Farewell to the Forest of Toon

So, enough of this tramping around aimlessly in the lovely woods. 'Tis time to engage with the frenetic activity of December. I have cleared most things from the Great Muddle, and still managed to have a very relaxing month. Taking a break from the whole thinking thing is most useful.

I even managed to find, at the back of the bread bin, Angela's marbles. This nearly pleased me more than anything. A dynamo of a woman like that really needs her marbles at this time of the year. They are somewhere between here and there, Ang, and will hopefully be with you in time. In time for what?  Only you could know.

Thank you, forest followers, for bearing with me in the Forest of Toon. I'll be back in the Land of the (sometimes tearful) Strawberries on Sunday for Floss's first Pause xx

Penultimate

I'm nearly glad that tomorrow will be my last day in the Forest. It's getting very cold, and strange, over-sized vegetation is appearing.

Bubbling, fizzing and fermenting. It can't be entirely wholesome.

 And there are creatures too. I thought I was made of sterner stuff.

But clearly the Forest has tired of its interloper and I must hasten back to my own world!

Thanks to Charles and Niqi for a warm house and my jar of peanut butter, crunchy. Where better to prepare for Preparing for Advent on a day besieged by freezing fog?  There's safety in numbers!

Novembers

There must be something about November that speaks to our collective unconscious. In one of my former lives I was a swotty counselling student, and I have to say that I loved Jung. To me November is that gorgeously stark time when you get to roam around the crisp streets with a hat and not feel slightly ridiculous. I do love and adore being able simply to enjoy Winter without all the noise, noise, noise, noise that the Grinch despised!

I was looking back at other November posts on fraise, and came across this one from last year. I remember being so excited at the prospect of a whole month of Frances and wishing I had the commitment to be as hardy as the Philosopher! (Sorry, Sandra- another set of obscure references!) But there must be something about November that makes us want to achieve something, enjoy something that is all about the season and not the great lurching event at at year's close. I'm wondering is it a deep down impulse that we all share. Maybe it's just a blogging collective subconscious!

I started reading through John's book a few days ago. This morning I got to the bit where Jesus clears the Temple. This struck a chord, having spent a month trying to clear a Land. He looked at all the materialistic, commercial STUFF that had been brought into a place for quiet, holy attention and shouted, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

That struck a chord too. Coming out of the Forest of Toon could mean moving into Christmas. But I'm going to move into Advent instead, I think.  I also think that fraise might just be around for the Pauses in Advent that Floss is running again this year.  If you haven't come across these before do visit Troc, Broc, Recup and think about signing up. It's not so much collective subconscious as collective trying to be very conscious indeed! (And that makes me think of my favourite Collective of all, filmed in another Forest I know...)

Deforestation

Dear Ang and Pom Pom,

My month in the Forest of Toon is nearing an end. I would highly recommend a month of driftng through wintry glades with a warm hat and lots of tea.  But it's time to come out now.  I am finally getting to the end of the list of all those things that I should have done many moons ago.  You were both the last entries on my Things to Post list, and I went to the post-office with your parcels this morning. Ang will know exactly what her parcel holds, as I have had to beg her countless times to email me the page numbers AGAIN! But Pom, I think you'll have completely forgotten what's in yours, so that might be a surprise!

I have learnt an incredible amount from both of you.  I am very grateful to Floss for her Pauses- I think I read you both first at her Pause in Lent one year.  Blogging is such a valuable resource, I think.  So thank you for your company in the forest! I wish you both a rich Advent time, and I will be reading your pauses with much love xx

Wardrobes in the Forest

No self-respecting forest should be without a wardrobe. How else do you find your way in and then your way out? This used to be the boys' wardrobe, and it was put out early last week for a charity to collect. They didn't come. Then someone from Freegle was interested, but after three days of unresolved emails, our kind neighbour's kind son-in-law helped PC heave it onto the roof-rack and now it is gone to another local charity. I miss it! I think we did actually start to believe that if we opened the door slightly we would hear Aslan roar. I know that the suns opened it slightly every time they went past. We had decided that if no-one could use it, we would take the back off the poor thing and install it at the bottom of the garden, with some old coats hanging inside; you never know!

This is the boys' new (to them) wardrobe. And it does now hold a bit of a surprise. Jo and I worked on it this evening when Mattman was down at BB.  Now that Little Baby Bear has this burgeoning wardrobe, he obviously needs somewhere to keep it. So we made him a...

He seems more than happy, as does Jo. The top shelf is empty, Frances, because it is for hats. And he will be getting a hat very soon. But not yet, because...

Mattman is now completely disgruntled that LBB is getting all this new attire and Ducky still doesn't have his superhero cape. This is a long story. So no hat for LBB until D has his cape, and we will be working on that tomorrow night when Jo will be down at BB. It's the wardrobe week in the Forest. I'll be more than happy to exit portal right on Saturday, I think. Not that all this wardrobing is getting me loser to a cleared To-Do List. But my head is definitely clearer, and I am feeling very ready for Advent. Especially having seen the Christingle candle that Mattman brought home from BB tonight. We'll be letting our light shine in the Forest all week.

Cycle home with Aaron

You may remember me enthusing about a young friend of ours who has been cycling from Istanbul to Belfast. Dormouse was brave and generous enough to take him in after he flew down some Alps! His blog is here, but I am copying his latest facebook itinerary- just in case any kind UK bloggistes should discover that this extraordinary person will be cycling through their land!

"So I've now cycled from Istanbul to Paris.
From here I'll be taking the ferry across the Channel from Dieppe to Brighton,
then roughly going through Guildford,
Bristol,
up along the Welsh border to Liverpool,
on up to Carlisle,
swinging East along Hadrian's wall to Newcastle,
then North again to Edinburgh,
Glasgow,
and finally out to Oban,
taking the small ferry from Campbellown to Ballycastle
and down the coast to Belfast!

The question is; would you like to cycle with me for a bit, OR have me sleep on your floor/camp in your garden?

I would love to see as many people as posssible. Especially those who want to go out for a ride!"

If you're on facebook you can find him under Cycle Home with Aaron. You'll be able to contact him there, or we're happy to pass  onany comments left on fraise. Bonne route!

Four course hospitality II

Dear Ang,

When we arrived we stood and sat around the island in the enormous and raftered kitchen drinking all sorts of lovely things. The children ate spaghetti with a homemade sauce that had red peppers and more flavour than my spaghetti sauce has known ever.

When that was all done and cleared away the adults took to the dining room and had:

1. A selection of salad leaves with buffalo mozzarella, pearls of mozzarella, beetroot, and a drizzling of balsamic vinegar.

2. Potage rougemont: an apple soup named after the area in Quebec where the apples grow. A puree of apples, leek, celery, onion, with dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Served with seasoned and warmed tortillas, smeared with homemade hummous.

3. Rack of lamb served with mint sauce- fragrant as anything and freshly made with white wine vinegar- and couscous, green beans, and carrots. It was a small consolation to learn that the couscous was Ainsley Harriott's!  Every little helps...

4. Homemade cheesecake. This was a cheesecake that had been baked in a bain-marie for most of the night. At 2am Marie-Eve had discovered that it wasn't cooking, so stayed up until 5am until it did.  Served with homemade strawberry coulis. The trick in the coulis is to whisk the egg-white first.

Hoping you'll be as speechless as we were!  The thing is, we will obviously now be inviting these cheffy folks back to Strawberry Land, where somehow the standard beef and Guinness casserole might not hit the mark.  So, if you have any ideas about entertaining chic and sophisticated palates- do tell!

This being Stir-up Sunday, I will be making my Christmas Cake- since no-one eats pudding. And I will be signing up to Floss' Pause in Advent. And I will go on salivating at the thought of last night!