Bittersweet irony

I’m not usually one to hit the sales – having a pathological loathing of crowds, walking at snail’s pace, rummaging and a health scepticism about “was” prices doesn’t usually add up to it being a pleasant experience. However, I’ve recently lost some weight which has meant I’ve dropped a dress size for the first time ever (i.e. since I went from an age size to a dress size) and decided to see if I could treat myself to a couple of things that actually fit.

To my surprise I found a number of tops which I really liked, but there was one snag – none of them were in my new size, but ironically I could have had any of them in my old size.

Oh well, never mind. I’ve put that much weight on over Christmas (owing to it being spent with Mother and not Fell walking as I’d have preferred) I might soon be able to find something in my size!

And the award for…

…cutest carrot goes to…

The Cuddle:

A King amongst Kings

While I waited for the frost to clear this morning and possibly inspired by the fact the new series of Time Team starts on Sunday, I decided to excavate Carrot Fort Knox. I’m not a great carrot grower – always had too much trouble with carrot root fly – and owing the enforced chicken defenses this season, they’d not been properly thinned or weeded, so my hopes weren’t high. They had been covered in fleece though, so the fly wasn’t a problem.

I’ve been picking carrots as required since the summer (when my early started grown-in-tubs supply ran out) and had some decent sized ones, including a bit of a monster yesterday. None, it has to be said, could have prepared me for this:

It may not be a world record, but it’s certainly the biggest carrot I’ve ever grown!

A caged animal

Having made a good start on the veg bed rearranging on Monday and Tuesday, I encountered a slight hitch yesterday… -5ºC temperatures.

Now, I’m happy to work in the cold, but if my hands get too cold I’m a gonner – major pain through my body and a serious darkening of mood. Although there’s still sightly over half the digging left to do, I needed to remove the old chicken wire first. I removed the edging boards and Fort Knox protections yesterday, but left the wire until today, so needed a combination of gloves that would keep me warm but still allow me to feel what I was doing.

My first attempt at glove combination was an utter failure. It lasted through the chicken chores, but only a couple of the staples that someone had been a little zealous in attaching the wire to the posts with originally (i.e. me – knowing which did nothing to improve my mood). I stomped off inside – complete with my very own little black cloud – for a rethink. A subsequent attempt faired no better.

With lunchtime looming, and knowing I’d wanted to make soup for lunch, I stomped of once again to see if the fork would go into the ground where the carrots and beetroot are, or if I’d have to make do with parsnip (already in the fridge) and apple soup. The mood lightened and the fork sunk smoothly around the carrots – the fleece covering was obviously doing it’s job nicely.

I finally found the right combination of gloves mid afternoon. That allowed me just enough time to snip all the staples (not remove the wire as it’s still frozen in the ground at the bottom), sort out the kitchen compost and remove the greener from the extra carrots I’d dug earlier to go with tea.

Not your average New Years Eve maybe. Happy New Year.