love those cupcakes

Not much has been happening here lately, in bullets

• A haircut (about 3 inches chopped off this time) and colour.  Back to blonde.

• A new dress.  Actually, my only dress.  For the upcoming family wedding. Ordered from Germany, cost a bomb and about which I'm very unsure.  I do like the box, though.

• A new biscuit tin.

•   Chocolate chip cookies to fill the new biscuit tin.  Some of these are the size of saucers. I may need a bigger tin.
  

• Colourful soup in the making.  Autumn is knocking on the door and I'm more than ready for some menu changes.

• A new camera (hence rather odd pictures in this post). Nothing too complicated, I know my limitations, but a step up from the one I've been using.  Who knows, maybe I'll eventually move out of 'auto' mode.
  

 

Last week's best bits

Wednesday evening saw us driving in torrential rain to Newcastle for the preview of an art exhibition.  Unusually for us, we know the artist.  She's the daughter of one of my oldest friends and this was a show of her most recent work, completed as part of a residency with a gallery in the city.  You can read about it here.

Friday was my birthday.  There were cards, a brown paper package which deserves its own post, flowers

and, surprise surprise, one of these.

Actually, I was given two Kindles, each complete with leather cover.  One was from the mister and the other (with more thoughtful wrapping, I'd have to say) about two hours later from the Girlie and Boy.  

Communication.  Such a wonderful thing, people.

Of course, there was birthday cake.  Chocolate fudge with a hint of orange. (I used Lindt Orange Intense instead of plain 70% chocolate in the cake mix and a smidgeon of orange essence in the icing.)

The local delicacy here being the Parmo, this town is sorely lacking in decent restaurants (our favourite veggie restaurant is actually in the next town) and venues for a celebratory meal can be counted on one hand finger.  So that's where we went on Saturday.

And the celebrating continues with friends tonight. 

I love birthdays, me.

 

Chasing away the post-Olympics blues

 Yesterday:  With white chocolate and peanut butter cookies. The mixture does make eight as the recipe states but there were casualties.  The cookies, though tasty, were very soft with three disintegrating on the cooling rack and eventually ending up in the dog.

Today:  With double chocolate buns.

Handy hint:  If your little cakes rise in undesirable peaks, cover them with a sheet or two of kitchen paper as soon as they come out of the oven (and whilst they're still in the baking tray) and press down lightly on each cake.

At this rate we'll burst before the Paralympics even begin.

 

Number 23

Oh, blimey.  It's bad enough when boats, bikes and hammers are involved.  Throw in the most graceful of horses, executing perfect pirouettes, piaffes and passages to the most stirring of music, and the tears just pour and pour out of by now square eyes.

 Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro, gold medallists

I'm wrecked.

 

House clearance

 Our garden shed, which was bought as a play house for the Girlie and Boy shortly after we moved here, has needed replacing for quite some time.  Cherished belongings were removed long ago and, with the shed's position behind the garages, it's been all too easy to ignore its sorry state. No-one has ventured inside for years. Until yesterday.  It had to be cleared in readiness for demolition today and the arrival of a new shed tomorrow.  We weren't at all sure what was still in there (though a community of hefty spiders was no surprise) and found a doll's pushchair, several bikes of differing sizes, a Union Jack on a pole and those other essential bits and bobs that make a shed a home.

The bookshelves had mostly been cleared with just these four books remaining.

Boo was quick to claim a mouldy ball,

Buzz took up position on the shed roof to oversee proceedings,

Bea was on watch at the front of the house

and I kept the tears at bay (so many memories) by prancing about the garden with the camera.

After leaving a pile of the more select items for the rag and bone man (he's already collected them) and a trip to the waste recycling centre, it was time for a welcome cuppa.

With slices of coconut lime loaf for him.

Channel hopping

With no tickets to any of the Olympics events, we're supporting TeamGB from the sofa, eyes glued to the telly.

Of course, there are occasional breaks for meals and snacks. 

These cakes are from yesterday, quickly whipped up between the women's gymnastics and the swimming.

They're almond and white chocolate. 

With the willpower of an Olympian, I resisted. 

I asked the Boy what they tasted like.

'Cake' was the very helpful reply. 

One supporter here is finding it all a tad exhausting, though.