Tuesday, 14-07-26

Morning, everyone.  So here we are, starting the third week of July and, already, the evenings feel a bit shorter and the early mornings a bit darker.  Sorry, but they really do.

This morning feels particularly gloomy as we have cloud overhead and, as every morning recently, it is delightfully cool.  I've felt the soil and there's no need to water this morning.  It was so nice using the hose again yesterday - I'm fully prepared to use my watering cans but I do feel I use less water with the hose, because the tap is on for less time and also because there's less splashing and, therefore, wasted water.  Still, rules is rules!

I can't believe how well the tomatoes are doing this year.  I guess they prefer the bed to pots, maybe it's the good feeding I gave the soil and I am sure the good weather has helped but just look . . .

(apologies for the poor light - as I said, it's a gloomy old start.)

Let's start with the Sweet Millions which are really living up to their name.  This mass of fruit is just two trusses, would you believe?

Two great big clusters of Alicante - they always seem to do well and are a standard purchase for me.

Romas have never done that well for me but this year - wow.  I'll use them for cooking (they're great for soup) and hope to freeze some for winter meals.

And finally, this is misleading.  The tomato on the left and the one behind it are both larger than the palm of my hand.

It's called Red Plum and it was an accidental purchase.  It had been put in the wrong place and I put it in my trolley thinking it was something else.  When I checked out, I nearly put it back but couldn't be bothered and I'm so glad I didn't.
I can't find anything specific about it on Google but time will reveal its flavour, etc.

Did I ever say how much I love tomatoes?

And while I am on the subject - the first meal where they are all from the garden!  

OK, so not loads but they were lovely!

The Y6 show yesterday, Gigglebox' , was absolutely fantastic; I think it was the best I have ever seen from them.  It was a show in the old style with lots of in-jokes about teachers, school routines, etc, with scenes' such as 'Playground Casualty' where they made great use of ice packs, kitchen towel and water, 'Our School's Got Talent where pupils were auditioning for places in the school choir and which finished off with a very funny version of 'When a Knight Won His Spurs' such sooooo sweetly that I was envious - I rarely got my choir to sing so beautifully in the Good Old Days - and an absolutely hilarious one about one of the Y6 teachers having a breakdown because her Pritt-Stick had dried up and she had to use sellotape (so unprofessional!!!) - I forget what show that was a take on, it might have been 'Educating Chelmsford'.

It finished off with a song that brought tears to the eyes - all about moving on but never forgetting the memories and friends they had made over the years.  Half the children had tears rolling down their cheeks as they sang.

It was just brilliant.

Today, the only thing in the diary is Groove (and the walk there and back with Chris) so I will be doing home-based stuff.  All the usual things like changing my bedding, washing, ironing, bit of gardening, etc.  And I must send off an email to Jen (the head teacher) about how much I enjoyed the show.

Better go and do my social media stuff now.  Have a lovely day, everyone, whatever your plans are.  See you tomorrow.  xx

Monday, 13-07-26

 Morning, everyone!  A new week begins and they reckon it will stay sunny and pretty warm.  Just as long as it stays as it was yesterday - hot, yes, but not humid and with a nice breeze.

Yesterday went pretty well.  I did, however, have a bit of a mini disaster with the bread.

When I bake my bread, I do a cold bake and I cover the tin I put the dough in with a other tin, bake for about 25 mins, remove the covering tin and finish the loaf off.
However, yesterday the yeast was super active (the warmth, probably) and rose up to the top of the covering tin (which I hadn't oiled because that's never happened before) - and it stuck.   Oh, the fun I had getting it out and you can see that I wasn't entirely successful!
I left the other one to cool down before tackling it and, once cooler, the bread came away well.  So I know what to do if that happens again.
So Beth got one loaf, albeit a very high one that looked as if I had stuck two normal loaves together!
Ands the one in the photo is now sliced and in my freezer.  Ugly loaves taste just as good as pretty ones, after all!

And Lindsey's sourdough was fine.

I did something I have meant to do for a while and that is to opt out of the winter fuel payments.   This coming year I won't have to save it and pay it pack through tax.

And, finally, my hearing aid is fine so that's good.

Interestingly, after two days of watering cans, I discover that while Anglia Water has a hosepipe ban, Essex and Suffolk Water doesn't - yet - and we're under the latter round here.  Yay, back to the easy option (for a while, anyway).

Today, I am off to circuits first thing and then Kay is over to sort my downstairs out, bless her, while I deal with all the baby foxgloves in the middle bed, some of which are going into a spare pot for now.

Then, this afternoon, I am off into school to watch the Year 6 show - it think it is called 'Gigglebox' so it should be funny.
This is what the online bumph says:

Tonight, school is taking over the TV!

Join the Parker family for an evening glued to the screen by a riveting schedule of TV shows, all of which have one thing in common…school! There’s edge-of-your-seats drama, devilishly-difficult quizzes, calamitous cooking challenges, tortuous talent searches, make-over madness…and much more! With giggles galore, these televisual treats go to prove just what a fun-filled place school really is, and why the memories we make there last forever!

AND . . . I will have SIX little tomatoes from the garden in my lunch salad!!!

Did you all have a good weekend too?  

See you tomorrow.  xx

Sunday, 12-07-26

 Morning, everyone.  Welcome to my blog on a sunny but refreshing morning.

No photos of the garden today - it's not a big garden and you've already seen it all a million times (give or take) - but just to say the tomatoes are continuing to ripen, there are more blueberries to pick and there will be one big and three small cucumbers in a few days so I need to load my salads with the current cucumbers!

It was a lovely meal out yesterday lunchtime although one of my hearing aids conked out half way through which was a bit socially limiting.  It had run out of charge, goodness knows why, but it seems to be charging up OK now so . . . who knows, eh?
I had a delicious spiced chicken skewer with salad and some chips and P had brought a home made sponge birthday cake along so that was dessert.  It was delicious!

Such a pleasant time with lovely people.

Today I have watered the tomatoes (must keep them hydrated) and things in pots because they do dry out quickly, I've done a kitchen tidy up and I have two doughs doing their thing in the kitchen.  Lindsey's sourdough will take some time but Beth's yeasted bread will be oven ready soon.  It's funny how it's pretty much the same recipe, same ingredients anyway, but the outcome is so different.

I have a Little List of Little Things that need to be done, the sort of things that are easily forgotten, and I need to take Beth's bread over to her at some point but, apart from that, it's a very gently and quiet day with no meals out at all this coming week (thanks goodness).
There's Wimbledon, of course, and various YouTube things to catch up on and I have bought (for my Kindle) Philippa Gregory's book "Normal Women - 900 Years of Making History" which sounds very interesting indeed.  Have any of you read this?  What did you think of it?

Just remembered - it's nearly the end of Wimbledon and, true to form, I have stopped taking my hay fever meds and everything is fine.  Yay!

Right - better go and check Beth's bread and then get the day started.  All the best to you all - have a lovely day

xx

Saturday, 11-07-26

Morning, all.  Another bright and sunny start to the day and we are now under a hosepipe ban which I have already broken because I didn't know.  Now I do, so it is watering cans ahoy!

Ho hum!

(Mind you, I have just read that an exception is made for food crops that you are going to eat.  Must check that against my own water company rules . . . 

. . .  checked and nope!  Oh, well)

Yesterday was a fair bit cooler - not cool, just cooler and it was really very pleasant.  Mind you, it was hot in the hall during SW - there's no air con and no windows that open and you are not allowed to open the fire doors.  A number of people didn't stay for the second half because it was so stuffy.

One of our lovely ladies is on the Hall Committee and she said she will raise this issue at the next meeting.

In the evening, I picked Diane up and we went over to The Castle Inn to meet with everyone going on the Shimmy in Spain week in September.  It's the same place as we went last Sunday and, while the food is fine, nothing special but fine, the service is little short of terrible.
We waited to be seated for over five minutes on Sunday - we had booked and the place was pretty empty - and in the end one of us had to go and find someone.  It seems that the same thing happened when Lindsey and Tracy arrived first last night and there were inexcusably long gaps in service.  Again, the place was not that busy and maybe that's why.

It's a shame because it is a nice place.

Today sees the last of the big Eat-Outs for a week or so.  It's been nice but the budget has taken a battering.  Still, today is going to be great - a group of us from Slimming World are celebrating someone's 80th birthday and we're going to Roxwell community pub, The Chequers.   There's no menu online, sadly.

Apart from that, it will be a day of watering plants and dodging the heat.  The longer range forecast is for more of the same for a couple of weeks so better get used to it.  At least it shouldn't start raining as soon as schools are out.
Have a lovely day, all, and see you tomorrow.  xx

Friday, 10-07-26

Morning, all.  How are you all doing?  I hope you slept well and feel refreshed this morning.

Let's start with the photos.  Mostly tomatoes . . .

I'll probably pick this one to have with my lunch and there are now more coming around it as you can see.

These are honeycombs.

The sweet millions are starting to redden now too.  Nice one.

The bigger tomatoes, including the plums, are remaining obstinately light green but their time will come!  :-)

Last photo - I picked the blueberries that were ripe.  They're delicious.

There's more still to ripen but not loads.  It's not a mega crop like last year but it is a satisfactory harvest so no complaints!

I pulled the three rhubarb leaves that were browning, cooked the stems and will have them, with some blueberries, folded into yogurt for breakfast.
And after yesterday's comment, I put the leaves into the recycling bin.  However, I googled and yes, it appears you can compost them:

"Many people wonder if rhubarb leaves are compostable and suitable to use safely as an organic fertilizer. Rhubarb leaves are potentially harmful for people to ingest because of the high amounts of oxalic acid they contain. However, composting these leaves is perfectly safe because the oxalic acid will rapidly degrade in the compost pile and not impact the finished compost quality.

Because the toxin molecules cannot survive outside of the plant’s cells, your compost pile will not be affected. You will even be able to fertilize edible plants in your garden safely."

https://homegrail.com/can-you-compost-rhubarb-leaves/

There was also a suggestion that you chop up the leaves first to make the composting quicker.  However, NEVER try to eat rhubarb leaves as, in their fresh state, they are toxic.

So that's something learned.

Chris and I had a lovely chat sitting in the garden room.  It was a cool start to the day so it was delightful to sit in.  We're not necessarily going to be able to make Thursdays on a few occasions in August but that's OK, normality resumes in Autumn.

Then I drove to Val's for lunch.  It was absolutely lovely hearing about old friends and exchanging news and views.  It was hot in the car but the air con works fairly quickly so that was fine.

When I got home, I was zonked and spend the next few hours dozing - in fact, when I came to, it was nearly 19:00.  I slept well too!

Today will be another hot one, of course, but maybe not in the 30s (says the BBC).  I have Slimming World first and it will be busy because the lovely lady who does the weighing with me is not there today so it's just me.  Kay is coming round with something her husband has made which will be nice.  
Then, early evening sees me out again, picking Diane up and going to a get together for those who are coming on the Spain trip in early September.  It's getting pretty close now!  We're meeting at The Castle which has a really interesting history.
This is what Wiki says:

The village has two public houses: the Castle Inn and the Dog and Partridge, both on Main Road. The Castle, formerly called the St Anne's Castle, has a long history. The current building dates from the early 19th century, but it was built on the site of a medieval hermitage known as St Anne's which served as a resting place for pilgrims on their way to and from the tomb of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. The old hermitage continued to serve as a hostelry after the pilgrimages ceased at the Reformation.

At some point I need to do more weeding round the front but I will see how hot is gets before deciding when.

And that's it for today.  Have a good one, everyone, and stay safe in the sun.  xx

Thursday, 09-07-26

Good morning, everyone.  It's a pleasant, fresh start to the day after quite a hot day yesterday, so doors and windows are thrown open and it is all lovely and cool.  I've given the plants their morning drink and I now have two little tomatoes changing colour., not one  And the confused dahlia has buds.  Can my goblet of life hold any more?

Some of the rhubarb leaves are dying.  Perhaps it is the hot weather.  I will have them out soon as, reading about it, if the stems rot, it affects the roots.  Those stems will be pretty tough so compost rather than food.

I really enjoyed PT yesterday.  I didn't say but on Monday at circuits I turned a bit dizzy so yesterday I scrambled a couple of eggs to have before PT.  They were hard to eat as I don't usually have anything but fruit first thing but I had more energy and felt great so maybe I need to adopt that habit when having a before-breakfast class.

I did a bit of gardening while it was still cool-ish.  The sage now looks pathetic but healthy!  I also chopped the oregano right back (should have done that ages ago) so I can now see my chives again.  The recycling bin smelled very aromatic by the time I had finished!

Then I went out a-shopping.

First of all I went to Longacres because the shop has some lovely gift ideas and I have four birthdays this month - well, friends who have birthdays, I mean.  It was the right place to go and I now have three gifts all nicely wrapped and ready for distribution.  THe other birthday is a bit later in the month.
Next it was Hobbycraft because I needed some yarn - not much but I knew they would have it and they did.
Finally it was M&S at the Clock Tower Precinct.  I had a £10 card on my phone to use so I did.  Food shopping, mostly fresh stuff; M&S fresh food is great quality and lasts longer.

Back home again and after a bit of housework, I went online and now I have a sight check and a hearing check scheduled for next week.  May as well get them done back to back and make just one journey into town.  What with birthdays, car service, my RHS subscription, new glasses, possibly new hearing aids, etc, it's a bit of an ouchy month and I will definitely be pulling some money out of savings.

As I always say, that's what those particular savings are for.

And I updated my finance spread sheet!

It was too hot to do much else so I sat, chilled, drank copious amounts of cold water and tried not to go to sleep until bedtime.  :-)

Today, being Thursday, starts with coffee (or cold drink) and chat with Chris.  A bit later on, I am off over to Val's for lunch, taking her pressie with me.   And that's about it - a nice, easy, restful day.  Lovely!

How are you managing this latest spell of hot weather?  Take care and stay well, whatever you are doing.  See you tomorrow  xx

Wednesday, 08-07-26

Morning, all.  It's not so sunny this morning and, while it's not really hot yet, it doesn't feel nearly as fresh as yesterday at this time.  I guess maybe the humidity is starting to build a bit.  Shame.

Yesterday morning was pretty busy.  I went into school to enjoy the concert followed by the pupil voice chats and then, not being 'needed' again until around eleven, I drove out to Writtle and booked my car in for its service and MOT.

I've always taken my car into town to where I bought it, a Peugeot dealership, but last autumn they closed that branch and the nearest one now is Stratford, I think.  Too far to take the car anyway.  Chris recommended a garage in Writtle that she and Steve use so it's now all booed in and that's something off my mind.  Best of all, they do a pick up/drop off service, like my previous garage did.

When I got back, it was time to complete my visit with a walk around the school which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Now I just have to find out if I am expected to do a report for the governing body or not.

Come the early evening, Julia picked me up and off we went to the Harvester where we had the best time.  We laughed so much!
Now I am two down, three to go!

Today, being Wednesday, means I am off put to my early personal training and then I will be going to Longacres first to get some birthday gifts followed by a quick shop for salad ingredients - I'm getting through so much salad stuff right now.  I'll probably go to M&S because I have a £10 card to use and M&S veg is very good..

Now, opinions, please.  Would you say this is starting to colour.  It's a honeycomb tomato so orange rather than red and it is very different to those around it - in colour, I mean.
I think it possibly is and, if so, yee hah!!!

When I watered this morning, I picked two mini cucumbers and one big one.  I will take the big one to Lindsey, I think.
One of the sheer delights of growing a bit of produce is being able to share it with others.  It's great!

The other thing I really must do is book a sight test.  It's not that long since the last one but my vision has changed again which is a nuisance, seeing as it is less than a year since I had the right eye lens replaced.  I am pretty sure it is the left eye this time which means that my precious glasses aren't going to me that much use so instead of having the lens changed, I think I will be going for new frames as well this time.  As I always say, ouch, but that's what my short term savings are for, not just for holidays!
I ought to book a hearing check too.  It's the same place so I could do it in one visit.

Right, time to stop.  Have a lovely day, everyone, and say cool, hydrated and safe.  xx