TARRAGON & THYME

I have somewhat a bit of reputation for starting things at odd times of the day.  Last night/this morning was no different in the greater scheme of things. I had planned on cleaning the fridge out the other day before I went shopping but for various reasons this did not happen at all and in the end I did the shopping and then had nowhere to put the fresh stuff.  Doh moment or what. So that is why last night when most people were going to bed I got stuck in and stripped the fridge out and cleaned it and then popped all the new stuff back in.  I still have another fridge to do but that will be next weekend. Like today next week is also destined to be very busy/  Two days of this week I am on a course with the DWP and the rest of the days I have other engagements as well. I did not get to bed until 4:00am (actually 5:00am) and then when I did get up about 9:30am we had a cooked breakfast and then I started in the garden again.  So far I have spent abou...

I received a surprise bunch of flowers from my step son and they r lovely.  Will have to post picture later on.  We are a blended family and P and L have their own mum'S and two step ones as well.  So it is lovely heartfelt gesture that is very much appreciated. Our mums have passed over but are still thought of with lots of love and still very much in our hearts and thoughts.  So make the most of your mum whilst you have her abd give her lots of hugs. We wish we could hug ours the thing we miss the most. Catch you soon and all you Mum'S out there have a super day. Pattypan xx

From the earlier post.   Today started off fair and bright.  I walked into town, as yesterday whilst in M & S I had seen a nice piece of beef that was not too extortionate in price and for which I will get at least a couple of meals out of and also meat for the freezer in gravy; and also for some sarnies.  I am glad to say it was still there.  I also bought a chicken, some strawberries and cream and cheese and then walked back again. OH had booked the van in for an MOT. It failed as he needs two new tyres and a rear light was not working as it should, but otherwise no hidden surprises. In reality we could have done without this. That is booked in again for next weekend.  However it is a necessary evil as OH works the other side of Peterborough to where we live and it is too far for him to walk. When I got back home OH was not too long before he came back and he then nipped me to the Italian Shop in Fletton to buy some Italian sausage for tea to ...

Yesterday I purchased main crop potatoes.  Rocket and King Edward.  The garden is a mess and my dad taught me that to clear ground and get a good workable soil to grow potatoes to start with.  As potatoes have been so dear recently I decided to do something about it.  I will look to see if I can get some salad ones in as well.  So now to chit the potatoes. I also bought three roses all climbing ones from the £ shop.  We will see how things go with those.  There is a pink, lavender and red one.  I need to put up an arch or something at the end of the herb garden so that there are no nosey neighbours peeking through.  I have some trellis so will have a word with OH to see what can be done. I now need to get a little done in the garden and get the growing houses cleaned and on the go.  I have lots of seeds now to get the compost and to get busy growing. I also have my eye on some violas, and want some basic herbs in the herb ga...

I have had the lurgey again and have only just got my voice back.  Must be all the dust from the clearing out session which is still ongoing.  I really need to get out in the garden but until I get a little clearer in the house that is  not going to happen.  Not good as really I need to be out in this lovely weather. Its been a really busy week here and me not being well has not helped at all in fact it has scuppered a couple of things I was going to and I hate being incapacitated in any way!  Too impatient by half. Next week is going to be even busier as I have a couple of day courses to go to in connection with getting a job.  I have also been on a couple of Agency job sites as well.  I do not particularly want to temp for an agency as they tend to milk you for all you are worth, but it may come to that.  Will have to see what happens.   Just hope that what they are sending me on is helpful.  I personally think that I am the w...

It has been a busy day - an early start and has been non-stop with no let up.  Starting to get stuff sorted and balanced though which is a good thing.  Don't feel too good at the moment though bit stuffed up with a sore throat.  Fingers crossed it isn't as I could do without the lurgey at the moment.   We have had a nice tea  - not a joint this week just some double lamb chops served with potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and Yorkshire pudding.  It was quite tasty.  I then treated myself to a couple of fluffy pancakes with sugar and the juice of a Sicilian lemon on.  they were delicious am now completely stuffed. Have not done too much tonight watched a couple of programmes and it will not be long before I hit the decks.  My back is gipping me too.  Probably all the lifting up of boxes up and downstairs.   Still finding lots of lovely stuff.  Found my Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady Dinner service which has been -r...

It is cold in the house.  It always is when the sun is out which it is this morning.  The sun is high in the sky and promising so much hope for tomorrow.  Makes you feel good about things. A lovely Spring morning.   I am sorting the next tranche of boxes and manoeuvring them into place - easier said than done.  Somewhere along the line I have to find a home for my mother's knitting machines all three of them plus associated gadgets and paraphernalia about 10 boxes in all.  That will have to evolve although they are getting in the way so may have to get them into the loft.  Then there is all the wool and the pattern books.  I am not sure I will ever use them at the moment but will see.  Then there is all the wool which is currently bagged and in the loft. Yesterday I found more of my green glass and my various Angel figurines and lots of other goodies although some of them are going to have to be thinned out in due course. We ...

Sounds like I am back at school!   No fear at the moment.  Lots of hard work has been going in  behind the scenes and that is why I have been so quiet.  Lots has been done although it does not look like it and lots more is yet to happen but ever so gradually I am getting sorted.  I have spent most of yesterday so sorting We are off to the unit today to retrieve more items and then negotiate where they will go or whether they will end up at the Charity shop.  Lots more rubbish has disappeared and I am off to the charity shop again on Monday morning to take some more items to them.  They are now closed for the weekend. I have a very large heap of magazines to sort out as well.  That will be time consuming too.  Oh well as I have said before tiz only the depth that varies! Catch up later am on a mission. Pattypan xx

I follow the Homesteading Family on You Tube and this week's post made interesting reading and in many respects validates many of my views concerning auto-immune disease that I hold and the belief that food is a good form of medication. A lot of people have auto-immune disease without realising it. Check this link out here for the main ones but there are loads of others as well. https://www.healthline.com/health/autoimmune-disorders and for a full alphabetical list of the disorders please go here https://autoimmunediseaselist.com/a-to-z.php Hope it helps nd gives you food for thought. Catch up soon. Pattypan  xx

All this spring lovely weather is making me fidget and itch to get on and do some sorting in the garden.  I have seen some violas that I would quite like but hey ho will have to see how things go.  I am hoping to start on the tidy up in the garden in the next few days that is if the weather holds.  I get very cold very quickly and so it needs to be a little warmer before I start as otherwise I will end up starting something and then end up having to come in which is not what I want to happen. I want my time outside to be effective.   I also need to get the growing houses on the go. So lots of tidying and sorting out.  I also have to paint the shed, and also a set of planters in the same colour as well as sort out some support for the grape vine  A lot to do out there but first I have to get all the stuff in the house sorted.   If I can spare a few hours here and there to get things started that will help  -probably as a result of me going s...

Today has been a lovely day the best part of it spent with a very good friend.  Trouble is when we get together we end up talking the hind leg off a donkey and we end up having a couple of refreshment stops as a result.  Just wandering enjoying each other's company.  All very relaxed, no pressure from either one of us and just simply enjoying being with each other.  What I call a wart's n all friendship.  Those kind of relationships are very special indeed.   We just wander about window shopping, putting the world to rights and not necessarily buying anything at all.  A very good friend indeed.  The day ends up going far too quickly  and then it is time to go home again.  However it has been a really good day.   The weather has been relatively mild, the sun has been out the first day of spring and a full moon this evening with a clear sky.   Before it got dark we walked Missy in relative lightness and whilst walkin...

At the weekend, we went to the Harvest Barn Farm shop  https://harvestbarn.co.uk/ a new to us place to go for wholesome food much of which is grown on the land and has very few food miles.   As I have said, I went for a sack of  potatoes and came back with a sack of reds for £9.  They are brilliant. The skins are not thick and you get more of the potato for your money.  They are not large but what I call nice roasting size which suits us.  I also bought a large cob farmhouse bread loaf which was lush and indeed am still using; made and baked within a five mile radius of the shop. Perfect for slathering on home made strawberry jam. I have also had with some home made pork dripping from the roast pork I cooked at the weekend.  So everything is getting used up.   Whilst there I came across lemonade drinks called Mortuacienne which comes in a variety of flavours.  I chose Mandarine and it was lovely.  It is a little pricy bu...

It has been another  busy day here.  Managed to get all the boxes into the house from the van which was collected from the unit yesterday. Whilst I was bringing it in, the weather got really rough and windy.  We had a heavy rain-shower everything went black and it came down like a ton of bricks.  Then stopped for a while and then started raining, then sleeting and then a heavy hail storm of large pea sized hail.  It went bitterly cold and even though I was wrapped up warmly to bring everything in it was absolutely bitter.  The actual weather forecast was fair for this area no mention of any rain, sleet or hail! We then went back to the unit.  Picked up another van full of stuff which I have yet to bring in but that can be done gradually.  We are back there again at the weekend. We have had one accident down to one of the cats jumping on one of the boxes and breaking a couple of green glasses but otherwise as far as I can tell everythi...

It has been a manic week, as this week has mostly been for me dealing with decluttering, taking stuff to the charity shop and re-sorting and stacking those items I am keeping little by little and of course chucking out any rubbish. We ended up having to go to the tip as I had sorted out such a lot of stuff and decided to dump stuff I was going to use due to time constraints.  However as I say the Charity shop has benefited considerably. I have found loads of stuff I had forgotten about.  I even found a small occasional table that I could not remember buying.  We started today by going to the tip first.  On the way back we called into a new to us Farm Shop and were very impressed with the produce.  It is called the Harvest Barn and is on the back road to Ramsey.  Lots of good wholesome food different brands to what we are used to seeing which was great from my perspective as there were no end of new flavours available.  Needless to say think wi...

of accumulated items for sorting.  Yes I have started with a vengeance.  I am taking a few minutes out to post this being as I have not posted for a day or two. Operation Back Bedroom is well under way.  The whole house has been turned into a disaster in the process but I have turfed out loads of rubbish and rehomed lots of items. This is going to be ongoing for at least a week or two the sorting etc. I had collected together a load of old jeans for turning into a rag rug.  Some of the bits are cut and in use but the others were taking up too much room so they are being sent to the recycling section at our tip.  There are also some old jars I had put to one side which are also going there. Found loads of stuff and UFOs I had forgotten about.  Loads of stuff which has outlived its usefulness with us has been relocated to the Charity shop for them to make funds and for someone else to get some usefulness out of said items.  A scanner, fax phone,...

Many years ago I had a beautiful second hand Guinea Pig called Bubbles.  She was ginger and white and when she came running across the floor to us which she did squeaking her delight as she came she used to look like Mrs Tiggy Winkle wearing a straw bonnet with a bow underneath.  She was rosetted and wonderful.  We lost her in her sleep one really cold winter and I have never forgotten her.  To make matters worse the same day as we found her we asked mum what we were having for tea that night and she turned round and said "Bubble and Squeak".  Both my brother and I burst out into tears as we couldn't bear the thought of eating our lovely little friend.  We have never forgotten that. The reason I am stating that its a pity that I don't own a Guinea Pig is that for the past two hours I have been shredding old bills and bits and bobs that are no longer current and way over due the shredding.  The shredded paper would have made very good litter for a pet...

Am quite pleased have had a good day on the cleaning front although still far more to do.  Have just stopped for a few minutes break before I start again. But I am starting to make progress.  When I do a deep clean I clean absolutely everything and I mean my kitchen gadgets, baking tins and everything gets a good seeing too.  I have also managed to wash one part of the wall down, a couple of door frames and a couple of doors down as well.  I always love it after giving everything a good clean as it always smells nice and fresh.   I have used the last of the tea towels and am waiting on the tumbler to deliver more before I start off again.  Should not be too long now.  Floor will get done once everything else has been tackled and everything back in its place.  I have a new scrubbing brush ready to use.  Even though I get stiff I prefer giving the floor a good going over with a scrubbing brush as to me it brings things up ever so much clea...

and it has got colder as the day has gone on.  The wind is now really really rough and we have rain.  It was heavy going bringing heavy shopping back in it and I had to keep stopping to put my hands in my pockets as I had forgotten my gloves and I kept losing the circulation in my hands.  Got here in the end though.   I do not think I will be going walkies with OH and Missy this evening.  Will get the chicken on and the veggies for tea.  That should warm us both up. I didn't go walkies.  I stayed and cooked tea.  Served roast, stuffed chicken with mixed vegetable leaf mix (a frozen mix from Waitrose which cost £1.11) and which will do us two meals. With the price of food at the moment portion control comes into play quite a bit. The mix consists of the pointed sweetheart cabbage, savoy cabbage and spinach.  It is roughly chopped but it is tasty and helps pad a meal out. Any kind of green is good for you. We also had swede and carrot c...

I am in the throes of "tarting" myself up to attend a job fair at our Town Hall in Peterborough.  Never been to one of those before and I suppose it will all be a learning experience.  It was "recommended" by my "mentor" at the Job Centre.  The thing is I am not really the "war paint" and extremely smart type without a hair out of place.  Smart comfortable casual a different thing but I always feel when I have to do these things that this is not me and that someone is taking over my soul! My hair is like a raging fire all over the place and no matter how I try and tame it there is always something out of place.  I have found in the past that it takes me more time to look after my hair when it is short than at the current length.  At least I can pop it in a bun or have the choice of other styles.  Now to find the curling tongues!  Deep sigh.  Well I suppose I do have to look presentable. Catch up later on. Pattypan x update ...