Summer ... a mix of rain, storms and sun.

Summer's here, the elderflowers are blooming, catch them while you can, it's Elderflower Champagne time.

Since exam kick off in mid May, family life has concentrated a lot around Ben's GCSEs.  He sat all seven papers at the secondary school in St. Neots and seemed fairly OK with how they went.  There has been continuous revision all the way through the exams, concentrating more on Maths, which Ben felt was his weakest subject.  There was a good two week gap between the Physics papers which we thought was good at the start but proved difficult as the second paper loomed as Ben had used all his mental energy on Maths and needed extra "reminder" revision to get through the Physics.  Results will be out on 25th August - fingers crossed he get the grades needed to move on to A-levels.

Three of the papers were morning sittings and we felt it better for our nerves to stay over.  Out of all the times we've been to St. Neots, this year and last, we have only had 1 fabulously warm sunny day - St. Neots in the sun is far, far better than in the rain!  I can now say I know the roads of St. Neots well - finding several back routes between the school, town and the two Premier Inn hotels we stayed in ... with Costa and Prezzo being excellent places to reside.

I have been enjoying a very chilled horse these last few weeks as Jay has been going out with his buddy for overnight grazing.  Most mornings I'd find him zonked out and it's been super to see him relaxed enough to continue snoozing while I give him a good stroke and pester him with continuous selfie shots.

Unfortunately, he seems to get up to night time silliness and it has caused himself a couple of minor injuries meaning he's back to going out in the day time, in his own paddock - he's just too much of a playful kid when out with others!

Paul and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary on 18th June and decided to experience our first Polo Match on the 19th to celebrate.  Luckily the weather held for the day (it bucketed down later) and we were able to sit out, enjoy a lovely hog roast sandwich lunch, and experience the horsing around.  I came away a bit hooked on the game - it's quick, fun and just brilliant.  The commentator was fantastic ... he really made the event.



I think it would be safe to say we've had more wet weather than sunny so far this Summer.  Great for the paddocks, the grass is continuously replenishing, not so good for the gardeners who are having to constantly mow the grass and keep on top of the weeds.

The first picture with its stunning bright poppies is a real contrast to the heavy storm clouds in the distance over Kings Lynn.  We watched as a funnel appeared from the centre of the cloud (probably too small to see in the photo), luckily it dissipated.  The second photo was taken a couple of days ago.  We had sunshine but the storm clouds were moving in swiftly from Holbeach way.  We could hear the rumbles of thunder but strangely it never actually reached us.  The third photo was taken during a greenlaning trip in Norfolk.  We had cloud burst after cloud burst so we endeavoured to drive along sturdy lanes to preserve the countryside.  We were surprised to come across this ford at the end of one. Paul had to scrabble around under the Landie to put in the wading plugs before driving through it!

Enjoy any warm sunny days that come your way.

Trying something new for 2015

... posting via Tumblr - you can find me here: http://elliestreasures.tumblr.com/

Last posting dates and spending my pennies

The Cyber Monday cut price sale was a big hit in my Etsy shop.  It was great to see people purchasing hand made gifts and lovely to think that my creations are winging their way to many different homes.  There is still free 1st class UK post on all my items until the end of December, don't miss out, prices will change in the New Year.

This week, I've been working on a special brooch for a customer who found me via my Facebook page.  She'd purchased the fairy toadstool brooch and requested something for her son along the lines of a rocket, castle or teddy bear.  Having found some fabulous castle charms online I suggested a castle brooch with yellow flowers and sun, as this was her son's favourite colour.


I'm currently listening to a whole mixed bunch of different tunes through the PC that hubs put together for a forthcoming party.  It's quite a collection, with some I swiftly turn down the volume and others I crank it up!!  There's tunes I haven't heard in a very long time, like the current one playing, Mark Knopfler's "Coming Home" (from the film, "Local Hero").  Apparently there's 10 hours of tunes on the "party list", perhaps he thinks the party will go into the early hours!

So, last posting dates, as taken from the Royal Mail site.  As most of my items mail to the UK and US I'll just print those dates:

Friday, 13th December for USA and the morning of Friday 20th December for UK 1st class.  Of course this doesn't actually guarantee delivery on time, but I'm sure RM will do their upmost to get packages delivered in time for Christmas!

Out shopping this week for those little extra bits and bobs, sweets, chocolates and the odd stocking filler, I popped in to The Range to find a dog toy for Poppy to unwrap on Christmas morning.  I promised hubs and the kids (who were waiting in the car) that I'd be just a moment.  Well, I got side-tracked by the vast crafting section and discovered a host of wonderful ribbons and lace at amazing prices.  Took me far more than a moment to decide what to spend my pennies on.  Came away with these in the end, to add to my growing collection.  Have already used some lace on my current dolphin brooch - will post about that next time.

I think we're about ready ...

... for Christmas!

Last pressies and grub bought today - just need to knuckle under and wrap everything and then we're done.  I was amazed how quiet the shops were actually.  No empty shelves, no long queues, not jostling and elbowing to get to the mince pies.  Does that mean we're all hyper efficient this year and gotten ourselves ready for the festive season in good time?  Perhaps it means tomorrow, Christmas Eve, will be the mega rush day around town!

The decorations have been up a couple of weeks already and it's been lovely to sit and look at the tree in the evenings as I sew.  The snug is looking particularly festive with our brightly patterned Dragon Lights displayed with a garland of (fake) holly on the mantlepiece.  We've had them quite a few years now, bought from Lakeland, and I'll be really upset when they decide to die on me.

Katie and Ben made their gingerbread houses last night.  They've made them for the last few years and I have to say, being 15 and 13, I was a little surprised at how messy they look compared to other (supervised) years!  Apparently it's all about the sweets and icing - ie how many they can cram on to and around the house before it collapses = a much tastier eating experience afterwards.  Oh well, they had fun and it's not every day they get to eat so much sugar!!

The weather has been awful here this last week, as it has in so many other parts of the country.  For the first time, driving to and from the stables, we've noticed how full the dykes and drains are with some managing to burst their banks to flood the roads - although not dangerously.  All the fields, with fresh crops growing, are completely sodden with rivers dotted here and there.  I do hope the weather settles soon, it's been a really miserable winter so far with ice, wind and now rain.  Roll on those lighter mornings and evenings too.  Roll on a better 2013.

Wishing you all a lovely festive season and brilliant new year.  I appreciate all the support you've given to Ellie's Treasures this last year - looking forward to another exciting year ahead of me.
I'll leave you with a picture of a section of lights in Peterborough town centre.  They were magnificent - a drapped sheet of white fairy lights hung over the square with big lit ball decorations hanging from them.  Breath taking.

Lunch in Sutterton, Lincs.

Yesterday was great.  Haven't had a day like that in a long time.  Katie and Ben went to their friends' house in the morning as Katie was going to see The Hobbit in the afternoon and Ben decided a day with his mate would be fun too.  Paul and I grabbed the moment and went out for lunch, then I had a fun evening at the greyhound stadium in Peterborough with a couple of home ed friends.

Lunch was lovely.  We headed to The Thatched Cottage, Sutterton, just off the A17.  We'd heard good reports of the place and wanted to give it a try.

The pub is traditionally pretty and sits on 8 acres of land that has been turned into an area of grassy walks which, although pretty boggy yesterday, would come to life in the warmer months.  We met Murphy and Poppy, the two resident donkeys, who ventured out of their field shelter for a quick hello.  Also on the site is a farm shop selling home baked bread, cured pork and home made confectionary, pastry, preserves and pickles.  Meat butchered on the premises is used in the restaurant as well as sold in the shop, and I'm guessing the delicious chunk of fudge, which accompanied our after dinner tea and coffee, came from the shop too.

We're quite nervous of venturing into unknown pubs.  Not too sure where this came from as we'd frequent pubs quite often when we lived in London without a hint of fear!  We had a cheerful welcome from the bar staff who showed us to a table in the restaurant and given a choice of two menus, the al a carte (restaurant) menu and the gourmet (bar) menu.  Warmly decorated with plenty of space between tables, laid with perfect white cloths, the area had been tastefully cheered up for Christmas with strings of twinkling lights.  The good selection of food on offer all sounded tempted.  We both decided on a (Norfolk) turkey roast, with all the trimmings, as we hadn't planned on eating turkey at all over Christmas!  Bread was offered as we waited for our meal to be prepared - a nice touch as we'd decided not to have a starter.

The roast was presented on simple rectangular white plates.  Slices of meat, a slice of stuffing, roast potatoes, a sizeable ball of mashed potato (a lovely surprise), gravy and a separate plate of perfectly cooked vegetables - carrots, parsnips, shredded cabbage and brussel sprouts.  Now, other than carrots, I'm not a huge vegetable fan, but these were cooked just as we like them, not over or under cooked, just al dente.  Everything was full of flavour and a joy to eat.

There was a good selection of desserts too, plus cheeses (with an additional glass of port should you prefer it).  Paul had banoffee pie with banana ice cream and toffee sauce.  I went for a lemon cheesecake with a mixed berry sauce/coulis.  Both were delicious, although we found the biscuit base fairly tough to break through with fork and spoon.  Visions of losing my cheesecake to the floor as I tried to cut through it came into my head!  The mixed berry sauce was lightly spiced, which I wasn't so keen on, but it went well with the fresh lemon of the cheesecake.

Tea and coffee with a chunk of devine buttery, melt-in-the-mouth fudge finished off our meal.  We would certainly recommend a visit here - the atmosphere was warm and friendly and the food tip top.  Food was plentiful but we didn't feel uncomfortable afterwards, which was lucky as we needed to walk Poppy, nothing more unpleasant than waddling along after a heavy meal!

Winter days

I've experienced many beautiful sunrises and sunsets since the colder months but I haven't been able to capture them usually due to the fact I haven't got my phone with me (early morning Poppy walks) or I'm driving to the stables (in the evening) and thinking I'll reach the yard before the sun's gone down so I can take a quick pic. Every time, the sun's disappeared before I've reached the yard. It's amazing how quickly a winter sun travels downwards towards the horizon on these short days! Anyway, I had Paul with me the other evening and, with a gorgeous sunset ahead of me, suggested I pull over so he could use my phone to capture it. It's never quite as magical through a photograph, but I thought I'd share it with you anyway.

There was no sunset tonight, although there was a beautiful sunrise to start with, across fields of heavy frost (but of course my phone was snug at home!).  Instead we had the thickest fog - thick enough to restrict visibility to just a few feet in front of me.  It's weird how you do a route every day, twice a day, and yet, when you can't actually see the road, you're completely lost!  "When's the next bend", "I'm sure this section is straight"!  So dangerous - driving at stupidly slow speeds hoping you don't end up in a ditch!   Stay save out their people!

Snap shot ...

for this week.


We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary!  What a lovely surprise to receive two fabulously pretty flower arrangements from relatives.



We decided to give Kan a good bath this week.  Risking skin, limbs and anything else by doing so, it turned out to not be so much of a chore after all.  Obviously he didn't like the water, but he didn't really fight it (only got one tiny scratch from the whole thing) and came out looking very white and with a very pleasant smell to him!  I'm not one to bath my pets unless I really need to - not nice to put them through the ordeal, but Kan, after his little fighting accident the other week, still smelt of oil and was looking extremely scruffy and in need of a spruce up.

I've joined Instagram through my mobile phone and love it!  Anyone else out there using it? I've been building up my followers, mainly through Twitter contacts, and am enjoying seeing all those cool, cute and wacky photos and adding some of mine to the collection too.  Here's a couple I took last week of Poppy and Tilly.


Have been busy on the shop front making and listing two new brooches, one of which has sold already - yay! After much thought, I decided to return the selling price for brooches and key rings to £6 (+ postage) as I they seemed to sell well at this price and I do like to see my things go to a good home!



Hope you all have a great week.

What's in my handbag ...

Ella Masters, whom I follow on Twitter, has written some lovely blog posts all about what's inside her various bags.  I thought it was such a nice idea that I decided to take a pic of the contents of my hand bag too.  It's quite a small bag and I'm amazed how much actually fits in there - the only thing that I forgot to photograph is my phone - that sits in the front pocket.

The fold up handmade tote bag is so well used and still looks fresh and beautiful.  My sister bought it for me from a shop on Folksy and it stays in my bag at all times.  The fabric wallet (Patchy Pockets), is the second one I made and is stuffed full of all the little bits that would just get lost inside the bag.  There's plasters, poo bags, a small sewing kit, comb, make up brush, mirror, note book, soap leaves, pencil, lots and lots of store cards and some business cards too.  Just love it, couldn't do without it.


The purse, from Sandringham in Norfolk, caught my eye - my daughter bought one exactly the same for herself.  And finally, the little pot of Nivea hand cream - couldn't live without it as my hands get very dry, especially in winter.

Do you like the little brooch on my bag?  I always try to have one pinned on there, just to give it a dash of colour and, well, you never know, someone may ask where they can buy one!!  My current brooch on display is a lazy cat sitting under an apple tree.

Why not take a pic of what's in your bag to show your blogging friends.

Light Box

Was so completely fed up with the dull and miserable weather earlier this week, and as I wanted to list something new in my shops and had wasted far too much time on rubbish photos, I decided enough was enough. I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to boxes (not really sure why) - so I was lucky enough to have an decent sized Amazon box that I could use. Lined the entire box with white paper and put a sheet of tin foil at one end. Popped in my item to photograph and, after experimenting with the use of a small desk top halogen light, hey presto, I had a pretty good picture to use in my listings.
Practically free too! Can't be bad.



Please feel free to use my idea (I'm sure I'm not the first person to come up with it!) - product photography for online businesses can be a real pain to get right, perhaps this will help.

Here's Flame

We don't often see him, but now I've cleaned his tank out, we're able to appreciate his beauty to the full!

I feel ...

... a bit of a blog change around coming on! I've been browsing some other fabulous blogs this evening and feel my one is a little too fussy now, it needs to be much simpler. Also, my blog looks good on one PC and terrible on another and that's not good at all.

I wonder if I could pinch a free day sometime this weekend to sort it all out?  

Ellie x

Fun in the sun ...

... at The Willow Festival in Peterborough, and boy did the sun shine!  It was big time hot - great for pulling in crowds, not so good if they like their drink!! 

Good friends of ours were running this fabulous event, with help from various sponsors and the City Council - they have done an amazing job.  Not only all the preparation (and there certainly was a huge amount of that), arranging 123 bands to play over Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday, but Mark, the Mr. of the two, also found time to dabble in some band playing as well as coordinate the actually running of the three days along with his wife and a small number of volunteer helpers.  Security and police presence was excellent, catering was top notch (Ben and I had chilli con carne on the Saturday night that nearly blew our heads off - it was fresh and extremely tasty). 


Paul offered to help out and was given the post of BBQer for the VIP tent.  Initially he thought he'd have some help but as I waved him off through the tent opening on the Saturday evening, it appeared he would be all alone, just him, his BBQ, burgers, sausages and a very steady stream of hungry VIPs.  At clocking off time he was completely shattered, stank of burgers and was splattered all over with oil.  He'd coped brilliantly but it had been a bit stressful, even if he had been plied with several free drinks and food along the way!  I helped out on the Sunday, but (luckily for moi) it wasn't half as busy.  We got to meet some lovely, friendly people including the leader of Peterborough City Council, Marco Cereste.

Katie and Ben enjoyed themselves too.  Katie and her friend spent most of Saturday evening as volunteers selling programmes, but all the youngsters had fun on the fairground rides on Sunday with some shopping too the alternative shopping section.


Here's hoping 2013 will be just as successful, if not more so, come rain or shine.  Well done Mark and Teresa!

All about a bean bag!

This bean bag, that actually belongs in Ben's room, has sneaked out into the study for a good reason. 

I bought this, and one other bean bag, when we first decorated Ben's room about 4 years ago (I can't believe we've been here 5 years now) but I can't really say they've been used by human bottoms!  They are much loved by the furry friends in the house as, being covered in fake leather (plastic to you and me) they are exceptionally warm and cosy for a quick snooze. 

Kan has been using the other one, still in Ben's room, for his overnight sleep for a long time now, and he'll often wander up there during the day, expecting it to be free, only to find Allie has sneaked in and stolen his comfy spot!  As Allie is getting quite doddery on his legs now, bless him, and is finding it difficult to source a warm spot downstairs during the night that doesn't require jumping up (or levering himself up which he's getting quite expert at - not good for furniture though), we moved one bean bag downstairs, purely for him.

He loved it, of course, but, like many cats, he's had his fill of it for now and has moved on to something else which happens to be Poppy's bed!  Poppy, having discovered this, decided to take over the bean bag instead.  Fine, but she worked out there was one annoying problem, it's a little too small for her and being plastic (sorry, fake leather), she tends to slide off after a while!!

We kinda like bunting here ...

What do you think?

This pretty gingham bunting was a birthday present from my in-laws and came from Baby Bunting on Etsy.  It really livens up our study and goes extremely well with the bright green wall!

Here's the gorgeous bunting we recently won in a competition by Reddskinbags, also selling through Etsy.  An array of wonderful fabric triangles - now hanging in our snug.

Finally, the Union Jack bunting which we picked up from a fabulous shop in Burnham Market last year.  It's  the kind of shop you want to browse and browse around all day, and hopefully, if your pockets are deep enough, buy lots of lots of wonderful things from.  The bunting is by East of India and is hanging above our stairs.

Anyone else love bunting?

Today is my birthday ...

and seeing as how it's over a long weekend, I feel I have been spoilt rotten with lovely lunches, seeing family, gorgeous presents and a little bit of decent weather too!

I've taken a pic of just a tiny selection of gifts that I was lucky to received.



The soap and geranium are from Ben, and my favourite home baked peanut butter cookies as well as the delicate spiral necklace were made and given by Katie.

To celebrate my special day today, I'm offering 15% off anything at Ellie's Treasures through Etsy.  Pop over and have a nosey - just use the code BDAY12 should you wish to purchase.

Hope you are all having a lovely long weekend.

Time for an update!

Ellie's Treasures, the blog, isn't just about what's happening on the shop front, or in the craft world, but also about family life in general.  It seems to have been a while since I updated you on what's been going on here.

Katie's horse, Jay, continues to dominate our lives more than anything else at the moment.  As one thing gets sorted it seems another comes to the fore!  I've been told this will continue throughout our horsey lives, so I should really start to get use to it.  We've been at the new livery yard for a month now (where does time go?) and am happy to say we've all settled in extremely quickly.  Jay seems far more relaxed in his new surroundings, and because of this, Katie and I also feel good (although we couldn't say we didn't feel happy at our previous place - our old yard owner, like our new one, was lovely and welcoming (as I've said before)). 

The first few times Katie got back in the saddle was quite interesting.  She'd forgotten how uncomfortable Jay's trot was and it was looking very bumpy.  It didn't take long for the pair of them to get into a routine and with each day of work, they seem to be progress further and are starting to become a lovely horse and rider team.  Jay's mini-bucks are generally kept for the cooling down part of each session, but Katie won't let him get away with it!  She'll push him back into trot or canter to get home that he really can't behave like that! Sessions are still relatively short (she's now working him for about 30 mins), to build up his stamina and muscles - and he's pretty sweaty after this short time, so obviously needs the exercise!  Being in an enclosed arena has made Katie far more confident and able to concentrate more on what she needs to do with Jay, rather than worrying he may shoot off across the field at any moment.

We had the saddle fitter out at the beginning of the week.  This is the (hopefully, but probably not) the final thing we wanted to check with regard to his bucking.  It seems his saddle is too long for his back, and is sitting past his last rib (therefore with little support and putting a strain on his back ligaments and muscles).  I had my suspicions from the start, but, once again, ignorance of these things lead to making a costly mistake.  At the time it was suggested we buy a larger saddle, as they are apparently easier to sell second hand when needed, but it seems we really needed one slightly shorter.  Ho hum, we live and learn!  The saddler has given us an excellent price to our 4 month old saddle and we're going to either replace with another the same (but new size) or choose a good second hand one.  I'm hoping we can go for the latter as forking out another £300 odd isn't my idea of fun!  He did say he'd throw in the re-fit visit for free though - bless him!

Away from horses - both cars are seriously needing attention too - and draining our bank account at the same time.  First the radiator has bust on our Landie and I'm wondering if our -14 cold spell had something to do it.  To save on labour costs, Paul has bought all the bits and tools himself to fix it.  I think he's looking forward to the challenge - just hope he doesn't take too long!  Our other family car has got mega power-steering problems.  It's been going on a while now and has got worse and worse as time has gone on.  We had a couple of drives where it reverted back to normal (pure bliss), but other than that we may as well say it doesn't possess power-steering at all, and makes driving tiresome and probably a little dangerous at times.  I've decided that tomorrow's trip to jujitsu, being around 100 miles journey in total, is not going to happen, it's just far too much hard work.  The car's going in to the garage on Monday for a new power-steering pump.  I really hope that'll fix it and there's no more expense.

Ben's next jujistu grading is fast approaching.  The weeks go by so quickly, it doesn't seem five minutes since he got his current belt.  He's loving the classes and the weapons too - so we decided to buy him his own Bo (long stick) and will eventually get him a Jo too (although we've been told a broom stick will do).  Being left handed, with most strenuous moves using the right hand, using a proper weighted Bo will be a bit of a challenge at first I think - but he's up for it!

Katie's working hard on her IGCSE English and will be taking this at a local secondary school at the end of May.  She's far more confident about this exam than the maths last year and her written English has come along in leaps and bounds since starting the course.  Ben is keen to do Interior Design, although at the mo we haven't looked further than the internet and a few books from the library.  He seems to have an eye for colour and room design and enjoyed building homes and furnishing rooms on The Sims until our computer died and we lost it!  He's now found something a little similar online which he's using, as well as putting together mood boards on my Pinterest account.

All our pets are well at the moment, although we had to say goodbye to Billy the rabbit a couple of weeks ago.  Again I think it was the terrible cold spell that pushed him over the edge and it seems his snotty nose (that he's always had and couldn't really cure) turned to pneumonia and he stopped eating and drinking and seemed quite down.  He would have been 8 this Spring which is a good age for a rabbit.  Tilly is off to the vet next week for, what the vet called, a "snip and chip".  They're running a scheme to neuter cats and kittens for a cut price so was pleased to take up that offer.  She's a typical kitten - into everything - jumping up your legs (ouch), scooting across the floor chasing after things and many bouts of serious play-fighting with the other cats (mainly Pepper).  She loves Poppy and follows her around outside; they've even been known to snuggle up together which is very cute.  Mrs. Tiggs, one of our hens, has started laying eggs again.  A sure sign the days are getting longer.  Paul is talking, again, of getting perhaps a couple more hens to increase our egg quota - although once Mrs. Tiggs gets into daily egg laying, we usually find that's enough for our cake making needs.

Think that's it on the update front.  Sewing continues (I'll post again about new things) - life continues - Spring is well and truly on its way - warmer days certainly make me feel more cheerful, it almost means the return of frequent cups of tea outside in the sunshine!

Bleak and frosty morning

This morning had to be the coldest dog walk since having Poppy.  The air was absolutely freezing and actually, quite uncomfortable.  My hair, a little damp from just having a shower, had frozen into strands of frost (first grey hairs??).  Needless to say, Poppy's walk was a brisk 15 minutes and nothing more.  I thought perhaps we'd reached -7 (-5 being the lowest so far), so turned on the car briefly to see the dashboard readout, -14!  I couldn't believe what I was seeing!  News reports stated that Berkshire was the coldest area in the country with -18.

Although not pleasant to be out in, it was an extremely pretty, Narnia style scene, with hoar frost clinging to everything.  The sun was trying very hard to pierce through the mist, which it eventually managed, at about midday. 

Getting to the yard was slow.  The Landrover didn't even start, and the Picasso managed it after three attempts!  By the time we arrived back home, the read out was -12!

This evening saw a gorgeous deep red sunset across flats with a freezing fog hanging above the horizon.  Magical, but darn cold!

Snow, snow, snow ...

... how I do love it! 

Pretty sunrise (7th Feb)

I was pretty excited to hear that snow was going to sweep itself across most of Britain on Saturday night.  I was also mighty relieved that Jay's moving day had been changed from the Sunday to the Saturday! 

Saturday early afternoon didn't look too promising snow wise, although the sky was a bit white (but not that "snowy" yellow colour) and I was beginning to think "yeah, yeah, bet the weather man is wrong".  By the time we returned to the yard at 5ish, it was a different story.  The wind had seriously picked up and little blades of snow were beginning to fall.  Reading my twitter feed, I was now sure we were heading for a good smattering, as many others were reporting snow fall, not many counties away from us.

Walking Poppy at 7.30 wasn't pleasant.  We had a blizzard by then and it was bitterly cold.  Ben's eyes popped out of his head when I suggested he look out the window before bed to see if it was still snowing.  The blizzard had really picked up and snow was being blown across the road and forming big piles of white stuff!

The morning bought that lovely calmness that comes with a fresh fall of snow.  Deep, deep piles of it everywhere.  So deep in fact that next door's cat actually disappeared into one pile - poor thing!  Paul, being the big kid that he is, wanted to do the driving to the yard.  It was slow, but luckily the Landie coped OK.  Jay had a little walk outside his stable to see what all the fuss was about, but we weren't able to put him out in his paddock until later that day as the drifts were too deep.  Once out though, he proceeded to have a roll around, uncovered some grass and put his head down - not bothered at all!

Poppy enjoyed catching snow balls, and the rest of us enjoyed playing snow balls.  The snow was perfect for this, not that thin sticky stuff we usually get.  After lunch we took the Landie and the sledge up to the marsh road for a spot of fun.  With Paul doing the driving and the kids and me taking it in turns to ride the sledge behind - what a laugh!

The snow is still with us, a bit more icy now though, and I hear we have more on the way on Friday!

Across the way - sunset (7th Feb)

A change of scene ...

... for Jay.

It was a sad decision to leave the little yard that Jay was staying at.  Everything was lovely there, so relaxed, come and go as you please attitude, but Katie knew from the start that it wouldn't work out.  Having no arena meant that once winter had arrived the field was either far too soggy or far too hard to ride on.  This has meant that once again, Jay hasn't been ridden properly for several weeks.  Katie's managed a few short lunging sessions, but nothing more.

So, decision made, we spent a stressful couple of weeks looking around the few yards close (ha!) to us.  We settled on a lovely one just an extra 5 mins from the current yard.  There's 5 horses there already, and space for three more.  His stable is under cover and very roomy and he has a nice paddock to himself outside.  The biggest bonus, of course, is the arena which has floodlights too, so no excuse for skipping out of exercise!

All the excitement of moving, and then he wakes up to snow!

The move went well, thanks to two lovely helpers who managed to safely load Jay in just 15 mins.  He seems to have settled in very well too and has already tried out the arena with a couple of lunge sessions.  As there's snow everywhere he couldn't manage more than a short session the first day before walking on icy stilts!    Katie says she feels far more confident being in an enclosed space to work him, rather than in a huge open field, and I have to say, I feel pretty relaxed there too.  It feels good. 


Jay and his young stable mate seem to have made friends very quickly!

"Give us your hay mate!"

Chilli Jelly

I've never really been a huge fan of chilli peppers, although I've grown them a couple of times as hubs is pretty fond of them.  He always has a bit of a go at me for not growing or buying really hot chillis so, with his birthday this week just gone, I decided to surprise him and use Scotch Bonnet chillis (they're hot, believe me!) to make Chilli Jelly.

The process is rather painful, and I'm not talking about the usual getting chilli seeds under the nails or rubbing your eyes after handling them (even after washing your hands, several times).  The pain was from the first process of the making - dissolving the sugar in the white wine vinegar over a low heat.  The fumes were unbelievable and lingered around the house for the rest of the day!  Everyone in the vicinity of the kitchen left coughing and rubbing their eyes - you have been warned!  It is worth the pain though.  This jelly is amazing.  Spread very thinly on crackers, crostini or whatever you desire, the heat from the chillli is warming with a lovely undertone (of what, I cannot say!).  Enjoy.

Makes 12 x 175ml (6 fl oz) jars

2kg (4lb) granulated sugar
500ml (17 fl oz) white wine vinegar
200g (7 oz) Scotch Bonnet chillis (you can use long red chillis - for a milder taste)
1  large red pepper, deseeded and sliced
250ml (8 fl oz) Certo apple pectin (from the sugar aisle at the supermarket)

As I didn't fancy having 12 jars lurking around, I used the following measurements which made 2.5 small jars instead:

500g granulated sugar
125ml white wine vinegar
50g chillis
1/4 red pepper
87.5ml Certo apple pectin

Sterilise jars and lids in the oven at a low temperature.

Cut the chillis in half and deseed.  Zap in a blender until finely chopped, add the sliced pepper and re-zap.
Pour the sugar into a large preserving pan or heavy saucepan, add the vinegar and place on the hob over a low heat stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar.  Turn up the heat slightly and boil until the mixture is syrupy and clear (the recipe says 20 mins (for 12 jar quantity), but for most reliable results use a jam thermometer - boil until it reaches 105 degrees C).

Add the the zapped chillis and pepper to the dissolved sugar and vinegar solution.  Bring it back to the boil over a medium heat until it again reaches 105 degrees C (recipe states 3 minutes for 12 jar quantity).

Remove from the heat and leave to cool for about 15 mins (12 jar quanitity) then stir in the Certo apple pectin.  Keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken and the chillis are suspended in the mixture.

Use a funnel or jug to pour the mixture into the clean, sterilised jars.  If the chillis rise to the top of the jelly, pour it back into the pan and stir over a low heat until they are suspended.  Once jarred, seal tightly and allow to cool.