Thursday

What a lovely cool night it was.  I stayed cosily under the quilt, fan turned off, and slept like a log all night.  Wonderful!  yesterday was also pleasant, weather-wise: sunny warm but not over-warm and with a lovely fresh breeze.  No sweat!!!
Today looks like being more of the same.

To my huge relief, I am now hearing stereophonically again.  In other words, I went into town and picked up my broken hearing aid which is now as good as new.  Phew, what a relief.  I then made an appointment to have my sight checked as I know I need new glasses.  I believe I can now have free sight checks which is nice.

Heading back towards Lakeland, I decided to pop into Debenhams to look at purses there.  I've had the most wonderful little black purse for well over a decade now.  I bought it for next to nothing in the market, it's leather and has done a grand job.  However, it is now very old and very battered and doesn't always close properly so I can find a shower of cash all over the bottom of my bag.  I therefore decided to get a new one at some point.

See what I mean?

To my delight, there was one that was just perfect.  Light coloured (I wanted light coloured to make it easier to find in my somewhat capacious purse) and slightly larger and, better than best, had an owl on it!

Perfick!

That neither explains nor excuses the handbag I also saw and bought though.  So much for frugality.

The frugality took another severe battering when I went into Lakeland (no surprises there then!).  I bought several bits and pieces that I needed and - er - a pasta maker.  You know the sort: heavy, rolls out pasta dough and cuts it into bits thing.  A gadget - one of the species of cupboard clutter I had vowed to ignore and disregard from here on.  Ooopsie!
So there's got to be fresh pasta on the menu a bit more often . . . and I need to Google search for info/recipes

Having shocked myself by my weakness (yeah, sure), I recovered over lunch with a friend with some non-stop chatting and laughing.  It was lovely.  Later on I had a surprise visit from Beth and Alex, dropping off a courgette and picking up the garden mint and courgette loaf I had for her.  And then in the evening I get on with my knitting and didn't go wrong, not even once.  I must be improving!

Today I have an appointment with Beth and Alex down at their allotment for a picnic.  I haven't been there for a while and I gather that there are changes.  The shed's up, the furniture is out, things have been moved around . . .  I'm looking forward to it very much.

I'm taking flapjacks (which are smelling wonderful in the oven as I type) and something to drink, and I might take some little pots of citrus yoghurt (recipe over in TsRs - do pop over and look) as well.  Apart from that. the day is more or less a clean sheet so I might get some long overdue bits and bobs completed.  That would be good.

Almsot half way through - where is the time going?

Wednesday

Another cool, fresh morning and a cool fresh home as the windows are all open.  It's not exactly sunny at the moment but the clouds look reasonably high so I'm living in hope!

Before I go any further, an ad for my other blog - I've posted two new recipes.  Please do go and look:
Pasta with a sardine sauce (my own)
Garden mint and courgette bread (from 'Freshly Baked and the link to that site is in the entry: do go and look, it's a super site)

It was a fun day yesterday.  In the morning I went round to a friend's to have coffee - there were four of us and we have all worked together in year 1 at school at some point or other.  We had a jolly good catch-up chat and an admiring look around June's allotment and at her hens, who, most obligingly, had produced three eggs for her to collect while we were there.

Then it was back for lunch and a lazy afternoon knitting and snoozing before I had a go at the two recipes listed above.

I had a good laugh at myself.  For a week now I have been looking at a tomato that had started turning orange and then seemed to stop turning any more.  I was puzzled as to why the red colour wasn't coming.  Then it struck me - it's *supposed* to be an orange tomato!!!!   Doh!

I did feel silly!

Tuesday

Well, I was right.  I said yesterday that there was more rain to come and my goodness, indeed there was.  It wasn't too bad during the day but in the evening we had some very heavy downpours.  All good for the parched earth and it means the only plants I need to water this morning (or check that they need water) are the ones under cover!

Yesterday the car went in after several mishaps/misunderstandings that meant that it couldn't go in last week as expected.  It's all done and dusted now - MOT, service and road tax are all up to date, thank goodness.  I was a bit concerned that a problem might prove ridiculously expensive, but it didn't, it was a lot less than last year and, if I was doing one of these 'Today I am glad . . .' posts, one would be 'Today I am glad that I have enough savings to cover the cost .' or even 'Today I am glad I don't have to start looking for another car.'

The garage is close to Beth's so I spent the day there.  We went out for lunch, me, Beth and Alex.  At first we tried Lathcoat's coffee shop but it was closed so we ended up in the Writtle Road nursery and had a delicious meal.

i was glad we went over to Lathcoat's though, because I had run out of yeast.  I hate running out of a basic like that (basic to me, that is).  I know Lakeland has large packs of dried yeast (I refuse to buy those sachets, they are ridiculously expensive) but that means a trip to town and parking to be paid.  Morrison's didn't have any.  But the farm shop did - so I bought three packs with a nice long shelf life which should keep me going for a while to come.
Now I can try the garden mint and courgette bread recipe I found the other day!

Picture borrowed from Google

Just as an afterthought - how can Lakeland sell the packs of dried yeast at £1.25, Lathcoats at £1.35 but somewhere like Amazon charges over £3.00 plus postage?

Monday

It's been raining!  When I popped out to look at the garden, down came the raindrops so I beat a hasty retreat!  It's stopped now and the sun is out but I have a feeling there's more to come yet.

There's not a lot to say really.  Yesterday was one of those gentle days where nice things happened one after the other, the highlught being when Beth turned up with potatoes, courgettes and some corn on the cob.  I shall have some of that tonight!

Today marks the start of middle third of the holiday.  I'm hoping that it will go more slowly as I want to enjoy every moment!  Two weeks until Streele Farm.  Looking forward to that.

I hope your day goes well.

Ooops - I forgot

A few blogs ago, when I was talking about the barter Beth and I indulged in, I forgot to mention that she brought over one of her 'plaits' of garlic.  Luvverly!  That should keep me in garlic for a couple of months.

So sorry I forgot, Beth.

Sunday

The leeks seem to have survived the planting and are nice and upright and looking at home.  I haven't killed them - yet!

Good morning, everyone.  It's another promising start to the day, sunny and fresh with a bit of a breeze trembling the tops of the trees.  I've done my usual survey of the estate - oh, OK, back patch - and all seems well.  There are tomatoes still for tea!

I remember, before we had the threat of blight so it must be last century, one summer holiday, every morning (so it seemed) I would go out and pick half a dozen tomatoes, fry them in the bacon fat and have the most delicious bacon and tomato breakfast, sitting out in the already warm garden.  Maybe this summer will be the same as there are loads ripening and there might be a glut.  It will be nice to hand produce to Beth - it's usually the other way where that's concerned.
Or maybe it was all a dream!

I had a kitchen day yesterday so it was lucky not to be too hot.  First of all it was the weekly bread: with Thermione's help it is down to a fine art and it all went as smoothly as ever.
Then I started thinking about lunch.  I've blogged about lunch over in TsRs so do take a look.  The resulting Definitely-Not-a-Caesar-Salad was really delicious, thanks to a series of happy circumstances.
Then I dithered and doodled regarding dinner and finally made a sort of tuna pasta thing which was nice.  Not as nice as the salad but I'll make it again.  It would have been nicer if I'd used full fat Philly, not the light version, but one has to consider calories as well as pennies!
Neither of them are ultra-frugal a-la-Jack but they're both low cost and good value.

For a little time I've been thin king about finding a recipe that will make nice rolls.  The rolls I usually make are the same recipe as the loaves and I wanted to vary things a bit.  I found a recipe for 'soft white bread rolls' so I gave them a go, with Thermione's help, as usual.  It made six decent sized rolls but the funny thing was that I fell asleep while they were proving and when I woke I rushed them straight in the oven and they emerged looking wonderful, just as crusty and beautiful as those you buy in the supermarket for 25p each or five for £1.  I don't know what they taste like, hopefully better than said supermarket rolls.  I'm having one tonight for tea so I will report back and post the recipe if they're OK.  Maybe that's where I've been going wrong with rolls.  Maybe I have been under proving them!

When I went shopping I met two just-ex pupils, one nearly pupil and several I taught at sundry times.  That's the thing about living very close to the workplace and I love it!  It was great to have a little chat.

Apart from that, I continued with my knitting, watched some Poirot and sundry other bits and bobs, dozed a few times and generally had yet another lovely day (monotonous, isn't it?)

Today is going to be a kitchen morning.  It needs a good clear up, things need putting away and so on, I have a pile of washing to deal with and it is generally past the point of managing easily in there.

Then Beth and Al are over for dinner.  Lovely!

Saturday

What a downpour we had yesterday morning!  Just what the gardener ordered and the lightning and thunder cleared the air amazingly well for a while.  I've just been out to do some early watering and it's beautifully fresh and 'clean' out there right now.  The forecast is wonderful - bright and warm with a breeze.  With any luck I will be able to sit out and chill with a book at some point.

I know I say this to the point of utter boredom, but yesterday was lovely.  A gentle potter around the kitchen that resulted in two loaves of bread and a very nice salad for lunch.  Some reading, some knitting, a little bit of housework (ooops) and a visit from Beth and Alex.

They arrived with baby leeks and two broccolis and they left with half a dozen eggs, two loaves, a cucumber and a lettuce, the latter two from my parents.
The leeks and the broccoli plants are now safely planted in my veg bed, which is beginning to look remarkably productive.  The parsley has lived and is growing, the radishes are up, the carrots are just showing their feathery little shoots and the runner beans are doing what runner beans do best - climbing and flowering.  However, I do, at long last, have some baby beans a-growing and have the evidence to prove it!

OK, so you definitely need a magnifying glass to see it, but it's there!!!  A baby bean!

Even if they never turn red (which I am sure they will) it was worth getting the hundreds and thousands for the sheer visual pleasure.  There they sit, producing zillions of titchy flowers that are rapidly turning into equally titchy little fruit and looking beautiful in the summer sunshine.

Less than 1cm across - so cute!  And there are literally hundreds of them already.

I would love to be able to take radishes, tomatoes and runners with us to Streele Farm this summer.  Fingers crossed and good weather permitting . . .

I seem to have not an awful lot on today.  Food shopping (after list making), baking some more bread, picking up the eggs, a bit of the usual stuff and plenty of snoozing as I was wide awake at four this morning.  George comes later on so the garden will look pretty good too.

Better go and make breakfast - my tum is rumbling!


Edited to add:  I forget to say that I concocted quite a tasty dish yesterday so have posted it into Teacher's Recipes.  Do take a look.