Just to say . . .

 . . . there won't be a post tomorrow (Sunday) but I'll be back Monday.

Thanks, everyone.  x

31-05-25

Good morning, everyone.

This was yesterday, pretty much!

Such a lovely, warm, almost-summer day with plenty of sitting out in the garden to enjoy the colours and shapes, bees and butterflies.  Those foxgloves have really set the insects a-buzzing.

The egg chair is now uncovered and will stay like that unless a longer spell of rain is predicted.  It can cope with the occasional light shower and the cushion pads are wipe down.

After SW yesterday morning, half term so most of the young mums had sent their apologies, I popped to Morrisons and used the 'stamps' that had been accumulating on my card to get some pyrex vacuum dishes before the thing runs out at the end of next week.  The smallest rectangular dishes are just perfect for a two portion lasagne, pie, bake, whatever AND fit perfectly into my Ninja drawers.
Now I have the vacuum pump and three dishes and it cost me very little because I mostly used what had been accumulating on my card through my normal weekly purchases over the last months.

I baked a loaf for Beth, not sourdough, just my usual wholemeal, rye and spelt one with added seeds, and it didn't half rise and prove quickly in the warm air.   I took it over and spent some time fussing over Ava.  She's weak and wobbly but definitely recovering and very happy to be tickled under her chin and around her ears before settling down for some stroking.  She is such a sweetie.

My yarn arrived.  It came in one of those gauze bags so it's staying there until the pattern comes out and I can get going.  It's lovely.

This coming week is, in contrast to this past week, going to be really busy.

Today:  going out for lunch with Diane and two other friends

Sunday:  the sourdough course

Monday:  the new block of fitness classes starts so it is circuits but apart from that there's time for housework, etc

Tuesday:  Groove, ditto

Wednesday:  Personal training, ditto and I must pack for Friday because . . .

Thursday:  off into London with the Broomfield coach group - the Tutankhamun immersive experience, up and down the Shard and fish and chips at Kennedy's (been there before, great grub) before coming home for an evening online chat with friends

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday morning:  off to Five Lakes for an activity filled break.  Must remember to ask one of my lovely neighbours to do some watering.

Oh, it is such a hard life!!  😉

Today, apart from the lunch out, it is the usual last-day-of-the-month things - meter readings, money balancing and so on.  

I'd better get going, hadn't I?  Have a lovely day, everyone.  xx

30-05-25

Good morning, everyone.  How's things this Friday morning.  Yesterday started gloomy, turned into sunshine, hazy at times, and we seem to have had more rain overnight.  It's a bit gloomy now but we will see.

Thank you all very much for your lovely comments.  Isn't it great to have good news.

For Jane, here's the link to Anita's Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/madebyanita
and to her blog where she details the Trellis Blanket:  Trellis Blanket
I've signed up to receive email updates which is what I did last time.  Very helpful.
I'm expecting the yarn to arrive today and then I can admire the colours for a week while I finish off the current WIP, a sunburst square 'jacket'.  Not really a jacket but a bit more substantial than a cardigan.

If you are interested, here's a post about foxglove seeds and saving them.  
https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/save-foxglove-seed/
I'm not doing that - I'm going to let them sow themselves in autumn and then I should get flowers the next summer (I think I have got that right - sow one year, flower the next) - and I can pull up the ones not needed.  I'd like a few more anyway, they are very lovely.  
Please correct me if I am wrong here. 

I have realised that they may have one main stem but, as the bottom flowers dies and fall off, out come some side shoots that look as if they will also have a lovely set of flowers.  Can you see in the photo?

I just have to show you this close up - they are so very lovely, I think.

In the morning chat with Chris, we got onto the subject of hanging baskets.  I have five brackets for baskets, one at the front, two on the back of the house (one of which holds the wind chimes) and two on the garden room (well, three actually, but the third one is not weight bearing and I use it for a bird feeder.

I hadn't really thought about hanging baskets but decided it would be a Good Idea so off I went to B&Q (cheap!!) and then to Longacres and bought three wire baskets, three linings and some trailing flowers of various kinds.

Now they are all planted up and I will leave them sitting in the pots for a few days to water them in and start them off and once they look happy, up they go.

I've decided to have them all up at the back - because if I have one at the front, the chances are it won't get watered enough.  I know me!

The baskets, etc, were not the only thing that caught my eye though.  Dear me, no.  Guess what I found.

Yes - Roma tomatoes.  Of course I bought two, just in case.

So now I have my plum tomatoes, my Sungolds and a nice variety of others - and my cup is full and running over.

The Roma are very small in comparison to the others, as the photo shows, but, looking at them this morning, they have perked up and look taller already.  They should be fine.

I moved the baby corn (growing nicely so far but I still worry that the pots are not big enough) over to the other side so I could put the Roma (I am assuming that's the plural but it might be wrong) by a fence that I can tie the cane to, if necessary.

I was a little unsure as to whether I had enough remaining potting compost for the extra pots and baskets but I did - just.  There's a very little left in the last bag which I will spread over one of the beds at some point.

No runner beans yet though . . .

I really do think that's the garden done and dusted for this year - not in terms of work, in terms of getting stuff.  I have, of course, totally destroyed the budget again this year and, should I be lucky enough to win anything on Premium Bonds next week, I will be drawing that out to cover some of the excess instead of leaving it in.

More happy news - Lathcoats is open for fruit picking next week and, as always, senior citizens and people with disabilities can just turn up between nine and ten rather than having to book - when the fields are open, of course.

And Ava still does well.  She's wobbly still but eating better, drinking well and doesn't need any more vet input for now.

Better stop rambling.  I have my Facebook stuff to do and I have to be out early for Slimming World.
Have a lovely Friday, everyone.  Stay safe, stay well.  xx

29-05-25 - lots of good news

Hello again, everyone.  In contrast to yesterday's sunny start, today is dull and a bit chilly again and we have had more rain overnight.  I'm happy about the rain.  The beds are gradually soaking it all up and the plants do look very happy.

Thank you all for your lovely wishes for Ava-puss yesterday.

Happily, as you can see, she is home and they don't think she will need another day on a drip.

Beth said:

"You know how old people get sudden, nasty UTI's that make them extremely unwell very quickly with all sorts of neurological stuff for extra interest? Ava has an old cat UTI.

"She's probably going to be ok. At lunchtime they were saying she'd need another day on the drip, now they are saying only if she goes downhill overnight. She's eating and drinking, so they could collect samples, and the urine had lots of blood and nasties in it. The antibiotics should clear it, and the fluid has helped too. 

"She's very very weak and wobbly still, but much more herself. I picked her up just now and she was all 'Unhand me, Madam' "

That's my Ava-puss, bless her.  Fingers crossed she has been good overnight - she was OK at home over Tuesday night and Beth took her back into the vet's yesterday morning for another day on a drip.

Small wonder she looks offended - she likes her creature comforts as much as any elderly lady!  She looks thin but she has always been a thin cat.

We know Ava doesn't - can't - have much longer here but I am so glad she seems to be so much better.

I looked up about foxgloves.  They reproduce via seeds and are not really perennial, more a biennial although the second year is not as good, says the RHS, so, if I want them to stay (which I do) I need to not dead head but leave them to seed and then be very vigilant about pulling out most of the plantlets when they come up or they will take over the world garden.  A bit like poppies, I suppose.  At least, I think that's what it was saying but  I will find out through experience.
At least, that way will be comparatively easy to control - no nasty old root systems to deal with.

I've heard from Val - she might have developed hay fever, poor love.  What she has got isn't covid and it doesn't seem to be a cold either.  After as chat to a pharmacists, she came home with Piriton and thinks it might be helping.  I do hope so, she sounded pretty miserable about it.

Anyway, I can't do next week and she can't do the week after that so we need to reschedule for three or four weeks' time.

And another nice thing - I got the final arrangements for the sourdough course email which was good and clear about where to park and, if that's full, where to go next.  I intend getting there before nine so there should be no issues with fullness, the route looks really very straightforward, I've often been to that part of Hitchin with Mum (it's close to where the market is) and, while I don't know the exact road, I can sort of picture it in my mind, if that makes sense.  So, for once, no parking paranoia!
And it is free parking all day on Sundays.  Three cheers!

It also detailed what to wear and what to bring - aprons are provided so I wonder if I can bring it home.  I will find out, won't I?  

And finally, the weak internet signal has righted itself.  I know 'they' have been doing work round here so I wasn't that concerned really but the signal has been down and up more times than a yoyo since Monday.  Anyway, yesterday morning there was a complete outage for about twenty minutes and when it came back it was fine again.  

It's so boring when the signal is weak - it takes me right back to early days and dial up, etc.  Do you remember?

But it is also quite scary how emotionally reliant on technology we are now - and in other ways too.

The only thing in the diary today is the weekly coffee and chat with Chris.  It's here this week so the place is reasonably neat and tidy..  Even my corner, while cluttered with crochet, is reasonable.

And talking of crochet - I have been a baaaaad girl and ordered the yarn for another CAL.  It's a blanket - no, I don't NEED another blanket - but I love this pattern and it is big enough to keep my hands occupied for a while.

Anita has some gorgeous blanket patterns - this one goes live on June 6th and there's some YouTube tutorials to go with it.  I wasn't in time to get the yarn pack which has sold out but I have been able to order the yarn from the Wool Warehouse.  I tried Sconch first but she didn't have everything needed, sadly.

The 6th is the day I go to Five Lakes so it will be a nice thing to take with me to enjoy between doing other stuff.

Apologies for the length of this post.  Have a lovely Thursday, everyone.  xx

28-05-25

Morning, lovely people of blogland.  Welcome to Wednesday, a sunny Wednesday too at the moment.  Yesterday was very wet - just what was needed; steady rain over hours, not too heavy but enough to soak everything.  Good for the garden and good for the farmers - and enough to settle the pollen good and proper for a while.

It was a pleasure to do my early morning stroll round the estate in pjs, camera in hand, enjoying the sunshine.  Of course, I took some photos.

I was looking forward to Val seeing how lovely the foxgloves she gave me are but she can't come tomorrow having come back from holiday with a raging sore throat and a cough that isn't getting better.
I have no idea how long foxgloves flower for - I need to read up about them.
Anyway, they are looking lovely - the diffused morning light isn't doing them justice at all.

Ditto for this photo but you get the idea.  It is a real picture right now, that middle bed.

Another shot of the clematis.

Looking forward to blueberries for breakfast!  Yum.

Yesterday started nicely and deteriorated through the day.

We (me, Chris and Steve) went next door for coffee and a chat with Tracey and had a lovely time.

A little while later, Sharon turned up and now my hair feels civilised again.  Phew.

I did another load of washing and an avoiding looking at the reck where they have been drying.  Ironing is on the list for today!

I heard from Eddie that James was unable to retrieve any of my stuff from the C drive so he (Eddie) has researched and found a company that will be able to do a deeper dive, as we say nowadays, with more specialist technology.  Expensive, yes, but not enough to make me have to think about it.

A bit of a blow though.

And later on Beth contacted me to let me know another of her cats is very unwell.  Ava-puss is the oldest of her cats and the first she ever had (with her sister, Sofia), a grand old dame pretty much into her nineties in human terms.  She's my favourite of all Beth's cats, just a moggy, no feline breeding about her at all but a lady through and through.
Realistically, if she comes through this, she hasn't got much longer anyway but I will miss her so very much.
That's pets for you, isn't it?

Today there is nothing whatsoever in the diary.  That feels nice because, as you know, I love days when I can just potter and do this, that and the other as the spirit moves.

27-05-25

Good morning, everyone.  I will start by apologising if this doesn't appear Tuesday morning.  I will write it and try to send it but at some point yesterday the internet connection slowed right down and doesn't seem to have picked up again yet so my replies to yesterday's comments are hanging fire and this might do too.  Very annoying.

Anyway, just a quick one today.  Yesterday was quiet and pleasant.  I got stuff done including one load of washing (ironing and putting a way included).  I'll put in another load later and, if the weather doesn't play ball, it can hang on the inside rack.

(Just tried to send a comment reply and it went.  Fingers crossed.)

Today feels busy but it is nice-busy.  I'm going round next door for coffee, as are Chris and Steve,  My neighbour works at school so it's her half term break.

Then, later on, the lovely Sharon is coming round to battle my hair into submission.  It doesn't feel like six weeks since the last time but my hair bears witness to the fact that it really is!  I will feel so much better this afternoon.

That's today.  Nice and gentle.  I will do other bits and bobs as well -  houseworky stuff, etc, but it's not going to be busy, however it actually feels.  I should be getting an email from the sourdough course people and then I can work out where to park for the day, etc.   

Fingers crossed this sends.  If not, I will try to send it later.  All the best and have an enjoyable day, everyone.  xx

26-05-25

Good morning, everyone.  Here we are, back to Monday again and a Bank Holiday as well.  The sky looks promising and the sun is shining - at the moment.  The morning forecast looks great, the afternoon not so much but we will see.

This is looking over into next door's garden.  Right at the end they have a tree with a climbing rose that has been there as long as I can remember.  They chop it right back from time to time and back it comes, looking absolutely lovely and giving joy year after year after year,  

I love it.

The chilli pepper seems very happy and is sending out flower buds, loads of them.  It's an Apache, not blisteringly hot but quite hot enough for me, thank you very much.  I always pop some in the freezer and, given that I use chilli flakes, maybe I will dehydrate some in Nellie.

And, finally, plenty of the tomatoes are now throwing out flowers.  Yay!!

I popped over to Morrisons after doing a fridge clear out yesterday morning and (puts on halo) stuck firmly to my shopping list.  Not that it was much cheaper but that's the way of things nowadays, isn't it?

After putting everything away in my newly tidied fridge, I set to and made a couple of batches of soup.

I had a broccoli head that was just turning - you know, when it looks a bit 'rusty' but is still perfectly good - plus a stalk so I threw it all with some other veg into Thermione, cooked, blended and melted in the tail end of a pot of Philly light and it turned out not only very tasty but the loveliest pale green in colour.

To my shame, I discovered two bags of parsnips under the potato bag and they were in poor nick so after peeling and trimming and generally discarding the awful bits, I made some curried parsnip soup, although I need to get some more curry powder, I have no idea how old mine is and the flavour wasn't strong.

I ended up with four portions of cheesy broccoli soup and five of curried parsnip.  Beth is having two of each and the others will do for lazy lunches or those hungry times when you just want a bit more.

I won't be going out today.  Quite apart from the crowds, I have a long, long list of things that need doing and, with no fitness classes, it seems the ideal opportunity to show my home a bit more love.  Things like windows are on top!

I'll feel very satisfied once it is all done and dusted (literally at times).

Are you going out anywhere for Bank Holiday Monday?  xx

25-05-25

Hello again, everyone!  It's yet another Bank Holiday Sunday, the sky is a beautiful blue and the sun is shining brightly at the moment.  It's not chilly and I have the French window open to let the morning air stream in.

It is now the season where (weather permitting) almost the first thing I do each morning is wander into the back garden, saunter around the pots and beds, dead heading, pinching out side shoots and generally appreciating my little bit of nature.  It's a very grounding start to my days and I am so grateful for it.

The rain stopped by midday yesterday and we even had a bit of sunshine but it remained chilly and the heating clicked on.  I even turned on my electric blanked in bed last night - bliss.

I'm ridiculously pleased about finally working out how to get my laptop to talk to my printer.  I've been trying for weeks and I have no idea what I did this morning but they are now friends and I have printed something out.  Phew.
If my online life is going to be laptop based from now on, I have needed to get various stuff sorted, such as the Governors'  Hub and Outlook (that last wasn't hard, by the way!), etc.  And the printer!

I could explain/demo a knitting or crochet pattern to you, work out a tasty meal from available ingredients, make a nice loaf of bread, etc, but techy stuff is not in my skill set in any way so I am feeling pretty chuffed about the printer!

A few garden photos (because it is that season too):

Clematis - absolutely smothered now.  I think it is the best it has ever been.

So very pretty and a stand out feature of the middle bed right now.  I wonder how long they remain in flower - must look that up.

Thank you, Val.

(Val's over here - hopefully - on Thursday so she can see how lovely her gift has become.)

The new dahlia, looking pretty.  I now have the confused dahlia at the front and - let me count - yes, five others, this one, three that are coming back from last year and starting to bud (complete with blackfly, now sprayed) and one that must be a dahlia, it looks like one, but right now it has just a few leaves showing.  We will see.

I am hoping there will be enough flowers for picking.

And then, along the wall side, from right to left, Tumbling Toms, baby corn, Chris' tomatoes, Sungolds and cucumbers.  

All of this, the whole back garden, is what I was aiming for in 1998/9 after my ex passed away and I had his life insured (because of maintenance, etc).  I was able to pay off the mortgage and turn the garden into an area that is comparatively easy to keep reasonable as well as looking nice.

It was a very sad time, of course, but I am glad to have happy things to remind me of him - as well as the 'children', of course.  Dave looks ridiculously like him except for height. Dave's pretty much a six footer, getting that from my side of the family - my dad, both my brothers and Alex too are all around the six foot mark.

I'm rambling now.  I have no big plans for today but I do want to do the front as it was a bit too wet yesterday.  Weed scraping, of course, and some weeding while the soil is damp and easier to dig into.

The sun's gone in a bit while I've been typing this but it's still nice and the strong breeze doesn't feel cold.  Long may it last!

Have a great Sunday, everyone.  xx

24-05-25

Morning, all.   It's Saturday and half term has started.  To be accurate, yesterday was a training day too, for the teachers, and this one is always devoted to writing those dreaded reports.  I still feel a slight shudder at the memory.  I expect most retired teachers do.  All that work for so many hours . . .

If you know a teacher, show them some love.  It's a stressful time.

And it is raining!  At last.  Probably not enough for the poor old farmers but my wee garden looks very happy indeed.  It's set to continue most of the morning so no line drying for me today.

Anyway!  Eddie and James (not Mike - I got the name wrong) came round and had a good look at my computer.  The C drive is knackered and the automatic back up hasn't been automatically backing up for quite a while, darn it.  I needed a new router several years ago and the external hard drive should have been adjusted and wasn't.  I just didn't know or I'd have asked Eddie.

Anyway, James has taken the C drive away and is going to see how much, if anything, he can salvage.  Fingers crossed, please, everyone.

He did ask why I actually need a PC and a laptop and he has a point.  'Because I always have' isn't really a sensible answer and Eddie said he could increase my laptop storage, connect my nice big monitor up and so on and so on and so forth so I think that's the end of the PC era.  In PC terms, mine is pretty geriatric anyway.  

And he will get the external hard drive sorted.

If James can't save certain things, then the drive could go to professionals who specialise in that sort of work but it would be expensive so I do hope I don't have to make that decision.

So that was yesterday morning.

Then Alex came round and, with guidance, made the Slimming World tomato soup in Thermione and, while that was simmering, some cheese and chutney toasties.  He did a jolly good job too, bless him.  I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch.  After clearing up, we say down at the laptop and looked through some recipes on Cookidoo, saving some likely looking ones into a new folder labelled 'Alex'.  When I took him home, I checked on their Thermomix and, yes, he can access the recipes from there so that was worth setting up.  

Sadly, we can't meet up for the next three Fridays, but the fourth one is in both our diaries so that's good.  We're thinking maybe mushroom stroganoff - much easier than it sounds and I will try it out this weekend..

I got the finances sorted out, moved money across and generally sorted it all out for this month so that felt good.

And that was yesterday.

Today is an easy day.  Nothing in the diary.  I can do some meal planning for the coming week, sort out the front a bit more (weather permitting, and generally chill.  No loaves this weekend.

Are you doing anything exciting or interesting - or just plain good fun?   Rain or no rain, have a lovely day.  xx

23-05-25

 Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Friday which feels impossible but really is!

After coffee and a chat with Chris, I decided to make one final attempt to find some Sungold tomato plants and drove across town to Abercorn, which is just over the road from Lathcoats where I go strawberry picking.
Abercorn is a jolly good nursery type place but with a garden centre section too - quality plants and fun to look round, especially if you're after gifts.  

I'm so glad I did because looky-look!  I now have three Sungolds planted in the garden.  OK, so maybe that's two too many but I was so pleased.

No Italian plums but you can't have everything, can you?  

I also fell for another dianthus to go in one of my smaller pots (the mini shrub that was there had died), some gardening gloves as mine are more than a bit tatty now and some reed diffuser replacement liquid (which is now in a couple of diffusers and fulfilling its prime directive.  Lovely).

The planter on the left already had some soil in it from last year which I had already fed so I topped it up with fresh stuff, egg shells, etc, and popped two in there before filling one more pot for the third.
I would like to say 'that really is it now' but realistically, if I happen to find an Italian plum . . . 

I didn't do the bedding so that's top of today's list.

Groove was, as always, great fun and that's it now until June 2nd as Lindsey is away for the week, taking classes in Portugal!  She gets about, that girl, for sure!

I have a whole load of stuff from her saved on YouTube for next week so no excuses.

Today, I should be able to sort out my finances for the rest of this month as my Teacher's Pension has landed.  I can work out how much I have saved, get that moved out to avoid end of month temptation and get everything up to date.

The most important thing, though, is that I won't be going to Slimming World today because Eddie is back with his 'friend who can', Mike, to see if my desktop can be sorted out.  Fingers crossed.
I've made a small batch of little shortbreaddy-type biscuits to offer with tea/coffee so the house is smelling rather lovely right now.

And then Alex is round for lunch and his next cookery 'experience'  An easy one today - toasties, but I may  also show him how to make pepper and tomato soup, given that Beth's thermomix is now working.  If he can grasp the principle, he will always have a healthy and tasty meal less than half an hour away.
To be fair, the Heinz canned version is not ultra processed but it is flippin' expensive!

So the idea is to get the soup started off and then make the toasties while the soup is cooking so that they are ready at the same time.  That's our lunch.  It's not so warm today so it should be perfect.

The rest of the day should just be nice and relaxing.   Maybe a bit of week scraping around the front, maybe some weeding - that sort of thing.

It's just over a week until my sourdough course so I looked up the details again and have copied and pasted them at the bottom.  I really want to learn how to make a 100% wholemeal loaf and the rye sounds great too.

As for scoring - my scoring is very poor so I'll be concentrating hard at that point!

I'm rambling!  Time to stop and get on with other bits and bobs.  Have a lovely day, everyone, and be happy!  xx

In this fun full-day workshop which will take place in our new shop and bakery in centre of Hitchin, we will take you step-by-step through the whole process of making and baking your own sourdough loaf.

We will start with an introduction to the theory behind the sourdough process, while you enjoy tea and coffee with freshly baked sourdough pastries, then it will be time to get your hands on dough. You will learn everything from creating and maintaining your own starter through to how to knead, shape and bake your bread.  All the skills you will need (with a little practice!) to become a successful sourdough home baker.

This workshop is ideal for both those starting their sourdough baking journey or those who want to learn more about how to make amazing sourdough bread.

During the day, you will make three different types of sourdough bread: our Table sourdough, 100% Wholemeal (Silver Award winner) and a 100% Rye with seeds.​

Each participant will create, from start to finish, the wholemeal and rye sourdoughs.  They will also learn to score by baking off table sourdoughs made the day before.  In addition, you will make the table sourdough during the day, shaping it at the end of the day so you can take it away with you to bake it at home the next morning. ​

In addition to all the bread you bake, you will go home with a course booklet and sourdough recipes, sourdough starter, banneton, dough scraper, lame and links to supporting videos and our WhatsApp group. So please bring a bag to carry all of your goodies home.​

 

You will be served freshly baked sourdough pastries with coffee or tea on arrival and a homemade seasonal lunch with freshly baked sourdough. Tea, coffee and water will be available through the day.

This full day workshop will take place in the Knead & Desire Bakehouse in our new shop and bakery in the centre of Hitchin (ample parking nearby).

Classes are limited to 6 participants.  Courses start at 9.30 and finish at approximately 4.30.

22-05-25

Good morning, peoples.  Happy Thursday to you!  We seem to have had a bit of rain overnight; I have no idea how much but I bet it won't have made any noticeable different to the water butt or sunk that deeply into the soil.   No grumbles though - better than nowt!

Thank you for your lovely comments yesterday.  I do like to have loads of different types of tomato which is one reason why I don't grow from seeds.  To get so many different packets of seeds would be far more costly than buying individual plantlets.
(The other reason is that they have never done very well in the past)

Reading over the list from yesterday, quite apart from the Sungolds, I realise I don't have any proper Italian plums, the fleshy kind that are so good for cooking with.  Something like Roma or San Marzano would be ideal and, if I happen to see one, I'll probably get it, just to make a nice, round twenty plants.

The baby corn plantlets seem to be happy enough so far.  The tomatoes are all - er - let's say not wilting at all.  Obviously, no sign of runner beans yet.  In fact, surprisingly, so far, everything I have put in seems to be thriving.  Amazing!!

Yes, it is that time of the year again - the time that I bend your ears back regularly with news about how this tomato have grown half a centimetre or why two of the runners have not germinated at all . . . 

The clematis really catches the sun first thing when it is smothered with flowers - not a great photo but you get the idea.

It takes the eye away from the bin, pots, etc, behind it.

Yesterday was a pretty nice day.  I started off in the kitchen, feeding Bubbles and Squeak.  I had so much discard, I ended up making a batch of four crumpets and a batch of pancakes which are now rolled and wrapped and in the freezer. Bubbles was particularly lively so I used her for an 80% wholemeal flours nearly-sourdough (pinch of commercial yeast added) loaf which did really well in just the one day; I won't be owning up to that one at the sourdough course though!.  That loaf is also sliced and in the freezer.

I got downstairs housework pretty much done although the carpet needs another going over, as does the kitchen floor.  

Chris left the four tomatoes she is giving me on the front step so I got them into their pots.  Lovely plants in great condition - two Moneymakers and two Sweet Millions.

In the end, I didn't go to Knit and Natter.  I'm not exactly sure why but at the moment my mental 'tolerance' is quite low and it does get very noisy in that room in Broomfield Hall.  You would think 'just turn down the hearing aids' and, yes, I could do that but then I wouldn't hear what people around me were saying.  I've been labelled as standoffish enough in the past by people who don't know and assumed I was just ignoring them (which I wasn't, obv.).

I'm not whinging, by the way, just saying it as it is.  😊

So, anyway, no Knit and Natter, but I did sit and get on with a bit of crochet before leaving for Lindsey's and personal training.  The start of a new block and she changed a few of the strength things - every new block we discuss things to keep on or change, depending on any issues/problems.  That way, it stays helpful and relevant.

Monday's circuits is a mix of strength and aerobic type stuff in short bursts, Tuesday and Thursday Groove classes are more aerobic type stuff but with what I think of as pelvic floor stuff - squats, etc, while Personal Training is individualised and we agree that strength is most important at my age - all over strength, not just core and pelvic floor.
I am so lucky to have such a good mix.

Today, being Thursday, starts with a good old chat with Chris.  I'm at hers this week.  There's quite a lot to catch up on and I'm really looking forward to it.

Then it's the rest of the housework and, given that the sun is shining, I will change the sheets and get them washed and onto the line.

Finally, it's Groove in the Garden (hopefully) so I'll be off to Lindsey's - I could do it online but it is nicer to do it in the group.

Not too busy a day, which is nice, and a quiet weekend to come too.  Plenty of time to snooze in the garden, weather permitting, or to chill in the garden room.  Those chairs are so comfy!

Have a lovely Thursday, everyone!  xx

21-05-25

Morning, everyone.  Welcome to Wednesday - this week is passing so quickly!  Today's weather looks weird - clouds, possible storms, then bright sunshine, lower temps . . .

(screenshots are not great but you get the idea)

Isn't it funny the form housework avoidance can take, eh?

After Groove (really good, as always, and the last of this block), I decided to head straight down the A141 to the Hanging Gardens and then to Greenbrook garden centres.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself looking round but - no Sungolds.  It seems that, round here, Sungolds are not the thing this year.  If it  were a bit earlier, I would consider paying a fortune for three mini plants online but it is nearly the end of May and anyway I have no room for any more pots, not once the plants from Chris are safely tucked into their home.

Did I come home with anything else - what do you think?  Of course.  Not loads but some.  I got a nemesia, the vanilla scented kind that is so beautiful, and another dianthus, just a baby one and I have nonidea if that will survive the season or not.

I was thoughtless and got a 'set' of baby corn plantlets because they looked so lovely and healthy and it wasn't until I got home that I remembered they need to be planted in a block and I have no space for a block.  So they have gone into three pots, not big ones, which I have arranged so they are clustered rather than in a line and fingers crossed that will do.
I live in hope!

And I fell for another tomato too, a 'novelty' kind called Sweet Casaday.  The novelty is the colour, rad and orange stripes.
I do like to get a wide variety of types.  They look so nice in a tomato salad, all those different shapes and colours.

So now I have < deep breath >

Rapunzel

Buffalosun

Gardener's Delight
Honeycomb (x2)

Sweet Millions (1 plus two from Chris)

Shirley

Peardrops

Santa Victoria

Cocktail Crush

Chocolate Cherry
Alicante
Sweet Casaday

Tumbling Toms (x2)

and

Moneymaker (x2)

Some I have tried before and some are new names to me.

The pots for the plants from Chris are all loaded up, ready and in their place and I look forward to an interesting harvest, hopefully.

I decided to tackle the corner that almost every garden has, where the compost bin, the garden canes and the spare pots stand.  It was overrun with ivy from next door so I cut that all back (it took ages), swept up most of the old, dead leaves and generally made it all much more accessible and tidy.  It took for ever and by the time I'd finished that and tidied everything up, I was zonked so that was that for the day.  I came in, got the ironing done and the rest of the housework is top of today's list.  

I'm at home until the afternoon so plenty of time for housework before I go to Knit and Natter and then on to Personal Training.  And I want to start a loaf too.  No chance to get up to any mischief today!

Have a great day, everyone.  xx

20-05-25

Good morning, again, everyone, and welcome to Tuesday.  The sun is trying to shine and today's forecast is good although tomorrow's says maybe a bit of rain.  We need a good, steady downpour, the farmers even more so, but we will see.  I won't complain, for sure.

I continued my Sungold hunt yesterday, trying Longacres and then B&Q but, sadly, no luck in either place.  I could buy online but they are phenomenally expensive so sorry, but no thanks.
I will try further afield tomorrow (or, maybe, this afternoon) and if there's no luck then I will do without.  I won't be short of tomatoes, that's for sure.

I did come home with stuff though - some bedding plugs, some larger flowering plants, a chilli pepper, some cucumbers, a curly leaf parsley and, yes, some tomatoes.  I will list the various varieties I have now another time but I have some photos so here we go!

Here we go with five in pots.  You can see the difference in maturity between the two from Grenville's and the three from Longacres but they all seem nice and healthy.

The ones I put in the bed.  Seven plants, all from Grenville and those specks are slow release food for them.

As well as those, Chris is giving me two Sweet Millions (lovely) and two Moneymakers.  Dad always said don't get Moneymakers - they are not that flavoursome and the reviews seem to support that, calling them 'mild' and 'not very intense' but no way am I turning down  free tomato plants and cooking in olive oil makes for a great flavour anyway, regardless.

And a couple of Tumbling Toms, one red and one yellow.  Tomatoes with character and it's nice not to have to pinch out the side shoots!  :-)

Not the best photo but in this bed I have planted a couple of Stocks (I love Stocks), another dahlia and a dianthus to replace the one that's all woody and ugly - they can flower side by side this season and I will have the old one out come the autumn and shift the new one slightly to fill that space.  That's the plan, anyway.

The plugs are Snapdragons, Sweet Williams and - oh, I forget - Salvia, I think and they are in smaller pots that I can move round for best effect.

Three cucumbers.  These produce all female flowers so we will see how it pans out.  

I've been saving washed and dries eggshells for ages now.  Some have been crushed very finely and have gone into the soil around the tomatoes.  I read somewhere that this helps precent blossom end rot.

And some, as you can see, have been roughly crushed and are there to prevent slugs and snails from scoffing my cucumbers.  Yes, there are a few slug pellets too - belt and braces, folks.

Sorry!

And, finally (for now), an Apache chilli.  I never have luck with the big, mild peppers but chillies seem to do very nicely and my experience is that one plant provides more than I can give away!!

Hopefully, this one won't prove me wrong.

I have some mixed leaves seeds which I will sow into sundry little pots from time to time - I ought to start that today really. 

Apart from tomatoes, I think that is pretty much it for this summer now.  In a little, easy-care garden like mine, there's a limit to what I can grow and how much.

So this year, I have, in no particular order:

blueberries (loads of blueberries)

raspberries

herbs - oregano, chives, mints, sage, thyme, parsley, rosemary and bay

cucumbers

runner beans

tomatoes

and leaves (when I get round to it)

Sadly, no pears and no apples.  Oh, well.

Plus some flowers and some leafage.

After coming home from the Governors' Training (very good indeed), I set to and spent the rest of a lovely, warm afternoon planting everything out, etc.  It was lovely.

Today starts with Groove (no Chris this week), then I MUST do the downstairs housework before gallivanting off to some more garden centres on my Sungold hunt.  I am tasking no bets on whether I come back with anything else or not!

I forgot to mention above that I got two loads of washing on the line and dried but no ironing so that is also on the list but I can do that while watching telly later.

Well, better get started with the morning Facebook duties and then get ready for Groove.  I'm expecting this to be a very satisfying sort of day and I hope yours is too!  xx

19-05-25

Good morning, everyone.  It's Monday:  did you have a nice weekend?

Yesterday turned out to be quite a busy day.
I got to Grenville's and came home with a selected of tomato plants - four for a fiver (I got eleven) and really nice and healthy looking.  I also got a perennial wallflower for the middle bed and a flat leaved parsley (which made up twelve for the offer) plus some six foot canes.

Oh, my - the traffic on the way home.  I had forgotten it was the Essex Young Farmers' Show in Roxwell, just down the road.  It took me ages to get to the Writtle roundabout where, fortunately, I was turning the other way from all the show traffic which seemed to be queueing all the way into town.  Dire!

My PC is having some serious issues so the lovely Eddie came over to see if he could help.  He used to work in computers and I know him because I had both his boys in my Y1 class in consecutive years ages ago.  He couldn't sort it out but he knows someone who can and will get in touch with him and get it sorted.  Bless him, good old Eddie.

Then I drove over to Beth and managed to get the Cook Key working but doing a reset.  Some old stuff was lost but that's OK, it was my stuff anyway, not Beth's.  Now she can access the recipes on Cookidoo.

And finally, the tomatoes are now planted out and the runner beans are in the blankety bed, well watered in so fingers crossed.

Chris has promised me some tomato plants that she doesn't needs - she does it properly and grows from seeds, bless her.  Fingers crossed the runners do OK so I can repay her with some veg.

Just one moan - they didn't have any Sungolds.  They had Honeycomb instead - they are nice but I like to get a few Sungolds in memory of my dear old Dad as they were his favourites.  I'll have to take a trip to Longacres and see if they have any, I think.

The clematis is now doing very nicely with eleven flowers and loads more buds.  Not a great photo, it was taken on a dull evening - they are a lovely, deep pink really.

Today is another busy one.  There's circuits first thing, then I would like to get to Longacres and in the afternoon there's some Governors' training at school.

The downstairs housework will have to wait until tomorrow.  

That should all keep me out of trouble anyway!

Have a lovely Monday, one and all.  xx

18-05-25

Morning, everyone, and welcome to a rather dull Sunday morning here in mid-Essex.  It doesn't feel particularly cold though, so that's OK.

I didn't get to the Nursery yesterday so that's first on the list for today.  I did get over to Beth's though.  She has my old Thermomix 5, wants to start using it but was having some issues when she first got it from me a number of years ago now, so she just put it away.
It's working fine but the Cook Key, which starts up OK (green light shows), doesn't do what it is supposed to do which is to connect the Thermomix to Cookidoo, the online recipe portal.  While not being essential (the other recipe book chips work fine so it's not the actual connection), it is annoying that it doesn't work.  I've looked up a few things and will go over again this afternoon to try them out and if they don't sort it out, it's not a major issue, it just bugs me!  :-)

I am very glad my Thermione (version 6) doesn't faff around with Cook Keys, recipe book chips, etc!

While I was there, Alex started making some bean and veg tomato sauce like we did on Friday and it smelled amazing.  Well done, Al.  And he was using a super Ingenio pot that I now covet mightily!

The other news is that the 80% wholemeal flours loaf, while taking as long as the usual sourdough even with that bit of commercial yeast, turned out a very nice loaf.  It rose well but I didn't get the big oven spring but then I never do.  Something to ask about when I go on that course in a fortnight.  It has a lovely sourdough flavour too.  I'm happy with it.
It was supposed to be for Beth but there might not be a whole loaf in the bag now.  Ooops!  Oh, well, a good excuse to start another one and try it in a loaf tin rather than banneton shaped, don't you think?  

Today, I am definitely off to the nursery, then I will be planting the tomatoes out, sowing those runner beans, etc, and this afternoon I will be round Beth's again to see if I can sort out the Cook Key.  If not, no worries, it's not a disaster, but I'll give it another go.  She could get another one but they aren't cheap and not necessary, just as nice extra.

Time to get going then.  Feed the starters first thing, have my bath and get dressed and then the day starts.
Hope yours is a good one.  Happy Sunday, all.  xx

17-05-25

Good morning, everybody.  Welcome to Saturday.  After sunshine yesterday, it's back to being dull and dreary but not to worry, the sun will be back soon, I am sure.

I was so proud of Alex yesterday.  He did really well with making a bean and veg pasta lunch, coping well with the pressure.
I don't find cooking pressured, obviously, but it can be when you're learning.  Alex can and does cook but he needs some ideas for cooking heart healthy meals for Beth now when she has been diagnosed with type two diabetes and really does have to sort things out and get more healthy.

They take it in turns to cook meals and Alex asked for help with more healthy stuff, realising that shoving a pizza in the oven doesn't wing it really!

I am so glad I started eating the Mediterranean way last year as it's the perfect way to go and there's so many resources and sources of information around.

The above was my portion with some cheese on top and to the side is what Alex had - a slightly bigger portion with added chicken.

Beth is veggie and he isn't so we need to work on vegetarian recipes that can be adapted for him.

He went home with four portions for their freezer and wants to come again to learn another recipe.  I now have to get this one typed out for him although I am sure he will remember it.

So - very successful!

In other news, I started the much more wholemeal sourdough loaf.  I used 50g activated starter as usual and just added a pinch of dried yeast as well.  I had to shove it in the fridge overnight to stop the bulk fermentation because it was rising very nicely indeed.  Now, it is sitting on the side coming back to room temperature before I continue.  It's a nice dough, not heavy or stodgy so - so far, so good.  Fingers crossed.

Today, I am dithering about whether to go to Grenville's Nursery this morning or tomorrow.  I'll see how quickly I can get ready - they may have extended now but when I went in past years, there was limited car parking space and it does have plenty of customers.  Maybe they have extended the parking now, I will see when I go.
It's a proper nursery, not a garden centre, no cafe/shop/stuff like that but their plants are great and very reasonable indeed.  It is off the beaten track too so not somewhere to just pop to and visit really.

I've started working out a recipe for stuffed peppers - I've made some for tonight's dinner, it just needs reheating, and maybe that can be the next recipe to try with Alex.  We will see.

Better go - real life calls and, if I am getting to the nursery today, I need to start getting ready.  Thanks, everyone, and have a lovely day.  xx

16-05-25

Good morning again, everyone.    It felt a bit chilly yesterday and it's feeling the same again this morning so we're back to cold fingers again.  Brrr.  It might be a bit sunnier though - yesterday we had no sun until early evening.  If we'd had rain it would have been good but no such luck.

This is so much better now.  I can see where those gaps are.

Everything is definitely migrating towards the left hand side, the side facing the morning sunshine.  Now I know where I need to provide more somethings.  I will take a look when I go to Grenville's and maybe take a trip to Longacres too.

The lavender is looking much healthier than it did a month ago and the dianthus is sending out buds - nice.  And I have three dahlias, two down the overpopulated end.  Plus those foxgloves.

Thank you, Wendy, for the advice re the irises.

Poor cyclamen.  There are bulbs in the pot too which didn't do terribly well this year so I decided to have them out (no idea why I didn't apply this to the irises too!).  When I started the soil was bone dry (ooops) and the bulbs so impacted it was hard to pull them out.  I now have a whole load of them drying out for replanting elsewhere come the autumn.  I mag fill a few pots with them so they can be moved about into corners that need some colour.

I am carefully watering the soil and I think it it properly hydrated now  The next thing is to feed the poor thing and hope for the best.

That is not a healthy looking flower, is it?

Mind you, some things seem to thrive on a bit of healthy neglect, don't they?  This sage was a poor, wizened old thing over winter and just look at it now, sending out healthy growth all over.  I'm going to dehydrate some using Nellie's dehydrate function, I think.

As for the rosemary - no photos - which was promising to take over the bed, that's now been severely chopped back.  I don't care if it is the wrong time, I have never managed to kill a rosemary yet.

I've decided I can't manage without runner beans so that's what I am sowing in the blankety bed this year.

There will be tomatoes at the end and then there's room for a short row of beans.  I can stand on the wall to harvest so that won't be a problem at all.

Today, Alex is coming over for a cookery lesson.  He want's to learn how to cook more than bunging a pizza in the oven or opening a can of beans.  Also, he wants to cook more healthy stuff so who better than his old Nan to show him.  We're doing cheesy pasta bake (hopefully) today.

I've fed Bubbles (my rye starter) and want to have a go at a more wholemeal loaf using activated starter and a pinch of commercial yeast (a sort of poolish thing).  My recipe is one fifth white and the rest is a mix of spelt, rye and wholemeal and it's really very nice indeed with a great flavour.  However, I think this mix would be too heavy for a sourdough starter on its own so let's give it a go.  It will end up as something, it won't be wasted and it might work really well.

As I discarded before feeding, I found I had loads of discard so some of that has become four crumpets.  Alex can take them home with him.

It's going to be a good day, I think.  Stay safe and be happy, everyone.  xx

15-05-25

Morning, everyone, and welcome to Thursday.

Where's the sun gone?  It looks almost like rain although I don't think any is forecast.  It's not going to feel particularly warm either, under 20C, but that's OK because I want to do some serious sorting out of my garden and that's much more pleasant when it is a bit cooler.

Yesterday and today have been times of disappointments.  Not great bit major ones, just a few little ones.

Dave and Anna have had to cancel Friday evening for very good reasons - isn't it lucky I didn't get any fresh special posh veg, just the frozen chargrilled veg?  That will keep.

Chris can't make our coffee and chat this morning - she messaged me this morning to say she needed to be with her mum who isn't feeling great.  Quite right too!

The last is my own decision.  I was going to the Civic this evening to see a local operatic society's performance of Carousel but I also got a message to say that the car park next door is closed.  Obviously, there are other car parks but none that I would feel completely safe walking back to later in the evening when it is dark, bearing in mind I would be on my own.  Nor would I want to take a late bus, assuming there is one, and taxis are too expensive nowadays.  So I made the decision to not go - a shame, but I have to go with my feelings here.

So I have a free day until early afternoon when I go to Lindsey's for Groove in the Garden (hopefully).  That will be nice; I love Groove.

And this is what I want to work on.  The middle bed, the flower bed.  All the bulbs have died back, as has the cyclamen, so that all needs clearing now.  Then I can see where/if I need to get anything to feel gaps.  

My irises didn't flower at all this year - they are very old so maybe they need replacing.  The foxgloves are doing well, I planted two bedding dahlias last year that are coming up nicely, the Japanese anemones look good and there are various other things showing.  The dianthus doesn't look great though - it's old so maybe I need to replace it.  I need something bedding-like for that pot with the single weed!

On Saturday I am going to Grenville's to get my tomatoes so I can get the pots organised and ready too.  Plenty to do, anyway.

Round the front, it's looking nice with the lily of the valley in full flower and the summer flowers growing nicely, despite the dryness.  Shame about the weeds between the slabs, isn't it.  Oh, well - back to ten minutes of scraping a day!!

Better go, have my bath, get dressed and get started.  

Wishing us all a happy and productive day.  xx

14-05-25

 Good morning, everyone.  It's another promising start to the day, the sun is emerging and it's nice and fresh.

Yesterday was a day of two halves - busy and then nice and chilled.

Chris and I walked down to Groove, chatting nineteen to the dozen.  As this block is a long one, eight weeks instead of the usual six, Lindsey had worked out what she called an 'interim playlist' with new sequences so it felt 'harder' (not the right word here) than usual.  Really good though.

I had breakfast early and then went a-shopping for Beth.  Without going into reasons, she is changing to a more Mediterranean was of eating, like me, and on Monday we worked out a shopping list which I worked through yesterday.  My table is looking remarkably healthy at the moment - nuts, seeds, avocado oil (she already has evoo), wholewheat stuff - fusilli, spaghetti, etc, quinoa, couscous . . .
You could almost see my halo as I pushed my trolley around!

I looked for my posh veg but it was a bit early - the fresh stuff has such a short life and the only remotely posh stuff was some frozen chargrilled Med veg which I got.  It gave me ideas though and I can easily knock up some mint buttered peas on Friday which will be fine.  So that's the veg sorted out.

I'm also going to help out by making freezer meals for her - for a start, she loved the lentil bake and I've started a batch of falafel (the chick peas are soaking).

It should keep me out of trouble!

Today is busy.  I have circuits (changed from Monday this week) first thing, personal training in the afternoon and an early evening Governors' meeting.  I'd like to start another loaf too as I know what I have given them won't last Beth and Alex all that long.  I want to try going proper wholemeal and add a pinch of commercial yeast to the starter, for a bit more rise.  I don't know whether it will work and it wont be authentic sourdough, of course, but worth a try.  So I had better get Bubbles activated, hadn't I?

So I will love you and leave you with hopes that we all have a very happy day today.  xx

13-05-25

Morning, all.  I'm having a very early start this morning - the sun isn't up yet and it will be nice to see everywhere get lighter and lighter.  I'm sure it must activate some hormone or other - it is so cheering!

I had a lovely time with Beth yesterday.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch (singing my own praises here!) and had a nice talk about this, that and the other!  She went home with a load of home made bread stuff - one and a half loaves, some crumpets and some bagels.  That's lightened the load in my freezer, for sure.  

The rest of the day was the usual stuff - housework, washing and ironing (all done now, yay!) and then some chilling in the sun with a book and my crochet.  Very pleasant.

Today, Chris and I will walk down to the hall for Groove.  That should be lovely in the sunshine.
Then I need to do a deep dive into all the governors' paperwork for tomorrow evening's meeting - not terribly exciting but it has to be done.  It will be nice not to have it hanging over me tomorrow, that's for sure.

I may pop over to M&S and Aldi at the Clock Tower precinct as I have some things to get for Beth and also I want to get some 'posh veg' for Friday evening - ready made sort of stuff which is naughty of me but nice and will save time and trouble too.  It's worth looking anyway.

Have a  great Tuesday, one and all.  May the sun shine for you.  xx

12-05-25

Good morning, everyone.   Here we are, back to Monday and coming close to half way through May already!

My May diary has pepped up a bit since I last checked.  Now I have:
Beth round for lunch (today)

all the usual fitness classes - circuits, Groove x 2, personal training and anything else I decide to fit in.

the usual chats over great coffee with Chris

Governors' meeting

Carousel (local society production) at the Civic

Dave and Anna round for dinner

TPP training for governors

Knit and Natter

lunch with Chris

Val here for lunch

There's an awful lot of food related socialising, isn't there.  Very Mediterranean!!  

I took a few photos in the garden just now.

One of the foxgloves Val gave me from her garden.   I know they are a week and invasive but I love them and as I have no pets and no children I thought 'why not'.  

I love this - it has come up year after year after year.  So pretty.  

Phlox Candy Stripe.

One of the new raspberry canes.  It is supposed to be autumn fruiting but, given that they spent the whole winter still in the box they came in (bad me), I'm happy to get anything at all.  They will go autumn when I prune them properly and at the right time.

Oh, dear!!

I'm sure I can use the canes for something.  Poor bamboo.

Finishing with a positive - my most successfully risen half and half sourdough to date.  I'm so pleased.

It's for Beth but I tasted a bit when slicing and before freezing and it's nice.

Today, Beth is (hopefully) over for lunch so I had betted get started with a few preparations, I suppose.  I hope you had the best weekend and have a lovely day today.

Stay good!!!  xx