I did the usual chores this morning, then cut up ingredients for and cooked a pizza topping for tea tonight. Veggie topping with tomatoes, mushrooms, yellow and green courgettes and a red onion. Topped off with good Cheddar, grated.
The Library phoned to say I had a book in, so I took two back and picked up the other Horatio Clare book about his childhood in Wales, Running for the Hills. Then picked up a Joy Ellis (Shadow over the Fens) and another Welsh book, Welsh Folk Tales by Peter Stevenson.
I chopped up the pack of mushrooms I bought this week, now in freezer, along with 3 Pak Choi, and 2 pointy sweet red Peppers.
I also put another coat of blue paint - properly mixed today - on the front door and the step of the French doors, as when I painted them yesterday, I didn't mix the paint properly and it came out too dark. I have watered round, watered in the greenhouse, pollinated tomatoes and cucumbers and did the polytunnel ones yesterday (cucumbers and melons in there). Everything is struggling because of the heat, and here we go, warming up again tomorrow and heatwave next week. I could do without it, truly, esp. as I have to water my neighbour's greenhouse whilst he's away - 6 to 8 watering cans daily. The least I can do as he helps me a lot.
Lots of tents have been put up on the hillside above the Royal Welsh showground, ready for tomorrow's show.
Grateful for:
Lots of books to read
Being given Organic Cucumbers and Courgettes by my neighbour
Having such a helpful neighbour
Having a good picking of really fresh runner beans daily
Living in a beautiful area
Finding out that Deerhurst, the 8th C Anglo-Saxon Priory Church of St Mary, and Anglo-Saxon 8th C St Odda's chapel can easily be on my route home from Malvern at the end of the month. Whoopee!!! I have wanted to go there for so long.
Now I am bushed, and looking forward to putting my feet up.
Saturday morning, and shan't be going to the WPCS show on the showground, since it's £10 to get in and I'd rather spend that on fuel to go somewhere. I have an urge to leave these four walls.
My goodness, you did a lot today. No wonder you're bushed! The chestnut mushrooms are on offer in Aldi so I have chopped and frozen some too and still bought more to use this weekend. Can you tell I like mushrooms a lot. I didn't know that there was another heatwave coming. I feel so sorry for the wildlife. The ones in gardens we can help by putting out water but it's the birds and creatures that are out in the middle of nowhere that I worry about. I am nevertheless thinking ahead to winter, which must surely come, and stocking up on books to read, jigsaw puzzles, yarn to knit and crochet with and craft kits to have a go at cross stitch and tapestry which i have never done before but every day is a school day. It's a boon to have good neighbours, you're very lucky.
ReplyDeleteIt's nothing compared with the days when I had a huge old dusty house to clean with no vacuum cleaner as we couldn't afford one, so it was a dustpan and brush, and 3 little ones 5 and under . . . Esp. if MiL was coming to stay. She would then tell me I didn't know the meaning of hard work.
DeleteI am not mad on mushrooms but they are good for you and I put them in dishes where they mix into the background. I have a big pond (though the level had dropped probably a foot this summer) so the birds can drink and bathe in there.
Your winter pursuits sound lovely.
Your lawn looks as bad as mine! I did lots more book sorting and another 2 bags went to the Oxfam bookshop. This afternoon more childminding duties. Iris entertains herself, but Master C would NOT go to sleep in his cot. In the end stuck him in the buggy and Iris and I went for a walk. We spied lots of blackberries and fortunately had nappy bags with us, so filled up 2. And he slept! Nothing much planned for the weekend, its too hot to go mad and race round like a mad thing. Xx
ReplyDeleteAll the grass round here has burned to a crisp. It will grow again when it eventually rains. Then we will moan about the constant rain!
DeleteAh, the buggy walks always work for tired babies. Used to do that with Rosie. She would get to a certain point but fight sleeping . . . Smiling at the nappy bags of blackberries :)
It was a shock to look at the forecast and find the predicted rain had vanished and temps in the high 20's again .
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Running For The Hills - many years ago now - hope you enjoy it too
Everyone is mightily fed up with the sunshine now. Someone I follow on Facebook has 100 fibre sheep and a cow and calf and NO grass and not enough savings to keep buying in hay. When she put up a GoFundMe , you should have seen the armchair farmers giving her hell. She needs to get a job etc. She works incredibly hard - gives courses, sells fleeces, wool, makes rugs, has a monthly market stall selling jams, honey, young trees, yarn etc but these people who don't know her from Adam were so horrid. Now she is listing her Jersey cow and calf for sale and some of her fibre flock . . .
DeleteLulu's patchy dark Siamese coloring reminds me of my dear Eggnog--especially the white front paws. Your poor 'lawn' looks very crisp and browned. What a long hot summer!
ReplyDeleteI agree. She is a funny little soul - not the brightest and her hunting consists of spiders and flies, not mice - she doesn't go out very often but lives upstairs. She comes on my bed in the night and dabs me to make a fuss of her!
ReplyDeleteYes, looking forward to Autumn. SO many fires here and so many being deliberately started, Farmers have lost their mountain grazing, their winter hay and straw, some have had fields of grain on fire. . . ghastly. There has been a challenge on TIkTok encouraging youngsters to set fire to something on a farm. . . What IS this world coming to?
Full of busy! I didn't realize you could freeze pak choi....it's one of those things that comes in a package of three here and I usually don't bother as a good portion would go to waste. But if I can freeze it...
ReplyDeleteDon't blame you for opting out of that entry fee...good grief! That's extortionate. That's a bit depressing about your forecast for more heat waves, too. At this time of year, I'm obsessively watching the forecast for signs of cooler overnight temperatures as that means it's actually cooling off. We got the rain! And more on the way this morning. Not a moment too soon. Hopefully some will come your way. ~melanie xo