Monday, December 1, 2025

Petrified Cranberry Sauce


This may look like some semi-tropical scene from Tenerife, but as you know by now, it's just our bird feeder with our resident, noisy parakeets. They and/or the squirrels have figured out how to remove the lid, so that top suet ball always disappears faster than the others. I could try to wire it down but I should really just get a new feeder. That one was here when we moved in and it has certainly done its duty over the past 11-plus years.

Yesterday was very quiet. I did laundry, including Dave's new pink shirt. I had visions of it staining everything else in the load pink but it didn't. I don't think that's really an issue anymore, is it? I think fabric and dye technology has improved beyond that. But I do still separate lights and darks, just like my mother taught me.

I pretty much caught up in Blogland and also managed my media, a never-ending task!


We've had an ancient can of cranberry sauce in the pantry for a while now. I have no idea when we bought it, but it expired in July 2024. Still, canned cranberry sauce won't really go bad, will it? I told Dave I was determined to eat it, and I opened it up and put it in my grandmother's special cranberry sauce dish, just as we always did during the holidays at home. Last night I had it with dinner (chicken) and it's perfectly fine.


And I put up our Christmas lights on the fiddle-leaf fig. This is as good as decorating gets around here. Merry Christmas!

Finally, I downloaded the weekly haul from the Garden Cam. We had very few videos this week, possibly because in the middle of the week I moved the camera to film the patio right outside our back door. I thought it would be interesting to see what critters venture close to the house. Answer: both Pale Cat and Q-Tip.


I first had the camera in the garden, where we see a couple of passing foxes and Pale Cat.
-- At 0:41 we get a peaceful garden scene of a pigeon, a flock of starlings and a squirrel rummaging through the fallen leaves. That lasts about a minute and it's my favorite part of this video.
-- After that, more foxes, including one moving very slowly at 1:45. I can't tell if it's injured or just being cautious and smelling the smells. It looks healthy when standing still.
-- At 2:05 the action moves to the patio, where Pale Cat wanders past.
-- At 2:25 a cautious fox spies the newly relocated camera and clearly doesn't like it.
-- At 2:43 an industrious squirrel buries a hazelnut. (Note to self: dig up nut so it doesn't grow!)
-- At 3:02, a daytime "Loch Ness" view of a passing fox's back, in the middle of the afternoon.

Now I've moved the camera back to the rear of the garden. I'd like to get more evidence of just how many foxes we're dealing with, and that's the only place I've ever obtained footage of two at once.

67 comments:

  1. I recently accidentally put a new pair of black jogging trousers in the same wash with P's light cream cable knit jumper.
    He now has a tasteful pale grey jumper .

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    1. Yikes! OK, thanks for the warning that modern dyes DO still sometimes run.

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  2. The clips with the squirrel and all the birds made me think of Disney’s Cinderella. Maybe they could "go up and do the attic and go down and do the cellar.” I LOVE Loch Ness fox! Thanks for that description.

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  3. There are Monk Parakeets living in Chicago. I'd see them when I went to the Field Museum. It winter, it seemed like their bright feathers clashed with the Midwestern winter grays and tans. They were great fun to watch.

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    1. I'm surprised parakeets will survive a Chicago winter. I'd have thought it would get way too cold there!

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  4. I've heard that squirrels deal with acorns by nipping out the growing points...that probably doesn't happen to hazelnuts!
    Jays don't..which is why Jaybirds=oaktrees !
    I'm being careful about putting out fat balls when it gets very cold.. apparently it is then too hard for small beaks..but that probably won't be a problem 1. In London 2. For squirrels 3. For parrot family birds!!

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    1. I hadn't heard that about suet balls. I don't think it gets THAT cold where we are. Certainly above freezing most of the time.

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  5. I like the Festive Fiddle-leaf Fig - very jolly.

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    1. And no Christmas tree to purchase and later dispose of!

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  6. I love the lights on the Fiddle-leaf fig! I want to do something very simple like that and call it a day as far as decorating goes. :)

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  7. I like the fig version of a Christmas tree. I wouldn't be too sure about dye fastness. The red hospital socks they sent me home with bled pink. I hand washed them just in case, and was glad I didn't get a load of pink clothes.

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    1. OK, good to know! Maybe hospital socks aren't really meant to be washed. So often hospital stuff is single-use.

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    2. They came with laundry instructions, glad I didn't believe them.

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  8. I still separate things for washing, but my lads don't and chuck it all in together into the washer, and the world doesn't end. Dyes seem to hold fast now, but clearly with the exception of JayCee's black sporting wear.
    I'll risk most things out of date, except for sunscreen lotion.

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    1. Does sunscreen go bad? I had no idea. I'm sure mine is quite old!

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    2. The ingredients degrade over time so it is less effective, but still better than no sunscreen at all.

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  9. One mark out of ten for your cranberry sauce presentation. Just plopping it into the dish is not enough. You should have forked it over. Instead, it looks like pet food.

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    1. On the contrary, every American knows the proper way to serve canned cranberry is to slide it whole out of the can and then serve it in slices!

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  10. Some things just never seem to go off do they, but I will be making every effort to eat the three year old Christmas pudding this year!!

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    1. Fortunately Christmas puddings are made to hang around a long time -- but three years is definitely pushing it!

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  11. I love Fig Tree Lights!!!
    I might have avoided the Ancient Cranberry Sauce but then you're a braver man than I.

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    1. I don't think there's anything in there that will go bad, really -- just cranberries and corn syrup!

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  12. All these creatures like your garden, doesn't it feel good?

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    1. It DOES feel good. I love knowing that we're providing them a happy habitat.

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  13. Back from five days off the internet so I have my work cut out to catch up too. I've never understood the fascination with canned cranberry sauce. We've always just added a bag of cranberries, some sugar and water to a pan and brought them to a simmer until the berries start bursting. I can't imagine what is in a can that makes them look like the picture above instead of what a sauce typically looks like.

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    1. Probably cornflour..at best!

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    2. I have always loved canned cranberry. Homemade never tastes as good to me (probably just because it's different). The only ingredients are cranberries, corn syrup and fructose, so I think it's just natural pectin holding it all together.

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  14. When it comes to canned goods (and actually all food stuff), what little I ever buy is usually bought for a reason and needed in the kitchen within one or two weeks. But every now and then I end up with something well past its "best before" date, and almost always I find it is still perfectly alright, unless it's a dairy product or any other fresh produce (which rarely comes with a date anyway).
    More foxes for me! That was a nice video to watch along with my mug of coffee this afternoon.

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    1. Glad you liked my video and the foxes are bringing you some entertainment!

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  15. You need a voice over on that video, each creature having its own voice. As someone who used to like red currant jelly with my chicken, cranberry is a new option.

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    1. Ha! That's more video production than I'm willing to do! LOL

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  16. Your backyard is humming with life. And I am sure your cranberry sauce was quivering with life.
    I looked at my potted Norfolk Island Pine (I guess that's what it is) the other day when I was watering porch plants. Not only is it alive, it's bigger than it was last year. Will I bring it in and "decorate" it? Odds are low.

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    1. Glad your NIP is surviving and thriving! I like seeing those trees in South Florida -- they get huge. (As you probably know from Roseland.)

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  17. Your holiday fig tree looks very festive. That should serve you well for the holidays.
    Another fun video of the critters who explore your garden. I love the parakeet photo too. Those parakeets have done very well making London their home.

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    1. They are very adaptable. Several parakeet species are apparently global travelers and this is one.

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  18. I've not seen birds or squirrels around here. Takes days for the bird feeder to empty when there should be a steady stream of birds this time of year. It's cold and rainy today. I think I'll turn my star lights on.

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    1. I wonder where the birds are this year? We're seeing quite a few here.

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  19. I like how your ficus is growing. I recently had to prune mine as it was touching the ceiling and I hope it starts to branch out.
    How do the foxes get in your yard? For some reason I imagined you had a brick wall around the whole yard.

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    1. We've considered cutting ours back. It's branching but way up top, and it's already scraping the ceiling.

      We have a wall and/or fence around the garden, but the foxes easily jump over it. (Olga, on the other hand, couldn't -- which is why she could hang out unattended in the garden.)

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  20. As long as the cranberry sauce/jelly was properly canned ... it would be good for years! As long as it isn't bloated ... if the can was puffed up ... not good! Do not open ... do not eat!
    Also, look for Color Grabbers in the laundry detergent aisle of the grocery store ... throw one sheet in the washing machine with a load of clothes and it will "grab" any colors that run! They work great!
    Welcome to December ... got our 1st snow ❄️ yesterday afternoon!

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    1. Yeah, I know about the dangers of bloated cans! Not a problem with the cranberry. I wonder how those color grabbers work?

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  21. I like your decorated plant! But you must have more little Christmas trinkets to place around?
    Christmas break will be here before you know it!

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    1. I am not a big trinket person. We have some ornaments but we don't often use them because we seldom get a tree. Sometimes I hang them from the houseplants.

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  22. My cranberry sauce was expired by one month and my sister tossed it out. She freaked. Like you a bit of expiration is fine by me. Luckily, I had several other cans of cranberry, for Thanksgiving.
    Dave's pink shirt behaved brilliantly in the wash. I also swear by separating clothing for the wash and have had no disasters in a long while.
    Love the lights on the fig tree. It is beginning to look like Christmas!

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    1. Oh, a month is nothing for a canned item. I wouldn't hesitate to eat that. It's been looking Christmasy in London for a while but I don't allow myself to notice it until after Thanksgiving. :)

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  23. I don't really like the canned cranberry sauce (she says, even though she has no memory of actually TRYING it - ha!). I do like the kind made with jello & walnuts. Yum!

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    1. That's interesting -- I've never heard of walnuts in cranberry sauce. I have heard of grated orange rind, which can be good but is sometimes too bitter.

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  24. I think that some items still do bleed color. I wash on warm and perhaps cold would be a better choice. Cans never used to have expiration dates on them at all, so I take the ones they've added with a grain of salt.

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    1. I am convinced most expiration dates are a scam, designed to make us buy "fresh" stuff.

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  25. I wonder if a fox would attack a cat. I hope not. When I have new clothes, especially if they are bright colors, I wash them separately the first time because in spite of all the new technology, they can still bleed color. I'm glad it didn't happen with Dave's pink shirt!

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I suspect they'd both run from each other if possible, but maybe if cornered they'd fight. It wouldn't be pretty!

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  26. Your Christmas lights on the fiddle-leaf fig look good.

    All the best Jan

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  27. I like your whimsical "tree lighting" almost as much as I love those David Attenborough videos of your backyard. 😮

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    1. I wish they were as profitable as David Attenborough's! LOL

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  28. Your lights are so simple but so effective. A lovely atmospheric picture. The parakeet looks very confident and sleek.
    Wendy (Wales)

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    1. When more than two of them get on the feeder at once they tend to fight, and they're quite mean with one another.

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  29. I haven't had canned cranberry in years and we never bought the whole berry type. These days I use fresh cranberries to make a salsa (with lime juice, scallions, jalapeno, maple syrup, and cilantro. It's tasty (and pretty) with blue corn chips!

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    1. I actually prefer the type without berries. I don't know how we got this one with berries.

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  30. The Christmas lights are very festive. We usually buy cranberry jelly in screwtop jars.

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    1. You know, I'm not sure I've ever seen cranberry jelly for year-round use. It's very much a seasonal thing in the USA. We do have year-round cranberry juice, which is usually mixed with corn syrup and water, I believe.

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    2. That's true, it isn't available year round, though several people I know think it should be.

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  31. The tree is just a little Niagara falls for me. Looks like jello can't believe you ate it.

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    1. But there's no gelatin in it! It's just fructose and corn syrup. I suppose the "stiffener" is corn starch from the syrup, or maybe pectin from the fruit.

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  32. your cranberry sauce dish is gorgeous. And special as it is your gran's. What a treasure. I always used to like the canned kind best till I started making it. Loving your tree!

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