Wednesday

Good morning, gentle readers.

It's another stupidly early waking for me.  I've been up for about an hour or so and the sky is just beginning to lighten.  The mornings are definitely a little darker now and the sun is rising later.  We tend to think of August as the middle of the year with the longest days but, of course, it isn't.  The end of June is that and we are pretty well a month further along the year now.

Because this summer holiday is a bit different from all the others I have had, I was sort of forgetting the tiredness that always hits me.  Yesterday, by about seven o'clock, I was worn out and by just after eight I was in bed and dropping off to sleep, hence the early start today.  Things will get more sensible but for now going with the flow seems the best idea - the only idea, in fact!

Yesterday Beth and I wandered into town to look round the market.  We first headed to the fabric and haberdashery stall but, sadly, the Christmas fabrics aren't in yet.  They should be in by the beginning of August, we were told.  We compensated by getting some calico and some poly cotton, both of which we 'need' for projects.  We then wandered around and I bought a few things at the fruit and veg stall and at the whole food stall before we headed off to Hobbycraft.  Yes, that was an unplanned extra but we were going past.  I'm glad we did because they were selling their fat quarters bundles at £7.00 which is really pretty good.  Yes, we bought some!!!

After locating and investigating how the tip functions (very organised and we will be back there soon, I am sure) Beth came back to mine and we had a chat, lunch and more chat while I sorted out the sofa.  I am pleased to report that it is now clear and usable again.

Today's declutter is one of the big cupboards.  It's filled with paper, card and various other items of stationery (or is that -ary?), most of which I won't ever use now.  I've decided to sort it all out, put the unusable stuff in the paper sack for the paper collection tomorrow and either donate most of the rest to school or maybe see if I can sell it for a small amount on one of the local selling pages.

You may remember that I'd set myself a challenge - to try one new loaf each week.  When we were in the market yesterday I bought a bag of rye flour and have been looking up recipes.  I've found one that involves making a rye starter first but as that takes a week with attention every day I shall leave that until I am in a position where I can guarantee to be home for a week.  There's some awful fancy recipes out there but I found one that looks a likely beginner's recipe.  It is not completely rye as it contains wholemeal flour but I have to start somewhere and rye flour works very differently to wheat flour, being gluten free, so this should be a good half way.  Anyway, I shall give it a go today and will try the sourdough version later on.

Well, light is dawning, I can see colour through the window now rather than grayscale shadows and the skies look rather dull.  I hope it doesn't rain as the workman is due to arrive at 7:30 and I'm hoping he will crack on with the fencing.  What he has done so far looks pretty good!  I am relieved that the hole in the floorboards of the shed has been repaired and it's good to have a locking shed door again, not that I had any problems but I could have done.

Today's food:
Breakfast:  Toast and marmite, fruit
Lunch:  Corned beef salad, yogurt
Dinner:  Corned beef and vegetable pasty (made with bread dough, not pastry). salad

See, I opened a tin of corned beef yesterday so now it has to be used up!  I will fry off some veg including some tomatoes, add the corned beef, pile it into the rolled out dough, sprinkle over some grated cheese and bake until done.  Worth a try anyway.  It'll be a bit like a calzone, I think, but definitely not authentic!

I seem to have rambled on for ever and taken ages.  It is now light outside so time for a second coffee.  Have a good day!