Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Good morning to you all!

Bright and sunny so far but it was 13°C outside at 7am. A 10°C drop and it's positively autumn! On the bright side, my brassicas are looking quite perky in the early morning sun.

I eat everything; I read everything; national and international. Yes @Obelix-Vendée Georgette Heyer very popular as a teenager as was Jean Plaidy. But things took on a downward turn when I discovered Harold Robbins!!

Blackberries this year are small and dry. We didn't have the rain necessary to feed them.

It is the final week of school holidays and activities will be abound as the Open Club Day looms Saturday next. Clubs assemble in the Council Car Park to promote their "wares". I intend to go back to Swiss Ball (I still can't get up off the floor without a chair or something) but in-line dancing might be fun for the brain matter and heart. You can have "trials" for one or two lessons.

Better get cracking - dusty floors with the incoming sun and a dog. Fibres of love and joy (hairs) abound too!!



Have a pleasant Friday.

 

I would like that breakfast please @Tui34 and it was me that wrote about Georgette Heyer
Regarding my bike riding (or lack of!) I have always been in awe of you and your morning bike rides with Fizz. I regard all cyclists as very brave people.

 

Good morning. We've had about 5mm of rain this morning so the terrace looked wet as well as the table top and the bird baths are full. The baby magpies who started bathing in the water bowls have been observed by the sparrows who now bathe in small groups and queue up for the pleasure so I normally have to clean and re-fill them every day.

Sunny now tho and set to stay that way. Here, the open day is called the Forum des Associations @Tui34 and the one at Les Sables last 1.5 days and has almost 200 sports and activity clubs with stands in the main hall or cabins outside to show off their wares and plenty of demos too. This year it's the 12th and 13th as last year they did it 2 weeks before and people were still coming back from hols so poor attendance. Line dancing is very good for fitness, memory, co-ordination and socialising - same benefits as ballroom but without a partner. I did it in Belgium but not here.

More freezer games today, restoring contents to the now pristine old one and then filling the new one with the stuff from the dying freezer. Another thrilling day in store.

No more wet stuff in store till midnight on Saturday so OH and I can spend Saturday in the garden, clearing out the tomato and courgette plants and prepping for sowing some autumn crops of fennel, chard, beetroot and parsley. Much more fun than freezers.

Have a lovely day everyone, whatever you're doing.

 

Good morning all.

I believe aversion to coriander (tasting like soap) also has a genetic origin, @Obelix-Vendée . Strange, but easy to avoid if it's just a few food items you can't stomach... my problem is that as he's got older, OH has become more and more conservative in his taste in food. He's away this coming weekend so I plan to indulge in the things he dislikes - sweet potato, courgettes, pulses, olives, salads... Hope the freezer games go well.

I'm trying to empty a fridge shelf in our fridge freezer, ready for the best of the cooking apples I'm planning to pick today because they deteriorate quickly. The plan was to move this fridge freezer into the utility (it's approaching 30 years old and not very efficient) and use it for fruit, and for overflow at busy times, but the cost of a reasonably efficient replacement has postponed the move for a bit.

More showers today. It's definitely beginning to feel autumnal... but the runner beans have decided it's time to produce at last.

 

Yes, @Liriodendron, fresh coriander is a problem for some but not for us. The problem I have is growing it. Never does well as it either bolts or flops. My OH will eat anything but Possum is becoming more conservative tho she does still stick to my one spoonful of everything i cook rule, established when she was a tot to educate her taste buds. Another child in the toddlers group would throw tantrums and only eat chicken nuggets, cucumber and tomato ketchup. Wasn't having any of that in my home.

My Bramleys are ready to pick too and I'm wondering about using the dead freezer to store them and the Coxes which are almost ready as its drawers have ventilation. I'm going to nick the glass shelves in the dead fridge for mini cloches covering seed trays in spring.

 

At last! Rain. Proper rain. A couple of hours of constant heavy rain. It started around 9.00pm and kept going. We are still getting mini downpours, some are more than mini. Lovely.

I noticed when I watered the greenhouse the bottom of the garden smelled like a brewery from the fallen apples so I went and picked up the windfalls, picked a few and collected the rotting apples and put them on the compost heap, hoping they will attract the wasps away from those still on the tree. Ha ha. I also picked some runnerbeans for dinner and my second courgette. I can hardly move this morning for stiff shoulders and back from lugging a large container of rotten apples around and pushed and shoved with my feet, an old laundry basket with a lot of apples in it, from one end of the house, through to the kitchen. It was too heavy to lift and carry. I gave my neighbour a bag of apples and some runner beans. Later in the evening her son knocked and gave me a dish with a meal in it. I am not sure what is in it yet, there is grated cheese on top so obviously savoury. Just needs reheating. A very kind thought.
I have almost a sink full of apples to debruise? and cut up ready for juicing. The kitchen now smells like a brewery! I must dig out the demi johns from the shed and sterilize them. There is a sense of satisfaction in having a couple of jars with their air locks popping away quietly in the corner. Hopefully creating some kind of delectable nectar for the future.
I have sat through many a 4 hr. committee meeting, going round in ever-decreasing circles. The current chair does quite a good job of keeping to 2 hrs. max. Our problem member is the Treasurer who is so pedantic it brings tears to my eyes.
It sounds as if everyone is at last having some rain. Not too much I hope. Now the weeds are going to grow!
I tried to get my black sacks up to the wheelie bin but they were too heavy for me to lift. Having taken time out I have a cunning plan, bring the wheelie bin into the garden, slide the bags into it and then trundle it up the steps. It will be another fortnight before they are collected but never mind.
Like you Lizzie, I have accumulated linen to match the family. When my son visited when their 2 were small it was beach towels, house towels, hand towels, face cloths etc., and 4 sets of bedding, no longer needed. I am hoping the RSPCA will take them to use for the animals. We 'might' go and have a look at the cats needing a new home while there. I do not think the public are allowed to wander around to look at the dogs, too upsetting for the dogs.
I have been watching Master Chef, the competitors were asked if they wanted it aired and the majority said Yes. The presenters seem a bit uptight to me but in view of what is pending, they are lucky the program is going out. I always find it interesting hearing what past winners etc. are doing in their lives as a result of winning.

 

Good morning all.

My back is bad this morning. It's raining properly at last. Good timing as I am incapable of gardening, or even carrying a watering can at the moment. Think I'll have to spend most of the day on the sofa.

I went through the Georgette Heyer, Jean Plaidy and also Anya Seton phase when I was young. I wonder what the young read nowadays. I suppose there is Sophie Kinsella and Shopaholic, but they are over 20 years old now. My daughter liked them. I get most of my books from charity shops.

 

Now we have thunder and lightening and heavy rain.

 

Still no proper rain here. Forecast, but doesn't 'follow through'.
Off to the hospital for check up for hub. Kindle is charged for while I'm waiting.
We're eating out tonight, so no meal to make.
I have recently reread a lot of Anya Seton books @Busy-Lizzie. Not many authors merit a re-read.

 

We've had a 5 minute diagonal downpour and are now blue and sunny again. Huge clouds to the north, east and south but the wind is westerly so not fo us, just the sliver linings.

I'd prefer some rain. Have to clean the house anyway this weekend for visitors on Monday so is one rainy day too much to ask this weekend?

Sorry about your back @Busy-Lizzie. Maybe some gentle stretching to relax the muscles?

@Goldenlily26 you really do need to slow down and not do everything in one go. It's exhausting.
Our ougoing treasurer at patch is a trained accountant so very pedantic about all the cents and euros but she gives us a spreadsheet at each meeting detailing ins, outs and balances. The latter are all that interest me - can we afford the presents for inscriptions and Xmas plus a subsidy for the annual lunch and some bits of bobs of shared haberdashery and kit? Yes. Do we need to up the annual fee? No. Perfick.

I read everything from the usual historic fiction to science fiction and adventure when I was young. Several books a week so lots of trips to the library. These days I read cookery and gardening books I own and whodunnits I borrow on Kindle Unlimited. Every now and again I re-read my Dorothy L Sayers and Mary Stewarts and Jane Austin because they all wrote such beautiful English, especially Jane Austin. and no histrionics like those pesky Brontes.

 

Like the recycling, @Obelix-Vendée! My garden and garage have a motley collection of items retrieved from various deceased household white goods - shelves, racks and glass turntables from old microwave ovens - never know when they might prove useful so I can’t bring myself to throw them away.
Thinking about throwing stuff away, I used to have a complete set of all the Georgette Heyer historical romances. I was introduced to them at school in the 60s, when they were all the rage. I’ve reread them all many times since, a reliable standby for a calming read, and kept me awake during night feeds when my brain was too addled for anything too challenging or depressing. At one stage, I remember them being in carrier bags in a loft, but I can’t believe that I would have willingly parted with them. I may have to trawl the charity shops and rebuild my collection!


Do take it easy, @Goldenlily26! I have just brought the shopping up from the car, all of it decanted into bags only a third to a half full. In the ‘old days’, I could lug up a few heavy bags without fear of the consequences, but have realised that it’s worth doing twice as many journeys with a smaller load, than get them done in half the time and then spend the next day having to rest pulled muscles or an achey back. Ditto with the bins, although as we live on a hill, the trip to the kerbside is all downhill, otherwise it would be single trips with smaller bags.

Darn, I’ve just spilt an almost full mug of coffee. No harm done though, the mug survived intact, and the coffee missed the chair and the rug! Most of our flooring is easy clean laminate, so it’s all mopped up in the time it took for the kettle to boil.
Quick trip to the Donkeys this morning, with the excuse of needing a supermarket shop before daughter arrives tomorrow. Very varied weather, when the sun is out it’s really quite hot. Luckily we were back in the car when the heavens opened, the automatic windscreen wipers went from steady rhythm to near hysteria! Now the sun is out again. The grass has gone from Sahara desert tan to lush green in a matter of days. Glad I moved the little maple in a pot out of the shade in time to get a decent drenching of rainwater.
Enjoy your weekend, everybody.

 

The only adult fiction I re-read is Barbara Pym and Miss Read. My preferred reading matter is auto/biography and letters/diaries. Alan Bennett for diaries, Phillip Larkin for letters and Derek Tangye for lifestyle are always on standby!

 

Hello all! It's been a busy week. Before the rains came OH decided to start prepping a large patio area ready for tiling, we had to put down leveling compound - no easy task as it dries very quickly, so i did the mixing while he spread it about. Two days later he decided to start the tiling but has now given up for the time being due to persistent rain!!
Tomatoes are nearly over, not a good crop this year, but I've made sauce and will make soup tomorrow for the freezer.
I've had imaging done on my shoulder which revealed a tear in a tendon, no wonder i have so much pain! Back on anti inflammatory tabs and go to physio to see how i get on, before stronger measures can be taken.
It's cold wet and windy today but at least the grass is greening up and the garden is breathing a sigh of relief.

 

Sorry about your shoulder @floralies. Poor tomato harvest here too but I havemade a dozen pots of passata today and 3 pots of blackberry jam with fruit from the freezer - last year's crop as this year's is shrivelled.

Our hens have clearly found the drought hard too. Despite a daily breakfast of 3 grain rice cooked with garlic and thyme, a constant supply of food with added sunflower seed, linseed and chia and fresh water with a drop of cider vinegar they've had a holiday form egg laying. i've just found the 1st egg in a fortnight but it's Bantam sized compared to th emedium organic ones I bought yesterday.

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Good evening all. So sorry to hear about your bad back @Busy-Lizzie. I do hope you have been gentle with yourself today. Similar comments to @floralies. I can only imagine how awkward a bad shoulder can be. @Goldenlily26 I have no idea where you get all your energy from but if you have a secret to it can you share it with us please? Hope all went well at the hospital @Penny_Forthem. Gosh @Obelix-Vendée that is an amazing size difference in the eggs isn't it? Are your chooks eggs usually more like the egg on the left?