Monday 9 December 2013

A busy day.

Today has been a jolly busy day here in the Dales.   Well it has for me at any rate.   This morning friend S and I drove over to our local nursery twelve miles or so away (and through some of the most beautiful Swaledale scenery) to stock up on Christmas plants.

I bought a holly wreath for my first husband's grave, a poinsettia plant, three cyclamen in full flower, a solanum covered in orange berries and a bowl of fern surrounded by white hyacinths.   They are now spread around the house and it begins to look as though Christmas might well be coming soon.

After a hasty lunch friend W and I, along with friend S. sped off to Teeside Park at Stockton on Tees to that store few of us could manage without at Christmas - Marks and Spenser.   Here I bought my turkey and a large piece of gammon, along with lots of nibbles and canapes for Boxing Day.   Now they are all in the freezer and another aspect of Christmas can be ticked off my list.

I do love the run up to Christmas with its organising, its stocking up of all store cupboards, its planning.   Goodness me, I am merely having seven people to lunch and evening meal on Boxing Day and a group of friends on New Year's eve, when I shall be cooking a meal, but I seem to be getting enough food in to feed an army.

After a cloudy and rather miserable day, the evening sky as friend W drove back from Teeside, was absolutely beautiful - a mixture of duck egg blue sky and apricot clouds.  S and I were lucky that we could just sit there and admire it.  Poor W had to keep her eye on the road as the traffic was horrendous.   We all agreed that we are so lucky to live here in the Dales where traffic is so light and we can enjoy the peace and tranquility without all the pushing and shoving and overtaking we experienced on the way back.


8 comments:

John Going Gently said...

I have just given aunti glad a poinsettia..........

Willow said...

Here's to a lovely day and sky in Dales !

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Well a lovely day indeed. So many things to be grateful when winter starts going strong.

Cro Magnon said...

Gorgeous day here too yesterday, spoilt only by a Flu jab. I shall be leaving my Christmas shopping till the 24th.

Gwil W said...

I remember watching a Postman Pat episode called: Postman Pat's Busy Day. But truth to tell Pat you leave Lakeland's busiest postman in the shade with your busy days. More power to your posts!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for visiting. One of the frustrating things about no longer being able to drive is that I have to rely on others to take me anywhere. How lucky I am to have so many marvellous friends.

thousandflower said...

It sound lovely. We are waiting for Siri to come on the 18th to start decorating so she can participate. But I'm starting to bake cookies and make plans for dinner. If the meals you served us on our visit are any example of your company cooking your guests will be in for a treat. We still talk about that lovely dinner.

Bovey Belle said...

What a lovely day out, with lots achieved. I love the sound of all the plants you have got to decorate the house. I remember driving round Stockton when my middle daughter was up at Durham Uni. The roads were much busier than I am used to as well. We just pootle along on our little Welsh lanes.

I have a little "garden" set up in the kitchen window, with two pots of hyacinths (one more further along than the other), a pink Cyclamen and 3 little baby "punk Pink" cyclamens. I love bringing the outside inside!