Lovely weather at last

This weekend has had some of the warmest temperatures this year and I have made the most of it.  I had a good tidy round in the garden and pulled out loads of self seeded foxgloves.  I like them but they are becoming a bit of a nuisance. The fig looks happier in its new position so hopefully I will get some figs next year. My lemon and orange haven't flowered yet which is a bit of a shame.  There is still plenty of time for them to blossom though. .. I am hoping to grow a grapefruit to add to the collection so watch this space.

Have you seen this rat.....

Tony and I  had a lovely walk through the woods and along country lanes this morning. Then we popped into Guisborough for a pub lunch.. The plate of food was enormous and I still feel stuffed full.  I do wish we could have 'normal' sized meals. Everywhere you go these days the portions are far too big. I hate food waste and it puts me off eating out. While we were walking through the woods we came across this. poster..  This is Tony's best 'wanted' face. I had to take a photo..  :-)

This afternoon we both had a snooze and then went out to collect a load of wood. We were really pleased to come back with a good half trailer load.  Our log store is already full so this is just extra wood.  Hopefully this coming winter won't be as long and cold as the one we have just had so the wood will see us right through the winter

My pretty garden

It looks like being a lovely day today. The sun is shining though it feels a little cool. I am hoping that it will be lovely and warm later on. I have watered the garden at the front of the house and thought I would share a couple of photos.  It looks so pretty but you need to use your imagination as the camera has barely captured a fraction of the colour out there.

The plants are taking over

My kitchen windowsill has suddenly bloomed. It gets such a lot of light that it would be a shame to waste it. Everything grows so much quicker through there

The sky is beautiful tonight

My friend Jayne and I had a smashing walk this evening.  We wondered whether it might rain as the sky was a bit heavy looking. I came home and made Tony his pasta salad for tomorrow's lunch and then settled down for an hour browsing you tube music videos.. While quietly listening to Jeff Buckley singing Halleluja I looked up at the sky.... it is stunning and I only wish that my camera could capture the sheer beauty of it...  I tried...

The pineapple experiment

I have been looking at this young mans videos for inspiration and today I'm going to follow his instructions to the letter to see if it is possible to grow a pineapple. We bought a fruit at the weekend so here it is in all its naked glory. . Unfortunately my pineapple has a few brown patches so it might not work.. If it doesn't root I'll keep trying until I succeed. I am expecting more of a houseplant than an actual pineapple.... but if one should grow I would be delighted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SlTe6qA2Dg

Well!.... They were very very nice

Yesterday when I made the meringues I told you that I had a batch of cakes in the oven... They are absolutely delicious.  One small thing I did wrong was to lift them out of the oven just a bit too soon so they sank... It didn't make any difference to Tony and I as we don't mind eating all the blunders..:-) I have discovered that you can make Yorkshire pud without eggs so watch this space.  I will make a batch some time and report back on how well they work.
I am trying to motivate myself to make a start on emptying the loft.  It is stuffed to the rafters with 'stuff' and I don't think we have even looked at most of it in years.  I have a full rail of jackets up there.... lovely smart jackets... but heck. How many jackets does one person really need? There are tubs of clothing that I might just fit one day... I don't think that day is ever going to come so they have got to go. We have boxes and boxes of utter junk... they are going to the tip...…. This is going to take me a while. I may emerge round about Christmas
Property prices are increasing quickly here so it will be interesting to see how quickly they sell. It might just be worth our while to move house now, as the area that we are looking at has lovely houses at absolutely bargain prices and they are unlikely to increase as quickly ... we will see how we feel in a month or two.

Don't believe everything you hear

I am having a bit of a cooking kind of day.  The wind at the weekend wreaked havoc with my rhubarb patch and I had to cut it right back. I didn't want to waste the lovely big stalks of rhubarb so this morning I cooked it in the microwave and then I have put half for the freezer. The other half I mixed with a strawberry jelly and am leaving to cool before popping it in the fridge. That will make a nice dessert for a couple of days.  The packet of cooking bacon that I bought from Tesco the other day has made a huge pan of broth. It will easily feed 8 people... not bad for a 59p packet of bacon and a load of veggies. It tastes absolutely yummy.  Then I opened a tin of chick peas and have used half the chick pea water to make some meringues. .  I used some of my lavender sugar and the mix tastes gorgeous even before they are cooked.   If you take a look on You tube they will say that you need to use an electric whisk to make them.  It has taken me less than fifteen minutes to whisk up the meringue with a balloon whisk... But that isn't all.  I had some of the whipped chickpea liquid left over so made a batch of lavender cupcakes. They are in the oven as I type this.

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I don't give a fig

Well actually this particular fig in question hasn't fruited since we bought it. It cost £80 three years ago. The little figs that were on it all fell off.... grrrrr….. Today when I get back from my walk I plan to prepare a totally different area in my garden for it.  At the moment it is at the front of the house.  It looks ghastly all winter with a big shroud of fleece over it... Kind of like the local ghost. I will (with the use of Tony's strong arms) move it to the bottom of the garden at the back of the house. That patio is really sheltered and gets plenty of sunshine.  I can also throw a fleece over it in the winter and it won't be so 'in your face'. I may also put the orange and the lemon trees down there. I am amazed that they survived the winter as the fleece kept blowing off them. The lemon in particular looks very healthy. Sadly I lost my huge Rosemary bush.  Some sort of nasty beetle has killed it off.  I will be vigilant when I check the remaining rosemary bushes.

Craft fair makes

I have been busy making chapstick holders. They are a great way of using up all those little snips and scraps of card and paper