Tales from The Shire

themadvix

Love the slate Fortune, I’m sure your guests will too!

Jessy103

The slate is beautiful, fortune! x

PurpleFairy26

Lovely work on the slate and it’s great you’ve got the bookings for your annexe. We have a glut of courgettes on the way. They’re great in homemade fajitas too....

Fortune_Smiles

the_cross_rabbit said:

Stunning artwork 
CRx

Thanks CR.  I have some new paint pens I'm experimenting with.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

themadvix said:

Love the slate Fortune, I’m sure your guests will too!

Jessy103 said:

The slate is beautiful, fortune! x

PurpleFairy26 said:

Lovely work on the slate and it’s great you’ve got the bookings for your annexe. We have a glut of courgettes on the way. They’re great in homemade fajitas too....

Thanks for the support guys.  I'm trying to find a new source for slates at the moment as I've used up my stash now.  I only had a few to start with but they're proving popular.

MMMM fajitas 😋 - yes, I'd forgotten about fajitas.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Emergency Rescue

On Thursday, Mr F discovered a little, black diving beetle had decided to make its home in FDawg's outdoor water bowl.  They can fly really well and often do from pond to pond.  However, we were worried that a) FDawg might slurp him up or b) he would be unable to crawl out because of the slippery sides of the bowl.  We put a few rocks in the bowl so that beetle could climb out if he wanted to but yesterday morning he was still happily swimming around and hiding under the rocks.  I called my neighbours as I know they have a pond and that they are looking after their granddaughters at the moment.  Sure enough, granddaughters were delighted to come to the gate with a jam jar, take beetle away and release him into a much more suitable home 😁😁😁

I got my housework done yesterday 🥱 so today I can indulge in a little painting.  Mr F has yet to cut my slates for me but I do have some stones left over from our last beach visit so may paint a few of those for Shr0pshir£ Rock$.  I've been leaving a basket of them in the Annex so that guests can take them on their adventures and leave for others to find.  My guests last weekend took a little mouse stone and sent me a picture of him in his new hiding place 😁

We didn't have courgettes for supper last night after all.  I remembered we had leftovers to use up so had Halloumi Traybake which I'd made with new potatoes and baby cauliflower from the veg patch.  It's a recipe that would work with courgettes though so I'll remember that for next time.

The only spend to report is some treat kibble for FDawg as we'd run out.

Have a great weekend folks

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, well done on your epic beetle rescue Fortune! 

I discovered a couple of weeks ago that one of our local towns has been creating a rock snake...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/explorebuxton.co.uk/covid-19-snake-2/?amp

It has 3000 rocks now apparently, sinking their way round the local park. I keep meaning to go back and have a proper look. What a lovely idea to paint rocks for your guests! I bought some paint pens, and have been painting plant labels on bits of broken roof tiles (we have a LOT of them 😂 ) but I've not done anything other than that with them yet...

teapot2

Painted stones have been a big thing in my town during lockdown and there are plans to try and preserve them in some way - think they've been important for folk both in the seeing and the painting .  Your slate looks lovely too

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, well done on your epic beetle rescue Fortune! 

I discovered a couple of weeks ago that one of our local towns has been creating a rock snake...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/explorebuxton.co.uk/covid-19-snake-2/?amp

It has 3000 rocks now apparently, sinking their way round the local park. I keep meaning to go back and have a proper look. What a lovely idea to paint rocks for your guests! I bought some paint pens, and have been painting plant labels on bits of broken roof tiles (we have a LOT of them 😂 ) but I've not done anything other than that with them yet...

teapot2 said:

Painted stones have been a big thing in my town during lockdown and there are plans to try and preserve them in some way - think they've been important for folk both in the seeing and the painting .  Your slate looks lovely too

Hi guys.  We have a few local snakes too 🐍😁  There is a FB page for $hrop$hir£ Rock$ and I know from there that both kids and adults enjoying finding the stones and re-hiding them.  Some of the paintwork is absolutely stunning and you can keep the stones if you want to.  I like the idea that someone might find one of mine and it brighten their day.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

These boots were made for walking

We had a lovely weekend.  I spent Saturday painting and on Sunday we went for a very long walk along the canal.  We took a picnic but were hoping to find a pub along the way (which we did) and now have a walk and pub lunch option for when the DS's next come to visit.  We did stop and have a couple of drinks before staggering home 😜

I've shuffled money today and budgeted up until the end of September.  Having some Annex money coming in is making a huge difference.  We've decided to use the funds to finish repairing the patio.  We did the section at the end of the house last year but the section to the front is in a bad way.  It was one of the three big projects we were hoping to complete this year so it will be great to have at least one of those done.  The other two were to get chickens and plant an orchard but I think those will have to wait until next year.  The emergency savings pot may go down a little but we should still reach 100% of our target by year end.

I picked lots of redcurrants from the veg patch yesterday.  Some are destined for gin of course 😆  The others I'll freeze.  There are plenty more to pick and blackcurrants too - if the blackbirds don't get to them first.  I also picked the last of the broad beans.  The courgettes are still doing what they do 😆 I sent our Annex guests home with three at the weekend and used up more in this week's meal plan.  We've had:

Courgette & Basil Soup (great for using up a lot of courgettes in one go and makes a big pot)
Gnocchi Lasange with Spinach, White Beans & Sausage (to use up the spinach which has suddenly gone mad)
Pasta with Chilli Tomatoes & Spinach (to use up more of the mad spinach)
Salmon Pesto Parcels (used up some courgettes and some broad beans - result!)

I'm hoping to be able to get out in the garden more this week.  There's a lot of weeding to be done... again.  I also need to get the Annex ready for guests arriving on Saturday and give my kitchen a deep clean.  No rest for the wicked 😈

Happy Hump Day everybody

Fortune x