Saturday morning

For once, just for once, I had a lie in this morning. For me, to sleep until after six is very much a lie in and I feel so much better for it too. Usually, for the first few days of a holiday, I wake tired and continue tired. While I'm sure tiredness will come, at the moment I feel invigorated, partly fuelled by the sun which is already shining encouragingly. I have promised myself a time in the garden today, not working but sitting in my recliner, reading and relaxing. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Something very sad has happened. My lovely bay bush has not survived the winter. All the leaves are drying up and dropping. Such a great shame as I use it quite a lot. So one job today is to harvest the remaining leaves and pop them in the freezer. Then, at some point this week, I must get myself down to the garden centre and stock up on herbs. I want some mint, although I seem to be immediate death to mint but keep on trying anyway, as well as a bay replacement. Also my purple sage is so terribly overgrown and woody now it needs replacing also . And I have to get some rooting powder and some little pots for the cuttings I intend to take from the rosemary.

I'm dithering about whether to go to the Writtle Ag shop or to somewhere like Wyvale or B&Q. Writtle is a lot closer (and I do like supporting local enterprises) and I should find parking, and their stuff is good but more expensive. The other two are more of a journey but will have a much greater variety (especially Wyvale) and won't cost so much, but will be crowded and parking might be a pain, despite a huge car park. Decisions, decisions!

I braved a steak in Handy Andy last night. I'm one of those Philistines who likes their meat properly cooked through and this can be difficult with steak. When cooked long enough, it can be dry and tough and chewy in the wrong way. So I approached the whole thing with trepidation. A piece of rump steak went onto the high rack and 200 was set. I can't exactly recall the timing because it was a question of do it and see, but again Handy Andy passed the test with flying colours. The steak was firm, but it wasn't tough and it wasn't dry, it was delicious! So it's ho for a lamb steak on Sunday. Lamb steak with roasties and some peas.

Photos: Taken in the garden this morning, including my poor bay.