Dr Evilkambing, Bond baddie extraordinaire

Starring ME as Dame Dr Evilkambing Strombernefeld, Bond baddie extraordinaire

Just a bit of fun for today. If you want to join, click on the pic to get you to the webpage for such fripperies!

Oh, the pain of rejection!

I'd previously blogged about problems with anaemia when donating blood and after several courses of treatment I thought I was over it. So I happily returned to the blood donation session last weekend.

First the nurse asked me a whole bunch of rather personal questions about where I've lived, where I've been to (I said Eurodippylalaland, mostly), my sexual orientation/ proclivities (ahem!) and drug-taking preferences (who, me? smell the wine at communion and fall over liao ah! tee hee hee).

Then she rubbed it in about my poor record with low iron levels. Finally she got round to it and poked my finger and did the iron level test......... FAILED again!

So she got out a different testing machine, and then she ran round for a few minutes trying to find the right bits and pieces. Finally she poked and prodded inside my elbow to find the vein and with some difficulty underneath all my "insulating layers" (har blardy har) she finally extracted a small test vial of blood from me. Yes, you can get blood out of a stone (although admittedly,a s a stone I am rather paunchy and soft in the middle).

On testing, she confirmed that I'd FAILED again!

Then she called another nurse to give me some advice. Basically I'm not anaemic anymore but my iron level means I can't donate blood safely (in case I lose my magnetic personality - konon lerrr).

Oh phlebotomist! Oh, venepuncturist! Ah, woe is me, I am rejected to the spoilheap of has-beens.

At least now I don't get to be poked at anymore ... plus I got a cup of tea and two chocolate biscuits for my trouble that day LOL.

At Snowshill Manor

Snowshill Manor is a hidden gem in the Cotswolds - this is where the retired plantation owner and architect Charles Wade retired to in the early 20th century. As a result of having lots of money and lots of time, he collected all kinds of interesting things and filled his mansion with it, while himself living in a converted garden shed! .......although we did think that the shed in which he lived was bigger and more luxurious than our house, but maybe that says more about Kambingland than Snowshill :)

Collection of interesting squashes in the cow byre

It was Halloween, after all...

Last day of holiday :(
Inscription stone in garden - Charles Wade married quite late in life but it doesn't seem to have affected his love of life or his new wife

By heck, some of things in the house were amazing. It must contain one of the most important collections of curios and artefacts from the late 19th to the mid 20th century. The place now belongs to the National Trust. The gardens were the only place where we took photos, cameras were not allowed into the house.

Call him laaa...

Ah Moi posing

Zodiac clock

By the wishing well

St George & the dragon, we think

And that was it - after that it was balik kampung for us :(

But i must say it was a nice way to finish our holiday, though. Definitely a place to visit again in future.

Ham and vegetable soup

first put in 6oz of mushrooms,finely sliced.
next,put in 5oz of carrot,cut into tiny chunks.
then put in 6oz of tinned sweetcorn, drained.
now put in 4oz of lentils.
finally,put in 3oz of ham chopped finely.
cook in a saucepan until soft,then cover generously with boiling water.
season to taste,i used a vegetable stock cube,ginger and turmeric.

this was part of my homework,i had to make something and weigh out the ingredients.
i ate it for my supper and it was really tasty.

why not try this recipe at home,or something similar?

More from the birthplace of the bard

Spot the Ah Lian!

Spot the Ah Moi!
Spot the Ah Beng!

William Shakespeare was born inside this house. Yes, really. The tour guide says so, so it must be true.......

The last chocolate

There it sits, the last chocolate,
Waiting for me to eat it.
My mother's in the kitchen,
So I cannot get it now,
But soon it will be bedtime,
And in the night I'll get it.
It's night time now, oh hurrah!
I'll creep downstairs and,
Oh no! My mother's gone and eaten it!

By Cavebaby :)

A little diversion

Quick visit to Cadbury World, Birmingham

Famous for something....

And it ain't chicken pie!
Ah Lian & Ah Moi by the riverside at Stratford-upon-Avon on a very cold day
Statue of Hamlet with Ah Lian & Ah Moi.....

More pics of our half term holiday to come...