Monday

Good morning and apologies for being a bit late - I had an early morning tuition session!

It's a pleasant day today around here.  Not particularly warm but sunny and breezy and the windows are all open!  There's still a residual paint pong around so airing the house is important.

I was busy yesterday bit everything went well.  Dinner for five was delicious and, apart from the vegetarian curry (which I expected), there was very little left over.  I'd forgotten how delicious crumble and ice cream is.

We didn't allotmenteer yesterday but there was no need to worry about watering.  Today we will be sorting out the rhubarb, cutting it all back and then leaving it to do its own thing, flowering and seeding.  There's quite a lot of weeds under the clumps so we will deal with them at the same time.  I suspect rhubarb jam will be on the list of things to do tomorrow!
I also want to lift some more potatoes as yesterday's dinner finished most of my stock up.

When I investigated my potato bag (in the fridge), to my shame several spuds were merrily sprouting in there.  Waste not, want not, so we will give them a go in the allotment and, if they don't cooperate, no problems.  We shall see.

Bad me!

I got the planning done later on so my conscience is now clear.  :-)

This morning, apart from tutoring, I picked runners and tomatoes and had a rummage through the freezer for lucky dip meals!

After a couple of busy weeks, this week feels footloose and fancy free although I am sure things will happen to fill the time available.  Don't they all!

Have a good day and may the sun shine for you.

Sunday

We have rain!

Actually, that's not quite true right now as it's cleared and the sun is shining through the gaps a bit but there's more on the way.

Good morning, everyone.  Welcome to Soggy Sunday!

I got loads done yesterday - but not the front garden!

We met at the allotment, Beth and I, and after coffee and a chat, set to work.  The edges are now neat, we have planted more mange tout and sugar snaps (fingers crossed that they germinate), we weeded just a bit more (there wasn't all that much to do) and we dug over the ex-potato patch, raked it flat, sowed some more chard and then planted out as many of the little leeks as we had space for.  The rest will have to wait until we have cleared more potatoes.  Beth had a chat to a chap further along who gave us some of his beetroot and told us to take a look at his dahlias and let him know the ones we liked and he would prepare some plants for us next year.  Wasn't that kind?  There's no point us sharing our produce with him, he has loads, but I will have a rummage in my jam cupboard.  Lord knows, there's enough to feed the five thousand in there so sharing would be good!

Beth came back with me and we had lunch - home grown tomatoes fried in a little butter on toast.  Totally delicious!

Then I cleared the kitchen, made my bread dough and then popped to Morrisons to get a few things I needed for today before I finished off the bread and made a curry for today with loads of bits and bobs.

Come the evening I was tired and slept in my chair!  Getting old, that's the trouble.

Today I have guests for lunch (hence the curry) so need to make sure everywhere is relatively neat and tidy.  Later on I need to plan as I have three tuition sessions tomorrow.  So another busy day that ought to keep me out of trouble.

Saturday

Morning, everyone.  After copious amounts of rain overnight, this morning is beautifully sunny so the windows are all open to take advantage of the fresh air (I still have a painty aroma all over the place).  The skies are clear blue and there's a gentle breeze.  I may well have breakfast outside today.

Beth and I managed to dodge the raindrops enough to put in a good two hours each on the allotment and have a simple picnic lunch.  When we had finished the work, we sat there in companionable silence, looking at what we had harvested and at the now neat and tidy again allotment with huge satisfaction.  We're both really glad that we've been making the effort necessary this year - it's a wonderful feeling.

The corn is now 'flowering' so the little cobs can't be far behind, we have two medium sized squashes hidden under the corn to go with the cute titchy ones, the cucumber is producing at a great rate of knots, ditto for the beans and the courgettes, we got loads of potatoes from just one row that we lifted and the mange tout and sugar snaps are now over so we cleared those rows.

At home I picked runner beans, tomatoes and a few strawberries.

Courgettes, green beans, runner beans, cucumbers, loadsa potatoes, tomatoes and a few strawberries - oh, and one spring onion that survived the attentions of a pesky cat that scratched all the others up.

Two butternut squashes

Some green beans that'll be ready in a few days.

< satisfied sigh >


Today is a day without any diary commitments so, of course, I will be very busy.  Allotment first, to strim the edges and plant some more peas, just to see if we can get a second harvest.  Then I want to jam some plums, freeze some green beans, make a vegetable curry, sort out my front garden which is getting itself into a right mess again, make bread and generally have a productive and homey day!

And we're supposed to be getting more rain later on!

Friday

Funny old day, it is.  It was raining earlier, then the sun came out and it was gorgeously sunny, now it is clouding over again.  Do we have allotment today or not.  Will we be able to picnic?  Who knows?  Time alone will tell.

Yesterday was great.
I picked Beth up and we went off, firstly to Costas to spend my present (a Costa card), then into Hobbycraft for a good meander around and, yes, we bought a few things but nothing that bad) and then we went to Pizza Hut for a buffet lunch.  I love those buffet meals: you feel you're getting a lot, even if you're not really, and the choice is pretty good.

When I got home, I meant to get some planning done but I went to sleep instead.  Never mind, the planning got done later.

Today I've done the tuition (nice and early) and now the day's mine.  Allotment, maybe a picnic and then maybe some sewing.  There are runner beans and tomatoes to pick at home and goodness knows what at the allotment!  I have eggs to use and fancy making some mayo using my Bamix stick thingy.  It's so delicious!  I won't have time to make bread but maybe I will make the dough and then pop it in the fridge overnight.  How lovely to have an open day!

Here's to a good day for us all.

Thursday

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for your patience over the last week.  I don't think I've ever missed two entries in one week before, but things have settled now and it's back to normal.

I mentioned that an old friend was coming to visit.  Suzanne and I became close friends when we were both at collage together, at Southlands, finding ourselves in rooms 24 and 25 (I think), Mid-Chapman many, many moons ago.  After college, we went our separate ways, me into teaching and marriage and she into teaching, here for her probationary year and then to Papua New Guinea to teach before joining World Vision.  Sadly, we lost contact but, thanks to good old Facebook, we managed to contact again, hence her visit.

I had a lovely time and I hope Suzanne did too.  It was just a short stay but I hope she'll come again before long.  Unlike me, she's not retired (yet) but is reducing her hours.  Like me, she has her home and loves her garden.

On Tuesday we pootled off to Hyde Hall where we had lunch and did a lot more talking than looking.  There's been some big changes there with more on the way so I have scheduled another visit next week to explore further.
Yesterday we popped into town to go to Lakeland where S bought a few useful items and then we had coffee in M&S (fortunately missing the rain).  I followed my parent's example and bought a few jars of gravy.  It's lovely gravy and when you cook for one, often there's not enough left to make a proper gravy.  Not terribly frugal but good and flavoursome!

Thanks, Suzanne, it has been brilliant getting back in touch again.  Here's to the next time.

In other news, poor Beth had some unwelcome drama.  One of her cats got out and vanished.  He was gone for 24 hours and caused her great anguish as she searched the highways and byways for him.  He turned up again, 24 hours later, scared and hungry but none the worse for his adventures and was soon comforted with love and food.  I think it will take longer for Beth and Alex to recover from the experience though!

Today I'm doing stuff with Beth.  What we do depends on how she feels after the Fred-fiasco.  We might go to Lakeside for clothes shopping or we might ransack Hobbycraft.  Either way, I have a Costa Coffee card, given as a birthday present, so I will use that to treat us both!

The garden is going well - I've picked the first runners and the first tomatoes and more are coming in.  The Ruby Ann strawberries are still producing and have sent up another set of flowers while the other strawberries are producing runner at a great speed.
The allotment also looks fab.  We now have copious amounts of cucumber and courgettes, the beans are also producing steadily and we have tiny, baby butternut squashes that look so cute!  The potatoes are dying back so need lifting now and, unfortunately, the weeds are having a field day.  I think that, weather permitting, tomorrow has to be an allotment weeding day - S and I popped over there to get her a couple of courgettes and I was horrified!

Well, that's me up to date now.  Have a splendid day, whatever the weather does your way.

Wednesday

Just a very quick entry as I have a guest and little time!

Back tomorrow, properly back!  Have a great day.

Monday

Apologies for yesterday's non-appearance.  I was at Mum and Dad's and there were a few connection issues.  Home now and back online.  The weather is just as dire though - still dark, damp and gloomy and I am really noticing that the days are getting shorter and the nights longer again.

It was a good time away.  On Saturday we popped over to M&S at Biggleswade again and had lunch there (absolutely delicious sandwiches and a HUGE cup of coffee!) while the sun was still shining and in the afternoon we stayed in as the rain fell and the garden lifted her head and rejoiced.  As did any blight around and I got a blight warning in my mailbox.  Ho hum!

Yesterday morning I cooked the dinner for us all (a really tasty savoury crumble, though I say it myself) and headed home p.m.  I was lucky enough to dodge the showers that were dotted around the countryside and it was a pleasant journey.  I came back loaded with goodies from my generous parents, bless them.  More super-posh muesli, a bag of runner beans from their garden and a thing to help me hear the telly better which is now all charged up and ready to go!

I came back to a small stack of mail - a bill, a tax thingy for someone else and two tax thingies for myself - one a notification of a change in tax code (it keeps changing!) and one telling me that the tax bods owe me some money.  A nicely comfortable amount too which, when paid, will go straight into my savings, maybe into investments.  That was a cheerful thing to come home to and it'll be interesting to see if my 'disposable' income now goes up.  It's all so complicated (to me it is anyway) that I'm a bit gung ho about it which is probably totally the wrong attitude, but at least I'm not likely to fall for a money making scam in any way.  No way do I want to add complication to my life!

Today I have quite a lot to do in anticipation of the arrival of an old friend tomorrow morning.  I need to make some bread (haven't made bread for a while now as I got some yellow sticker bread), get her bedroom ready, finish the ironing, prep the runner beans, plan a menu and shop for any extra things I need, dust and hoover and, to start with, I have two morning tuition sessions.  It's now the school holidays, officially, not just the weekend, but I've been asked by some to do holiday sessions and am happy to oblige, seeing as life is one long holiday now!

I had a bit of a disappointment though - the coach trip to Buckingham Palace is off.  When it came to paying, there wasn't enough interest so the company cancelled it.  A shame, but there you go, the things one can suffer and still survive, eh?  We might have a 'do it yourself' trip with a 'Royal Day Out ticket' which means we can wait until September when schools will be back and it won't be quite so crowded.
https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/buckinghampalace/plan-your-visit/what-to-see-and-do/royal-day-out#plan
I do hope they don't cancel our trip to the seaside.  I'm really looking forward to that one!

Well, the planning is done and ready for 9:00 but there's loads more to do so I need to get going.  Have a good day and may the sun shine for you.