It's that time of year again!

January is seville orange season -- the time all marmalade-makers have to buy their oranges for the year ahead. Acordingly, this morning I collected 8 boxes of seville oranges weighing 40 lb each! So for the next couple of weeks I shall be living and breathing oranges as I get them all chopped, cooked and frozen!

According to the leaflets in the boxes, this year's oranges are from the Ave Maria Farm in Mairena del Alcor, Andalucia, Spain.

Sunday shopping & culture

Yesterday we decided to go into Manchester for some shopping and culture. Due to husband not checking the opening times of the shop he wanted to go to, the shopping aspect of the trip was truncated! I did ,however, buy a nice summer blouse for only £5.40 in Debenhams sale.

After a lunch of delicious soup at a cafe we pressed on with the second part of our day -- the Holman Hunt exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery.

As it was the last day of the exhibition it was quite crowded --there was actually a queue to get into the rooms of the exhibition. It was an excellent display of a lot of his most famous paintings and some lesser known ones too.

Holman Hunt's religion-inspired works have never been my favourites amongst the pre-Raphaelites although his earlier ones like Autumn Leaves are nice. I must say tho, that i am warming to his "Light of the World" now I have seen the actual painting rather than just reproductions of it.

Happy New Year!

Another new year already! Where did the old one go?

Last night we went to out local Italian Restaurant (the Vecchia Italia) with a group of friends as we have for the past 20 years or more. As always the food & company was great. Usually on New Years Eve there is a good party atmosphere as midnight approaches. Last night was a bit weird tho. The restaurant was full when we arrived, but most diners left as soon as they had finished eating, so at the magic hour, there was only our party remaining to celebrate! Was this a result of the recession, the bitterly cold & frosty night or did everyone have somewhere better to go on to ?

I don't like making New Years Resolutions -- it is too dissappointing if I have failed to keep them up even through January let alone the whole year -- so instead here are some of my goals for the year:

to lose some weight and keep it off
to be more organised generally
not to fret over things & people I cant change but concentrate on things that can be improved

Happy New Year everyone!