Saturday 2nd September - brilliant day (so far)

This morning began with a morning meet up at our favourite farm shop cafe with son and daughter. Husand and they had their usual waffles, bacon and maple syrup, I had what is becoming my usual; avocado on sour dough toast. (Guess who was NOT plagued by wasps?)

After a rather ominous start to the day, weather-wise, the sun came out, so we walked over to the picnic area and played a board game in the sun - oh joy - we haven't met up for a family games night since the beginning of 2020. 

 

We are playing Ank Morpork, based on the Terry Pratchett games. I wanted to buy another set a few years ago and was astonished to find that they are available on e-bay at over £100 now; they have stopped making them (why?).

Daughter won; himself and I can barely remember the rules, let alone the winning strategies. 

After lunch was an intensive cross-stitching session, followed by an hour in the garden. With some trepidation I decided it was time to transplant my kohl rabi and swiss chard plants after all our diligent slugging.

Horrors! When I looked inside the garden bin, I could see all the snails up at the top, waiting to make their escape, but not a slug to be seen! Some, no, most of the slugs were absolute MONSTERS when we chucked them in - had the snails eaten them all? I doubt it.

I think they spend every night oozing their way under the lid, and it had been the same slugs we have been trapping and chucking every night.

There's nothing for it - we will have to take my friend's advice (she is over 80 and been a true countrywoman all her life) and 'finish them off'. But how? 'Don't ask, don't tell' can be very good advice in certain circumstances and this might be one of them.

Meanwhile I have planted out the kohl rabi;

 Each little plant is surrounded by slug wool, and I have set cider (we haven't got any beer) traps in the tub, unprotected by slug wool, and placed a cider trap at ground level. We have also put a cider trap next to the garden bin. I'm not sure why, (don't ask, don't tell, remember?) but it seemed a good idea at the time.

Since then I have read up on beer traps, how often you replenish them, what to do with the horrible contents, and, finally, why they are such a bad idea according to one website... 

this is because they attract slugs from all over the garden, and many just take one or two sips and then start on the flowers and veg! NOoooooooooo!

Tonight's slugging, and tomorrow's inspection will be nail-biting times.

In other news, I have barely used the oxygen machine at all today; while I was out walking this morning, and now, after that relatively strenuous hour in the garden, and I shall stop the machine very soon.

Tuesday 22nd November - Once more unto the - NO! STOP!

 Yesterday was an absolute whirlwind of getting things done and dealing with random and not so random events. Anyone who has played the 'Ankh Morpok' board game will know exactly what I mean

It even has an entry on wikipedia!

Oh No! Reading the rest of the wikipedia entry I discover that....

Discworld: Ankh-Morpork was designed by Martin Wallace and Treefrog Games.^[8] It is published in North America by Mayfair Games,^[1] and Treefrog claims to have sold over 50,000 copies worldwide.^[9] Wallace's second Discworld-themed board game, The Witches, was released in September 2013.^[9] The artwork, by Peter Dennis, Ian Mitchell, Paul Kidby, and Bernard Pearson,^[4] was checked by Terry Pratchett and the Discworld Emporium to ensure that each character was faithfully represented.^[9]

The game was well received, winning the 2011 UK Games Expo Best New Boardgame.^[10] It has been described as an "absolute joy to play" and praised for being engaging for fans of Pratchett's Discworld and those who have no knowledge of the books.^[3][10] The artwork also impressed with the cards being described as "hilarious and beautifully illustrated".^[3]

On 9 June 2015, Wallace announced that the licence to produce Discworld games had been lost due to changes in the licensing scheme following Sir Terry Pratchett's death, meaning that Ankh-Morpork and The Witches were out of print permanently. He added that there was no chance that the licence would ever be renewed, or that the planned third Discworld game would be produced.^[11] The game has been released with a new Victorian/Holmsian theme as Nanty Narking. 

That would explain why our box is selling on-line for upwards of £100 these days, and our box of 'The Witches' is now worth £60! Well I never did! (And they are NOT for sale!)

Anyway, where was I... oh yes, random events. Like the one just above. An old-fashioned example would be like drawing a Community Chest or Chance card on Monopoly every ten minutes.

Anyway, by the end of the day I was feeling as breathless as if I had run a marathon, so today I am taking things steady. One can get into a pattern of breathing fast, even when there is no need, so spending some time being still seems like a good idea. After all, I have no more important deadlines left for today.

My 'Plan of Attack' is looking good. Just three music lesson write ups and I will be free to spend time on the notebook swap and postcard project.

 

Saturday 12th November - What a beautiful day

 It started cold and misty - proper late Autumn, I thought, but by the time we had driven to our meeting place for a second breakfast with the son and the daughter there were signs that the sun was appear and the skies were clearing nicely. 

It turned properly warm and sunny by the time we had finished eating and we wandered among the trees to the picnic benches a little way from the cafe and sat in the warmth catching up on the news.

One thing we have been missing are our regular 'games weekends', when we would play 

Settlers of Catan

or Ticket to Ride

or Exploding Kittens

to mention just a few. It would have been warm enough to play some board games outside today, although the slight breeze might have been a bit of a problem.

Still it's an idea; I might stick a pack of cards in my coat pocket next time we meet up.

Thursday 26th March - I had a title

I had a snappy title for today's post, but I've forgotten it.

Now, I have remembered to take a picture of the primula that I just managed to save in time;

There. It's fine now, which is a relief! Little happinesses like these make the days chug along.

The solar powered dinosaur has been completed,

and was taken out to strut its stuff in the sun. Leo (one of the cats) came to investigate; she was confised by the disnosaur's apparently random stop-start motion, not realizing that it coincided with her moving around and blocking the light onto the solar panel. But then she's a cat. What does she know about solar power? 

Himslef's unearthed the bigger chess set, not the little one I gave him all those years ago which didn't have instructions, but the bells and whistles and (I thought) better one. It takes half a dozen C batteries - that gives you an idea of its age, so first step was to find a charger that would fit and be the right everything electronical to make it work.

(The meccano car and the jigsaw are lined up as possible next projects)

However it is apparently too clever;  on the easy levels it is extremely simple, and as soon as you choose more serious levels it becomes 'very obscure'. So the hunt is on to find the original 1980s version, all green and red LEDs. And then there will be batteries and chargers to look for...

Now this arrived in the post for me today - a comment from a fellow blogger nudged me into ordering at long last. Not Peter Wimsey detective fiction, but a selection of essays. I'm looking forward to reading it in due course.

Reading and books is getting a little out of hand. I really should get on and finish one of the books I am partway through before I start another, or indeed, buy any more. I'm 90% of the way through 'Tragedy at Law' by Cyril Hare, and the murder has only just happened - but I have no idea who dunnit. There is a butler of sorts in the plot...

 Other than that, everything carries on. The weather improves - colder this morning, but warmer this afternoon, and more has been done in the garden. We're all fine - my father, Himself and the offspring.

My biggest problem is not the fact that I can't go out anywhere, but that I am staying 24/7 in a household where There Be Biscuits. It would be soooo easy to spend my time grazing on biscuits, snacks, nuts, this that and the other. But I am determined to try and end this period weighing no more than when I started.

Wednesday 4th September - Inset Days

Today is the last of a series of inset (In-Service Training) Days which is how the Autumn Term usually begins.

I find them... varied... in usefulness, interest and content. But I also get paid...

It is also the only time of year I get to meet my colleagues. Being a peri teacher is an oddly un-social job - I meet loads of different people at the schools I visit - mainly the front office staff -  but very few of my fellow peri teachers. When our paths do cross, it tends to be in a 'hot-desking' situation - rushing off to another school, or rushing in to start teaching.

I guess that is one of the pleasures of teaching in a Music Centre on Saturday mornings - several other teachers that I used to co-teach with for years (two of us working together in the same class room) also work at the Music Centre and we might get a chance to chat for a few moments in between pupils.

The weather has changed for the start of term. I am wearing socks for the first time since about June. It is drear and raining at the moment, making it hard to believe the forecast of sunshine and warm weather by lunchtime. Will I regret wearing boots? Should I change to trainers? Can I be bothered?

I'm not going to comment on the political situation this country has got itself into beyond saying it is utterly depressing to listen to grown up people in positions of huge responsibility blustering on, saying whatever they feel will suit the moment. Do you remember the board game called 'Risk'?



Or an even more savage version called 'Diplomacy'?



We used to play 'Risk' when I was a child. Friends used to come and 'play' 'Diplomacy' at our house when I was a teenager, and the rows and heated arguments that went on as pacts were made and broken were something to behold.


I reckon that some of our members of parliament have never grown beyond 'game-playing' - that's fine in la-la land, but when it is real people, real lives, real consequences, it is unpardonable. 

 

La-la-land versions of Risk?

Bank Holiday Weekend - Saturday and Sunday

How many litres in a bushel?

Well, I certainly didn't expect google to give me the answer to that so question so easily...

We picked up four tubs of rotten apples from under the apple tree and I reckon the tubs would have averaged at about 20 litres each. That's a fair number of apples, not including and stray wasps. About 8 wasps emerged one by one from a small hole in a medium-sized apple that I picked up, and swerved off in a drunken fashion to find somewhere else. The smell of cider-factory was something else.

It was hot, hot hot. We (daughter and I) were happy enough to be under the tree in the shade. Himself was wearing his Tilley hat to wrangle the brambles out of the new border, in the sun.

Son arrived home from walking about the town, and got roped in to dealing with the over-enthusiastic rose which threatens to engulf the compost bin every few months.

To cut a long story short, we got lots done, even watering. Those ice creams were well-deserved.

(I've also started planning for school - it gets to the point where I have to move from 'thinking about it' to 'getting it down on paper'. What shall I teach this boy? How shall I move her on to the next stage? Should I panic about whether they will be ready for music exams in November? and so on)

So, that was Saturday. It is now Sunday evening; Son has laid out a setup for the game of 'Settlers' which has caused Himself to pour himself a whisky and give me a glass of ginger wine.

Himself and I had stayed at home all day. Doing nothing would have been a good choice, but somehow the garden beckoned...

I'm pleased to have sorted out various pots of plants that were in limbo; I've been growing ivy to use as ground cover, and there were a couple of tatty tubs of mint that needed sorting out; you know, this that and the other. Between us, husband and I got masses done while the Offsprings were at church for the dedication service for their friends' twin daughters.

Have I mentioned it was hot? If I hadn't seen McCavity slowly easing herself in among the plants of our new raised bed I would never have known she was there. Coolest place in the garden, I bet, until the sun came round a bit further.

She would have been behind the chairs, close to the fence. I think this is the first time I have opened both patio doors this year. The green watering can acts as a useful door prop for the left hand door and I fetched a stool out for the other side.

This is taken from the patio doors looking down the garden. I did a fair amount of sorting out of the veg patch (where the red tub is), and also that dark shady border beyond.

You can see the compost bin now that the bushes behind have been hacked back. The compost bin is the sort that should be positioned in the shade, and so it was, for many years, until we had the old shed and garage demolished. Sometimes, when I open the lid, I discover zillions of worms all trying to escape - they aren't quick enough though.

And that game of Settlers? Father and Son tended to compete, 'stealing' each other's cards, Daughter just tried collect sheep, and I won. C'est la vie. Although I'm sure trading cards for a cup of hot chocolate half way through wasn't part of the standard rules.

Sunday 1st April - Easter Day

We had a real family day - the Son represented us all at the Dawn Church Service where Paschal Candles were lit at a small brazier. I'm still spending half-days in bed catching up with myself and sleeping off a snuffly cold, so shivering out at dawn seemed a Bad Idea.

Daughter joined us for a second breakfast of Hot Cross Buns; traditional, not chocolate/toffee or any other weird varieties. I emerged from the bedroom in time for lunch!

My father joined us for Roast Lamb and everything, followed by cheese, followed by Easter Eggs.

My Easter Cactus is in flower;

The same one that flowered at Christmas... I think it may be a little confused as to which type of cactus it is supposed to be.

I drew a picture of Husband and Son and Daughter playing a fiendishly complicated extension of Settlers of Catan. Part of an April challenge to do a drawing everyday by doing no more than 10 lines; a line being defined as from the moment your pen touches the paper until you lift it again. I was using my finger and a tablet, and I truly only made ten separate lines;

and I added a row of hearts and a row of criss-crosses to my fair isle scarf.

Now that my coloured yarn has become pink, I shall try and do flowers next; 

I had a look at the pattern for roses but it does look a bit too complicated.

More Easter eggs, and smoked salmon sandwiches finished the day most excellently.

Hope you've had a good day today as well,