Tales from The Shire

Cheery_Daff

Hope your visiting plans went well Fortune! We moved about 6 months after you and I still remember it like it was yesterday too - I have dreams re-living some of the horrid bureaucracy sometimes... 

Fortune_Smiles

A Little Break

Oops - I seem to have had an unplanned break from my diary 😆  Probably because there's nothing particularly unusual to report... which is a blessing in the current climate so I'm grateful for that.

In money news, Mr F may finally get his pay rise this pay day and, if he does, it will be backdated to April.  I've earmarked any extra cash for shelving for the barn.  Mr F has all his stuff neatly arranged in there but any 'household' items like Christmas decorations and decorating equipment gets squished into a little corner or somewhere equally inaccessible.  He says it's because he needs new shelving so new shelving he will have and then there'll be no excuse 😉

I'm thinking about getting a storage chest for outside.  FDawgs toys and supplies are currently stuffed into the welly store and we'll be needing to get to the wellies soon.  I should have enough in the tittervating pot to cover the costs.

Window man has been out to cut some templates for our round, hay windows so hopefully we'll have an installation date soon.  It can't come too soon - Storm Francis blew rain through our bedroom window yesterday so Mr F has been up a ladder today making some temporary repairs.

We have Annex guests arriving tomorrow and I'm almost ready for them.  Just a couple of last minute finishing touches to do first thing tomorrow.  Our last guests bought another of my slate chalkboards - they are proving to be quite popular.

The veg patch keeps on giving 😁  Courgettes mainly 😆  And also marrow, potatoes, spinach, chard, kale, green beans, lettuce and spring onions.  I haven't had to order a veg box for weeks now.  Recent recipes have included:

• Courgette, Refried Bean and Goat's Cheese Quesadillas
• Pesto Gnocchi with Courgette (I used some pesto from a jar for speed)
• Courgette Carbonara
• Thai Style Green Curry Soup with Prawns
• Smoked Haddock Au Gratin

I am trying to alternative courgette with other things 😂

We've gone on a couple of outings in the last fortnight.  One meal outside, one meal inside, a local show and a visit to an antiques centre for a mooch.  We're still being super careful though.

Hope everyone is safe and well

Fortune x

Jessy103

Glad to hear you are well fortune! The courgette based meals look yummy! BF is not keen so I don't tend to eat them anymore, but as he is a fan of Mexican food maybe he can be persuaded with the quesadillas 😀

Fortune_Smiles

Jessy103 said:

Glad to hear you are well fortune! The courgette based meals look yummy! BF is not keen so I don't tend to eat them anymore, but as he is a fan of Mexican food maybe he can be persuaded with the quesadillas 😀

Hi Jessy 😀

the quesadillas weren't too courgetty so you might get away with them 😆

Fortune x

rtandon27

The pesto gnocchi with courgette looks good fortune - may give that a go next week as we seem to have all the ingredients in!

Fortune_Smiles

Productivity!

One of the good things about Mr F being at home full time is that I've been able to get into a proper routine.  So I'm being very disciplined and productive.  Despite this, I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment trying to keep on top of the house, the annex and the garden.  It would help if it would stop raining for a bit... I have high hopes for the weekend 😉

One of the down sides of Mr F being at home is that my grocery shop is still coming in higher than pre-Covid.  We're not eating anything particularly expensive or different - just more of it.  And that's without a veg box delivery and relying heavily on garden produce.  Having said that, we've not been spending much of our fun money although I'm hoping that might change now the summer holidays are coming to an end and it's likely to be quieter out there.

I seem to have a little more energy in the evenings these days so I'd like to use that time for more creative pursuits.  I started a new slate painting last night but had to stop when I lost the light.  I might invest in an artist's lamp so I can work later.

We had the leftover Thai soup for lunch yesterday and Stuffed Courgettes with Ham & Mozzarella with roasted new potatoes for supper.  Not a particularly inspiring recipe so I probably won't make it again.  Today's lunch was Hearty Pasta Soup with green beans from the garden.

Mr F has the day off work today so we are getting some chores done and sorting out supplies to start decorating the dining room (I bought the paint months ago).  I picked the last of the plums this morning and prepped them for freezing.  The latest pickings have all been moth free - hurrah!  I have three big bags full in the freezer now and would have had more if it wasn't for the moths, the wasps and Storm Francis 😆  I also prepped and tied the garlic for storage.  Mr F has sorted out some racking in the barn so, if the weekend's dry, we'll be able to lift the onions.

Oh dear, it's raining again.  Brollies up!

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

This should keep the vampires away 😆

Cheery_Daff

Definitely lots of productivity there Fortune, well done! I agree about the rain (and the wind round here too) - it does make things seem more of a chore. Great idea to get yourself an artist lamp. I think I need to revive some of my creative pursuits, I found myself just sat there yesterday evening in a bit of a funk, not really sure what to do with myself. That really doesn't happen very often and I didn't like it!

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Definitely lots of productivity there Fortune, well done! I agree about the rain (and the wind round here too) - it does make things seem more of a chore. Great idea to get yourself an artist lamp. I think I need to revive some of my creative pursuits, I found myself just sat there yesterday evening in a bit of a funk, not really sure what to do with myself. That really doesn't happen very often and I didn't like it!

Thanks Cheery.  My energy levels usually dip significantly after supper and the only thing I'm fit for is watching telly.  If I have some extra get go at the moment I'd like to take advantage of it.  I'm sure funks don't happen very often in the Cheery household - you always seem so busy.  Mr F and I are doing some thinking about the coming winter as there are likely to be a lot of dark and dreary evenings to fill.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Goodbye Summer

Mr F has been paid so we've made some decisions about spending for the coming month:

• firstly, of course, I've shuffled money around to various pots and paid bills
• we made a tentative start on decorating the dining room yesterday.  Having had a check on our decorating stash, we found that dust sheets, brushes and various bits and pieces were required so Mr F made a trip out to pick up supplies
• Mr F received his back-dated pay rise 😁 We'll be using some of the money to buy racking for the barn so that the house stuff in there is more accessible.  The rest will be added to the Tittervating Pot to buy an outdoor storage chest so we can use the welly store as it was intended and not a dumping area for anything we can't find a home for 😆
• I've ordered some heating oil while it's still cheap.  That will fill the final quarter of the tank and we'll be set for the winter
• A neighbour is selling logs.  They're good quality and have been drying in his barn for the last couple of years.  I've said we'll have a bulk bag or two which will feed the log burner for a couple of seasons
• we're back making regular overpayments to the mortgage and anything extra is going into the emergency fund.  We've got to 106% of budget for the emergency fund now.  Although some of the money is earmarked for relaying the patio to the front of the house.  Having said that, we've not heard from the builder on a date yet and I don't want to have the work going on once bad weather sets in.  I'll give him a call on Monday and, if he can't do the work soon, we'll think about having an orchard planted instead and postpone the patio work until the Spring
• we've gone off meal plan for the minute and are grabbing whatever is quickest and easiest whilst the decorating is going on.  Future meals may be particularly onion based 😆  I loosened the earth around the onions in the veg patch yesterday and we have a very good crop.  They've had all of yesterday to dry out a little and today is set to be fine so I'll bring them all in to the barn to dry out properly later on.

Each year, on a single day of their choosing, hundreds of swallows line up on the electricity cable spanning the garden and fields at the back of our house.  They arrive at dawn and stay for an hour.  It's a wonderful sight and easy to miss.  I saw it the first year we were here but Mr F was away.  The second year we both missed it.  This morning, I opened the curtains to find them all there twittering and bickering, swirling and settling.  It was spectacular.  And also sad.  Because I know they are congregating so that they can start their long journey back to Africa together.  They have come to say goodbye and will take the summer with them when they leave.

Fortune x