Had our winter "Gourmet Night" at Rick and Katie's house.
Experimented with a fore rib of beef cooked for 24 hours at 50 degrees C, and then cut into steaks and sealed each side in a very hot skillet!
Lilian and I went with Pearl and Archie and Winnie to the Waterfront Hall last night for our annual outing to Handel's "Messiah". This is one of these events where you keep bumping into hundreds of people that you know but haven't seen since last year!
The Waterfront hall during the interval.
Day off so went into town shopping. Bright but cold in Belfast but the Continental Market set up around the City Hall was great, with a wide variety of foodstuff from around Europe.
Met up with Rick and Katie and we did some shopping with them. Found ourselves back in the market and wandered about sampling Paella and all sorts of stuff. 
All the shops were open late so we ended up in Waterstones browsing through the books and having coffee before going back to Winnie's house for supper.
For you folks who are looking for pictures of my grandson Caleb, here are a couple. 
Dave and Stacey are doing well. Dave appears to be enjoying his job and they are both involved in their local church with Pastor Mike.
Day off so we decided we would attempt to bake some cinnamon scones from a recipe we were given by a little restaurant in Medicine Hat, Canada. (We used to go down every morning for coffee and these superb cinnamon scones). Here they are about to go into the oven...
and this is what they look like baked and buttered. Fantastic recipe. If you want a copy let me know.
Chestnuts roasting by an open fire. (Well a fan assisted electric oven actually!) Rick and Katie arrived for tea. Had a curry and then retired to the front room to play backgammon! 
It's that time of year again! Got the Christmas tree up and decorated. (Lilian did all of the work!) Rick and Katie had stayed overnight last night.
Held what looks set to become established as The Annual Christmas Gingerbread House Buildiing Competition, (or as we say for short AGHBC) last night. Competition was fiercer than last year with Rick and Katie joining us for the first time with a fancy design involving dormer windows in the roof. 
However according to the official and independant judge, (our next door neighbour dragged away from the TV!) Alison and Nigel's creative efforts and pretzel fence stole the show! Despite everyone having eaten far more smarties and dolly mixtures than we actually used for decoration, we managed supper afterwards.
Sorry I have been neglecting this blog recently, life has been pretty hectic and I haven't had a day off for three weeks so there was nothing to write about!
Saturday 28th October
Undecided whether to go for a walk in the hills or not but decided to risk it.
Found the car park just below Crocknafeola Wood and parked the car. After walking for about 10 minutes the rain came on and drizzled on and off but the track did lead us straight to the lough.
Had our lunch there on the beach at the lough, (in better weather might have contemplated a swim!) But it was getting late and so we made our way back home again as the light was fading. Looking forward to my Saturday afternoon routine of reading the paper and attempting the crossword when I get back. (Sign of advancing years is getting set in your ways like this!)
Friday 27th October
Really lazy day today, great to be able to slunge about like this and do nothing without feeling guilty. That's what holidays are about I suppose!
Thursday 26th October.
Had our lunch sheltering behind the Mourne Wall out of the wind which was still going strong. Took some pictures of the view which I stitched together into a panorama.
Eventually made our way back down to the car again by late afternoon and drove back down the road to Kilkeel and on to Cranfield as the sun was going down.
Dull and overcast but we headed off to the Mournes. Rain had started when we parked the car and after a short respite came on again and got progressively heavier all the way to Lough Shannagh, a couple of miles over the mountains. 
Lit huge fire in the front room and dried out! Watched, “The Remains of the Day” with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson” on DVD.
Tuesday 24th October.
'I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge,' he wrote in his essay On Stories. While living in England he spoke of the magic of Northern Ireland: 'I yearn to see County Down in the snow, one almost expects to see a march of dwarfs dashing past. How I long to break into a world where such things were true. That part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia.'
Monday 23rd October, the start of our Winter Week.
Started a book, “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places” by Eugene Peterson, which describes itself as “A Conversation in Spiritual Theology”. The title is taken from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, one of my favourite poets. In his introduction he describes “Spiritual Theology” as “… a protest against theology depersonalised into information about God; it is a protest against theology functionalized into a programme of strategic planning for God.” Finding it quite stimulating and provocative.
Speaking to a school SU on Friday which knocked the day off on the head a bit as the SU was at lunchtime. So spent the morning and afternoon tidying the study and moving it to another room in the house. The idea is that Lilian and I will have a desk each and be able to work together in the same room. Pearl had come on Thursday and she and Lilian had painted the room in prep for the Friday move.
"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Saturday lunchtime, picked Lilian up from her "Precept" class in Belfast and headed down to Greyabbey to collect Katie and go to a Food Fair in Mountstewart. Rick was at work. Lilian dropped me off at Mountstewart while she went on to pick up Katie so I lay down by the shore and read my paper in the sun, (which was very pleasant) until they came back.
The Food Fair was OK, some nice local produce but actually not that big a fair so we had a walk around Mountstewart Gardens on what turned out to be a very pleasant Autumn afternoon.
Mountstewart is sitting on about 100 acres and contains some interesting trees and shrubs from around the world and some fascinating topiary in the formal gardens. The National Trust do a good job of mantaining these old places.
Mount Stewart was the home of Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry during the famine. Lord Londonderry, one of the ten richest men in the United Kingdom, was criticised for his meanness during the famine: he and his wife Frances gave £30 to the local famine relief committee, but spent £150,000 renovating their house!
