Walker Christmas 2010

There was once a time when all the nieces and nephews could fit on the stairs quite comfortably, but not any longer. Four out of five of them are now taller than me. Shall have to start wearing heels around them. Mind you there has never been a time when, in the taking of this traditional photo, that all of them have been looking at the camera at the same time! You would think they could manage it by now.

Happy 18th Birthday, Fred.

18 years ago today Amanda thought it was just a dodgy mince pie giving her indigestion, then a little later along came Fred! We all celebrated his birthday together with a specially chosen menu of French soup and steak sandwiches! Congratulations Fred.

My, my, what big feet you have!

Always wondered why I had difficulty putting Jonathan's socks on when he was little!

Christmas Eve in Duns Tew

The village in the snow was picture postcard pretty with snow on the fields and icicles galore hanging from the eves of the houses and cottages. The temperature was dropping under a clear sky and a warm cup of mulled wine was certainly welcome to keep us warm. Christmas came slightly early as Charlotte and Imogen were allowed to open our presents but not before we had checked where Santa was on the Santa Tracker. (Cambodia, if you are interested!). Did you know he travels at 650 miles a second?

Snow News

No more snow overnight but temperatures below freezing mean it all still remains!

Scout Cam Update

The snow has arrived in Oxford and although the back garden looks beautiful, particularly the trees, we were disappointed to be grounded for the day. The A34 was closed nearby and our next door neighbour got stuck trying to get home from the supermarket. The snow has fallen continuously since we woke up and still shows no signs of stopping. Caught deer, magpies and the jay on camera today, it seems to be coping with the snowfall. The birds were very clever, they cleared the snow from one side of the bird feeders so that they could eat!

Knitted Angel

Our Christmas tree was looking rather elegant with bone china ornaments, Victorian candle lights and our White House Christmas collection decorations, sent every year by a friend in Washington DC. What was missing was an angel or fairy. So I knitted one. This has spoilt the look slightly but will become, I am sure, a family heirloom if it makes it through the holiday without Mark removing and burning it!

Anyway thought it deserved a mention particularly as knitting photos have been scarce recently. This is because most of my knitting has been for Christmas presents. Nieces and nephews be afraid, very afraid! Godchildren needn't panic!

Scout Cam Two

Just in case you really couldn't make out the fox on yesterdays photo here he is caught fair and square in the range of the camera. Suggestions for a name please on a postcard to the usual address!

Scout Cam One!

Success on my first evening! Right hand corner of dark picture, now look very carefully, can you see the fox? First picture in the middle behind the pond, (which isn't a pond by the way)a squirrel. Oh joy, it works! Shame there wasn't a tiger.

Scouting Camera

I am undergoing surveillance! Mark bought me an infra-red wildlife camera which I have just set up on the pear tree in the garden. Nothing will now go undetected in this garden! Expect further posts of wildlife posing for their close ups. May even get a tiger, well the man on the TV who had one of these did! Shall send it back if I don't!

Birthday News!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend with friends and was well and truly spoilt with lots of lovely gifts and cards. These balloon flowers were a surprise and are lasting much better than the real thing, added bonus don't have to remember to water them!

Christmas Flowers

With the first of the Christmas Carols playing in the background I polished up the rose bowl, gathered the holly and the ivy from the garden and put together the first of our Christmas decorations. Am hoping it looks more festive than funeral but I'm not sure! Maybe it needs a touch of gold ribbon.

Stir up Sunday (a week late!).

Stir up Sunday is traditionally the first Sunday in Advent but despite having plenty of windfalls from various friends I wasn't organised enough to actually do the stirring up! However this weekend has seen my Christmas mincemeat canned and ready for sharing. Really didn't take too long to prepare it all even though I had not been looking forward to peeling and chopping the apples.

While stood at the kitchen window putting the mincemeat into jars saw our fox sauntering down the lane as bold as brass. Looked plenty fat enough to survive the winter cold and confident enough in his territory. Also saw a flock of seven long tailed tits on the bird feeders which I have never seen before. They were soon gone having swarmed in on the food, taken their fill and given me enough of a look to get the book out and identify them. Must say think they are my favourite little bird so far, small, fluffy with a hint of pink.

Frozen Canel

Although we don't have the heavy snow falls of some of the country the temperatures are still below freezing during the day. The canal is frozen around the boats and the ice was thick enough to support the weight of an old car tyre that someone had thoughtfully thrown in. Really wouldn't want to be living on one of the houseboats right now although from the towpath the canal looked very pretty.

Sloe Gin

The fruit of the Blackthorn is known as a sloe and I picked some a month or so ago thinking they were tiny damsons and put them in some wild fruit jam. However after watching The Edwardian Farm last week and seen Ruth making sloe gin for Christmas I realised what they really were! Picked a large basket early one morning with a heavy frost still on the sloes and have moved into home brewing! A much easier process than making elderflower cordial, (though picking was quite treacherous because of the long thorns), the sloe gin is now gently infusing in the utility room. All it needs is a gentle shake every so often and it should be ready for the end of January. Unfortunately don't think I bottled it early enough for Christmas! But it might be appearing in a hamper near you soon!

Snow News

After a while of blog silence I'm back with weather news! Despite the impression from the national weather reports Oxford has missed the heavy snow so far and has only had a sprinkling of snow over the last couple of days. However the temperature has never come off the freeze and I am having to regularly defrost the bird baths and the windscreen on the car! The bird food is also disappearing very quickly from the bird table as the ground feeders are finding the ground a little hard. Three Robins were fighting for territorial rights over the suet pellets this morning. Have also recently seen the pair of Jays and a Green Woodpecker in the back garden, no sightings of deer for a little while, though windfall apples that we have put out for them have disappeared.