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 💗