I'm not a huge eater of pies, but your goat cheese/shallot combo sounds rather nice.
It was very warm (22°) at lunchtime, but by the time I was coming home it had cooled to a very pleasant 18°, with just a wee bit of a breeze.
I succumbed to my desire to cook something, and did pasta with prawns, mushrooms, tomatoes and creme fraiche for supper, washed down with a nice glass of WINE.
Last full day of my Summer School. Usual morning of rehearsals. Free afternoon when I chose just a short stroll then read my book. Late afternoon rehearsal 5-6.30. Each group gave a rendition of one song ( there are two courses running, one Early Music, the other songs from musicals) just before the meal which was a barbecue of sorts. The dining room has a lovely acoustic, especially as our group sang from a balcony.
Tomorrow we give a “performance” of sorts, in a church, which will be basically each group singing to the other group., followed by afternoon tea. Home, trains permitting, in time for church choir practice.
That sounds like a very nice Summer School @puzzler.
Being Wednesday I was out with the Ramblers. A very nice walk but several miles longer than advertised. Then this evening I was out at Planning committee which went pretty well considering the potential for disagreement about one application. I came home and unwound by watching The Great British Sewing Bee. Unlike @Heavenlyannie I can't sew but I do enjoy the programme.
Day off today and no yoga over the summer. I’ve done the laundry and would like to get in my studio to do some sewing but Royal Mail will apparently be delivering a parcel and have given me a rather unhelpful 6 hour window of 10-4pm for this. I expect they will turn up around 1pm as usual but in the meanwhile I am waiting around the house and reading. I might start measuring and cutting up the dress that needs re-working on the kitchen floor. I’ll have surreptitiously nip in to the studio to get scissors etc as Mochi gets excited if she heard me heading out there; it is her favourite place to sleep in the morning but I keep it locked when not in use. She is currently crying for me to go outside with her.
Very variable Royal Mail. I ordered an item last week and it took them 8 days to get it from Cornwall to Edinburgh (by stagecoach?). I ordered another thing (from the West Midlands) yesterday and they're delivering it tomorrow.
My lip reading class doesn't meet over the summer so I'm having a lazy morning catching up with emails before heading off for my bookshop shift. Tonight we're going to a favourite pub for the summer social of a local society I belong to. I hope the weather remains as nice as it is now as there is a very nice balcony with views over our town's lock. @Heavenlyannie , we have a very useful log box in our front garden and any parcels get put there if we aren't around.
Yes, I have a large black box in the open porch, it used to be the paper recycling box before we got proper bins. Most posties leave stuff in it but not all, and some Amazon drivers leave parcels leaning against the door despite there being an obvious box to put them inside.
The milkman puts the milk in the black box but we still had a few weeks a couple of years back where someone nicked it regularly, presumably having seen the milkman deliver it in the early hours (the delivery now usually happens around midnight to 1pm, we often take it in at bedtime!). The stealing stopped when we put a very obvious webcam up in our front window.
The Royal Mail missed out on me working for them when they took so long getting back to me that I'd find something else. Does that sound like a pattern to anyone else,
I learned yesterday that my esteemed Cousin R has been able to arrange early retirement - he is, by profession, a very skilled joiner, but for the past 15 years or so has worked as a school caretaker. He's 63, but his wife is a few years younger, and their two daughters are now both independent, so the sums worked out in their favour.
I can only make sympathetic noises at those for whom things don't work out as well. My Sister and B-in-L, who live in France, are in their late 60s, and they also took early retirement.
ION, Arkland the Sultry awaits the threatened Thunderystrums this afternoon, although so far only some light Rain has occurred. I'm hoping that we don't get too much heavy Rain, as the irritating leak from the deckhead into the fore cabin of the Ark has not so far been conquered. Some magic Paint was applied to the offending spot on Monday, so I have yet to find out whether the latest attempt was successful! The water (not a lot - half-an-inch in a Bucket over 6 hours) was coming in close to the old light fitting which I removed over the weekend - I'm hoping that the small amount of redundant wiring I've had to leave in situ will not be affected by any Drips...
Lunch is CHICKEN in Mushroom Sauce, with New Potatoes, and a Watercress side-salad.
I'm new to the "getting milk delivered" malarkey, and having finally worked out that I can just about use a pint over the course of a week (to be delivered on Thursdays, as that's one of the days when they're in my area), and informed MacQueen's that this is the most satisfactory arrangement, did I remember to put the empty bottles out last night? No, dear reader, I did not. <brainless piglet>
Another pleasant day here: 18° and intermittently sunny (although it looked decidedly dark and menacing around 6 o'clock).
Finished up the current crop of salads in the fridge for supper (except the lettuce; I had run out of mushrooms to add to it. Sliced raw mushrooms with lettuce and a good vinaigrette make for a Very Nice Thing).
Re: early retirement (something of which I could only dream) - my bridesmaid (who's four years younger than me) has just retired as a physiotherapist. Much as I love my job (working for her husband), I couldn't suppress a wee bit of envy ...
Cutting and sewing was done and I might even finish the dress tomorrow. Tea was fresh sardines with pan fried garlicky peppers and a green salad with lemon dressing.
Doing some outside work last week, we found 6x 750ml bottles of fruit cider in the outhouse that I made a decade ago. I thought after such a long time that we were looking at some fruit vinegar for salad dressing but Mr Heavenly has just (carefully) opened a bottle and it is a perfectly fine lightly sparkling cider, though a bit mature.
Plan for this evening was to bus up to favourite pub, then go to favourite Italian restaurant just across the road. But Mr F feeling especially tottery, so scrub that. Instead I whipped up a linguine carbonara with pancetta.
Home from summer school, and almost straight out to choir practice, so unpacking can wait until morning. Hoping for a quieter night than the last few, which were disrupted by trains, traffic especially police sirens and early arrival of children being dropped off at nursery.
Whilst I was away a branch of my heavily-laden pear tree broke off. My daughter has dealt with it but left me about 30 unripe pears. There are about another 200 on the tree. This house and its neighbours were built on a former orchard. I think this is a very old tree, no doubt dehydrated.
Is there anything you can do with unripe pears other than add them to the compost bin @Puzzler ?
This evening was very nice, even if the pub rather failed to cater for vegans/vegetarians or those on a gluten free diet. The person that organised the event appeared not to be able to find anything at all to eat, and my husband and I had a couple of random sandwiches, chips and some cake. We met some very pleasant people and I managed to convince a few of them that Labour party members can be nice and I discovered Reform members can be the same. I'm sure we both came away thinking the others were woefully misguided.
My 80th birthday today. Had a celebration lunch at a very good Italian restaurant, with all the immediate family, (two sons, daughters-in-law & five grandchildren). Also my brother, SiL, two of their sons and 2 of their granddaughters none of whom have I seen for five years.
They all live about 5hrs away, and my brother is in pretty poor health, so I was particularly touched that they brought him all this way. There have been occasions that I wondered if we would get to see each other again, as we both have difficulty with travelling and with being away from our familiar surroundings for long.
All have reported having arrived safely home, in spite of setting off in a thunderstorm, leaving us still with about 1/3 of my12" diameter sachertorte birthday cake in the fridge.
Will Mr RoS and I manage to finish that off between just the two of us?
I've spent some time this morning happily compiling a small album of photographs from Nenlet2's recent wedding, which I will be carrying around in my bag for the foreseeable future and showing off to anyone who's (even vaguely) interested. I know the usual way these days is to show people pictures on one's phone but I'm old school.
We had some Proper Rain yesterday, for which the gardens are grateful. I was out and about and managed to keep pretty dry. I had to shelter in a local shop at one point, watching while the high street ran like a river and a drain cover lifted and water flooded up and out like a fountain .
Overcast today and I guess I need to go out this afternoon prepared for Showers.
Spaghetti bolognese for tea. Also garlic bread and Wine.
Comments
It was very warm (22°) at lunchtime, but by the time I was coming home it had cooled to a very pleasant 18°, with just a wee bit of a breeze.
I succumbed to my desire to cook something, and did pasta with prawns, mushrooms, tomatoes and creme fraiche for supper, washed down with a nice glass of WINE.
Tomorrow we give a “performance” of sorts, in a church, which will be basically each group singing to the other group., followed by afternoon tea. Home, trains permitting, in time for church choir practice.
Being Wednesday I was out with the Ramblers. A very nice walk but several miles longer than advertised. Then this evening I was out at Planning committee which went pretty well considering the potential for disagreement about one application. I came home and unwound by watching The Great British Sewing Bee. Unlike @Heavenlyannie I can't sew but I do enjoy the programme.
@Heavenlyannie , we have a very useful log box in our front garden and any parcels get put there if we aren't around.
The milkman puts the milk in the black box but we still had a few weeks a couple of years back where someone nicked it regularly, presumably having seen the milkman deliver it in the early hours (the delivery now usually happens around midnight to 1pm, we often take it in at bedtime!). The stealing stopped when we put a very obvious webcam up in our front window.
All done online, or over the phone...
I can only make sympathetic noises at those for whom things don't work out as well. My Sister and B-in-L, who live in France, are in their late 60s, and they also took early retirement.
ION, Arkland the Sultry awaits the threatened Thunderystrums this afternoon, although so far only some light Rain has occurred. I'm hoping that we don't get too much heavy Rain, as the irritating leak from the deckhead into the fore cabin of the Ark has not so far been conquered. Some magic Paint was applied to the offending spot on Monday, so I have yet to find out whether the latest attempt was successful! The water (not a lot - half-an-inch in a Bucket over 6 hours) was coming in close to the old light fitting which I removed over the weekend - I'm hoping that the small amount of redundant wiring I've had to leave in situ will not be affected by any Drips...
Lunch is CHICKEN in Mushroom Sauce, with New Potatoes, and a Watercress side-salad.
I'm new to the "getting milk delivered" malarkey, and having finally worked out that I can just about use a pint over the course of a week (to be delivered on Thursdays, as that's one of the days when they're in my area), and informed MacQueen's that this is the most satisfactory arrangement, did I remember to put the empty bottles out last night? No, dear reader, I did not. <brainless piglet>
Another pleasant day here: 18° and intermittently sunny (although it looked decidedly dark and menacing around 6 o'clock).
Finished up the current crop of salads in the fridge for supper (except the lettuce; I had run out of mushrooms to add to it. Sliced raw mushrooms with lettuce and a good vinaigrette make for a Very Nice Thing).
Re: early retirement (something of which I could only dream) - my bridesmaid (who's four years younger than me) has just retired as a physiotherapist. Much as I love my job (working for her husband), I couldn't suppress a wee bit of envy ...
Doing some outside work last week, we found 6x 750ml bottles of fruit cider in the outhouse that I made a decade ago. I thought after such a long time that we were looking at some fruit vinegar for salad dressing but Mr Heavenly has just (carefully) opened a bottle and it is a perfectly fine lightly sparkling cider, though a bit mature.
Whilst I was away a branch of my heavily-laden pear tree broke off. My daughter has dealt with it but left me about 30 unripe pears. There are about another 200 on the tree. This house and its neighbours were built on a former orchard. I think this is a very old tree, no doubt dehydrated.
This evening was very nice, even if the pub rather failed to cater for vegans/vegetarians or those on a gluten free diet. The person that organised the event appeared not to be able to find anything at all to eat, and my husband and I had a couple of random sandwiches, chips and some cake. We met some very pleasant people and I managed to convince a few of them that Labour party members can be nice and I discovered Reform members can be the same. I'm sure we both came away thinking the others were woefully misguided.
They all live about 5hrs away, and my brother is in pretty poor health, so I was particularly touched that they brought him all this way. There have been occasions that I wondered if we would get to see each other again, as we both have difficulty with travelling and with being away from our familiar surroundings for long.
All have reported having arrived safely home, in spite of setting off in a thunderstorm, leaving us still with about 1/3 of my12" diameter sachertorte birthday cake in the fridge.
Will Mr RoS and I manage to finish that off between just the two of us?
With difficulty - and a couple of heat exchangers in the house and air-con in the car! 😳
I found the muggy heat very uncomfortable - I'm not designed for temperatures in the 30s.
We had some Proper Rain yesterday, for which the gardens are grateful. I was out and about and managed to keep pretty dry. I had to shelter in a local shop at one point, watching while the high street ran like a river and a drain cover lifted and water flooded up and out like a fountain
Overcast today and I guess I need to go out this afternoon prepared for Showers.
Spaghetti bolognese for tea. Also garlic bread and Wine.