Tales from The Shire

badmemory

I am going to state the obvious as so often the obvious is easy to miss, but have you considered telling your window person that of course the property would be empty as you will be in the annex when they come.  Some of these teams are family members & can be in a place together.  They would be glad for the work too!  I've actually noticed a mobile home, normally parked on one drive that seems to been moving every few days with a van turning up to do one job or another at its new place.  Sometimes you would think I lived in a tiny village!

Fortune_Smiles

Nanna Napping

I have to admit to a cheeky nanna nap yesterday afternoon.  I'd stayed up half the night trying to get a T£$co delivery slot and, having failed in that endeavour, woke very early after dreaming of pasta 😂  Fortunately, as it happens as I then managed to get a slot.

The morning was quite productive and I got a lot of admin sorted, also had a little tidy round the house.  But then fatigue set in and, after lunch, I sneaked off to bed and slept for 3 hours 😮  I must have needed it.  I think I've been carrying around a low grade level of stress for the last few weeks (hasn't everybody) and properly thinking things through on Thursday released some of that.

Lunch was Spicy Bean & Avocado Tostados and supper, Cauliflower Paneer & Pea Curry with rice.

Today is a gardening day.  My onions, garlic and broad beans are properly growing now.  No sign of the carrots and spring onions though.  The cold frame is doing a great job.  I may have saved some of the lettuce seedlings but the jury's still out on the sweet peas.  I finally received my last order from $utton$ though so I have some lettuce seeds if all else fails.

It's Bingo night tonight.  Looking forward to seeing my family and raising a glass of Prosecco.

Have a good weekend guys

Fortune x

PurpleFairy26

Nothing better than an afternoon nap. Enjoy your bingo. 

Fortune_Smiles

PurpleFairy26 said:

Nothing better than an afternoon nap. Enjoy your bingo. 

I don't usually indulge Purp as I wake up feeling woozy for the rest of the day, but this time, it was needed.

Fortune x

themadvix

My spring onions took the full 21 days to germinate Fortune, so there may be hope yet (not sure when you planted them).

Fortune_Smiles

In the Garden

We spent most of yesterday in the garden making the most of the good weather whilst it lasts.  I hoed the veg beds and started to weed the fruit cage.  Mr F mowed the lawn and top field.  We're leaving the bottom field for friendly farmer to cut silage this year but Mr F has cut me a running track around the boundary so I can continue with C25K.  I don't think he wants me to have any excuses 😂

Lunch and supper were the leftovers from the day before so I had a day off from cooking.  Apart from breakfast which was Mixed Fruit & Nut Granola.  It's a recipe I use a lot as it's very easy to do and makes a lot of servings.

Our virtual Bingo Night was great fun and it was good to see everybody again.  I had a separate call with my sister after.  She's an A&E nurse and it's very sad to hear her personal experience of the virus.  We had a serious conversation about her will and wishes should the very worst happen.  Not nice to think about but necessary and a sign of the times.  It reminded me that we have some amendments to make to our wills so I'll add that to the to do list for this week.

I'll get to 'see' her again tonight as we are hosting a family quiz.  I've finished the questions.  Just hoping the broadband holds up as we could be seen but not heard last night.  I had to write 'Bingo' on a sheet of paper and hold it up when we won 😆😆😆  I've also arranged a regular call with the boys - the first tomorrow and then on a Sunday night going forward.  We're going to do quizzes and have a go at board games.  Not sure how that will work out 😂

Have a good Sunday all.

Fortune x

woodfired

I'm glad you have a plan and that it has lifted some of the stress Fortune.  It's been hard living in "limbo" but I think more people are starting to accept this new normal and come to terms with it and, as you have done, begin to plan again for the future.  Your plan looks sensible and it is good news that you could manage without Mr F's salary, should you need to.  Keep up the good work.  WF.x

Fortune_Smiles

woodfired said:

I'm glad you have a plan and that it has lifted some of the stress Fortune.  It's been hard living in "limbo" but I think more people are starting to accept this new normal and come to terms with it and, as you have done, begin to plan again for the future.  Your plan looks sensible and it is good news that you could manage without Mr F's salary, should you need to.  Keep up the good work.  WF.x

I certainly do feel more relaxed now I've adapted my approach and it's reassuring to know we could survive.  Thank goodness I found this site when I did.  I don't think we would have been in such a fortunate situation without it.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Nature Notes

We managed to get a few more jobs done in the garden before the heavens opened.  There's now a bird net over our radish, spinach and chard seedlings.  At least I think they're spinach and chard seedlings 😂  They are taking they're time coming up and I think I may have planted them a bit too deeply.  I may, in fact, be carefully tending weeds 😆  At least they will be safe from the two fat wood pigeons who have been patrolling recently.  I also planted some cut and come again lettuce from the seeds that arrived this week.  Last year I planted Chervil, Lemon Balm and Bergamot seeds and, although they germinated and grew into plants, I didn't get round to planting them in the herb garden.  They are now snuggled in with their fellow herbs.  I decided the poor, dried out sweetpea seedlings would have a better chance out of the cold frame and in the ground so they have now been planted outside the annex along with a dollop of compost and a large degree of hope.

Whilst in the veg garden we were accompanied by a cloud of St Mark's Flies.  They floated around us with their long legs dangling.  I hadn't seen them before I moved to the Shire but they are here in abundance, appearing around St Mark's Day, the 25th April, from which they take their name.  Other recent firsts include finding a Bullfinch in the fruit cage and discovering the location of a Nuthatch nest whilst out on a morning dog walk.  Nature is certainly very evident right now.

Our T£$co delivery arrived with only one missing item and one sensible substitution.  There was rather a lot of it as I was hoping to cancel the next delivery, due on Wednesday, as it's so soon after, however, the gaps between deliveries after that become much longer and there's still a limit on how many items you can order each time.  I'll do my meal planning today and see what I can do.  I don't want to take up any more slots than I need.

Our lunch yesterday was a Feta & Clementine Lunch Bowl to use up the clementines that didn't make it into the vodka 😉  Supper was a Halloumi Traybake made with cauliflower as I couldn't get broccoli of any sort.

We hosted the family quiz night last night which was great fun.  We discovered that the person with the strongest broadband needs to start the call and, if you plug a separate speaker into your phone or laptop, everyone hears an echo.  Every call gets a little better as we iron out the niggles.

More rain is expected today so I'm planning to catch up on some inside chores and perhaps do some rock painting.  We have a call booked with the boys tonight - the first of a regular weekly catch up, so I'm looking forward to that.

Have a good week all

Fortune x

in_need_of_direction

I know exactly what you mean about finding this site and the benefits.  It was only after working out that we could, at an absolute push, pay off our mortgage, that my sleep improved.  It’d leave us probably needing to do a balance transfer to pay my tax bill when it comes due but just knowing that we could eradicate our biggest outgoing if we had to, made such a difference.