Crikey…

How time flies when you’re enjoying yourself…or not as the case may be.

Some of you may remember that last year we dug up the awful excuse of a lawn and paved the area out, well hubby did. In the main it’s great, lovely not having to wait for the grass to dry before hanging out laundry, better for the garden furniture, no grass to cut, always a time consuming job. There are some caveats however, mainly we have many plants and trees, plants with beautiful flowers, with numerous petals and leaves which delight in falling on the paving, which then necessitates sweeping up before the rain allows it all to stick fast to the slabs and create an unholy mess, also our fruit trees have attracted numerous, actually quite possibly half of the world population of aphids which upon me spraying with the upturned hose have covered the area and also deposited stickiness everywhere which has quickly turned to black sooty yuck!

I feel I am quickly becoming very proficient at wielding a pressure washer which inevitably leaves me absolutely drenched.

Calm Mrs, keep calm.

Well anyway the cottage and garden has certainly been keeping me busy, we have begun to paint the cottage, an exhausting job. Dead heading the rose which has been in my family for generations has proven quite the task, I can only reach so high and so above a certain level it’s just brown as you go still.

Cooking has definitely gone by the wayside, in the now two hot spells the Aga has been off so it’s been grill all the way. 

Not sure how we’re even going to attempt to sleep tonight, but sleep we must as there is certainly no rest for the wicked and work will be a calling!

Strawberry and sweet pea time

 An evening out with friends, Lundy Island in the distance

Third year of flowering Sweet Williams

Some of the new colour!

And so Midsummer has past, I honestly cannot recall a year flying so fast. Work is rather exhausting and I’m desperately trying to find a way to save a little me for other activities.

Think I’d like to start taking a few more snaps again, I have many of the grandchildren but don’t feel it right to share them here.

So until next time, blessings, J. x

Long Time No See

Spring has well and truly sprung here in the South West.

For many weeks I fear I had an acute case of the can’t be _rsed, and have just begun to find a little more energy after many rounds of germ infested grandchildren infiltrating our boundaries in various ways, rendering us either getting the lurgy, or living in fear of the latest round of vomiting etc.

Buds have budded, and even the first rose has made an appearance.

All lovely, the wisteria is giving off the most amazing scent, as are the lilacs.

May has arrived with some stormy skies, but even they are quite beautiful. This afternoon I am being baked in glorious sunshine which is currently drying washing on the line.

Typing is a little difficult at the moment, I crushed my thumb 6 weeks ago in the under counter freezer door, and after a period of healing it became very painful again from last Tuesday.

I have now had an emergency X-ray and though it appears to be a soft tissue injury there is evidence of a previous break…waw!

Anyway, that is nothing compared with the tragedy that befell us yesterday morning.

Our beloved Wilbur ran in front of a car (actually being driven by a relative), and was killed instantly.

After the initial shock the tears came, and I’m not ashamed to say I’ve been a hot snotty mess for most of the period since the accident.

That cat adored, and was adored by our grandchildren, often joining them for bath time, and bedtime stories.

He allowed them to push him around in their trolley when they were younger and he gave the most wonderful cuddles.

RIP lovely boy.

Until next time, J. x

Snot Sponges

The delightful snot sponges I’m writing about are my grandchildren. Honestly I don’t remember a time when there has consistently been someone ill over several weeks. I currently have charge of the two youngest cousins. Both have had long sleeps this morning, one is kind of drying up, the other is doing his best to spread his little germy hangers on. Lucky grandma.

Now I have recently had 2 lots of antibiotics, well I’d almost finished the course of the first lot when it became apparent I really wasn’t tolerating them so I’m feeling quite nervous, no that’s the wrong word, I’m being very careful that I wash my hands after each contact with the little darlings.

I have changed my tea and coffee drinking habits since being poorly myself. I used to have one proper cup of coffee first thing followed by however many cups of regular tea as necessary throughout the day. Now I’ve abandoned coffee totally at the moment, and I only have regular tea at mealtimes and have replaced the rest with various fruit, and mint teas. 

Latest to be ill Friday evening via the up chuck system was eldest daughter…consequently Mothering Sunday roast was cancelled at ours. We spent rather a quiet day, visited a local shop which has a small garden section briefly for some compost, had a FT call from son and his family. But for once I wasn’t cooking for everybody so had time to sit and enjoy doing some of my on the go jigsaw.

It was also the anniversary of my Mother’s passing so actually a rather quiet contemplative day caused me less angst than the anniversary normally does.

Last Wednesday found me planting some primroses and hellebores in part of the garden. Since then we’ve had wind, rain, hail, sleet, and snow, oh and some glorious sunshine, the sort that makes you glad to be alive but shows up just how dirty the windows really are!

I was really reluctant to go on this bit of garden as it was extremely wet however this is where I planted the primroses and Hellebores. Next to weed and add spent Tete a Tete daffodils from some tubs.

The first two plum trees have begun to blossom, please, please let us have a crop of some worthiness this year.

Such a delicate blossom.

Things are livening up with the terrors now, and I think I’m needed to referee.

Blessings, J. x

Retirement

Now it’s not on the cards for a good few years yet, but having had a couple of sick days this week it’s got me wondering what I’ll actually do should I get to retirement.

I really wanted to watch the Winter Olympics, however after the telly being on all Wednesday while I lay dozing on the sofa has almost put me off of it all.

Summer months I think will be easier, lovely walks unrestricted by the clock, lazy lie ins, though I’m not a lie in sort of girl…

I love a good book, a jigsaw, money will be tighter. Should we consider another dog? I’d love one in theory, however at the moment working 3 days a week it wouldn’t be easy, though daughter is willing to have joint custody! On a lovely Summers evening there’s nothing better than a dog walk, however the amount of wind and rain we’ve had lately has made me glad I don’t need to wrap up and go outside once I finish work. I suppose when retired I could pick my walkies schedule.

The flu/Covid or whatever it is has rattled through the family next door and now me. Being rather fed up of it lingering, this morning I decided to pretend it didn’t exist.

The boys came around to paint their clay scenes made a few weeks ago…how much energy would that need…apparently quite a lot…now feel wiped out and I was literally dolling out tiny amounts of different paint colours and reminding them to wash and dry their brushes in between swopping colours.

One boy took his time, thought about what colours to use…

And one boy wanted to finish first, using his brush rather like a scrubbing brush, constantly washing the brush and swopping colours…

I basically let them get on with it…there is only one way to learn after all.

Apparently next time we are making castles…oh heaven help me!

Anyway, I hope you are by and large feeling well, and happy. Just managed to place a quick Morrisons order for tomorrow. The taste buds aren’t playing ball at the moment and I fancy absolutely nothing except what I don’t have…extra strong mints…so hopefully they will arrive and be just what the Dr. ordered, along with some orange Lucozade.

Blessings J. x

A Bimble They Said

So last Sunday, with the weather unusually quiet I was persuaded to hop in the car and make the journey to Cutcombe near Dunkery Beacon.

Our destination Snowdrop Valley. Sounds all rather romantic and pretty doesn’t it…it was…kind of.

Unfortunately it has been very wet of late so think mud…lots of lovely mud…steep woodland and someone who is not as fit as they like to think they are!

Anyway, a few photos…

Scary beasts guarding the church

Looks rather ancient…

Pretties

The story is the monks planted the snowdrops in the 13th century to celebrate Candlemas

Then came the realisation that having come down the valley we then had to work our way back up. Oh how my muscles worked. Thank goodness for the walking pole I had. It was steep. Beautiful, but I feel a once in a lifetime need to walk! It took us about 3 1/2 hours with a short stop for picnic lunch.

We also found some of these…I think they might have been Elf cups…

Blessings, J. x

A Chill Wind

 Oh my…what a night…having been alerted to some strange happenings the night before by neighbours we checked our CCTV and sure enough had had some visitors. 

Apparently they had spent the night down the dead end road opposite having driven in a ditch. Strangely waiting until 05:30 in the morning to start ringing doorbells. 

Not going to lie, they had at least one phone, which looked very much like it was used to take a picture of hubbies van and then our front windows. We actually heard something that woke us, but then it stopped so presumed it must have been the cat fence playing up in the rain. Then kept getting flashes of light through the curtains…that was the torch flashing to see round the back.

Now they really were in a ditch, so why wait all night then wake people up on a Sunday morning so early?

If you have a phone why not phone someone for assistance. 

Why cover your face with your hood when you look up and notice security cameras?

So many unanswered questions…

So you know the film Home Alone…yep we are out to protect our home in whatever way necessary…though I really didn’t sleep much last night.

Also both us and our neighbour found marks to the right of our doors that we’ve not noticed before, could be a coincidence, or not.

Turned bitterly cold here as the morning has worn on…I mean really raw. Is the Beast stirring?

Anyways, life still busy busy, and now have to be night watchman too…

I’ll leave your with my flattish fail loaf of maslin sourdough bread…now if I threw that at somebody up to no good they’d certainly know it…

Keep warm, keep safe, blessings J. x

Incognito

 Apologies, I have just realised that I have commented on several of your blogs (and replied to comments on my own) as anonymous…tut tut…

All down to new set up hiccups…hopefully now resolved.

Been having a few days off, today is dull and pretty lifeless here. Not sure how we’ll be affected by the impending storm but feeling unsettled knowing that I will have to travel to work.

Fire lit, and my first ever pitta bread dough currently rising to take care of some leftover lamb bits languishing in the fridge.

Thinking I have a case of the January blues…not helped by the recent stress…just can't get my head around the paperwork at all…brain feels stuck and know it’s not worth trying as I’ll just make mistakes at the moment. Be kind to self, be kind to self!

I spent half the night down on the sofa, though think the culprit to have been the mixture of butter and cream in my sliced potato and onion dish topped with some leftover pastry. It tasted wonderful, but in hindsight could have been the cause of my 2am wake up and subsequent failure to get back to sleep, at least in part.

Is that a glimmer of sunshine I see through the kitchen window? I really ought to fetch in some logs for the next few days as be it rain or snow, neither will make for fun trips to the log store. It will probably help lift my mood also. Best foot forward and all that…but it’s so hard when an invisible thread holds you back.

Not a very interesting photo, however this was our turkey after I spent an hour deboning, stuffing and rolling it. It made for much easier carving, and we’d sorted the carcass and eaten the stew and orts before the big day. I do not however own a boning knife so managed a small self inflicted injury during the process using a carving knife.

Make sure to keep warm and safe in the coming few days, unfortunately I return to work tomorrow, and will be taking stout boots and extra clothing with me just in case of unforeseen circumstances on my journey home.  

Blessings J. x