Wednesday

Good morning, gentle readers.  It's a beautiful clear night at the moment and when I went out to pop something in the freezer I was enthralled at how bright the stars are.  Having the street lights off certainly does make a difference.  It's rather cold too, not quite frosty cold but not far off.  It is nearly November so hardly surprising really.

Yesterday was a most enjoyable and productive day.  At some time after eight, Doug arrived, new French window in tow, to start work on replacing the old one.  While he was working, along came the window cleaner who refunded me £2.00 because he couldn't wash that window - now that was unexpected!  Not long after Gary had finished, along came Kevin to look at the rubbish in my garage and to give me a quote for clearing what needs to go which was so very acceptable I said yes almost before he had finished speaking.  The main problem with yesterday morning was that for quite a while there was no French window and it was starting to feel jolly chilly in the house as there was a decided nip in the air at times.

In and out of all of that I made some cranberry sauce (cranberry, apple and orange, to be strictly accurate) and some Victorian apple jam.  Both recipes are now on Teacher's recipes.
After umming and ahing about what to do with the leftover whipped cream from Saturday, I finally decided to use Thermione and have a go at making some butter.  This was dead easy and seems to have been most successful although I shall know better after I have had my morning toast!  More about that another time.
After a quick trip to the shop I made some leek and potato soup, a banana loaf and a victoria sponge for tomorrow.  All great fun but I was thankful for the dishwasher!  Then leter on, in the evening, I made a banana loaf and some potato and leek soup.  I have friends round for lunch today and the rolls (from Sunday), soup and banana loaf is for them.  I've just turned the oven on to make a Victoria sponge and that's me more or less ready.  I then just need to make some croutons or some sort of garnish for the soup.

After all that hard work < cough >, I was most content to sit and relax with some wine, some rubbish magazines and the evening's telly.  After all, it *is* holiday!

And today?  Well, friends are round for lunch so I shall do a little bit of housework this morning including cleaning the outside of the new window which is quite a mess.  The trouble is I have a south facing garden so get the sun most of the day and the windows can look just awful when it shines through them!.  Kevin might be coming round to clear the garage at some point although I am rather hoping that he doesn't come until tomorrow.  I'm taking possession of a Vax hoover at some point (from a local selling page) on the possibly misguided assumption that if I have a hoover I keep upstairs I might sweep the bedrooms a bit more often.  At the price the seller wants I can hardly go wrong!

But first I must make that sponge cake!  Watch out, Mary Berry, here I come!