Source for this image here.
Today it has rained all day. It has been a day for ...
Making mince pies! I had a jar left over from last year which was still good, so I used that up by making a simple plain shortcrust pastry, cutting it into rounds with a fancy cutter, putting these into a greased cupcake tin, and filling each one with about a dessertspoon of mincemeat. Then I used the pastry scraps to make stars to stick on top of each one. They have just gone into the oven so that they can bake in time to be hot for Papa Bear's tea. He will need a treat - he'll be soaking wet when he walks through the door. It's not fun working outside in the winter!
Today has also been a day for:-
- reading - I started reading "The Long Winter" again, as it seemed just perfect for the icy, wet day outside.
- knitting - finishing off bright red mittens for a wee nephew's Christmas gift.
- Planting up lots of bulbs in cute pots to give as gifts for Christmas.
- Damp dusting the whole of the downstairs. I damp dust the living room every day, as that is where the birds live. But everywhere else needs doing regularly too - just not as often. Today was the day for doing that.
- Ironing. I use to let all my ironing build up and have one day a week when I did it all. Now everyone is wearing grown-up size clothes (apart from me!!) this meant all the ironing piling up in a great big heap before it was done - not good. So now I do it every day, and it never mounts up anywhere. If I have to miss a day or two like I did last week, it still doesn't get to the proportions that it use to. Little Bear helps too and that keeps the pile down also.
- Planning our Christmas meal menus. I won't get them finalised just yet, but I like to think ahead! After the busyness of this last week, our Christmas looks as if it is going to be relatively quiet.
- Making a fresh batch of homemade granola in the slow cooker. What with that and the scent of the mince pies cooking, I hope Papa Bear will feel very cosy and welcome when he opens the door this evening after his hard day at work. It is pie night tonight - so as well as mince pies, he also has a very delicious chicken, leek and mushroom pot pie to enjoy. with mash potato and swede, green beans and lots of gravy.
- Finding poems! Today I found this one, and it made me smile - because when it's "cold and dark and dreary" outside, the very best thing to do, is make it as warm and bright and cheerful as we can, inside - that way, our hearts are happy too!
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains,and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains,and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
It rains,and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains,and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
