Back to normal

 Tony and I have been away most weekends for what seems like ages now. We've been to some real lovely places and have several more booked for September.  We're going out tomorrow night then things settle back down again for a little while. It's nice to get back to normal but it's made me rethink how I should keep the garden watered as we can't really leave it for more than a couple of days if it's really hot. I certainly don't mind only staying away for couple of days when it means I can eat lovely meals using veg straight from the garden. Tonight we had a chicken stir fry with noodles.  The veg from the garden... courgettes, onions, chillis, mini peppers, chard, French beans and garlic.  It's saving me an absolute fortune as we aren't visiting any supermarkets as often. Therefore we aren't being tempted by bargain prices on things we really don't need.

It's my birthday

 Today we're off to Pickering to ride Tornado.  I can't wait as I absolutely adore steam trains. I'm really touched that my friend's daughter and son in law remembered my birthday and have both text me to wish me a happy birthday.  After my friend passed, Tom and Julie kind of adopted Tony and I.  My friend would be so pleased. There's not a day goes by that Tony and I don't think of Marian, and the loss of her doesn't get any easier.  

Yesterday our friends Brian and Brenda invited us over for a birthday meal. We had such a lovely time with them. Next week some other friends and I are going out for the day out to celebrate my birthday and that of another friend. I feel as though Tony and I have had a whole month of celebrations this year. It's exhausting in a lovely kind of way.

We had plenty of rain last night

 Boy oh boy did it rain last night. The garden has perked up beautifully so clearly needed a thoroughly good soaking. Isn't this sunflower beautiful in a strange and different way.

 

Cucumbers are growing faster than I can use them so I've taken to pickling them.

I've given several away to friends and neighbours too. The cost of food is likely to rocket again in the Autumn as the heatwave takes it's toll on harvests. I'm so glad that I turned my garden into a little allotment.  It still looks beautiful but saves me a fortune on our grocery bill.

We've been to Blackpool

 Tony and I have spent the weekend in Blackpool. We'd gone to visit the Open Allotment day in Lytham St Anne's but couldn't get booked up there so had to stay in Blackpool.  It was brilliant using our bus pass to travel freely on the buses. The guest house was spotless and the breakfast lovely.  The owner was really friendly but unfortunately his constant of the f word puts me off staying there again.  Such a pity as the position on the promenade gave us wonderful sea views and a stunning sunset.

All home grown and utterly delicious

  Both lunch and tea were from the garden today. Lunch was a gorgeous, open cheesy sandwich with fresh salad veggies. It means that instead of the usual two slice sandwich I've cut the carbs and piled the veggies high. It was definitely a knife and fork sandwich 

And our tea tonight was so simple but so tasty. It's just potatoes,courgettes and tomatoes built up in layers. I started with a layer of potatoes then plenty of Red Leicester cheese between each layer of veg. I finished off with another layer of potato and grated plenty of cheese on top. Cooked at 190 for forty minutes. It was so easy to put together and packed with flavour. 

My mini oven is an absolute godsend lately. I can't remember the last time I used the main oven.                                                                        

My plum tree is an apricot

 This is the first year that my plum tree has born fruit. The label says it's a Stanley plum but as the fruit is a blushed golden yellow and huge it's clearly not. I googled it a while ago and thought I'd nailed it down to a particular variety of yellow plum. I was baffled as to why the fruit is ready now though as the plum I'd thought it was, shouldn't ripen until September. Imagine my surprise this morning when Tony and I shared one to discover that they are actually apricots.  That means that in my garden I'm growing  several varieties of apples pears and plums. I now know that there's apricots,  strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, honeyberry, gooseberry, two varieties of grape and some rhubarb.  Not bad for a relatively small garden. The teacup is to show how big the squash and apricot are

Thrilled to bits

 Tony's been for a drive out to Grosmont with his friend today.  I was absolutely delighted when he got home as he's bought tickets to ride Tornado from Pickering on my birthday next week.  He checked to make sure that it would be running under steam as we'd read that it wouldn't be due to the potential fire risk. I adore steam trains and fully intend to incorporate quite a few rides on them. Blow the expense. 

I had a nasty fall the other day while out in Whitby with friends. My hand is badly bruised and my knee has an impressive looking graze. Tony and my friends are insisting that I use my walking poles from now on. To be honest I'm not sure they would have prevented me falling but I'll give them a try. My dodgy leg has a nasty habit of collapsing under me if for even a minute I forget to lock my knee. There's absolutely nothing anyone can do about it as it's the result of the nerve damage I suffered when I had my hip replacement. The surgeon said it's unlikely to ever fully recover and I must remember to always lock my knee. Occasionally I forget and take a tumble. I'm at the age where a fracture wouldn't be very helpful.... not that a fracture at any age is very nice.

 

Utterly delicious

 Sometimes it's difficult to know what to do with a glut of courgettes isn't it. Well we've just eaten the most delicious meal. I cooked spicy, garlic and lemon tiger prawns and courgettes.  Served it with a home grown,  fresh picked salad. I'd pay good money in any restaurant for meals like this.

Tony has asked if we can have it again tomorrow.  I guess he really enjoyed it.

Redcar on the Yorkshire coast

 Tony and I spent a lovely night away for our wedding anniversary.  The hotel was a bit basic but clean and comfortable with a lovely sea view. We thoroughly enjoyed the Thai meal at The Lemongrass and will definitely go there again.  

I've just booked a couple of days in Blackpool to celebrate my upcoming birthday. We'd originally intended to spend the night in Pickering where we'd hoped to book a ride on the steamtrain Tornado. We were treated to a drive past yesterday as it heads to Grosmont. 

 Unfortunately due to the extreme fire risk it would cause because of the heatwave it would actually be pulled along by electric diesel locomotive. That isn't what we'd wanted so I'll book a trip once the danger of setting fire to the moors is no longer cause for concern. Tony and I intend to book a couple of days away each month and hope to visit many bits of Britain. It's a very long time since we visited Blackpool and we're planning to nip over to Lytham St Anne's allotments open day. I'll take plenty of photos in Blackpool and hopefully we'll catch a nice sunset.

It's courgette season

 Courgettes are coming thick and fast now and are a great addition to pasta sauces. I'm freezing plenty of bags of sauce and lasagne/vegetable layer bakes. They'll be lovely through the colder months when the heatwave summer is a distant memory. Aren't the vivid purple potatoes pretty. They don't lose their colour when cooked and make spectacular chips.