Home grown lunch

 I'm cooking liver and chips for tea tonight. That meant we'd only want a light lunch and utterly delicious it was too. Everything on the plates  grown  by me.  Sweet potato fries,  sauerkraut, pickled beetroot, pickled cucumber with mint, fermented tomatoes and a tiny cluster of grapes. I can't remember the last time I did a big shop as we've been eating fresh fruit and veg from the garden for months. Our freezer is absolutely full of home grown veg and I've shelves filled with pickles and fermented fruit and veg. 

Bit of a dilemma

 Next month Tony turns 70 and I wanted to buy him something really special. Off we went to Ripon to a lovely shop that sells really nice booze. He chose a bottle of whisky and I paid for it. When we got home I had a quick look online and discovered that I could have bought the exact same bottle for £30 cheaper. I could have kicked myself for not looking first.  But then I stopped and thought about it. The shop owner has huge overheads and needs to make a living. Do we really want to lose all the lovely little independent traders. I came to the conclusion that those of us that are lucky enough to be able to swallow the cost should probably do that. 

And here's my little fresh picked harvest for today

And here's yesterday's fresh harvest.  The sprouts are a bit strong tasting and I'm hoping that they will sweeten up a bit when the frost arrives. If not I'll just compost them. The carrots were absolutely beautiful. 

Patching jeans

 I've had a right old hand sewing session this morning.  I've taken up a pair jeans, a pair of trousers and two sets of pyjamas for Tony. Then I patched a pair of jeans and some 'working in the garden' trousers.  I've got a few fleece tops to shorten but that can wait for another day. 

The garden still looks really pretty but I don't think it'll last much longer as I'm really noticing how much cooler it is.

Lovely autumn harvest

 We're back to normal after spending a lovely few days away. I popped out into the garden to pick some veggies to add to a pan of soup. The chard is so colourful and the carrots are incredibly sweet.  Nothing like the tasteless ones sold in supermarkets.  There were plenty of windfall apples and pears too. I took the last of the grapes off the vine.  I've given it a really good trim and hopefully it'll be very productive next year. 

A visit to York

 We've spent the day in York today and thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the historic sites. Tony bought me a lovely warm coat which will be perfect for walking in cold, wet weather. We stood and watched a street entertainer and it looks pretty impressive.  Unfortunately we saw a similar thing many years ago. A power outage killed the sound so it became obvious that the entertainer wasn't actually playing the pipes. Can't say for certain that this chap was faking it but we're highly suspicious.

The Minster never fails to impress me.

Beautiful art deco hotel

 Tony and I are having a few days away from home. Our friends Deb are Phil are staying in Doncaster and asked if we fancied meeting up in York.  We decided that we'd visit Doncaster and stay in a hotel close to theirs. They came up on the train on Monday and we're taking them to York for the day tomorrow. Our hotel is really lovely and far nicer than we expected for the amount we paid. We won't be booking breakfast at £17.50 each.  We aren't really breakfast eaters but will have a coffee and cake when we get to York. It'll be considerably cheaper and we'll be ready to eat something by then

My smashing jewellery/makeup cabinet

 On Saturday my new drill got its first tryout.  I put up my lovely new mirrored cabinet. 

I've replaced the mirror that was there originally.  The cabinet hardly takes up any wall space and is really useful for storing some of my bits of jewellery 

Beautiful colours in my garden

 Yesterday I had a visit from fellow YouTuber Jenny #jennyfromtheplot . We had so much fun chatting and wandering around my garden.  Check out her channel and subscribe if you like a fun lighthearted gardener.  And I'd love it if you subscribed to my channel  #mybeautifulediblegarden. And speaking of my garden. Isn't it colourful.  I'm really going to miss all the colour when the first frost arrives.

Upcycled make-up compact

 You all know that I can't look at something without wondering how I can reuse it. When my make-up compact was finished I couldn't bring myself to throw it away as I knew I'd be able to do something with it. I've turned it into a tiny garden handbag mirror.  It's a gift for a fellow gardener and I hope it makes her smile every time she uses it. It just needs a little polish before I wrap it.

Bought myself a drill

 A couple of weeks ago I  bought a mirror fronted jewellery/makeup cabinet to hang on the bedroom wall.  It's sat in the bedroom since then. Today I decided that I'd hang it on the wall. Unfortunately I couldn't find the small drill and the big drill is just too heavy for me to handle safely.  When Tony came home I asked where the small drill was. He's chucked it out... grrrrrr. He asked what needed it for and I told him. Did he offer to hang the cabinet????? Nope.  He watched me order a small drill online. Thank goodness I'm handy with a power tool.