OFF WE GO AGAIN

Well, we're off, another year has begun with feasting and fireworks, even the weather was reasonable for a change,a good auspice for the future, we hope?

The village is even quieter today as many people have returned to work in the surrounding small market towns. Of course the farmers worked as usual throughout the Christmas Holiday, cows need milking and mucking out and sheep need attention too,especially as the hills around the village have been covered in snow since Boxing Day and lambing time is not far off.

I made no resolutions this New Year which means that I need not have a bad conscience when I brake them,at my time of life there is quite enough enforced abstinence from the pleasures of life without adding to the list and since I am already on a diet I shall let that suffice.

As life slowly returns to normal and we take up our everyday pursuits once more I do find myself making serious plans for the garden to be carried out in the coming months. I mean to be more than ready when Spring arrives with raised beds around the patio and young plants ,grown from seed ready in the green house when the risk of frost has passed,so I shall be spending the next week or so perusing seed catalogues and sourcing the correct flower pots.

My gardener will dig a trench for the runner beans, a task which ,in the past I have done myself,now alas digging is out of the question and even if have my surgery in March I am told that it will be at least six months before I shall be fully recovered. This however is not going to prevent the growing of vegetables for my family and friends and of course I intend to have a crack at the pumpkin contest in the Autumn.

One last feast of the season remains to be celebrated, one that has become neglected in modern times but which in the past was one of the great fun events of the year,Twelfth Night. In modern times Twelfth Night is associated merely with the packing away of the Christmas decorations, quite a sad business and no fun at all, we do remove the decorations, and pack them away until next year but we also celebrate this ancient revel with a special feast of spiced game pie,roast wild boar or venison.

In our younger days rumbustious games were played and much alcohol consumed,now we tend towards a somewhat quieter celebration but still with the emphasis on feasting and above all fun!

There is still a good deal of cold and most likely wet weather to face before the warmed days of spring arrive but with good fires, hot soups and rich stews we shall celebrate even the worst that winter can do. Even though I love to be out in the fresh air it must be said that there is great pleasure to be had sitting by a roaring fire with a cat on ones knee while watching the winter storms rage outside, and I intend to enjoy every minute of it.