Today I shall be Mainly...

[Marilyn]

A hasty hotel booking and being turned on by a woman who was not Mrs Big Kev?

We are off to some country markets today...well...once Febby has finished fiddling in the van. Our broom holder, that sits quietly out of the way next to my seat, fell off. It had one of those heavy duty sticky backings and had lasted happily for years.
I think he is putting a screw through it now. ( major operation...all manner of equipment and power cords hanging out of the van door and much muttering going on. I shall stay out of the way.)
I did a quiet walk around the garden - I have Camelias, Tulips and Iris flourishing...

[Stanley]

Heavy cooking and shopping day. Unusually for me I spent moist of the afternoon in front of the TV watching history being made at the source.

[Sue]

The rain held off most of the day except a short heavy shower at lunchtime. I managed to prune all the newer fruit trees, all 30 of them and Bob and I tackled the bigger old ones. We got about 4 done, they were chain saw jobs. More to do but not today. Today is Sunday so its lunch out, then French friends for afternoon cuppa and french neighbours at 6.00 for coffee and or aperitives. I shall have a sweep through lounge and kitchen before we go out.

[Stanley]

Sounds like a quiet day in your terms Sue. Enjoy it. (Mind you I do wonder what I shall have a sweep through lounge and kitchen before we go out. actually means!
I have got a straight edge on all my cooking except the cauliflower. That will go in the slow cooker with the meat, leeks, onions and bacon when there is room later today! Funny thing is I have white stew!

[PanBiker]

Car to Skipton, train to Leeds. Meet daughter Carla and our Isla for lunch then bus up to Jimmy's. Half an hour lie down in their MRI scanner. Reverse route home but missing the Slug and Lettuce in the middle.

[Marilyn]

Beautiful sunny day here. Cleaned and replaced cutlery drawer/glasses/mugs/etc in the van, plus clean tea towels, paper towel, kitchen wraps etc. Van has its new windscreen now and was thoroughly cleaned inside and out last week.(new broom holder seems to work)
Load of washing hung out and drying rapidly.
Watered the pot plants, went for our daily walk before lunch.
Trying to decide what to do this afternoon to make full use of such a lovely day.

[Stanley]

I must get round to spending money and ordering castings! High time I got into the shed with a project.
Apart from that enjoying le Carre..... and sleeping.

[Marilyn]

Well stop talking about it and DO it. There must be some deep reason why you are procrastinating!

[Sue]

Despite the intermittent showers this week we have managed to get much more garden tidying done than usual. More pruning today although there is a really thick mist at the moment

[Stanley]

There is Maz, it's my natural aversion to spending money. I always think I may need it for an emergency but you are right and I am getting very close to doing it!
Glad you're enjoying the gardening Sue but stop every now and then and do idle things! Best regards to Bob.

[Sue]

Limited time Stanley, this visit is all about cleaning and tidying. We pack up and leave tomorrow afternoon , the ferry being Thursday morning. We shall stay in St Malo overnight rather than leave here early. There are major road works in St Malo and when we arrived there was a 3-4 mile queue to get into the city. We don’t want to get stuck in that.

So today will be washing bedding, picking the leeks we are taking home, blanching and freezing cauliflower bought for a fraction of last weeks prices, and visiting Roland. Kind neighbours and friends have given us fresh eggs so it will be omelette for tea. We have already had poached eggs for supper on Sunday. The rest will go home with us.

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, even T shirt weather and we really broke the back of the pruning. We now have 50 fruit trees in our field or orchard as we now call it. Most are young and small and require little pruning. The 15 old ones that were here when we bought the house are another matter. This has been a saw job. We still have one row of five to go, which will probably wait till next visit. I remembered Alan Titmarsh saying wine glass shape, easier said than done. The giant cherry tree and the walnut have just been pollarded their being nothing else we could do. We will do the same to the remaining trees. Its giving us lots of wood to store and dry for future fire wood.

Its another thick misty start and a nice day forecast. It hit 16-17 yesterday, but felt warmer at the front of the house which faces South.

[Stanley]

I didn't mess about looking at all the alternatives, I simply went for something I know from a trusted supplier and so I have spent £400 on a set of castings for a small beam engine. It will get me back in the shed!

[Tripps]

Brilliant - that's the stuff.

Looks like a hefty chunk of metal. how big is it (roughly)?

[chinatyke]

Just a thought for your consideration. If you want to electrify the model when you have finished it then consider using a microwave turntable motor. They are cheap, powerful, slow (4 tor 6 rpm typical), only 2 to 4W, small, can be boxed in and made to look unobtrusive and be belt drive connected to your beam engine.

[Stanley]

Thanks David. It will be good therapy and a vote of confidence in the future. Not big, about 13" long in the base.
The kids thoroughly approve.
China, it's a good thought but I have no desire to electrify it, it's a steam engine!
Must go to chemists for my repeat prescription. Apart from that, watching the world go by......

[Marilyn]

My recipe folder was getting over full, so I bought two new folders and had a good clean out as I rearranged things. All organised neatly now. Some recipes got thrown out because I will never find a reason to cook them even if I live to be 100.

after looking at all those pictures of delicious food, it seems ironic that we are only having Fish Fingers and Salad for tea! Must try harder tomorrow...

[Stanley]

Don't get disheartened Maz. Nowt wrong with fish fingers and salad, it's healthy food!

[Sue]

Busy busy yesterday. I had a morning cooking and tidying the kitchen followed by picking leeks, then removing geraniums from our pots to take them back home and helping clear up after pruning a large cherry tree and equally large plum tree. Later in the afternoon we visited Roland where the news is good. He has an Xray on Thursday and if all is good he can go home...to his new home, which has been fitted out by Nicole and his niece with all sorts of assisted living apparatus, including an electric multi positioned bed and a hand pull to haul himself up on. He fell out of bed twisting to answer the phone when he broke his hip

Afterwards we went to the pharmacy as Bob had a hot swollen finger after getting a splinter or something in it 4 days ago. I did not like the look of it and insisted we went. The pharmacist sent us to the Drs,(it was already nearly 4.30pm ) where we were first in the queue for evening surgery at 5.00 pm. The Dr lanced it and removed what he thought was a sting and prescribed a topical antiseptic bath to be used 6 times a day for 4 days.

Returning home we still had the wood to clear from the orchard into the wood store so I left Bob to it whilst I started to sort the things that have to go home, including one smart dress and jacket and one suit and shirt, not to be forgotten this time. I was just starting to make an omelette for tea, eggs courtesy of our neighbours and our french Sunday visitors when there was a knock on the door. It was our immediate neighbours who had been away. They had come to say hello and show us the new baby, now 6 weeks old, as they had been told we were leaving today. They stayed about an hour so it was after 8.00 before we had the omelette. The gardening gear had been washing for an hour by then so I managed to get it hung on the airer to dry before we went to bed, tired out.

Today I have towels to wash, bathrooms to clean , pack the car, and lunch before we leave for St Malo. We will stay in a hotel tonight ready for an early ferry in the morning. We should manage a stroll round St Malo today and an evening meal out.

[Stanley]

I'm glad that Bob got that dealt with quickly. Little penetrating injuries like that can be so quick to turn septic and can be very dangerous. I remember when I was carting wool out of the conditioning houses at Bradford I was warned against getting scratches from the hardwood skewers that were used to fasten the outer covering on the bales. They were right! One scratch from them and it festered.
Keep an eye on it but I'm sure you have done the best thing.

[Sue]

I'm glad that Bob got that dealt with quickly. Little penetrating injuries like that can be so quick to turn septic and can be very dangerous. I remember when I was carting wool out of the conditioning houses at Bradford I was warned against getting scratches from the hardwood skewers that were used to fasten the outer covering on the bales. They were right! One scratch from them and it festered.
Keep an eye on it but I'm sure you have done the best thing.

That was exactly my view point Stanley. Someone on the sewing page I read said she had an injury from a sewing needle and got blood poisoning and nearly lost her arm. That was yesterday morning when I read it so I was insistant on action before we got home which would be after midnight Thursday.

[Stanley]

You were quite right Sue. Thinking about the biological hazards and mechanical dangers my hands have been exposed to during a long hard life, it is quite amazing how few infections I have had. They were all either Whitlows or penetrating injuries. I always remember a footballer (Was it Dooley?) losing his leg to a scratch on the playing field. He had refused his tetanus jab because he feared it would affect his match fitness.
It was Dooley (LINK) it wasn't a scratch but a fracture. Principle still applies, it was put down to infection at the time.
Watching the mail, my castings have been despatched!

[Sue]

Sitting waiting for the ferry at St Malo, rain and thick mist. Its still dark, yuk

[Wendyf]

It's gloomy here too Sue, hope you have a good trip back.

[Stanley]

Butchers, shopping and avoiding Brexit 'news' are top of the agenda.
I hope you had a calm trip Sue.

[Stanley]

Keeping dry, rubbing Jack down and watching out for my castings!
It strikes me I should be writing for the BET to build a stock pile so I can get in the shed without guilt. This means that I could be writing Xmas articles. Must get on to my editor to find out what publishing plans are for the Xmas season.
I fancy some fresh fish so a trip into Town Square this morning to the Fleetwood van!