Travelling On

apple_muncher

I thought the goat emoji was cows!!!!

Cheery_Daff

Karmacat said:

Thanks for that, Cheery.  I'm getting a bit of a lightbulb moment about this ... I can't do all of that, not if I'm going to look after myself and cook a bit more.  I *will* try to grow some courgettes - the seeds are really big, I think?  But all this little stuff, I'm just not going to do it, it's become more of a "should" than a "want", and that's no good. 

I'm going to sprout the tiny seeds - I *can* do that, I've done it before.   I have an online friend a year older than me who's given up on growing foody plants altogether: I don't want to do that, I like perennials,  the herbs, the fruit, the garlic, the comfrey, all of that, and as I say I *will* try the big-seeded veg.  I'm feeling lighter as I'm typing this, let alone after I've posted it, so I'm sure it's the right decision.  I'll carry on debrambling the garden, of course - not going to let them win now

I managed to get out for a walk this afternoon, which was brilliant in the sunshine ... I walked one of my normal routes, through a little suburban estate to a duckpond.  And I saw a couple of **goats** in somebody's garden!  A back garden that verges onto the road.  We had quite a conversation 🐐🐐  it was very surprising.  But wonderful.  The ducks were a-dabbling, and it was even better than that  

Good plan to focus your attention! I'm growing a lot this year - but that's after several years of building towards it, growing more and more each year, tweaking routines. Yes, courgette seeds are nice and big - I've grown some patty pan squash this year for the first time snd they emerged within a week and their leaves are enormous! Whereas my tomatoes, sown on 6th March, are still smaller than my fingernail... might have to start again with those.

Lovely to see goats on your walk!

Karmacat

Goats are wonderful, aren't they, and they often have such weird eyes 

Cheery, thats great that you're growing more.  I wish I'd believed in myself more in my 30s, 30s and 40s are the best times to start this, I think - the schoolfriend who got back in touch did exactly that, and rebuilt the house, by the way, while both holding down full time jobs an hour away - when age and/or energy levels are on your side, you can do it, that's for sure.

Sat out again reading this afternoon - it was freezing though, very windy, not that enjoyable after a little while.  Did the line drying a world of good, though  

Little bits more of decluttering: massively out of date cans of beer I'd been keeping to use as slug traps, but I've never used them, and I don't really need to if I'm not growing slug-attracting veg, so I was able to declutter the cans, at least.  Plus an awful glass dips container, which reminds me of an awful family member.  Even before covid, charity shops round here would often not accept things they didn't like, I don't think anyone would take this on but I'll try!

Going to catch up on myself tomorrow - my little garden centre trip is going to happen on Tuesday, other things being equal  

themadvix

Well I hope the fire lizard song was tongue in cheek - I would love to have a fire lizard (or 9 😉)! 😊 Rather not have Thread though...

I have no seedlings this year as BIL gave me a voucher for a plug plant veg patch... and I daren’t plant anything else as there just won’t be room (that said, I’ve ordered some extras from Rocket Gardens which is where the rest is coming from). It feels odd not to be pottering in the garden and tending to seedlings though.

Hope you have a good catch up day today Karma!

Karmacat

Thanks madvix!  Yes, I'm sure the fire lizard song was tongue in cheek - I saw a cosplay fire dragon at London Excel one year, they're very popular - I think it was sparked by how many different things were in the books.  I love fire dragons dearly, though I've got a pic somewhere of one sewn onto somebody's shoulder, I can't find it
:


There's also this:

Of course, the blue thing isn't a fire dragon.  But the dalek is kind of cute.

On this one, the pigeons are nice, the dragon's a bit too big to be cute, but still .. 

Karmacat

Ahem, I kind of got involved in my photos but at least I learned how to downsize them on the new computer, I haven't done any of that yet  

And I've done nothing else whatsoever.  Oh dear!  Best get going.

themadvix

The fire lizard and the pigeons are beautiful! Thanks for sharing! The dalek is erm... different! Less scary!

Karmacat

Definitely less scary I was queuing at the same venue a few years prior to that, before Doctor Who came back, and there was a classic Dalek trundling up and down the queue.  It (the guy pedalling inside, lets be fair  ) used its weapons-on-stalks to pin one guy against the wall.  Sustained laughter everywhere, and much flashing of cameras   

I've done some tidying!  Good grief I'm bad at tidying these days ... but I've done some, and now I'm going to do a bit more.  

Karmacat

Good morning!  Gosh, yesterday was diffferent.  Sister and I drove to a bluebell wood that's dear to our hearts, and had a pootle around (twice - needed to avoid a huge family party walking on the narrow access path  ) then on to the main reason for the trip, to go to the huge garden centre there that I was going to buy my herb plantpots from.  No such luck!  They were actually using the overflow car park, they were so busy, the front door was an absolute mob of people - all over the age of 50 or so, but still ... so many that the overflow tent they'd set up at the entrance had stalls outside it, and there was actually no path at all through to the centre.  And heaven only knows what the centre itself was like.  We tried to see through the fence at the back in case it wasn't so bad, but no.  So we drove right out again, very disappointing, I'll have to think of another way to get something going.

But recovering from that and the second garden centre we tried (which was rubbish in a different way) - showering, washing hair, washing clothes - took the whole day, I was completely shattered.  Lovely to see English bluebells though, mine are all Spanish.  A good day.

Karmacat

Another issue I have going on - breaking nuts into small pieces - last week I chopped brazils in half, but that was all.  Not sufficient.  I need to clean my granite mortar and pestle before trying that, that could work.  I've been looking at something electrical/electronic online, and no matter what price point, it all seems very hit and miss - for every single item, some people are delighted, some people say it's useless.  And from a green perspective I really don't want to buy something electronic if there's a low-tech way of doing things.  So I've seen a meat tenderiser on Amazon - handle and head of the mallet bit are made of solid beech, and the "ends" that you smash with are made of stainless steel.  Aluminium is a no-no for me, too reactive with food.  This one made of beech is actually the cheapest I've seen, and to me, it's the highest quality.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this?   Thanks peeps!