Friday 10 December 2010

Hot soup and aching joints.

Drawing back the bedroom curtains this morning it was a joy to see that the field opposite has green and white stripes - what is the green? - I do believe it is grass. We have almost forgotten what it looks like.

Isn't it odd - we love the snow when it first comes; when, like in my header, it cloaks the trees in a frosted beauty and everywhere is pristine white. But then it begins to get dirty and 'used'- looking and we want it to go away. In our little market town the powers that be have decreed that the roads are cleared of snow and the snow piled into a huge alp on the cobbles. Over the days it gets decorated with empty beer cans, bits of this and that and dirty splashes from passing cars. When the snow finally goes, the alp lasts about another fortnight!

Another mystery is why - when the temperature on the thermometer is a good ten degrees higher than it was yesterday - does it feel colder this morning? It is sunny and there is a West wind blowing, whereas before the air was still. So maybe it is a combination of that and a dampness in the air, which there has not been for some days.

My immediate answer to cold is SOUP. I make it nearly every day in cold weather and it makes me feel warmer even before I start eating (drinking?) it. Yesterday's was parsnip and apple with a garnish of snipped dry-cure bacon and jolly good it was too.

Yesterday both the farmer and I paid our monthly visit to our physiotherapist. This morning coming down the staircase is not painless - but then, as they say, no gain without pain.

If you really want to get into the Christmas spirit I recommend that you look down my bloglist and find FLAMBLOGGER, go to her blog and click on the film clip. I watched it yesterday and was absolutely blown away. I have to say that I cried from beginning to end but my physio said it probably did me a power of good after my recent illness. I found it so wonderful. If you do get the chance and watch it, please let me know what you think to it.

Have a nice, warm day.

25 comments:

The Solitary Walker said...

Yes, I've been making lots of home-made soups too, Pat. Nothing more warming and comforting in this weather! One of our favourites at the moment is lentil with onion, carrot, tomato, garlic, chilli, cumin and turmeric. Absolutely delicious!

mrsnesbitt said...

Oh yes soup - I made leek & potato this week - but my all time favourite is ham & pea!mmmmmm!
Check out my video too Pat - Saltburn bank in the snow - you will appreciate the conditions - no doubt just like what has been going on at your place!

Heather said...

Just making soup is therapy, isn't it? Then eating it is an added bonus - I say eat, as I like thick soup with bits in! Dampness in the air makes all the twinges more spiteful. Hope your aches and pains are under control. Fairyland has disappeared for us too. We are back to dead leaves, dying off plants and squashed grass. Not pretty.

ArtPropelled said...

Mmmm your soup sounds delicious. My favourite is Butternut and Orange Soup.

Heather said...

I'm back - just to say I've just watched Flamblogger's video. Wow! what a treat and a thrill. A great way to start the day and thankyou for letting us know about it. Like you I was moved to tears.

Dave King said...

I, too, have been struggling with your mystery, haven't come up with an answer, though. It's raining here this morning. Everywhere is very wet, but there is still ice and frozen snow below the wetness - not nice at all! Your header is, though - Brilliant!

Titus said...

Weaver, that link was brilliant! Thank you, happy soup-ing.

Bovey Belle said...

Soup making going on here regularly too (Minestrone, and a Spicy Parsnip soup so far this week).

Loved the clip - I cried too! It was SO uplifting though.

Elizabeth said...

Soup it is!!!
you should post the recipe
it is 24'f this morning
just off to look at the clip

Unknown said...

The video was great, Weaver, thanks! Wonder what the soup is today? I brought some to work with me - lentil! Make the most of the thaw before the freeze sets in again. We too have piles of dirty snow dotted around the town.

Tess Kincaid said...

Soup is in order here, too. I made a big pot last night. The forecast is for 12 degrees F here this weekend, so I'm battening down the hatches and making sure I have plenty of woolly socks on hand. Stay warm!

Gerry Snape said...

Pat!!!! what an amazing video! I hope that you don't mind but I've posted on my site and sent it to family who don't do blogs! Thankyou for this. Keep warm! Keep taking the soup!

George said...

Loved the video at Flamblogger, Pat. Now, if I just had a bowl of that hot parsnip and apple sour, I would be set.

jeanette from everton terrace said...

Can I say that Parsnip/Apple soup sounds quite divine. I've never tasted it but I'm about to go look up a recipe. Off to watch the crying video now.

Totalfeckineejit said...

Soup of the day! I love the sound (?)
of that soup weaver, is it homemade? If so coulds I have the recipe , if not where dids you buy it?
Be good, stay well!

Totalfeckineejit said...

The thing in the shopping centre is so powerful,uplifting, probably because it's so incongruous, but also highlghts how monotone everyday life is by contrast. I loved it,it did make me feel emotional,I looked around over my shoulder and Mrs EEjit was in floods of tears!

Masia Mum said...

It's Friday night so it has to be Chicken Soup. There is nothing better than the welcoming smell of chicken soup cooking when you come back home after a cold winter's day. The Daughter was even moved once to compose a poem on the joys of that very experience and it was published in her school magazine. Thereafter I was inundated with requests for the family recipe. Chicken soup is chicken soup you might say but I beg to differ. Every Jewish Family I know have their own variation and guard it. Hope all your various soups keep you warm tonight.

Dominic Rivron said...

Couldn't see the Hallelujah! video on Flamblogger for looking. I did find it on youtube though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

Brilliant, isn't it?

MorningAJ said...

D'you know I thought I was going crackers because I've been cold all day! I had my flu jab on Monday though so it could be a hangover from that.

Take care and enjoy your soup. Leek and potato is my favourite. Home made of course.

Robin Mac said...

I was sent that video in an email this morning and cried all the way through it then and cried all the way through it just now as well - it is wonderful. I hope you all thaw out soon, the soup sounds wonderful. We are very waterlogged over here rather than frozen. Cheers, Robin

PurestGreen said...

I'm so relieved the snow is melting, but have had the same response as you to seeing the grass. I thought I would never see it again. We are flying out for holidays in a week and I need the airport to be open!
You can't beat soup! Tomorrow I will be making soup to feed more than 20 people as my holiday gift to my work colleagues on Monday.:)

The Weaver of Grass said...

lad those of you that looked at the You Tube clip enjoyed it - wasn't it a tear-jerker?

We do seem to be a nation of soup makers too - we ought to swap soup recipes and get some new ones going.

Thanks for the comments.

angryparsnip said...

I am a parsnip, angry or not but when I read your post today about the soup Parsnip and Apple with Bacon I must look that up or.... maybe a Weaver would take pity on a hungry parsnip and post the recipe ?
I make soup with what ever is in the frig at the time. So when you have a really great one you can never really remake it !
Living in the desert as I do, our coldest temps are in the morning at sunrise. The sun comes out and warms up the desert, it does freeze here, the damp cold air rises and it is colder for a short time. I always thought it was like at 1 or 2 am... weird

cheers, parsnip

Helen said...

Sounds delightful ......

Golden West said...

I had posted that same video on my own blog yesterday, too - so lovely, I was moved to tears as well.

You've had quite the stormy weather there - and autumn still, according to the calendar!

Your days sound happy and full, Weaver, just as they should be.