Taking a family break

We're taking some time out to spend with N's family.  We're off on holiday with his sister, BIL and father.  It will have been about 40 years since they were all away together so everyone has been looking forward to it for a long time.  It will be good to spend this time together.

Frothy and ready to go

Here at home the pottering continues.  I think I've cracked bread-making now; I've started to use a dried active yeast for hand-baking that needs reactivating with warm water and sugar before its added to the flour.  As it froths up there's a wonderful yeasty/bread-making aroma in the kitchen which makes me feel like a real baker!  This type of yeast seems to be better at raising the dough which is a problem I've had as the temperatures drop off.  

The garden is ticking over on its own; the brassicas are coming along nicely.  The sucflower seeds are drying out in the shed.

That mouldy seed in the front will have to go!

We'll be back in a few days' time.

Monitoring the meters

As I sit typing this evening, we're having a very sudden and noisy thunderstorm accompanied by a deluge, yet it was beautiful earlier today.  Ah, the British weather, always keeps us on our toes.

Another of the national energy companies announced it's price increase today.  Anything between 8-10% seems to be the going rate; our energy provider has put it's prices up by 8.2%.  We wish our income had risen by that amount.

Gas meter, complete with webs - the spider  runs for cover every time I lift the lid to  the meter box

Since we left work, we have certainly become more aware of our energy consumption.  Our income is reduced and we need to make our money work for us.  It makes sense to us, therefore, to look at where the money goes and what, if anything, we can do to monitor our outgoings.  Some are fixed (council tax, TV licence, car tax etc) but we do have some influence over our utilities - electricity, gas and water.  Since July I have been reading the electricity and gas meters every Monday morning; they are both easily accessible.  The water meter is another matter.  It is set into the pavement outside the property, on a busy road.  The lid has to be levered open with a screwdriver, which is fine, but the actual meter it is sunk to a depth of about three feet and the numbers are very small.  I could do with a magnifying glass!  However, I will not be beaten (or embarrassed by passing motorists - this is my water meter, after all) and where there is a will there is also a way.  I just have to find it ;-)

How am I supposed to read that?!

However, back to the electricity and gas readings.  Through the summer we used almost a steady 30 units of electricity every week.  The gas worked out at just a little bit over 1 unit each week.  We expect these figures to go up during the winter when we will need lights on more, and the gas central heating will be running.  We are able to check both utilities online, so by entering our weekly figures we can see how much we owe.  Because we pay by monthly direct debit, we get into credit during the summer months when our consumption is low, and this is gradually clawed back during the winter months when our usage is greater.  it will be very interesting to see how the readings increase during the winter and what, if anything, we can do to reduce them.  

There are a number of websites giving 'average' energy consumption figures but I haven't trawled through many although I may do so another time.  I'm confident however that we use considerably less than the 'average' figures.  We are careful and certainly don't waste energy.  We have implemented many of the actions to save energy - turning off lights, full loads of washing, energy-saving light bulbs, turning the thermostat down etc, but it's always sensible to be open to new or different ways of doing things which might help.  For example, I don't leave the laptop on charge permanantly now.  We have been fortunate that autumn has been mild so far and we won't be putting the heating on till November.  When we had the boiler serviced earlier this year, the engineer suggested a way of getting a more even temperature throughout the flat - in past years the lounge has been warm but the rest of the flat has been decidedly cooler - so we will implement his idea and see if that makes a difference. 

 

A drop of the wet stuff, and food wastage

We've been quite spoiled over the summer, weather-wise.  It's been lovely - dry, sunny and warm.  This weekend we've been back to more traditional British weather - it's rained, a lot.  There was a rumble of thunder and accompanying flash of lightning on Sunday then an absolute downpour of torrential rain.  It got so dark we had to put the lights on, in the middle of the day.  However, it seems we got away lightly because only a few miles away on the mainland, Hayling Island apparently had a tornado!

We managed to nip down to the garden to pick a few leaves from our various cabbages and we enjoyed them, lightly steamed, with our roast dinner last night.  

The quilt top is finally in one piece, all seams neatly hemmed by hand, and all the tacking is out (and yes, I do save the long tacking threads to re-use).  It was a little tricky using the machine to top-stitching the last few triangles as the bulk of the quilt was difficult to manouvere through the small 'throat' aperture of my machine.  The trick was to take it slowly, ensuring the bulk was rolled tightly to feed through the gap.  I'm pleased with how it looks.  

Just not enough room!

In the news today, Tesco, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the UK, reported that in the first 6 months of this year, it generated about 30,000 tonnes of food waste.  I guess other supermarkets generate huge amounts, too.  I was reading through some of the comments on this online report, and found myself nodding my head in agreement with many remarks made.  No 'home economics' taught in schools anymore, so youngsters aren't learning how to cook from scratch, work to a budget etc etc; supermarkets are enticing us to buy more than we need with BOGOF offers, and putting a set amount in sealed plastic bags rather than letting customers buy what they need; we shop less often than we used to - our parents and certainly grandparents shopped daily for food - it was fresh, cooked and eaten on that day; nowadays people are more inclined to throw food out rather than produce a meal from left-overs.  The list goes on.  It occurred to me that these are all issues that aiming for a simple life tries to address, and it's certainly a topic of conversation that N and I have on a regular basis.

With foodbanks becoming fixtures in many towns (and that in itself is a very sad indictment on the impact of the economy on those who struggle to makes ends meet), the amount of food that is simply wasted is shocking.  Tesco have had the decency to publish their figures (hopefully others will do their own stock-take) and will hopefully take steps to attempt to cut down the wastage that they can control, but as consumers we also have responsibilities.  We should not allow ourselves to be seduced into those all-too tempting offers, only to throw half the food away because we haven't used it in date - we know of people who clean their fridges out every week, throwing away any foodstuffs that are left, before they restock with fresh food for the coming week.  It goes to waste - it is all thrown away.  Planning meals would ensure we only buy the food we need.  Learning how to make meals from left-overs - soups made from the last few veggies, for example.  

I'm sure those people who regularly throw food away wouldn't throw actual cash - money - into the waste bin quite so recklessly.  

It's a problem, and a very serious problem, that needs to be tackled on many fronts.  Blaming the supermarkets alone is not the answer.  Yes, they most certainly have a big part to play and pressure should be brought on them to address their wastage, but all of us consumers need to think twice before we over-buy perishable food that we then can't be bothered to use up.  Adopting a thrifty, responsible attitude towards our food shopping and subsequent usage would be a good step forward.

Just my thoughts on this.   

End of week round-up

A familiar scene - sitting at the table with a cup of tea.  The sun is low in the sky at present, and it casts long shadows through our lounge windows.  Perhaps I should call this 'The Thinker'  ;-)

Gosh, I'm not sure where this week has gone to, it seems to have flown by.  Some of the things we had hoped to get sorted haven't happened, but that has given us time to mull things over a cuppa and some home-made cakes and biscuits :-)  We have spent quite a bit of time thinking carefully about how we can make the flat work best for us, and how we can achieve that.  We're still 'thinking outside the box' as far as storage is concerned, and today the penny dropped for N (as I was quietly hoping it might) that the old desk that he wants to get rid of from the bedroom could actually be utilised as shelving/storage in the hall cupboard.  I knew he'd get there without me mentioning it, we think along the same lines, usually arriving at the same conclusion, just not always via the same route!  He also came up with a great idea to replace the washing basket problem, one which I hadn't thought of at all, so I was really pleased with his lateral thinking on that.  So we're really put our 'spare' time to good use, spending it thinking rather than doing, and solutions have been found.  

N has had two visits to the dentist this week, and is now well-versed in interdental brushing techniques.  I know he didn't enjoy the treatment (who would, with no fewer than 10 injections?) but a lot of the staining on his teeth has finally been removed.  We are both being far more attentive to how we clean our teeth now; I think the realisation that a bit of time and effort does pay off in the long run has finally hit home with us.  We now have a multi-coloured selection of those little tiny brushes - just have to remember which ones I use.

This morning we took advantage of a dry spell to plant some daffodil bulbs.  We originally planted them last autumn; they flowered this spring and once they had died down, we lifted them, dried them and stored them.  I know most people leave the bulbs in permanantly, but space is tight here so up they came to make way for some bedding during the summer.  Hopefully they'll make a good show again next spring.  

All those worms being busy in the garden

We were delighted to see so many worms in the beds as we were planting - we moved several into the new beds to go to work on the manure we put down last week.

The clocks go back soon.  We have really noticed the sun is so much lower in the sky now, throwing wonderful long shadows.  From our lounge window we have seen that the sun sets over the neighbouring roofs rather than over the trees further around.  We can just about manage our evening meal in natural daylight; we need the lights on soon after 6 o'clock now.  Once the clocks go back, reverting to GMT from British Summer Time, the daylight hours will be considerably shorter and our energy usage will reflect our greater reliance on electricity and gas.  

The quilt front . . . 

. . . and detail of the quilting on the reverse.

Finally, the quilt centre is now in one piece.  Phew!!  Unfortunately I have a problem sourcing fabric for the borders; I can't get any more of the black fabric I used for the linking triangles (sold out - should have bought enough yardage to begin with) and I haven't been successful in finding an alternative, which is really annoying.  I'm trying to think of a Plan B.

I shall try to be good tomorrow and observe 'screen-free Sunday'.

Garlic bulbs

Everyone seems to be taking garlic at the moment.  Rhonda at Down to Earth and Tonya at Joyful Living have both posted recently about planting and growing garlic, one in Australia, the other in Vermont, US.  While N and I were discussing what crops we'd like to grow for next year, we both mentioned garlic.  N loves cooking with it, and although we have grown it successfully in the past, we didn't plant any last year - I can't remember why.  However, with more growing room in the garden, we can go back to it.

The Garlic Farm shop with their restaurant on the left - it looked very popular

We took a drive out to The Garlic Farm, somewhere neither of us have been to before but which surely would offer us a good choice of garlic bulbs as it is the UK's largest specialist garlic farm.  It is out in the middle of nowhere, down narrow twisty country lanes most of which I'd never driven along in all my years of living on the island.  Not the place to meet a tractor coming in the other direction!  We eventually arrived at our destination and walked into a treasure trove of all things garlic.

I loved this wooden carving of garlic bulbs in the grounds

We decided on a selection of four different types of seed garlic, all of which have a good track record of growing in local conditions so we're hoping for a good crop.  There is more to garlic than we realised - I didn't know some are hardneck and others are softneck and will do some reading up on the varieties and growing information.  

Here are the goodies we came back with, clockwise from top left we have Early Purple Wight, Chesnok Wight, Provence Wight, Lautrec Wight and finally a clove of Elephant Garlic which N picked up for a bit of fun.  That one clove is bigger than the other bulbs!  We will plant the garlic in a couple of weeks' time to allow the manure on the raised beds to settle in.  

Thinking outside the (storage) box

When we decided to give up, for the time being, the idea of moving to a larger property, we knew that we needed to make the most of what we have, where we are, now.  We knew that we needed to accept the fact that the garden wasn't big enough to keep chickens, and we couldn't magic space for a separate utility/laundry room.  What we had to do was to take a fresh look at what we have got and how we could make the most of it.  Optimisation and maximisation have become our by-words.

One of our biggest issues is lack of storage space, so we've been giving as lot of thought to alternative storage solutions, trying to find creative ideas to solve this problem.  We have a cupboard in the hallway which is home to all those things we can't find a home for anywhere else.  We took a good long look at what we were storing in that cupboard, and we know we can make it work better for us.  There are tools and electrical leads which would really be better off in the shed (although we will certainly keep a small tool-box in the house for emergency repairs).  I have a circular washing basket but a square or rectangular one would take up less space.  We are considering an ottoman in the bedroom for storing bed linen and towels which would in turn free up more space in the cupboard.  And we think there is probably a way to incorporate a hanging rail for coats which would help with clothes-storage.  By the time we had batted a few ideas around, we were beginning to see the hall cupboard in a whole new light.

We've done the same in the bedroom.  A piece of furniture we had ear-marked for the lounge would actually work better for us in the bedroom, replacing the desk that N wants rid of.  It has far greater storage capacity and would be the solution to the printer and paperwork that seems to be spreading.  That means we need to find an alternative arrangement in the lounge, and yesterday afternoon was spent moving furniture around trying to come up with a different configuration.  Despite trying every piece of lounge furniture in just about every conceivable position, we ended up back where we started! LOL.  I think we've had to concede that how the furniture is at present is actually the most suitable arrangement for our needs.  Sometimes just a little decorating is what's needed, not full-scale change around. 

The other main area we're looking at the is the kitchen, and we are considering a refit.  It's a big decision and if we go ahead we want to make sure we have managed to fit in as much as we can to make the most of the small space.  Between us, N and I have quite a list of kitchen 'wants' and not all of them are possible, but we know there are solutions to our storage dilemma.  It's just finding them at the right price!

On a smaller scale, I store my shoes in wine carriers!  Neat, tidy and re-cycled.

Waging war in the flower border

 

An accurate weather forecast today saw N and I up bright and early, out in the garden.  We were waging war on a plant that turned into a bit of a thug.  A few of years ago we bought a small, neat acanthus spinosa, and all was well for a year or so.  However, we soon realised that it was way too big for where it was planted and we eventually dug it up.  What we didn't know was that it propagates by root division, and every little bit of root left in the ground happily and very quickly sent up new shoots.  Soon the little border was peppered with acanthus leaves, shooting up through the other plants.  No matter how assiduously we tried to dig the shoots out, more sprouted elsewhere.  It became clear that the only thing to do was to dig the whole border out.  And that's what we did this morning.

It's certainly a tough plant, with really meaty tap roots going right down into the subsoil.  We have removed as much as we were able to, but suspect there may be a few bits left behind.  We shall be very vigilant if any leaves dare to show their faces again - this is most definitely war!

Having lifted all the other perennials whilst we dug the roots out, I took the opportunity of tidying the border up, lining the stachys (lambs' ears) through the middle of the border with clumps of muscari (grape hyacinths) along one edge.  That leaves plenty of room for N to replant the daffodil bulbs to flower next spring.  The old lavender bush has gone; it had become quite woody, and as I have two cuttings from last year and the four I took a few weeks ago, I decided the parent plant could be sacrificed.

Before . . .

. . . and after.

It was a good morning's work and it was good to be in the autumn sun.

Although we have managed to fill the new raised beds with soil and compost we already had in the garden, N felt they would benefit from a top dressing of manure so we took a trip to a local garden centre for some organic farmyard manure that was on offer.  I doubt we shall go there again.  It has been extended and has undergone such a transformation that it is now barely recognisable as a garden centre.  In fact, we had to search for any plants; they seem to have been relegated to a small plot at the back.  Now the vast new area is given over to all manner of things completely unconnected with gardening - I even saw knitting patterns on sale!  It seems to have become a 'lifestyle centre', full of 'stuff' that has been mass-produced.  I think 'tat' was the word that sprung to mind.  Sorry, just not our thing at all.  A bit sad that what started as a good garden centre has, if you'll pardon the pun, lost it's roots.

The brassica bed is well-established, although we've not been successful with the late crop of spinach - we think the soil must be too cold for the seeds to germinate

More cooking this afternoon - fairy cakes and melting moment biscuits - and a surprise but welcome visit from little grand-daughter and DIL.  

The wallpaper has dried back well - we are so pleased with it.  When we finally decided, earlier this year, that we would stay put in the flat and try to maximise what it had to offer, we agreed that there were a few things we wanted to do to give it a new lease, and our bedroom and the lounge were two rooms we felt we could improve on.  Two rolls of wallpaper later, and we're well on the way with the bedroom.  We have also decided that the time has come for the carpet to be replaced throughout the flat - it's been down for, we think, well over 20 years.  It's marked, stained, worn and a drab colour, and it needs to go.  A new carpet will lift the whole place and I think it will be money well spent.  We are also mulling over furniture options.  We have a number of pieces of furniture in our loft, left over from past house moves, and we are wondering if one or two pieces may find a new use.  N has taken a few bits to his shed for further investigation.

The weather is getting colder, but we are hoping we can put off turning the heating on until the end of October.  An extra layer is usually all that's needed of an evening, and it's quite cosy, snuggling up on the sofa wrapped up in a quilt.  

Today was another day when I wondered how I managed to find time to work, and why some people say that they'd be bored if they retired.  I don't think I've been bored once since I left work, there's always plenty to do if you look.  Our time is our own, and I hope we have learned to use it wisely and make the most of each day.

Division of labour

The wallpaper in the bedroom is on the wall and looking lovely.  We can't believe the difference it has made, just changing one wall above the dado rain from dark paper to light.  The new paper tones in very well with the existing 'top half' paper and the whole room has taken on a much brighter feel.

i have to hand it to N, he's done a good job.  I, of course, was keen to give my professional advice but at the end of the day N is more than capable of wallpapering himself, although I was able of offer an extra pair of hands with measuring lengths and N was gracious enough to accept :-)  We generally work well together, each acknowledging the other's strengths and aptitude for particular tasks and we usually know when it's best to either step aside or take the lead with work that needs doing.  The problem is, I like wallpapering, too.  And really only one person can be up the ladder at a time.  There were other things I could be doing, and I eventually realised that and got on and did them, but just for a moment, I wanted to be the one who could say 'The wallpapering?  Oh, I did that'.  Daft, isn't it?  

Yes, I can wallpaper.  But I'm fortunate that N can too.  That means I don't have to do everything.  I gave him a hand when an extra hand was needed, and I cleared up as we went.  That bit, I know, is just as important, otherwise the mess just moves from room to room.  In between measuring lengths I was able to get a little more sewing done to the quilt and I also started some bread dough off, so it made sense for the work to be divided between us so we could both get things done.  Something else I need to take note of.

Just a note about the bread - I started it at 11ish this morning and didn't actually take it out of the oven until 4.30 this afternoon!  It was quite cold today, and the dough just wouldn't rise - no sooner had I found a window in the (very feeble) sun, than it went cloudy again.  This is a problem we're going to have to find a solution to for the winter; I can't have bread proving for 4 or 5 hours!  N's had a quick look on the internet and we're considering a little heated propagator or heat mat, although I'm also wondering if we can make our own proving box.  Something else to look into.

Yesterday we were on the touchlines again.  I have to say it was cold, very cold.  A hat and scarf wouldn't have been amiss at all.  However, we had plenty to cheer about as young grandson scored a hat-trick so we were able to do lots of clapping and jumping up and down to keep warm!!

Dinner last night was a piece of poached salmon complemented by vegetables from the garden - potatoes, carrots, peas and spinach.  There is no comparison in taste between home-grown veggies and those bought in the supermarket.  Pre-packaged goods just have no flavour at all.  What has been done to them to make them so devoid of taste?  I assume it's been bred out of them in favour of high yields and perfect shape and looks.  Sorry, but give me a mis-shapen, full-of-flavour carrot from the garden every time. 

Decorating wasn't on the list!

This is going to be a brief post this evening.  My DH, seeing the rain first thing this morning, announced it was just the day to wallpaper the bedroom.  To be fair, it's only really the top half of one wall, and he decided that a wet Saturday was a good time to tackle the job.  Dust sheets out, furniture moved (that involved wardrobes being taken to pieces), both of us kitted out in overalls.  The existing wallpaper came off in patches, taking with it the paint behind it and leaving an uneven surface on the wall.  

Then the sun came out.  And we were in the middle of stripping wallpaper.  *sigh*

I'm all for spontaneity, but not when it comes to decorating =:o   That generally needs to be planned.  Now the bedroom has that 'bare plaster' look - that's probably because there is bare plaster, quite a bit of it.  The furniture is all over the place, and just for good measure, I've aggravated an old shoulder injury (RSI).  What should have taken just a few hours is now going to take a few days.  *Sigh again*

Ah well, we live and learn.  

Completing gardening tasks, and indoor drying

The last of this summer's potato harvest cropped this morning

This morning found N and I focussed, motivated and out in the garden being very pro-active.  N gave the shed a coat of wood preserver (it certainly needed it as the wood soaked up the liquid in front of our eyes), and I finished sieving the bark chippings from the paths into the raised beds.  We've also added a couple of bins/bags of compost that we had lying around the garden and now find we won't need the extra compost thought we would need to buy.  Two or three bags of farmyard manure should be enough, so we've certainly saved ourselves on that.  Even better, our neighbour is doing a bit of work to one of his garden beds and was more than grateful to have three large bags of left-over bark from us. Winners all round.

Very smart shed wearing it's winter coat!

Thankfully we finished all our gardening tasks by lunchtime when the grey clouds finally produced the rain they had been threatening.  It will help the new beds settle if nothing else.  The end of the week has seen cold and windy weather, and there have been mutterings about the central heating going on.  I'm hoping we can manage for a little while longer before taking that step (my children will say that when they were little, I wouldn't allow the heating on before the end of October!)

We had notification this morning that our energy provider is increasing its prices - gee, thanks guys.  I want to write more about this but forgot to take the necessary photos, so I'll leave it for the weekend.  Needless to say, it is a topic close to my heart.

With the cold and wet weather, I can't always get my washing out on the line, although I will try if it's dry outside as even just a short time in the fresh air is good.  But if it's raining, the washing has to be dried off indoors.  We don't have a tumble drier although I admit to having one many years ago when the children were younger and yes, there were times it was very handy.  However, not only do I now know just how much energy they use and therefore how expensive they are to run, we just don't have room for one, so I have to be creative when it comes to drying washing indoors in a small space.

The rail is just visible as the grey line across the white ceiling

We have made use of a combination of high ceilings and a 'spare' recessed area in our hallway to provide a drying area that is conveniently out of the way.  I have put an extendable curtain rail across the recess up near the ceiling and from it I can hang shirts, t-shirts, fleeces etc. 

Washing hanging (apologies for the blurred photo) 

N fixed up a length of dowel with a hook on the end which I use to hook the coat-hangers on and off the rail.  The system works a treat and it means that at least some of the washing is drying out of sight.  The rest has to be spread out over a standing drier overnight. 

I meant to record the fact that the car has been cleaned!  This doesn't happen very often, in fact nowhere near as often as it should do, but I was nudged into action by this post by MeanQueen which I read recently.  As the car is one of our most expensive possessions it makes sense to look after it properly, and that means making the time to keep it clean.  

We brought quite a bit of the football pitch back with us last Sunday!

I will confess I actually really enjoyed valeting it and it looks a lot better for the attention it was given.  Now I just need to keep it like that ;-)

A wintery chill

Oh my goodness, it was a tad on the chilly side today.  Bit of a shock after two or three really lovely autumnal days.  Today it was all about layers, long socks and gloves!

We had a couple of days on the mainland this week on family business.  Among other things we met up with son and future DIL for the evening, and had a lovely time chatting about their plans.  

The Youth Sail Training Ship Stavros S Niarchos, at anchor in the Solent on our trip across to the mainland

I am not a big fan of motorway driving - there are no motorways on the island, so I don't get much practice - so I'm always slightly apprehensive about taking the car onto the mainland.  However, this time I seemed to have more confidence and even the 40 or 50 miles on the infamous M25 was not as bad as I feared.  

We managed a bit of walking along a canal/riverbank, and it was quite delightful.

Fantastic fungi

Flat calm, the reflection was mirror-like

Now we are back home again, and neither of us can get back into any kind of routine.  It seems to be a case of one step forward and two steps back which is a little frustrating.  We have quite a lot of plans on the go at the moment, and it's all a bit of a jumble.  I think we just need to take each day as it comes and deal with whatever crops up; I'm sure we'll start to see some sort of order if we simply keep plodding along.  

Just do the next thing.  

On the bright side, we had a glorious sunset yesterday, the colours were wonderful and even N took some photos.  Unfortunately my little digital camera struggled with the low light so most of the photos were blurred.

One day I shall learn a little more about the different settings.
  

Supporting from the touchlines

I start this post by saying I am not a particular fan of football.  Well, certainly not the multi-million pound show-biz sort of football that seems to dominate the TV sports channels - there just seems to be way too much money involved these days - and I have no concept of 'fantasy football' that all our children participate in via their iPhones.  I admit it, football just doesn't do it for me.

However, this morning N and I were on the touchline, watching Grandson No 1 dashing around the pitch, playing for his under-9s team.  (Not a 'league', I have been informed, the FA doesn't think it a good idea for youngsters to play competitively.  Mmm, interesting.)

It was a beautiful morning.  The sun shone on the dew . . . 

. . . a very heavy dew . . .

. . . within five minutes we were all suffering from a bad case of 'rising damp' - wellies might have been a better footwear option ;)

Having said that, we had a great time.  It was glorious autumn morning, there were plenty of parents/grandparents out in force to support the lads, and the boys played with bags of enthusiasm and were not lacking in soccer talent either, although there was a temptation for the whole team to charge after the ball which left the opposition unmarked on occasions!  But no-one could criticize the passion on the field.  

I think it must have been quite confusing for the young players, because not only were the coaches shouting helpful instructions to the team, but parents were keen to join in with their own encouraging comments - I have to say I hadn't realised just how knowledgeable my DIL is about football training!  I admit that once or twice I couldn't help an appropriate 'Good shot' or 'Well played' yell; I felt I was suitably restrained for a first-time supporting granny.  N, on the other hand, let loose his competitive nature, and by the end of the first-half had offered some friendly advice - 'You can't score if you're on the floor' to one lad who had been up-ended by his opponent, and 'You're not going to score if you haven't got the ball' to another.  I had to take him for a walk at half-time for fear he might try to give the team pep-talk! LOL.  

Grandson No 1 is a nifty little player, and thoroughly enjoys his training sessions and the matches.  His little sister, on the other hand, is not such a fan and finds it all a bit boring.  Much how I feel about football on the telly.

This afternoon, I spent some time in the garden.  We have discovered that the bark chippings we put down as pathways two or three years ago have broken down so much, they are better suited to soil improver.

By shaking the chippings through a garden sieve/riddle, we get a wonderful compost to work into the new raised beds.  What's left will be put into black sacks to rot down a bit more over the winter, and we can always use it as a mulch or top-dressing for the flower beds.  We are really pleased that we have been able to re-use something that it no longer suitable for it's original purpose but which we can make use of in another way.

I'm having my 'screen-free' day tomorrow, and should be back Tuesday or Wednesday.

Simple Saturday

When I was working, I always knew what the day was.  I worked shifts, they were written in my diary and I knew what was happening on any given day.  Now I'm at home, one day seems to blend into the next.  There is nothing fixed on any one day.  Consequently I forget what the day is and I have to ask N if he knows.  I do know when the weekend arrives, though, because the traffic on the road outside is far less - not so many people are at work and the schools are closed for the weekend.  So this morning, I knew it was Saturday because the road was so quiet.  This sort of reflection makes me realise just how structured working life is, and yet again I am thankful that we were in a position to both leave work when we did and work for ourselves in our home, living a slow and simple lifestyle.

This morning I made bread rolls.  I used a different dried yeast to the one I have used previously; this one needed to be activated in warm water and sugar . . . 

The yeast, all frothed up

The dough was a pleasure to knead; soft and elastic

I used a malted flour from Calbourne Water Mill, and it has produced the most delicious soft rolls (and very tasty with home made damson jam).  I know I can buy bread rolls at the supermarket, and from time to time we do, but the ones I bake from scratch are tasty and substantial, not full of air and preservatives like shop-bought ones.

We made the most of a dry day and continued sieving soil into the new beds.  It was quiet outside, and we made good progress, chatting about the plans for the garden next year and what we would like to plant.  Even though we are busy pottering away, it always surprises us that we often have company of the feathered kind - we seem to have acquired a robin as a garden companion.

He was on the top of the washing line, a matter of a few feet away from us, watching us intently.  There is something quite delightful about robins and we are very pleased this one has chosen to keep an eye on our garden for us.  

The baby starlings that fledged earlier in the year have all grown into their speckled adult plumage.  There's about 7 or 8 of them altogether, and they still feed in our neighbour's garden every day; there's always a bit of a commotion when they all try to fit in the bird-bath!  They are nothing if not entertaining.  And we have a new bird for the list - a jay, with it's distinctive pink colouring and blue flash on the wings.

This afternoon, N and I watched a pair of buzzards circling high in the sky.  Too far for a photo, but it was lovely watching them through binoculars; we could see clearly the slight upward turn to the wing tips which is characteristic of those birds of prey.

This is another of N's recent creations.  We were given some old storage boxes destined for the rubbish skip, and by adding a wooden front and roof, N has made a bird box for the side of the shed.  We have no idea if it will prove to be a suitable avian 'des res', but we will keep our fingers crossed.  I'm quite pleased with the rather artistic spider's web in the photo!

These are the lavender cuttings I took earlier this week.  So far they look OK, at least they haven't wilted or dropped their leaves.  When I have taken cuttings previously, I've dipped the cut end in hormone-rooting gel, but I had a feeling when I looked at it that the pot of gel was past it's best, so these cuttings are having to go it alone, as far as rooting is concerned.  I shall be interested to see it they take or not - I'm hoping so as the mother plant is a bit leggy now and I would like to replace it with fresh plants.

I shall have my 'screen-free' day on Monday this week, not tomorrow, so I shall be back, hopefully, tomorrow evening, with tales of football-supporting grandparents - yes indeed, it's the under-9s Sunday league :)  It had better not rain. 

End of season weigh-in

During the summer we kept a note of the produce we harvested from the garden.

I drew up a chart on a piece of paper and stuck it to one of the kitchen cupboards.  Every time we picked veggies from our garden, we would weigh them and make a note of it.  I dare say a few tomatoes slipped through the net.  Last week I totalled up what we had harvested over the summer:

Cucumbers                              11 fruit

Courgettes                               6.152  kg

Marrows                                   4.05 kg

Potatoes                                  6.848 kg
Peas                                        1.234 kg
Beans                                        .500 kg
Tomatoes                                 5.408 kg
Carrots                                     1.572 kg

We harvested from 7 July until the end of September.
We still have a bag of potatoes to empty.
The beans did not grow or produce particularly well - we will use fresh beans next year, not ones saved from the previous year.

Additionally, we picked a lot of spinach early in the summer, and grew sufficient lettuce all through the season for all our salad needs.  
We grew and cropped herbs - parsley, coriander, basil, oregano and thyme.

I was going to try to calculate how much these goodies would have cost had we bought them, but finding comparative prices for organic produce was a bit tricky, I perhaps should have checked earlier in the season.  However, N and I both feel that the cost/savings is not really the issue.  For us, the pleasure in being outside tending the veggie plot gives us so much enjoyment, it keeps us active and fit and there is real satisfaction in picking, cooking and eating fresh produce straight from the garden.  Oh yes, and the taste is far superior to any polished and polythene-wrapped tray of vegetables flown half-way round the world to sit on a supermarket shelf for a few days.

Weight-wise, maybe we don't produce a huge amount from our garden, compared to, for example, an allotment, but for us that is not the point.  We just enjoy the process.  It's been fun and a worthwhile exercise to photograph the garden as it has been growing, record the little successes (and failures) on this blog, and see what the totals are.  The winter veggies are in now and I will do the same.  Next year I shall try to remember to make a note of the varieties we grow - this year all the plant labels disappeared =:o .

The quilt is making progress. Here is the back view showing the quilting.  I'm sewing the strips together at the moment by hand.  I actually enjoy hand-stitching and hemming, I find it very soothing.

Here's a close-up:

I pin, then tack, then sew (not every time, but it made sense on this project)

And finally, the sky late yesterday afternoon was quite beautiful . . 

 . .  and just a short while after the sky positively glowed gold . . .

. . . today it rained!