It hit -3C in town

I made the ground floor of a car park in town just after 9am today. That is evidence of how cold it is as everyone must have been having difficulty pulling themselves out of bed this morning. By the time I left town there were traffic jams everywhere, all going the opposite direction from myself. I felt good!

I don't intend to leave the house until it gets warmer. Leavy and Pippa take note - if you want a walk you'd better ask someone else.

Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is now re-potted and inside. I have to wait for it to stop dripping before I can do anything more with it. I've also established that there are no birds' nests in the chimney so the fire is happily burning in the front room. It must be near to Christmas! Brian had to go out and get some coal and logs, but now we are all set.

Pre-Christmas freeze

We're getting weather of biblical proportions here - rain first, and now "the big freeze". My thermometer registered -4.7C last night. It snowed on Sunday night and the snow is still lying in large quantities on the ground. I've never known that to happen before, when no further snow has fallen. There has been sun during the day, but not enough to bring the temperatures above freezing in spaces that don't get it shining directly.

The impact on me has been to reduce my energy for doing things. Or, is that a reaction to a busy autumn? This week was supposed to be spent doing all sorts of householdy things that I've neglected over the past few months. However, I find I'm doing the minimum. I have managed to tidy the glass-fronted shelves in the kitchen, though, and the glasses in it are all neatly in rows.

I've just made some really nice raspberry yoghurt ice cream. It is very creamy (proportions of cream and yoghurt match) and yummy. It just might last until Carolan and Andy come home, but maybe I should just make more.

The meat delivery from Jack McCarthy's didn't arrive yesterday. Disaster! The driver said we were up on a hill and so he couldn't reach us. I think that's excuse number 1 from the list of the top 10. In spite of the cold, the roads are very clear. We have been promised that he will arrive by lunch-time today.

Floods in Castleconnell

It's very strange to be living only a few hundred metres away from people who have had to leave their homes due to flooding. Our only inconvenience is the fact that there is only one route by which we can reach our house, and that can be a long roundabout way to reach it if coming from the wrong direction. In order to reach the village and shops it is now a 3 mile trip, instead of a few hundred metres. Or, alternatively, we can wade through water that now contains a lot of sewage.

B's blog is attracting an unprecedented readership as it has a lot more information than most sources on what it all looks like on the ground (or under the water).

I've just come back from a different world - a day of pampering in a spa in Co. Wicklow, in the sunny eastern half of the country. I'd never had a facial before, and found it to be surprisingly good. Reflexology was also a new experience. It was relaxing, but not as stunning as others seem to find it.

While in the Dublin area I attended Chris Moriarty's talk on Darwin in Monkstown Meeting House. It was very interesting and enjoyable. I must read about Darwin and the Beagle again.

It would be so nice

Do you think that there is any chance that this weekend will be a nice one? I'm just asking for one nice Bank Holiday weekend this year. Is that too much to ask for? It seems like it might be. However, we'll head off on Knocknagow anyway and try to find a sheltered place to relax.

I'm surrounded by sleeping dogs. They've apparently spent the day barking, so they must now be tired. I'm trying to work out a way of channeling their daytime energy into doing gardening tasks. Do you think they could be taught how to dig out weeds from between the patio slabs, and to clear all the moss and weeds from the front garden? I like gardening when it produces food, but don't like those persistent weeds and can't persuade myself to imagine them as pretty. Perhaps if the evenings were warm and dry I'd wander outside and make a start on the work.

Here is the O'Briensbridge anchor:

That elderflower champagne

I've just tasted the first batch of elderflower champagne. It has a gentle fizz to it, and is nice and elderflowery. It isn't alcoholic, or rather I don't know how it could be with the ingredients in such a short time period, so I assume it isn't. It's very refreshing.

We've stayed at home this weekend, with b going up to the boat to do woodwork yesterday and today, and me going up today. The mornings have started up beautifully sunny but by lunch-time there have been heavy showers, so I didn't feel it was the best weekend for outdoor painting. As a result I tackled the huge pile of ironing that has built up over the last couple of weeks, and I've done a bit of gardening. I also cleaned the oven, always a horrible job.

At the boat today I took a jig-saw to the three middle cubby-holes opposite the sink, and increased their size for access. I then painted the whole area with a clean coat of white paint. We now have much better storage in that area. I took down the hanging bread bin and there are now three layers of plastic drawers for putting all sorts of things in, leaving a smaller tiled area for chopping on, but sufficient for what is needed.

Goldie is deteriorating. b is intending to bring him to the vet to ask for advice this week as we don't like seeing him uncomfortable. He still enjoys his walk, or at least enjoys it on the way out, but has difficulty returning, and collapses when he arrives home.

Elderflower season

I thought you might like to know that elderflowers are coming out and so it is the time of year to make elderflower cordial. I picked some flowers this evening and then realised that I didn't have any citric acid, needed to make the cordial. However, you don't need it for elderflower champagne, so I've made some of that. This is a new idea, so I hope it works.