Hope

The following is shamelessly stolen from Yamini, who wrote it with such insight that I didn´t feel there was anything I could write that would even remotely be on the same par. She wrote it before last Sunday (first in Advent).

"This coming Sunday is the first in Advent, the period of recognition of the birth of Jesus Christ. The announcement of the imminent arrival of the Messiah to the Eastern Magi and the Shepherds (and by default, all followers of Christ through to the modern age) generated HOPE. This is signified in the first candle of the Advent crown many households will light this weekend."

"Hope is not merely wishful thinking. To say that one hopes for something, but with only a hankering in the heart rather than an anchored ideal, is to be wishing. Hope is strong. It is affirmative. It lifts the inner being of those who have found something to which they can attach some degree of trust and anticipation for an improvement upon whatever circumstance prevails currently. In times of great sorrow, those with hope in their hearts will suffer less. Those with hope will have a solid goal or ideal to which they can turn their eyes, hearts and minds in the times when they are not preoccupied with acting in life. Indeed, hope will inform their actions, for such actions will surely be for the furtherance of the hopeful one and will contain the hope in their completion."

"Hope heals. Hope is a prayer. Hope encourages. Hope motivates. Hope ensures one foot is put in front of another and urges us to keep on keeping on. If the goal is our anchor, hope is the chain which ties us to it. Hope presides where faith fails. When all is let loose in the world, hope remains."

"Take time this week to contemplate..."

Thank you to Ginny Marie over at Lemon Drop Pie for her prompt for the Spin Cycle. 

I can do it myself!

Italy 1991

That's the problem with being an independent girl. You think you can do everything yourself. Until you find you can't. Be it dealing with the hanging of lamps, getting rid of pain or dealing with major upheavals, sometimes you just need help!

With Camille (lap) and Jean

When I was growing up and told my parents what I wanted to be or more precisely where I wanted to be it (au-pair in England), it wasn't looked upon as a good thing for me as I was a bit too young and still too dependent. So, I didn't become an au-pair in England (got to be one in Brussels, Belgium a few years later though). 

It might not have won any beauty contests,
but my sister and I made this ourselves!

My second home lacked some lighting and shelving I liked, so I asked my dad to come and help me out. Very happy with the lighting and the shelves were only a tiny bit off. But not enough to let the books slip off, so it was okay.

Moving to another country means that as independent as you are, you will need some help at some point. From packing to getting rid of stuff, from help finding a new place to dealing with all the red tape.

I definitely needed help coming down this
rock slide!

Dealing with a major upheaval (like the move, the accident, the operation) can mean a major upheaval in your head as well and instead of doing it alone, being independent, I decided I needed some professional help to deal with it all. 

I can do it myself. But having help from friends and family and on occasion strangers is the best thing to independence. As long as you can choose when to get help and don't have it thrusted on you and it smothering you. 

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

Counting my blessings

Reflecting on life at Ryvarden Lighthouse
Photo taken by my friend UL

Having all of a sudden been bombarded with bad thoughts (and with bad thoughts, I mean really really bad thoughts) last week, this week has fortunately been much better. 

On Monday I got to see a lovely lady who was able to put a few things in perspective for me. Very helpful. We talked for about an hour and even though I had a little cry, I came out of that meeting feeling much better than I had. When at work afterwards, I told them I would give up the team leader job and it was like a stone lifted as well. They told me that they were sorry, since they felt I did a good job. Which lifted me even more, but not enough to want the job back.

Never too old for the swing!

On Tuesday I had to see my gp. Well, the replacement to the replacement really. But, he listened to me, give me a sick note for two weeks and a referral to a psychologist. That will take a while, but I am feeling much better now, so perhaps some time to put things in perspective might help me a bit. 

Not only did I see the gp, it was of course my birthday and I got a great gift: the camera. At the moment it is called This One, as opposed to the other one that is called The Other One. Very imaginative I know! Suggestions are welcome! And then in the evening I had some colleagues come over for apple pie and got more gifts.

Yes, I walked through a marshy area and got out again the other side!
Any problem with that?

On Wednesday I took it easy. Went for a little walk, took some photos and wrote in my diary that I started last week. I decided that I would write the whole story down once and for all and I must admit, even though there were some not so good memories, most of the memories were fairly painless. And some were even fairly funny, despite the circumstances. In the evening another colleague/friend came by with Thai food. 

Yesterday I got picked up in the morning by my friend/colleague and was taken to her childhood haunt. A beautiful spot and we spent a couple of hours there. On my return home I found I had a birthday card (thank you Pepperfly). And even though the day finished with a thunderstorm, it wasn't a heavy one and it didn't take long.

So, my blessings this week have been plentiful. And the week isn't even over yet! 

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

Motherhood

Being the au-pair to Camille (baby girl in my arms) and Jean (the little boy)

I had a hysterectomy earlier this year as those of you who are old hats at reading my ramblings will know. And not only a hysterectomy, it also included the removal of one ovary and both fallopian tubes. Which severely cuts my chances of becoming a mother. 

Now, I must say that I never really felt that I wanted, needed, must have children in order to feel complete. I did at one time want children and even had a biological clock ticking once. For a whole of two weeks it ticked and ticked while I was jealous of my cousin who was pregnant with her second daughter. And then the ticking stopped, never to return. 

This is not to say that if I would have gotten pregnant I wouldn't have welcomed the baby with open arms. I would. I would have loved it. It just never happened. Never found the person I wanted to have one with either (I haven't found Ed yet and the real Ed is already taken by a fantastic woman I know cyberpersonally). 

I know other women who have had hysterectomies, both younger and older, both with and without children. And some felt great about it (hey, no more periods, what's not to love?), while others felt it was a loss of part of their womanhood. I am in the first category. Happy to be without pain and everything that goes with that part of being a woman.

I am Mara, I am a woman and no, I am not, nor ever will be a mother. And that is fine. Honestly it is. It is me as well you know. As much as wearing glasses, being a bit overweight and loving Eurovision are. Oh, and proud of the huge big zip as well!! 

The only mother in the house is Miss Oswin, who gave birth to four kittens (one survivor) about two months before she came to live with me.

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie

Things that bumped

I am flummoxed

I am stumped

Should I talk about Miss Oswin

Or things that bumped

in the night?

I am off

I am free

Just for a day

Just to see

the sea.

I had some breakfast

Of bread and mice

Pink and white

They were nice

but crunchy.

It's only an attempt

At being like the bard

I don't know how he did it

Because I find it hard

to do.

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie

Absolute rubbish

There is a program on British television that I love watching. I loved it in the early days when it was broadcast on Dutch television and I still love it today. It's called Time Team and it is basically a show about archeaology. Some random person digs a hole to bury a cat and finds a wall. A farmer plows his field and all of a sudden Roman coins come to the surface. They call in the Time Team and they come and dig the site for three days. Completely ruining the garden, but usually finding a lot. Roman temples, Iron Age villages, medieaval castles, Victorian factories, WWII bunkers. And everything in between. 

One way of finding out who lived/worked there and when is looking at what is left in the ground. A bit of pottery, a coin, perhaps a bit of glass. Sometimes they find a midden (or dump to you and me) and lots of animal bones and other bits of rubbish are found. They always get so excited when they do. People lived here, they ate here, they slept here! All to be told by that one piece of pottery.

Our rubbish is different. If we were to throw out all of our rubbish in our backyards, we wouldn't be able to see the grass before long. Because where our ancestors had to deal with fresh food and perhaps a stone pot or two, we not only deal with fresh food, but also with its packaging, usually plastic. The other day when I bought a tiny little thing, the packaging was three times as much as the actual thing I bought! But most countries nowadays have come up with a solution: collect the waste and take it away. 

I wonder what archeaologist will find in 1000 years time in our backyards. A piece of pottery? A plastic label to say what plant it is? A few bones of a favourite pet? A lost diamond wedding ring? A coin or two? Or perhaps a Visa Card? Or won't there be any archeaologists in a 1000 years' time to find anything because we have ruined our planet with all our rubbish way before then?

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

PS: for you Dutch and Norwegians out there: spot the mistake in the photos! Look closely now!

George

He is bound to be there somewhere!

When I grew up, I wasn't invited to many birthday parties. Most of the people inviting me were girls who lived on the same street. There was however one exception and that was George. A boy in my class. He was not one of the popular, although I think that everybody remembers him, since he could throw massive temper tantrums. He once even tried to reconfigurate a whole classroom holding on to desks and chairs, while a teacher was trying to get him out of said classroom! 

George was a nice boy though. And he always invited me over for his birthday parties. There would be several other boys and girls there and we would usually have a nice time. Even if his little brother would also be there, which was not to his or our liking. 

We would have cake, we would have lemonade. We would play games and we would tell jokes. The worst kind. The 'your shoe lace is loose' kind of joke. Which isn't really a joke at all, but hey, we were about 10! The main reason for those type of jokes was the fact that George celebrated his birthday on April 1st. April Fool's. And silly jokes were part and parcel of every single birthday party he had. 

After primary school we both went to the same high school. We were in the same class and quite often we would cycle at least part of the way to school together (there were about five or six different locations). But then I left that school because we moved to another town. And I lost touch. When we had a reunion 15 years later he didn't come, although with great difficulties I did manage to get him on the phone at some point to ask questions about his time at school.

It's been 32 years since the last time I was invited to his birthday party. But his parties will always stand out to me. So, happy birthday George. Hope you have a great day!

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

PS: your blouse is buttoned the wrong way!

iPurrrrr

Now, I don't know if you remember, but just before I went into hospital, I found out my iPod wasn't working. The music device I had bought especially to keep me company while in hospital. I took it along, hoping that some Bergen juice would help, but in the end I had to settle for my good old mp3 player. With around 1700 numbers. Which go round and round and round.

I couldn't load the iPod. I would connect it to my laptop and the only thing that would come up on screen was: device not recognised. Extremely annoying to say the least. So, not only was there no juice, there was also no transferring of great songs. 

This week, I decided to try again. Perhaps my laptop had gotten over its temporary lapse of judgement and would recognise the thing and take it into its arms. Well, I am glad to say it did. Not only that, music was transferred, as were photos of artists and national flags and of course it loaded up without a problem. 

I wanted a pink one, but they only had yellow left!

You know what type of music I have on my iPod: Eurovision and with the newest installment coming up in May, including an act from Australia, more music is on its way. But it's not only that. I also have a large collection of musical numbers, from Singin' in the Rain and The Sound of Music to lesser known musicals like A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and A Little Night Music. I love how I am able to bellow along with Oklahoma! or sing along with Somewhere Over The Rainbow. My least favourite is Do Re Mi from the Sound of Music. It gets on my nerves, but I will not take it off my iPod either.

Other than that: a large collection of Dutch songs from several decades. Songs about creepy crawlies while sobering up, the atomic bomb, hookers, how to grow your own weed, moths and plenty of love songs. I love Glen Miller, the Andrews Sisters, Carmen Miranda, Frank Sinatra. I have recently started to listen to country music with Dolly and Reba leading the pack. Sixties, seventies and eighties (although the latter not nearly enough) are well represented and thanks to my sister a good dose of classical music as well. Don't think I recognise them, but every once I even surprise myself!

And how do I listen to them? Well, I just lump the lot together, hit shuffle and off I go. I will sing along to the Dutch and the English or hum along if I don't know the lyrics. I will dance along to the numbers if they require dancing along to, which is not much (requiring that is) and I will direct. And occasionally, when out listening to music while walking, I will do several of those at once, apparently making quite a spectacle of myself! 

Let's just hope the iPod will keep going now. And for plenty of good music to be put on, after all, I only use about one quarter of the thing!!

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

Twenty-eight

1. I had a cat called Julius.

2. I don't like mushrooms.

3. I don't mind mushroom soup though. As long as there are no mushrooms in it.

4. I have the whole series of M*A*S*H on dvd.

5. Yet I still will watch it on television when it's on.

6. I love Eurovision (in case you didn't know).

7. I don't remember much from when I was 16 years old. 

8. My favourite flowers are carnations. Especially deep red ones. Even if they are considered funeral flowers here in Norway.

9. I cried buckets when I saw Hachi. Embarassingly so. Really, it was ugly! Like snot and such!!

10. I spend too much time on the internet. Even if I am on sick leave.

11. I like reading romance novels. You know the ones: boy meets girl, they fight over something silly, they make up, they live happily ever after.

12. Yet, I am reading The Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn at the moment. Not light reading by anybody's standards.

13. I can't think of a number 13. I really can't.

14. I always try to sit on the right hand side of a plane, preferably by the window.

15. I have amazing friends and family.

16. I don't really like roses. 

17. I have close to 300 Christmas films.

18. I turned 28 in 1999. 

19. I have one little brother and one little sister.

20. I am however the smallest of the three. 

21. I have been known to become travel sick on both bus, car and boat.

22. I am a romantic at heart. Deep down.

23. I used to be so surprised when boys knew my name. Even if we had spent eight years in the same classroom!

24. My first car was a Fiat Panda. 

25. I don't really have a favourite colour. I like different colours for different things.

26. My eyes are blue. 

27. I still have a teddy bear, although it has been a few years since he last spent time in my bed.

28. This post has taken me about two hours to write. So, you had better appreciate the effort!!!

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

One of twelve

I could of course continue in the vein of yesterday and feel very sorry for myself (which I do actually, I got a cold to top off the disappointment), but that would be very draining on you lot that come back every time to read about my life. No need to put you all on anti-depressants! 

Seeing as it nearly is the end of January, I thought I would have a little look at this past month. Prompted by Ginny Marie of course! And then it turned out that the buckets I set at the beginning of this year were not met at all. 

The more blogging went out of the window because of two weeks of feeling rotten. None of the other buckets were filled either. It being the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, there were a lot of documentaries on television about the Holocaust. I have seen quite a few of those. Not the most uplifting I can tell you. Especially not last thing at night when you need to get some sleep. 

The book I am reading at the moment (to fulfill my Goodreads goal of 50 books this year) got off to a slow start as well. Not because I am not reading, but because of the book I am! It's the Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Not the easiest to get through and certainly not a beach read! Death, destruction and forced labour all are part of this book. And I only read the 500 page abridged version... 

The weather this month has included a full out storm, one of the worst to hit the West Country of Norway in two decades, a bit of snow, rain, rain and more rain. Some of my rooftiles ended up on the ground which were replaced a few days ago. My surroundings (although still beautiful) are grey and brown due to the weather. Puddles and icy roads are also included in this lovely mix.

On the plus side though: new heater, lovely companion (ie Oswin), great friends, good job and soon I will be operated on, get a visit from my sister and hopefully fill my buckets. Oh, and sorry for having written such a depressing blog post. I promise to do better next time!

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

Going on holiday (well...)

Another easy-ish prompt this week: answer two or three or all of the questions about holidays and travelling and such. Well, I am never one to shirk away from answering questions, so I decided to answer the whole bunch!

1. Would you rather take a road trip or fly?

This is a tricky one. I do like flying, yet I do like driving as well. I think for longer distances that have to be covered in a short amount of time, I prefer flying. But I would love to take a roadtrip one day, which means driving!

2. Where is your favorite place to travel?

Oh wow, this is a question and a half isn't it? But it's safe to say that anywhere that is not here, would be a close enough answer. 

3. Do you have any sanity-saving tips for traveling with kids?

Don't take them along! Sleeping pills (for them). Lots of wallpaper (the Dutch will understand this one). But, in case you want them to have a nice family holiday as well, take along pleeeeeenty of games/music/films. And go places that are interesting to you and to them as well. I once encountered a group of British school children in Pompeii. The children were about 9 and bored out of their faces! It could have been a fun trip even there, but it had to have the 'educational' bit as well! Stupid if you ask me!

4. If you could take a vacation without the kids, where would you go?

Anwhere where there are no or not a lot of children. So definitely not one of those all-inclusive holiday resorts. Gruesome!

5. What is your favorite activity to do while traveling? Do you like to read, sleep, listen to music, or play games?

I take my iPod with me and listen to music while I am reading. I just have to take care to what I am reading, last year I got caught out crying at Copenhagen Airport, because the book was so sad!

6. Is there a place you would travel to just for the food?

HOME! The bread, the desserts, the meat, the way my mother/father/family/friends cook. A good second would be Italy, but mainly for the ice-cream! I am easily won over...

7. One of my goals is to someday come home to a clean house, but it hasn’t happened yet! When you leave your house for vacation, is it messy or clean?

This is a trick question right? Put forward by my parents? Just to catch me out? I know it is. Anyway, my house is not messy as such (can't have the catsitter think I am a dirtbag), but it will not be on the 'cleanest house of Norway list' either. If such a list exists of course. But I won't be on it!

8. What is one thing you would never travel without?

Toothbrush/paste and clean underwear. Although having said that: I have been caught out twice now with only my toothbrush and not toothpaste. Annoying! 

9. My husband cannot sit still for very long on vacation; he has to be constantly on the move. How about you? Would you rather have a relaxing vacation or have activities planned from morning ‘til night?

I love a relaxing holiday. Starting at 11 in the morning is fine by me. Seeing some of the sights and then going home for a nice dinner and a glass of wine enjoying the sun setting. Or staying home all day and reading a book. Again though, my holidays seem to consist more of doing things and seeing things. But always at my own pace!

10. If you could photograph (or see) any place in the world, where would you go?

Northern Norway to see the Northern Lights. That is still a dream of mine and I hope to make it a reality at some point. (the photo is taken by American Cody Duncan, who travels to Lofoten (Norway) a fair bit and takes the most gorgeous photos, not only of the Northern Lights, but of the mountains and lakes and the rest of nature as well. If you click on this link, you will come to his site where lots more of his fantastic photos are shown!)

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

Words are not enough

A word for the entire year she asks. One word to hopefully describe the year ahead. The first word that sprung to mind was madness. Because how can you describe a year that is not even a week old? That is still in its infancy? I mean, you don't look at a week-old baby and go: brain surgeon! Well, there might be people who do, but they are usually mightily disappointed when said baby grows up and decides he rather wants to be a turkey farmer!

But of course, me being me, I got to thinking some more. Painfree flashed through my mind, but that would only be highlighting one part of my life. Fitness would be the same and knowing me, quite a grasp! So, what word would be good? What word could fit a whole year? 

I really had to get my thinking cap on. And then: happiness! Why not? It could fit. It could be good. Yet, there was a niggle in the back of my head saying it wasn't enough. It wasn't... IT. And then I remembered my love for the Doctor. No, not a real doctor, although I do love the two doctors that reside in my life, but the Doctor. And his advice to one of his companions a while ago (I think it was David Tennant's Doctor to Billie Piper's Rose) which was: live life!

Looking at the bucket list I made yesterday, that fit perfectly. Live life! But of course there was this little hitch: live life is two words and only one was needed. So, my word for 2015? 

LIVE  

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

Spinning a blog

Instead of the usual prompt for the Spin Cycle, this time there were a lot of questions (well 10) to answer. And where I don't always find the inspiration to follow the prompt, answering questions is something I do do! So here goes:

1. What do you love the most about blogging? 

Oh wow, where to start. I think the best thing about blogging is the people you meet. They might only be in cyberspace, but on occasion they cross over! And I haven't been disappointed yet. This year I met Yamini and I had a wonderful week being her guest in Scotland. 

2. How do you find the time to keep up with all the aspects related to blogging (posting, reading, commenting, responding, etc)? 

I don't always unfortunately. But I am very happy to put off housework if that will get me to the posting, reading etc. No qualms about that at all!!

3. Does your family know about your blog and does this affect what you blog about? 

They do and it does affect what I blog about. Mind you, not very much, since I will blog about anything anyway. If it is important I will make sure of telling my parents or whoever is involved first though and some things I will tell the people I feel are important to me, but will not blog about. I think what affects my blog more is my job. Having learned from experience that it is sometimes wise not to blog about everything!

4. If you didn’t blog, what would you be doing with that time? 

Not blog? Wow, even though I have been a lazy blogger of late, I can't imagine not blogging at all. Nope, not at all!

5. Have you been in a blogging rut and how did you pull yourself out of it? 

Oh yes, the last few months have been a bit of a blogging rut. I just decided to start posting again. People are interested in what I write, so I might as well. Doing prompts also helps a lot, that way you are forced even if you are not quite out of the rut yet. So thank you Spin Cycle! And of course there is also Oswin! 

6. Have you ever considered leaving the blogging world and why? What stopped you? 

No, never considered. I love to blog. I want to write and since I am good at writing my blog...

7. Show some blog love: Name another blog that you adore. 

Are you really asking me to name favourites? Really? Well, if you must know: this blog is a great one. It's not really a blog anymore, but the person behind it always shows great photos of his trips to Norway and other places. I wouldn't mind getting some photography lessons of him!

8. What’s your favorite social media outlet for sharing your blog posts? 

Ehm, did I ever mention anywhere that I am quite a digilliterate? So, I don't quite get this question. Sorry. 

9. What’s one thing you’ve learned about yourself since you started blogging? 

That I blog like I talk. And that blogging takes tension away from me. Not having a sounding board at home to complain to when things go awry at work or elsewhere in my life, my blog takes on that role. 

10. Any new blogging plans or ideas for the new year?

No, no real new plans or ideas. Just to continue blogging, either with help from prompts or by what happens in my life. And you are welcome to come and join my life!!

This post is prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.

A taste of Christmas

No, not made by me!

Have you ever wondered why we make gingerbread men and houses for Christmas? Why not eat them all year round? They do taste good enough to do so. Yet, most of us don't. So, what is so special? 

The ingredients to make gingerbread men are ordinary flour, butter and ginger and other spices. And those last two ingredients make the gingerbread men so special. Because they were expensive. They were shipped from far away, it took a long time and that meant that the only people who were able to afford them were either very rich or had saved up. And Christmas would be a time to enjoy the best you could get. If you had to save all year to get your hands on a bit of ginger...

Imagine not only using ginger, but also cinnamon, cardemom, coriander, anisseed, nutmeg and cloves. Imagine the amount of money it would cost. Imagine how you would savour the taste and enjoy it. Imagine the taste of Christmas!

So, get you to a shop and get buying some ingredients for my Christmas tasting Speculaaspie! Here they come:

For the speculaas spice mix:

5 ts ground cinnamon

4 ts ground cloves

1,5 ts ground ginger

1 ts ground cardemom

1 ts ground coriander

1 ts ground annisseed (I couldn't get hold of that, so used ground fennelseed instead)

1 ts ground nutmeg

ts = tablespoon

Take a clean, dry glass jar with lid. Put all ingredients in jar, put the lid on and shake until well mixed. It will keep and if it runs low: just add more ingredients!

For the dough:

300 grams of ordinary flour

100 grams of brown sugar

pinch of salt

200 grams of cold butter, diced

2 table spoons of speculaas spice mix

For the filling:

75-100 grams of dried apricots

75-100 grams of raisins

2 large and firm apples, peeled and diced

2 dl of fresh orange juice

300 grams of almond paste

1. Mix the four, the sugar, the spice mix and the salt in a bowl. 

2. Add the butter and knead until you have a consistent dough. If it is still too crumby, add a bit of water. 

3. Wrap in a bit of clingfilm and put it in the fridge for at least an hour. The longer you leave it, the more flavoursome it becomes.

4. Preheat the oven at 175 degrees Centigrade. Grease a 24 centimeter loose bottomed round tin.

5. Put the apricots, raisins and orange juice in a small pan and heat. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes until the juice has nearly evaporated. Let it cool.

6. Mix the cooled fruit mix with the diced apples. Set aside.

7. Divide the dough in two. One part is used to roll out and cover the bottom and sides of the pie tin. Make sure it fits properly by pressing it down and cut away any excess. 

8. Roll out the almond paste and cover the bottom of the dough completely. Put the fruit mix in and press down with the back end of a spoon.

9. Use the rest of the dough to make small balls. Put them on the top of the fruit and press down lightly. Cover the whole of the pie! If you haven't got enough, cover in a symmetrical way.

10. Put the pie in the oven (middle or lower shelf) and bake it for between 50 and 60 minutes until done. Leave to cool in the tin. 

Eat and enjoy your own taste of Christmas

This post is part prompted by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie.