Monkey's Blog - with a little help from Alice

Happy New Year! 

Not too late to wish you all the best for 2014, I hope. Exactly how happy you're feeling about it right now might depend somewhat on how much the weather is affecting you. 

Where we are, it's mostly just very wet and windy, and Alice is putting off going to the supermarket until it calms down a bit.

Some people here have had a really terrible time with yet more predicted to come.

Looking for weather information, we found some rather pretty images, even if what they actually mean is trouble...

Click on them to see the real beauty. Better still, open in a new tab for full size. [You can do this with any of our images, as I'm sure most of you realise. However, some newcomers may not be aware of this blog feature.]

The one on the right came from Reigate Grammar School Weather Station website, with lots of other interesting charts. The one on the left came from NOAA. We got it via good old Google, but couldn't find the original. [The link is to Google's 2013 Zeitgeist video. I do so love diversions.]

Noah in the Bible

Russell Crowe in  "Noah"

Despite the current floods, NOAA is nothing to do with Noah in the Bible. It's the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

You can bet we'll be looking out for this Noah in March. Alice admires Darren Aronofsky, plus she's a Russell Crowe fan, and wouldn't miss it for anything.

Tee hee, she's blushing!

But enough on the dire weather situation. It's time to share a few of our Seasonal Celebration highlights. I thoroughly enjoy all the fuss and trimmings that go with Christmas / Yule / Winter Solstice, as you can read in our previous Post - below this.

This is me opening the last door in my Advent Calendar. Yummy chocolate Santas. Alice has a passion for dark chocolate cherry liqueurs. She got through even more than twenty-four, though there's still a few left in the second box.

We did our special meal on the 24th, so we could spend the 25th nibbling the delicious left-overs. Here it is, waiting for roasting. 

Just as the whole enterprise was almost complete, and the green veg were on the hob, Alice had a "John Cleese moment". She re-arranged the baking trays, and - Crash! - one tipped over the back of the shelf onto the gas jets below. There was swearing. Only a quarter of the jets still functioned. A lot more swearing. [Two days later she finally put her head in the oven and managed to poke out the congealed fat.]

When all was on the table at last, we had a feast much like last year's, apart from golden beetroot instead of red: less messy and just as gloriously earthy tasting.

The next day we enjoyed avocado salad, wonderful remains, DIY Buck's Fizz and some Mateus Rosé, while watching Toy Story 3.  That's a fun film, but a touch sad as well.

I think my favourite treat was the cheese board, with a little glass of Late Bottled Vintage port. Alice is a self-confessed cheese addict and is going for a repeat - right now.

We headed off to see Alice's grandchildren just before New Year. They spent some time trying out ice-skating in a special youngsters and parents session.

 The ice-zimmers (as Alice called them) looked great, but I didn't risk having a go.

What if someone had run over me by accident? Doesn't bear thinking about.

To finish, here's my photo taken under the tree with all the carefuly wrapped presents.

The kids didn't let them stay that way for long, of course. Ripping paper is too much fun.

I hope you got what you wanted, too, and had an enjoyable time over the holiday.