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.

Florence's Ballet Top

Finally got this finished for Florence before she grows out of it so all she needs now is the ballet lessons and she is set to go!

Adam arrives in Oxford

It was a very proud moment to wave Adam off to Christ Church having fed him his last decent breakfast for the next nine weeks! Mind you high dining sounds rather grand in college so I don't think he is going to do too badly.

Dancing on Ice, well........

Standing up on ice would have been more appropriate!

Spurred on by Emily I agreed to try ice skating as a weekly form of exercise. We were lucky enough to have the rink almost to ourselves so didn't feel too much of an idiot during my first lesson, also meant no other human was in much danger. Took two big falls and have the bruises to prove it but my recklessness meant I picked up some speed and moved away from the edge by the end of an hour. Have new found respect for those celebs who take part in Dancing on Ice it was terrifying to start with and I now know how Bambi felt when trying to use his legs the first time.

Needless to say will be going back again, it was fun.