Happy New Year from Carmarthen !

And to you Hywel, although I do not like wishing my life away, I don't do winter lol

Happy New Year to you and family.

Happy New year Hywel. Wishing you all the best in 2017.

Happy New year to you and yours Hywel. This year we might finally get to visit Carmarthen! What a lovely big tree you have there. Trouble is I want to come on market day, and I have a class to take most Wed mornings.

What a lovely picture,Hywel,and thank you for your good wishes..I wish the same for you ,Beryl and Bella in 2017..xx

Thank you all for your comments and good wishes :) x

I don't really like new year's eve. I find it depressing. I only stay up because Beryl wants to.
I'm looking forward to the spring :)

Happy New Year Hywel - and to Beryl and Bella - love the picture of Carmarthen - Jane

Happy new year hywel

Happy new year to you and yours Hywel. I can't wait for spring either but at least our daylight hours are going back two minutes every day towards summer. I know you shouldn't wish your life away but I hate these dark mornings and evenings especially today as we've had rain most of the day and it's been dark since about two o'clock.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda !
Hywel, Beryl and Bella ..
not sure what I've just wished for you...
something nice I hope. x x x

Thank you all x

Glad you like the photo Jane :o)

Nice to hear from you again Warwick. I hope all is well now ...

Thorneyside I also find the early darkness depressing. It will be nice to have more daylight :)

Yes TT you did wish us something nice :o) x

Thanks hywel, nice to be back I will be doing a blog tomorrow, yes we're all ok :)

Good ! :)

Wishing you Happy and Healthy Gardening in 2017 Hywel! ;o)

Thank you :) You too :)

Gan ddumuno iechyd a hapusrwydd i chi yn 2017 Hywel, Beryl and Bella - Wishing you health and happiness in 2017 to all the other members on GOY.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/nadolig/greetings.shtml

Thank you Scotsgran.
I had a look at the link - interesting to see that someone has done this :)

Thank you Hywel. It is amazing what you can find on the web. Now I need to find a site which helps me pronounce it. We have found people in France and Germany lose their own inhibitions about speaking in a foreign language if you attempt to communicate with them in their mother tongue. There are many local dialects in Scotland. I worked one school holiday in a local shop. A wee boy from Glasgow came in and asked for a half loaf. I was telling him we did not sell half loaves when the shopkeeper came to the rescue with the explanation that what was wanted was what I knew as a 'Plain loaf' or a 'High pan'. Now in my third childhood I love words as much as I did then. Enjoy 2017.

Best wishes to you Hywel, Beryl & Bella for 2017, and a successful gardening year. Did you know that Bella is one of the top names for cats these days? Also Bob. Apparently Tiddles, Whiskers etc are long gone.

Thank you Feverfew :) Funny how names go out of fashion.
I didn't choose 'Bella' as a name for the cat. It was the name she already had when we got her from the sanctuary. I don't really like the name and wouldn't have chosen it, but we decided to keep it because she had already been called it for two years.
It's growing on me now :)

Thank you Scotsgran. That's interesting.
There are also many dialects in Welsh. My cousins who only lived 5 miles away had several different words to us. They thought they were posh lol.
We always spoke Welsh at home. I didn't speak English until I was quite a few years old.
My grandfather was from an English family but learnt to speak Welsh after marrying my Gran. He spoke it with a Barnstaple accent :D

Scotsgran you've got me wondering what that loaf would be called here - now longing to know what it looks like!
I didn't know to ask for baps when I moved from where they were bread cakes.

Happy 2017 Hywel, God bless you and family!

Thank you :)

from http://www.electricscotland.com/food/recipes/plainbread.htm comes this description of a Plain Loaf
The reason there are no recipes is that this is professional baker's batch bread. ie it's made in a very large baking tray which holds upwards of 20-30 balls of dough. As they rise upwards their sides meet and so do not form a crust. The only crusts being on the top and bottom. Impossible to make in a domestic oven. 
And from Wikipedia comes this info on Pan Bread
A pan loaf is a style of bread loaf baked in a pan or tin.[1][2] It is the most common style available in the United Kingdom, though the term itself is predominantly Scottish and Northern Irish so as to differentiate it from the plain loaf. It was once more expensive than the then more common plain loaf. Hence, to speak with a pan loafy voice is to speak in a posh or affected manner.
There is even a song dedicated to it.

the glasgow 'jeely piece' song?

'...an if the breed is plain or pan, the odds against it reaching earth are 99 tae wan...'

Its about how mothers couldn't throw sandwiches to their offspring from what were then the new towerblocks, like they could from the tenements.
I have never heard of Breadcakes but baps are common in the central belt of Scotland.
An easy recipe for Baps can be found here. We do not eat white bread so I have never made them. http://www.food.com/recipe/scottish-baps-soft-morning-bread-rolls-302697

That's very interesting! I have had things on baking trays join themselves up like that when they weren't supposed to...
Unfortunately I can't have wheat bread at all these days unless made with one of the old grains such a spelt or einkorn so I hope somebody else will try the recipe and let us know how it came out.

Just imagine mothers throwing sandwiches out to the children - a bit like we used to feed the birds when they just had leftover crumbs! I bet nobody who did that had a pan-loafy voice!

Stera I think you can substitute Spelt for Wholemeal flour.
I suppose mums did not want the kids messing up the stairs which all the tenants had to clean on a regular rota. Maybe somebody from Glasgow can enlighten us.

I do use spelt Scotsgran but only eat even that in very small quantities. The recipe does look very tempting though - there's nothing like home baked bread especially if you make it by hand..

Happy New Year to you too Hywel. Hope we have a good Spring and Summer to garden by for 2017.

Thank you. I hope so too :)