Apology, TV and Book-y Mojo!

 I always seem to be apologising lately, but I really am sorry to have been missing once again from blogland.  I'm having trouble using my phone to upload photos and have no other way to add them to my blog.  My phone is far too fiddly to write a blog post on as well so I've fallen by the wayside.  In addition, every update on the PC seems to change the way I have to do things and, quite frankly, I'm struggling with it all.  I really don't like change 😕

Anyway, with the weather cooling nicely over the last couple of weeks we did manage a trip to Dudmaston Hall using a free National Trust entry voucher.  It was a beautiful day.  We enjoyed a good walk, a cappuccino and a browse around the second hand books.....

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I have never really complained about paying the BBC licence fee as we watch a lot of BBC dramas, and feel that we, personally, get value for money.  However..... when I went onto iPlayer to find something to watch this week, I got this very unsettling message.....

....... From 31st October our Humax box will cease to work and we won't have access to iPlayer 😱  To say that I don't get along with new technology is a gross understatement, so what this actually means for us is beyond me.  Does it mean we need to buy a more up to date TV?  Is it all to do with paying for a streaming service?  Heaven knows.  I will have to let Gray investigate.

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Now that the weather is much better, cooler and with rain on a regular basis, I have got my reading mojo back.  I spotted this title in Sainsbury's, liked the look of it, and ordered it from the library.  I LOVE it! It's right up my street and I think my blog buddy, Gill, would love it too......

Gill introduced me to Lorna Cook and Amanda James so I'm looking out for more of their books.  Isn't it lovely to find a 'new to me' author and have a good binge read 😊

I've tried to add more book-y photos on here but blogger is just not playing ball.  However, last week my neighbour loaned me It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover.  Although it was not my usual genre, and I did feel a bit uncomfortable reading parts of it, I persisted and found it to be rather good with a satisfying ending.  I believe it's been made into a film but I don't think it's one I will really want to watch. 

Has anyone read it? What did you think of it?

This morning I've had an email from the library to say that the latest Rob Rinder book which I ordered is ready for collection.  I'm looking forward to that one!

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On Saturday it will be the village 78th Annual Show which is organised by the Horticultural Guild and Flower Club.  The weather forecast is looking reasonable and we are looking forward to it.  We are both entering a few things 😊

I'm entering some cards and photos into the craft section and Gray is hoping to enter a couple of things into the plants and veg sections.  Unfortunately this year, the weather has created havoc with the growing season and lots of our produce has already 'gone over' so we have very little of exhibition quality produce.  It's just a bit of fun anyway so we're not too worried and just want to support the event.  I'll let you know how we get on 😊

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I've still been struggling with back pain and can't sit for more than 30 minutes at a time, but have managed to make another 20 cards for the Hospice shop over the last 2 weeks.  This makes 360 this year so far 👍

Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Feeling Blessed, Feeling Cool, Rain at Last!

 Today, Tuesday, I feel truly blessed.  It's 21C and feels so much cooler that I feel more like myself at last.  We had rain overnight, from midnight onwards according to Gray who lay in bed listening to it fall, and it's put a few inches of precious water into our water butts. 

Yesterday, we went to the allotment to pull some carrots....

..... and this morning I picked cucumbers and peppers from our little greenhouse at home. The single tomato is from the Crimson Crush plant.  We've never grown it before and won't bother again because all the fruit has split or remained 'greenback' despite consistent watering.  They are only useful for cooking with.....

 

The second reason for feeling blessed is that the fridge is full to bursting!  There are so many bits and pieces to use up that I won't be placing a grocery order next week, at least until we've eaten all the bits and I can actually see some gaps! It really needs a good sort out, doesn't it. Everything in the box at the bottom is home grown produce and in the left hand corner of the bottom shelf is a bag of 6 corn cobs.  Yes!  We beat the badgers to the corn this year!  There are still some to ripen on the far side of the bed in the top photo, which we are hoping will still be there in a few days.  We've tried one cob and it was delicious......

There are jams and pickles in the door along with some cheeses and I'm aiming to use up some of the jam so that I can give the jars to Andrea Drury when Howard's lectures begin again in September.  She makes lovely jams and marmalades to sell at the lectures for the McMillan Nurses charity......

I began the day with muesli, homegrown raspberries and a dollop of Greek style yogurt.  A perfect start to the day 😋......

Another reason to feel blessed is that in an hour or so our Daughter and Granddaughter are coming for lunch.  There will be sausage buns with home grown onions gently sauteed to a golden goodness 👍

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Thanks so much for popping in.

How are you feeling today?

Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Wildfire Disasters.....

 On the evening news last night we learned that a wildfire had broken out in Stourbridge near the golf course.  It has been burning rapidly overnight and the current total is 19 homes destroyed with a further 18 suffering damage.  Several people have been injured or suffered from smoke inhalation.  Many homes have been evacuated and the residents taken to the Town Hall for refuge. 

When I opened the patio doors this morning I could smell the acrid smell of smoke as Stourbridge is not too far away, and the fire was not under control at that point.  Andy Burnham has been in the area to support those affected as well as the brave firefighters and rescue services. It's very worrying.  We, too, are surrounded by tinder dry fields and trees on all sides.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved in this 🙏

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Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Swapping & Sharing Produce, Craft Update...

 At the allotment we often get offered some produce to try, a new variety perhaps, or something we don't grow ourselves.  In return we share our own produce too.  Our rhubarb is popular as it produces absolutely masses every year.  One plot neighbour often gives us blackberries or plums that he's grown in abundance and we offer raspberries and apples to him as well as others.  It's lovely to share.

We take home bags of our own veg and it gets shared with 2 lovely neighbours, my brother and our daughter too.  It's so satisfying, although the offerings have been on the thin side this year.  We've lost so much stuff.  Even our runner beans have refused to flourish.  We might have to rethink what we grow next year.....

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A quick update on my cards for the Hospice shop....I'm off to drop in another 17 today making a total of 316 so far this year.  The little knitting themed cards always do well but take longer to make so I can only make a couple in every batch.  I will soon need to begin the Christmas cards 🤯🎄🎅I really hope the weather cools soon so that I can begin them......

Is it too soon to think about Christmas? 🤔

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Stay safe and well everyone wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Edit:  Just back from our outing and there were just 3 cards left in the basket.  They are still selling well 😊 I'll keep on going !

Eating Mojo and Saving Water...

 Thank you all so much for leaving empathetic comments on my last post.  I'm sorry I haven't replied individually but I can only do so on the main PC as my phone screen is far too small and it's much too fiddly to correct typos on it, especially as Blogger is doing weird things!  The main computer is in the bedroom at the back which gets very hot indeed 🔥🔥

We are not venturing out very far at all.  If the day is a tad cooler we go and do what is necessary then come home and shut ourselves in again. Gray is being brave and going to the allotment first thing in the morning to water just to keep the crops alive.  We really can't afford to lose any more food.  The sweetcorn is about to ripen enough to pick and we are hoping desperately that the badgers won't beat us to it this year.

We have been picking:

Allotment

French beans, runner beans (very few this year) raspberries (by the boxful), carrots, radishes, spring onions, potatoes and windfall apples

Greenhouse at home

Crimson Crush tomatoes, Sun Baby yellow tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce

Eating is really the last thing on our minds with the weather being so hot and dry, and I'm trying to make the effort to prepare colourful food for us.  This was what I ate yesterday at lunchtime when Gray was at the allotment.....

I've cut my cheese consumption still further so I cut the portion into tiny cubes to make it stretch.  I really enjoyed it.  Home grown tomatoes, radish, cucumber, a bit of bag lettuce, the last egg in the fridge and cheddar cheese.  Yummy 😀

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With the weather being so hot, I've been taking lukewarm baths to ease my aches and pains (the shower doesn't help)  We keep a bucket in the bathroom in order to save water run off and we've used it to transfer the bath water to the water butt outside.  It's been a real team effort with me scooping the water into the bucket with a jug and Gray using muscle power to lift it and take it outside 😉 Not a drop is wasted 👍........

Thanks again to all my kind blog buddies for your lovely comments.  Take care of yourselves,

Angie 💗

Normal Service Will Be Resumed ASAP....

 Some of you will have noticed that I've been absent from my blog for about 3 weeks ( or maybe no-one has noticed ! 😂)  Anyway, I've not been feeling well.  Perhaps it's been the heat which has made me listless, but I've had no energy and have been unable to concentrate on anything much.  My 'Burning Mouth Syndrome' has still been bothering me (some days worse than others) making me irritable and downright miserable at times.  My vitamin levels are now back to normal but I took a phone call  from the pharmacy last week to say that my cholesterol levels are still elevated with a total of 7 and they are prescribing Statins.  The side effects could be indigestion and achy muscles (both of which I already suffer from) and I'm unsure whether or not to take them, especially the way I feel at the moment.  In addition, I've had a slight headache for the last 3 days and don't want to introduce any other symptoms into the mix.  I'll wait until I feel a bit better before deciding.  Meanwhile, I'm paying more attention to diet, drinking a Benecol drink and carrying on with using Benecol spread on sandwiches whilst I'm deciding.  

I've still been crafting my cards for the Hospice, but have no energy for anything else.....

I know in the scheme of things that our British weather isn't on the scale of other countries.  The wildfires around Europe are horrendous and very frightening.

Does the weather affect your mood too?  How do you cope?

Stay well and safe , wherever in the world you happen to be,

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

Angie 💗

Cooling off, bargains, saga and sport!

The past week seems to have been all about sport and trying to cool off.  Nights have been sticky, despite the fans in the bedrooms and sleep has sometimes been elusive.   The heat saps all our energy and we have done very little in having days out, or even time out of the house.  The aircon unit has been turned on again in the living room which at least keeps one room cool, but sometimes we just need a change of scene. 

Yesterday, I bought tickets online for the £2 Silver Screen film, thinking that they would at least have the air conditioning on.  They didn't 😕We spent 2 sticky hours on faux leather seats and to add insult to injury they had no free biscuits! 😨Yep, even Odeon are trying to save money......

As the cinema is close to M & S, I had ordered a new bra for collection and we popped into the food hall whilst we were there.  What bliss! It was lovely and cool 😎 They were just marking down prices on soft fruit (it was 3pm by then) and we nabbed a pack of British strawberries reduced from £2.10 to £1.24, plus British cherries down from £2.50 to £1.33.  With the money saved I spent 95p on a small tub of single cream to go with the strawberries.......

The strawberries are absolutely delicious and will make 2 desserts for each of us.......

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The British Gas energy saga still continues.  I can see what the problem is.  When I changed tariff in May, someone changed my account to show that we now have a dual read meter; day rate plus Sunday rate.  We don't.  Our meter is still the same one we have had since day one 5 years ago! We have still had no bill/statement since 19th April.  Yesterday, I called customer service...again...third time of calling.  I explained the problem and the adviser could see the problem but was unable to change it and couldn't even add a reading for the electricity meter.  Meanwhile, a cheaper tariff has been offered online and I have taken it.  Now that will really confuse them, I'm sure 😏 The lady in the call centre said that she will "escalate" the problem to "the team".  The monitor seems to show that everything is working normally, it's just their account system which is failing.  I'm not holding my breath for a rapid resolution.......  

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Neither Graham nor I are massive sports fans but the TV seems to have been entirely taken over by tennis, football, Formula One etc  The TV offerings have been repeat after repeat so it has remained firmly switched off.  We did, however, give in and watch the match in which Harry Kane scored two goals, and watched the highlights😁 of the England match against Mexico when they won 3-2.  Wow! Why can't they always play like that?  I might get to like football after all....

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I woke up this morning at 7am and it felt so fresh with the doors and windows wide open.  No sun at that point so I set to and tackled the ironing, put another load of washing in the machine, then pegged it out.  At 10.40am the doors and windows are now closed once more but I feel much happier having achieved something today before I feel like a limp lettuce once more.  It seems we have to bear the heat until after the weekend again.  I think it will mean a visit to the local pub at lunchtime today.  Now they do have the air con on.  We can buy cold drinks and share a cheese and onion bloomer (£4.00)  I think I will take my book to read too. A couple of hours in a cool pub will be very welcome 😉

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be.

Angie 💗