Monday, 23-03-26

Good morning again, everyone.  Another week begins and it looks like being much more regular and steady than last week.  Lots of last week was lovely but some things were unsettling and I do like a regular sort of existence these days.  Definitely getting elderly, I fear.  

When I was at M&S last week, I treated myself to some flowers and they look lovely.  I got the jug while I was away last week as a sort of treat/memory thing - no fridge magnets though!

Yesterday was nice.  The sun shone, my lovely neighbour cut my grass for me (it's at the front and open and it was so nice of him) and Lindsey's loaves came out a treat.  I think Bubbles really likes this milder weather - the dough rose much better than the last few months and the loaves look really good this time.  Lindsey says they always taste good but sometimes looks count as well!

Today has started off - I was going to say 'well' but that's not the right word.  I took a look at my tea towels and muslin wipes and decided they were looking off colour so I've put them in the hottest wash my machine will do to freshen them up. 
Does anyone remember those twin tubs when you could actually do a boil wash - great for nappies and dishcloths but not at the same time!!
Anyway - they should be done and out on the line before I leave for circuits, looking all clean and nice again.
I dunno - the things that make us happy!!!  Daft!

Hopefully, it is a Kay-Day this morning.  Things have been a bit up and down for her recently so I'm waiting for her to confirm but fingers crossed.
After that I need to go to the mill for some more flour, especially rye and then on to Sainsburys for some spelt.
I'm also expecting a few emails that will need dealing with at some point today too.

So nothing too alarming but it should keep me nice and busy for a while!
Hopefully you have a lovely day coming up too.  xx

Sunday, 22-03-26

Good morning, everyone.  How are you all this morning?  We had quite a frost this morning but the forecast is for dry weather so that's good.

The SW Buddies walk - well, gentle stroll anyway - yesterday was really good.  The sun shone, the daffodils were lovely and the swans are nesting on the little island again.  I wish I had taken my camera with me.

Once home, it was a chilled day, very restful.  Lindsey's bread is just warming after a cold ferment in the fridge overnight so I will get that finished as and when. 

And this morning the second OddBox was left on the doorstep.  I don't find that they are a saving in money but the quality seems very good indeed and it does provide an outlet for things that otherwise are unwanted.  For example, today's box had loads of small apples, the kind you get in bags for children's lunchboxes.  That size really suits me but I can see how they would be too small for most people.
I focused more of fruit this box - next time I will go more for veg.

I'm hoping to get a little bit of gardening done today - those weeds are fighting back again in the warmer, brighter weather.  Apart from that, it will be a nice, chilled day again.  After a good night's sleep, that feels just perfect.  

Happy Sunday, all.  Have a great day and stay safe and well.  xx

Saturday, 21-03-26

Morning, all.  Welcome to Saturday!  BBC weather tells me it is going to be another really lovely day; isn't that nice?

Yesterday was one of those days when everything went according to plan - or, rather, to my Little List.  No rush, no hassle, everything got done and the food was really nice.  I've posted these on t'other blog so apologies if you see them twice.

Nibbly stuff for starters.  The hummus was a cookidoo recipe for Thermione which I adapted only slightly and the crispbread was just my own bread, thin sliced and dried in the air fryer.  

Shocking light, heavily Paint Shopped to lighten but you get the idea.  The lasagne was great and at one point I feared there would be no leftovers but there's just enough go feed me today.

It was midnight before I got to bed and I woke at five as usual but at least I slept very soundly and that is a relief.  :-)

Today, apart from unloading the dishwasher and doing a little bit more kitchen tidying, the house is clean and tidy, the meals are all prepped and I have a walk with friends scheduled for mid morning.

I've fed Bubbles for Lindsey's loaves this week so I can get that started too - as it gets warmer, the dough is more responsive and the whole process quicker.

It's going to be a nice, restful day!  Enjoy the sunshine and have a great day, everyone.  xx

Friday, 20-03-26

Good morning, everyone!  Thank you so much for your very kind and understanding comments yesterday.  I feel I've made a mountain out of a molehill really but it's not something that happens all that often (thankfully).  I think I was more shaken than I realised - I had another rough night last night but, apart from a slight hip twinge (foot on pedal???), that's the worst of it now.  I will be able to have a rest this afternoon, maybe out in the garden if the sun shines.  Wouldn't that be nice?

Yesterday was a pottering sort of day really.  In the afternoon I went round to Beth's with her loaves and we had a chat.  She came home later than me because she went to her friends - she set out just after she got my message saying I was home.
Poor Beth - by then the traffic had really built up as the M25 was still closed.  She usually gets off the M11 at Bishop's Stortford as she, unlike me, is not a wuss with complicated roundabout systems but the traffic was backing up along the M11 so she decided to go on to Harlow too.  It was a lot worse by then than it was for me so she had a very slow last part of the journey too but all's well that ends well.

(Just to add, the Bishop's Stortford junction used to be so easy and Stansted such a happy, friendly little airport until 'They' decided to make it London's third airport - we always went that way to see our friends in Mildenhall and on to Elveden Center Parcs when my two were young)

On to today!

I've pulled out of SW as I'm not feeling great but as long as I take things gently, I will be fine.  Dave and Anna are coming round this evening so I have a menu (that sounds posher than it really is) and a Little List.

I'm doing:

Hummus, olives, sourdough crispbreads and carrot dippers
Lasagne, salad, coleslaw and garlic bread

Grapes and pineapple with coffee.

See - not posh.  I have made the hummus, the crispbreads, the red sauce and pasta for the lasagne, some mini rolls for the garlic bread and the rest takes no time at all

Dave and Anna bring the drinks.

So - my little list is . . .

Sort out kitchen

Chill

Clean and dust downstairs (won't take long)
Chill

Ironing - there's not much and I can always hide it in the cupboard if I want!!!

Chill

Make cheese sauce (good old Thermione) and construct lasagne, make salads, get food onto serving plates, etc, set table . . .

And chill.

See - easy peasy!

Happy Friday, everyone.  xx

Wednesday and Thursday, 18/19-03-26 Long post alert!!

Morning, everyone!  Yesterday was quite eventful in a smallish-scale way but let's do Tuesday first.

Tuesday morning, Beth and I had a stroll around the main road through Thrapston and in the afternoon I strolled around Islip while Beth visited a friend.
A bit of info first:
Thrapston

Islip

The two villages are right next to each other, joined by a bridge across the Nene which separates the two.  There's a pub at either side of the bridge and we were staying in the Islip end one, the Woolpack Inn.
I took a few photos.

A pretty but ordinary (from the front) looking cottage on the Islip side . . .  

. . . but from the bridge - wow.
What a home - with a pool and mooring, complete with boats.  Two of them!

Such a lovely view.

 

St James's, Thrapston.  A pretty looking church but there seemed to be something on so we didn't go in.

The town sign.

And, to the side of a lovely little library, a mosaic - not in the best nick but very colourful.

On to Islip.

A horse . . .

. . . another church, St Nicholas' . . . 

(inside)

. . . and plenty of very attractive old houses.

On to yesterday, Wednesday.    Not the best day I have ever had.

After packing and loading the car and having breakfast, I waved goodbye to Beth who was spending the morning with a friend (who she saw Tuesday afternoon and with whom we both had dinner).

I started up the car: bells jingled and lights flashed.  Check your tyre pressure, they ordered, and reset the whotsit thingybobbydoo!

I had meant to check tyre pressure before driving on Monday but forgot so I got out my pressure gauge thing and - the lever that fastened the thingy to the tyre broke off.  Drat.
Fortunately, I have another one, not so swish but it does the job fine, so used that, found the tyres were perfectly OK, washed my hands and set off.
To be fair, apart from me feeling very tense and stressed (which is typical for me), the journey was fine and the Harlow junction was very, very much more manageable than the Stansted/Bishops Stortford one.

I was on the A414, heading happily for home, slowed and then stopped at a roundabout - and got hit by a car pulling a trolley with another car on it.
Ho hum!
(I may possibly have said something quite a bit ruder than ho hum)

Went round the roundabout and pulled in and a hugely embarrassed and apologetic young man got out.  He thought I would go, not stop (there was a car with right of way entering the roundabout, by the way), and by the time he clocked that I had stopped, with his towing load he couldn't brake in time.  100% his fault.

Now is the point at which I need to say that it really was just a 'gentle' bump, not a crash, even if it sounded pretty loud at the time.  I didn't even stall my car.  I was pretty shaken up and so was he but it was OK.  I have a light cover that needs replacing and he has a few scratches on his front but it could have been so, so much worse, the damage being more related to wear and tear on my nerves (and his).
We exchanged details, of course, although it's far from being something that will involve insurances, and made sure we were both OK.  I actually got a text from him later in the evening, checking that I was OK and apologising again. I think he was far more upset than I was.

Anyway, after that bit of unwanted excitement, I set off again and promptly hit (not literally) a long, long queue of traffic.
The 414 is narrow, just one lane each way and, usually, not that busy.  However, as luck would have it, there had been some sort of mishap on the M25, the motorway was closed for a while, and everything was diverting along the A414 instead.    I bet those workmen digging in the road wondered what was going on!  In fact, my bumper basher should have been on the M25, poor chap!
So that very last little bit that should have taken about fifteen minutes or so, actually took over an hour.

Not a journey I will remember with all that much pleasure really.

And just to cap it all, Matt arrived to deal with the dripping tap and found that he had been sent the wrong part!  I had to laugh - it was either laugh or cry by that point.

On the plus side, I got two loads of washing and a baking of bread done as a way of settling myself down.  And I had a message from Diane saying that the One Traveller Christmas trips were now online and she's booked the Christmas in London one that we said we'd like to go on.  I will book mine today!

I've not slept all that well so today is going to be 100% relaxation and general pottering.  I ordered a replacement tyre pressure machine which should come today and I want to make the component parts of a lasagne as Dave and Anna are coming to dinner tomorrow.

Phew . . .

Have a lovely Thursday, everyone!  Take care and enjoy the sunshine if you're getting it.  xx

Tuesday, 17-03-26

Morning, everyone.  So here I am in the village of Islip, staying at the Woolpack Inn for a couple of nights.

The journey was quite stressful, mostly because I really don't like driving among huge lorries, etc.  I have to admit, most of the stress was self inflicted and next time I would know what to expect in terms of roads, junctions, etc.    There was a road closure but it was home end and I know exactly how to get round it so no worries and, going home, Beth said the Harlow junction was so much easier than the Stansted one so I'll go further down to Harlow on the way home.  I do like a simple left turn!

Anyway, this is a lovely place to stay.

This is part of the accommodation.  The rooms are rows of little own-front-door things (mine is the middle door in the photo), converted from stables, I believe, and recently done up so they are warm, comfortable but not huge. 

 The bed is though; one of those beds that can be separated to make two singles.

The shower/toilet room and also very nice.  Clean, neat, not posh but good quality and with plenty of good hot water.  I had a lovely shower this morning!

I arrived, Beth was already here and we had a good chat over a hot drink before separating to chill, unpack, etc.

I make no apology for this.  It was absolutely delicious!

Both Beth and I 'know' someone who lives round here which whom we have both virtually cheated (later edit - chatted, not cheated.  Ooops!!!) for a long time.  She was an OU student when I was and we had things in common.

Anyway, she came over from her home and we had dinner together and it was the loveliest time.  We laughed, talked, caught up, shared stuff and - well, it was one of the nicest evenings I have had in a very long while.

One of the horses in the field at the back saying 'good morning'.

After a lovely night's sleep, I woke early and the sun is shining.

No apologies for breakfast either - it was so good!

A really pleasant dining room . . .

. . . and fresh flowers on every table.

Today, Beth and I want to have a wander over the bridge and into Islip/Thrapston before we part company, she to go to her friends while I drive down to Rushden Lakes, a retail shopping park.
Later on, she will be back to collect me and go back to her friends for an evening take away.

And then, tomorrow, it is home again.  I probably won't post tomorrow morning but might post later, depending on how the journey went.  :-)  As Beth said, going home always seems easier - and she is right, it does.

Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone.  Take care and see you again soon.  xx

Monday, 16-03-26

Morning.  Welcome to the second half of March.  Sorry this is a bit late - I was expecting a visit from the water board and they/he arrived nice and early.  He's gone now and life resumes.

I've heard about the council tax and car insurance for this coming year.  The council text hasn't gone up that much but the car insurance - ouch!  I remind myself that it actually went down last year and while the car is older, so am I!  Ho hum, I'm very grateful that I can absorb this with minimal pain.

It was lovely and sunny yesterday morning but but later afternoon it was pouring again.  Ho hum!  It's Sunny again this morning and a bit cold too but what's a jumper for, eh?  I'm wearing the multicoloured jumper I was making over a polo neck and it's nice and cosy.

I'm also packed and ready for my little jolly with Beth and most disinclined to start any housework so I'm just going to take things nice and easy before I set off.

I think my Stratford trip will have to wait - I might get it done later or tomorrow and I will definitely have photos of where I'm staying.

Have a lovely day, everyone, and I do hope the sun is shining for you too.   Bye.  xx