A Beautiful, Sunny Day here in Frugaldom

It was daybreak just after 7am this morning and I woke to a white, frosted wonderland of frozen earth and water buckets that defied any attempts to thaw them. At least the mud can't be a problem in this weather, unless you trip over the ruts or stub your toe. I love when it's this cold and everything looks clean, gleaming in its hard frosted coating. The thermometer was reading -6C but there was a promise of sunshine. Temperature had risen to almost -5C by 7.30am.

By 9.45am, the flock was fed, hair washed & dried, stove lit, coal and logs in for the day and neighbour waiting in the kitchen for our monthly trip to the local LETS meeting in town. By then, the sun was streaming down, melting yesterday's flood water and softening the mud. Town was quite busy for a Wednesday and the meeting produced half a dozen budding traders. My duck eggs traded out the way and I came home with some little lavender bags to add in as extra Christmas gifts for family.

Back home again and the postman has been, delivering me a silicone muffin tray and two beautiful, handmade pot holders - a gift from a frugal friend over in East Lothian. (Thank you, these are very much appreciated.)

Soup now warming on 'George' for lunch with homemade bread - staple lunchtime diet for the forseeable future -and then it's back to the keyboard for some serious web work. Except the sun is beckoning me outdoors to do some garden tidying. Perhaps I'll set aside the web work and go out to play. Then again, I have a new muffin tray and would quite like to try making toffee muffins...

Whatever I decide, I know there will be far less housework done than there should be, but should I mind about this? In Frugaldom, it's a case of take us as you find us. The stove is always lit and the kettle is always on, so a hot cuppa is something that's always available.

Now we have a mystery on our hands. H has just been out collecting eggs and has discovered almost a dozen quail eggs hiding in the back of a wooden broody hen box! Not such a mystery, you might think, but it is when you consider that the box is in the garden and the quail are all in a run. Now beginning to wonder if we have an escapee quail hen living loose in the field adjoining the garden and coming back to lay. Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would say.

Most of the hens and ducks are now sunbathing beneath the hedge in the front garden. Soak up those rays, girlies, we'll be needing more eggs for lemon curd making this weekend.

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