Looking Back and Forward or...........

.......................looking forward and back............+  answering comments.

It's going to be very warm today so take care.................chill!

Next Week
Yippee Do! Wimbledon starts on Monday. I hope the weather will be good and I'll have to choose between watching/sunbathing/gardening.................a First World dilemma!

Last week.
Gi-normous car boot at Needham Market last Saturday. I got there even earlier than the week before (7.20 instead of 7.40) and the car-park was still chock-a-block. I reckon  that nowadays to be there early enough to get the bargains and park closer to the people selling I would need to get there at 5.30am........... NOT doing that!
My only finds were a big Lock and Lock box for £1 and and a Cars activity pack for Jacobs next visit for 80p. There was tons of stuff that I didn't need........... Must find the "what I'm looking for" list.

At the Sunday local small boot-sale I came home with...........a bunch of beetroot (after nothing at all last week) It almost seems a waste of time driving down the road but I like my hour walking round and this time of year I'm always awake early enough so might as well get up and go out.

During the week

• I quizzed with small WI in the Summer Quiz. We came 17th out of 44 teams. Not too bad I guess - we are always hard on ourselves -  we like to be top third.
• Swum - it was lovely and quiet in the pool this week.
• Picked lots of strawberries from BiL's garden and took some to Youngest daughter and Florence and put more in the freezer and made a little jam. 
• Did some more edge cutting with my new strimmer
• Got the electric hedge cutter, which I hadn't used before, out of the garage and had a go at the front hedge. It's a bit heavy for me to use I found. I managed to avoid chopping through the electric lead, didn't do many metres but it's one less bit for BiL to do.
• Read a lot and sat in the sun when it appeared on Thursday.
• Weeded bits of garden.
• Made pesto and then used it in a courgette crumble (first time I've made it for years as Col didn't like pesto or the courgette dish!)

Now to answer some questions that have cropped up in comments during the week.

Thank you for comments about the greenhouse crops. The recipe for Aubergine/Egg Plant and tomato pasta sauce that I mentioned is on the Recipe page, scroll down past a few recipes to find it. I harvested the first two aubergines and made a big batch of the sauce yesterday. Divided up for the freezer.

Mikemax asked about the colours of Blue Tits and Great Tits
From a free photo site this is a good picture to show the colours of a Blue Tit. Not sure how widespread they are through Europe.


 And the slightly bigger Great Tit photo from internet


The garden behind the little thatched cottage in Wetherden was lovely. Very green with all sorts of shapes of leaves and evergreens for year round colour with pops and pots of bright colour here and there. The owner said they found it very tranquil for a small space. I said it was beautiful.

The Book Festival/Hedge cutting dilemma was solved when I heard and saw the weather forecast. There was no way I wanted to drive for an hour down to Felixstowe ............which will be packed out as it'll be a bit cooler on the coast and everyone will be heading there so the traffic will be awful........ and go to the talk for an hour in the Hot hotel at midday (It was hot last year and it was late afternoon) and drive home again in that heat. (Yes I've lost the price of my ticket, but saved my sanity! and diesel, my plan had it been cooler was to go early and look round charity shops - but not in the heat). And likewise no way was I going to be clearing up hedge trimmings either. I don't work in anything over 21 degrees! So everything is cancelled today.
BiL should appear tomorrow sometime, when it will be much cooler, he's at the pub listening to a band 'til 1a.m. tonight (The life of a busy 60 year old bachelor!) so might not be here very early.

This week I am grateful for...............
A quiet swimming pool
Strawberries from BiL
First vegetables from the garden

Have a good weekend
I'll be back Monday...........July already
Sue