The end of summer......

Summer, my friends, is drawing to a close here in Middle England. The garden looks weary, the fruit and vegetables are in glut mode, and the sun sets much earlier. This is something I have just noticed. The sun.

And I am sick to death of watering things.

Hah. Now that is not something you would have thought I would say, given my love affair with the garden, is it? Well, I am sick of All The Watering. Especially when the flowers are looking way past their best and all I want to do is yank them out by the roots and put them in the compost bin and greenery collection bin. And usually this does not happen till a little later. (That last statement meant that I had to go back through the annals of history, aka my sidebar, to check on the state of the garden each year. I got rather caught up in all the posts and have just emerged, 2 hours later.)

Now where was I.....

Things have been moving along here at RCR - David is coming home at the end of the week. Diana has been away for a few days. The blackberries are ripening in the hedgerows. Telephone conferences which last over 3 hours have been happening. Aquazumba classes. Aquarobics classes. Meetings. Appointments. Deadheading. And a whole lot more.

Down at the allotment, my long expired cucumber seeds (Use before 2009) have exploded all over the place, and the cucumber mountain has been growing by the day. So yesterday, I googled how to freeze cucumbers. I never, for a second, thought you could. Well, you can. So, I peeled and sliced and added an onion to the mix, and did what I was told to do - salt, cover, wait, drain, mix vinegar and sugar, cover, bag, freeze. Who knew. Apparently they stay crisp and taste great.

I will let you know in mid winter.

The apples. Well, the large pot  had to be hauled to the hob yesterday, and in went a huge pile of sliced apples. It was actually really nice to be on the conference call where I could wander round the house and stir the apples, and make coffee and toss out the dead flowers etc etc. I am hoping to get a couple of bags of apples from a friend soon. They freeze so well, and what a delight it is to have the freezer this year! I am making excellent use of it. If you could just see the pile of courgette bags.......

On the creative front, I have finished making the daisy squares at last. Now begins the sewing in of all the ends, and then it will be joined together. I am delighted with the colours so far. I also played with the squares while on that conference call. In the sun.

I did a great deal while on that conference call.

Missy starts school in a week or so. She is going to real school. Big School. I look at the photos and she is all long legs and gangliness at the moment, and she will love school, and making friends, and learning all sorts of things. But where has the time gone? She turns 5 next February. They start school unbelievably early here in the UK.

Ah well.....

Chasing balloons........

We are coming back to earth with a bump here. Missy is back at her home down south with her Mum and Dad and this place is rather quiet. But what a wonderful time we had. They delayed going home till yesterday, because the Balloon Festival was on here. On Friday night, we set off to hunt the balloons in the sky. 

You have never heard such excitement - when she saw them in the sky, she was beside herself with delight. We whizzed around the countryside chasing them, and stopped in villages, next to open fields, next to sheep who were not too happy with low flying red balloons in the sky. They raced about in panic for a while. 

Then stopped in what looks like a laager, with them all seeming to face outwards, defensively. 

Whichever way you looked, you could see balloons floating by. Some high, some low. 

Lots of balloons in the sky. And, although they were supposed to fly at 6am and 6pm each day, the weather has been frightful, so they have just flown that Friday night and early yesterday morning. There is a chance the local balloons may fly again tonight, but the others will be long gone by then. Such a pity, because there is nothing quite like seeing loads of them drifting across the skies. 

So I am really pleased Ann and Missy were able to go chasing balloons while they were here. A new experience. And time for the little city girl to climb gates and see bales of hay as well. Countryside. 

I mentioned that it rained. Well, Missy wanted to water the garden, rain or not, so she got suitably dressed and went watering. She also made a variety of interesting craft objects to decorate Moregranny's garden. As Moregranny is about ready to say that summer in the garden is over except for the vegetables and the dahlias, that was just fine. 

Watching the Peppa Pig umbrella bobbing up and down around the plants was just perfect. 

But on Friday, the skies were blue most of the time.

The great thing is to be able to watch them land. I know what that is like. I have flown in a balloon before, and that was so exciting. The landing was a little sudden, but the whole experience was wonderful. 

So, early yesterday morning, while everyone else was asleep, I went out balloon hunting again. They had flown north and I caught up with a couple as they were about to land. There is something so beautiful about them. So huge! 

I will be back tomorrow with more tales of the week. Right now I need a nap before considering a meal for us. We have been to church, done coffee duty, and it is now after 2pm. I will be back. 

I am playing.......

Missy and Auntie Diana playing in the water 

I have a visitor. 

Well, 2 in fact. 

Missy and her Mum are here at the moment, so we have been Having Fun. Doing Missy Stuff. And I haven't got the energy or ability to string two coherent words together, so just count this as a little break. I will be back in the next couple of days.

Moregranny on her throne. 

I could get used to a throne. 

The post with no name (because I can't think of one).......

Hello there. 

Here we are, half way through another week before I can gather my wits. Mind you, forget the wits, I have been gathering beans from my garden and freezing them. The courgette mountain seems to be slowing a little, but the cucumbers are racing ahead, and I am trying to ignore them. 

Speaking of courgettes, I saw a very interesting (and obviously healthy) lasagne recipe on Pinterest a couple of days ago. No pasta sheets, just strips of courgettes instead. I seriously want to try that. The rest of the lasagne is made as normal. 

The last of the lilies are now all in bloom, and the scent in the garden, especially in the early evening, is heavenly. They have saved the best for last, haven't they? 

Diana has been having a great deal of fun playing with my sewing machine and other sewing room bits and pieces. Her creations are fabulous. Teaching one's children to use things like sewing machines is essential. And a very good idea indeed. Boys and girls. The only things she needed to go in search of (out of the sewing room, that is) were some extra large wiggly eyes. 

So we made a quick trip to Hobbycraft to hunt them down. 

Of course I went too.

I should never ever go to Hobbycraft. 

Never ever. 

Nicky and I went to aquazumba yesterday. However, our usual teacher was ill, so we had a cover person. Hmmm. Different. But we did what we could to exercise. There is a slight problem with some teachers, you see. They move on land at the speed of light, and seem to forget that in the water, we are moving at quarter the pace. So we end up inventing new steps, like hippos doing ballet, and that is just FINE. 

She came back here for a bite to eat and we managed to sit out in the garden and catch up with all the family news. We have adventurous daughters, you see. 

The weather has cooled down a bit - there has been a little rain now and then, but nothing spectacular. So the watering has had to continue. It was actually interesting to see my garden through someone else's eyes. Right now, I think it is way past its best, but Nicky thought it was full of colour and prettiness. 

Sometimes, we need to step back a little, and try to look at things with fresh eyes. It is all about perspective, isn't it. 

So I won't look at those bugs on the lilies today. 

A little relief from the heat and something to make you grin.......

A little respite from the heat today, and so a little less of the water obsession. That means time to say hello!

To start off the weekend, here are the lovely words which Mary DeMuth posted yesterday:

Here's my hope for you this weekend: simple, sweet rest. May you have an amazing conversation, an afternoon nap, a fresh tomato (or two), and an opportunity to tangibly bless one person's socks off. Now, go forth and enjoy your weekend!

Lovely, isn't it? 

And back here in the middle of England, life is moving slowly. The allotment needs a visit, but later. I will go later. 

I picked more beans and froze them yesterday. Buckets of them. And if I never see another courgette, it will be too soon. One can have a surfeit of all the green goodness.

So, remind me next year, that I am not planting nearly as much as I have done this year. 

The lilies will come up in their own time, as will the lupins, the lavender, the roses and dahlias. 

The gem squash are ready to start picking. They grow in stages. So I started picking.  And we ate one. Delicious. Now we need to start the "save the seeds" effort to have some next year too. 

Ah, the lilies are so gorgeous. 

Diana and I went on a little adventure to a nearby town to visit Ikea for a few essentials yesterday. Like tea towels. And handles. And candles. And freezer bags. And on the way, we popped in to the South African shop to buy some Spur dressing and other small treats. Only, after 23 years, there is very little we want. It is funny, you know - you think you want something and then realise that time - and you - have moved on!

Anyway, it was lovely to see all the old familiar packaging, and names. 

We popped in to a new to us series of shops close to Ikea, and there was an M&S there, which delighted us no end. And the first thing we saw as we walked in the door was this. 

A cow neck top. 

A singular trouser. 

The top was very pretty, but there was no cow in sight, unfortunately. And the mannequin clearly had 2 legs. Inserted into the trouser. 

I am going to start entering shops with a red (or green) pen in the bag, to correct all strange writing. The worrying part is that a) not many people seemed to have noticed this, and b) it looks as if it is a notice distributed to all shops for display purposes. 

It  did make us laugh. 

Cow neck. Good grief. 

Have a happy weekend!

A little chatter...................

Morning, all - I have been meaning to say how lovely it has been to get all your messages and emails - from "old" and dear friends, and also from new-to-me-friends who pop in here at RCR. I will respond to your emails, I promise! But seriously, it has been  a really heart-warming, good feeling, if also a totally guilt inducing and DO SOMETHING, LINDS, kick as well. All good, people. All good.

It worked, anyway. I am here!

Temps are cooler today in Middle England, but are set to soar into the 30s tomorrow. I am plastered with anti bite cream and anti bite spray and have swallowed an antihistamine too, in an effort to turn my flesh into something totally unappetising to all insect life. I am sick to death of huge inflamed bites which itch like crazy. And I just found another ant eruption on the steps in the garden . Followed by the sad demise of the spinach courtesy of the squirrels or birds. Well, most of the seedlings were scattered over the paving slabs.

All does not go swimmingly in the garden at times. Like when I watered the nemesia so much that the roots rotted. Actually, it was the spray from the tap and the hosepipe....forget the explanation. They died.

I planted Virginia stock.

Is anyone else a little taken aback by the fact that we are now about to start August? 2013 has very fast wheels, it seems. Autumn starts in September for me, but it is not far off. You know, I found a large pumpkin on the allotment, and thought, oh, for goodness' sake - you are supposed to be an autumn crop, and then realised that whoops.. Autumn is coming. That would explain the rapid growth of the squash.

I need to stop garden related chatter.

There is indeed more to life.

Like Christmas presents. I need to start the list and the planning, because they will be home-made, as usual. And home-made takes time. So Pinterest may be featuring heavily in my future. Don't you just love all the ideas and the sheer genius? It is a wonderful place to while away a couple of months hours. My sister is superb at making things she finds there. I have made a few things, especially food related things, and crochet items, but Marge is a star. I am a great big sister. I even posted her my flower maker thingy - you remember those metal spoked ones and you used raffia back in the 60s? Yes? Those ones. I found mine and posted it to her. That reminds me - I must see what she has been making. Her garden may also have delayed all things crafty. She loves her beautiful garden, but it is 50 times the size of mine. Or more.

I am going to start assembling some fabric. I will be back.

Long time friends.....................

My friend from the northern part of Australia came to visit me yesterday. I think the last time I saw her was when we were about 15, and I remembered that she had had glandular fever back then. (So why can't I remember the 3 things I need at the chemist??)  Memories are really bizarre things. And a huge amount of fun too. 

So, meet my friend, Jen. 

I have said this before - I love catching up with old friends, and for whatever reason, there is never a pause in the chatter, a silence. There is too much to talk about. Stories to listen to. Memories to share. From bright green cream soda drinks at Saturday morning tennis lessons with Leon Norgarb, to the fascination with long hair. To little sisters, and to the adventures which led us to strange places on the globe. 

And yet, the connection stays. Two of our daughters - Jen has 2, were born 3 days apart. They are the epitome of the next generation of explorers for us. Her girl lives in the UK. Just as mine lived in NZ. And that daughter of mine baked a world class quiche for us and prepared a feast for lunch. Jen only had a few hours, but an awful lot was packed into those few hours, believe me. 

And then I took her back to the station so she could return down south. There is a little grandgirlie for her to cuddle back there! But there will be a next time, and we will pick up again, just where we left off, once more. 

 It was a delight to see her again. 

(Insert happy smile)

You want to see that cupboard? 

I still have some moving about to sort out, but it is in the room. This is a good thing. The small side is shelves and the large side is hanging space, with a top shelf. 

I picked some roses before the storms came. And they are starting to look wonderful inside. It is always such a pity to see them pattered and bashed by the vagaries of the weather. 

The lilies, on the other hand, are made of sterner stuff!

You see that calm and serene photo of Jen and me up there? You have NO idea how many had to be taken before we got one reasonable one. All those ones we would never put out there for the world to see. 

What the heck - here we are after my daughter, the photographer and chef, asked us to try to look a little less "simple". There was a deathly hush and then we cried with laughter, as in could not breathe and the tears flowed down the cheeks. Oh my sainted aunt. 

I am wearing purple. 

I am that kind of age. 

Crying with laughter and washing away the make-up goes with the territory.

We are interesting women. Nothing simple about us at all.........

Summer Sunday......

Hello. I am back sooner than you expected, aren't I?? I thought so. We had a storm yesterday evening, and I was to be seen out there in the garden, popping up the flower umbrellas I bought in Switzerland a few years ago. They worked. Well, on the three pots I planted them into. The nemesia did not keel over and expire. Tomorrow heralds more rain, so I will be out there later with the umbrellas again, much to my daughter's amusement. 

We have a great Facebook page for the village - I think just about the whole village uses it, judging by the numbers - remember the little pram I bought for Missy? That page. Well, yesterday, I was scrolling through my newsfeed when a friend of mine posted an Ikea cupboard for sale. My sister has one of these, and I like the range. I think this one is now discontinued, but it was just 2 years old and selling for £25. I snapped it up so fast, you have no idea. 

I love bargains.

So today, after church, a friend of mine and his son emptied his Galaxy of seats and went and collected it for me, and, bless their cotton socks, managed to get it upstairs into my bedroom, with the assistance of my daughter, the star. I love my friends. And my kids. And then, as I lay expiring in the garden, Diana screwed the doors back on, sorted the railing at the top and then called me to inspect the finished article. It is beautiful. I am really thrilled with it. 

The fact that the other bedrooms are full of all the stuff I had to evict from my bedroom to make space for it is irrelevant. I will think about them tomorrow. Maybe. Or the next day. 

Diana is waiting impatiently for me to empty my cupboard, so she can find her old treasures, and, actually, to supervise the tossing out of 90% of my wardrobe, I suspect. No. I KNOW she can't wait to "assist". Maybe next week. 

So, that has been the action for the day. One cupboard installed. Now I need the matching chest of drawers. The Hemnes one with 4 little drawers along the top, if you look at the Ikea website. My sister has quite a bit of the Hemnes range and I LOVE it. I wanted to get the day bed too. Maybe I should get rid of my bed and get the day bed. I wonder..... it does expand to a double. I know this, because I sleep on one at Marge's and there is nothing wrong with it at all. What a good idea. Now I need to win the lotto. 

I need to get my mind off plans to remodel the bedroom, because it always moves on to the entire house and then I want to start painting, and then the whole world turns upside down here. Cease and desist, Linds. . I have photos, but have yet to download them. 

My coffee is cold. I thought you needed to know this. 

Diana saw fit to wash the cushions of the wing back chair and the couch this morning. I have just wrestled the alligator, aka stuff the cushion back into the cover for the wing back chair. The couch ones are still drying. I have to say it makes the chair look worse than ever, the clean cushion. I once re-upholstered 2 wing back chairs, and swore never to unleash my staple-gun on one again. However, the cost of reupholstering them is prohibitive. Maybe I should go to an upholstery class or ten. I wonder if there are any on the adult education list..........

There are other things I would rather be making. Many other things. 

I can't tell you how much I love sitting out in the garden. Sitting is a misnomer. I sit for a second, then see something that needs picking, deadheading, tying up, sweeping, re-potting, watering ....you name it. But I call it sitting. I do take the time to enjoy the prettiness. Stuff grows and then dies, and the heart skips a beat, but then something else grows in its place, and so the cycle goes. 

People here are setting off on their summer holidays. School only goes back in the first week of September, so August is summer holiday tome in England. So there is the great dispersal across the world - mainly to Europe - and in a few weeks, everyone will be home with tales to tell of their adventures. 

It is ironic that this year, we are actually having a summer, for the first time since 2006. It may be hotter here than most sunny places people head to! Mind you, there is no beach anywhere nearby. Well, this is England and we live slap bang in the middle. About 3 or so hours and we could reach the sea. It has been a while. BUT, David will be home soon - not that many weeks from now, and that means we will see the ocean again, when we go to load up all his worldly goods. This year has flown by. Just his dissertation to hand in and his Masters is done. Now to try and find work in his field. 

Jean is back home again. It is good to have her back in the village. 

And here is my conquering the heat idea. The paddling pool, surrounded by chairs. So we sit there with the feet in the water and eat our supper. Genius, people. It works. And then I use the water to water the garden. My dahlias are starting to bloom too. This one above is the first. I love dahlias. 

Diana is cooking egg and bacon for our supper. I can smell it from here. Time to hit publish and retire to the now clean cushion on the rocker. 

I will be back.

Is anyone still there?

Oy. 

It has been some time. It has also been an immensely frustrating time when your email account is hacked and hello, I am not in Manila and I do not need money. 

A) Manila is not even on page 90,836,734,548,920,202 of the bucket list.

B) I would NEVER ask for money! 

C) I would have told you if I was off on an adventure, which clearly I did not. 

D) You all know I do not speak in the kind of way that email was written. 

E) I sign my name Linds, if I sign it at all. Not LINDSAY in capitals.

 It is all sorted, but not before you were all sent an email if your address was in my contact list. I do apologise and a pox on all evil hackers/spammers. The ultimate irony is that the spam email was one from my email provider. However, I see that this is so common that they have now ditched yahoo as a provider and are going  it alone. I have no idea why they ever changed. AND the Evil One also redirected my mail for all of 12 hours that it took to get it all sorted and hunky dory again. Indian call centres redeemed themselves.

Sigh.

Sorry, people. All is up and running and tickety boo again.

So the days have vanished, and I have not sat down at this computer for ages. It feels weird. The fingers are clumsy and still lock, but here I am. Missy arrived for a short visit, and Moregranny had a wonderful time with her out in the park, the library and garden. And Doing Craft. We made a bird house out of a cardboard box and MUCH embellishment. And a roll of sticky tape. She had a wonderful time.

So did Moregranny.

So what has been happening............. there is a new Prince in the land, Prince George has arrived, and the heat...... dear Heaven. The heat. We have hit the 30s, which I know is not very high, but the humidity means that even mid 20s, there is no air, and one drips. So I have taken to dampening a tea towel and popping it in the freezer and then either wrapping it over my head, which seems to have mislaid any skills at temperature regulation, or around my neck. Or over the legs. Anywhere. It works.  Hmmm. I must pop a few more in the freezer, I think. Lots more.

Actually, I think it is pay back for sailing through the menopause without a single symptom or hot flush. We are making up for it now. My hair permanently frizzes, and I am long past worrying about it. Thankfully, I can now twist it up on top of the head and get it out the way. 

We will not be making any front pages of glamour magazines in the near future.

The garden is growing. The beans are growing. Down at the allotment, the courgettes, pumpkins, gem squash and cucumber are threatening to overtake the world. I may have planted them a little too close together. And maybe 3 in a bed would have been more than enough. 9 is proving to be slightly problematic, as in I can't get close to the beds any more. I sort of sling the water in the general direction of the greenery and call it good.

But one soldiers on valiantly.

We have been eating lettuce, potatoes, spinach, beans, courgettes and broad beans from the garden - I love popping out into the garden to pick food for supper. There are hundreds of tomatoes growing bigger by the day, although they will take some time to ripen, of course.

My daughter will attest to the fact that I am battling on the energy field. I fall asleep the moment I sit down anywhere, and then can't sleep a wink at night. The heat, as I may have already mentioned. It is as if I had the central eating on full blast. So conversation is somewhat lacking in the evenings.

Last Sunday, we had Glynis and Peter and their family here for a BBQ, which was wonderful. So much fun. Even more fun to know one could plan a BBQ because that sun stayed up there in the sky for weeks. There has been church, looking after dogs for G and P while they were away for a week, watering of their garden, Jean's garden, the allotment and home, of course - all at different and yet similar times.

My life consists of water, and gardens, and moaning when the torrential rain did finally come (it filled the water butts! Hooray!) and flattened said garden too. Stuff broke. You would have thought it was a national disaster, had you seem me last week. I mean is was FLAT. So was I. But, with the aid of sticks and much propping up and cutting back, it has survived. Sort of.

My daisy squares..... did I mention them? They have not multiplied. Books have not been read. (Well, it took me a month to read America the Beautiful, by Ben Carson. Very interesting.) My grand idea to read 52 in my 60th year is going to be a challenge. We are already 2 months in. One book is not a stellar beginning. Maybe I will add in the ones I read to Missy. That will tick a few boxes. They are books, of course. Very short books about fairies and princesses. She is such a girly girl!

So it is summer in England. Diana has been doing some temping, and had to use my car for a couple of weeks, so I stayed close to home. Apart for the aquazumba, some pilates, and aquarobics. Thank heavens I have good friends who go too! But I have LOVED being at home. Pottering. Dozing in the rocking chair. Tending my garden. Freezing the mountain of courgettes. Planting. Deadheading. It takes me all afternoon to water the small garden here, you know. I chase the shade around, so I can do it slowly and rest in between. The days of bounding all over the place are long gone.

Eau de Mosquito Repellent has taken over as perfume of the moment here too. Pesky things - I asked the question on Facebook last week - what was the Good Lord thinking when he invented bindweed - a horrible weed which climbs up every living plant and strangles it - and then I added mosquitoes to the same category. Stick around, and I am sure I will find more things to add to that list. I will be handing it over when I reach the pearly gates, for Answers. I seem to be allergic to mosquito bites. Spider bites, any insect bite. So, add great red swellings to the frazzled hair. Oh, and I haven't worn make-up for weeks. It melts off as soon as it goes on.

I am sure you are getting the picture by now.

Visiting our friend, Tessa, and wandering around her glorious garden. Mine is about the size of her pond. Stunning. 

Anyway. Moving has been a challenge, but we are on the case. Concentrating has been a challenge, so I decided to adjust the medication I take in an effort to raise the IQ a little. It is consumed by one of the tablets, and there is only so long I can manage before I need it back. There is, of course, a price to pay, but it is like wearing a skirt or a dress - the choice is whether to try to keep cool and have liquid fire dancing around your legs or expiring from the heat. So we wear skirts and dresses and don't take one of the meds, and we choose the consequences and hopefully we will be in touch with the IQ soon.

You know how some meds dry out the system? Well. One can survive anything, but when the sinuses dry out, enough is enough, and the list of meds to counteract the side effects grows, you get to the stage where you draw a line and won't cross it. So that is where I am. Trying a new balancing act.

But I hate talking about me.

Apart from my garden and my thoughts and my exciting life. And my dreams. My days.

We all have challenges. But challenges are there to be met. To stretch us. Refine us. Change our lives in ways we cannot imagine. Thank God for faith. And it could always be worse.

Schools are finally on holiday here, as of Tuesday this week,. and there is the sound of children playing out in the gardens and a slower pace of village life. A summer pace. Evenings sitting out in the gardens, BBQs. Fruit salad - I made a bowl this morning after I froze more beans. If stuff doesn't get done early, the heat means it never gets done, so early it is then.

This afternoon, I am popping down to the library. I have been showing an older lady how to work her iPad on Friday afternoons. She is having a Facebook lesson today, because she can only read hers and doesn't know how to post. So that will be fun. Provided that the library has a couple of fans. The last time Missy and I were there, I was a puddle. The librarian became quite concerned by the beetroot appearance and offered water to cool me down. I just do not cope with that kind of heat. Actually, everyone knows I am from darkest Africa, so they assume I am used to it. Hah. Where I came from, there was no humidity,. Shade meant cooler. Sea breezes. This is something else.

But it is sunny and hot and I am loving the doors and windows wide open. Now that I have frozen tea towels I can cope with anything.

I have a school friend from Australia coming to visit me on Monday afternoon - we last saw each other when we were about 15, I think. We have quite a few years to catch up on!

So I am back. Now I need to know what everyone else has been up to as well. I have some serious reading to do. Maybe if I list everyone's blogs as books, that will count towards my 52 books.................