Living in the UK again

I am back from another dog sit. This time, two new dogs, both miniature dachshunds. My parents had these dogs, when I was young, and living with these two reminded me of their behaviour traits. The thing that I like about these dogs and that I had forgotten was they have very big characters. These two shared the same dad. One is only just a year old, the other a bit older than that. The eldest had been sterilised, and after the operation blew up like a ballon, he likes his food, but unfortunately they can’t get the weight off him. Next door to their house was a brick retaining wall, someone had planted strawberries, they were not damaged by birds or slugs. The owner of the house were away, else I am sure they would have picked these! The youngest dog, also shares a trait with my parents first dachshund, it loves to be covered up in its dog bed, by a blanket or similar. My parents dog would get in their bed after they got up, and would refuse to be turfed out of of it until she was read...

This last week has been all about dog sitting, two French bulldogs who live near the Cosy Nook. So there has been even more visits there during my stay. The feral cat who lives in the house too, was more friendly towards me, but I kept my guard.  The interesting story will come later, but the two dogs, are definitely more comfortable with me, one of them showing signs of dominance, in wanting me to be just for her, by laying on my lap in such a way, so the other dog, could not get too close. Rita on Serifos used to do this, with greater effect, because she was a Labrador sized dog. The owner was delayed on her return journey, I always wait for them to get back before I depart, so there is a proper hand over. As she was late, I decided to have a take away of fish and chips while I was waiting for her. As always when looking after this pair, I get to share my bed with them. This time both were closer to me in the bed. Which meant it was even more difficult to get room to fit in it, w...

My life back in the UK seems to get busier every day. There were a couple of days when I was a little too busy and a cancelled appointment was a relief. Note to myself, don’t set yourself up with too many things every day, there will always be another! But it’s still fun, even if I am finding several people I know are having a tough time of it, but I am there to help them, which I get so much pleasure from. Fixing phones that are misbehaving for them for example. I have had two nice calls with friends on Serifos, hearing their news. The allotment is doing well, even if the spring onions are a bit patchy. The sprouts are in and tented under some chicken wire I found. Beetroot, Spinach, French climbing beans, Courgette and Butternut Squash. Not forgetting the four pound onions! The good news about the allotment is that it is big enough to grow sensible amounts of food for me, on my own, but not so big it takes ages to keep weed free. There has been quite a lot of TRHA things to do, my sh...

Last night I attended the TRHA quiz night. It wasn’t horticultural questions, it was general knowledge. The team I was a member on wasn’t doing too badly by the half way point, but at the end we fell down the pecking order somewhat. It was all good fun and the event raised £400 for two local charities. When I got home, had a bit wind down time, but after going to bed, I just could not sleep. There was something in the news saying a solar storm would mean most of the UK would be bathed in Northern lights, so I nipped out to take a look. My eyesight did not reveal much, I met someone else out there who was looking too. We both agreed there was nothing to see, but I decided to look out the back garden and later on after taking a few photos I got some half decent results.  In the morning, slightly jaded, I got up. I shared some of my photos with friends, one said why did you not wake me up to tell me to have a look? Well I don’t think I would ever do that to them! Today was another tri...

It’s amazing what a bit of sunshine does to us. Monday bank holiday was indeed a washout, and to those folks working while the sun is shining out there, I am very sorry! As part of my Cookery Corner I do for the TRHA Newsletter I found and made this recipe for  Chicken Saag . It was very nice, it might have been a bit dry had I not tipped in the remainder of the cream from the other day.  I then made a Carrot cake, I must have made a half a dozen of these, but unfortunately even after testing with the skewer, and it had been in the oven the same amount of time, after it cooled, the middle sunk and it was either like a sinkhole or a baked Camembert! The middle bit was raw! As I did not have enough eggs, I had to wait until I had been to the shops and bought some more. This time, I was doubly careful with the ingredients and it did take longer to bake. But thankfully it did not collapse and after decoration looked like this. Of course it looks very pretty, but as soon as one sli...

For the bank holiday weekend, plenty going on. New friends, new directions. For the Saturday I was looking after my friends French Bulldog, after a trip to the Gym. They were going into London, back late in the evening. With my charge we did a walk around the village, but he was getting hot and despite the water I carried for him and his bowl, we cut the walk short. Back at his home, it was time for his breakfast, it’s now after eleven by the way! He has this raw meat, and some cooked turkey mince. I cooked the mince, let it cool and fed him. Half of the mince I cooked was for his dinner. I left it in the small frying pan on the cooker. I went next door to the Cosy Nook for my lunch, and after enjoying that and meeting a friend, I went back to see my charge and see how he was getting on. I went into the kitchen and, the frying pan is empty.  Now this dog is athletic, but there is no way he could have got to this ! It did not take me long to realise that one or both of his feline co...

After a nice day earlier in the week, it’s back to rain, as if it’s April showers,  but it’s now May. I have been busy doing various things, on Friday I had two friends, coming over in the afternoon. One asked for the Norwegian rhubarb cake and suggested a different topping from just plain sugar. The topping came from a muffin recipe , that she has made me, which is one part olive oil, three parts sugar. You mix them up, let the sugar slurp up the oil then sprinkle the mixture onto the cake. It then goes in the oven as usual. The odd thing, was the cake took a longer to bake than usual, and it had a sort of crispy texture which was what my friend was after. I was a bit worried about it, so I decided to make a Mary Berry Spicy Ginger ring cake, with stem ginger in the cake and also decorated on top of the icing. This cake came out well and a taste teste for both made me think they were suitable for human consumption. My allotment coworker, the ninety year old neighbour gave me some ...