Project 365 week 44

Sunday

Starting to feel the nip in the air now, or more so on my feet. Decided to bring out my new slippers, my last ones are four years old and have lasted well but beginning to wear a bit thin.

Monday

Took Bob to gymnastics again. Too dark to go up the country estate for a walk so just wandered round the streets instead. 

So put on map my walk, put in my headphones and did just over two miles before heading back to pick Bob up.

Tuesday

A beautiful day, went for a walk along the river, just love this time of year with all the autumnal colours reflecting in the river.

Difficult to tell what is tree and what is reflection, but looks very pretty anyway.  Did just over two miles again, was just enjoying the wander.

Wednesday

Well it rained and it rained and it rained, put paid to the plans I had, So I decided to make some spicy pumpkin and tomato soup. Can see the recipe here if you are interested. Very yummy it was too.

Thursday

Into the town for a dental check up. He smoothed off a chip on one of my back teeth and a quick polish, back in six months. Rain had stopped so took the twins out with Bob and daughter this afternoon. You can see their exploits here if you want a wee read,

Friday

Made a fruit cake, put a layer of marzipan in the middle. Did not leave it long enough to cool before I tipped it put and the marzipan was still runny. So my cake slid all over the place and broke. Still tasted good.

Saturday

Going out to two different Halloween themed evenings today. Both in fairly rural locations, so torches are advisable. Saw these in Wilko when in the town on Thursday and thought they were a great buy at £2 each, May well buy another couple next time I am in the town. A lovely size at just under four inches and with seven led bulbs in each then nice and bright.

Puddles and the Park.

Daughter is still without a car and this is limiting to the activities the children can do. Daughter depends on the car to get them to soft play on a Monday, baby gymnastics on a Wednesday and book bug on a Friday as these are not in the village. But her car seats are not compatible with my car so I cannot even help out and run them to places. So being the nice gran I am told her if she fancies getting out with them just give me a shout and I will go with her. 

So on Thursday afternoon we went to the park. It had rained here for nearly thirty six hours by then and to say the least there were rather a lot of puddles. But of course all children like puddles. So Bob came with us and we went off to have fun. 

So we dressed them accordingly and leaving the buggy at home we put their reigns on walked across to the park, let the fun begin.

all three in the puddle

hands as well as feet

After they had finished with the first puddle as headed off towards the play equipment. Bob ran on ahead and the gruesome twosome followed.

running after Bob

 They stopped for a play on the bench, Minky managed to get up on the bench, but Dinky is not quite as adventurous as her brother.

she could not manage up 

But oh no look, another puddle. This one provided lots of fun, watch the video and see. Poor Minky fell over in the puddle, got his hair and face wet,  but got up and carried on.

a great fun puddle 

By this point poor Minky was sploshing rather loudly so we tipped him upside down to pour the water out of hi wellies. Bob also realised that running through the puddles at high speed was not a good idea either.

emptying his wellies 

So while Dinky played on the swings Minky ran off all over the place playing on everything.

Minky goes up the steps

and down the slide

Meanwhile Bob was hanging around upside down. At one point in the video he stops and starts turning round in circles going "oh no", his glasses had fallen off and he could not see them so mum told him to stand still so as not to tread on them and mum went and found them for him.

Dinky sat on the swing saying "upside down" every time Bob went upside down.

upside down

She was quite happy to play on the swing. Minky came over and he had a go on the swings as well. 

little miss cheeky face

But he does not stay still for long. He spent a while on here making great noises with his feet on the grid floor.

and shouted Bob over to help him steer as the steering wheel was stuck - it doesn't move!!

Bob was busy doing his own thing.

on the climbing wall

Minky climbed up the steps to catch up with Bob,

and then was shouting up to him

Minky also spent time climbing through the tube/

Bob had fun on the rope slide until Minky went over to him and stood in the way so he could not go down.

By now the twins had had enough and were both getting grizzly, so we headed home for a bath, tea and bedtime.

on the roundabout 

Bob and the twins having great fun running through puddles.

Spicy Pumpkin and Tomato Soup.

Yesterday was a wild, wet and windy day, just the sort to stay in and make some soup, so I did.

A warming and hearty soup.
 Roasting the veg before adding to the pan enhances the flavour. 

Spicy Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

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INGREDIENTS

½ medium pumpkin                                         1 litre stock

½ butternut squash                                         3 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 medium onions                                             1 tin tomatoes

1 red pepper                                                     100g lentils

                                                                        2 tablespoon sunflower oil

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DIRECTIONS 1. prepare pumpkin, squash and pepper by deseeding, sprinkle with the oil and the cayenne pepper. 2. Roast in the oven at 160 oC for 45 mins, only cooking the onions and pepper for the last 20 mins. While the oven is on cook the pumpkin and squash seeds. 3. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. 4. Meanwhile cook the lentils in the stock of your choice for 20 mins 5. Once veg is cool peel away from the skin and add to the pan of stock and lentils along with the tomatoes. 6. Cook for another 15 mins to mingle all the flavours. 7. Puree and serve sprinkled with some of the cooked seeds. 8. As an alternative you could swirl with some cream. EAT & ENJOY!

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sprinkled with oil and cayenne pepper

scrapped off the skin

serve topped with the cooked seeds for added crunch.

I cooked all the pumpkin and squash, and froze the other half of each to use at a later date.

Project 365 week 43

An update on Spud - she is a girl, I was going to share a picture of her as daughter was away for her twenty week scan but the scan pictures were not good enough quality to photograph.


Sunday

Came out of work as per usual at two o'clock as I have a break until four. The sun was shining, it was warm and far too lovely a day to go and sit in the library. The clocks change next weekend and it will not be long before it is too cold, wet and horrible to go for a walk. The hospital have just put in some new walkways to encourage both staff and patients to get out when possible. So I went for a walk, I wandered for over an hour and explored some of the paths. I came across wood henge. There were about ten feet tall. The was a bench on one of the walkways where you had amazing views out across the countryside. It was a very pleasant walk.

woodhenge 

Monday

Normally on a Monday we watch the gruesome twosome while daughter takes Bob to gymnastics. As her car is unusable at the moment then we took Bob to gymnastics instead. Again by next week it will be just about dark time we drop him off so we went for a walk round a local country estate while he was in for the hour.

loved the contrast of green,brown and red. 

Tuesday

Had looked at the blackberry situation when out yesterday and thought as there was still plenty for picking we would go and get some more. Five pounds of blackberries were picked, and by this time it was getting dark so we gave up. Home to make crumble while the oven was on for tea anyway.

blackberry crumble and yoghurt

Wednesday

Spotted this and quite liked the sentiment on it, shame it wasn't in the centre of the frame. So bought it for hubby and it is now in the hall.

Thursday

The girls at work had asked me to stand as union rep for the weekend shift, and I had agreed. There is a lot of training to do before we can actually do anything. The basic course is five days, we had two a few weeks back and three this week. Once I have absorbed all this info I am sure there is plenty more to come.

abandoned at the end of the day

Friday

Have never been a lover of mint toothpastes or mouth washes and such like, but few decent options on the market. Spotted this and thought I would give it a try. Taste is bizarre to start with but is actually very pleasant.

Saturday

Have to say I am not a lover of a smear test, but feel it is necessary to have it done. So had mine a few weeks back, and got the results back saying all clear. That is me for three years unless I spot any symptoms.

Puddles make for lots of fun.

On Monday the twins and I went looking for piles of leaves to play in but instead discovered that puddles make for lots of fun. I had put them in waterproof suits and wellies so that if they sat in piles of leaves they were not getting soggy. Oooppps think they mat have been better in a swimming costume each!!

We set off down to the fishery, the two off them in the buggy at this stage, When we got down there they saw lots of "ducks" as the fishery has pens full of free range birds of all sorts. I spotted this white peacock/peahen and have to say have never seen a white one before.

never seen a white peacock before

So I pushed them round away from the car park and we headed towards the pond. At this point I let them out, and so their fun began.

They took it in turns playing in the deep bit

and happily swapped from side to side

before really getting into the swing of it

We then moved on, they were not overly impressed with the shallow ones.

Further round we came across one of the benches, and typical of Minky he was up in a flash. Dinky has no interest in climbing. She was quite happy to play with stones. 

By now they were into the swing of it and were happy to run on ahead.

At the next bench Minky was trying out his strength on picking up rocks but they were "stuck" no matter how hard he tried to lift them.  Dinky at this point decided to small the flowers in the tub and then throw some of the mud out.

So if we cant pick up the rocks then we may as well sit on them.

and Dinky decided to join him, they were both laughing at this, for some reason they found it funny. 

The rocks were proving great fun to go mountaineering on. 

conquering Mount Boulder!!

Then they were off again happily following each other and giggling.

Then came the highlight of the walk, the biggest longest puddle. This one was put to many uses. If you watch the video at the bottom you will see Minky sat in it tossing in wee stones. Dinky filled the buggy up with them. I thought I had taken them all out but daughter assures me they ended up all over her kitchen.

Minky liked the fact he could see is reflection in the puddle. I chuckled away at him as he got closes and closes to the puddle, enough for his hair to dip in. He thought this was hilarious as he stood up and the water ran down his face. So of course he had to do it again and again. I did put a stop to it when he started trying to lap it up, goodness knows what was in it.

Next they played with the cone. Walking round the lip, playing peek a boo with each other round it as well as trying to climb up it, with no luck.

By now we had been out for over an hour, and they had done a lot of walking, running and having fun. So I popped them back in the buggy and we headed up the road.

So when we got up the road we emptied the puddles out of the wellies, the two of them were soaked right up their legs as well as their arms. A warm bath  and a hair wash was in order.

Their wee personalities come out well in the video. Minky ( he is in the purple) is much more adventurous, but she is much more vocal and chatty.