Just a Proud Great Nana Moment ...

 

We went to see and have a cuddle of our new great grandson Finley-James on Sunday morning.

Here with his Mum, his big brother and Great Grandad Alan reading a story, with Mason supplying all the sound effects. 

Time for a cuddle, and in Finley's case time to watch a bit of television while the grown ups all chatted.  And then ...

... time to hand Finley over to Great Grandad Alan who was on feeding duty.  

Finley and Mason's Dad, my grandson Liam, was there but he just had to keep going into the kitchen for business calls, so somehow he managed to miss all the photos!!

A lovely couple of hours of family time, so I thought I would pop the photos on here for posterity.  💖

Sue xx

Wetting the Baby's Head

 

We walked the dogs along the canal last night on their favourite route, it leads to the pub ... a very dog friendly pub.  We had a mission to accomplish as well as having a dog walk and our tea there.

We had to wet the baby's head in good old fashioned style.

Welcome to the world little Finley-James Wright, 7lb 7oz of perfection who came into the world just after 10pm on Tuesday 15th August ... three weeks early.

He is our third Great-Grandchild, his older brother is five this year.

His Mum Ellie is still in hospital after an emergency caesarean, but both she and Finley-James are doing well now.

His Dad, Liam my grandson, is absolutely besotted with this beautiful bundle of joy.

Happy Families.

Sue xx

Bringing Home the Rhubarb, Snaffling the Blueberries and Old Photos

 

We only planted this rhubarb plant in Spring of this year.  You're not really supposed to harvest from a newly transplanted bush, instead you leave all the goodness to go back into the roots ready for a bumper harvest the following year.

Our rhubarb has had other ideas, it was this big a couple of months ago and I carefully pulled out the largest of the stems and made some rhubarb crumble mixes for mine and Alan's freezers.  Over the last few weeks the plant has gone rampant ... there is no other word for it. 

The chippings disappeared under a blanket of huge leaves and the plants behind were invisible unless you peeled back a leaf and had a look..

So today I bit the bullet before the garden totally disappeared under a swath of huge leaves.  The dogs will be pleased to see their chipping area back, I can finally see my Fern and Rosemary plants again ... and the compost bin is full right to the top with all the leaves.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, the rhubarb stalks are all trimmed, soaked and ready to be cut into chunks and frozen ... alongside a few apples that came easily off the tree.  There will be some lovely homegrown fruit to help out with my rations over the Winter.

I could have had some Blueberries as well if I hadn't been eating them all the minute they turn blue enough.  Not a single one has made it as far as the kitchen.  Well, all gardeners deserve a tasty little treat don't they.  😄

When we met up with my cousin at Mum's house a few weeks, ago she brought with her some old family photos to see if we wanted them.  I of course had to say yes to most of them and Mum had some too.  I love old photos, especially black and white ones.  I managed to find this old frame in an antique centre with a mount that I just knew would compliment it perfectly.

It's just Mum, Dad and me on the day of my christening.   I'd say happy memories .... but I don't remember it at all. 💖

Sue xx

Early Morning by the Canal, Family Visits and Getting My Ration Head On

It was lovely first thing this morning and Ginger came to tell me as much at 6.20am.  He wanted to go out and looking at the positioning of all my floor length curtains he had had a peep at all three usually available exits before deciding that he needed his own personal door person to facilitate this.  He went out and half an hour later, after a breakfast snack at Alan's he was back to mine to claim his usual morning treat of Dreamies and fall asleep once again on the armchair.

By this time I had put the first load of washing on and was sat clutching a mug of coffee and watching some YouTube.  It was just so nice outside that once the washing machine had done it's thing, I pegged the clothes out on the line and took myself canal side for a walk on the towpath.

The boaters were still tucked up in their huge beautifully decorated metal tubes, the paths were clear and the sun was shining, what a brilliant way to start the day.

I love the stillness of early morning. and as it was still barely past seven o'clock I only saw one other person to say 'Good Morning' to, a lady with two excitable Spaniels.

As I got closer to home the water was sparkling in the early morning sunshine, I have fingers firmly crossed that we have another good day all day today.  Yesterday was lovely, sunny and warm and as Alan's sister came to stay for the weekend we enjoyed sitting in the garden catching up on news.  Earlier she too had enjoyed the early morning towpath, going for a jog in sunshine but getting pretty muddy as she burned up the miles along the canal-side after Saturdays heavy rains.

Later we left all three dogs ... our two and her German Shepherd Tia ... back at home snoozing and had a pleasant wander around the sleepy Sunday High Street, with Alan and Alison comparing property prices between here and Peebles, before stopping for a coffee and a slice of cake in Booths café.

I love that our High Street has shops that virtually all still close on a Sunday, even in retail you need a day off and our shops are virtually all small independents. Of course the supermarkets are open and our new Factory Shop was open although pretty deserted.  Our little town is like a step back in time occasionally ... in a very good way.

And speaking of stepping back in time, it seems I already have my 'rationing head' on, I have started saving my citrus peels and popping them into the freezer, first this lonely little Easy Peeler skin at the start of last week ...

... and then the squeezed out ends from the lemon bought this week for my early morning drinks.  

Once I have added the skins from the other six that I have in the fridge and the cores from the two apples in there I will have a bag of bits and bobs ready to add to some Compost Heap Jelly, which will make good use of my sugar ration when rationing begins at the end of this month.

In the meantime I have been sorting through my food cupboard, donating a couple of things that just won't get eaten and getting things organised on shelves so that I know what is available to eat and when, during my rationing months.

I need to finish my narrowboat book this week and then start reading up on rationing again to get my head in the right space for this ongoing money-saving personal challenge.

What did you get up to at the weekend?

Sue xx 

Shopping Differently, Being Gentle with People

 

I've started shopping differently recently.

Obviously I'm using up a lot of what I already have, so I don't really need to do a 'big shop' ... unless there are genuine reasons for doing that (more on that another day).  I find myself taking longer in the shop, enjoying the process more, and coming home much happier and more satisfied with my purchases.

This week for instance the above is all I needed, so that was all I bought.

The bananas are all 'singles', I smile every time I see the box that the single bananas get put into in our Booths supermarket.  It's message changes slightly some days, but basically it is a chalked note that says ... 'I'm single, can I come home with you?'

Happily 🍌

I'm not the only one shopping differently.

Since she became housebound my Mum's way of shopping has changed, for one thing my brother gets it for her now.  He took her shopping virtually every week for the last few years, but as soon as she could no longer cope with the car journey to the supermarket early last year, he took over completely and he pretty much gets it right each week, he was good at noticing what she loaded her trolley with when they were together and what he packed into her bags at the checkout while she waited to pay.

The things she puts on her list are pretty much the same each week, and until this last couple of weeks she has been determined to keep buying things like custard powder and baking supplies but this is making more work for her in the kitchen at a time when she can't stand up for long to cook.  So we have been introducing her to some ready made foods, custard in little plastic cartons that she can pop in the microwave, shop bought scones, ready prepared and chopped vegetables ... and she recently discovered for herself the wonders of frozen Baked Potatoes.

One of her little 'planet saving' things, just like I do, has been to write her shopping lists on backs of envelopes, scraps of paper or pieces of card, but these are now getting lost in the piles of papers that she keeps here, there and everywhere.  We had a good sort out last week and got rid of so many ancient lists and saved brochures etc etc.  So this week to make up for it I am taking her a posh shopping list pad with a magnet on the back, so that she can have it right next to her on the storage heater ... ready to add things to as she thinks of them and ready to read out to my brother when he phones for her list on a Friday evening.

Far too many people jump to conclusions when they see shopping trollies with lots of little plastic filled bags of ready chopped vegetables or fruit, small plastic pots of baked beans, jelly or custard and think that the person is extravagant or lazy ... or both.  Or that they don't care for the environment and are shopping in some willy-nilly fashion for no good reason, and I have to admit I have sometimes looked into a shopping basket and thought exactly that in years gone by.

We should always remember that we, and people like my Mum were more environmentally friendly before it became a 'thing'.  We took our own bags to the shops, we returned our milk bottles and our pop bottles to the delivery guy or the shop.  We carried home food wrapped in paper bags, chips wrapped in newspaper and walked to the shops for our food, the schools for our children and used public transport in preference to individual cars if we ever ventured further afield.

So if in our twilight years we have to take some shortcuts that will make our lives easier, happier and more manageable ... we should just do it.

Sue xx

Food, Shopping, Shoes and Trucks ... Where Did May Go?

I seem to have blinked and suddenly May is over.  

We got through so much during May, work-wise, holiday-wise, food-wise ... I think I've eaten far too much food recently.  Even though we both got small portions of everything while on holiday, we still came home feeling podged ... and I was 2lbs heavier!!

Anyway the month has whizzed by, so much so that all of these photos were taken to be shared with you on the blog during May and were never used.  As I've now gone over to the June folder on my computer I thought that I would share them all today and start off June with a last look at May.

The top photo is my basket of 'you should use these things up soon' foods

It was a month of eating simply and using up what I had in, also of bulk cooking at least one thing each week to use over the course of the week.  This time it was penne pasta.

I only really shopped twice, this was the second lot of purchases.  A total spend of £13.34 spent at Sainsbury's buying only what I needed to make what I already had into satisfying meals ... along with two more of the tubs of spread while they were on such a good offer.

My mustard sneakers on the mustard rug just made me smile one day, so I decided to take a photo to remember the moment.  Seeing the photo here made me wonder how many years I have had these shoes for and looking HERE it would seem they are three years old.  They are a bit faded now compared to then, but still as comfy.

I had a roll of Aldi shortcrust pastry that was past it's best buy date in the fridge, so I decided to make up a batch of little tartlets with random bits of veg from the fridge and topped them with cheese.  The same filling was used in the pasty made from all the rolled out offcuts of pastry.  It made for a tasty lunch for three days for me and one day for Alan.

The dogs waiting for Alan to appear at the door ... form an orderly queue ladies.  😄

My little greenhouse was moved to the garden mid-month.

Rather than buy a Gro-Bag I decided to simply use one of the bags of compost that I already had for my main tomato plants.  I thought this would also weigh down this flimsy growing space.  Everything is looking so much bigger and better today, they are relishing their position in the morning sun.

And finally, just because it was the last saved photo in my May file, my elder son's new work cab.  

He is taking to the road again after a couple of years of being the garage foreman for Thomas Armstrong in Cumbria, and will be driving their number one heavy haulage tractor unit which bears a memorial to a former manager.  He simply could not resist the urge to be in control of the star of the company fleet and he will be taking it to as many truck shows each year as he can, as well as driving it with some of the heaviest loads that the company transports on a day to day basis.

So that was May, I wonder what June will be bringing us?

Sue xx

Previous Gardens, Vegetables and Tyres

I was asked about my previous vegetable growing spaces and gardens and which one I loved best.  So I decided to make a post all about them.

My favourite way to grow vegetables is in a polytunnel, or 'high tunnel' as they are called in some countries.  I briefly had a greenhouse at one of our rental smallholdings and it just wasn't as good, well not for me.  Perhaps I was spoilt by my first polytunnel, and the space and atmosphere it gave me and the vegetables growing in it.

  This was my second and last polytunnel on the day it was completed ... and the crazy guys that built it for me.  I couldn't resist sharing this photo again. 😄

My vegetable garden ... or Veggie Patch as it was known ... in Wales.  

(And the last header photo from the old blog.)

August 2015

We lived there from September 2013 to March 2021 and enjoyed most of our time there.  Our reasons for leaving were summed up pretty neatly on the final post of my old blog Our New Life in the Country.  HERE

A tour in and around the polytunnel in July 2017 is HERE.

Prior to moving to Wales we lived for a couple of years near Pangbourne in Berkshire, England and this was the vegetable garden there.  

The only problem with this one was the deer that came and ate a LOT of my plants and vegetables.  As you can see from this photo we tried all sorts of deterrents to try and stop them.

Behind our first rented farmhouse in Great Haseley, Oxfordshire was my first vegetable garden, well photo shows some of it, behind me as this photo was taken were four more beds on the grassed area in front of the chicken area.

I loved this and I guess that it was this one that sealed my love of growing food for us to eat on a larger scale.  But of course this was only the tip of the iceberg ...

... here's Alan on the John Deere tractor that he restored, ploughing in the field ready for sowing, with our pigs in the field beyond.

So of course my new garden seems tiny to me, but I love it just as much, and if anything the challenge of getting something edible from it is giving me so much joy.  

No matter what available space you have whether it be the ten-plus acres as we had at first or the five acres that came next (twice) or a tiny garden or even a window sill, there's always something that you can grow that will taste wonderful and save you some money.

In fact some of my tastiest ever onions were grown in two tyres!

Sue xx

The Coronation Weekend

We had a good Coronation weekend.  ♔

We took a trip to Manchester to watch the Coronation on Saturday with Mum and my brother.  The buffet lunch was enjoyed by all and we toasted His Majesty with alcohol-free fizz as Mum doesn't drink and everyone else was driving.  

We waved our flags and decorated the outside of Mum's bungalow for the occasion.

Some people slept through part of the televised proceedings. 😄

On Sunday we had a spur of the minute ride out to Fleetwood to make the most of the unexpected warmth and sunshine.  We just walked the dogs long the promenade, chatted to lots of other dog walkers and had a coffee or two along with a tray of chips and a bacon bun for Alan. 

Yesterday with the rain falling heavily we took the dogs out with us and had breakfast at our favourite local garden centre.  I bought some new plants for the large pot in the centre of the garden which has been looking very sad for some time now, the daffodils that were in there never got flower heads this year and just looked like tall skinny weeds.  It looks so much better now and just doing this has made an enormous difference to our tiny garden.  

I also treated myself to a Buddha head that really caught my fancy ... I love that I can change his 'hairstyle' with every different plant that I put in there.  I started him off with a fern, I love ferns just as much as Alan hates them ... and gradually they are creeping into the garden.  😁

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, and managed to make the best of what good weather we did have.

Sue xx

Coronation Day

We decorated the house for Coronation Day with large bunting in the front windows, on my planters at the front door and flags taped to the top windows.  There is enough to spare for us to be able to take some to Mum's with us along with mugs for her and my brother as souvenirs of this special day.

This is the first time I will be alive for a coronation, my Mum was 13 when the Queen was crowned so this will be her second.  My Nana was alive through six monarchs, although she only obviously saw one live coronation on television and of course as she was born in 1898 she is sadly no longer with us.

So we will be heading off to Mum's armed with the flags, bunting and our Coronation Tea food for a day of celebration and memories.  Here in the UK we do these type of celebrations so well don't we.

https://youtu.be/98EKodxkg0M

I didn't make this Coronation Quiche, but mine is a pretty good replica and the homemade scones, dainty sandwiches and alcohol-free bubbly will make it a feast fit for a King.

I hope you all have a wonderful Coronation Day.

Sue xx

Shopping ... Again!!

I've been and gone and shopped again ... you knew I would didn't you!!

Just fresh stuff and some nuts that were on offer in the middle aisles, I purposefully avoided looking at any of the gardening supplies that were there ... well I might have browsed slightly but I stood firm and carried on walking past.  I don't know why a pot of Parsley made it's way into my trolley as I have some growing outside the front door in the old tin bath.

But it looks nice sat next to it's new best mate Basil in my new wooden box.  💓

(Don't worry I lined the box with a nice strong polythene bag.)

Alan treated me to a breakfast cup of coffee and a toasted teacake at Booths after my doctors appointment and before we shopped ... always go shopping on a full-ish tummy ... so while I was there I bought a pack of my favourite bread rolls and a birthday card for my soon-to-be fourteen year old grandson, where do the years go!!

That was another £4.05 spent.

I need to sit down and work out how much I've spent this month now that we are about to go over into May.  Gosh this year is going by quickly.

I have a feeling that I have just busted my budget.  😕

Sue xx

Thanks so much for all the good wishes and comments on the last post.  I have posted again to move it down the list as other peoples health issues on blogs can be deathly boring ... or maybe that's just me, I would never have been a very sympathetic or patient doctor!!  😐