Good morning, everyone. After a couple of days off, here I am back again after a quiet weekend with my Mum and Dad.
I gather we had a stonking storm here on Saturday night, not that I noticed anything as I slept sweetly through the lot. Ditto for anything last night too! One of the plusses of being as deaf as a post! We havfe had some substantial falls of rain though - good for the garden and great for the allotment!
Major fail: I've given up on my first attempt to grow tomatoes from seed! For a start, I left it too late but then I did have other things on my mind earlier in the year! Then the sungold seedlings just died on me and the others stopped growing. So I've ordered sungolds frm online now, already growing and possibly waiting for me on the doorstep, and on Saturday I bought some gardener's delight plants from Bickerdykes (in Letchworth) which are ready to plant out. Maybe I will try again next year but maybe not. Buying the plants is so easy and you still get profit from them in that they are so prolific in fruiting. I love it when I can pick and eat them like sweets, still warm from the sun, and they are so good for you!
All the other seedlings are doing well and I shall get the baby corn out in the allotment this week, maybe even today (depending on weather and other stuff). Even the chilli peppers are coming up although I suspect that, like the tomatoes, they should have been in much earlier.
This week is half term, of course, so most of the tuition isn't happening, I just have a few sessions and nothing today. I know every week is like half term nowadays but with little tuition and no nanny helping at school, it feels holiday-ish for me too. Spare a thought (I am, several thoughts, in fact) for teachers everywhere who have to spend the week stuck in front of the PC writing lengthy school reports that conform to the requirements of school management, get read once, maybe twice or three times, and then filed and never looked at again. One to the most thankless and time wasting things a teacher has to do and that is saying something!
No swimming today but I will be back with it tomorrow. I've missed it over the weekend. Another thing I've missed is eating well and that's my own fault, totally. Two days off and it's not a good feeling at all. I'm looking forward to getting back to it properly. This week's meals are all planned and they look good. I have two weeks before I am off on holiday and I intend to stick at it until then. It won't be a lazy holiday either - swimming in the morning and walking in the afternoon (or the other way round) and good, healthy meals through the day. I will splash out but it will be things like steak instead of mince, etc, for a holiday treat.
I'm back on the wagon and it's rolling!
Have a lovely bank holiday.
WELCOME BACK, Joy - lovely to read your blog again.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a lovely weekend.
The holiday sounds ideal and just what you need.
Have fun at the allotment - glad it has rained for you, we could so do with some rain, but it just won't....
Take great care!
Love, S. xxx
Hello, Joy. Well, you might have written your blog post before me today, but I've been up since 4.23am! We both just woke up and the sun was beginning to come over the horizon, and the birds were singing, and we've just stayed up, now drinking coffee (our 2nd drink of the day.)
ReplyDeleteOh, school reports! I've not seen a modern one - our lads left school years ago, one will be 50 next year, the other 45 this week but I know my own reports (never good!) were very sketchy! "Could do better" is a comment that springs to mind.
We have been given some tomato plants that I plan to put in large pots with canes, but we've never had any success growing tomatoes out of doors (and in a north facing garden), but as we were given them, I feel we ought to try! (A friend once said to me "beware 'oughts' and 'shoulds'!") But I have other plants to put in. I'm afraid I prefer to have flowers in our garden than produce - yes fresh veg are nice, but flowers bring such joy (sorry, no pun intended, Joy!) I've even spied two clumps of sweet Williams about to flower and yet neither of us recalls planting them! Most strange.
We haven't had your storm, but according to Devon Live (website) there were electrical storms over the Bay, but we never saw them. It's a glorious morning here, not a cloud in the sky.
Have a lovely Bank Holiday Monday.
Margaret P
www.margaretpowling.com
I no longer have to write reports - another thing to be grateful for!
ReplyDeleteYou've so impressed me with your efforts to get fit and lose weight that I've asked the physiotherapist for a referral to a local gym, taking advantage of the first twelve weeks at a reduced price. I can't see myself using the pool (don't really like swimming) but plan to join an exercise class or two, and will also consider the treadmill and rowing machine. I'm waiting for the appointment for the initial assessment.
I found my Mother's primary school reports among my Brother's copious stuff to clear. The reports date from the early thirties and made interesting reading. Her marks were mostly good to v.good but there were the same brief notes throughout for German and French communication, mostly it said 'too quiet, needs to try harder'.... Very occasionally there was faint praise at better participation, so she tried, but this was never going to 'improve' because 'holding back' was just her nature.
ReplyDeleteSorry Joy, the above comment was from me, I must have forgotten to put my name in ... (surprised it was accepted though ..)
ReplyDeleteAnnabeth:
ReplyDeleteSome children are just like that, aren't they. I shudder when I read comments that they must contribute more because it's asking them to be something they aren't and that's not helpful.
Eileen:
Really well done. I'm sure you will find something that you really love and want to carry on with because it makes you feel great. Do let us know . . .
Margaret:
These lovely, sunny mornings are wonderful, aren't they? I agree that flowers are joy-bringers. I only have a small flower bed but in it I have two clumps of pinks, some delphiniums (blue), a fuschia, I think a mini lavender is still there, a phlox, some aquilegia, a clump of irises (looking glorious just now) and a very invasive Japanese anemone. The pinks are budding majorly and I should have some to pick next week.
S:
Yes, I had a very pleasant weekend, thank you. It is always nice to be home though.
J x