TARRAGON & THYME

Poor old Missy has been too hot overnight, even though she had been gifted a proper cool jacket from a very good friend Aunty Kelly (Domesticated Pagan on Instagram).  A very generous gift which has saved her these past few days.  She just could not settle and we ended up washing her down several times during the night as well as refreshing the jacket because she was so over-heated and had countless trips to her water bowls. At 5:00am I had had enough and went downstairs and made a cup of tea.  A cup of tea helps you think things through (well it does me).  Even G had one with the last of the sausage rolls from the other day. I also put the washing machine on with a load full.  At 6:00am I decided that I was getting up, got dressed and out I went to hang the washing out. The next load is now on. This morning is beautifully fresh  and bright started getting light around 4:00am.  The freshness though is very welcome after the heat of the past few days al...

Saturday: What a hot one and due to increase in temperature even more.  I have been pottering in one of the greenhouses which is in shade, potting on some more items and trying to get one greenhouse really sorted out and planters done.  Its too hot for the kitchen I might try doing a bit when it chills down a little bit. It got that hot I ended up going to get some Pepsi Max from the shop to have in pint glasses with loads of ice cubes out of the freezer.  Lovely and cooling and it has done the job. Tea tonight is to be the rest of the baguette and cheese, pate or ham or whatever we fancy to eat. I do not like wasting anything and I do not want much; I never want much to eat these days my appetite has really dwindled to what it was. The heat really takes it out of me and I know it does for so many others as well. I managed to get back into the greenhouses and starting with the Tomato house I have potted on quite a few plants.  There were small cherry tomatoes for gat...

Had a much better night with Missy last night and so were able to sleep. Today though started off with a Tip run.  Not a massive one by our previous loads but I needed it out of the way with so that I can get on with work in the kitchen.  My general outline plan was to deal with the kitchen today but that has not happened. En-route from our excursion to the Tip (how can one call that a pleasant day!), we ended up going to Hampton Centre to Specsavers as I now need for the Blepharus condition a cleaning solution, (to clean my eyes twice a day) and also the eyedrops recommended by the Optician for the dryness of eyes caused by Sjogren's Syndrome (pronounced Shogrins).  That is approximately £25 worth of extras per month.  However, it is working and whereas every day I was waking up with very grittty stuck eyes which were causing pain and discomfort.  Felt like my eyeball was sticking to my eyelid.  This now rarely happens and my eyes have been much more comfo...

Well naturally I have had a few casualties, I have lost my Pumpkins due more to the set up I have and a few too many plants this year.  Mainly my own fault as I did not get to them in time. Not down to the provider at all, down to me. Lesson Learned and next delivery should be in about 10 days time will be planted as soon as they arrive. In all honesty though it has been good to be growing again.   At the moment I have cherry tomatoes being harvested, and have Courgettes to come both green and yellow, long, Trombone shaped and cylindrical.   I have Beetroot in planters which is growing well, as well as one larger planter filled with carrots at the moment. I have a chioggia, a purple and a gold.  I have my planters of Chives in the garden and they are doing marvellously well.  I have them either side of the Carrots in the hope of preventing Carrot root fly.  I have plans to acquire more Chives and a few other herbs as well.  Next year I w...

 I have been very limited today in what I can do because of an upset little Jack Russell.  Whilst she sleeps I can potter and do a few things, but I cannot tackle the corner of the bedroom I had planned on because of cutting her off from easy access if she falls or starts crying/howling.  Therefore that has been put on hold for another day.   I am currently sorting out the opposite corner of the room in front of the window. I have located the felt box which has all sorts of felt in it for crafting. That is going to come in very handy in the run up to Christmas. I have also located the Rose printed Linen I bought to recover a Lloyd Loom style Nursing Chair that was given to us when friends emigrated to Australia.  J had nursed J on it. Mum did not want it and so it came with me.  Sadly J and R (J's parents) are no longer with us and sadly my friend J passed with cancer a couple of years ago.  The chair is covered and painted in an apple green with ...

Today has not started off well. Missy has been in high fettle and will not settle at all.  Looks as though am going to be in for a rough day. It has also started off with me being extremely tired and a funny moment with G. G has gone fishing, indeed is fishing in a match for the first time in quite a few years.  Once upon a time come the weekend he was always fishing on a Saturday and I was officially a "Fishing Widow"!  After making sure that all his fishing clothing was ready and waiting for him, I therefore packed his pack-up as he misses out on a cooked breakfast on fishing days, and popped it into a bag on the door handle so that he could find it easily. He has a habit of not being able to find anything, which often makes my job more difficult. Well that was the plan, except that he could not find the sarnies.  He found a bag on the door handle, but no sarnies in it.  Wait for it, only a bag of carrots!  I must of indeed been tired last night.  He...

My family for many years has been a family that has re-used and re-purposed items as we have gone along.  I am from that kind of a background where nothing was wasted and often things were re-purposed.  Green before "Green" became in vogue was actually a thing on many kinds of levels for my family.  A result of the lack of items in War time and the fact that my grandparents had a smallholding with a very large vegetable garden; two identical plots only difference was that one was left fallow one year and the other grown on and visa versa. My Nan's Kitchen Table Drawer Nan was a great one for recycling things.  She had a drawer in her small utility kitchen table which housed pieces of useful string (when you are a gardener you always need things like this), paper bags of any description, re-washed polythene bags that used to be washed out and hung on the washing line as you do and then once dry stored in the kitchen table drawer for further use.  Anything like th...

 I  have been awake since 5:00am courtesy of one Cat who think she is a high wire artist and a Jack Russell!  Never a dull moment here you know!  Mischief wanted fresh air, the net was down to let the breeze in despite the fan being on, and she decided that the crossbar of the window was the best place to sit despite the fact that we are on the second storey.  I woke up saw her sat there, talked to her and thankfully (which she does most times) she did listen and came straight to me.  Net went back up.  Mischief is an indoor cat. Then we had Missy circuit training the room before going to her water bowls and then flopping into bed.  At 6:00am I had had enough and got up going downstairs to make myself a mug of coffee, put some washing out that I had done last night onto the line, and then put another wash on.  Got ready and dressed, had my medication, and now it is time for operation Kitchen. The weather at the moment is lovely and fresh quit...

Happy Solstice Day to everyone. Midsummer Day at its hottest. Now we will ever so slowly start to lose the light again ever so gradually. I am absolutely exhausted from the heat. Did not sleep too well last night, could not get comfortable with my back. Choosing to sit and rest apart from going to the shop.  The heat is and has been unbearable.  We have just had a slight rain shower which hopefully will cool things down a little bit. Looks as though will be the kitchen tomorrow then. I opened the greenhouses up earlier and it was boiling then. Loads of washing has been put out on the line and subsequently dried and then been brought in.  We were forecast rain showers for about 3 hours.  Then there looks as though there is a period between 6:00pm and 10:00pm which is dry again so will put some more washing out in a bit. I have more clothes and bedding to get out as yet, plus a boil wash currently on the go. I am getting to the end of it though.  Fingers crossed n...

Solstice Greetings to everyone.   Where has this year gone, cannot believe that now we will start losing the light little by little. Think it is going to be a reasonably early start tomorrow as I have an awful lot to do and realistically I am not going to finish the kitchen tomorrow but I am going to do what I can to move things on that much further. Plans are at the moment: Make a cuppa, get my medication; breakfast will be later; Open up the greenhouses;  Start in the kitchen; desperately needs sorting and cleaning out.  All geared up to attack this; Will be starting with the washing up; Then taking out everything in the kitchen and popping it outside whilst I get cupboards cleaned and items put back where they belong. This will be the time-consuming bit; the condiments cupboard also needs quite a few more jars to go into it after it has been cleaned out and other jars need re-filling; Washing going on throughout the day which has been taken out of the bathroom. Th...

....... was three trips to clear the front garden.  We managed to get up earlier whilst it was still cool and then started to load the car.  I had managed to sort out like with like pretty well when I was assembling the rubbish piles and took the same principle i.e. like for like on the loads.  The first lot that went was all recyclable items, cardboard boxes that sort of thing and the car was full.  The second lot was all sorts of miscellaneous including non-recyclable and the Third load was all garden waste.  We have a clear front garden and I am going into the garden in a while to de-litter and de-leaf the gravel and later on wash the front windows.  That will happen when it is a bit cooler.   Missy was left at home. I had managed to get her settled under the fan on her cool sheet with good air flow in the room.  When I came in half way through she was out for the count and still is.  Looks very comfortable and is fast asleep. Well th...