Don't Eat The Yellow Snow!

A busy day yesterday. Lindy is lame, so Missis is keeping him in. I am putting my horses out in the morning and bringing them in at lunch time, and Missis is putting Polo and Fudge out for a couple of hours in the afternoon, although it has to be said, mine didn't want to come in and hers didn't want to go out, but it means Lindy has company all day.

I couldn't resist taking some photos, as it was absolutely beautiful outside. The sun was really strong, and the white was stunning. I was 'Jane Orson, arctic explorer.' Because everything is very stark, the birds have become clearly visible. I have two robins in my garden, which is interesting as I thought they were terretorial. Maybe one will have to give in and leave. I really want to feed them, but the cats are so crafty, and I can't police the garden constantly. I'll have to see what I can do.

I spent the afternoon finishing off the traditional trifle I'd started the night before, and making the Black Forest trifle. I decided to make a mini one next to it, so that I could taste it and only inflict it on an unsuspecting public if it was good enough. It did occur to me that if the situation got desperate, I could go outside, scoop up a bowl of snow, sprinkle on some lemon juice and say, "Look, I've brought a sorbet!" That would wipe the smile off thier faces.

So I put the chocolate swiss roll in the bottom of my big dish, then sloshed some port in as we don't have any sherry. Then I spooned in the black cherry pie filling, which is one of my favourite things, and the whole reason pancakes were invented. On top of this goes the chocolate custard. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was like a runny chocolate mousse. I whipped up the cream and spread it on top, then grated a flake and sprinkled that on to finish. I got a spoon and tasted my miniature version, and it was absolutely gorgous. All the flavours work wonderfully well together, and the dash of port just gives it an edge. Lovely. Thanks Raine, for the brilliant idea, and so easy to make.

I also wrapped Mr O's presents, and Tessa's. I think Mr O was under the impression I was going to wrap his presents under his nose at the weekend. Silly. When I've finished this I'm going to go and make some nice gift tags to put on them, as I've found a website with some brilliant ideas.

Then I hopped in the shower and had an opportunity to use my favourite shower things. It's a fragrance called Summer Hill by Crabtree and Evelyn, which I absolutely adore. What joy to go out for the evening smelling of summer flowers rather than eau de silage for a change.

Then we had the tricky task of carrying two dishes of trifle through the snow to the car without sliding and dropping them. I wasn't worried about one of the dishes, but the other is from my china set and I would have been heartbroken if I'd dropped it. Have you ever tried transporting two trifles by car in the snow? It was a military operation, I can tell you. I had to get in, fasten my seatbelt and get Mr O to pass them to me so I could have one on my lap and one at my feet, so I could keep it motionless, and I begged Mr O to drive very , very slowly. Fortunately we didn't have too far to go.

The party was a great success. We had all different curries which were delicious, and all the wonderful puddings. There were 12 of us from the Bible Study. It was a good opportunity to chat and get to know people a bit more. We took Communion together at the end and had an opportunity to give thanks to the Lord. It was lovely. Who knows how much longer we will be able to do that? A teacher has got the sack this week for offering to pray for a pupil who was ill. Christians should be used to persecution, it's not a new thing, but it is new to us in the west, and I wonder how bad it will get before we start having to meet in secret like they do in Muslim countries. A sign of the times, I think.