Tomorrow sees the arrival of another daughter with her husband (Alison and Burtie) along with his Dad to stay for the week. This afternoon I have walked the dogs, cleaned out the chickens and fed the cats. T-W-O has been working away at the huge pile of ironing while the football is on the telly.

The world outside is smattered with white after a few snow flurries today, this all looks set to freeze in place as the temperature drops and the evening closes in around us. We had a lovely roast beef dinner for our lunch with a new veg dish I learnt at the last farmers market and I’ve used at every opportunity since to show it off.

Very sadly I am unable to get any pictures downloaded from camera to computer as they appear to have fallen out with each other. We are trying to rectify this but like all software it has a will of it’s own, worryingly we think it’s a camera problem and have emailed Cannon to see if there is any easy fix. I will be lost without it should it need a repair.

Mashed Parsnips

Take a couple of parsnips per person (or more if you love them like I do)

A few spoons of cream

A couple of ounces of grated cheese

salt and pepper

Top, tail and  peel the parsnips. Chop them into chunks of about an inch deep and them boil them in a little salted water. You can steam them if you prefer. Once they are cooked through drain the parsnips and mash up to look like mashed potato.

Put them in an oven proof dish, mix in the cream with half of the cheese. Grind on a bit of pepper and then sprinkle on the rest of the cheese. Pop in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes. The cheese top should be melted. If you are in a hurry you can grill the dish until the cheese melts and bubbles a bit.

I am going to try making this with creme fraiche  instead of cream next time be a bit more healthy. I am also looking for none cheese topped veg dishes to drop a few calories as I seem to be obsessed with cheese coated dishes just now.

T-W-O is sorted out (sort of). He has my long red silk layered skirt which doesn’t quite do up around his waist and a corset style top in a similar red which just might lace a little down the back. In addition to some boobs to fill out the corset he could do with a tiara and a shawl but I think as long as he takes something else to wear should he start to get cold then he’ll be ok, but he should also wear shorts to protect his modesty from the wanton female pirates lusting after his seductive feminine form! Footware will be a problem for him however to which there is no obvious solution.

Mum and I tried on quite a few blouses and jackets trying to imagine them with sleeves cut off, black trousers and knee length boots. So far we look more like a cross between Abba babes and a couple of hippies.

The day has been saved by purchasing a couple of black eye patches from the chemist but I am still swordless!  I do however have a very nice scarf and a little skirt for my daughter……… but that won’t help us with the pirate look. I know I should have gone and got some material and made something weeks ago – they invited us back at the beginning of November but my excuse is there was too much work.

Oh well we have tomorrow still and the T-W-O has found a theatrical costumieres in Carmarthen so off to there we will go although sense tells me to try Argos etc first………………….

Sam is the driving force in our marriage (she is younger after all) and gets me to do all sorts of jobs I don’t want to do. Despite this there is still mountains of things to be done before our home is finished to the level we both want (as an aside to this statement I would add that when we had our home in Northamptonshire, we spent five years bringing it up to standard only to move on immediately here to Wales saying, “that is the last time we take on that sort of renovation project”. Guess what? We have now been in Wales for just over three years and are around a year or so away from finishing renovating our home!)

Coming back to Sam, she is very beautiful, brainy and forgiving (why else would she put up with me). She has a Bsc(hon) in technology and works for one of the major mobile providers in a testing capacity (not that she isn’t sometimes testing to me, especially when we are out shopping). I won’t state her age as I like living but when she passed one of the important milestones in her life not so long ago we had a super party for her in the village reading rooms, something that is still talked about in the village as never have so many nuns, male as well as female, been seen in such a small place. At that party we also renewed our vows (I don’t do churches so this seemed a very special compromise to me and happily a nice surprise to Sam).

Between us we have five children(?). In descending order they are Jim, Gail, Lisa, Ali and Robert. The first three were mine and the last two Sam’s but now they are all both of ours. In addition we have two son in laws, Burt and Iain and one daughter in law, Sarah. Then in addition to them we also have the two most beautiful grand daughters you could wish to see, Ami and Abi.

You may by now have gathered that Sam and the children are the most important things in my life and I love them all more than I can say even though I know I don’t tell them often enough.

I think that is enough for now and will not write anymore unless you want me too. I can only say that our family has a lot of stories to tell and memories to relate so if you do want to hear more then let me know.

By the way my name is Wilf which I have abbreviated from Wilfred! Can you imagine going to school in the 60′s with a name like Wilfred? I have got used to it now but still try to say it very quietly in public.