cinnamon’s blog

Brian & I went to Ikea a few days ago, which as we don't get there very often at all, made a nice change.We got a few household essentials, & lots that we didn't need,but had to get anyhow!
We finished pretty early,so drove on into London for a look around.I haven't been into London for years,so it was great to see everything again.

We got parked up,then walked into Covent Garden,which looked fantastic & festive with all the decos up already.Everyhing is white & silver with teeny little blue lights - gorgeous.
Anyhow,we mooched about,looking at the stall & entertainers & dringking some wonderful mulled cider from a stall,& generally soaking up the atmosphere.

Then we walked to leicester Square to have a look in The Swiss Center..............but it has closed down!!!!!
I LOVED the Swiss center!

So we wandered up to trafalger & looked at the square,where feeding the pigeons is now an offence!
There were only a fe pigeons there- it was like all the life had gone from the place,although it was nice & clean.

Harrods

Then back to leicester square,where we had a PROPER lamb kebab,made from real meat,not that awful reconstituted shoe leather you normally get.
I was wondering if I would spot any celebs,& no sooner had I thought that to myself when Ian McKellan walked past one way,then Gordon Ramsey went past in the other direction.Gordon was LOVELY!

We wandered through the Theatre bit,popped into a great pub which was really decked out for Christmas,& drove home,past The Ritz & Harrods all lit up as it was then dark.

It was a great day,although my goodness I was just exhausted by the end of it.

We didn't get back until late,so I was relieved that the girls hadn't missed the school bus home..............

I popped into Reading today to grab a few bits & pieces & came across Trinny & Susannah filming in The Oracle.

It was interesting stuff & I enjoyed it until they got the audience to grade themslevs according to bum size!
One poor woman in fake leather (nasty) trousers got a right old prodding & the cameraman focused right on her shiney bum  *LOL*
Both T&S are much better looking in the flesh,both very slim & wearing MASSIVE stripper heels - honestly,if I wore heels like that I would be on my arse in no time.
I took a few snaps on my new phone,but couldn't really get to grips with the camera on it,so they are not very good.
 
So,when it airs,look out for the girl in the long cream cardi,with hair that needs a good wash,scowling & muttering curses at her mobile phone - that'll be me

I also made the HUGE mistake of wearing my lovely UGGS  into Reading today.They are so comfy cosy & warm that I wear them whenever I can, but when I got into

town it started raining, & I have never worn them in the wet before.

My friend Martin has reminded me that I haven't updated my Blog for weeks & weeks & weeks, so this is what has been happening here of late.
Firstly & most importantly,we have 4 new hens!

I got Bramble,Bracken,Clover & Fern from a breeder in Beaulieu,which was a long way to go but worth it as they are such lovely,healthy girls.
Clover is a Cream Legbar,who has already presented us with a few gorgeous bluey green eggs. The breeder was great,if a bit old school, but I certainly got some good advice,(as well as some I shall ignore) from him.
A couple of the other new hens are laying too, which is just as well as my 4 older hens are all either on strike or in moult..........

The only downside in the whole operation has been Lily,who has disgraced herself by being FURIOUS at the newcomers,& has had to be seperated from the flock for the time being.

Clover.jpg

I am also now considering a cube again,as all 8 like to sleep together which not only is a squash,but also means the Eglu gets really mucky very quickly.

Brian is going to build a new improved hen pen for them,which is going to be where the swimming pool was,which has now been removed.
Its going to have 4 rows of brick as a base to hopefully keep rats at bay, & is going to be made from welded mesh rather than the chicken wire we used first time around.
Takling of rats,Matt was here last week clearing up the garden for us & the poor chap found where the rats were nesting,which was suprisingly in a metal tinder box! He managed to kill several of them with the air rifle,but a few more managed to escape...........................
The stream is roaring away at the moment with all the rain we have had.I can even hear it when I am in bed at night,which I don't think I have ever  been able to do before. Just hope it doesn't get too much worse & I WISH the cold snap would come back,which is so much nicer than the mild wet thing we have at the moment.

Christmas has been on my mind too, & apart from a few 'home mades' to organise I have pretty much got everything sorted now. Its even all wrapped up - in plain brown paper with raffia & cinnamon sticks for a change.

Thats it. Not much to show for 6 weeks really, but hopefully something interesting will happen soon.............LOL!!!

Look at this stunning art which is drawn onto pavements,but looks 3D....isn't it something?
The first one is at Waterloo station, & they are all done by the American artist Kurt Wenner.
That lady on a sofa - she is actually sitting on the pavemnt - get your head around that one!!!
His work is mainly based around myths & legends & other works have included Neptune's revenge and the love story of Echo and Narcissus.

His latest artwork, at London's Waterloo station, has been commissioned by Sky HD to promote its new ad campaign.

Truly mindblowing stuff - I would love to see it for real

The best I could come up with on a pavement would be a Hopscotch board!

Brian found a slow worn in trouble at work the other day & rescued it.
Here he is - he is about the width of a match & twice as long.
 He is very snake like & even has a lovely forked tongue which whips in & out! After a bit of research we discovered that  he is ready to hibernate & that slow worm live mainly in compst heaps, so we releaded him into our heap,where he buried himself right away.
We hope that he will stay & we will have him living in our heap & eating the slugs next year.

Today is world Environment day, which gives me a good excuse to go on a bit of a green rant.

So, here goes...............................

 

I cannot tell you how mad it makes me that some people are happy to sit back & continue to chuck their recyclable rubbish into the bin while we more environmentally aware people do our bit & recycle our waste.

Recycling is so easy -Its no more bother to put a piece of paper into a box than into the bin.

It takes no more time or effort to carry that box when full to the kerbside, than it does a heaving, dripping bin bag.

I loath the ‘can’t be bothered’ attitude displayed by some people I know - you know who you are.

If everyone made this small effort, the world may just become a better place for us & our children.

Why does my daughters school not have decent recycling facilities ? Surely they should be educating this generation about this too?

And why are there just bins in the streets & not can banks? WHY???

They should be everywhere.....just think - train stations, airports, gyms & shopping malls should all have places where we can recycle our waste.

RECYCLE,REUSE,REDUCE !!!

 

We all went to Millets farm over towards Oxford today; as it was a beautiful warm sunny day & we wanted to see the Christmas display which is always great over there.

We walked around the farm, but were disappointed that most of the animals were not around,apparantly due to the foot & mouth scare, although they strangely still had the cows there…….

The Christmas display was as great as ever, & the girls were very taken by this animated polar bear, which I told them they COULD NOT BRING HOME!!!

I feel nice & Christmassy now - got my Hampers planned out, made a dent in the pressies & am planning the cake for next week.

Devon is saving up for some lights to put up in her room, & I am hoping that Brian can get the hand rail done on the stairs so I can buy one of those nice twisty light & leaf things to run down it ,from Next (I have always wanted one)

In fact I am going OTT with the fairy lights this year......the more the merrier!

I am not sure what we will be doing this year, although I am fairly certain we will be at home, as ever, with maybe some of my family here for the big day, which will be great.

In my view a Christmassy house is one filled with the smells of cooking, twinkly lights & smiling faces, so we will have a good time no matter what.

To change the subject somewhat,I am very taken with this lovely man at the moment. He is almost worth sitting through the rugby for *wink*

Isn't this picture amazing?

I decided on the spur of the moment this morning to add to my rather depleted bantam pen, & popped over to Windsor to meet up with Simon at 'The Garden Hen'
He was full of good advice as always & we chose 2 pretty hens - Crumble a Quail coloured Barbu D'Anver & Custard a milliefleur Barbu B'Uccle. They make a sweet little pair & I was quite happy just to be taking them home when Simon mentioned a good looking young Polish Cockerel that was living on borrowed time.
Being a sucker far anything young,Polish & good looking we ended up taking him home too - we have named him Indiana as he looks like the adventerous sort   *wink*
I also chatted to Simon about blue layers & will probably get a trio of Auracanas from him next spring.

 

Chilli, my half Bengal cat has been a bit of a headache of late.
First he went missing for 6 days - we dropped leafelts, knocked on doors, phoned vets & had all but given up hope when he sauntered back into the house.He was really hungry, so we thought he had been locked in somewhere,as it was the bank Holiday weekend.

Then, he went missing again, for 5 days this time. He came home last week & I didn't notice right away but his leg has been injured.It looks like he has been caught in a snare or something.I took him to the vet, & he had injections & a good looking over, & the leg seems to be healing up nicely now.

But thats not all. He keeps coming home without a collar on, which I know doesnt mean someone has taken it off - it may have got caught on a tree or bush & slipped off, BUT he has also been coming home with his name tags & jingly bells removed from his collar, which you can only do by actually spinning them off. So, I reckon someone has been taking them off, which makes me MAD.

Chilli is totally nonplussed by all this, as you can see !

Haicuts this afternoon, thank goodness, as my fringe is  totally out of control at the moment.
Devon is thinking of having a 'Dr Elliot Reid' from Scrubs haircut, but I suspect she will decide at the last minute to just have a light trim, as ever....................
Shame, as I think it will suit her - I will report back!

Look at these gorgeous bags my friend Cathy made for me – aren’t they fantastic?
This is 2 of the 3 she made & they are so well made & so pretty that I am using them at every available opportunity!

I am going to try to collect up some nice Gothy fabrics so I can pop one into each of the girls Christmas Stockings too. The one I used in Henley today was much admired by all& I was quite tempted to say I had made it myself.

We went to The Crooked Billet for a belated birthday lunch yesterday & had the most fab meal, sat in the sunny garden under a tree groaning with apples. I MAY have drank too much wine though, as I felt as rough as anything this morning. Still, it was worth it to sit & eat & chat & forget about mundane things like housework & accounts for a while.

The weather has been great for the past couple of weeks, but there is a definite Autumnal nip in the air once the sun goes down. The hens got their mega run clean out over the weekend ,washing is flapping in the light breeze & I feel pretty good that the house & garden are about as organised as they can be.........ready for a valuation next week. Are we moving ?........well, all I can say is watch this space  *winks*