31: More painting and more garden hacking.....

It is another grey day here in Middle England, and I am just back from aquazumba and about to start on another coat of paint. I unearthed some of the tags I made for Christmas 2006 and here they are.

I neatly wrote "Christmas 2006" on the back of them, so I can't give them away, so I suspect the whole lot will be on the tree this year. That will get them out of my wood cupboard! And they will be cheery additions to the overloaded tree. Remember when I launched myself onto the tree last year? We will not be having a repeat performance this year. Sigh. I do love Christmas decorations. I have not decided what design the 26 for Jackie will be yet. I will check what she wants. That would be an excellent place to start.

I had to shift all the tomatoes out of the way - these are the last of this year's crop and when they are ripe enough, they will be cooked and frozen too. Not long to wait. I need the counter space! And I will worry about freezer space when Glynis comes home.

It is amazing how much space wet paint on wooden things needs. And, after putting them down on newspaper and having it stick to the tags, I have used greaseproof paper for the second coat and it works well. No sticking. I sanded them all after the first coat, and will again, after the second, because it leaves a lovely smooth finish, which makes decorating and writing that much easier.

I don't think I showed you the autumn bunting on the screen at the front door, did I? It always makes things cheerful, and heaven knows we need cheering up in the greyness which surrounds us. It is not that cold. Just grey. Miserable.

My pink dahlias have mutated into white and pink dahlias. So pretty, and they certainly brighten things up a great deal.

I cannot for the life of me, get my printer to work. The new one. I plugged it in after the endless trouble with the wireless feature that I told you about, and still nothing makes it go. I will have to get a techy friend to do something to it. SO frustrating. You know, I am quite sure I could fix it, but I am at the stage where I just don't want to. Can't. Feeble. Yes. I know. This is superwoman speaking. I have lost the super powers at the moment and I think they only come out with the sun. And the sun is AWOL.

I suddenly remembered that today is the last collection day for the garden waste until spring, so I have been hacking and yanking away in the garden. The bin is now so full and heavy that it hardly moves. And the garden still has a lot to be done in it, but that can go in the composter or sit until spring. I am done. It is cold out there. I haven't cut back the lavender yet - I must check with Jean about what to do with it. She has the most amazing lavender hedge. Well, it is a row of enormous bushes and just stunning. But right now she is somewhere in Turkey exploring.

I am now off to iron another 5 metre length of binding. More bunting. Ros and I were saying that we could go into business - our bunting is superb.

Happy Thursday to you all!