Looking forward to cooking breakfasts again...

When I first poked my nose out of the door this morning, the wind was so warm

. The thought was the Caribbean Trade Winds. Then the reality was I was in North Yorkshire and what a nice morning it is. Jack had already been up two hours ahead of me. So another chapter to the book as he was actually the pirate. Oh dear what this lockdown is doing.I must have been still half asleep. Dorthy the cat flew out of the door as I opened it ,so quickly she could have been the parrot. Reality was I was just up by 6am to get Jack his breakfast. I listen to Bojo give his statement of how lockdown is hopefully going to unfold. 17th May looks like D Day for the Bed and Breakfast providers which includes us. We are so looking forward to welcoming guests again. With the amazing surroundings we have and have explored this last year which we are happy to share with you when you stay with us ,there is now even more reason to stay with us on your stay in North Yorkshire .

Thank goodness for the telephone

And I dont mean a mobile. I mean the house phone. I have a mobile because I need to ..in case I break down when I am out in the car,in case I want to take a photo and in case I have forgotten to take something out of the oven and have to ring Jack to rescue his near burnt tea. For one thing the buttons are too small ,I have to put my glasses on to see what I am doing and you have to keep charging it up .SO I have Alexander Graham Bell to thank Yesterday I spoke to two people, Sue in Cornwall and Chrsitine, touching base with her, over the other side of Harrogate. So while I was busy nattering I was able to get Jacks dinner ready, put the pots in the dishwasher and feed the cats. Also I went outside to feed the birds for the umpteenth time of the day. It makes for good viewing on the live cam on www.carrhousefarm.co.uk website. You should take a look if you havent already. Christine ,another Christine often tells me what is on the bird table when we speak on the landline phone . Jack tends to watch them through the dining room window. There are so many robins about now ,and blackbirds and too many pigeons come. The last couple of days we have seen the woodpeckers back again with their flash of red tail. Anyway back to my conversation that I had had on the phone .I was surprised when they both said they had read my blog and how they had missed it. So as I had finished my breakfast by quarter to seven- you cant beat Quaker Oats to make porridge. As they were on offer recently I bought quite a stack - my normal non Covid hoarding habit. I thought I had time to write another blog before the world wakes up and I get side tracked. I dont know if it is more a "woman thing" but I can spend ages chatting on the phone. I even delight in asking the person who rings up to offer me double glazing or change my energy bill .Trust me it is quite fun and doesnt raise the blood pressure quite as much as swearing at them down the phone. When asked if I am the home owner I never say yes as I once read an article which says if you say yes to such a company, they move it like copy and paste. The next thing you know you will be in a contract for something you dont want .. So after they ask and say I hope you are having a nice day I launch back to them and ask them are they having a nice day and where are they ringing from and so I ask them what the weather is like. Is this such an English thing to say ? amd a host of other questions reeeling them off so fast ,they havet time to get a word in edgeways and mission accomplished they hang up on me rather than the other way around. Well one thing I wont be giving up for Lent is the telephone. I saw some said she was coming off Facebook for 40 days and I thougtht what a good idea but then I would miss what was going on in the world. Giving chocolate up for Lent is like me making New Years Resolutions - a complete waste of time .So I will stick to making pancakes . There will be two batches one lot for Jack at lunctime ,the other for my Dad at tea time and I will probably have to have them for bother meals .Life can be hard some days. I used to love it when it fell that the grandchildren were here on Pancake Day and it was who could eat the most . I was sure Martha would have popped as she seemed to be able to tuck them away and eat a phenomenal amount of them. She is always the winner of who can eat the most Yorkshire puddings. I will be glad when we can have them over for Sunday lunch again.

St Valentines Day

Well we are 6 weeks into lockdown and I had hoped to blog most days. But even the best made plans dont always work. You dont need to know but when you had good health hold on to it. So aplogises to my loyal blog followers for bearing with me. Snow, well yes it comes most years and social media must think it has just been invented. For people like me, who went to school in the 1960s, the snow we get now a days is just a sprinkling. In those days you could be snown in for 6 weeks so similar to lockdowns of today . In the 70s and in teenegae years it was great as th eschool bus couldnt get through or was later so we used to hang on until the last minute, see the bus coming in the distance and then scarper. Two miles in those days was nothing to walk home.We would get home just in time for dinner,snowballing and sliding along the way. I feel sorry for the white owls as the mice run under the snow and there is not a lot we can do to help them. It has been extremely cold but with good supplies of logs Jack keeps bringing them in by the barrow load every day. So as Valentines Day is tomorrow.I

dont need to be reminded he loves me with a soppy card or flowers. As long as he just keep bringing logs in that is enough for me. Today we sat snuggled up on the sofa with the log burner door open now that was poor Heaven. The heat is so much better than having to wear long john under your trousers. Oh dear they arent called long johns these days they are thermals . Well whatever they are called that extra layer of clothing is so appreciate when you areout and about. The basin in the down stairs bathroom is frozen so glad we have others to use. That bathroom is facing north so really doesnt get any sun on it at all. I went for a walk the other day up into the woods. I would never have thought to take photos but Tom had been up and said it looked like Narnia . I saw 5 deer too. They are coming down now off the moor as there is no food for them and someone spotted 30 last night. With the seasons all to pot there are still some very late born ones about so sadly if the weather continues like this they will not survivie the winter. We feed the garden birds constantly during th edays and sadly keep finding little wrens dead from the cold. The days are starting to lenghten and when the sun comes out it throws its heat around. The aconites were out first and now th esnowdrops and other bulbs are pushing through. My dill and thyme have taken a beating and the early showing of chives well we will see. So try and stay warm everyone ,stay safe and look after your selves till next time . . .