It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle

Spent the whole day today taking Becki and Nick back to Swansea University. Roads were fine, much less snow in Swansea than at home. Becki's house is quite nice (for a student house) had a cup of tea before heading home, sad not to spend any more time there. Shall miss them both also, after having them home for a whole month. Although I have breathed a small sigh of relief having a quieter house for a short while at least.....!

Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.

Decided not to brave going out Thursday morning, Nick pushed me onto the lane and I just about got onto the main road, and en route to Birmingham. Met up with the team, and then went out for dinner at Jimmy Spices, which was OK. Not amazing, the curry was really hot and spicy and we all had Masala tea, lovely!!
Friday had a meeting all day, got away fairly early, and so picked Andy up from school. The pavements in Worcester are lethal, there is about 2 inches of slippery ice on them! Got to the lane at home, attempted to drive up it, got stuck, rolled back, parked car, guy in Z3 comes past, offers us a lift home, we accept, phew!! I hate BMWs....

“Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

Felt trapped in two ways today. First of all we are trapped by the snow and ice, more during the night. Secondly I went back to work today after nearly a month off :( Some dogs are not made for snow, after Archie went out this morning and when he came back in he had loads of mini snowballs hanging off his legs! It took a hairdryer and some effort to get them off they were really solid. The burly teenagers with a day off school made a sleigh from an old working top and then spent about 1/2 an hour sledging then went inside again!
Made some sourdough loaves today, not happy with the smell of the sourdough - smells too acidic, bit like sick. They look ok anyway! After my enforced holiday from Bread making I am doing bread this Saturday, the special is 'Detox Bread' (Brown and lots of seeds) Hope I get some orders....

“The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show.”

Cold and cloudy for a change this morning. Andy's first day back at school, dropped him off at school at 8.30, went shopping, by 9.45 it was snowing very heavily and so I went to pick him back up and go home! Roads were getting worse and worse and we got stuck near the bridge on the way home. Waited for Steve to do his Sir Lancelot bit and he came and rescued me,managed to get my car going again and got almost all the way home, had a couple of skids on the lane - Andy thought it was exciting! Went playing in the snow later, such a shame we haven't got a sledge.

Icy Blasts

Up late this morning, Steve overslept! Walked dogs, another lovely day, the sticks I was trying to pick up for them to chase were frozen to the ground! Spent 3 hours of my day ferrrying Andy to his friends house, the roads were so icyI had to make a detour and drive really slowly. Couldn' get up the hill and manged to skid the car round the corner as well, got out of it OK but it is a bit skittish - wish I had a 4x4! Don't think he appreciated my efforts, he still managed to go to bed in a strop, although he had got tonsilitus today, so I may let him off. Made Leek and Potato soup this afternoon, and don't seem to have done much more today really. Finished my bread leaflet, going to get it printed up tomorrow. Making the most of the last two days of my holiday really. Watched the film District 9, which was quite good, in a strange way. Part documentry, thought it was probably how we would treat aliens if they pitched up on Earth, so they are well advised to stay away I reckon! After dinner we started watching Kill Bill, good film, but had forgotten how bloodthirsty it is, have to half watch it at some points!

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome

Quote by Anne Bradstreet, an American Poet. Blinkin heck it's cold, about 3 degrees today. Got in at 3am last night... (I know!) Up at eight with dogs, and getting on with stuff. We all went to meet some friends and their children and dog for a walk in the woods at lunchtime. Lovely day again, sunny and cold but not bitter, watched the gulls landing on the iced over lake perfectly, no skidding or slipping at all! Went back for late lunch with them and then spent a quiet evening back at home, last night catching up with us finally....

You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now

A fairly uneventful day, cold and frosty again, the ground is far too hard to dig or do anything useful. So I spent most of the day ordering all my veg seeds for the year from Real Seeds and Marshalls. Looked at fruit trees, but haven't bought any yet. We read in the paper that John Cushnie the Gardener died suddenly last week. Unfortunately the same paper had published his New Years Resolutions in the Gardening section - pretty horribly ironic I thought, hence todays quote. Live for now and all that.
We are going out tonight for dinner, so no cooking - looking forward to it!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them. The book is Opportunity and its first chapter is New Years Day

So begins another year, welcome 2010, the next decade of the noughties! Last night was fun - a race night with some friends, by some fluke I won overall by backing a horse at 33-1 and practically breaking the bank! Fireworks and a Skylantern followed at midnight with texts and phonecalls being exchanged also.
It was a beautiful morning, crisp, bright and frosty, so I steeled myself and walked the dogs with a bit of a hangover while everyone else slept. There are so many birds in the hedgerows at this time of year, Jake doesn't know which one to chase first.

That was me finished off until the afternoon, I just dozed on the sofa and dreamt about my 2010 resolutions;
1. To expand the self sufficiency
2. To increase the amount of bread I make in a week and do a farmers market.
3. Go back to Yoga!
4. Keep this blog up..
5. Eat wholefood/vegan 2 nights a week

Think that is probably enough....Not sure which one will be the hardest to follow

This afternoon I have made a wheat starter as my other is smelling a bit disgusting. I have also made a starter for a semolina bread, an overnight sponge for some brown rolls and finally later this evening will make some white bread for proof in the fridge overnight, to see how viable it is to make bulk batches in this way.
Looking forward to a curry with all the family this evening, and choosing some veggie seeds.