Is Your Blackout Really Black ..."

... and have you drawn the curtains? 

Yes, we are following the events of the Second World War with particular emphasis on The Home Front.   In addition to our small store of books in the home we will be supplementing from the local library.  We have also been watching a really great school's programme that aired when I was a child, " How we used to live 1936 - 1953."  The programme brought back fond memories for me and Pip was riveted ;-)

Pip learned how to mend a pair of trousers and she wrote a step by step guide outlining what she had learned.  Nowadays we are enthusiastic about recycling or even upcycling but there is still a case to be had for mending an item.  When we mend we are giving that garment a second chance ;-)

 A patch for Dad' jeans.
(note from DH, the first resolution of these pictures for some Blogger reason is poor,
but if you click on them, they become much better)

After having watched a few episodes of " How we used to live," we took our learning into the kitchen and made an eggless ginger cake.  There was even a chance to learn some  science and watch the  bicarbonate of soda and vinegar, mimicking the raising agent of an egg.  Needless to say the cake was also gluten free and dairy free.  We found the recipe over on THE 1940'S EXPERIMENT


 

 Weighing and Measuring.

 Arial View.

 Rubbing the fat into the flour.

 Yummy served with dairy free custard. 

Fun Friday

We had a very unusual Friday full of surprises and fun. 

 First up I had an Instagram message from a blogging friend who happened to be in the area.  We met at a lovely tea room in Beetham, not far from the garden centre of our first meeting!

 Beautiful Celtic Cross.

A cottage that was festooned with foliage and flowers of all shapes and sizes.

 I would have loved to look inside the church but sadly it was closed.

 Outside the tea rooms.

 Inside the tea rooms view one ...

... and two.

 Having fun with the selfie mode on the flip screen, Gerry and Me :-)  Those tearooms are well worth a visit and they offer an excellent gluten free range. Due to its popularity it is advisable to book first!

The blue skies soon gave way to a steady stream of rain and in a last minute decision we hopped in the car and visited my mum for her birthday.  Tesco saved the day regarding the food and we were able to tuck into a decent selection of gluten free fayre. 

A lovely mum, nanna and great-nanna x 

Our third stop was a visit to Kathryn and Mary Grace for tea.  It was good to see them both but the visit was marred slightly by Benedict's blood sugars suddenly becoming quite unstable. As a result we left in haste and I was glad that we did because he had a horrendous hypo attack in the car and was quite unwell.  It really was a relief to be home. 

  Jorgen, a mighty eating machine bones, dog food, cuddly toys and wallpaper!  In short a tiny tearaway :-)  Good job, Kath and Mary love him!

Gloucester Part Three :: Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway :: Highfield Garden Centre :: Holiday Knitting and Reading

On our last full day before returning home we split into two groups and went to two different places.  Dave, Pip and Uncle Mike travelled on the steam railway:

 Studying the tea room menu

 Dave's lunch chicken mayo wrap, tortilla chips and side salad.

 Dave messing with the art filter on my camera :-)

 One for the family album and yearly calendar.

 Another art fiter shot using the old style grain effect "film."

 Bye, Bye Train!

Whilst they were at the steam railway, Benedict and I pottered around at the cottage and then visited "Highfield Garden Centre" five minutes down the road:

 It was the first time I had actually eaten a proper meal since the day we travelled!

Once home I sat outside with my holiday knitting:

 I bought this Opal sock yarn from an independent knitting shop in the heart of Gloucester.  I had been knitting on some hand dyed yarn but had forgotten to bring an extra skein and so shock horror, no knitting!!  I was grateful for that trip into town on the Tuesday and by the following day I had made good progress :-)

 By the time the evening had drawn in I had already turned the heel and was working on shaping the foot gusset.

  I had also bought three books from the garden centre, two novels and one very helpful diabetes cook book based on insulin adjustment and low carb paleo cooking for type one diabetes.  The recipes are really tasty but a bit of a challenge since they rely heavily on dairy and eggs, two of the things that Pip and I cannot tolerate on a daily basis.  So we are switching up with some non dairy paleo foods from various sources across the web ;-)

I finished "Pedigree Mum" it was an OK read and I guess you would place it in the chick lit category.  I have read another book by Laurie King and it was a really good adaptation of Sherlock Holmes as a married man to a much younger woman, an Oxford graduate and his sleuthing protege.  Needless to say I am looking forward to reading this one and when I have finished it I will be passing it on to my friend Kezzie, who loves a good murder mystery!

Since returning home I have been unwell with the ususal hassles but I think I am slowly turning a corner.  There never seem to be enough hours in the day and although I am relieved that I have this online work it is also very stressful and time consuming.  Trying to write a blog post for the website is a marathon event of keywords, meta descriptions and the website net nanny checking every word and phrase for readability and search engine optimisation!!  Still it forces me to hone my writing skills and I have even become a little more confident with alterating the exisiting email newsletter format via Mail Chimp!  If you would like to read my recent post on The Mindfulness for Christians Blog it can be found HERE

Hope you have had a good weekend and managed to enjoy some sunshine wherever you may be x