Age is a funny thing

Well yesterday I was 41! How did that happen? I don't feel 41 on the inside, but I am ageing on the outside. One day I decided that dying my hair & smothering myself in various creams really was quite silly. Why exactly was I trying to cheat Nature and for whose benefit? We females in particular have been indoctrinated in to believing we are somehow inferior if we dare to let Father Time give us 'fine lines' & grey roots! So out went the hair dye, out went the fancy creams & lotions! Now I'm strictly a gentle soap & water & simple moisturiser kinda girl - & has my life fallen apart because of it? Of course not, except to say that I feel more comfortable in my own skin now. And I'm polluting the Planet a little less with chemicals. Do the people I care about think any less of me? Is my marriage suddenly in peril? Do people avoid me in the street now? No of course not! My life continues just as happily as it always has. Funny that!

Youngest son & my mum also have birthdays this week so we all got together at Mum & Dad's last Sunday. Family time is always treasured time! After Mum's yummy dinner, followed by even yummier steamed syrup sponge (heaven!) we got onto the subject of my recent chutney & jam experiments & Dad went & found my gran's copy of Mrs Beeton's cook book. When I opened it a recipe, on yellowing paper & carefully hand written in black ink, fell out. It was for 'A Scripture Christmas Cake Taken from The Bible'. It had no ingredients or method instructions just a list of Bible references. So youngest son & I, both with woefully little Bible knowledge, had a go at unravelling the code. It was good fun so here it is if you have a Bible & fancy a little challenge:

4 1/2 cups .........1st Kings............IV chapter ......22nd verse

1/2 lb....................Judges................V chapter.........25th verse

2 cups....................Jeremiah............VI chapter.........20th verse

2 cups....................Nahum...............III chapter.........12th verse

2 cups..................1st Samuel...........XXX chapter......12th verse

2 cups....................Numbers..............XVII chapter......8th verse

2 teaspoonfuls......1st Samuel..........XIV chapter.......25th verse

To taste..................2nd Chronicles...IX. chapter........9th verse

6...............................Jeremiah.............XVII chapter........11th verse

1 1/2 cups.............Judges..................IV chapter..........19th verse

2 teaspoonfuls.......Amos......................IV chapter..........5th verse

1 pinch....................Leviticus..............II chapter.............13th verse

DIRECTIONS .............PROVERBS............XXIII CHAPTER......14TH VERSE

Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

(Hint - leaven = Baking Powder)

It all becomes clear - honest! Mum & Dad are going to spend Xmas with us this year, so I'm going to give the recipe a whirl.

Ibbity growing up

To update you on the story of our little rescued Mallard ducklings, Ibbity , the biggest & most developed of the four, had been taking small flights out of our little field but still seemed to be sticking around. However, three days have passed now with no sign of him(?), so it would appear that he has fully embraced his freedom & gone off to live wild just as Nature intended him to. We are lucky in that a good few acres of land across the lane & opposite our little field belongs to a Wildlife Trust & has a reservoir on it, so I am thinking he is possibly over there & not so far away. The Reserve is not open to the public so we cannot go down to see if we can spot him. However, lovely hubby has ordered some good binoculars so we can do a bit of 'twitching' & see if we can see any Mallards down on the water. So although I do miss him I feel happy in my heart that he has had a good start in life after a disastrous beginning. I hope angels will always fly with him & keep him safe.

Ibbity's new home?

His sisters(?) are flourishing & are starting to excercise their wings regularly, so I am making the most of whatever wonderful, precious time we may have left with them.