Deblyn

According to Mr Lowie, I spend all day sitting on my fat **** drinking tea and talking to my friends, so I might as well sew or knit while I am doing it!!

If I have to cook something and the fire isn't up enough to heat up the whole Rayburn, I sit the pan inside the firebox, with just the handle sticking out, and cook directly on the coal or wood. I do this at the weekends for poached eggs; it's a big waste to turn up the stove for just 2 or 3 poached eggs. the bottoms of the pans get black, but that does come off if you want it to.

I pickle cucumbers and gherkins with dill, but not this year. Mine keep for about 6 - 8 months in a cool store room on the north side of the house. Any longer than this, and the cucumbers start to soften and go mushy, and even the chickens won't eat them.

Mu ornaments are on their way across the Atlantic as we speak - they should be with you all within a week or so. I hope you like them.

Sometimes I find a project takes on a new lease of life and goes better if it is put away and you have a break from it, especially a big project. We all have UFO (un-finished-objects) lying around! While I was tidying some piles of fabric and sorting them out to put away in the cupboard, I found a half-finished applique; I hadn't finished it because I went off it a bit. It's a snow scene for the Christmas season, not too big, but when I looked at it again, I really liked it, so it has ahd a reprieve and I hope to finish it this week and frame it. As I have said before, my theories are great ------------------!

I don't know Velveeta cheese - we don't get it over here, so I can't help you with this one, but I'm sure someone will be able to (and I'll find out what it is as well!).

I have finished the book now, so will wait until others havee too. I quite enjoyed reading it, somewhat to my surprise! It's a bit different to The Ladies of Covington, isn't it?!

Because of the young ages of our two children I have passwords on this (my!) computer; there is one that is needed to get into the Windows 98, and a separate password for my desktop, which is where the net is. This system works well, and we have had no problems so far; I can keep tabs on who is doing what on the computer, and I also keep an eye on all the e-mails that come in, as they are all addressed to me; we only have one e-mail address. And I have not forgotten the passwords yet!!!

Good ideas there! However, in this house, I am afraid it is a race to see who gets the tubes first! I use them for sowing sweet pea and bean seeds, where the plants do best with as little root disturbance as possible; the tubes are filled with compost, the seeds sown directly into them. When ready to plant out, the whole tube, complete with plant is planted into the ground and grows away strongly. The cardboard rots down into the soil for the worms to eat. When we had gerbils, they used to love chewing the rolls and using the cardboard as bedding in their nests.

That sounds like the lemon meringue pie that is made over here - do you have that over there? I make it when I have extra eggs - it's one of the childrens' favourites; it can also be made using limes, similar to Key Lime Pie. We all like it here, but my stove is usually running too hot to make good meringue; it slows down in the middle of thenight, but I don't want to be up cooking at 3.30 in the morning, much as I love my family!

I'm halfway through now, and it's still keeping my attention; I think the writing is very effective at achieveing a threatening atmosphere, also the length of the chapters - short and to the point, stark. Very atmospheric. I will definitely finish it, not least because I had to pay for the library request!!

I forgot to say: that seems to be what happens quite often when foreign species are imported into other countries - Australia has rabbit and toad problems, our Western Isles has had problems with hedgehogs and thousands of them have had to be killed as they got overrun with them after they were imported over the water to eat slugs etc. Interfering with nature - seldom a good idea.

I had to go and look this up on google; we don't get them here, thank goodness, they sound a real pain. Do they only come at this time of year, or are they there all the time? What do they eat - do they attack specific plants, or do they eat anything else?

I went to the library yesterday and it was there waiting for me; I read the first four chapters last night. This sort of thing, and science fiction in general is not something I would normally choose to read. However, I am enjoying it so far, the little that I have read. I quite like the sparse writing - no superfluous detail, which I think creates the right sort of atmosphere for where I think the story is going. This is the first Margaret Attwood I have read. Will update tomorow if I get to read some more tonight.

Good grief - I do! My body is a temple (hahaha - not!!) and I like to know what is going into it; also my children and husband. My daughter, as an avid vegetarian, is a great label reader too.

The traditional way to cook slamon in Scotland is by poaching in liquid; white wine and water is the best, but you could use plain water with herbs and butter in, or just seasoning. Poach until just slightly underdone, as the fish continues to cook as it cools down. Whole slamon were poached this way in a large fish kettle; the slamon was placed inside with wine, seasonings, etc, the lid put on; it was brought to the boil, simmered three minutes then removed from the heat. By the time the salmon was cold it was cooked perfectly. I say "was" because not many places these days cook whole salmon at a time, and probably even fewer possess a fish kettle!

Do foods in the US have to list all their ingredients by law on the tin, packet, whatever? They do over here, so it is fairly easy to tell what is in them.

I've tried them; I tried then just plain fried in a little oil- they taste just like sharp tangy red tomatoes; they can be coated in eg cornmeal and fried that way too. I pickled a load last year and they are good that way too; I sold a lot of jars from the table. This year I have made some green tomato and apple chutney as well. They need more cooking than the red ones, as the skni is still thicker.

I found a couple of posts about this from July, and came across it in something I was reading yesterday. I've just looked up the site and it seems a wonderful idea. Have you started yet, Dee? I did a search and found 26 people from england and 28 from Scotland, so it is known about over here.

Not quite fighting for his country, but fighting for what he believed in - my great great grandfather was a covenanter, and had one ear chopped off for his religious beliefs. I hope to find out more about him when I get around to doint that side of the family.

It's usually quite quiet here early in the morning, apart from the birdsong. I hear Mr Lowie stirring to go to work, and the shipping forecast on the radio, followed by the farming news. I hear the children stirring in their sleep sometimes getting up early; I hear the cockerels going too, sometimes;I hear the delivery vans for the pub opposite - veg, milk, brewery etc. These noises are now familiar, so quite often I can sleep through them, apart from the children stirring.

We used to have a downstairs toilet in a room at the back of the house, off the back porch. We didn't need it as that, so hubby removed the actual toilet and it is now the storeroom. At the tip I found an original 1950's meatsafe, amde of metal with a shelf in it. Because the storeroom is on the north side of the house it stays very cool. I keep the eggs in there all the time, and it is also possible to keep cheese and milk in it as the temp in there never gets that hot; so we would manage if the power went off and we were without our freezer and fridge.

Love it! There's no stopping you now with the camera, is there?!!! The costumes are very very good. I love them both, very clever. Sadly, quite often my two don't need to dress up much to be swamp things................

... if he has done what he has been accused of. A male teacher at our village primary school has been suspended after allegations that he has abused 19 children, in our tiny village school of just over 100 pupils. The teacher is the one my best friend works for as classroom assistant, and teaches the year that my little boy would have been in had he attended school. I am absolutely sickened by this. As Joan said, school is supposed to be safe.

A blender purees and makes things liquid. A processor, as Debbielee says, chops, shreds,, makes dough, etc. I have both, as they each do their own job in the litchen. If you make soup, then a blender will make the soup really smooth; you can put it through the processor, but it leaves it thicker and with a grainier texture, not so smooth. Hope this helps.