Monday

Oh, it feels so very Bank-Holiday-ish right now.  It requires a fair old mental effort to remember that it really isn't.  How lovely to be idling happily around instead of feeling the 'gotta prepare' pressure.  I reckon we should have a Tour de France this way every Monday.  It helps that it is fresh, bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky but we've had rain so no need to water, apart from the tomatoes in the growhouse!

Yesterday was a day of two halves.  I was quite busy in the morning with things culinary and delicious and in the afternoon I had a lovely long sleep.

As I expected, Thermione really earned her space (yet again) and the dinner I finally produced for me, Beth and Alex was really very tasty, thought I say it myself.  I've posted the three recipes on my other blog, Teacher's Recipes so if you'd like to take a look, here they are.  No need for a recipe for basmati rice!!

Sadly, there was no lentil and potato dhal left, but there was some chick pea and veg curry left and some rice, so it's all packed away in pots now, two meals in the freezer and two in the fridge for today and lunch at school on Tuesday.  After the curries, neither Beth nor I had much room left for the crumble although Alex had his usual hearty portion, so I have four wee portions to mix with my home made yogurt for desserts.  Very nice too.

In the evening there was quite a  - I was going to say 'dramatic' but that's not the right word - striking sunset with rain heading towards us.  I grabbed the camera and took a few photos over the fields, some with the sunset setting and some without.

With (far more dramatic than it really was)

Without and you can see the rain coming too.  Within five minutes it was almost as dark as night and the rain was lashing down.

As for today, the race is due to hit us around two o'clock so I will keep an eye on the live cover vie the internet or the telly and, hopefully, will be able to have a look as they all whizz past.

Apart from that, I intend to have a nice, gentle, lazy, restful time with maybe some fun cooking (yes, cooking can be fun, Cider Girl) to pass the hours.

Sunday

Good morning, gentle readers.  I wonder what the weather is like your way.  It's been so very varied recently with some folk (on Facebook) complaining about the rain and some complaining about the sun and the heat!  I know I do my share of grumbling at times, but really the situation is like this, isn't it:

Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!

. . . because, after all, what choice do we really have?

Anyway, here it is dull and cool and damp and I'm lovin' it!

Yesterday was a good day.  I spent some time making a chickpea and vegetable curry out of old veg that needed using up and some of the chickpeas I made last week and froze.  It took as while as I like to cook curries long and slow but by the end it was rather tasty.  Perhaps a bit too hot in the culinary sense, I thought, so I got my yogurt maker out and now have a nice big pot of natural yogurt cooling.  That should sort that one out.

As it is for lunch today with Beth and Alex (some of it, anyway, because it made quite a lot), this morning I decided to use up some lentils and some of the tinned potatoes I opened for yesterday's curry (tinned potatoes are brilliant for curries and the value ones are fantastic value) and make a potato and lentil dhal which is softly simmering away now and smelling wonderful.  I used ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, garam masala and cardamom with a bay leaf from the bush in the garden with onion, potato, red lentils, veg stock, a splash of leftover wine and water.  Oh, and salt and pepper.  It's smelling good so fingers crossed.  It sounds an awful lot of ingredients but when they're all in the store cupboard it is no hassle to get the tubs out and pop them back afterwards.  It would be jolly expensive to have to buy everything.

Today, Thermione will be coming into her own.  I have some stale bread that I want to breadcrumb in preparation for making Beth some more chickpea burgers, I have planned a rhubarb and strawberry crumble for dessert so will make the topping in her, also the custard, if I decide for custard rather than cream, I must make some bread for Beth, and finally I want to make some easy naan breads for the curry.  It sounds like a busy morning but it won't be, not really, because Thermione takes it all in her stride and makes things very, very easy.

More garden photos alert . . .

I managed to get a few shots of the emerging lupins.  Given that the first one is the size of a 20p piece, you can tell how titchy they are, but they are growing again and that's what matters!

Runners coming along nicely and should look lovely once the archway is covered . . .

. . . and the crocosmia flowers don't look as garish now that the runner bean flowers are offering them some competition!

The carrots - although they haven't germinated all that well.  I guess that's what happens when you get a freebie packet of seeds.

The hosta is the best it has ever been, largely, I think, because I got the slug pellet act going rather more quickly than I usually do.

And the tomatoes I grew from seed myself (for the very first time ever) are coming on well now they're in the soil.  At this rate I should get something from them, even if it's not until September.  They were from a free packet too.

And tomorrow's 'big event' (no, I didn't mean the school being closed) . . .

If you look carefully, you can just see that the road turns off to the left at the top right hand bit of the photo.  Well, all those internationally acclaimed cyclists will come along that road, turn left into the road you can see and . . .

. . . disappear along Chignal Road towards the traffic lights at the bottom about half a mile or so away and then it's country cycling again.

See what a grandstand view I will have, assuming the whole estate doesn't congregate along by our garages!!!  Maybe I should charge!

That little green roofed chapel (it's a much bigger church now which used to worship there in days gone by) has a field beside and behind it and there's going to be an 'event' - barbecue, live music, etc, all day.  It has to be all day because once they are there (before 7:00, I think it has to be), they will be stuck there until the evening, unless they walk.  A great view of the Tour de France as well as a good opportunity to socialise and have fun!  Fingers crossed for the weather for them.

And in the time it has taken to write this (with breaks for kitchen stuff) it's rained and continues to rain, the dhal is almost done, the crumble is made and ready to go in the oven in due time, the stale bread is now crumbs and the bread dough is rising.  I've also put on some butter beans to soak.  And this is my window for having a bath and getting dressed!

It's going to be a good day!

Saturday: in the midst of death . . .

. . . there is life.

Regular readers of this blog will remember that a number of weeks ago I made the classic error of spraying my lupins with weed killer instead of bug spray with several other nearby plants catching it too.  I replanted the runners and they are now growing well.  I cut the lupin right back to almost ground level in hopes.

While watering yesterday evening my eye caught a flash of green and, lo and behold, there were three new little lupin shoots emerging from the disaster.  I don't know if they will grow completely this season now, but I have hopes for next year.  I am happy.
(I did try to get a few photos but they're all unfocused)

Here's * the * runner bean (yes, still just the one, although there are plenty of flowers now) which is now around 12cms long.  Not ready to pick yet although one bean doth not a portion make, doth it?

I finally succumbed to the lure of the ripe tomatoes and picked and scoffed three yesterday - and my goodness, they were scrummy, sweet and warm from the sunshine.  I did leave another two on the vine as I gather they send out 'time to ripen, guys' signals to the other tomatoes.  Here's the two that were reprieved - for now.

It was another scorcher yesterday and I certainly felt hot as I drove from Chelmsford to Harlow Study Centre for some NQT mentoring training.  I was a bit worried about the journey as I am not good with driving to 'new' places and Harlow isn't somewhere I frequent anyway.  As it was, it turned out to be a lovely journey, country all the way and mostly clear roads.  Even coming back I was a bit before the traffic build up so made good speed.

The venue was dead easy to find, well signposted (much to me relief) and was a lovely old barn next to a delightful little church.  I walked through the graveyard to get to the centre.  No air con, not even a fan, but the high vaulted ceiling helped.  It would make a lovely house!

This morning, what a change.  It is dull, cool and raining.  Not pouring it down, just a steady light rain.  A good downpour would be better, the ground needs a thorough soaking, but I'm not complaining.  At the moment the back door is wide open and downstairs is gradually cooling off.  Like my blogging friend, Diane, on these hot days I pull across the blinds and the curtains on the sunny side of the house which helps but it does still get quite hot inside and takes longer to freshen up again.

It was a hot night and, while I slept well when I was asleep, it wasn't continuous.  As a result I'm feeling a bit wet raggish this morning but the thought of three days in which to rest and catch up is a delight.  Today I shall take it easy and enjoy the freshness in the air.

As I finish this entry I've had to shut the back door as it is now raining rather harder and there's a wind that is driving the rain indoors.  Don't want a soaking carpet.  The garden looks happy though!  I know it sounds selfish but I hope it continues all morning!

Friday

The countdown has begun.  Ten (working) days to go.  It's another lovely, sunny morning after a good night's rest.  It's Friday.  All reasons to rejoice.

I wasn't feeling so well yesterday evening.  All wobbly and giddy and a bit sick.  I'd expected to go to the Hare with friends but I chickened out.  I hope they all had a good time though.

Today is SEN in the morning and then I am off to Harlow for a course in the afternoon.  I hope it's not too difficult to find the place, fingers crossed.

And now I must go and get myself sorted.

Thursday

Good morning.  The sun is shining, it's lovely and cool and fresh and it is so peaceful right now.    I really love the early mornings, before most people are up and about.  I do hope that when I retire I stll keep up the habit.  Hopefulkly I will as even in the long holiday I don't revert to sleeping beyond about 6:00.  It does help that I'm not any sort of party person.

Lovely family and neighbours are a blessing.  My car battery went at the beginning of the week.  Beth went to get another one for me and yesterday evening a neighbour fitted it for me.  I know I ought to be able to do batteries myself but . . .  It really needed to be done because tomorrow I am on a course at Harlow so the car is essential.

Yesterday was, as usual, good.  The children did their performance of Jack and the Beanstalk and they were brilliant.  I was so proud of them.  It's a delightful little musical with songs, acting, percussion, narration and plenty of opportunity to do our own thing.  The other children enjoyed watching it, remembering when they did it, joining in with the actions and even with some of the songs.  And that's another tick on the list.

Today I have my class all day again.  Excellent!  I'm sure it is better for them too to have the same person more consistently.  It's certainly better for me.

And now I must finish my breakfast (toast from home made bread with home made yellow plum jam, absolutely delicious) and then go and get ready.  There's plenty to do!

Have a lovely day.

Wednesday

Middle of the week and family assembly day so the knot in my tum has returned and I shall be glad when it is all over.  Yesterday's rehearsal in the hall was a bit of a disaster so it seems my tum has joined my fingers in crossing firmly!

Apart from that yesterday was OK.  I did check when the reports were due out as everyone was faffing around getting them into envelopes, etc, but I had remembered correctly, it's not until Friday next week, so that is OK, I'm not missing the boat.

Today I have my class all day, a rare treat.  At least I HOPE it will be a treat.  We shall see.

Tuesday

A pinch and a punch
For the first of the month.

Can you really believe it is July?  I'm finding it hard, I have to say.  The longest day is past and gone and the nights start closing in again.  Half way to Christmas.  Life is spinning away rapidly.  Mind you, the next two and a half weeks can spin away all they like but then it has to slow down for six weeks.  Teacher's orders.

Well, out came the 'pass mark' for the phonic screen and, would you believe, it was exactly the same as the previous year.  32.  After all that waffling about there being blips in the scoring at the 'pass' mark point (OK, the 'required standard' mark, pass mark is quicker to type), they still kept it the same.  And the test seemed a little bit easier.  More adjacent consonant words and fewer vowel digraph words, I think.  Mind you, to be fair, I haven't actually counted, what a waste of time that would be, and I could just be getting used to the test, couldn't I?

I managed to get two bits of important paperwork sent off.  Phew, a great weight off my mind.  There's more (does it ever end) but I am feeling relieved.  So relieved that I went to bed at eight, fell asleep over a book and woke at my usual time, having slept soundly all night.  It's a wonderful feeling.  More wonderful, I don't have a tight knot of tension in my stomach this morning which is something I have been living with for several weeks.  I daresay it will be back again before the end of term, but for now I feel more relaxed.

Today, being Tuesday, is coordinator/PPA day.  Thank goodness for that as there is such loads to do still.  I need to work on our stock order for next year as a matter or urgency and I've managed to grab the hall for a rehearsal this afternoon, no easy matter with the Junior Department's show next week.  It is our Family Assembly tomorrow and we are going out with a bang, presenting our version of Jack and the Beanstalk just as we do every year.  It is sad that, with the curriculum changes, it won't be a part of Y1 from now on, I think, although we may possibly be able to wangle it in somehow.

The bad news is that I have found two caterpillars on my tomatoes - the growhouse plants too!.  How very dare they!!!!  The are now gone-caterpillars and I shall be keeping a beady eye open over the next weeks, spray gun in hand (no, not that one, the bug one!), defending my wonderful tomato plants to the end of the season.

And now it is time to sort out the mess in my kitchen and think about lunch.  I might go for a school lunch today as it is lasagne.  The sun is smoothing away the shadows and I have to get moving.  Have a good day.