Dairyman Crick And The Bull That Kneeled For The Nativity Carol.

 I have been busy doing some grafting for a builder again this week.  61 years old and a building labourer/gardener.  Very reasonable rates.

Hopefully I will get some of my own jobs done over the St Brigids Bank Holiday.  I might go carbooting but plants don't usually sell in winter.  

Only Ireland could have a holiday weekend in February. 

Any road:

Remember round Christmas time when I did a post about Thomas Hardy's Oxen kneeling at the Nativity post?

Recently I was reading  Chapter 17 of Tess of the Durbevilles and Dairyman Crick told the gathered milking dairy men and milk maids the tale of fiddler old William Dewy played at a wedding on a Saturday  night.  

The riddles and dances went on all night and William was tired and it was a moon lit night so he decided to take a short cut over a farmers field.  Suddenly a huge bull came charging and chasing after him. 

William  Dewy was brought up in the countryside and he knew there was no way he would out run a bull.  

So he began to play his fiddle and the bull stopped and listened and his face was perplexed and full of curiosity.  

Then the fiddler had an idea and he played a Nativity hymn and it was not even Christmas.  Rather like the Christmas Eve oxen.  The bull stopped and reverently kneeled for a moment.  

William Dewy took the opportunity to leap over the fence and escape from the Christian bull!  He had managed to trick the bull.

Dairyman Crick said back in medieval times people believed in a real living faith.

Anyone else read Tess or seen the films? Do you think Thomas Hardy was a fatalist?   Should Tess have had a more happy ending, 

Thomas Hardy definitely could write classic English literature.

Collecting Inexpensive Vegetables Seeds For The Chitting Room.

Now " Portugal 🇵🇹 " my beloved polytunnel is to use a golf course term:  GUR.  I am taking my seed sowing adventures back to what use to be a bedroom.  

Regular readers will recall we used this little box room last year to chit a 55 Kg hessian sack of Homeguard potatoes 🥔. 

We enjoyed them very much.  Particularly Diesel our Bernese mountain dog.  She loves eating them with her Yorkshire Puddings.

So now tiz the season to start collecting our seeds from the German garden centre and beer providers and supermarket in Bantry town 

We've made a start collecting our vegetables seeds.

I must purchase some seed compost.  But none of that cheap stuff that's made of composted bark and peat.  

A good John Innes number 3 type of loam soil based compost full of nutrients and nice to work with your fingers.  The better the compost the better your veg plants grow.

It's a tad bit early to start germinating seeds but I am very very tempted.  Nothing gladdens the heart more that some tender seedlings 🌱 growing in a potting tray during gale season.

Anyone else collecting or even started sowing their vegetables seeds yet?  

Packet Soup. When You Can't Be Bothered Digging Up Your Leeks To Make A Bowl Of Soup.

 Lidl packet soup.  I think it cost 75 Cents ?🤔

J picked it up from our local German garden centre and beer providers and supermarket the other day.

Yesterday I spent an hour feeding the rabbits and weeding some of my new rooted shrub cutting and divided perennials.  I couldn't find my gardening gloves and used my bare fingers instead.  They felt like they were dropping off.

I decided to make some warm soup but I couldn't be mithered ( northern English word) getting my trusty garden fork and digging up one of my leeks.

Instead I made soup out of a packet.  I often get accused that when I cook every pot, pan and utensil is used.  This is not strictly true.  I don't use everything.

So what was your packet soup like Dave?  I will show you:

 

Packet soup.

It made us warm and reminded me of that stuff they served in Littlewoods stores cafes over in dear old Blighty.  

The ones that my mum and dad always insisted we went in when going clothes shopping in C and A on city visits to places like Manchester and Chester.

If you are a Wayne or Waynetta kind of person I would say it would do.  However if you are an organic vegetable gardener like me I would go and dig up a leek and make your own.  In fairness if you were in a hurry the packet soup would suffice!  At least it warmed me up!

Anyone else voting for putting packet soup in room 101 with hoovers and hair dryers?

Hardening Off The Griselina Cuttings.

 I sold and planted one hundred and twenty five of my hedging last Autumn.

I decided to replace them with about two hundred cuttings that I placed in secondhand plant pots filled with home-made compost and soil.

Yesterday I decided to place the newly rooted plants outside in one of my plant nurseries on the veg plot:

New Griselina hedging plants.

I will let them grow a bit and try to sell them off at carboot sales during the spring and summer.  I often find places to plant new hedges around the gardens here.

The best thing about growing them in pots means that you can plant them unlike bare rooted hedging which can only be planted when they are dormant until the end of March.

Anyone else grow hedging or perennials and shrubs for an hobby?  I also grow vegetables but being a plantaholic I seem to always be making plants.

I wish I could get a job in a plant nursery or at a big house.  It's rare to see such gardener jobs these days.  

I would love to have worked in the walled kitchen gardens at Heligan in Cornwall.  It's 26 years since I last visited them.  I am also hoping to visit them again and The Eden Project in late summer.  I have never visited there, have you?

Update:

I have just come inside after weeding my potted shrub cuttings.  My fingers were dropping off with the cold.  The Spanish weather people have declared our next storm Su to hit the Emerald Isle on Sunday is called Storm Herminia.  At least it's  not a red warning this time.

Storm Eowyn Tore My Polytunnel Cover.

 This was the scene this very

morning:

It's not even two years old.

I managed for years without a polytunnel but I will miss it especially on rainy days 

Perhaps I should buy polycarbonate plastic sheeting?  Polytunnel polythene can not stand the Atlantic storms which seem to be getting worse every year.

We still have electricity and Mr Musk's brilliant Starlink satellite Internet service.  I wonder if he would give us a few grand for the free advert and I will replace my polytunnel cover?  I need to find another 900 Euros.

Isn't life rhubarb?

More Plant Production.

 I spent a couple of hours yesterday potting on some laurel hedge cuttings I took in the Autumn:

You can see the white roots poking under the plant pot. I used just ordinary sand left over from a DIY project. You can also see my wellingtons!

I potted them on into my second hand plant filled with home-made compost.

I potted on 28 plants in total.

They would easily suffice for a thirty foot long hedge.  I cut back a laurel hedge in Autumn and bagged up some of the cuttings.

Interestingly Laurel contains cyanide and can be toxic to livestock.

I have read of people taking laurel trimmings to their local tip in the back of their cars and complained of nasty headaches.  No doubt from the plants releasing their cyanide fumes.  

Like the old estate gardeners stories I have read in old gardening books.  You can make your plants for free.  

I will either plant my hedging or sell them at a carboot sale. 

I hope Storm Eowyn shows mercy on our polytunnels, greenhouses and sheds tonight and tomorrow.

Not In The Mood For Dancing!

 I have been working for a builder picking stone and mixing mortar for the last couple of days.  I have aching muscles and pains that I didn't know I had.  I thought Manual Labour was the name of a Spanish labourer.   That's why I haven't wrote a blog post folks.

Any road:

I have been playing The Nolans songs on good old YouTube for the last couple of days.

Another one of those Lancashire adopted Irish sisters died last week.  

Poor Linda Nolan left this life after twenty years fighting cancer.  

It's a terminal condition that seems to be in every family these days.  My only family included.  It used to be one in three people now it's one in two.  

I have probably seen The Nolans four or five times.  Probably the same amount that I have seen Jethro Tull.

The last time I saw The Nolans was at Blackpool Grand Theatre about thirty years ago.  I have also seen them in Scarborough.  We also saw The Spinners, The Bachelors and The Grumbleweeds on our many family holidays there.

 Back to The Grand:

Bernie sang a rendition of Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart'.  It was superb.  The Nolans always put on a show and danced and sang and everyone went home elated and happy

J and me stayed in a rather down at heel bed and breakfast.  The proprietors only charged us ten Pounds each.  If I remember you had to go up some steps to a shared bathroom.  The landlady was most put out in the morning when I got J to tell  her we would not be requiring breakfast.  Our room was not the cleanest we have stayed in.  Have you any stories of staying in some rough digs for the night?

Linda Nolan raised over twenty million for cancer charities including the Irish Cancer Society.  Bernie succumbed to cancer in her early fifties.

The Nolans made a lot of people happy and even supported Frank Sinatra and they became very big in Japan.

You will probably remember this their biggest hit:

I guarantee you will be singing this all day.

Potting On The Perennials Cuttings

 I started potting on twenty Osteospermums cuttings today.

I took them in Autumn and placed them in small plant pots with a very sandy medium mix.

Today I decided to pot them onto bigger pots full of homemade compost:

 

Roots growing through the plant pot drainage holes are a good indication that your cuttings have struck roots.

Osteospermums planted into a bigger plant pot.  I will overwinter them until the last of the frosts have gone.

Then I will attempt to sell them at carboot sales this summer.  I only charge two Euros fifty per plant.  

Anyone else make plants for an hobby?

"I Live For The Weekend".

 This was my Friday night drinking session last night:

Lidl Diet Cola.

Well it's a change from the non-alcoholic stuff and a heck of a lot cheaper.  Less than 3 Euros.

I finished the evening with a milky drink of hot chocolate. All  I need now is my pipe and slippers.  I got my allotment over thirty years ago.

I watched a You Tube video and this man who was talking about giving up alcohol for a while or for good even.  He said you shouldn't be look for an alternative drink   You just don't think that you need a drink. It's a different mentality isn't it?

Growing up in England in my younger days.  You worked all week then on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night you would meet your friends and have a scoop.  Especially at the weekend.

I used to dread going to work on a Monday morning.

I think this song by Canadian band Triumph that says how I felt when I was growing up:

Did you grow up in a drinking culture and the only place where you could meet your pals on a weekend was in a pub?  

When I was working on Whiddy oil terminal the other year.  I said to my work mate that I met my wife at a pub  football fund raising disco I had organised.  He told me he had met his future wife in a West Cork pub.  I said: 

"Well you wouldn't talk to a female sober would you?" He said:

 "Of course not!" 

We both laughed.  I think a bit of Dutch courage helps you break the ice.  I couldn't do like Rachel did on ( "The Road To Kazakhstan" blog) her post today and go for a "nice cup of tea or coffee") in a cafe with someone. 

Any one else a bit shy or if you're like me, a bit backwards coming forward?  It's  easy to talk/ write to my daily 1000 plus blog viewers.  I bet a quarter of them are me?😊  I would have a conversation with a scarecrow or a complete stranger.  But they would have to start the conversation.

I have read that it is very popular for young people to not go out drinking days.  Fair play to them.

Any road.  I have decided that I am not stopping drinking I am just cutting down.  I haven't been in a rub a dub dub since I was in Wetherspoon's in England in August.  I can't afford to drink in a pub over here.  Who would ever think the day would come when you couldn't afford to buy a few pints?

Not An Happy Bunny!

 Someone or some people close to me bought me a brand new laptop computer a couple of years ago.

I very rarely used it because I am always using my phone or my tablet to read and write on.  Just after Christmas I noticed that both of my electronic devices needed to be charged.  So I pressed the switch on the laptop and nothing happened.  I notice there was no led light flashing either.  So I plugged in the cable and plug and attempted to charge my laptop.  An hour later and it was still dead.

I unplugged the laptop and noticed a stain and smelled it.  My suspicions were right.  CAT PEE!

One of our many cats had decided to wee on my laptop.  Perhaps it didn't  like my blog posts? Number 2 son took it to a computer repair shop and they phoned us today to tell us it's dead!  They said they didn't want anything for looking at it.

Fortunately I haven't lost my new book I'm writing and another one I have been redrafting.  They  say don't  work with animals and children don't they? I would say don't try to write when you have cats kipping on your laptop.

See you tomorrow.

Last Of Our Snow Patrol In Killarney.

I think YP and me get the same ether and muse for our blog subjects at times.  He's just wrote a similar post to mine.

A pile of snow in Deer Park retail shopping centre in Killarney.  

There's free parking and stores like: Boots, Dealz, Pet Mania, Mountain Warehouse and Mark's and Spencers to name a few.

We had a ride over to Killarney the other day.  They had proper snow.  At least a foot or more in places. Up on the hills there we saw little white patches of snow.  Spots instead of blots on the landscape.

Where we live down in West Cork on the Gulf Stream we only had talcum powder sprinkling nay dusting of snow.

Any road.  I spotted this ever decrease pile of snow in the carpark waiting to thaw.  It will never be a snow man.

The old mental jukebox began to play in my head.  Have you heard of Snow Patrol?  They are from Northern Ireland and Scotland.

I read somewhere  online that for thirteen years they never really made it and played to audiences of twenty or less.  But they stillcontinued and one day they hit the big time.

'Chasing Cars'  was a massive chart success.  It mentions a dog 🐕 chasing a car.  Rather like a man besotted with a woman.  

Have you ever been infatuated with someone or something?  I would love to have played for Manchester United.   But I don't play a musical instrument😃.

Do you still have dreams or have you fulfilled them or perhaps they don't matter any more?  .

This is what this wonderful song is about: dreams!

See you tomorrow folks!

 

From Hollywood To Loo Bridge.

We are often on the road from Kenmare to Kilgarvan and to Loo Bridge and Killarney especially during the summer.  

In Loo Bridge there was an old train station serving the Tralee line.  Like all good train stations in Ireland it had a pub.  

Up until recent times the pub was still open and some times it had a few famous visitors especially in the early nineteen nineties:

Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan talks to Kerry Independent TD (MP) and Author Michael Healy Rae.   He's famous for his flat cap. 

Tommy Tiernan is Billy Connolly's favourite comedian.  I can see why.  They don't tell jokes they just think out loud sharing their experiences and anecdotes,

Michael Healy Rae stands up for rural Ireland and I have a lot of time for him.  

He reminds me of the Ireland when I was young on holiday  and people found time to stop and talk.  

He once walked past me at a vintage ploughing event in Kerry and said: " Hello" to me.  

Apparently he speaks to everyone he meets.  That's my kind of person and politician with a finger on the pulse.

I think Rachel (The Road To Kazakhstan) will like this video.

Three Ruby Tuesday Songs On A Tuesday. " She Comes And Goes".

 We all know the classic rock song: 'Ruby Tuesday' by English rockers: 'The Rolling Stones.

Apparently Keith Richards composed it when his girlfriend left him and went off with Jimi Hendrix.  Like you do!

Mr Richard's resides or owns a house in West Wittering in Sussex where Kate Winslet and Rodney Trotter also reside.  Regular readers will recall I visited there on my travels around southern England last August.  

' I think  'Ruby Tuesday' or " Ruby Tuesdays' would be a good name for a live music 🎶  venue or even a clothes boutique.

Any road or any way here's 3 versions of the song.  Please tell me which one you like the most:

The original version.

Irish band: 'The Corrs' version.

Apparently they played Bantry Mussel Fair in the nineties and it was the biggest thing to happen in West Cork since Rory Gallagher and Thin Lizzy played the Mountain Dew Festival at Macroom Castle in the seventies.

The Corrs are playing outdoor venues this summer. Cork and Scarborough are two venues I would like to see them.

The Scorpions version.  You have seen them haven't you Dave?  Yeah I saw them at Birmingham NEC many moons ago.  I have also seen former band members  Ulri Jon Roth and  Michael Schenker in their own bands.

What's your favourite version of 'Ruby Tuesday' folks?   I will tell you mine after you have told me yours.

Scenes From A West Cork Polytunnel And Carboot Sales Plant Nursery In January.

 I got tired of looking at what I had for my tea yesterday.  So I have posted this 6 hours early for your perusal.

Back to the grind.

I have not mentioned my perennials on my polytunnel for a while.

The other day it was dry and I decided to start tidying up the perennials in my carboot sale plant nursery.  This use to be two lawns and then I put down some black plastic sheeting and I quickly filled my second hand plant pots with perennials and shrubs that I have propagated myself:

Making a start on the perennials and shrubs.

I have quite a few casualties from the usual very wet winter.  I composted any dead or old plants and saved the plant 🪴 pots to make new plants.  At least they will make space for all the new propagated shrubs and perennials in ye olde polytunnel: " Portugal".

There's quite a lot of new plants overwintering in the polytunnel.  Shall we have a look:

A pretty fully polytunnel.

You can see my poor polytunnel is even more gale damaged since you last saw it.  That's two hoop spaces exposed to the elements now.

There are some very small 🥕 growing in one of the fish boxes.

If you click on the photo and enlarge it. You will see my polytunnel runneth over with potted plants.  I really need to get myself another hobby than plant propagation.  Well I do write blogs most days.

Anyone else turned into a bit of a plantaholic?  

Someone very close to me suggested that I should grow more vegetables and not many people in Ireland are interested in your plants Dave!   It's  true.  They don't seem to be interested in flowers.  

Well they are interested when they are in flower.  Unfortunately flowers are not in flower for eleven months of the year.  

We'll see.  Roll on spring and some carboot sales.  It's horrible and wet today.  Who said they will be glad when the frost is gone?

Cheap Baked Beans.

 We tried some 18 Cents cheap discount supermarket 

Baked Beans for our tea tonight: 

We had a tin of corned beef, chips 🍟 and the cheap Baked Beans 🫘.

What I had for my tea.

My favourite Baked Beans are made in Wigan in Lancashire the town where the best pies 🥧 come from.

Here's a picture of the 18 Cents beans:

Discount supermarket Baked 🫘 Beans.

Would you try them or would you pay 4.99 Euros for four?

Oh to be a fly on the ceiling of expats in a Spanish or Portuguese hotel dining room:

"But they are not proper Beans and it's not like 'our' bacon what we have back at home.  It's that streaky stuff!"

I might have uttered similar words myself.

So dear readers what do you think cheap Baked Beans or the expensive brand?

I will hopefully tell you what I thought of the cheap beans in my comments.

More Smallholding Tight Wad Firewood Making And Thinking About My Grandmother And My Mother.

I was busy the other day chopping up a chair outside.  Like you do! 

It was one that my late dear mother bought us when we moved into our newly built  abode about 20 years ago?  She's still keeping us warm.  

I wrote a similar post a few years ago about us still having my grandmother's hand sewn patchwork quilts  on our beds. Which she had made over fifty years ago.  I said then my grandmother was literally still keeping us warm and she is.

All those long Autumn, Winter and dark Spring nights straining her eyes and hand sewing old materials onto a woollen blanket.  

There was no television in those days or on my phone or tablet reading and writing blogs, surfing the Internet, watching some prog on You Tube and seeing if United had signed a new Ronaldo or Ole yet.  

Back in the day they would listen to the wireless for the news and read an talk and have another cup of tay.  Talk about the weather and go to sleep 

Any way or any road:

The dogs have only decided to chew one of the legs and tear the cloth on the seat covering the upholstery in the Conservatory.

So I took the poor chair outside and gave it a good talking to and promptly dismantled it with my axe:

A chopped up kitchen chair.

It wasn't my Grandfather's axe that I have mentioned before.  The one with 7 new handles and 3 new heads. 😊  It was my car boot special bought axe.

Well that saves buying a net bag of firewood for one night.  Six Euros for a nights warmth.  

Anyone else repurposing their house hold contents for firewood?

Another post tomorrow dear readers.  

It's already written/wrote.  Such are these long winter nights!

A Home Baked Loaf And Some Smallholding Soup.

 

Odlums soda bread mix.  If you had the Smellavision app you would be in Heaven!

Talk about: "If I had know you were coming I'd have baked a cake or even a loaf of bread?"

Tomatoes 🍅 sown and grown by yours truly.  Leeks sown and grown by me again.  🥔 Potatoes of a organic variety bought from J in Lidl. 

Potato, tomato and leek soup and a slice of home baked bread 🍞. 

Yours truly prepared the vegetables and J baked the bread.  I even had some veg peelings left over for the rabbits tea.

We didn't liquidise the soup.  J said it was a bit too "tomatoey".  I said it was too "Potatoey".  She agreed.  Are they words?  Well they are now!

Anyone else been making their own soup?

"Blessed are the "Cheese makers"

Or was it the "Soup maker's?"

Starting Dry January A Few Days Late And The Price Of Non-Acoholic Beer.

I often have conversations with people I know about the price of a pint or alcohol.  So why don't we have one on here?

I have decided to have a bit of a dry/dryish January and save a few shillings or Euros even.

Supermarket beer is still relatively cheap compared to pub beer prices.  You can stay in your scruffs and you don't get cold but you never get to socialise apart from social media and on here and maybe an odd chat with someone  other than your immediate  family.  Well that's rural living for you in winter.

 One can buy 8 cans of Guinness for 17.20 Euros including your deposit for the "Return" scheme we have here in Ireland.  

You would pay 5.50 at least for a pint in a pub.  Times that by 8 and you will see why I choose to drink at home.

It looked like the "Black Stuff".  It was a lot milder taste but it wasn't bad.  Have you tried it?  Would I drink it again?  Maybe.  I wouldn't pay for a pint of it on draught in a pub though.

I very rarely drink in pubs in Ireland say at a very rare rock concert or maybe if we visit some where like Dingle in the summer. 

When it's nice to quench one's thirst sat outside at a pub at a beer table with a couple of pints of lager or Guinness.  I tend to sup (drink) lager in summer and stout during winter.

I never thought the day would come when ordinary people could not afford to go out for a gargle or pints.  

Plus taxis here are fifteen Euros each way and that is if you can get one on a weekend night?

I would rather have a good drink of real ales or cider in the West of  England or Kent  when it's a prog rock festival and visiting famous literary connections like Dorset.

I always seek out a very well known pub chain who offer food and drink at incredibly reasonable prices.  Like 2.72 for a pint of real ale or a Dorset cider.

I also seek out English and Irish bars when I go on sun holidays to places like Tenerife or the Algarve.  Draught beer and wine is so inexpensive over there.  

We do go in Portuguese bars too and we go in Lidl and the prices are far different than England or Ireland Lidl prices.   Isn't that the story of the Euro? 

Alcohol duty is the big difference  in other countries and  the hospitality tax in cafes and pubs is 13 percent in Ireland when it could be 9 percent.  What is it in Blighty or across the pond?

Any way I have decided to cut back on my home drinking.  I'm not giving up.  I am just cutting down.

So I had a look at zero alcohol in the supermarkets.  Have you tried it?

Discount supermarket price for four cans of Guinness.  It's 9 Euros fifty for cans of the real "black stuff".

Then we have pub prices for Porter or Guinness.  Speaking to people I know who go out drinking Guinness. I am informed that a pint of Guinness is around 5.50 and a pint of Guinness is only 40 Cents less.  

I know the government levy is 55 Cents on a pint but how can they charge so much for a pint of non-alcoholic beer?  Apparently Guinness 00 is expensive because the manufacturers claim they brew it twice.  Once to make it and twice to remove the alcohol?🤔

It is hardly an incentive for people to socialise and drive home is it? Especially when you can buy four pints of the stuff in cans for 6.99

How much is non alcoholic beer where you live?

What do you think of non-alcoholic beer?   Would you rather have a "nice cup of tea" or a glass/bottle of 🍷?  

We have tried non-alcoholic wine and I could not believe it had no alcohol in it.

Anyone else thinking of giving up the slurp or having a dry January or even February?  

What would you drink instead of alcohol?

A Mixed Pile Of FYM And Homemade Compost.

A big pile of growing medium waiting to be used.  You can see the bay in the back ground dear readers.

We hired a 3 ton digger the other day for tidying up around the place.

Number 1 son drove it and he does have a digger drivers ticket after all.

I'm still  a old soil slave school with my pike, trusty Azada hoe,wheelbarrow and shovel kind of gardener/smallholder.  A pair or couple of pairs of gloves might be useful too.  Remember my disposable gloves under the work gloves tip?

I asked number 1 son to tidy up "Scruffy Corner" for me.  This is an area of the veg plot where I dump fym and weeds and let it decompose naturally.  Well that's the idea anyway. 

The photo took him about ten minutes to make this enormous pile for me.  

If it ever dries up I will spend many a happy hour piking and topping up my raised beds and containers, plant pots for my perennials and shrubs and filling up the potato 🥔 growing bags.  Yes there will be weeds. But: "If weeds will grow anything will grow"

I was going to start today but my back is aching  with the cold after all the hard graft mucking out.., this weekend.

I could do with a tarpaulin to cover up my giant pile of black gold.  

Is anyone else making compost and filling their raised beds and containers for spring?

I have been pricing bulk loads of spent mushroom compost.  It's not cheap and there's an haulage charge to wild West Cork.  

So I will make my own compost instead.

The best thing is it's cost me nothing apart from a broken back when I start forking and shovelling the black gold.  I will be happy as a pig in mud/muck.  That's an English colloquial saying for you dear readers!

Anyone getting their veg plot prepared for the growing season?

Are there any stables near you to collect and bag well rotted stable manure or fym? Get some pig ration or fertilizer bags and get filling them and you will have "muck and magic in the veg plot.

See you tomorrow.

 

Pony In The House.

 Did I show you this photo back in 2022?

Kev about to pick up the television remote control.

I was in Kent at one of my prog rock festivals and someone from the Northsider Towers household sent me a message to my mobile phone, even tent residence, a Whats App message of a new living four legged pal purchase.

Of course they didn't picture Kev grazing grass.  They showed me a picture of him residing in my living room.

American Apple Flavoured Whisky Or Even Liqueur?

 

A Christmas 🎄 present 🎁. 

Someone bought us all a bottle of Jack Daniel's Apple 🍎 for Christmas.

It came in it's tin.  My first thought was how much did the tin cost?  I am sure will find an home in a shed or the polytunnel for nuts and bolts or staples or even vegetable seeds?

I tried to make hot toddies with the spirit and placed a teas spoon of sugar, a good measure of the drink and some hot water 💧  in the whisky glasses with the handles.

The resulting taste was far too sweet!  

It's OK 👍 on it's own.  But don't add sugar.

Since reading the writing on the tin box it says it's a liqueur.

I went over to Wikipedia and found out what is a liqueur.  It's a spirit with fruit additives.

Anyone else sampled any hot toddies or liqueurs lately?  What's your favourite? 

What about making some mulled wine or cider? Hey we could have a cider night.  I must find some cheap cider?

Did I tell you when we went to Glastonbury music festival in 1989 and it was roasting hot and we bought gallons of Scrumpy for five pounds a gallon.   In one of those plastic containers they sell paraffin in and with big chunks of wood floating in the cider?

 I became very sick and vomited into our campfire.  So I didn't  make a mess.  Ever the consciencous type even when severely inebriated. 

Apparently I was christened "the barking vomiting dog of the north" by some young ladies.  One of the West countries girls kissed me and said: "Dave's alright".  He's lovely". I was going to buy her a badger pasty but I was too ill.😊  A true story.

Charles Dickens In The Style Of Morrissey.

 I found this brilliant video on YouTube the other day.  It takes me back to The Smith's on Top Of The Pops and how Morrissey would dance with flowers in the air.  Enjoy.

Charles Dickens died of a stroke when he was only 58.  He walked between twelve and twenty miles a day.  

No doubt walking in seedy London neighbourhoods and meeting rally life characters like Fagin for his books.  Some of which are still in print.  A Christmas Carol comes to mind.

I took a few photos of one of his houses when I visited Broadstairs in Kent a few years ago if you  remember kind readers?  Just put Broadstairs in my blog search.

He was a social reformer .  One thing I love about Ireland is that there is no social class.  

Can you think of any modern day social reformer writer who champions ordinary folk?

Where are the George Orwells of today?  

Knee Height Vegetable Gardening.

 "The rain always follows the frost."  We had a very heavy frost on Friday.  The hoses were frozen along with a pile of sand.

I woke up Saturday morning to soft rain and the ice and frost had thawed and gone.

I'm itching to get going in the veg plot.  But things are too cold and wet to garden.

We are really pleased with the plastic repurposed oil tanks we made into raised beds.  Here's a recent couple of 📸 photos for your perusal:

The leeks are loving it and I will weed the raised beds when I harvest them.  Raised beds make it easier on the back and the soil is at knee height or higher.

Old plastic baths drilled with drainage holes and topped up with well rotted soil, fym and homemade compost.

If your garden suffers from poor drainage.  Raised beds are the way to go. I was mucking out today and it was pouring down again.  This will be the third very wet winter on the trot.  

I often write on here you do not need a veg garden or allotment to grow your own vegetables.  All you need are repurposed containers to grow them in.  Don't be rushing to the garden centre.  Go to your recycling centre and see if they have got anything preferably for free that you can recycle.

See you tomorrow.

More Dorset 2018 Pics For Your Perusal.

Tank museum. I think this visited somewhere sandy like Southport or maybe the Gulf?  

This could be a Lilliput Lane church with its honey stone masonry.

I spotted this walled kitchen garden.  I was in my element.  It must have had lots of fym spread from the horses stables and the cow shed because nettles grew everywhere.  

There is an old country saying: " Where nettles grow anything will grow.  I would have loved to see the productive vegetables garden in all it's glory.  I have walked around the one at Heligan in Cornwall.  I have read that they built the walls so people from the big house could not see or smell the big piles of fym.  I don't  think is so because the walls protect crops and create a unique microclimate and vegetables are ready to harvest so much quicker.

Winterbourne Came where the Dorset poet, vicar and polymath  William Barnes lived and is buried.

One of Thomas Hardy's residences.  I think we visited 3 of them?  This one is in Wimborne.  We visited Wimborne Folk Festival whilst visiting there.

Ice cream for dogs.

Durdle Door.  Stunningly beautiful and featured in quite a few films or filums like they say in Ireland.  Far From The Madding Crowd comes to mind.

I think Dorset is probably the prettiest county in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.   

A Few Dorset Photos From 2018.

It's  a bit of a repost today.  Not a lot happening in my world like the garden and smallholding  at present.  So I thought I would re blog about Dorset.  One of my favourite  places to visit in England.  None of that UK stuff!

If you want to see these photos and more.  Please put Dorset in my blog search.

I took this photograph on my first proper visit to Thomas Hardy country/ Wessex or even Dorset.  It made me smile.  

I had passed through Dorset before briefly.  This time we visited Thomas Hardy's birth place and houses and even Durdle Door where a scene from Far From The Madding Crowd was filmed.

Tess Cottage.  The house owners told us that Thomas Hardy arrived  in a pony and trap and exclaimed: "This shall be Tess cottage where Tess lives". It is a beautiful and quintessentially Engish chocolate box cottage.  It could easily be the photograph on a jigsaw puzzle.  I talked to the owners about their cottage garden and how I was a keen organic gardener.  I offered suggestions to alleviate the heavy clay.  We had a pleasant chat.

The Pure Drop Inn. Tess's father's local.  We had a pint in there.  The food was very expensive so we didn't purchase any.

We walked miles and visited Shaftesbury where part of Jude The Oscure is set and walked up and down Gold Hill where they filmed the famous Hovis adverts.

I think I could quite possibly move to Dorset.  I would need a garden or an allotment and public transport and be in walking distance of a village with a shop and a pub, preferably one that sells real ales and with Wetherspoons prices.

Although I would  love a little house in the Algarve with an outside space, sun terrace or a veg plot?

I'm 61 now and time is running out.  

Do you have itchy feet to move somewhere else?  If only for the Winter.  I know I do.

 

"Easter" By Marillion On New Years Day.

'New Years Day' by U2 began playing on my mental jukebox this very morn.  Regular readers will know I often reminisce about me seeing Bono and the lads at Greenbelt Christian Music Festival in  Odell in Bedfordshire in 1981.  

I was the ripe old age of 18 and U2 played a rather poor set.  I thought little of this up and coming band from the country of my dad and his ancestors.  Two years later they released 'New Years Day' and the rest like they say is history.  Shows how much a lad from south east Lancashire knew about future rock stars.

Fast forward a few years and a Prog band from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire came on to the scene.  They named themselves after a JRR Tolkien book: The Silmarillion and abridged their name to Marillion.  I was a big fan and their lead singer: 'Fish'was my hero.

A lot of rock journalists in NME and Sounds compared them to early Genesis.  I think The Amazing Alex Harvey Band myself.  Especially with " Fish" being Scottish. I saw The Zal Cleminson Band in 2019 at a music festival  and this confirmed my thoughts.

Remember when we went to the fringe festival at the Brasenose Arms in Cropredy village to see that Norwegian cover band: ' Misplaced Neighbourhood'  last August and the power went out and a few lads got on the stage and gesticulated and led us into a microphone less performance of " Script?" It was very funny and very memorable.

Yes I was a devotee to the great Marillion.  They made four albums with 'Fish'.  Then he left in 1988 and Steve Hogarth joined in 1989.  

I didn't  listen to the 'new' Marillion much until my childhood friend and me went to ' The Night Of The Prog' festival in Loreley in 2017.  We had been hoping to see 'Kansas' again but they pulled out on terrorist security advice.  So Marillion replaced them.  It was a good performance in fairness.

In the last eight years I have began to rediscover ' Marillion'.  I am planning on seeing them again at a new music festival  in Cornwall in September. 

I saw 'Fish' again in 2019 at A New Day Festival near Faversham in Kent and we saw Steve Hogarth play a set with The Trevor Horn Band at Cropredy in 2022.  He played the keyboard and sang a remarkable version of: ' Life On Mars' by Ziggy Stardust aka David  Bowie.

I have gone "all around the houses" writing this post. That's another north country saying for your post today: Jabblog. 

When Steve Hogarth joined Marillion in 1989.  He brought the following song with him. It's  a little out of the religious season but it's a peace song.  Steve had lodged with a student from the ' Falls' Road in Belfast.  His friend told him that his neighbours were just ordinary people who wanted no troubles and just peace.

I wish you all peace and a great 2025.

Enjoy the video: