August High-lights

        Autumn is evident in the air today, chilly, breezy, yet sunny.  We might have a few showers this afternoon—as the United Kingdom often gets remnants of the storms that blow across from American, thanks to the jet stream.  Autumn is my favourite time of the year, because of the colours, the harvest and the sun that warms, yet doesn’t burn the skin.  Deep, satisfying sigh. 

        Since my last blog, there has been turning of colours.  For instance, My Midnight Man’s eyes are healing well—the bruises are now turning that greenish colour that happens as the days pass.  Four times a day, I clean his eyes with sterile cotton wool pads and cooled boiled water.  After the cleaning, I administer liquid antibiotics into each eye.  On the table two boxes sit—one marked “R” and one marked “L”.  I have everything organised so that I can open the correct bottle for the correct eye.  So “R” sits on the left and “L” sits on the right.  That is backward to me, but in the right order for Midnight Man. 

        One thing that My Midnight Man struggles with is fighting the impulse to rub his eyes.  It is inevitable that a person becomes aware of the inadvertent actions done through out the day when suddenly one is not allowed to do it.  MMM often stops his hands mid-lift as he remembers not to touch his eyes.  In a few weeks, touching them will be okay—but due vigilance is required for now.  My Midnight Man sees the doctor again on Friday, 9^th September for a check-up and to remove stitches.  Overall, My Midnight Man is handling the situation well.

        Stepping out onto the balcony yesterday I saw that the tomatoes are increasing in size, and another one seems to be a brownish orange—on its way to ripeness.  One or two days of warmth do make a difference.

        The geranium has bloomed now.  How brilliant and deep the red is.  Once a frost is in the forecast, I will have to cover the plant for the winter.  I’ll set the box onto layered newspaper for insulation and use a black bin liner (garbage bag) to cover it.  I have been surprised by how big the plant has become.  I think it has doubled in size! 

        The month of August got by me without much of anything productive happening—no writing, no sewing, no reading.  However, on 3^rd August, step-daughter “Chantilly” and her family came for overnight.  We have a three bedroom flat.  Trying to find space for five children, four adults and two dogs was quite a challenge.  Thankfully we have a single fold-up bed, a double size futon mattress we can put on the floor, and a single bed in our guest room.  I did enjoy having them here and made a large casserole for dinner. 

        I layered pre-cooked potatoes, cheese, celery, onions, courgettes (zucchini), and ham in a large baking tray, and then baked it for 45 minutes.  They licked the pan clean!! 

"Mr. Biz" with Alfie

        I really enjoyed having the dogs around, as it gave me an idea as to what it will be like to have my own dogs here one day.  I am hoping that by our tenth wedding anniversary our finances will allow me to get them.  Alfie is a male King Charles spaniel.  Shiloh is a miniature female dachshund.  I had just crawled back into bed after having my medicine when I looked over My Midnight Man to check the time.  Two furry heads were looking at me with hopeful eyes—morning walkies were needed by two eager dogs.  I immediately thought, “This is what I have to look forward to!”  “Mr. Biz” was awakened and he took Alfie and Shiloh out.  They didn’t take long as it was rainy!

        The purpose of the visit was to keep an appointment for our grandson, “Jay” (aged 10) to Wexham hospital.  As a baby, “Jay” was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  “Chantilly” and the family have been working and praying for a miracle and healing.  We do see God at work through this process.  But “Jay” had outgrown his leg splints that he wears at night to help stretch his muscles.  His appointment was to be fitted for new splints.  After the appointment, they came back for a cuppa and then headed home. 

        On 10th August I went to see the nephrologist (kidney doctor) due to having protein and blood in my urine.  As some of you may know, I have been struggling with fatigue since at least 2008.  Seeing this doctor is the most recent step in trying to find an answer to the problem.  The doctor did a thorough exam and sent me for blood tests, as well as taking a urine sample from me.  I will be seeing her again on 15^th September.  I hope the results of the test reveal some sort of answer.  I would certainly appreciate your prayers. 

        My Midnight Man went to Dorset from 22^nd August to 29^th August to visit with “Chantilly” and her family.  Walks down to the beach, a wonder into the town centre, picking blackberries with the grandchildren all contributed to his being refreshed.  I had not been able to arrange for time off work, so had a week to myself.  Also, I’d been having some “down days”, so I wasn’t sure my energy levels would be sufficient to be away for a week. 

        So now you know the high-lights of August for us.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress of things in September.

Blessings to you all.

Serving Jesus, Author of our faith,  “Lady Helene”

More about boys...

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, our two oldest grandsons were with us for about 10 days (27^th May to 6^th June.)  Bellman and Jame-Oh are 13 and 12 respectively.  That their mid-term break fell at the same time as the completion of My-Midnight-Man’s last Open University lessons was a wonderful dove-tailing of events. Both are keen to help in the kitchen—especially Jame-oh.  Every time an adult goes to the kitchen Jame-oh is on his/her coat-tails wanting to help.  On Tuesday, 31^st May, M-M-M and I got up to find the table set and the boys waiting to make breakfast.  My-Midnight-Man took over the coaching and they implemented Jame-oh’s menu of boiled eggs and toast.  I must say, having the boys around to help with dishes was indeed a blessing.

                It was about 3:00 pm.  On Saturday 28^th May, My-Midnight-Man walked out the door, followed by two, young, energetic, strong boys.  Said “young men” needed a way to expend the rambunctious energy that filled their bodies.  They were all off to the vicarage.  And to what purpose?  To help set up the marquees for the after-church family BBQ which was set for the following day.  Any extra help would be welcome.  I’d brought St. Francis’s church allotment of news sheets—delivering these to Rev. Bruce was also on the docket.   They arrived back about 6:00 pm, and I fixed these hungry creatures spaghetti bolognaise with lamb mince. 

                I was feeling so rough I sent the “male contingent” of the Reed house-hold off to church without me.  Not only did I miss church, I missed the BBQ.  But I slept the day away, letting the medicine do it’s work on the inner-ear infection. 

                Monday was the Bank Holiday, and My-Midnight-Man took Bell-man and Jame-oh to the meeting place for the boundary walk.  I went over to the Red Lion Pub to join them for lunch., then went back home.  The walk finished just as the rain came.  We had the boys shower and change as soon as they got home.  We then had a lovely dinner.

                The rest of the time they boys helped around the flat, or gladly accompanied Grand-dad around the village on various errands.  On the last day, Bell-man was ebullient in his praise of the wonderful time he’d had with us.  All credit is due to My-Midnight-Man for his enthusiastic attention to Bell-man’s interest in mathematics.  There was the right balance of sending them to the park to discharge the built-up energy that children possess and worthwhile projects to be useful.  And credit to the boys, in that there was only the regular teasing and sibling pestering between them in their time here.  They were open, curious, and teach-able; asked a lot of spiritually directed questions that kept us alert and vigilant.  We are always glad to have them. 

                My-Midnight-Man and I are also looking forward to having more of the other grandchildren come to us as they get older.  We will probably have Bell-man and Jame-oh during August.  We are hoping that Tinkie will come for a week as well. 

                We are certainly blessed of the Lord.

^“Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.”  Psalm 127:3

“Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.” Proverbs 17:6

Serving Jesus, Author of our faith,  “Lady Helene”

Something to tantalise you...

I want to thank everyone who has been praying for me.  The results from the cystoscopy showed a healthy bladder.  I will keep you posted as the other tests are completed and the results in—But enough on that topic!

For clarity’s sake, I must explain that I am called “Nana Reed” by the grandchildren; My Midnight Man’s ex-wife is referred to as “Granny Reed” by the youngsters.  Here in England mid-term break from school for our grandchildren was the week of 21^st February.  Two of our grandchildren came up from the south coast with their “Granny Reed” to visit some of her family and friends for a week.  This provided cousins KJD1999 and TLR2000a great opportunity to spend a day with “Nana and Granddad Reed”. 

KJD1999 & TLR2000

The grandchildren in England have come to know that spending time with me is “kitchen time.”  I’ve never forced this activity on them.  They always anticipate these days with excitement.  KJD1999 is especially fond of food and cooking.  He often says:  “I want to be the next Jamie Oliver.” 

We had a limited time with them, as their Aunt was coming to pick them up about 4:30 p.m.  The project of the day was suggested by their Granny.  Apparently My Midnight Man used to make Meringues with his own children years ago.  So perhaps Granddad would do the same with the grandchildren.  Granddad had made commitments to other people—so he wasn’t even going to be home!  But meringues were the order of the day, and so out came The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook copy write 1980. 

Since I had learned to make Pavlovas whilst I was in Scotland and just conquered royal icing in December, I figured that meringues wouldn’t be a problem.  Thankfully, they were easy and fun.  KJD1999 loves my Kitchen Aid Mixer.  But then, so do I as it does the hard work. 

The recipe calls for three egg whites.  This worked out well because it meant I could show KJD and TLR how to separate the whites from the yolks.  TLR2000 got it right on her first try.  KJD1999’s first attempt was heavy-handed and that egg ended up with the egg yolks.  His second try was better, but still unsuccessful. 

       “Maybe you should do it, Nana” he said, a bit discouraged.

“It’s okay—I’ve got plenty of eggs.  YOU can do this.  Just slow down, concentrate and you’ll get it.”  I reassured him.  I wasn’t about to let him give up.  “If you want to be the next Jamie Oliver, you have to know how to separate an egg.”  Third time success! 

                       They took turns turning the Kitchen Aid on and off, and also adding the icing sugar.  Then we let the mixer run for 15 minutes while I had them clearing and washing up.

                       Instead of putting the meringues onto a greased cookie sheet, I stuck grease-proof paper on the baking tray.  To keep it from slipping I used a little of the meringue mixture under the corners of the paper. 

Since we had some time, and I thought the cousins would enjoy it, I folded grease-proof paper into piping bags to place the meringues onto the paper.  I also pulled some cake decorating tips out of a drawer to use in the end of the piping bags.  White, sticky mixture got on our hands, our faces and enough on the paper to make the meringue nests!

                       KJD1999 and TLR2000 took theirs with them to their Aunts, as well as one for her.  My Midnight Man and I ate ours that evening with bananas and hot fudge sauce. 

I’ll have to make them again soon, because they are temptingly tantalising as well as tasty.

Serving Jesus, Author of our faith-Lady Helene 

3 egg Whites at room temperature

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

¾ cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1)      Preheat oven to 275°F/140°C/Gas mark 1

2)      In small bowl with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.

3)      Gradually sprinkle in sugar, 2 Tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition for about two minutes or until sugar is completely dissolved, about 15 minutes.  To test, rub meringue between fingers; if grainy, continue beating.  Add vanilla, beating at high speed until mixture stands in stiff, glossy peaks.

4)      Onto large greased cookie sheet, spoon mixture into 6 mounds.  Spread each mound into a four-inch circle, heaping mixture to form a next shape.

5)      Bake 45 minutes until meringues are crisp and very lightly browned.  Turn off oven; let meringues stand in oven 45 minutes longer to dry.  Cool completely on cookie sheet.

6)      Store loosely wrapped in waxed paper; keep at room temperature.