Tuesday 9th March 2021 - Frogging, Crabbing, Fair and Cake
A few weeks ago the cats were harassing a frog on the lawn. Swiftly picked up, Peter popped the frog into our pond where we think it still is. The cats, that’s our Sid, feral Lunar and one of our neighbour’s cats, have been looking into the pond and dipping in their paws, and as there aren’t any fish in it, I can only assume they are frogging and not fishing. Peter has put wire mesh over the top but this has not deterred the cats’ interest but it will stop them falling in! I keep thinking how lovely it would be if there are both a male and a female frog in the pond, with spawn to come in a few weeks. With so much slug damage to my plants and the lettuces last summer we would welcome a few more frogs to help keep their numbers under control.
It looks as though we may soon being enjoying the first crabs of the season. Walking past the Fishermen’s Green, we saw the Jayne Marie has been moved down onto the promenade; a sure sign it won’t be long before both Andy and Rob are launching and dropping pots over the sides of their boats. The Cromer boats have already been out, with the sea now dotted with markers. Not all fishermen use the traditional coloured markers, favouring GPS to locate their pots.
Overstrand Together, the village’s fundraising group, has announced the date for their Annual Village Fair. With 2020’s fair cancelled, due to Covid, they are hoping to go ahead this year on Sunday 18th July. This event takes a lot of co-ordinating, and manpower too. Erection of the marquees has to fit around the Saturday afternoon cricket match, which often means working late into the evening. Then there is setting up the sound systems, allocating places for craft stalls, vintage cars and games etc., not forgetting equipping the kitchen and bar in the pavilion with everything needed to keep thirsts satisfied. The ladies of the village are called upon the don their pinnies and bake cakes and other sweet delights, and of course after the event everything has to be taken down and packed away.
Talking about cake, when visiting a former colleague of Peter’s some years ago, we complemented his wife on the fruit cake she had baked for us to eat with our cup of tea. When we left she handed me a copy of the recipe. It looked so easy; I doubted if it would work. Melting butter and sugar in a saucepan before adding the other ingredients - the most complex part is cutting up glacé cherries and tinned pineapple! Today’s photo is, a slice of the said cake I made the other day, which as you can see is proof the recipe does work – no wonder it’s called ‘Never Fail Cake’.
