeting. They all enjoyed the dried fruit I took, and I hope to meet the new couple again... I like creative types.

Came home via a logpile and brought a massive tree stump home... it only just fitted on my trailer; I had to take the box out of the frame and just put the log in/on the frame and the plastic box on my rack. A good haul although I reckon it'll be a sod to cut up!

A late late evening, Gill and I had a real game of Scrabble and Gill won. I was very pleased for her... and of course, with real games on a board, we have no 'stats' recorded, so losing a game doesn't ruin my stats. On Facebook though, things are different... I really like to keep my stats looking good. (So far I've won 82% of 73 games) But it still doesn't matter too much if I lose a game sometimes. A few days ago, one of my Scrabble partners and I reached a stalemate but she had one more point than me so I conceded the game. Never had to do that before!

A good evening, watched a film with Gill.

Monday 29th December 08

Another slow start to the day. Didn't do much before lunch apart from cycling round to Thomas the Baker to get bread and do assorted paperwork, sending off a cheque, ringing Good Energy to find out our annual bill for green electricity for next year, based on this year's consumption (it's £285, and this year we've used 1421 units, or 3.89 units per day). At midday lit the stove and jarred up a load of dried mango and pears, leaving the racks empty for the next batch... and right on cue, Raj rang and invited me to come and collect some 'resources'. When I did eventually get down there, the sack of stuff he gave me, sorry, sold me for a penny, contained lots of apples. How timely is that? He was also in a very jolly mood, methinks business is brisk!

Also popped along to Country Fresh, and Shirley was working but still came away with a few kilos of recyclables, saved from certain landfill.... So as it was getting dark I put another load in the Compostumbler and then came in to heat up the red red red soup on the woodstove, as Gill prepared pasta and broccoli using gas (although the water was initially heated in the kettle on the stove). I had a bowl of soup followed by a bowl of pasta n veg with some soup on top.

So a quiet and fairly productive day.

Sunday 28th December 08

A nice late morning. Boys in good cheer. Generally a lazy day.

However during the afternoon Lorna popped in on the way back from her sister's and I went for a short walk with her, getting back at 5, and she then drove home to the Midlands. I expect we'll see her later this month, as she's visiting her sister again then.

I popped round to our neighbour Debbie who's back from visiting her brother in Windsor. She's had an unusual Christmas and is glad to be in her own house again.

The whole family watched a programme on ITV with a shrunk Nigel Marvin exploring his back garden and saying "Help! I'm no bigger than a bug" which was relatively good but not brilliant.

Soup for tea... I'd made the reddest soup possible, with tomatoes, red peppers and beetroot, and it was lovely. Had this with a pastie, and a cabbage and cashew nut thing which Gill made, plus some left over baked beans. Tasty!

Fairly quiet evening.... watched some telly, played Scrabble and answered composting questions on Facebook. Bed by 2am.

Saturday 27th December 08

A good day today... boys happy on Wii, me busy in the kitchen as well as Gill making a trifle for this afternoon's visit. I went for some bread... as no 'Yesterbake' got the full-price stuff for the first time in ages. Also found a new line in the Co-op, a nice apple juice drink in a glass bottle (easy recycling!) made with English apples, so got some of that, again for Alison's party.

I washed and blanched a job-lot of grapes and put them to dry before cycling off to Chapelfields, the other side of York, for Alison's party. Gill and the boys went on two buses... I'd been there half an hour when Gill rang (she has got a mobile phone, 21st Century Girl!) and said she had got off where Alison said, so I went to collect them, just 5 minutes walk from Alison's.

The gathering was really good. Alison's sister Cheryl from Sheffield, and Cheryl's daughter Grace, who was really good with the boys. Our friends Melody and Simon with their two offspring, one of who is great friends with our two, and Simon's Mum MaryLou from London. And really good to meet up with my Green Festival buddy Randall and his wife Annie. Rand is a garden designer and has done a lovely job on Alison's garden, making a little patio and some raised beds.

Alison had requested that people didn't bring anything which none of us had heard, understood or obeyed, so there were some excellent foody bits and lots of dwinkabuls and we all had a jolly time. Including garden tours and memories of what it used to look like with a photo collection. The boys played boisterously and had a good time too. We left soon after 6, and as Gill got a taxi home she got in first. I picked up a sack of compostables from Country Fresh and a large pile of unsold mistletoe... with loads of berries which I'll try to plant into my Bramley Apples... might work!

So, a happy evening followed with not very much washing up to do, hooray!

26th December 08

A nice start to the day, with a phone call from Lorna who's up in Yorkshire visiting her sister and asked if she could visit us all this evening. I came down and lit the stove as it's cold, and breakfasted.

Gill went out with our eldest to go and look for a Nintendo Wii, as he's been saving up for one for ages, after enjoying using one at a friend's house earlier this year.

I went on my computer and our youngest played on Spore on the other computer.

The others came back, they'd walked into town, got a good deal on a Wii and walked back. They'd got a basic Wii Sport with added games, steering wheel, extra user remote and probably other stuff... for an all inclusive price which was quite a bit cheaper than all the bits if bought separately. So what's going to happen is that he'll have the basic stuff he's saved up for, and keep earning and saving so he can buy the extra stuff off Gill.

We had a late lunch of the last of the leek and potato soup, and I did a small amount of work outside, pruning out this year's brambles, some chainsawing (just 10 minutes) and splitting.

Lorna dropped in after tea (which was tomato soup, home-made of course!) and watched the boys and Gill setting up the Wii whilst I filled up the aquarium that our youngest got for his main present. Lorna had never seen a Wii before so was just as amused as we were to watch our eldest having a virtual boxing match, very entertaining and fun.

Lorna left at about 9 and I set to and made another batch of tomato soup on the woodstove. This is what you do with a glut of tomatoes: chop two onions and a stick of celery, and fry in the biggest heaviest pan you have. Add a job lot of chopped tomatoes, followed by a couple of chopped beetroot and two red peppers. Stew for a couple of hours with the lid on and then let it go cold overnight without taking the lid off. Tomorrow morning I'll add some herbs and bouillon, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce. Then whizz with the hand-held blender and bring it up to heat again... it will be delicious!

Whilst this was bubbling, I watched Nine Months, a rather rubbish American film, and played Scrabble with my various Facebook friends.

Thursday 25th December 08 'Christmas Day'

Well, I justabout survived the day.

Up early as we had quite a bit to do before I went to work. The boys enjoyed opening their presents, our youngest pleased with lego and eldest pleased with money instead so he can go and buy a 'Wii'. Gill had found an unused table football game (quite a big one, about 3 feet long) in a charity shop for only £5, and they were pleased with that. They unwrapped the legs first and were just a bit bemused as to what they were for. Gill was pleased with her new frying pan (she'd dropped enough hints) and I was tempted to go and fill up my chainsaw's oil port immediately but just resisted! Probably the best gift was Simon's home-made pestle and mortar, created from sheets of reclaimed birch ply, glued together into a sturdy block and then turned and carved and sanded down. The pestle is made in the same way. We already have a pestle and mortar... it rarely gets used and it's small enough to fit in the back of the cutlery drawer. As for Simon's, it's massive and beautiful and I'm not sure where it will go or whether we'll use it... but it is lovely and home-made presents are definitely the best!

Gill made my sandwiches and I packed my bike trailer, and I set off for the Novotel to go and perform an hour of Fiddlesticks and then unknown amount of Father Christmas, a role I really dislike as it's not me..... Professor Fiddlesticks is more the real me than I can be when being just John, if that makes sense, whereas Daddy Xmus is acting and very hard work. David was just getting ready so I signed his 'release form' which allows him to use the images, and started unicycling round, devilsticking and making balloon animals. Several people recognised me from last year and were very friendly, kids excited and keen to do the various circussy activities. The hour went very quickly and I went for lunch in a bedroom, got changed and came down for 1.30, walking very slowly, making sure my beard and cushion didn't slip, and doing a variety of deep Ho Ho Ho's and assorted other merry greetings. I'm sure I pulled it off pretty well, but it was hard work! I only had about 10 presents to deliver, this taking only 15 minutes... and I was finished, Hooray!

I got changed back into John and packed all my gear into the trailer and panniers and came home via Freshways who were open, and I bought some Halva as a treat.

Found out no-one else likes it, apparently.

Gill had made a lovely Christmas tea... the boys wanted noodles, I had the rems of nutloaf, all with roast veggies and a tomato and leek sauce. Lovely and completely non traditional!

We watched the Wallace and Gromit 'Curse of the Were-Rabbit' film together but I drifted in and out of sleep until the news after which I escaped from the Dr. Who Christmas special and went upstairs with my laptop and did assorted things, including watching two extremely moving YouTube videos:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mrOwvNnTeD4&NR=1
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Z7rV7kKnI&NR=1
after which I joined the Aaron Fotheringham fan page on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38047288049&ref=ts
as he's someone I really admire. Totally inspirational!

Came back down for a family viewing of the new Wallace and Gromit, 'A Matter of Loaf and Death' which was ok. The boys eventually went to bed and I prepared a big pile of waste mangoes for drying. Each one has a one or two small bruises or bad patches, with the rest of the mango being very tasty and lovely. Did about 15 of them... Two cake-racks loaded with mango slices, balanced precariously on top of the 6 gallon pan on the stove...