Busy Summer...restful Autumn.

Hi all, yes, I know, I haven't posted all summer...but I have been REALLY busy and have been physically away for most of it. I have been helping out on a friend's food stall at various events and have travelled around a lot of the country meeting great people and seeing lovely places, it is over now, so time to get back to my 'thing' and work from home, make my jewellery for Etsy (pagannature.etsy.com) and enjoy autumn and winter.

I love this time of year - being a jumper and blanket type of person, so when others including my husband are complaining about the cold, rain and dark, I am quietly reveling in it! Even down to cooking, stews, roasts, stodgy puddings...total comfort food.

So, I have sorted my wardrobe, summer things away, winter things rediscovered, set the heating timer so it never really gets too chilly in the house and have stocked up on stock cubes and tins in the food cupboard...bring it on winter.

When is your favourite time of year? Let me know, and if it's now I hope you are well. I'm on twitter @gemmsky if you want to connect there :)

Shift work.

My husband works shifts, so as a result my own daily routine adjusts according to his schedule. For example this week he is on late shift, so I begin working when he goes to work, I actually quite enjoy this as it means every other week has a different feel to it, especially now the darkness of winter is looming. I will work, make things and write until the small hours, then start to cook so we can eat when he gets home, a bit of t.v to unwind before bed at some point during the early hours. We obviously do not get up early during late weeks, sometimes seen as lazy by some who have never had the pleasure of shift work! A certain number of hours sleep is vital, whenever they may fall, we are still working while these folks are snoring away in their beds. Lucky to be a natural night owl I guess...different story during his early shift weeks though ;)

Simnel cake - yummy!

Hello all, Easter weekend is fast approaching, the schools have broken up for the holiday and there is a LOT of chocolate around...but I can't eat chocolate (I know, torture) so, a good and yummy option is a traditional Easter simnel cake. Here is my recipe and article on Hubpages - enjoy!

http://gemmskylm.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-make-an-Easter-Simnel-Cake