Monday

Good morning to you all.  I am surprised to find that it is dry here at the moment and it doesn't look as if it has rained during the night but the forecast is absolutely horrible for today with torrential rain (but no storms).  It seems likely to go on for several days too.  That being so, I have just given the tomato plants their next anti-blight spray.  It's a few days early but I wanted to get it done before the rain starts.  It's a wonderful crop this year and I really don't want to lose it to that nasty fungussy thing < spit >!

Yesterday ended up quite busy.

First of all it was swimming, of course.  When I got there the pool was almost deserted.  It got a bit busier but not in any way disrupting and I managed my 1K (and a bit more) in the hour without any hassle.  I'd like to be a bit faster, but maybe that will come in time.

When Beth and Alex arrived we went to the Flyer for a celebration lunch.  Alex likes the Flyer and we managed to have what amounted to three course meals without too much difficulty.  I had a chicken tikka salad which was really very tasty and two scoops of frozen strawberry yogurt for dessert which was also very nice.  I shared a few onion rings to start with - and it was a few, I promise.

Just before we left home I caught a message on a friend's page asking who wanted plums as they had loads more than they could use if we wanted to come and pick.  Well, you know me - I never say no to an offer like that if I can possibly help it.  Unfortunately, when we had finished our meal it was tipping it down so instead Beth and I took a trip down to her allotment to see what needed harvesting.  It wasn't as overgrown as she thought it would be and we came back with some lovely courgettes to eat and none for the compost heap.  There's loads of potatoes that need lifting and the sweet corn also looks promising.  The pear tree is loaded (Beth thinks it is a comice, which is great) and there are also some apples coming along.  When we got home we worked out a plan of action which should start a good sort out and tidy up.  We've decided to meet there at least once a week to start with which should be great exercise!

Then it stopped raining so I popped over to my friend's with a bag and some scissors and got thoroughly damp helping them pick the plums.  My hair finished up looking as if I had been electricuted but I'd already washed it once and will be swimming this morning so it just had to stay messy.  The plums were lovely, really sound and pounds of them too.  I washed and sorted them and then had some fun looking through a couple of preserving books to decide what to make.

Then I set to with maslin pan and wooden spoon and now I have seven and a half pots of gorgeous looking and tasting Victoria plum jam.  Some for me, some for my friend, some for Beth and Alex and some for Dave and Anna.  In return as a thank you I will also give my friend some plum chutney (when it is made) and some nice, home made granary bread.  I love bartering!

So today - making plum chutney for a start and, luckily, I have all the ingredients apart from some apples.  While that's going on I will also make some granary bread.  Then it can be taken over as a heartfelt 'thank you'.

There's swimming, of course.

And that's about it.

Food:
Breakfast: toast and jam/marmlade, apple, plums
Lunch:  tomato soup, bread, melon
Dinner:  pasta bolognaise, side salad, yogurt