Monday 12th May - Banana Custard

 That's all he wants for his supper tonight, on account of coming home from the dentist minus a tooth. This wasn't a surprise; it's another step along his dental journey towards having tooth implants. All has gone smoothly so far.

Meanwhile he's taking it easy for a couple of days. 

It's just as well we got a lot of heavy work done in the garden yesterday. Our neighbours are having their garage taken down in the next couple of months. As our two sentry box tool sheds were leaning against their garage wall for support we knew we would have to relocate them, at which point it all became a bit of a sliding block puzzle.

We've solved the puzzle and are pleased with the results. I've more room in my veg patch, and the blue shed, used for storing oxygen cylinders, is in a better situation regarding sunlight and also for deliveries. 

While BB was at the dentist I did a little more tidying outside, and looked at how the garden is getting on.

The first 'hot lips' salvia flowers are out! Surely mid - May is a bit early?

The flowers are very small; one could easily miss them among the leaves. 

Music

How do they do it? Murray Perahia playing Chopin Etude op 10 no 4 'The torrent'.

I've just watched it without the sound (Paul Murton is extolling the beauties of the River Esk on television) and you would think the film had been speeded up.

Sunday 11th May - Christian Aid Week

 Christian Aid week begins tomorrow - their big annual fundraising time. For years I bwas one of those annoying people who pushed envelopes through people's front doors, and then came back to collect them. 

It was a task I hated! I personally disliked receiving those envelopes,  and then scratching around to find where I'd put it, and hunting for change to stuff into it when someone turned up to collect it! So I felt very awkward when it was my turn to perpetrate this annoyance upon my neighbours. No-one was actually rude to me, I'm glad to say.

I don't think we take part in this house to house collection at our church any more. We tend to go for fundraising events and plant sales, which is what is happening next week. 

My zoom church used the Christian Aid material in the service today. 

We heard about Aurelia, from a small village in Guatemala. She's mother of eight children, and a grandmother too, and spends four hours every day collecting water.

Here she setting off; her 78 year old father is behind her.

Stop there! How many grandmothers do I know who have the health and strength to do this? I certainly couldn't. She says she worries that it is getting too much for her.

Christian Aid writes

Christan Aid's local partners, Congcoop, works with the women to teach them innovative and sustainable farming techniques to help adapt to the consequences of climate change. The rivers are shrinking,  becoming narrower and shallower, and no longer providing fish for food and farming practices have cope with the drier weather and even drought.

Here's Aurelia again;

You can read more about this, and other projects on their main website.

I do urge you to support Christian Aid in the work they do all over the world, and if one of those little collection envelopes drops through your door, stuff some money in and put it somewhere handy!

Thank you for reading. 

Music

It's years since I heard a cuckoo, or watched Roger Moore, for that matter!

Saturday 10th May - just music

 Today began too early... I don't mind waking early but 4am? I should have listened to an audiobook or something and I would have gone back to sleep. But that would have meant waking up enough to get the book started! So I dozed instead.

I've done some cover story collaboration stitching,  and added to my sock, and that's about that.

Music

Who remembers watching this programme on television? If they repeated it I would happily watch it all over again. 

Friday 9th May - cast not a clout

Confusing weather

'Cast not a clout 'till May is out'. Does that mean wait until the end of May, or wait until the hawthorn (May-tree) is in flower? Answers on a postcard, as they always used to say before texts were invented. 

Well, I did, a week or so ago, changing from Winter duvet and Winter pjs to Summer duvet and Summer pjs. But the I've shivered the past few nights (my friend said she'd taken a hot water bottle to bed!) and so I this morning I put out Winter pjs for tonight. 

Today has, of course, been lovely and warm, so now I'm in a bit of a quandry... 

Gardening 

Lots of useful work was done; BB scrabbled around under the hedge at the bottom of the garden pulling up goose-grass, or sticky-grass, or cleavers, or robin-run-the-hedge, call it what you will. It is just beginning to flower, the perfect time to catch it. Once it has formed seeds you are doomed... pull it up too late and a millions little round seeds will fall rattling onto the ground, ready to cause ten times as much trouble next year! 

So, I'm sorry, caterpillars, I'm not providing a breeding ground for you inside my garden. You'll just have to try your luck on the other side of the hedge. I'm sure there will be plenty out there.

I've also made progress in tidying my 'potting' area by the veg patch, organising space for a chair and table ready for morning coffee among the broad beans in days to come. 

Music

This Ravel Prelude is one of the most transparent sounding pieces I know.

Thursday 8th May - how Jean Baptiste Lully died

 That's a bit of a heavy title for today's post...

Garden

Today I noticed the clematis with little white flowers has come out. The rambunctious rose is covered in little buds; any day now, any day... some aliums have flowered and there's a bud on one of the peonies, giving a sneak preview of the red flower to come.

Some more potatoes are shoving their way through the earth,  radishes and spinach, broad beans and peas looking like what they will become.

No 'proper' rain yet, BB was out with the hose earlier.

Reading

I thought I was being clever with my guesses as to 'whodunnit' in 'The Lake House' by Kate Morton. But know, more twists and turns yet, and a hint of romance too. It's a good read.

Music

 Ah yes, Lully. He hurt his foot when he was conducting the orchestra in one of his operas. Unfortunately, it being the early 1700s, when the wound became infected there wasn't much that could be done for him, and he died. A reminder of how grateful we are for 20th/21st century medicine and antibiotics, and a warning to treat them with respect! 

For years I couldn't fathom out how he hurt his foot with his baton... this video explains all.

I love the verve and vitality of the band, the extraordinarily 'period' hairstyle and demeanour of the conductor, and also watching the faces of the audience. 

The venue, and the music are pretty splendid too!

Wednesday 7th May - nearly there...

 Admin

The end of the admin for my father’s estate continues, but the end is in sight...

I'm fortunate that all of us are helping out, pulling together. Currently my next immediate 'project' is the forthcoming celebration tea party for all his friends, later this month. I'm organising the venue and caterers, my brother's looking after sending out invitations and working out the likely approximate estimated number of guests. Then it will be time to get hold of glasses and suitable fizz for toasts... 'keep calm and carry on'...

Grocery shopping 

Having taken over doing the online shopping order, and doing the meal planning from BB, I'm still trying to get a system going. When my father was alive, BB used to do his shopping on Thursday and this was a golden opportunity to buy anything that had been forgotten from our main shopping. Now, of course, that doesn't happen! 

This week I've omitted crisps (we sometimes have a small portion with our supper), some cold meat, a second loaf of bread, a jar of pickled herrings and some baking potatoes. I haven't decided whether to improvise with what we've got, or make a special trip. 

Meals

I filled a roasting tray with 1 packet of  minced beef, 2 cans of mixed beans, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 6 sticks of celery, 2 cans of tomatoes, 2 cans water with beef stock cubes, pepper, garlic, mixed herbs, tomato pureé, and crushed chilli. It all went into the oven for an hour and a half... 

We had some for lunch with baked potatoes and spinach, and I have four more meals in the freezer. 10 individual portions! I thought that was pretty good going!

I've a chicken, which will provide a Sunday (or Saturday!) roast, along with further meals, and some sausages for a couple more lunches. We'll be filling the freezer or ourselves over the next week!

Music

I came across this in the school holidays when I was in the sixth form. I bought a cassette recording and listened to it over and over again.