Things change

Well it finally happened. After all our years as and up and down relationship it's come to an end. My grandfather died this month after a short illness. We thought it was his usual problems but it was in fact cancer.

I never knew where I stood with him; he wasn't one for showing much affection and had a rather Victorian outlook on our lives. There were days of fun as a child, I can remember him making us mermaid princess' out of large flat seaweed we found when playing on the beach. I can remember his attempts to prove that everyone has the ability paint and draw if only they tried hard enough (really I can't paint, mine always end up looking like painting by numbers) and my efforts sit on the fire mantel, initially because my littleun liked them but now with new view to them as in clearing the house I have found a new man. One I didn't know but rather wish I had.

He didn't keep much in the way of possessions, given his age when he died you would expect a lot more than there was. But some of the things he did keep were the postcards we sent, pictures and photographs and when you look back you see a possible new meaning to the expressions on the faces in them. And it made me think. Did he really not love us or was it more a case of he had absolutely no idea how to show that he did.

I remember lecture after lecture on how we were all meant to behave in life, how some of us had been dissapointments to him and on how hot air doesn't rise, cold air sinks! Oh and prisms. With sadness I remember far more of these than of the cheerful fun.

Re-reading a lot of the emails that he sent, the ones that reading at the time felt like he was being cantankerous , I read a different plea, one that said "come visit". And now I wonder if I had whether we would have enjoyed each others company that bit better. Don't get me wrong I did visit, and often, but it felt like a chore not like fun. Strange then that when we did talk it was interesting to hear what he had to say. If you wanted to know how to maintain and strip any form of armoury or if you wanted to know about Tobruk he could tell you, he was after all in the thick of it.

I told Littleun that he had completed his Circle and I expected confusion and tantrums. Littleun is probably the only one in this family who loved him unconditionally, he can remember happy things, playing with the birds that granddad used to keep, watching tom and jerry, both laughing hard. But he didn't do that. Litteun understood and it is the matter of fact way that he has asked questions about granddad that has helped me.

Will I miss him? Yes, but not in the way that one would normally miss a grandparent who has died and certainly not with regret, that is after all pointless. But for not knowing him properly. If there is one thing that has come out of all of this it's that I will make sure that I never do that with any grandchildren I might be lucky enough to have.

My grandfather: Man of photos, magic lanterns, poems and lectures. Who might just possibly, be right about hot air. Returned to the earth, 2011.

So its the Solstice

And although sunrise was technically 4.42am it has yet to appear here. One of the wettest and grayest solstices I have ever known. Even the wood for the fire is so damp I doubt it will light first go!

However dancing and music abound as Littleun has a new rhythm he wants to play for his drums and we have food on the go already.

I also have a new beginning today as I go for the first of my BSL course. I have started to accept that my hearing isn't getting better and at the rate the NHS works will be a very long time before they do anything to help so decided to take matters literally into my own hands and start a course to help refresh my sign language abilities.

Hope you all have a lovely day and that the Sun finally makes an appearance!

Litha Feasting: Lemon preserving and Lamb Recipes

If you are like us any Sabbat requires celebrating the good fortune of food around us. For this Sabbat we are lucky to have some lamb from the nearby salt marshes and I thought as we are celebrating the longest day of sunshine we would go for a Moroccan dish as this has some lovely ingredients such as apricots and lemons, reminiscent of the sun in shape and colour. In searching for recipes I found that the one I wanted to use needed preserved lemons. Now I know you can buy these, but half the fun of this path is learning together with Littleun so we decided to make ours (plus it’s a lot cheaper!).

For the lemons we have the following recipe and all I’d say is if you have any cuts do put on some food gloves first!

Ingredients
8-10 Meyer lemons*, scrubbed very clean
1/2 cup salt, more if needed
Extra fresh squeezed lemon juice, if needed
Sterilized quart canning jar

* You don't need to use Meyer lemons, regular lemons will do, it's just that the milder Meyer lemons work very well for preserving in this way.

1 Place 2 Tbsp of salt in the bottom of a sterilized jar.
2 One by one, prepare the lemons in the following way. Cut off any protruding stems from the lemons, and cut 1/4 inch off the tip of each lemon. Cut the lemons as if you were going to cut them in half lengthwise, starting from the tip, but do not cut all the way. Keep the lemon attached at the base. Make another cut in a similar manner, so now the lemon is quartered, but again, attached at the base.
3 Pry the lemons open and generously sprinkle salt all over the insides and outsides of the lemons.
4 Pack the lemons in the jar, squishing them down so that juice is extracted and the lemon juice rises to the top of the jar. Fill up the jar with lemons; make sure the top is covered with lemon juice. Add more fresh squeezed lemon juice if necessary. Top with a couple tablespoons of salt.
5 Seal the jar and let sit at room temperature for a couple days. Turn the jar upside down occasionally. Put in refrigerator and let sit, again turning upside down occasionally, for at least 3 weeks, until lemon rinds soften.
6 To use, remove a lemon from the jar and rinse thoroughly in water to remove salt. Discard seeds before using. Discard the pulp before using, if desired.
7 Store in refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Now that we have done this we can use them on Litha to add to our Tagine recipe:

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Ingredients
1.5kg shoulder of lamb
1tsp coriander seeds
1tsp cumin seeds
olive oil
2 or 3 preserved lemons, chopped
2 onions
1 good handful dried apricots, chopped
1 good handful sultanas
Black olives
Fresh mint, roughly chopped to serve

Instructions

In a non-stick fry pan gently toast the coriander and cumin seeds until they become fragrant but don't allow to burn.
Tip the seeds into a pestle and mortar and crush with a pinch of salt.
Add the ground seeds to the lamb with a good drizzle of olive oil, black pepper, and the preserved lemons. Work all the flavours into the meat and leave to marinate.
Roughly chop the onions and put in the base of your tagine.
Then add the apricots and the sultanas followed by the lamb.
Next add some black olives, mix well to distribute the flavours and put the lid on.
Cook for about 3-4 hours at 160°C.
When cooked, sprinkle with the chopped mint and serve.

Oh I can’t wait!

Litha soon, some some crafts we are doing

Wanting to rearrange our altar with some new items this year we went on the search of things that Littleun and I could make and do together. One of our must haves is the smell of orange. Those big round juicy fruits which look so much like the burning Sun and smell of freshness and summer hope are important to us. We came across the stones below which we liked. It gives Littleun something he can make and he can craft with messages on the base, allowing him both his own special offerings and a chance to practice his runes or oghams. It’s an American recipe so uses cups but we just used English cups and added a little here and there to get the dough the right consistency.

Orange Fragrance Stones

1-1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup salt

1/4 tsp cornstarch

2/3 cup boiling water

1 tbls. Fragrance (orange in this case) oil

Colorant of your choice

Mix all dry ingredients. Heat water in a Pyrex cup in the microwave or on the stove. Add the f/o and the colour to the water. Stir water mixture into flour mixture. Mix as best you can and then knead the dough with your hands. At this point you just want it to look like pie or cookie dough. Roll it out about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut into shapes or use cookie cutters. Another option is to stamp the flat shapes. Let the dough stones dry. They get hard as rocks and will last for months.

We are looking forward to Litha, last year we spent it in France but this year it will be here in England on the beach with our friends.

Once again

Once again it’s been ages since my last post. Seems this is the way this year will be I’m afraid. In this case its darn ear infections keeping me distracted, so bad I am now referred to the ENT so maybe they can come up with an answer!

I didn’t get around to posting any photos from our Beltane celebrations. A lovely weekend as ever filled with fun and friends, plus the Fella came over for it and we had a lovely few days for His first Beltane.

Am also sorting out a summer fayre for Littleuns School, the first it’s had for years. A few of the staff and other mums are helping too which is great, lots of ideas and fun but trying to get it all pulled together is taking time. Still think my favourite idea at the moment is the scarecrow corner: each class is to make a scarecrow and the best wins. We have also been up at the school showing the reception year how to grow and care for runner beans and sunflowers. Was lovely to see the enthusiasm for it from them, lots of questions and they look after them every day too. Fingers crossed that the flowers develop into beans for them.

So as you can tell its busy here, not having much chance to sit at desk and write blog posts, but as my old school teachers used to say, will try harder…

Blessed Beltane Everyone

Littleun helped put together the altar this year

Well we lit the candles at Sunset and rose before Dawn to welcome in the Sunrise and what a beautiful one it was too. Last year was soaking wet, really really horrible so it was lovely this year to feel the warmth as we stepped out to join the others.

Met with friends old and new as the Morris sides danced in the dawn. Sadly not sure where the drummers were, maybe a pint too many at Sunset?! However we are off for some drumming this afternoon so no doubt will find out then.

Blessed Beltane to you all and hope you have as fantastic day as we are having.

Edinburgh Beltane Festival

One day, if we loose our festival, I want to go to this one! Found this on Youtube, does contain nudity and things that you might not want littleuns to see though. Looking forward to our celebrations in the meanwhile, only 2 more sleeps to go as my littleun says, before the fun begins.

Our new visitors

Well littleun wanted a pet and has a huge interest in the unusual so instead of going for a dog or cat he wanted Stick Insects. We have 4 at the moment but having had these as a child I am well aware how quickly this type, Indian Stick Insect - Carausius morosus, can breed. They seem to like the ivy but apparently will eat bramble too, which is just as well as that stuff is going mad on my allotment!

Earth Hour 26th March 2011 8.30pm (local time)

Earth hour started in Australia in 2007 when 2.2 million individuals and over 2000 business turned off their lights for an hour to challenge the increasing problems of climate change.

Over the years more people, more countries and finally Governments started to join in with this. Though has it made a direct effect? If you listen to David Cameron he says he supports this and is intent upon becoming known as the Greenest Government this county has had to date. So why then does his government keep coming up with daft ideas? I know the forest sell-offs were reversed but “we” have just decided to go to war in Libya, supposedly to help with freedom but coincidently in a country that is oil rich. I am not a fan of this move as I am not convinced that the Government is being honest in its dealings with it. We need to hunt out renewable sources not kill people to retain old and non renewable methods. Ok an over simplistic view perhaps and I am sure that there can be debates on all sides forever about it being more than oil, but you get my point?

So rather than being a clone and just thinking “I know I’ll do my hours bit” on the 26th why not do what Earth hour are hoping for and make greater stands with more pronounced changes? In this house we try and turn lights off, things aren’t generally left on stand-by and we don’t use the car for just a five min trip. But how can we improve our impact on the world? We already recycle and try hard to eat within seasons so that the food we buy is only from local areas (max 30 miles) the exception to this is Littleuns bananas, a greedier monkey you’ll never meet!

Well we have decided that although the lamps use energy bulbs we don’t really need them, so have for the next month decided to pack away all lamps and see if we can live without that form of light. We have chosen to block the switch on the fridge to stop the small waste through that and instead of using ordinary torches we are starting to change them (as they break) into wind up torches. Lastly Littleun and I have agreed to cut back on the use of the TV and radios. Instead of just putting it on then wandering out of the room to switch the radio on in the one we end up in we are now going to choose one or the other and actually turn it off if not in the room as well as cutting out the dross which really is wasting an hour at least of our lives each day!

So what will you do? If not a lot then do at least do the hours switch off and make the lantern in support (follow link here). But if you can do more, then please do, little things will lead to bigger savings if we all do it.

Sundried Tomato Bread

Last year some friends of ours gave me some jars of tomatoes they had dried. Yummy and tasty they were too. And gone in a flash. or so I thought until Sunday when in a bit of a need to cheer up mood I went hunting through the cupboard to try and track down a lost bar of chocolate. There in the back corner was one remaining jar. Problem was I had nothing except cheese to eat it with. So after hearing a certain Someone say how well their loaf had turned out I thought well that's what I'll do, use some in a loaf and scoff the rest with the cheese.

Rather nice with the chutney and cider it was too:

Sundried Tomato Bread Recipe

you will need;

425gms of strong white bread flour

1tsp salt

40gms Parmesan Cheese (though I used the strong cheddar and that worked fine)

50gms Sundried Tomatoes chopped and drained

3tbsp Sundried Tomato Paste

2tbsp Oregano or Rosemary finely chopped

7gms Yeast

225ml Warm Water

Method:

Put the flour, salt cheese, tomatoes and paste into a large bowl. Add the chopped herbs and yeast then pour in the warm water.

Mix together with your hands until mixture combines to make a rough dough ball.

Tip dough ball out onto a lightly floured surface and stretch and knead the dough four about 10 mins till smooth ad elastic.

Shape into greased tin press indentations and scatter the extra herbs, drizzle with some of the oil from the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt.

Cover loosely with clingfilm. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about 30-40 mins).

Preheat oven to 220c/gas 7. Remove clingfilm from dough and reduce temp to 200c/gas 6. Bake for 35mins till golden.

Scoff.