It's darn cold. And then another four letter word is also in our forecast: snow; they issued a winter storm warning for 6-10 inches. I'm not a winter person, especially when it is this cold and then snow on top of it. Just hoping everyone stays safe. I'm scheduled to give blood tomorrow and I can predict if we get more than a few inches of snow, I will not be going. I know they need blood, but our road crews have not been good about keeping the roads cleared and I don't want to get stuck out somewhere on the way. Extreme cold and extreme heat bother my asthma.
I may have mentioned that DH and I really like British mysteries. Awhile back we subscribed to the streaming service Acorn TV and have really enjoyed quite a few of their programs. I was looking the other day and I found one that wasn't a mystery, but look intriquing. It is called "Wartime Farm." It is a documentary by two British archeologists and one historian who live for a year as if they were running a farm during WWII near Southampton. My parents grew up during the Great Depression in the United States and of course told me about the war shortages and ration books here; well, after watching some of these episodes, the U.S. had it made compared to the English. The English before the war were having to import 2/3 of their food so when the war came and food supply chains were cut off, the English farmers were told to step up and grow more. Many had to get rid of their pigs and beef cattle because you could feed more people with plants than animals. The government stepped in and basically told the farmers what to plant and how much and if the farmers didn't meet the strict standards, they could lose all or part of their farm. I could go on and on, but it has been fascinating. I have one more left in the series, and I can honestly say I have really enjoyed it. I learned a lot. If you don't have Acorn TV, you can also find these on YouTube. There's also a book I guess. My library doesn't have it so I won't be getting to read it, but just an FYI.
The interesting thing is I went to the library and checked out a murder mystery, British of course, and as I was reading, they mentioned "Lumberjills" which were women who cut trees in England since many of the men were off fighting the war. I had just seen an episode of "Wartime Farm" and it talked about the Lumberjills.
One thing I really am enjoying is the creativity people had to use to make use of things that were originally cast off. I think our world would be a better place if we recycled and reused more things. DH laughs at me because I'm always saving glass jars for this and that, but although I can recycle them, I really like having them around. I know I'm probably nuts, but I always thought soft drinks taste better in a cold, glass bottle, and I think milk does too.
It's Valentine's Day and hopefully you have been greeted and remembered. DH and I exchange cards. I'm fixing a pasta dish and baked garlic bread to go with it for our Valentine's Day dinner. The beauty is these will probably make an encore performance later this week in some form.
If you are in the path of bad weather, hope you are safe, warm, and cherished.
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February 15th, 2021 at 02:56 pm 1613400968
Stay safe & warm. It’s 25 degrees & sleeting here. We’re not used to such cold weather.
February 15th, 2021 at 06:34 pm 1613414067
It has a lot about post WWII England and the difficulty of every day life.
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I was doing a search on pinterest about this series and this recipe site came up which might be of some interest. I thought it was anyway: https://www.farmersgirlkitchen.co.uk/ration-book-cooking-monday-5th-november/