Brownies and dogginess

This is the volcano batch of brownies with some icing sugar to entice the girls- not that they need enticing... These turned out thinner and wider and there were 12.( but not for long!)

Here is a little doggy-play of doggy interaction for you: I was entranced and amused and hope you will be too. Once upon a time there was a mat which Pippa often sunbathed on. This mat was chewed to near oblivion by puppy Lucy and this morning I was sweeping it all up to tidy the garden....

Pippa spots her fave mat in sunny position and takes ownership. ''Huh you woke me up!'' '' But mu-um I want to chew this corner a bit more, don't you see?''

Mum: yawning: '' come-on stop this now,look at the mess!'' ''mmm, me chew chew chew.''

''Look mum this bit smells grrreat: sniff, sniff, chew chew.''

''It's too hot in the sun, let me tug it to the shade?'' This is with mum weighing about 15 kg still sitting ON the mat and a slight 9kg Lucy doing all the pulling... ''I'm not moving: I LOVE the sun.'' '' If I get hold of it over here I can pull better...''

'' GRRRRR , you just remember who's pack leader!'' Pippa gives Lucy a quick nip on the ear.

And sits back in the sunshine.

Lucy, undeterred, carries on with the underside of the mat.

Rolls over to lie underneath it. Pippa stays grumpily in her sunny spot.

Peace restored both dogs enjoy different parts and aspects of the old mat. Sunbathing vs Chewing.

I was fascinated to watch this doggie interaction, I just love the way they behave with each other, sometimes gentle- like licking each others noses or inside the ears- and sometimes friendly ( curling up on the sofa together) but also occasional disagreements.

Time for elevenses and cutting the other batch of BROWNIES!!! Yummeeeeee!

Oh look! Lucy appeared within seconds as if by magic: butter wouldn't melt....

She's got her paws on the chair and that: ''ple-ease can I have one?'' look.

LOOK, SEE?! I'm a really really REALLY long dog: I CAN reach the TABLE!!!

This was Lucy at full stretch: standing tip-toe on her hind legs and trying oooh so very hard to reeeeeach.

EEEEK ! Yes she really DID almost make it to pinch one. It was a matter of a few inches.

Aaaah she had a dog-chew toy instead.

These brownies are strictly for humans only.

Brownie baking and puppy joy.

Today is Thame Show Day and all local children have a day off school: so I had Miss Y with me all day and we have had a wonderful day together. Miss E was taken to the bus by dad because as her school is not in Thame she did not have a day off: much to her chagrin!

This is also a quick last look at my beloved sunflowers as they have lasted oh soo well I think they may drop their petals very soon. I think sunflowers=happy and today I have been so very very happy. There is indeed much to be said for being a stay at home mum!!!!!BLISS!!!!

Though I have a feeling that work will be coming my way very soon so I am really cherishing these days day by day. I have had e-mails and phonecalls from ex-colleagues who can't imagine what I do all day, but the funny thing is I can't see how I fitted work into my day as I'm so very busy!

We have played the piano and the cello, we have walked the dogs for an hour, we have cylced into town for the ingredients to bake brownies, we went to the library to choose new books, we watched ''How a choir works''on i-player and I learned about polyphony amongst other things.

Then of course we had to have a jolly sing-song together.We had a lovely hot lunch and sat chatting on the swingseat in the garden, played with the dog and the puppy, practiced a bit of maths, went to painolessons - Miss E and myself started to learn in January this year - and then it was high time to cook dinner! Alas JJ who had quoted- this always amuses me as in so very many years I know it won't happen as stated- I'll be home by 6.30 pm .... missed our meal and had his at 9 pm. Yesterday he said: home by 4.30 pm and after 8.30pm the kids had given up on him. I do say: don't give them a time as you can't guarantee it, but there you go..... This is my own spag bol by the way, it has evolved over the decades from a recipe handed down to me by my mum when I went to University. We do mushrooms separately now as Miss Y doesn't like them. Quick see? Lovely sunflower: now STAY happy even when you scroll down and see THIS! That's what puppy Lucy did to my very old and cherished '' tomato pincushion''...And there was more mess all around on the floor and all the cushions too!!! What happened? I was first worried that the pins had hurt her- but no she was absolutely fine. Then a bit cross but I'm reading this book and it had stated: try to see the opportunity in every mishap/challenge soooooooo....

I laughed, cleared up the mess and these were the 3 positive outcomes of this event:

1. I have always wanted to know what's inside these bought pincushions because pins go in much easier than when you use toy stuffing or wadding. IT'S SAWDUST!!!!

2. I had realised that I had ''lost'' my sewing needles recently and was about to buy some .

On clearing up the mess I found 26 HAND SEWING NEEDLES among the pins. They must have sunk into the middle of the pincushion.

3. I get to make a new CROCHETED pincushion and I will fill it with sawdust!

Now all of these made me feel happy , you see?

After dinner it was time to bake: WEIGHT WATCHERS Brownies!!! I have been making these for 8 years now and they are very popular at home and bake sales and school and coffee mornings and and and! I guess I can't divulge the recipe due to copyright but I CAN say they have peculiar ingredients: like it's mostly stewed apple and cocoa / sugar with just a dash of flour and eggs. In fact here are the egg yolks which are given to the dogs as a treat later.
You mix the dry ingredients- on left- and whisk the wet ones and then combine the 2 and pop into the oven.
The book shows them on the cover second from left but they are covered in nuts which I exclude due to allergies. I made 2 batches as I know they hardly last a day...
All in one bowl now. First batch came out all cracked but glossy- it was on the top oven shelf- could that be the reason? Second batch looks more ''volcanic'' : with tiny craters and no gloss?

The first batch made 12 brownie ''fingers'' and the second 18 so I had 30 but guess what: within 2 minutes we were down to 28 already.

Will try to capture some shots of the brownies as cut if I can catch them before being eaten.

They contain no butter or margarine either( sunflower oil) and are fabulously moist and chocolatey!!!

First week of back to- new- school!

It's been a week now, since the girls went back to school....Or in one case: when my eldest started at her grammar school....Oaaaaah that was the day I took a picture of her looking ooh sooo grown up in her new school uniform with fancy new shoes from ''Office'' no less!

And that's when you stop for a moment to remember and savour the time: the day she was born and how utterly ecstatic I was for at least 72 hours!( the midwife got really worried about my euphoria), the day she went to nursery, the day she started at her primary school ( new uniform and photo taken in the same place as for the latest photo!) oooh HOW time FLIES by.

Now I take her to a bus and she gets on and - gulp- off she goes with her friends all by herself and NO! I'm not allowed to wave or hug ( we did that at home before we left) and then of course I have a good ol' cry..... Stomach is all in knots and yes truly I AM happy, ooooh as long as she's allright and the first day goes well and she makes new friends, and and and...

Come home and sniff the freesias- ''why are you sniffing mum? ''Miss youngest is so sweet: ''Oh I'm getting a cold....''Let's walk to school! And this we did! And after that we cycled every day- so much better than the hurried dash we did in the car when I had to dash off to work in an office.
The lovely sunshine has been amazing hasn't it? It even reached 30 degrees C here the other day: from 2pm onwards and at 9pm it was still 20 degrees c, most strange but LOVELY.
I'm so proud: my washing is out before 8 am- could be because we are all getting up by 6.30 am!

There's a flipside to being a mum at home: JJ has been feeling the pressure and I do get sooo cross and the unreasonable hours that are just taken for granted! The other day there was a ''crisis'' and he came home at 2 am- no it's NOT that- and continued to work on his laptop till 4 am! Then there's the ''conference calls'' most evenings at 11 pm because he works for a huge American company and that's when THEY are awake and working. But what about the fact he's already worked from 7 am to 7 pm?!!! Working directive, PHUUUH, is not enforced is it?

Back to my lovely sunflowers to calm down! Miss Y had a day out to celebrate a Guides Centenary at the weekend: she came home a tigerrrrrr!!! For filling sandwiches with healthy but interesting things I have been sprouting seeds: here's my cress only 1 day later: Will follow up with the one the day after....And her's the broccoli seeds: they take longer but are really delicious.
Have been springcleaning and sorting stuff that has been ''low priority'' for the 4 years I have been working in an office and the house is beginning to feel sooo much nicer: even Miss E has noticed and is loving it. My piano playing is finally progressing well ( I started in January) and the dogs are relishing their 2 -longer and more countrified -walks a day, Lucy is by my side all day wherever I go she goes too. She's been known to wait outside the WC and scratch at the door if I take too long.... Then when I was crocheting in the garden:
TOTAL RELAX-A-DOG. There's a head at the far left just above one of her front paws. I can't yet share my latest makes in the crochet department because- gulp in amazement- I have sold a few of my patterns and now they have to be secret until published. Sorry ! But I'll do more really soon! I have to remake the samples in ''editor's chosen yarn and colours'' and am currently about halfway the first one.
See? There really was a dog, woken up she's wondering when I'll sit up straight again so she can go back to sleep...

Now for some baking to welcome home the hungry scholar/pupil : I tried 2 recipes for flapjack type bars intended for snacks and lunchboxes! I have been utterly astonished that our scholar is not frequenting the freedom of the school cafeteria daily but has chosen to eat lunch outside with her new friends.

I confess I have NEVER made any of these before, but I wish I had because it couldn't be EASIER!

I made ''sunshine bars'' from the WI cookbook: Best Kept secrets of the WI- Healthy Heart by Elspeth Smith but I made them with cranberries and sultanas: it makes 18.
And also the fruit and nut bars from WEIGHT WATCHERS- Fast and Fabulous book by Louise Tyler; I omitted the nuts and used increased amounts of chopped apricots instead- this made only 6 bars and my tin was too big for the mixture.
Guess what? They didn't last even a day, the apricot ones that is. We all had one each to try and then Miss E had a second one ''because she's growing and it helps with homework'' and then the remaining 2 went into the lunchboxes for the next day. Poor JJ didn't get a look in. Mind you he LOVES the cranberry ones which also include sunflower seeds and sesame seeds... oooh yummy!
GOING GOING GONE!