Thursday 29 June 2017

Yesterday....

Saw us both wearing jumpers, eating soup for lunch, then putting on dressing gowns to settle for the evening. What a turnaround in temperatures. I think such jumps from warm to chilly is the reason why us Brits seem to talk about the weather so much!

My menu for this week had included a couple of salads but that has gone out the window and I had to do an extra small shop yesterday to get some soup ingredients and something to give us a hot meal.

We had mushroom soup yesterday and I shall make some more vegetable based soup for today.

Our 4 large but half filled water butts (behind the garage) feed into an old black dustbin. When this is full, a hose pipe leads from it to our small dustbin pond. Yesterday, DB donned on wet weather gear to go an see how full these were all getting.

He reported the water into the black dustbin was pouring in and the same was happening into the pond. All full then:)

The garden will be grateful but I think I shall have to give all the plants a light feed as we had so much rain, it would have washed all the feed through our light sandy soil. Hopefully now, the swelling beetroots will stop shrivelling and finish growing so I can harvest more than the two already eaten.

Wednesday 28 June 2017

Rain .....

At last, the rain has come, and come and come!

So far we have had 16 hours of heavy, non stop rain. Some large areas of the back garden have standing water covering the gravel. I am not sure the newly planted gooseberry will be impressed as it may be in a mini sump!

The pond has filled up and being on a slight slope, gently overflows when full, so it is hard to gauge just how much rain we have had so far.

We reckon not less that 4" and probably nearer 6" as a previously empty jug I use for watering small plants is full!

Forecasts estimate another 4 hours of heavy rain still to come.

Monday 26 June 2017

Council Food Bin

When we started using these bins, our council gave us two. A small one for keeping indoors and a larger one for tipping it into and putting out for them to collect. They also gave us one roll of compostable bags to put the waste in. On their web site at the time, it stated you could buy more bags from them direct or wrap up your food in newspaper before putting into said outdoor bin.

Our small indoor one is where we put all out fresh waste and that goes onto our own compost heap when full, they are not getting their mitts on that precious stuff. The only thing that really goes into the outdoor bin, wrapped in newspaper for convenience, is raw meat gristle scraps, bones, citrus and onion. It is collected once a week but as we don't eat much meat, our bin probably goes out once a month.

The other day, I was walking around the village when the food waste disposal man was picking up the bins and transferring the contents into a large dustbin he was pulling around. No neat little packets or bags of food were falling out and the smell was dreadful, like something had died!

Instead, pure smelly liquid based contents slopped out. Poor man.

I can only assume that most of the bins are probably not washed out afterwards by their owners so carry on smelling. I assume that due to the filthiness of the bins themselves.


Friday 23 June 2017

I'm beginning to realise...

That as well as actual weather and growing seasons, as gardeners, we also have seasons. We feel as though we are entering our autumn gardening years!

Our front gravel garden is mainly herbaceous with a few roses and spring bulbs. As beautiful as it often is, the continuous pruning, clearing and whatnot, is becoming a bit of a chore:(

Yesterday, I began the task of clearing the more annoying if beautiful plants out. The poppies, peonies, valerian, several geraniums etc. DB is helping clear the peonies due to their deep roots. They didn't start out deep but 30 years of adding gravel have buried them though they still flower very well.

We dug down at least a foot into bone dry soil and no doubt have left some roots behind which will sadly, have to be touch weed killed if they grow again.

3 bags of rubbish will go to the skip so we can re-use them. I reckon another 3 should about do it. We shall then buy some more roses, lavender, spring and autumn small shrubs and see how that goes. Growing up, I used to wonder why the gardens of the elderly were either empty or full of shrubs, now I know!


Thursday 22 June 2017

Conversion ...

Firstly, welcome to Samantha Ashurst via Bloglovin.

We saw this car/wagon parked at Ingleton waterfalls and promptly sent a picture to DS:
Probably not large enough for them to think of, but an entertaining idea nonetheless!

Apparently, it is cooler today. Well, I have just spent an hour slowly cutting back and weeding in the front gravel garden and I am absolutely roasting, despite the dark grey cloud (bet we don't get any rain here). Outdoor temperature is just over 22C, indoors, just over 25C. Either place though, it is very humid.

Wednesday 21 June 2017

Waterfalls ....

As the weather in the Yorkshire Dales had been so wet, the waterfalls were in full flow. It is a shame you have to pay to see a few of them but understandably, paths need to be maintained.  Herewith a few pictures:


At the base of a lot of the waterfalls was foam, reminded me of brown meringue:

Ribblehead Viaduct:
And hills:
We had gone to this area primarily to walk, which we did (35 miles), but also to climb. Unfortunately my heart for the first times in ages, decided it didn't want to play ball early in the holiday so we didn't try!

We met up with the lovely Scarlet and her DB and climbed past Ingleborough Cave, up Trow Gill (very steep and rocky) and peered into Gaping Gill. Managed that probably because we were all chatting:)

I didn't get any pictures of Trow Gill but you can see what is was like from this blog post.

Gaping Gill can be seen here. On Bank Holidays apparently, the Bradford Pothole Club set up a rig for you to decend into it!

Tuesday 20 June 2017

And the misery continues ...

For Andy Murray:(

Completely out of sorts, limping on occasions and holding his groin on occasion, it was a 'comedy' of errors almost from start to finish.

By game 2 set 1, I concluded he would lose the match but watched in hope. Ah well, I hope he can get himself sorted out for Wimbledon but am not sure. You are still my hero young man, best foot forward!

Jamie and Bruno won their tournament in Stuttgart last week and have their opening match tomorrow. Jo got through hers at Eastbourne so that was also good.

Andy is not alone in going out in the first round of Queen's, the top three seeds are now out as Stan and Milos also lost.

Normal service is resumed - hopefully ...

We have just got back from attending a funeral down south, which happened to be scheduled just after a weeks holidays in the Yorkshire Dales.

The black dog has been kicked into touch as I have now been able to give (and recieve) much needed hugs:)

We visited a couple of caves whilst on holiday, herewith some pictures:



This wasn't the real colour, they had a pink lightbulb hidden nearby to highlight it!

Thursday 15 June 2017

An interesting journey home!

Travelling home yesterday, we saw a plume of smoke suddenly  arise from the side of the road. Coming around the corner we encountered a large car on fire, towing a caravan. It must have just happened as only the bonnet was on fire.

However it quickly spread to engulf the front of the vehicle and things began to bang as small explosions took place.

Within a short while the police arrived, quickly followed by the fire brigade who moved quickly to extinguish it. Luckily the caravan seemed okay as it could have been a different story if the gas canisters from that had exploded!

Within an hour we were on our way. The elderly couple whose car it was were okay and no doubt waiting to get towed somewhere.

Monday 12 June 2017

Well then ...

How is everything with you? Me, I am chuntering along, getting lots of walking in. The wet weather isn't holding us back. Normally I hate long walks in the rain but at the moment, am quite enjoying them.

The garden is thankful for the rain. The sun is chasing the rain away and the garden basks in her warming rays. Blimey, I have lost the plot!

Friday 9 June 2017

Well tried Andy

You fought hard but your fitness wasn't quite there. Good to see the massive improvement from coming into this tournament though, impressive. At least I can spend Sunday out and about now!

Now you need to recuperate and get ready for the lovely grass season. I for one will be pleased to see the back of the dreadful red stuff!

Thursday 8 June 2017

Sometimes...

I feel like a flat white coffee minus the caffeine!

I am having a few of those days at the moment, not sure why. The weather doesn't help one jot. Its feels like a storm front building up but without the release of a thunderstorm.

This week should have been a quiet one, but deliveries, dental and hospital appointments got  slotted in, making it a jumble of rushing here, there and everywhere. Poor DB has at times borne the brunt of it which isn't fair on him. So I try to hold onto it so as not to upset him further, poor chap!

In the end it becomes a vicious circle. Immediate family are caught up in grief and general disturbance, so can offer no help yet are in need of it themselves. I need to know they are okay, need to give them a hug and a kiss but can't physically get to them at the moment. It makes me feel so damn useless.

Sometimes, one gets spread a little thin and this is one of those times. We will all get through it as usual, just isn't pleasant whilst its happening:(

I hope to soon kick this black dog into touch 'cos he's being a right pain at the moment.


Wednesday 7 June 2017

Who would have thought!

We would have to have a burst of central heating and eat soup on a so called summers day?

The heating only went on for an hour but was needed and I made courgette and minted pea soup for lunch for two days:
Lovely colour.

It has gone from being warm in bed at night to chilly. Winter quilt has been exchanged for the summer one, and the flannelette sheets for ice cold cotton, maybe a bit early as it turned out:(

Hey ho, such is life on an island.

Monday 5 June 2017

Bargains...

In Lidl last week, for the princely sum of £1, they had punnets of living salads/vegetables. This one, a mix of Japanese Spinach and Red Pak Choy, held 34 plants, so very good value for money.

Once separated, I managed to find room for most of them in my raised vegetable gardens.

The other bargain was this box of Blueberries, weighing 2.5kg, for just £4. We went back today to get another box, although this one had a few more squished ones in it. We reckon we still will have 2.25kg so again, very good value for money. They are all now in the freezer for use later in the year.

I love a good bargain!

Thursday 1 June 2017

Flowers...

Another picture of part of the front garden, the flowers are really getting going now, although the poppies first flush is just coming to an end:
And a few for inside the house - the scent is wonderful:
There are loads of apples and pears on the trees, before the June drop occurs. After that, I really must remember to thin bunches down to one or two fruits!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend when it arrives!