Break

I'm taking a break from blogging, and from pretty much everything for a while. Stay safe.

Small world

Watchet was lovely, but very busy, we didn't stay very long.  People generally were keeping their distance though, and lots wearing masks, even outside.

Sue, the bookshop hasn't been open since last year, it closes for the winter, and then Covid would have put paid to it reopening at Easter.  At the moment, the entire building where the bookshop is, is covered with scaffolding and boards, so clearly having a big renovation.  Whether the bookshop will still be there afterwards I have no idea - I hope so, I've bought books from there several times over the years.

Heather, yes I did see that picture, and Betty likes Cactus Jack too:-

...although she quickly loses interest when he doesn't make a fuss of her!  I took that photo a couple of years ago, she always makes a beeline for him.

Isn't it a small world?  Fancy 2 blog readers knowing about Watchet (although I think you live down here, Heather?), and of course Marlene comes from here too.

Got to go to town and pick up my new glasses tomorrow.  I don't need anything else in town so hopefully it will just be an in and out job...everywhere is noticeably busier at the mo with lots of holidaymakers around, who I have no desire to mingle with.

Not doing much at the mo, I don't really feel like it.  Made a couple of cards this morning (husband's out so it's nice and peaceful) and sorted some washing out to go on overnight - I always do it overnight on the cheap rate electricity.  Will do a tuna salad for lunch, then chop up a load of garden veg to go with the sticky sausages we're having for dinner.  Just low fat sausages which I'll drizzle with a tiny bit of honey and balsamic vinegar before roasting.  Not much of interest to write about, you must all be bored stiff!

Bloody ticks

I've just noticed Betty's got another tick, a small one on her face.  She wouldn't let me remove it just now, she wriggled out of my grasp and ran away upstairs.  Will have to wait until later on this evening when she's calm and relaxed.  Or hopefully the tick medication from the vet might have made it drop off by then!  Horrible things, they're really prevalent this year....in fact she's never had them prior to this year.

The lasagne made with slices of courgette instead of pasta was a success, we both loved it and I'll make it regularly now.  The cheesy sauce made with low fat yogurt, beaten eggs and a little extra mature Cheddar was really nice too.

Today we're having chicken, chorizo and garden veg stir fry, with ratatouille.  Husband's not all that keen on chorizo, but I'm only using a tiny bit - I like it as it gives a lot of flavour for a very small amount.  I've made the ratatouille already, I like it simmered slowly for a couple of hours, left and then reheated later, gives a great depth of flavour.  I've used red onion, red pepper, aubergine, mushrooms and courgettes, plus a tin of chopped tomatoes.  Added a squirt of tomato puree and a splosh each of Henderson's Relish and balsamic vinegar, along with some mixed herbs and garlic granules.

After lunch (mushroom omelette with salad), we're going to Watchet, a small pretty harbour town.  I feel the need to get out of the house and go for a stroll somewhere to clear my head and take my mind off things.

I hadn't made any cards for a while but have got back into it now, made an anniversary card for friends yesterday and a couple more on the go today.  I'll put pics on my card blog in due course.

Thank you for the nice comments on my garden pics, I'm really loving my garden this year, especially now Betty's stopped trampling on the flowers!  Although she did dig all the soil out of a pot the other day, it was waiting for a plant to be put in it so no damage done, other than soil scattered all over the patio, little monkey.

Food and flowers

I haven't done a food post for a while....no real reason, just haven't bothered to write about it.

We're having a low carb week, as my gut is troubling me again and carbs, much as I like bread, chips, pasta etc, don't agree with me much.  (Incidentally, I'm not coeliac, I was tested for it a few years ago.  The conclusion was I'm more likely to have IBS, although I do have an intolerance to some foods).

Today I've made a low carb lasagne for dinner.  I've done a standard beef, tomato and herby mince, but instead of the lasagne pasta sheets I've used our own homegrown courgettes.  I sliced them lengthways then grilled them, to soften them up before layering with the mince.  For the cheese sauce layer, I've used low fat yogurt mixed with beaten eggs and a little grated extra mature Cheddar.  So it's kind of like a lasagne/moussaka cross.  We're having it with the first runner beans out of our garden, and my favourite tenderstem broccoli.

Some garden pictures:-

All very pink!

Mum's birthday, and hope.

It's Mum's birthday today, she would have been 84, it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up this morning.  We siblings have all exchanged messages this morning, we're all trying to keep positive by focusing on Mum's 60th birthday.  We had a combined birthday and retirement party for her in sister's back garden, arranged in secret, it was a lovely day.

As Mum and sis lived next door to each other, Mum would have seen the comings and goings and things being done, so we arranged for Mum's best friend (who was in on the secret) to take her out for the day.  Sis texted us when Mum had gone out and the coast was clear, and we all went round and set to decorating the garden and house and getting the food ready.  Mum was indeed surprised and very pleased, it was a memorable day.

We're all so glad Mum's not around in this Covid crisis - there's the fact that she'd have been heavily at risk of dying anyway if she caught the virus, especially since she was hospitalised for the last few weeks of her life and was in such poor health.  As it is, she died in relative comfort in a general ward, not hooked up to a ventilator and numerous other machines in intensive care and gasping for breath, as she would have been had she had the virus.  Had she been alive now, she wouldn't have been allowed any visitors whilst in hospital and Mum would have absolutely hated that - she had many friends and had lots of visitors every day whilst in hospital, it was one of the things that kept her going through her last weeks.

I heard some medical expert (I forget who) the other day saying there may never be an effective vaccine developed for Covid-19 - there still isn't one for things like malaria and AIDS even after all these years.  And although we do have vaccines for flu, it hasn't been eradicated at all, there are so many different strains of it and it mutates all the time - which Covid is apparently already doing.  I must admit that hadn't occurred to me, it's a frightening thought that Covid may be around for many years to come with no vaccine to prevent catching it.  But there are huge medical advances coming all the time, I prefer to be optimistic and believe that sooner or later (hopefully sooner) there will be a vaccine, and there will be a cure for cancer.  We HAVE to have hope, or we may as well just give up and die.  I survive on hope, for many things.

A nice end to a bad day

Thank you all for the recent kind comments.

After a very bad morning yesterday, which i'm not going into any details about, we had a very nice ending.

We have a fridge freezer in the kitchen and in the utility room a large upright freezer, another small freezer which I keep homemade dog food in, and a spare under worktop fridge which I use for drinks and dairy stuff bought on special offers with long dates.  Well, that fridge (which is old anyway) has given up the ghost this week, it's no longer staying cold and every time I open the door there's a pool of water on the shelves.  We can't really afford a new one so I looked on our Facebook local neighbourhood page to see if anyone was selling a cheap second-hand one.  Bingo - a lady was advertising one for free!  From the photo it looked almost brand new....bet it's gone, I thought.  Well it wasn't, and the lady said we could come collect it yesterday evening.  It's lovely, a damn sight better than our old one and in beautiful nearly new and very clean condition.  The lady wouldn't take any money for it but gladly accepted a jar of my homemade blackcurrant jam, which she squealed over and said was her favourite flavour (that was lucky then!).  What a nice lady - well, couple, her husband was equally nice.

They live in the most perfect place - a gorgeous big house with lovely terraced large garden on the bank of a really pretty reservoir, it was so picturesque and peaceful I could have sat there quite happily for days.  Well, for the rest of my life actually.  If I ever won the lottery (which we don't even do so it won't happen), I'd offer them a lot of money for that house.

Get lost

After another spate of bitchy comments from the usual faceless and nameless cowards, I've decided I'm not allowing anonymous comments to get through anymore.  Apologies to genuine readers who don't have Google accounts.  Life's too short to put up with nasty mean-spirited twats who can't even be bothered to read posts properly and just want to cause trouble.  Well you're not doing it on my blog, so off you pop.