TARRAGON & THYME

Thought would give a little bit of a catch up over the past few days where I have not been hundred per cent, but today Saturday I have felt a lot better.  I have been able to get on a little bit in the kitchen which has been suffering because of the garden.  Had every intention of being in the garden but we had rain first thing so plans changed.  Needless to say this afternoon it has been bright sunshine so stayed in the kitchen and either will carry on tomorrow or go into the garden.  See what things are like. In any event here is the catch up from the past few days. Thursday It rained for the best part of last night, and with the window open could hear pitter patter of raindrops until it lulled me off to sleep, which was in the early hours of this morning.  I have toothache too which is not helping matters.  As a result I slept heavily and was woken at 6:00am with the dog wanting to go out, and then at 8:00am by OH who had walked her.  He came back w...

  Wednesday Was a gorgeous day weather-wise.  I therefore was in the garden most of the day, getting stuck in to bagging a big pile of brambles which had been left to settle down a bit.  Tedious and hard work, but I was out in the fresh air doing something useful in the greater scheme of things even though it was physical and boring.  It was just good to be outside.  Frequent breaks given and a bit of pottering in the greenhouse or coming in for a coffee happened.  With having the hiatus, if I bend too much it crumps me up so I have to be careful but stopping every now and then seems to help a bit. That and plenty of Mint tea. Eight bags were bagged up today.  Still at least another couple of bags to clear this particular pile up. I will then concentrate on the rubbish on the patio slabs and sort that out.  Some of the slabs have actually sunk a bit and need levelling up.  We intend to do this, get everything as level as we can and then clean...

 for a jumbled mind is often the answer. Thank you for bearing with me in the past few days whilst I have tried to pull myself together. I did put up a couple of quick posts on Instagram, but for the best part I have stayed away from the Internet. Have not been 100% but better than I was. Just want to thank you for all your kind words and messages; much appreciated. Sometimes having long term medical conditions sucks. Although I consider myself extremely lucky. I cope with it for the best part, and I do have a high pain threshold, however sometimes it gets beyond a joke and is far too much.  Usually around wet weather which is why I say "Stick me on the wall I will make a great Barometer"!  My Consultant has confirmed that the Barometric pressure does have an effect. Trouble is people look at me and cannot see anything immediately wrong.  You cannot see all illnesses and besides I try not to be defined by the fact that I have health issues.  If  I want to h...

 I am in the land of the living, and I am okay, it is I am just not functioning 100% at the moment.  I therefore will be off-line for a couple of days just to try and get myself together a little bit and get some things straight in my head. Hopefully I will be back by Thursday and I will have a bit of a catch up then.  The rain has not been helping at all and I have for the first time in ages had to reach for the Paracetamol. Something that I do not like to do unless I have to. Here is hoping that life is treating you all well at the moment and that you have a lovely evening. Catch up towards the end of the week. Pattypan x

 well me playing in the garden that is.  We have had gentle rain for the best part of the day, not what I had anticipated at all.  I am therefore in the house again, trying to get to grips with some inhouse jobs again.  Just when I was in a groove with the garden as well. The greenhouse has been checked this morning in any event.  I do this first thing and also last thing at night.  Yesterday I had the smallest of birds in my greenhouse as I had left the doors open as it was so warm.  G thinks it may have been a Wren. I am not so sure; it reminded me of a smaller version of a Sparrow and I mean a much smaller version.  I think it may have been a Bunting. It disappeared into the jungle in any event.  One of the things I am sad about as we reclaim the jungle is the wild habitat that is being removed where the birds have found safe haven.  A lot of it will come out eventually and the amount of empty old birds nests have found in the Ivy is ...

 After a delicious tea last night of home cooked Gammon, fried eggs and homemade chips, I went out into the garden again and started working on the mini greenhouses which I currently at the moment due to having no covers for them use for stacking all my pots, trays etc on for gardening.  I managed to clear the pavement where they stand and weed it out for one section and managed to get the first of the mini-greenhouses in situ which I am pleased about.  I still have a couple of more to go and hopefully will be able to get them sorted today.  A lot of work, but it is getting things organised and easily accessible.  I am also sorting out anything that is no longer needed or is indeed damaged and getting rid of it. Yesterday I managed to pot on some of the PSB and also sow two types of Cabbage, Primo and Wheelers something from my stash of seeds.  Also managed to get Cress sown, Scarlet Emperor Runner Beans sown.  I have sorted out a stack of seeds that I...

Last evening whilst I was waiting for tea to cook I had a bit of a disaster.  We had a torrential rainstorm and then it brightened up.  No sign of cloud so I went out and hung out a whole load of washing.  Came inside and was pottering in the dining room.  Went out a little later to see whether any of it was dry, and found the lot on the floor.  The Line had come off the post it was attached to and everything was in a heap on the floor. Grhh! To add insult to injury, several of the canes supporting (or trying to support) the dwarf beans have been snapped. I think the washing fell on it! I told you my poor Beans were going through it.  I have noticed though that there is some new growth on some of the plants.  Therefore will need to get some replacement canes come pay day as well if they manage to survive!  It will not be down to lack of TLC. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, G has upcycled part of a growing frame which was not in good condition ...

 and a new page. I have been for my Physio appointment with a lovely young Physio.  Spent about 40 minutes with her where she put me through a range of motions to establish what my muscles were doing and where the greatest impact lay. I confirmed that I had been doing some upper arm exercises trying to keep myself going and was told that I had done was the right thing. Some of the exercises that I have been doing are exactly what is needed.  Things are never going back to how they were but the extra exercises that I have been given should help build up upper arm strength, I do have some weakness there and hopefully will also give the arm back some of its flexibility that it had previously.   Apparently, I still have the majority of movement necessary it is in the upper and under arm which sometimes tracks down to my elbow and wrist where the biggest problems are and lifting my arm up past shoulder height. There are no guarantees of course, which I totally a...

this evening, I am sat here with all sorts of thoughts in my mind.  Free falling thoughts that are spilling out everywhere but as yet have no form or indeed purpose. They are just ideas floating around like a Butterfly in the ether but they are there just waiting to surface waiting to take form. I have all sorts of dreams and all sorts of plans of things I would like to do but at the moment they are coming to nothing.  It is just as it is and should be in many respects.  I am but a dreamer after all and frequently escape from reality whether that be reading a book, pottering around making things anything to keep me occupied.  I cannot sit still for long.  We all need to escape and I use it to keep me going when things are not 100%; a coping mechanism for looking in the good of everyday and hoping with fingers crossed for the future.  In the greater scheme of things I am very lucky. It was a good for a night off but to do purely nothing.  I ended up bin...

 Just to let you all know that I will not be posting properly this evening due to the fact that I am not 100% and I have a couple of programmes to catch up with. I have therefore decided to take time out for myself for the next couple of days. Normal service will be resumed soon. Catch you later. Pattypan x

I did not feel 100% yesterday and ended up going to bed reasonably early only woken in the early hours by the cat going on manoeuvres in the dark and knocking poor Bert the Chilli off the windowsill.  Mischief living up to her name is usually good but last night for some reason she was a nightmare!  Needless to say that both Mischief and Missy are now in the land of Nod! Typical. I have slept late and feel better for crashing out, think was just a fatigue flare but am going to keep an eye on it.  Feel brighter today though. I have checked on the greenhouses and they seem to have survived the storm.  The beans have suffered most; I think I may have lost a couple of them, but we will see.  It is still blustery here but not as bad as yesterday.  Thank heavens for small mercies for which I am grateful as I had visions of all my hard work disappearing! I have started cutting some of the pot covers up, but will show more on that later on.  Otherwise not very...

What a rough windy day it has been.  A lot brighter, and would be good for drying washing if the wind was not so rough. The panels on the fence that were still standing are now down.  Landlord is aware of the situation lets see if they do anything this time! I am a bit concerned about the greenhouses; however will keep an eye on things.  I went in earlier to check on everything, is becoming part of my daily ritual.  All six Cucumbers are now up, more PSB and more Marigolds.  Greenhouses appear to be okay; have been down and they were still standing.  Wind has calmed down quite a bit. The poor old Beans though, not looking too happy at the moment.  Hopefully they will get to settle and dry out a bit now. The  "messing about" is all in aid of doing something with some of the fabric that I have in the stash and which was sorted last night.  A step further along, I have cut out two sizes of template in readiness for a little session of making som...

Something a little different today. Last night, Friday night I spent a happy couple of hours sorting out the big bag of fabric that I spoke about the other evening.  There is more than I thought, but some very nice materials in there. Some of the fabric is not quite the weight of cotton which is needed for my Hexie Quilt, but will come in handy for things like Scrunchies and jam pot covers.  Some is perfect for the Hexie Quilt I am working on but a lot of it is not. I also have some upholstery fabrics in matching tones, which I have always intended to work into a larger version of a Log Cabin quilt.  I have no pattern and need to draw some templates up to have a play; I am therefore saving all cereal packet card I can at the moment in order to do this.  That fabric has also been stored separately. I really need to locate my elastic stash and then have some time at my sewing machine to play; and I think I really need a day of playing. As my hair is past shoulder lengt...

 and raining on everyone's parade today. It has also been quite windy on occasion.  I have been housebound as a result.  Been down to visit the greenhouse and got drenched in the process to find that I now have 6 cucumber up, 4 Marigolds and one Fennel.  Everything else seems to have settled in and is growing.  The Beans are looking a bit windswept and the Pumpkins are doing well. Still waiting for Lovage, Parsley, Round Courgettes and ordinary Courgettes to put in an appearance.  Well if they do, they do and if they don't there is nothing I can do about it.  Rain is also forecast for Saturday and Sunday for us at the moment with storms as well.  The positive is that it is the gentle soaking rain that will do the soil good.  The soil has been very dry around here and I have been having to add a bit of water to my outside plants each day as a result. Chilli Peppers in the greenhouse are starting to grow Chilli pods.  Cucumbers are de...

 Sorry out of necessity it is quite a quick post this evening. We have had a lot of showers today interspersed throughout the day.  I did some washing in the hope that I could get it out, (whilst the Sun was out I should say) but to no avail so that will hopefully go out in a little while.  Rain is forecast tomorrow so want to make the most of any bright time inbetween the showers. As a result it has been very much a housebound day.  Doing nothing specifically just random jobs that needed doing.   I do have some sorting out of some stuff this evening when I get sat down.  I have a bag of fabric to sort out and get stored properly.  It is in a bin bag (scrap bag at the moment). As I have my fingers in all sorts of crafts, there is quite a lot of useful fabric there; just needs sorting into a proper scrap box. Greenhouse wise, I have another Cucumber up, another Marigold and the Fennel is at long last coming through.  Beans seem to be okay in t...

 doing nothing for a change, just pottering doing a little of this and a little of that.  Really should be out in the garden but cannot muster up the energy at the moment.  Maybe tomorrow. It is a warm, muggy and windy day here in Peterborough. So far it has been interspaced with light showers.  I have been putting washing out and it has been a run out and fetch in saga today, so think it might be time to admit defeat!   For a little while I was having a go at one of G's computer games, but I never get anywhere and I soon lose interest in it.  Sometimes you just have to do something mindless and nothing though to recharge the system. In case you had not gathered I am not a great fan of computer games. I now have three Cucumbers, (a bit late but experimenting a little bit) a tray full of PSB and one lonely Marigold that has come through, together with both lettuce trays the Mesclun French mixed leaves and the Spicy mixed leaves.  They are progressi...

 Well it was a wet old evening here in Peterborough.  I had planned on carrying on in the garden but then we had a heavy shower, and so I closed everything up for the evening with the intention of carrying on in the morning.  Sadly however that did not happen as it has been a grey and chilly damp morning so far.  I have therefore abandoned plans for the garden and am going to concentrate on the kitchen today.  I am also cooking a full roast meal i.e. Roasted Chicken with all the trimmings for tea this evening and a Gooseberry crumble and some custard.   The Gooseberries are lovely and ripe and raw have a lovely flavour.  Reminds me of days when I used to go scrumping my Nan's Goosegogs off the bushes. If I remember rightly she had a red variety as well. Have not seen them for years. We were never told off, even though we were caught out several times, pinching the Goosegogs and would often be given a fresh stick of Rhubarb to munch on with a dab o...

 Has been another busy day. Saw chap for appointment and got that out of the way with. Then made a couple of visits to the tip, taking away all the bin liners full of green waste from the garden.  Now I can see where I am going a bit better.  Still a heck of a lot to do, told you before that it is just the depth that varies. After leaving the tip, we went to the Butcher that we went to last week. Got topped up with meat for the week for the sum of £43.05  all this from ABC Meats.  The business originally started from what I understand selling on the local markets.  As their prices were very good and the meat of good quality they went down a storm locally and then opened their own premises.  They also sell frozen goods.  An ideal place to shop if you have a freezer that needs stocking up. When I had the freezers I used to do this a lot go and buy the fresh meat and then package it up for meal portions.  Used to go once a month and top up or ad...