One small step

One old towelling dressing gown.

One pair of scissors, one pile of rags for cleaning, one pile of rags for the CS.

One huge heap still to sort from the ...

2 huge heaps (perhaps more) that came out of the bedroom ...

that's being decorated.

The de-clutter begins, one small step at a time!

xx

Found a conker

Apologies to the song - Found a Peanut

Found a conker,

Found a conker,

Found a conker yesterday,

Found a conker,

Found a conker,

Found a conker yesterday.

Picked it up then,

Picked it up then.

Picked it up then yesterday,

Picked it up then,

Picked it up then.

Picked it up then yesterday.

Stroked the conker,

Stroked the conker,

Stroked the conker yesterday,

Stroked the conker,

Stroked the conker,

All my worries flew away.

I always keep a conker or conkers handy in a pocket in autumn and use them as stress balls or Baoding balls.

xx

During the day

There is a work surface opposite the kitchen window which is used for different purposes throughout the day. Here are a few glimpses of said surface.

The pic below shows some things that are defrosting from the freezer.

Here we've got the mixer ready for making the bread and some tomatoes that have just been picked. T|here are glasses and dishes ready to be put away.

The dough is a-whirring.

The phone is charged round here.

It looks like the clothes are ready to be folded from the tumble drier.

Bread has baked. The lampshade is from our lady lamp at the bottom of the stairs. We were expecting the carpet fitter and we didn't want him to knock the lampshade as he was taking up the carpet.

It was a hot day - that's my excuse!

xx

For Cherie

Mum's Crumble Topping Recipe

It's very simple - all you need to remember is 

Half fat and sugar to flour.

eg. 6 oz flour, 3 oz butter, 3 oz sugar

or 

8 oz flour, 4 oz butter, 4 oz sugar

Instead of all flour you can add some oats

eg. 6 oz flour 2 oz oats (8 oz),  4 oz butter, 4 oz sugar

The sugar could be white or brown - I like to  use brown for more flavour either as sweetener to the fruit or in the crumble topping.

This is my go to crumble topping although if you look it up there are quite a few variations out there. I just like things simple to remember.

The topping can be sparse or thicker on top of the fruit - it's your preference.

Happy crumbling!

xx

Not much there

There's nothing on the kitchen window sill since we painted the window. I don't want to make marks so it's just the hanging plant. It looks very bleak here but it was quite bright and sunny outside.

My flowers are from the garden and I've put the vase (shaped like a milk carton) by the sink.

I've been making crumble topping ...

... for the home grown rhubarb.

For 6 ounces of crumble I use this bowl which belonged to DH's mum. It's a very old pudding dish but I'm loathe to get rid of it even though it's past its sell by date.

Didn't take a pic of the final crumble when it came out of the oven but it was partially eaten after tea with custard. 

Yum!

xx

I want to be alone

Walking is part of my exercise regime and today I ventured into the park but wanted to avoid people at all costs. Once in the park I cut across the pitch and putt - nobody playing today even though the schools are closed for the summer.

On through the bowling greens and not many people here either. Only one couple bowling, one tramp  asleep and one lady exercising her dog on one of the greens - grrr!

I walked up the embankment to keep out of their way...

... and had a great view of the local golf course - no one playing here either.

I decided to give the Italian gardens a miss as there were many people out enjoying the sun and sitting outside the cafe. Quick, quick - try the boating lake. Hmm, not packed but I'll keep out of the way by ...

... walking through the trees.

Very cool in the shade on such a hot day. I walked home via roads with large grass verges so I could safely distance myself from other human forms. 

What strange times we live in at the moment.

xx

Glut of tomatoes

We are not able to keep up with eating all the tomatoes as they ripen so I picked some to go into the freezer.

After taking all the skins off I boiled them up and added some leftover passata that needed using up. I reckon I have the equivalent of 4 cans of tomatoes here. It's taken much longer to get to this stage with homegrown tomatoes. I could have just picked 4 cans off the shelf in the supermarket but I'm sure I wouldn't have the same satisfaction. I'll wait for them to cool and then put them in the freezer.

We also have smaller tomatoes which we will eat fresh, the yellow ones (Ildi) first as they split as soon as they are picked.

I've now picked and eaten 32 bunches of grapes and there are still more to go. These will be eaten today.

To clean the pan I use this brush. I would really like to have a wooden one but I'm not going to throw away a perfectly good plastic one so the wooden one will have to wait a bit longer.

 

This is saved from its eventual 'do harm to the environment' fate for now.

xx

It's never too early ...

... to start Christmas preparations. This 'tree' was salvaged from a shop by DD. She painted it silver, stuck fairy lights on and displayed it in her garden until she got fed up with it. So ...

I salvaged it, repainted it silver, stuck fairy lights on it and displayed it in our garden last year. 

This year I think I'll have it green. Out with the paint ...

and voila!

One green Christmas tree. Don't know what the shopkeeper displayed on it but it's going to have fairy lights on it again this year.

Can't wait.

xx

PS It's very heavy and needs a sack truck to move it around.

xx

They are grown to be eaten

... and eaten they will be.

by our family or ...

someone else's!

Plenty of caterpillars enjoying the fruits of my labour on the kohlrabi.

Thankfully they don't like the runner beans yet.

Our tomatoes were fried up and eaten with toast for lunch.

xx

PS Don't like this new Blogger. I have reverted to the old because I couldn't get the pics the right size. Will stay on the old for as long as possible.

Growing great guns

 It's surprising how fast cucumbers grow. The first one I spotted I gave to next door as I had a cucumber in my fridge already. The next day I found these - petite cukes. I was so glad to be keeping on top of the picking as one can grow in the blink of an eye and it's difficult to  spot them amongst the foliage of the greenhouse. I have to shake the plant to see what is swinging. Something swinging is definitely a cucumber.

I should have shaken the plant yesterday!

Whoops!

xx

Apologies

Oh my, oh my,

I've only just seen

That comments are there

On posts that have been.

I'm not up to scratch,

So excuse me do,

This blogging has changed

So I have to too!

Sorted now 

And I'll come on a visit

To old friends and new

And I can't think of anything to rhyme with visit so I'll leave it at that

Love to all

And good to be back!

xx

Keep well

In order to keep a pineapple for as long as possible I slice it into discs, chop up the discs (discarding the centre bit) and then store the pieces in a lidded container in the fridge.

For carrots I peel and store the carrots in cold water in the fridge. The will last for a week this way and not shrivel or go mouldy.

Job done. Just got to find room in the fridge.

Keep well!

xx