Three Irish Dear Readers..

Tis true, I am not telling YOU gross fibs, there are, at this very moment, three Irish Dear Readers reading MY Blog.. yippee.. yippee!

Do YOU think they know that SHE lived in Ireland in 1957, it was such a very happy, happy time. The family lived in Dublin, 14. Wellington Road, Ballsbridge to be precise. They lived in part of a house owned by Pamela O'Connor, a very lovely old friend of Constance.

Constance, MY human uncle and SHE left early in   1958, Hugo's main job had been accomplished and he only needed to work there in Ireland a couple of days a month.

So they had moved back to England and rented a house whilst Constance looked for a house to buy and to get the children into schools.

SHE didn't go back to Ireland for, oh, such a lonng time and then a charming Interior Decorator in Dublin recommended HER to one of his clients down in Co.Wexford and whoosh, off SHE went.

SHE flew in the day before and spent the night in a lovely hotel, sorry, the name escapes HER. SHE called the client and they verbally liaised for their meeting the next day, then SHE went for a long walk.. to find HER old Irish home.

SHE has written about this extraordinary trip before but suffice to say.. when SHE saw the house again, SHE felt quite faint and had to sit down on the kerb.

For suddenly, SHE was seven years old again, swinging on a big rope from the big tree (that's still there, the tree not the rope). And being taught to ride a bike by Roderick O'Connor. 

SHE drove down towards Courtown Harbour the next day, HER decorator colleague was right, there was a huge amount of work to do. They drew up a schedule of works and that was the first of many happy trips down to Co.Wexford.

SHE and HER team worked on this house for several years but sadly, the project was finally completed so there was no further need to go to Ireland and apart from two short trips to Co.Clare to stay with friends, SHE has not been back to the Emerald Isle. 

Which is such a lovely place with charming people, with some of God's own country.

And, of, course, the very best Stout in the world, Guinness. Which is one of the world's wonders, best drunk with some friends enjoying some good craic.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 8th, 2014.

DROP YOUR SHOULDERS & BREATH THROUGH YOUR NOSE..

Well well well, London was not completely afloat yesterday but it was, in the morning, verry wet.

SHE worked for most of the day at the shop, it was quite quiet, compared to Saturday which was a 'crazy' day, but only quiet in the sense of customers.

In the donation sense, it was manic! A lot of people are moving or clearing out or sorting out their homes / possessions and they are generous enough to support the Hospice by giving their 'stuff' to the shop to sell.

Lots of new books, perhaps last year's christmas gifts, are coming in and SHE was very pleased to see that younger people are 'getting' the message, for a young man brought in a huge bag full of French novels, with the promise of more to come. As the shop is so close to the Lycée, these will sell very quickly! 

Lovely boss was not there, something horrid has happened to her back, so SHE worked with a relief manager and Kay. Nice women.

Today, ugh, not a great day but it is not 'the' day that is not great, it is a norty front tooth, who has been very silly and lost a filling!

Now, I ask YOU. Those teeth never go anywhere, so how did it lose it, huh, silly tooth. So at two of the afternoon clock, SHE has to be in Dr. Shah's dental chair but really, SHE doesn't mind that much. I can't really believe that WE wrote that? 

Because SHE knows that there will probably be an injection involved and SHE used to be mighty scared of injections in the mouth.. until this lovely, very kind man asked HER the following question. "has no one ever told YOU to do this. Lower your shoulders and breath through your nose".

SHE did and felt no pain as he slid the needle into HER front gum.

So although I cannot say that SHE will be exactly skipping off down the road to the dentist, SHE is no longer frightened by the mere thought of it! Big
"Thank YOU Karen, for recommending such a good (and kind) dental surgery".

WE have lots of work to do, cupboards and rooms to tidy, people to telephone, so don't go too far as WE will be back with another tasty Soup recipe later on today. So chocks away.. pippip.. flapflap..

GeeGee Parrot.
January 8th, 2014.

THERE'S A NEW CUTIE IN YUMYUM HQ..

Upon opening the door this morning to have a sniff and gauge the outside temperature, SHE saw that the Orange trees had all been 'washed' and their saucers filled by what had obviously been a lot of rain.

Huh.. a quick look at the weather forecast gave us the answer.. that norty storm Hercules is heading this way, tomorrow is the day that they forecast it to be dire over London but a very large percentage of the country is now on Amber and Red Flood warning.

Tomorrow is HER day this week to be at work.. luckily it is not far to walk! SHE was there on Saturday and what a day that was! 

There is a small Farmer's Market in the street on Saturday, the weather was atrocious with sudden downpours of very wet rain, the stall gazebos were attempting to fly in all directions but people were, amazingly, very jolly and the shop was full to the brim all day long with very nice customers, some old coming to wish the staff "Happy New Year" and a lot of new customers.

None of the staff sat down during opening hours, lots of tea was made to keep them going but it was a really busy, happy day.

SHE had last worked there on December 27th, MY Blog's birthday, and the shop had been quiet. However, since then three or four people had been into the shop with huge amounts of donations!

Lots and lots of lovely clothes, shoes, bags, boxes of books and bric-a-brac all in truly immaculate condition.

Now, as I am sure YOU all know, the clothes now have to be sorted, checked, steamed, hung up.. the shoes checked, polished and one shoe put out.. sadly people steal them if WE put both shoes out.. bric-a-brac has to be looked at, washed, polished and put on display on a shelf or in the vitrine. 

This is kept locked as it usually contains a good selection of breakables, first edition books and valuable small items.. which WE would prefer norty people not to put into their pockets or bags and leave the shop without paying for them.

SHE was helping a customer with a set of very
fine glass dishes when SHE saw it.

It was very old but new to the shop and looking at the label, it said that it had been donated in Week 40, so it had come in before the end of last year.

It had been given away with several other items of the same material, sadly, a lot of people don't want to take care of these pretty things any longer and so they are given away, melted down or even, gulp, thrown away into the rubbish! 

Now.. WE have just given YOU a clue, did YOU get it? Melted down was the clue.. for what melts? Metal melts.. and what was sitting in the vitrine?

A very plain English Georgian Silver teapot.

A little bit bashed and bruised, but so would YOU be if YOU were 200 hundred years old and were, probably, in daily usage. It holds 1&1/4 pints and is quite, quite charming. 

The taste of tea is quite different when made in pots made of fine bone china, ceramic or silver, try it and see.

Cute little pot was purchased and brought home, she was washed and polished. She has proved to be an excellent pourer and makes the most delicious tea.. so delicious, in fact, that she makes OUR first cup of the day and at 'tea time'.

WE salute all the Silversmiths of long ago, who understood the importance of balance and design and who made functional objects that are as beautiful and useful today as when they were first made all those years ago.


Now.. I am off to doze on MY favourite door, SHE  is getting into boots and will take old wicker on a jaunt to find fine Semolina Flour.. please don't 
forget Humous and Pink Stuff!

GeeGee Parrot.
January 6th, 2014.

OH.. WHOOPIE DE WHOOO..

WE jurst lurve it when WE get emails that have been generated by a post on MY Blog.

WE asked MaryLou for photos from her bird trip down into Columbia.. and whoosh, she must have been on-line in snowy Illinois at the same time WE posted that tale.. for without any delay several photos dropped into HER inbox! 

WE will reply to YOU tomorrow MaryLou as it sounds as if YOU have had a good trip.

Next up.. is an email from Rosamund, she is spending a week with one of her daughters, Lotta, in Berlin. 

Now Lotta knows all about Spaetzle, as she lived in Stuttgart, Spaetzle come from that area of Germany and she has a proper Spaetzle maker!

And Dear Reader friend Rosamund. YOU need to go back in time and think of old English kitchen utensils and to remember the potato press that made mashed potato, this is called a Ricer. If YOU use the disc with the slightly small holes, this will make excellent Spaetzle.

Lotta talks of the special Spaetzle flour which is for sale in Germany, it contains semolina.. which is very interesting as SHE uses Semolina to make those very plain but tasty dumplings that SHE gave YOU the recipe for a very long time ago.

And Lotta has suggested that SHE adds some fine grade Semolina to the plain flour.. 

Thank YOU both so much for this advice.. 

And, oh goody, this means that SHE will take old wicker and go off for a jaunt to the Ridley Road Market. And at the top of this street market, there is a wonderful emporium called the Turkish Food Centre. WE have mentioned this place before.

This fabulous shop is run by a very glamorous and glorious Turk called Leila.

They stock all manner of different grades of Semolina Flour for cooking dumplings and pasta, so SHE will go and have a little chat with Leila.

And SHE will come home with a box of Humous and a box of Pink Stuff, aka Taramalslata. I lurve that Pink Stuff.

OUR supper was delicious, for Mister Pork had absorbed the delicate taste of the marinade and the slow cooking of the meat, mushroom and the apricots had worked extremely well. 

SHE asked the butcher for the bones when he had boned off the meat, these went into a large pan with water, a bouquet garni and allowed to boil for a couple of hours, this gave HER the splendid stock which SHE poured over the browned meat in the Slow Cooker.

Remember when YOU are buying meat at the butcher, don't leave YOUR bones behind! It takes no effort to make great stock, which YOU can freeze in ice cube holders so that YOU always have proper stock for soup and stews.

WE will be back tomorrow after HER jaunt to see Leila.

Thank YOU all so much for reading MY Blog. WE have just passed OUR second anniversary (December 27th, 2011) and WE had a BIG readership last month.

So WE had better continued to write lots of posts and to tell more Tales and to teach new Dear Readers how to do the Fandango and the importance of keeping everything up.. smile Dear Readers.

SHE is off to empty Mister Dishwasher and to do a bit of that crazy, manic shiny sink polishing.

I am off to bed but tomorrow I will tell YOU about the cute new person who has just come to live in YumYum HQ.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 5th, 2014.

TWO TALES OF TWO LOVELY FRIENDS..

Whoosh.. this tale starts in the early 90's. SHE met this extremely nice woman called Gayle through a mutual friend and they became good friends. 

Gayle was married to an equally nice man called Norman. Both of them have a Scandinavian background but are Americans and when they met they were based here in London.

A nicer, kinder couple it would have been very hard to meet.

SHE knew Gayle, the wife, better than her husband because the two women would meet regularly at least once a week but SHE remembers one happy evening when SHE had both of them to dinner with another couple of Americans whom SHE adored and knew well, Lewis and Suzan Sams from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.. a couple of HER friends whom SHE would say were exactly of the same ethos as Gayle and Norman.

The years went happily by, SHE met their son Hans and then Gayle told HER the news that they were returning to Chicago, which was where they came from.

Many years have passed since then but the two women have kept in contact, SHE always called Gayle whenever SHE flew to or through Chicago and saw her when she came to London.

Several years ago Hans married Holly and they started their family, they have two girls and a boy.

SHE has seen seen several photos of these little folk over the years and watched them turn into 
confident and happy looking children.

Old age creeps up on us all and OUR lives change.


The parents sold their apartment in the centre of 
Chicago and moved about thirty minutes away from the city. They kept their cottage on Lake Geneva as all of the family enjoy it so much.

Along with changes in OUR old age, sometimes comes ill health and both SHE and her lovely friend have not had an easy five years of 'it'.

Gayle always sends HER a lovely card for Christmas but this year, no card.. "oh no", SHE thought and was just settling down to write to Gayle and Norman when old Posty himself pressed the missing card into HER hand yesterday.

Gayle wrote the following note in the card..

"Dearest ...,

Old age is not for sissies! Many health problems and having to work with new Doctors...

Then there is lots of stuff personal to Gayle and HER and then the two last paragraphs which is why SHE has written this post. 

The seven of us will be cosy in our cottage for the holidays. The grandchildren, Hans & Holly are so caring and loving.

You are in my thoughts and prayers as always ...

With love from Norman & Gayle. 
XOXO.

Now Dear Readers.. if YOU have not 'got' what SHE is telling YOU.. go back and read the whole post again.

But concentrate on the line "The grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law are so caring and loving".

HER immediate thought was.. yes, MY dear friend and they are like this because you and your husband brought Hans up with manners, morals, love and kindness, the latter two which flow through you and your husband's veins.

Hans married Holly, who also honours her parents-in-law.. what a lovely, lovely card to receive and what an easy, happy letter SHE is plans to write to HER old friend.

Then this Tale changes.. for there is letter which SHE has to send but SHE is not looking forward to writing this one at all. It is to another woman friend, who also lived here in London and moved back to America in 2003.

Casey and her husband, Tom, also Americans, were close friends for many years and, in fact, it was SHE who had introduced their only child to the man, the son of other friends of HERS, whom she married in 2000.

Casey's card made it here in time for the holiday but the content was of a completely different tone. She wrote "that Tom had been very ill but, thank God, was better. And then wrote the dreadful news that her daughter was divorcing, that it was very sad but necessary".. oh dear.

For their daughter and her husband have two sons.

SHE owes it to Casey, a lovely friend, to respond and to express HER profound sadness at having received this news.

But let US be very clear on this.. SHE is not, in any way, suggesting that Casey and Tom did not teach their daughter that manners, morals and to be loving and kind are of prime importance.

Two tales of close friends but oh, what different tales.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 5th, 2014.

A TALE OF PORK & APRICOT STEW & THE RECIPE FOR SPAETZLE..

Once YOU have put all the edibubble ingredients into a 'Slow Cooker', YOU don't have to do anything! 

What a treat it is to know that WE will have Pork and Apricot stew.. the meat marinated in herbs in the fridge with herbs and one piece of apricot which has soaked in white rum for five months.

Sitting quietly beside a large mixing bowl are the ingredients for Spaetzle.. SHE and I are alone tonight, so SHE will make only a small amount.

200 gms of plain flour.
2 eggs.
Between 100 to 200 mls of lukewarm water.
Large pinch of salt.

Weigh the flour, transfer to a mixing bowl, break in the two eggs, put in the salt.

Mix the flour, eggs and salt together with a wooden spoon and add the first 100 mls of water, stir together and then add slowly the rest of the water.

You are looking for a smooth, but not too fluid batter. SHE always allows it to sit for about half
an hour

Put a big pan of salted water onto boil. When it is at a fast boil.

(WE use a Ricer). So position this over the boiling water and put a portion into the ricer and force it through the ricer's holes into the boiling water.

They will sink to the bottom and they take about 30 seconds to float to the surface. When they are all up, remove them and place into a colander or sieve, you want to get them as dry as possible.

Repeat the previous steps until you have used all of the batter.

Place the drained spaetzle into a pan with a knob of butter and heat through gently. Add seasoning. You can also fry them gently with crushed garlic.. yumyum.. 

Tell US how YOU get on with making them, they are an excellent accompaniment for a meat stew and other such tasty things.. WE have been known to eat them just with a 'simple' tomato sauce.

What time did SHE say WE are having supper? 

Oh, not until then, well then, I suppose as old Slow Cooker isn't fast I better have a mini snacket to keep old wolf from door. 

GeeGee Parrot.
January 5th, 2013.
ps.. SHE is using water tonight because SHE has no Goaty Milk in chilly white cupboard aka fridge and tells ME to tell YOU that if YOU are using a Ricer to make Spaetzle NOT to use the disc with the largest holes as the spaetzle will be too fat!
pps.. when YOU have pushed the batter through the ricer, they will be hanging down, so YOU run a sharp knife across the bottom to cut them free.

TALES FROM DULUTH, MINNESOTA.. ILLINOIS & NEW YORK.

Far away in Minnesota.. Where it is very chilly-billy, a very Dear Reader Karen.. whom WE actually know.. made MY Carrot and Ginger Soup and she has kindly declared it to be a hit!

This pleases US greatly, as that evil storm Hercules, has dumped a humengous amount of snow and caused ice to form by causing the temperature to drop to a very low low indeedy.

And a warming soup made out of easily digestible vegetables is a good thing to eat.. so go back a few posts to find the recipe.

Karen said she was going to try it and lo and behold.. she did and said that both she and her husband, Bob, liked it too! WE are foolishly happy when OUR Dear Readers tell US that HER recipes are enjoyed and tips found to be useful.

She also said that she would send US a recipe for another warming soup, please do Karen, when YOU have the time, for WE lurve soups!

From Illinois WE have received a photo of Pegeen's deck, correction, WE have seen this photo of an enormous white fluffy snowy quilt which is covering her deck and from MaryLou, also in Illinois, WE heard that the snow was, indeedy, falling down very fast and thick.

MaryLou, please tell US, how was YOUR bird trip.. sent photos pleeease!

From New York City, WE got a curious email on January 3rd, why was it curious? Well, it was 'laughing' at an article about the storm.. pooh poohing the severity of it.. and then the storm blew into NYC the next day..

But I guess that is the difference between people who take care of their own bit of the side walk and their neighbours and people who live in an apartment block with hot and cold running porters and people who do the hard graft.

OUR lovely friend, Mister Bob, who lives out of the city wrote on January 1st about being prepared for this big snow storm and making sure that he had his supply of grit, salt, shovel ready and was fit for the hard work ahead of him.

His words were.. "nothing like digging out 10 inches of snow from walkways and driveways to get the heart rate going".. 

It is cold here today, there is a pale grey sheet pulled across the sky. But in OUR home all is well, WE have some very tasty Mister Pig in a marinade and he is going to be put into the Slow Cooker to cook very slowly.

Back in the sunny summer month of July, SHE 
bought some Apricots from Karen, they were so delicious, SHE went back for more but not to eat, SHE bottled them with a stick of Cinnamon, a large spoonful of caster sugar and topped the big jar up with White Rum.

Fast forward to just before Christmas.. they had now been sitting happily, doing what alcohol and fruits do best, for five months.

The Rum is Apricot coloured and smells divine.. SHE strained the jar and sent a little bottle of the Rum to Cousin Bruce. Hope YOU liked it Cousin Bruce?

The rest was put back into the original bottle, the extra went into a sterilised glass bottle.. how come was there extra liguid? Well, those lovely-jubbly Apricots were very, very juicy!

The fruit.. now strained of the liguid.. was put into several freezer bags and popped into the frosty bit of chilly white larder.

Today.. Mister Pig is meeting Miss Apricot. For a meat casserole with a little bit of fruit added is truly scrummydumptious. 

WE also bottled two big jars of OUR own eating Cherries and all of the fruit from the Morello and the Montmorency trees, the latter gave US fruit for the first time last summer, it is proving to be an excellent variety!

So winds can and probably will blow all that nasty weather this way, the trick is to make sure that YOU and YOUR home are prepared as much as possible. 

Check YOUR supply of dried and tinned stores in the cupboard, don't forget garlic, herbs and spices. Of course bread and butter and milk all freeze brilliantly. Fruit keeps well in a cool place as do all the varieties of the root vegetables and cabbages, both green and red. 


Flashlight and new batteries, grit, salt and a strong shovel. WE put an old duvet under our mattress cover, it makes any bed very toasty and much warmer, draft stoppers, keep the window blinds down as it stops the cold coming through the glass.

And if YOU live in an exposed area by the seashore or any water that is at risk of flooding, take your valuables and jewellery to YOUR bank for safe keeping or move them upstairs and put them into a safe place, likewise with furniture and carpets and rugs that YOU can easily move.. water damage is dreadful.

And lastly.. this is HER Bete Noir.. do not put the lives of YOUR Lifeboat crew at risk by deciding it would be 'fun or cool' to dice with death and go onto the seashore.. if YOU swept away.. they will have to come out in dreadful weather to find YOU and risk their lives doing so. 

The same goes for the Helicopter Air Sea Rescue Teams who have to go out in all types of the most horrendous conditions because some idiot wanted a thrill.

So, stay safe and don't cause grief any to YOUR own or other people's families.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 5th, 2014.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL..

Hello Dear Readers.. and how is this new year of 2014 treating YOU so far?

Well.. WE have several reasons to be cheerful.. and here they are but not in order of their level of excitement or their importance.

First up comes.. SHE has shopped for many years at a wonderful place called Wilkinsons but had to travel to East Ham, on the other side of London, as there was no branch of this family run business located in central London.

Why was it worth travelling so far for one shop? 

Well, YOU see SHE suffers from a very serious complaint.. it is called 'Shiny Sink Syndrome' and they are the only shop that sell the original and very best scouring powder.

VIM is the very best thing for cleaning porcelain and stainless steel basin and sinks and getting that lovely shiny shine!

And guess what? Why, just before Christmas they opened a new shop at Fulham Broadway but, of course, Vim is not the only product they sell, they sell almost everything at good prices and their quality is excellent, as is the 'efficiency and the niceness' of their staff.

Now with a new supply of this wonderful scourer, YumYum HQ is gleaming and very shiny indeedy!

The second reason to be cheerful is that Richard, the gas boiler repair man, managed to re-light the pilot light and warmth is creeping back into OUR bones. 

Whilst he was speaking sharply to that norty old boiler and getting it to behave properly, SHE got out old Duraglit and polished the Copper jelly moulds which hang on the back wall, then a couple of pieces of silver.. there is nothing prettier than shiny things.. but shining things makes cloths dirty, so SHE popped them into a large pan and put them on to boil.

He told HER to keep an eye on pilot light as he said it may need a new thermo-couple, this is the mechanism which controls the gas flow, if this behaves badly, it goes out and a state of extreme miserableness and that old fool, Mr. Woe, enters the house.

OUR third reason to be cheerful is being lucky enough to catch a certain television programme 

WE don't know if YOU know the actor called Robson Green, but apart from being a serious thespian, he is an avid Angler and he has a programme called Extreme Fishing. 

In his show he travels the world to fish with the local fishermen for their local fish and usually it is funny, as in funny ha-ha, not funny peculiar!

The one WE are watching tonight is very funny. Robson is pitting his fishing skills against locals and oh lordy, the sight of him stumbling around in a freezing Greenland river trying to catch an Artic Chard by tickling it with his hand is priceless.

The fourth reason to be cheerful is HER beloved 
Irena who works at a barbers called Louis, 87. Lillie Road, London SW6. She has cut HER hair for a couple of years and did a marvellous cut this afternoon.. "thanks Irena, you are a star".

The fifth reason to be cheerful? SHE and old wicker pottered along the North End Road, some delicious Piggy Pork came from Dickensons and a packet of long cut Smoked Salmon from the fishmonger, oh, how lovely, it is from the Coln Valley Smokehouse! 

SHE sold a lot of their very delicious, tasty merchandise almost thirty years ago when SHE had a company called the Flying Fish. Which I will tell YOU about in another Tale.

At five of the clock, SHE and wicker bounced down the stairs and came through the door.. and then SHE really had a reason to be very cheerful.

For SHE smelt smoke and realised, to HER horror, that SHE had left the pan boiling on the stove when SHE left the flat at one of the clock. 

The cloths were burnt to ashes but the kitchen had not caught fire and I had not died of smoke inhalation. So, I think YOU will all agree.. 

That WE have six reasons to be very cheerful.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 3rd, 2014.

THE STRAUSSES, DANIEL BARENBOIM & DAME VIVIENNE WESTWOOD ALL TOGETHER IN VIENNA..

"Oh, what a glorious morning, oh, what a glorious day". Yes, greetings Dear Readers, greetings to YOU all. 

No, SHE is not singing the chorus from that little song from messrs Rodgers and Hammerstein.. for although SHE is as happy as a lark in a meadow.. it is because old sun has got his torch on full beam and is shining it on deepest Knightbridge!

Yes folks, it is a sunny day, yippee, wave the flags, roll those drums, for it has been so very dismal and so very wet for the longest period of time.

Yesterday, well, the least said about yesterday the better. For the water fell from the sky in bathloads, the wind was cold, it was mighty chilly and it was pitch dark before four of the clock.

And then WE realised that inside was not quite as 'snug' as it should be, hand on radiator, drat! That was not the temperature it should have been, in fact, it was cold, ugh. Look at old boiler told the sorry tale, of a boiler on the blink, in fact, it had blinked, the pilot light was out.

And would not re-light, grrr.

Luckily, very luckily, WE have electricity and gas, so gas stove cooked OUR soup and electricity fired up the kettle which boiled the water for two hot water bottles.

Pitch dark outside, no plans to go anywhere, no point in sitting in state in sitting room when WE could jump quickly in to bed and be verrry snug, as snug as bugs.

Grapes, almonds, books, iPad, land line telephone, mobile phone, tv remote control, current book being read all on tray, whoosh, heeheee. 

Television was switched on and then suddenly
SHE remembered.. oh heavens, please don't say WE have missed 'it', it only happens once a year, it has happened for many, many years and WE have managed to 'catch' it now quite a few times.

What am I talking about? I am talking about the magnificent New Year's Day Concert hosted by Dame Julie Andrews and performed by the truly magnificent Philharmonic Orchestra in Vienna.

The music performed is by the Johann Strauss family and their contempories. 

This year the orchestra was conducted by the brilliant conductor Daniel Barenboim and it was wonderful, marvellous and WE could watch for free!

There is always a 'full house' for this spectacular musical event but this year there was another English twist to the concert. (Julie Andrews being the first).

During a concert intermission there were ballet sets performed by dancers from the Austrian State Ballet in the recently restored breathtakingly beautiful Liechtenstein Palace.

Their exquisite beautiful costumes, yes, with some that were very 'punk' but brilliant, were designed by another of OUR Dames. Dame Vivienne Westwood, who is married to an Austrian.

And a very, very big "Thank you" goes to Rolex for sponsoring this years' event..

"Oh, what a glorious evening, oh, what a glorious show".

Now, where is that boiler-man?

GeeGee Parrot.
January 2nd, 2014.

ON LOVING WITHOUT WANTING..

Good day to YOU all.. and as it is the first of the first month.. SHE says to say "White Rabbits".. and no, I have absolutely no idea what SHE is talking about either.. so let's move swiftly along.

There was very grim weather yesterday in deepest Knightsbridge, WE stayed snug as bugs at home and felt no urge to stand in the freezing rain to watch fireworks whizzing through damp skies.

WE went to bed early with a tray of very light, delicious eddibubble treats and played two of MY most favourite games which are Catch the Grape and Chase the Nut.

Then, as I was quite tired with having galloped about a lot, WE watched a little television and just before the clock struck midnight, WE spoke to a few friends who called to wish US "Happy New Year" and WE telephoned others, who are behind US in time, to spread the cheer.

What do WE have planned for this year? Well, there is a huge amount of work to be done at the allotment. The big shed needs major attention, that huge storm which blew in took off a portion of the roof.

Luckily there is nothing that water can damage but it has to be repaired, so that has to be done.

All the Apple and Pear trees have to be pruned and quite hard too! They all put on a massive amount of growth this last year, cross branches have to cut out, etc, etc.

All of the Raspberry canes have to be replaced, they are over twelve years old and have 'had' it! SHE has plans for a Solar House, very different shape to a Green House, and the perfect place to situate this is where the old Raspberry bed is. 

SHE will also move three Peonies, SHE does not know the variety but they are doubles, two are pure white with an intense fragrance, the other is white with a hint of the palest pink and it also has a wonderful smell.

But they would be directly behind the back wall of the new glass house and not be happy!

The terrace needs a lot of work! Mister Weed, of several different varieties, has taken it upon himself to appear amongst the paving slabs and SHE has seen that old norty Briar is cavorting there too.. 

Huh.. SHE has very bad news for them.. it is not a case of "off with their heads".. it is a case of "out with their roots"!

But Gardeners cannot live by gardening alone, oh no, for that would make for a very dull life!

Which brings ME to the curious title of this post.

YOU all know that SHE does voluntary work and an art dealer recently brought into the shop a HUGE bag full of catalogues from recent auctions held around the world.

They are very good sellers with collectors and art students and SHE was sorting them out last week when SHE came across a slightly different one which took HER breath away

It is not an auction catalogue but a catalogue of Dutch and Flemish paintings which are for sale in the gallery of Johnny van Haeften, 13. Duke Street, St. James's, London SW1.

What was so spectacular about this particular catalogue? Whose prices are 'Upon application'

Well.. YOU know SHE is a gardener, YOU know SHE grows mostly vegetables (with flowers to bring Mister Bee and other pollinators in ) and those of YOU who 'really' read the posts know that all of the vegetables are grown in raised beds.

The front and back cover of this catalogue is a glorious painting of lots of people gardening in raised beds!

The painting is called 'Spring' and it is by the artist Pieter Brueghel The Younger. (Brussels 1564  - 1637/8 Antwerp). 

SHE loves it for the detail is quite extraordinary. HER first treat for this new year will be to go and look at this beautiful, beautiful piece of artwork.

And that is the glorious thing about any wonderful thing. Wether it be a statue, a house, a painting or a view of landscape. YOU can love but YOU don't have to want.. for it is there for everyone.. to love.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 1st, 2014.