Sunday (but all about Saturday)



The bucket of apples



Apples are wonderful.  Just look at the shapes, colours, patterns and textures. The more you look, the more you see.



And the first thing I noticed when I opened up was that I've hit the 13,000 visitor mark.  Yay!  It may sound silly but I do like seeing the numbers go up.  It's a kind of link with people all over the world, people I will never ever meet but with whom there is a fleeting, momentary connection.  To all of you who read and come back for more inconsequential, often mundane, sometimes quirky, occasionally amusing persectives on a very ordinary person and her life, thank you very much.

Yesterday was, as expected, a really nice day, although not weather wise, as it was damp and dismal for much of the time.  The day started off with a visit to Little Waltham Market.  This is not a real market but a monthly get together of people with things to sell, often home made.  There was a table with cards made from photos taken by a mum from school and another mum had a table with home made cards, jam, chutney and some honey (not home made as far as I am aware).  There was an artisan bread stall with loaves and rolls that were so expensive but, oh, my, the bread tasted so very good (especially toasted) and I have made a promise to myself to go again and buy some more.  There were two meat stalls, one based around venison and one with some very nice looking sausages.  There were a couple of other stalls that didn't register all that much with me and, finally, a fruit, veg and plant stall which looked nice but which I didn't really look at that closely.  This time anyway,

When I got home I found that George had made the decision not to come - it's an arrangement we have that if the weather is not good he won't come.  Fine by me!  So I messed about a bit, decorated some of those little brown carrier bags ready for Christmas gifts (and very nice they look too - must take a few photos) and then settled down to some serious knitting while watching the film 'Kiss Me, Kate'.  As with many of the shows of that time, the plot is very thin indeed, but the singing, dancing and costumes were fantastic and tremendously enjoyable.

A little later DD and DG turned up.  They were just dropping in to bring round a bucket of apples from a friend's mum (thanks, friend's mum, they're lovely) and to show off a leek and a parsnip picked from the allotment.  They both looked magnificent and I was issued with an invite to go over to lunch today to sample them.  I knew some apples were coming, but was a bit taken aback with how many and am now racking my brains about what to do with them.  I suspect there will be a lot of unsweetened puree and blanched wedges in the freezer by this time next week, although I might recover my dehydrator from DD at luncktime and try drying some slices..

We also talked phones.  For reasons that are perfectly understandable, DD has ended up with two mobiles so I am taking one over.  My present mobile is a basic, dial, text and take not terribly good photos one and for a little while now I've been looking at the posh, all-singing, all-dancing ones that my colleagues use and wondering.  DD says she and a friend will sort out all the transferring over and stuff like that, which is a relief because I wouldn't have the first idea.  To me, blackberries are what you pick off bushes at Streele Farm and make into jam!

While I was motivated, I went into Amazon and picked a new landline phone.  The one I have is very, very old.  It came from the RNID and has a volume control, very useful for an deffie like me.  However, being so old now (the phone, not me), the sound quality has deteriorated and I get a much better quality of sound from my bog-standard mobile, so time for a new landline.

When they went, it was time to settled down with more knitting and the evening telly, punctuated by bangs, crashes and flashes as the families round about had their firework parties.  As for me, I hate the things and have done ever since a friend was killed by one, so was more than happy to shut them out and ignore them as much as possible.  As always, I enjoyed Strictly, but I cannot be the only one to be irritated not only by those ridiculous clips of the dancers doing silly things when I'd much rather be watching them rehearsing and sorting out various problems, etc, but also by the way the audience reacts to the only judge who seems to give contructive feedback designed to help the dancers improve.  Craig may say some hard things but he talks sense and what he says is based on what he has just seen and to boo him like that is plain ridiculous - he's the best judge of the lot of them at the moment and deserves more respect.

So, you see, it was a lovely day (Strictly audience to the contrary)!  Inconsequential, but most enjoyable.