Hah - and talking of NETTLES!! And photo of Rosie-Posy!

 Today I have been helping Tam at her little allotment.  Thank goodness it's just half a plot say I!  Today I set to on the back half which was terribly overgrown, with Figwort like small TREES!  That's how good the soil is there! Lots of Nettles too, which had their revenge on me as it soon got sunny and I shed a layer and revealed bare arms.

I forgot to take a before picture of the bit I tackled, so this is to the side of it (and now half done too). That's Figwort at the back, nearest the edge of the photo.  The big leaves at the front are Comfrey, so that will be useful next year, for plant food drinks.

Now you can see the bench at the back AND the back fence!  Both were smothered in head-height Nettles and Figwort. Whilst I did this, Jon had Rosie and Tam was clearing the membrane of the path, which was 6" deep in good soil.  They intend to put bark chippings down, so she scraped up the soil and put it on the bed next to it.  T&J couldn't believe how much I'd achieved, but as I said, I'm no stranger to hard work - just wind me up and let me go :)  It feels SO good to have been able to help them and make a difference.

Tam has allowed me to sneak this one in, after she improved on my original phone photo. Rosie looking Quite Grown Up now!

One of the other allotments had a tremendous picking of cherry tomatoes.  I shall concentrate on those next year and not bother with the beefsteak ones.

After about an hour and a half's work, we went into town, parked in Tesco's and went for a wander round the charity shops.  I even went into the Oxfam Book Shop but all I bought was a little English Heritage book about food and cooking in 16th C Britain (£2.99).  The wind was a bit fresh, so in another charity shop I blew another £2.99 on a pretty coral coloured M&S cardigan.

Then we had a stroll along the Promenade, and went to get chips and Fish Bits at the chippy which fronts the Royal Pier, by the penny arcade and games room.  We waited AGES though (about half an hour) as they were doing meals for people in the bar the other side, so when it came, and we went through and sat on the Pier (a bit windy), our joint bag of grub was demolished in short order.  I'd not eaten since breakfast time and was famished.

I enjoyed my journey through the mountains as always, although it was a bit overcast for the first half, but I drove into sunshine.  There was a stretch of heath meeting the road, and the acid yellow of the Gorse (I think it's Western Gorse flowering this time of year) was echoed by the bushes of Meadow Vetchling on the verge.  Further on there were still a few blue flowers of Scabious, but I forgot to look out for the Chicory which I noticed last time.  Such a glorious blue flower.  I wish I could have just stopped and taken photos of the Mountain Ash trees which are an absolute picture at the moment.  The berries are orange but in the light today looked scarlet and were everywhere.  Yet, I was looking for Hawthorn berries and saw very few.  A couple of trees with some berries as I came off the mountain towards Aber, but it hasn't been a good year for them.  Too wet perhaps when they were to be pollinated (and of course, not many insects either).  Plus last year they had the most AMAZING flowering - everyone said they'd never seen anything like it, so perhaps they are resting this year too.

Home again now, obviously, and about to heat up the other half of the chicken stirfry and rice I cooked last night.  I'm glad it's something very simple as I'm quite tired now.

Tam and Rosie arrive late afternoon tomorrow so I shall probably cook Beef Cobbler, and I've got a decent chicken for roasting on Sunday.  That will make a nice change as I never have a roast just for me.  Enjoy your weekend.