A Long View

A short read.

Last week I went to Yorkshire, which is the county of my birth. I always a feel a little bit like I am coming home as I hit the moors and see the miles roll out in front of me, the glory of the long view - this time slightly parched and bathed in sunshine, as is the rest of the country currently. But the heather is coming through, the purple haze reminding me of jaunts to the moors on weekends as a child, my Dad giving my Mum some rest by getting the kids out of the house - we would bounce on the heather tufts like feral goats.

In reality Yorkshire hasn’t been my home since 1974 and the long hot summers of my memory are most likely just a few days dotted here and there when I got to wear my summer dress. I only have one blood relative living there now, the rest of us spread far and wide within the United Kingdom - all on the same land mass at least. My Mum’s partner Nancy still lives in the cottage she shared with her, and we visited her there and had a little jaunt of our own to Bolton Abbey which is very beautiful.

It was a good visit, as the Americans say. I was surrounded by Americans, the best sort of course, while there, as Nancy’s great nephew, Timothy, is staying too. It was odd being in the cottage where Mum died. Seeing her garden blooming but knowing she would have been out here dead heading the roses, pulling up unruly weeds and blessing the ones she liked, or inside making blackcurrant jam, or standing on a stool, reaching for something on the highest shelf oblivious to the danger of falling.

Everything is as it was. Everything is totally changed.

Next stop was my brother Nic and his wife Pauline. The best of people. Nic should be canonised really, but he would scoff and laugh and order a pint of bitter at the thought. That too was good visit. Nic wants to buy a massive house in Hartlepool so that all the family, in its entirety, can live there come armageddon or Nigel Farage. It’s a lovely thought, except for the Hartlepool bit. No offence to anyone from there, and I haven’t been so am not dismissing it outright, but I don’t want to live there, sorry. I suggested he buy (with what was a question we didn’t quite get to) out here in Wales, but he said it rains too much. The cheek of it.

Anyway. I’ve got some busy old times coming up as me and the American get our little shop all gussied up and ready for custom, plus welcome a branch of the family to Wales (see Nic, most people think it’s a good idea), last cooking workshop with Ein Cegin, heartbreaking but also good, massive catering gig (which I have absolutely nothing to do with organising, I will just do as I am told - heaven) for the Beacon Farms event, then more family arriving, painting the shop, finalising travel plans to France… well, you can see, I am a bit distracted.

I am also distracted by the fact one of our cats has one missing. I am hoping so much she has just gone walk about - the last time she did that was 11 years ago and she came back pregnant. Since that outcome is no longer possible for her I am hoping she is enjoying a dalliance with a family who is feeding her fresh fish and combing her fur. That is my hope. I can’t quite bear to think of the alternatives. It’s ok if a pet dies, if it’s at home or at least with its owner, hard, but ok, but it’s the not knowing I am real finding difficult. Keep your fingers crossed that the matronly old baggage that is Spooky comes home soon.

Keeping this short but here’s a lovely idea for salad addition, which is all we can eat in this heat.

Bagel and chorizo croutons.

• 1 bagel, sliced widthways and then in to bite size pieces

• 1 cooking chorizo sausage, skinned and crumbled or cut into little pieces

• Mix in a bowl with a splash of olive oil and put onto a baking tray.

• Bake for about 10 minutes in med/hot oven (I used the air fryer - brilliant), or until the bagel bits are crispy and the chorizo just beginning to go brown at the edges (you want it sort of caramelly, if that makes sense).

Use any way you like - as a snack with something cold and fizzy or sprinkled liberally on a lovely crispy chopped salad.

Big love to you all - especially new subscribers.