An alomost perfect Sunday...

Spent most of the day pottering in the garden.
So out there was I that I forgot the potatoes were simmering....Oooops! Managed to scrape them off the bottom of the pan. They were alright...
Other than that and the fact that mother is motionless and refusing to eat I'm having a sweet and lovely day. Baked a smashing cake. Read a little. Txtd. Watched Nicki Campbell prog about Religion v. Sects. Did my nails.

Baked a couple of Bramleys for pud, the flesh went marshmallowy and the skin taut, shiny and brown. Deep in the cavities I pushed a few raisins and brown sugar then topped them with spoonfuls of golden syrup. Baked them under the gammon joint. Which was so pink and tender it almost seemed a shame to carve it. But I did. Thickly. And plated it up alongside steamed cabbage, the aforementioned tatties and a couple of fat parsnips. I had a spoonful of mango chutney with mine, Mr H. plumping for Branston pickle.
I like odd mixes.

Ok back to garden games.
There were many.
Firstly dragging an old old table from A to B, then covering the cracked and warped thing with a Sunflower tablecloth.
Dusted orf a few chairs slinging them thereabouts.
Eagerly await the first hot day...
Eager to munch al fresco.

Also re-homed the garden bench back into its right and proper place...under the Japanese Maple. Not content to just drop and leave, I placed underneath its varnished wooden slats two wooden slightly faded sleeping and curled cats.
By the side of the bench, a table from an ancient nest of tables, and on it one real plant and one artificial.
So much pleasure from things so simple.

I also placed my gorgeous green and cream olde worlde watering can by the weed infested rockery, some of the weeds are quite striking so may live another day!

There's much more I want to do especially by the herb garden and bins but that'll be for later in the week.
:)

Now I must fly, have a Sci-Fi film to watch.

:)

A Few Notes Before Tea.

We're getting there.

Shifted, uprooted and generally destroyed all manner of weeds and over hanging branches. Great gaps now appear allowing light in.

Discovered in our rockery under masses of conifer branches were two slabs of concrete, obviously dumped there by the men who erected next door's fence. I huffed and walked away...

Also watched as a small brown toad slowly edged his way under the great trees. We marvelled at not only his rough leathery cuteness but his deep brown all seeing eyes, wide and aware.

Found a dead thrush laying by the broken yellow table so, before placing it in the council's food and greenery recycling bin, I brushed its head with my finger.
Its stillness sad but beautiful.

Moved the pot bound tomatoes, carrots and basil to another part of the garden to keep them safe, don't want the gentlemen tomorrow upsetting them with their vroom vroom saws.

I still don't like gardening but I can't help feeling for all living things.

Being cooked tonight:
Toad-in-the-Hole made with Irish pork sausages and onions
Creamy mashed potatoes.
Broad beans.
gravy and mustard.

For pud, pineapple chunks and thick custard.

Yummy Yummy!

Wake Up Call at Tea Time!

Just walked around the garden and was shocked.

I've left my small patch to run a bit wild and now I'm paying a heavy price. That's why I bantered with Old Graham. Thought maybe we could come to an arrangement whereby he'd sort out the mess for very little or no payment. But it's not just the green stuff which needs tidying it's the detritus by the garage. Broken fence panels, broken lawn mowers and odds and ends of an oily nature all going to make an almighty eye sore.

Other ghastly items by the conifers....
Three legged tables. 'Twas a good table in its day.
Shelves. Pine but totally stained.
Paint from 1999.
Parasols. Blue. Wanted green.
Bricks. Found in the garage and used as hold-ups for aforementioned pine shelves.
Buckets. Large and ugly.
Bags of stones. Can't remember where it came from.
BBQ fork. Bought on a hot day no doubt.
Fish Holder. Bought when I was into Turbot.


A skip may be called for on account of the amount of rubbish and the fact that I don't know how to get to the council's recycling place. (Wouldn't get it in the car either)

The accumulating of general junk has always been a problem with me, just can't bear to throw things away even shattered planks of wood, holey buckets, long lengths of cable and stuff of that ilk.
But my brief walk around the garden has made me feel both angry and sad. Something has to be done.

Starting NOW...

Gloria in Destruct/Construct Mode.....

Untitled Unwashed

Crikey what's this I thought as Monty shredded my feet. I'm feeling a little warm in the body area. Must have left the blanket on warp factor 9.
Idiot features.
No need to get in a lather.
Just a turnabout in the weather.

And try as I might I couldn't eat my bran flakes in a shady kitchen so I potted along to the front room of balmyness and ate them there.
Monty lay like an ebony draught excluder his furry bits made magnificent by enormous shafts of sunlight. He made a very good footstool.

Branflakes embedded in teeth I mused about today.............

The garden needs a-doing. baby weeds popping up through my useless membrane. Grass awash with pretty weeds, all highly lovely but so unloved by most. Had a sudden inclination (oh God no) to allow a patch of lawn to grown into a mental meadow.

I wonder if the Minestrone will be enough. Certainly put enough in it. Almost peeping out the top of my chubby tureen.

Cheese scone round. When to make and bake. Whilst listening to Desert Island Discs or watching Jeremy Kyle. Reminds me. I dashed into Somerfields late last night in my baseball cap and ethnic skirt to buy pure mature cheddar. I think someone called the manager.

My knees are playing up.

Is George and Mildred on ITV3 today? The lovable sex obsessed Yootha Joyce annoying long toe-nailed pickled onion obsessed Brian whatsisname. She wanted sex, she got pickling vinegar and nail clippers. Murphy....Brian Murphy

I squinted at the dust on the windows, sucked in my balloon tum, thought about night time cake and was glad it was/is Friday.