Positives and negatives

 Positives:

I set to and made my evening meal after breakfast.  There is enough there for half a dozen meals, just from 200g of minced beef plus veg plus Taco beans and pasta.

Starting to cook it - half a good sized yellow courgette, plus mixed peppers, red onion, garlic etc.  Lots of different colours.  A tin of tomatoes added later.

In my bowl at teatime.  I will have it again tonight as a Pasta bake - a portion with pasta stirred into it, then in the oven with cheese on top.  Haven't made that for ages.  The other portions then into the freezer as individual meals.

I have decided to keep this oil painting which I bought at the weekend.  It has the tiniest scratch across it but stand back a couple of feet and you can't even see it.  Just love this sky.  It was only £10.

I decided that my leaking hose, despite the gaffer tape, had finally had it when more water was coming out the middle than the nozzle at the end!  I checked out the Hozelock hose on a reel that had been left behind by the previous owners, but couldn't work out how I connected it to the water.  Messaged Ed, who came and sorted it out for me and it works well and will reach most parts of the garden now.

I have sewn the borders for the quilt, and will attach them today.

The piece of glass I bought at the weekend appears to have been a good buy as it it a mid-century (words which are so on trend!!) piece of Scottish Strathearn Art Glass, made using "pulegoso" - the controlled bubble technique.  Likely value put a smile on my face, as I will be in profit.

Mid-afternoon, I gave myself an hour off to sit down and watch the Senior Section D cob class at the Royal Welsh on tv.  The Irish stallion I liked last year came about 8th this year - up on 10th last year.  I didn't see him standing up from the right angle to properly check his conformation but boy, does he have the action!  Nothing else could touch him in that class when he trotted up - SO powerful and the crowd loved him.  Mind you, some of the stallions are very porky and that can hide a multitude of sins.  I still think the current trend tends to be croup-high.  I watched a show round-up in the evening, but it was all in Welsh so I only caught the odd word.  They showed the pole climbing competition, where they have a tall pole (tree) that the competitors have to climb using a rope looped around the trunk, and spikey boots.  One chap shot up it like he was being chased by a lion!  They had a class of cattle groups of various breeds - 5  in each group, bull, cow and three youngsters.  If I thought the cobs were porky, blimey - you wouldn't need to ask this lot "does my bum look big in this?" as yes it did - they were enormous!  Some interesting sheep breeds too, and some have a yellowy ochre rubbed into their fleeces as part of the turn-out ritual. It's called blooming or colouring, and helps to hide any blemishes in the fleece, and also makes the black of face and legs stand out.  The Suffolks and Scottish Black Face are shown this way.  They did a little interview with a lad who was showing his Valois Blacknose, then they showed the class. I think he got reserve Champion - at any rate, he got a big sheep-bell on a leather strap and his face was a picture!  He couldn't stop ringing it :)   I was hoping to see the Prince Philip Cup ponies doing their gymkhana races, as they had kids from Australia, New Zealand,  England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, USA competing in various relay races.  Thrilling to watch.  The show ends today, and I shall miss looking out across the fields above the showground where lots of people are staying in caravans and tents, lit up by rows of solar lights after dark.  I shan't miss not being able to get around the town easily because they have blocked off the little roads linking top and bottom of the town roads.

Negatives:

Tam sold a dress for £30 on Vinted, only to have it returned as "damaged" - it had been ripped.   It is beyond mending.  Tam said, it had happened on another dress she sold, again for around the same price, returned "damaged". There are some nasty people out there.  Tam has picked up a bug which gave her a temperature and made her feel absolutely awful too, and had to somehow drag herself out of bed to go to a particular PO with odd hours, to pick up the parcel.  Her first chance to go in a week.  Hope she is ok for Saturday, and that Rosie isn't coming down with it then.

I have heard, through Tam, that the German chap who bought our old house has just died from throat cancer.  That upset me, as I knew how much he loved the house and never planned to leave.  Well, he won't now, as his ashes will be spread in the top field.  I hope his wife is able to stay on but it's a big house to run.  She lets out mum's old flat down in the Dairy though, and does B&B, along with book binding.  I would have gone to his funeral, had I known about it last month.

Biggest negative this week was probably the fact that I have only sold ONE thing at the Unit.  That amount will go towards the rent, but I will still have to cough up another hundred from my account to cover next month.  I hope things improve or it will be a very short-lived stay . . .  

Negatives generally are the wild fires in Wales.  A huge one up in North Wales, and the helicopters used for carrying water to put them out are all up in Yorkshire, trying to deal with a huge one up there.  I noted on Facebook this morning that a fire had broken out at Kington, which is about 15 miles North of here.  A video of it showed it was pretty fierce so I hope that they can get it under control soon.  Until the weekend it is still hot - 25 deg. today and tomorrow.  Everywhere is looking parched and farmers are having to feed the winter's hay already as there is just so little grass.  We've not had rain for a month or so, and precious little before that.  

Right, enough moaning.  A positive to look forward to is the new Barbara Erskine book which comes out at the end of the month, and I have treated myself to.  Now, I have a double date with the washing machine and the vacuum cleaner . . .