I was good yesterday and rested. I decided to go to the Library in the morning, and got these books. I had put in a request for the Elly Griffiths last time but forgotten about that. It was cool enough to sit out in the garden and read.
Some ideas for Tam in the Toddler meals book, and I got the Eppynt book out again, as I want to dip into it further.
I'm enjoying this.
These are my personal books. The churches book is very good and has lots of markers in it for churches I plan to go to. In my Mortimer/marcher lords research I went off on a tangent when I was focusing on the Templar church at Garway, and am going to have a jaunt soon to take in Skenfrith/White Castle/Grosmont castles/churches, as well as Orcop, Llanrothel and Michaelchurch. The latter two churches I have not visited yet and it's years since Keith and I stopped at Orcop. I will visit Garway again as they are all in the same area. I spent several hours doing research yesterday.
I have joined the Mortimer History Society and need to order a couple of their MHS Journals. I've put in an order anyway for the two most recent ones. I also went to Abebooks to find the cheapest edition of "Decorated in Glory: Church Building in Herefordshire in the 14th C" by Nigel Saul. Had to be done - this book will be a really interesting addition to my Library. I will try and be good and get rid of some other books apart from the ones on Lace Making and Tablet Weaving which are going to the Charity Shop this week. I need to harden my heart and get rid of lots more.
This is the raspberry harvest - I picked solidly for 20 minutes. It reminded me of my soft fruit patch at Ynyswen which grew prolifically. I will confess to not staking and wiring my raspberries, but even so was amazed to go up there for the first time in a week and find that the canes were bowed half way to the ground with the weight of the fruit. I came indoors with my nose running, despite my prescription anti-histamines as the waist high grass surrounding them was the sort I am most allergic to the pollen of. . . I will try and remedy that next year with cardboard and grass clippings. I need to go to the garden centre for stakes but hopefully will be able to do that on the way back from going to Llandeilo with Tam and Rosie tomorrow. She has the dentist so I have to keep Rosie entertained. There's a garden centre near Llandovery.
One of those lucky days - not much of a challenge!
My new neighbour came round and we had a good natter. My brain seems to be functioning again and I surprised myself at how erudite I was!! He bought me some salad from his garden, and I had some for a late lunch. The brightly coloured Nasturtium flowers formed part of the meal - not eaten them before, and they were a nice addition. Looked lovely on the plate. I have the courgette he bought to use for a meal this week, and the huge Blackcurrants went into the first baking I've done for a couple of weeks - Apple, Almond and Blackcurrant muffins.
Here's the recipe:
This mixture made ten muffins and I had to add a little milk as the almonds made the batter drier than usual. The sharpness of the blackcurrants is lovely. I had one last night to test them (!) and took 3 down to my neighbour as a thankyou, and had one for breakfast. They are scrummy.
Just as I was coming back into the yard from putting the plate of cakes down at his cottage, I heard hooves so turned round and a farmer on a lovely chestnut roan Section C mare came up the track and stopped to talk. We had a really lovely chat. He was breaking the little mare in and giving her a chance to see some traffic. He was from the next village over, and was going back up over Moelfre, the REALLY steep hill behind us. The mare was in a muck sweat already so she will have been glad to get home.
So all in all a really nice day. Now I need to make the bed up fresh and hang out the bedding I've just washed. Then round with the vacuum as it's cat hair central here with them moulting at the moment.
That sounds like a really good day.
ReplyDeleteI get a bit annoyed when I have lots of time and I get the Wordle word in two guesses. If I'm in a rush, it's a whole different story of course. 😀
Sounds like a really lovely day. We did the White, Grosmont, Skenfrith walk in Seotember 2021 - about seven miles I think but we took all day. I love the Welsh Marches - must be my Shropshire blood. My mum’s mum was a Shropshire farmer’s daughter, she came down to London in the 1920s to train as a nurse, met my grandad who was a male nurse (and a Dr Barnado’s boy as he was orphaned when very young) and the rest, as they say, is history.
ReplyDeleteI am picking kilos of sweet red gooseberries. I think I have three kilos in the freezer now (I freeze them raw in 500g quantities in ziplock bags) but we’ve probably eaten a kilo or too as compote on porridge or as a pudding with yogurt and I give willing visitors a colander and say help yourself! Last year I made nine jars of red gooseberry jam and six jars of white currant and red gooseberry and thyme jelly to flavour venison casseroles, shepherdess pies and gravy. Haven’t had any time to make any jam or jelly so far but my freezer is bulging with fruit including rhubarb. I managed to dig up, divide and replant the Yorkshire rhubarb that had been in the ground since 2018 while S was in hospital. Every year I severely cull my autumn raspberries and still they spread. They love my soil! I’m too dry for summer raspberries. I used to grow them at the allotment and even in that richer soil they weren’t a patch on the autumn raspberries. At the moment the apple crop is looking promising. In previous years the squirrels have pinched every single apple but they haven’t had them all this year and I think now they the apples are getting too big. They seem to prefer them green walnut size so they can hold them in their paws and get their jaws around them. Fingers crossed.
Another mad morning here. We saw the neurologist yesterday afternoon. A four hour round trip on the hottest day. She described S as having complex Advanced Parkinson’s and said the tipping point had been reached for me to provide 24/7 sole care at home. Unfortunately the two care homes which I had visited and identified as suitable for his needs have both rejected him after a home assessment. That was a blow. So back to the drawing board I go. At yesterday’s appt the Parkinson’s nurse was also present and she gave me two local care homes who should be able to help and one of those has already been in touch and coming to see us on Friday. At the moment if I’m offered two weeks respite care I will grab it. It will cost me £5000. Crazy.
I’ve been up since five and have not stopped all morning. But I’ve made a dozen phone calls including booking a carers health assessment for me and some advice about the best way to pay for care. I have showered, breakfasted, dressed and medicated S and now it’s my time. My cleaner is coming at 12 for two hours and I will be straight off to the swimming pool. Right time for elevenses now, make sandwiches for S’s lunch and perhaps a lie down on my yoga mat for five minutes. How I envy you your satisfying productive day. My chest around my heart feels constantly tight, my left shoulder an arm hurts from all the lifting and levering and I feel I’m being slowly destroyed. Externally I still present well, I’m fit and strong and generally well but my insides are churning and I’m finding it difficult to eat. S meanwhile has put on 3kg since coming home (51kg on discharge two weeks ago, 54kg yesterday) - that’s all my nutritious delicious vegetarian high fibre food! Sarah x
It sounds as if you had a much better day than yesterday. Glad to read of it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a glorious life you lead, Bovey. Visitors on horseback!! Wonderful. And those raspberries look divine, as do the books. Enjoy! Love, Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteWhat a productive day you've had. I don't envy you trying to decide which books to get rid off. I donated loads when we moved, and now we are here and settled I miss them, so Abe Books have been doing very well out of me lately. They were like old friends and a comfort read. My garden is beginning to look good and after OH's hard work on the lawn that is also beginning to look like a lawn instead of bare earth with a few scrubby bits of grass. I gave it a good cut the other night and did all the edges too. Was due to have Iris but she has the tummy bug going round school, so we gave it a miss! Xx
ReplyDeleteI love a good muffin--J. not so much and my recipes all make a dozen. I mostly make them in the winter months.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't started any kind of berries here--went really overboard at the first Kentucky homestead and ended up battling every imaginable insect pest. Blueberries are my favorite [need special soil amendments to flourish] with raspberries a close second.
Old churches hold so much history, good places to contemplate the generations that have lived in an area and laid to rest in the old churchyards.
That sounds like a really lovely day. Your raspberries look good. Mine are over. Lack of rain, the rest are small and dry and not nice at all.
ReplyDeleteLet me know how you get on with the Elly Griffiths as I gave up on it quite quickly and now wondering if I should have persevered. I'm just not sure about time travelling detectives.