New Bed, New Year

A couple of pictures for the New Year. This is me trying to sit in Coco's new bed, even though Coco and his bed are quite a bit smaller than me, so I don't really fit. The other is of the table laid at Silverwood's for the New Year's Day feast. The menu was for Foie Gras followed by pea and ham soup, with roast lamb for mains and Eton Mess for pud. Dad is reckoned to be the roast potato expert round here and little R Silverwood (4) would eat just roast potatoes (or chips, wedges etc; any form of fried spuds)given a free choice, so he's asked to do enough roasties for the 8 humans, plus enough for another 8 to satisfy R! The 'Eton Mess' here takes the form of the usual meringue and cream plus a sharpish mix of currants and berries. The whole is washed down with a good red wine and followed by Calvados. Our menu was the local variant of dried dog food but with chopped up lamb, juices from the roast and even some jelly from below the duck-fat. This is going to be a good year!

Mum has the lurgy, a cold and sniffles which render her all "moopy" so that the last thing she wants to do today is bash houses in cold damp Roscommon and we decide to take the day off and stay the extra day in Silverwood's. It's a good decision in fact - the skies clear and the temperature plummets. There is black ice all over the pavements and freezing rain falling. Any plans we might have had to take the bikes out again are shelved. We opt for a stay at home day taking turns to mind small children while the grown ups slope off one by one for lie downs and rest / recuperation. Time enough for house wrangling tomorrow.

Deefski

Food for old Frenchmen

The Girls return from the foreign bearing gifts for us including some Cesar "Senior" dog food in French and some nice Calvados for Dad. Also some good bread and cheese. As I type this the Cesar dog food is displaying side-ways and we are not sure why, as it is up the right way when we save it to the computer. Maybe it will sort itself out when we publish.

Mum reports that they have had a good time mooching about and catching up on old haunts (Montmartre, Pigale, Abbesses, Monoprix) not really spending much money but relaxing, picking up a bit of culture (a Monet exhibition for example), eating and drinking out.

Dad's down at the barge today, a whole gang of them carrying on with the painting. They are nearly 'there' now, applying final coats to various bits preparatory to the hull going back into the water on the high Spring tides of 20th/21st March. It's an exciting time.

Deefs