Thought as this blog is about me I might as well fess up to being a a myopic old bat with Advanced Kerataconus.
The company that make the only lens that works in my right eye.......... dont make it anymore so I am having to go through the hell of the Dark Art of lens fitting all over again.
I just got back from the first Lens Fitting (I lie I had a Cup of Tea first).
I have had an hour or so of trying out various fittings of Synergeyes lenses. I am guessing they are ClearKone as I have to fill the lens with saline to put it in.
As usual an hour of putting in lenses taking them out and shining lights in my eyes has driven me close to large bars of chocolate.
They are so new to my practitioner that she was double checking the fit in the instruction book now if she had gotten me a copy I could have memorised it and helped her out!! At least after we had muddled our way through crowbarring the first fit into my eye (my description not hers) by the time I left having inserted fit 4 or was it 3 I lost track I wacked it in first go.
Big thumbs up for Bill who waited outside and had been off and bought me a tube of smarties for when I came out. At my age fancy getting bought smarties for being a good girl.
Now we wait for 3 weeks for the order to come in from the States!!
Meanwhile I have been supplied a larger Scleral lens for my left eye which is like trying to stuff a bone china teacup under your eyelids. I am taking some time to get used to it and I cant use alcohol as internal medicine as I cant mix booze with some tablets I take.
Hey Ho at least I have decided to make November Quiche month - pastry anyone ??
Monday 25 October 2010
Sunday 24 October 2010
Arthur 'Two Sheds' Jackson
For those of you unfamiliar 'Two Sheds' is a Monty Python sketch and of course the differences between me and Arthur are I do have two sheds My lovely Studio which no one is allowed to call a shed except me and My Garden shed which has all my lovely gardening tools and 'Stuff' (In my opinion you can never have enough stuff!).
My Studio is in a sunny corner and my shed is in a very dark corner however my manservant made me a lovely little potting bench finished off with yacht varnish. I would like to think its because he worships me but I think he found the thought of having his own personal chef, Cake Maker Gardener and Launderess locked out of sight outside of meal times much too appealing.
I should however point out that my brother has exceeded expectations and has I believe Two sheds and a greenhouse but then he doesnt have a garage.
My Studio is in a sunny corner and my shed is in a very dark corner however my manservant made me a lovely little potting bench finished off with yacht varnish. I would like to think its because he worships me but I think he found the thought of having his own personal chef, Cake Maker Gardener and Launderess locked out of sight outside of meal times much too appealing.
I should however point out that my brother has exceeded expectations and has I believe Two sheds and a greenhouse but then he doesnt have a garage.
WOW - ULEY FIREWORK DISPLAY
Last night we went off to Uley for their Annual Charity Bonfire and fireworks. Would you believe it is about err um mmmh oh god 30 years since I went to a bonfire night. They are always cold and I dont like loud bangs.
My brother is part of the team that organise it and has been doing it for 7 years so off we trotted!
Well Uley was gridlocked I have never seen so many cars so ambitiously parked apart from the ones that were slung or abandoned. I have never seen so many people. It was at the Millenium field we parked up on a layby near my bruvs house on Crawley Hill.
Not sure where the Millenium field was we followed the crowd. Then we discovered we were following the crowd who also didnt have a clue.
Arrived eventually and couldnt believe the number of people absolutely hundreds and the whole thing was 100% free all money was for charity and you parted with it by buying ULEY BITTER or Coffee and Cakes or Barbecued Grub or Raffle Tickets or just chucking coins in a bucket.
Being a hater of large queues there was nothing for it. The BBQ queue was huge so we had to content ourselves with eating the best flapjacks on the planet and drinking Uley Bitter after all it was for charity and to make up for the guilt of not queueing for BBQ food we chucked our cash in the buckets (Being a keen gardener I have a soft spot for a good bucket).
The FIREWORKS were absolutely fantastic I was so impressed and really glad that Bill was with me because it meant I could spend the whole evening stood looking up with my mouth open without falling over as I had a good handful of coat.
The evening ended with some explosions that were so loud I couldnt decide wether to hide behing the teenage son of Neil and Louise or stuff my head under Bills coat. I had to have a Uley Bitter to recover (strictly medicinal of course its good for shock honest!).
My brother is part of the team that organise it and has been doing it for 7 years so off we trotted!
Well Uley was gridlocked I have never seen so many cars so ambitiously parked apart from the ones that were slung or abandoned. I have never seen so many people. It was at the Millenium field we parked up on a layby near my bruvs house on Crawley Hill.
Not sure where the Millenium field was we followed the crowd. Then we discovered we were following the crowd who also didnt have a clue.
Arrived eventually and couldnt believe the number of people absolutely hundreds and the whole thing was 100% free all money was for charity and you parted with it by buying ULEY BITTER or Coffee and Cakes or Barbecued Grub or Raffle Tickets or just chucking coins in a bucket.
Being a hater of large queues there was nothing for it. The BBQ queue was huge so we had to content ourselves with eating the best flapjacks on the planet and drinking Uley Bitter after all it was for charity and to make up for the guilt of not queueing for BBQ food we chucked our cash in the buckets (Being a keen gardener I have a soft spot for a good bucket).
The FIREWORKS were absolutely fantastic I was so impressed and really glad that Bill was with me because it meant I could spend the whole evening stood looking up with my mouth open without falling over as I had a good handful of coat.
The evening ended with some explosions that were so loud I couldnt decide wether to hide behing the teenage son of Neil and Louise or stuff my head under Bills coat. I had to have a Uley Bitter to recover (strictly medicinal of course its good for shock honest!).
Saturday 23 October 2010
Baking a Christmas Cake for the First time
Thursday the 21st October was the nominated day for the making of my first ever Christmas Cake. For the last 50+ years my Mum always baked one but now she is gone I decided it was time.
Being a bit of an analytical person I took my Mums handwritten recipe and her Mary Berry cookery book and then combined the two by putting them into a spreadsheer!
Then I got all my ingredients out and placed them on the kitchen surface in my unique orderly fashion.
The night before, Mary Berry said, put all the dry fruit in a bowl and spoon over brandy.
I duly piled it all in and then looked at the bowl in stunned silence its never going to fit.
I knew it would all look more do-able in the morning so I slept on it. Following day I looked at the bowl of fruit and then back at the greased and lined 8inch deep cake tin . Its never going to fit. There was only one thing for it. I piled all the fruit into an identical cake tin to see how full it looked. It was fine.
Then I used my lovely new food mixer to mix up the Butter Sugar Flour Eggs 'Oh good grief even more stuff to fit in the little tin.
I decided to sit on the floor with my two big bowls of stuff and combine the two. Please note what a good girl I am. The old Road Atlas is being recycled as a mat on the carpet as well as many other tasks it performs.
Mums recipe said to add the brandy at the end and said add milk to get to dropping consistency. Well Mary had already got me to add the brandy to the fruit so I thought what the heck and added a splash of milk and a splash of brandy.
Well like the Tardis Mums square cake tin did the deed and it all fitted. Cooking time was 4 to 41/2 hours and four hours later here it is. Now apparently I have to keep it wrapped and feed it brandy ever couple of weeks.
Both Mum and Mary said spoon brandy over the cooled cake so I did.
Being a bit of an analytical person I took my Mums handwritten recipe and her Mary Berry cookery book and then combined the two by putting them into a spreadsheer!
Here is the Cookery book with spreadsheet inserted and tape measure for checking tin size.
The night before, Mary Berry said, put all the dry fruit in a bowl and spoon over brandy.
I duly piled it all in and then looked at the bowl in stunned silence its never going to fit.
I knew it would all look more do-able in the morning so I slept on it. Following day I looked at the bowl of fruit and then back at the greased and lined 8inch deep cake tin . Its never going to fit. There was only one thing for it. I piled all the fruit into an identical cake tin to see how full it looked. It was fine.
Then I used my lovely new food mixer to mix up the Butter Sugar Flour Eggs 'Oh good grief even more stuff to fit in the little tin.
I decided to sit on the floor with my two big bowls of stuff and combine the two. Please note what a good girl I am. The old Road Atlas is being recycled as a mat on the carpet as well as many other tasks it performs.
Well like the Tardis Mums square cake tin did the deed and it all fitted. Cooking time was 4 to 41/2 hours and four hours later here it is. Now apparently I have to keep it wrapped and feed it brandy ever couple of weeks.
Both Mum and Mary said spoon brandy over the cooled cake so I did.
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