You know how it is, when you are having visitors and want everything to be, if not perfect - as near as. Amongst other things, I decided to make a gluten free walnut cake but this turned out to be far from perfect and pretty well destined for disaster. Firstly, the recipe said to cook it in two separate sandwich tins for twenty-five minutes but at this point the centres where still fluid and the middles promptly sank. After a further ten minutes they were cooked but retain

I have put up some posters in the village publicising, £1062.99 was raised here in Overstrand for the Poppy Appeal (see today’s photo). This is only a few pounds difference compared to last year which, given that people are cutting back due to increase in prices etc., came as a very pleasant surprise. It is good to know that the British Legion, as a charity, is valued for the work it does for service men and women, as well as their families. Yesterday morning, we heard Popp

For anyone who has spotted I am late posting and not keeping to my usual four days for my blogs, then it is not a case of forgetting – it was planned. I wanted to hold back until after the Poppy Appeal count. Four of us met at the Methodist Church yesterday morning for the count. Once this was completed and the money bagged, checked and logged, Peter and I headed to the Post Office to pay this in. It was lunch time by then, after which we had a short walk before I started

By Wednesday, I had pretty well decided we wouldn’t see Lunar again. Missing since Saturday evening, we wondered what had happened to her and how she was faring for food. However, when I returned home in the afternoon, after our monthly ex-WI tea and cake meet-up, there she was sat on the mat at the bottom of our stairs. She had returned while I was out and, of course, Peter had given her food and milk too to welcome her back, to what we hope she regards as her home. Where

Our part feral cat, Lunar, has disappeared. We feed her twice a day and most nights she sleeps in our conservatory. In the summer, when it is light and warm enough to sit in the conservatory in the evenings, she often sits on my lap, purring. But on Saturday evening, just as soon as the first fireworks were let off on the car park, she bolted. It’s now Monday afternoon and we have not seen her since fear grasped her. The last we saw of Lunar was her running down the garde

We are starting to experience the true essences of autumn. Definitely a chill first thing, when I have needed a scarf and gloves when we go out for our walk. Later in the day the temperature has risen to the mid-teens so when we took a break from gardening yesterday morning, we drank our hot chocolate and coffee sat in the sunshine on the garden bench – very pleasant. The grass was still damp when Peter mowed the back lawn but it looks a whole lot better for its trim. Leav