What we've been doing

C has been working outside, testing himself with what he can do without getting out of breath. So far he has trimmed the top off the front hawthorn hedge on both sides of the gateway and cut down some of the small  Ash and brambles that were creeping under the Horse Chestnut tree, taking light and moisture from the things in the fruit cage. The Ash were only cut back about 5 years ago.

He is finding that working upright is no problem, but bending up and down soon makes him feel not quite right so that he needs to stop.
 We now have heaps of prunings all along the front fence and in the orchard waiting to be cleared up.

On Tuesday and Wednesday he also worked at our neighbours for a couple of hours sorting out her strawberry bed which had got in a mess. He brought home a few runners and has put them in some spare growbags in the poly-tunnel, they hadn't really rooted so may not survive - we shall see.

Last year, after Looking at all the Christmas trees we have on the smallholding we bought a cheap artificial one from B & Q ( did you know some fake trees are over £200)  This year, because we have a crowd here, we put our tree up in the conservatory. But the living room was looking so un-Christmassy I had a brainwave and we carefully picked it up and stood it on a small table wedged in the corner behind the TV - we wouldn't have been able to do that with a real one! It looks a bit odd but at least it's cheered up the living room.
We don't do 'hanging things' anymore because the room was re-plastered when the extension was built and the few bits we have pinned in resulted in bits of plaster all over the floor and cracks in the ceiling. We don't want to have to decorate the room before we move.

One of my favourite clearing up jobs it to sort through STUFF, get rid of the useless and make everything take up less room than before. I spent most of yesterday clearing out everything from a small pine bureau in the craft room, tidying up and clearing out things from a tall chest of drawers and fitting the useful things from the bureau into the top drawers. Now the small bureau ( bought off ebay many years ago) which seemed such a good idea but actually never got used properly as the drop down front bit wasn't high enough to sit at, can go out in the shed ready  to go to the auction house or car boot sale.

Today I put the marzipan and icing on the Christmas cakes and wrote lists.
Here is something to bring joy to list makers everywhere - A List Of Lists!

•  shopping list for the 23rd
• the jobs that need doing between now and 23rd
• jobs for Christmas eve
•  things I want to do between Christmas and New Year
• ideas for things to make for next Christmas
• things to look out for in the sales ( that's a very short list only wrapping paper and presents)
• things to look for at car-boot sales next year

Now I only need to write a job list for Christmas morning and I'll be sorted, with dinner for 12  on the table by around 1.15 to give us time to take Cs Dad down to Aldeburgh for some sea air in the afternoon. ( Hopefully leaving the kids behind to wash up!)

Back Tomorrow
Sue