I'm glad I live where I do because the crowded south coast beaches seen on TV don't appeal at all and not because of being frightened to get out and about but because of the traffic jams, the queues for toilets and the hassle. Felixstowe on a sunny day is Much quieter.
Flowers on the table this week are a mix of all sorts, shades of pink and purple, not just from the cutting garden.
During the week I had to go and pick up my prescription from the surgery pharmacy and Hooray! the chip shop in the same village is back open, so timing it right I was able to get my first meal in 3 months that I'd not made myself - Pensioners Plaice and Chips = £3.50 - Yum.
Staying inside out of the high temperatures gave me time to read this - and what a good read it was - as I knew it would be. This is the 4th in his series set in the 1930's and 1940's.( Starting with Corpus, they need to be read in order)
In Cambridge, brilliant history professor Tom Wilde is asked by an American intelligence officer to help smuggle a mysterious package out of Nazi Germany - something so secret, even Hitler himself doesn't know of its existence. Posing as a German-American industrialist, Wilde soon discovers the shocking truth about the 'package', and why the Nazis will stop at nothing to prevent it leaving Germany. With ruthless killers loyal to Martin Bormann hunting him down, Wilde makes a desperate gamble on an unlikely escape route. But even if he reaches England alive, that will not be the end of his ordeal.
Rory Clements write good stories although belief needs to be suspended on how many times a person can get beaten up and still carry on!
Here's my weekly updated list of what one "old" woman can grow to eat in a year.
So far..............................
- 9 small lettuces (I now have a gap because the next sowing took ages to get going)
- First Rocket
- 6 Cucumbers - and 8 more given away
- a few asparagus spears
- lots of rhubarb
- A surprising amount of strawberries from 6 new plants.
- 3lb of gooseberries
- Lots of raspberries and 2lb put in the freezer
- Several courgettes.
- Few new potatoes
- First tomatoes from greenhouse
- And the first aubergine................ as mentioned yesterday made my favourite pasta sauce. (Scroll down on the Recipe Page) I ate it with tagliatelle one day and with a baked potato the next day and one portion went in the freezer.
This week I am grateful for
- A problem one part of the family had, has been resolved, so one thing less to worry about.
- Raspberries or strawberries everyday all week.
- A week of beautiful warmth
- Lots of comments on the blog
Hope you have a good weekend. I might virtually visit this https://www.facebook.com/FelixstoweBookFest - all for free instead of paying to go and listen.
Back Monday
Sue
We know what you mean about the South Coast on a hot day. We lived in Havant with family and friends on Hayling - a one bridge access island. On hots days the traffic queue for the beach snaked 4 miles up the island, over the bridge, back through Langstone, over the A27, into Havant and was often clogging the big roundabout near home - a couple of miles from the A27. Those were the days to head into the South Downs instead.
ReplyDeletePictures on TV showed looked like the whole world had gone to Bournemouth beach, still many people off work and children off school so many many more than a normal June day
DeleteThe media want you to believe it is more. In fact I would think it is less than 5%. The figures in all categories are miniscule on a 66 Million population.
ReplyDeleteI was never much good at working out percentages so can't confirm or deny. Although I know number of people in Suffolk to have virus is under 2,000 out of a population of approx 750,000
DeleteThat is 0.27%. Less than 1%.
DeleteI knew you would be able to work it out - thank you!
DeleteI have gooseberries and blackcurrants to pick today - and it is chucking it down outside! I cheat with the blackcurrants though, as a neighbour gave me a tip - rather than breaking your back bending over the bushes, they need cutting back each year to put out fresh growth, so cut the fruiting stems and bring them indoors to strig at the kitchen table!
ReplyDeleteWe have had a good picking of Rhubarb this year as I fed the puny plants mightily and watered them heavily and finally they have grown! Before that I only had one reliable plant. First earlies being dug here too - the peculiar weather - drought then downpour has resulted in one or two very large potatoes per plant! They still taste just as good though.
Well done on making one aubergine do three meals! That IS cheap eating.
We used to live near Bournemouth and believe me, never went near the beach on summer days. It's always been very busy but people did at least always take their litter home. Now to see people cheek by jowl in a Pandemic (for God's sake where is their common sense?!) when only one toilet open - absolute madness and the whole area must be like a sewer now.
3 small portions or two large - it was a good size aubergine!
DeleteTo have to pick up human excrement must be revolting and disgusting
Only harvest here at the moment are a handful of raspberries every other day, a bit of rhubarb and a couple of lettuce. The rest failed. Runner beans are now ‘running’ so should be picking those soon. Rain should produce more rhubarb. Lettuce seedlings on the go. Carrots and beetroot finally through.
ReplyDeleteOh and tomatoes setting fruit:)
ReplyDeleteI've had a big gap in lettuces - they don't like the heat when small. My third sowing of beetroot all grew - MUCH too close together and now I've got to thin them
DeleteWhat a lovely selection of fruit/veg. I have decided to plant soft fruit next year and hopefully a small fruit tree. For the last 2 years I have just kept the garden tidy and cut back things but now life is good now and I want to do things in the garden. We had a little drop of rain last night. Enjoy your weekend Sue and everyone. I am going to see my GD little house that she is buying today my first trip out in the car for over 3 months with the D. Hazel c uk 🌈🌈🌈🚙🚙🚙
ReplyDeleteStrawberries are the quickest to fruit, I'm still waiting for apricots - they are so slow.
DeleteBeautiful cornflowers.....one of my favourite flowers. It drives me mad when I hear people start a sentence with ‘so’......a real pet peeve and it seems to be getting more prevalent........
ReplyDeleteIn my defence I don't start sentences with so when I speak, it's just on the blog!
DeleteI have to object to you calling yourself "old". I'm the same age and I refuse to be old. Now, if only my body would stop telling me I'm old! LOL
ReplyDeleteI'm in Scotland and it just amazes me how stupid people are about coming out of lockdown. We maybe dodged the (first) bullet of Covid but it hasn't gone away people!! It probably never will.
I only feel old sometimes! Just older than some people who garden on their own.
DeleteAs mazda above it also drives me mad when people begin a sentence with "So, ...". Likewise when people are recounting a personal story and put themselves before others. I was taught that you put the other person/people first before yourself to be correct, but maybe that is 'old school' and the education system has moved on.
ReplyDeleteMy husband, who understands percentages and statistics, tells me that we haven't had many cases in our part of Devon, thank goodness.
It's good to hear Devon doesn't have too many cases, hope your beaches are not too busy
DeleteYes, we were told not to start sentences with So, But, or And during handwriting lessons at Junior School ... do they even have those now I wonder, I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteSo, I have been ignoring that teaching for quite a while just to annoy folk. But, I don't know that it's been working. And, I might stop doing it ... eventually!! ;-)
The beach scenes were bloody terrible to see, how can people be so stupid.
By contrast here in North Wales the beaches had very socially distanced people on them, it was not quite so good in South Wales though. But our being more careful could be due to all our news programmes and papers being filled with all the new Covid-19 cases that have broken out at 3 food production factories. Over 300 new cases in the course of a week.
Posted one minute apart, great minds think alike, ha ha.
DeleteNot quite so sunny and hot today - should keep people off the beaches
DeleteSo, thousands of people are packing themselves onto beaches then. But, has no one told them that it is a dangerous and silly thing to do. And, I wonder if they realise that the possible outcome maybe death.
ReplyDeleteThey don't care - after all it's NEVER going to affect THEM!
DeleteMy husband and I drove up the inland CA coast a week ago,about 75 miles.We came home down the Pacific Coast Highway along the ocean and the beaches were packed. No social distancing, masks were few and far between. In CA mask use is mandatory and you should see the videos of people fussing over it.
DeleteMy neighbors garden is going full tilt. Soon he will have a bush full of jalapeno and habanero peppers, and his tomatoes are growing as well. Our shared grapevine is full of fruit but will take a while to ripen.
The fruit and veg are doing well, I am thinking of trying to grow some fruit next year. I was so pleased to see my two tubs of broad beans doing well, then suddenly they have been hit with black fly and despite spraying with lots of soap/water, I don't know if they will survive. My peas haven't come up or the courgettes, unless it's somewhere else, but so far my runner beans are doing well, toms and peppers not so good. I think a teacher would say "must try harder". Helen S.
ReplyDeleteBlack fly are a pain on broad beans, pinching out all the tops as soon as you spot them on one sometimes works.
DeleteSorry some of your veg isn't doing well. The thing about gardening is that there is always next year to try again
Your flowers are really pretty.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving bringing in different things each week
DeleteFirst I've heard the 4th of July is holiday in Britain. Are you celebrating being rid of us? Probably a good thing these days with the idiot we have at the helm.
ReplyDeleteNo it isn't a holiday here! It's just a day lots of lockdown rules are being relaxed and things can open again after being closed for 3 months.
DeleteI start sentences with both 'But' and 'And' (bot not at the same time. It has a certain literary effect, I think.
ReplyDeleteI think it is perfectly stupid how people are crowding together again, ignoring distancing and risking not only their own health but that of others and the economy (if we have another lockdown).
I'mm be at Dad's on the 4th so I think the chances of doing anything madcap and risky are minimal.
xx
I hope the roads are not too busy next weekend - I can just imagine the whole country suddenly heading out to drive all at once
DeleteNot sure what black hole my typed message has just fallen into! Wanted to share that Rory Clements' Corpus is on offer for 99p in Amazon's kindle store today.
ReplyDeleteThere is another epidemic that has recently broken out - you are not alone starting sentences with 'so' as it is common now on TV. Its occasional use doesn't annoy me but when every sentence from contestants on Pointless begins in the same way, it becomes really irritating! Perhaps people use it when speaking to give themselves a couple of extra seconds of thinking time as an alternative to 'well' or 'erm'. Doesn't so introduce an idea that follows on from another eg it looks like rain so I will take an umbrella when I go out. Apologies but I love language and how its use changes all the time! Vicki
I don't start sentences with SO when I talk - thank goodness - it's very annoying to hear and don't get me started on people speaking on the radio who can't string a sentence together without going 'errr' or 'erm'. Hate that. Also no one now says 'going to' EVERYONE say 'gonna' which I hate hearing!
Delete....and what about the use of 'going forward' instead of 'from now on' or 'in the future'!! V
DeleteSo, I was wondering what to say. But then I thought I'll just agree with others. And, if it annoys people (and I'm one of them at times) it's their problem. I remember from school, never start a sentence with and, but or because. But I do it all the time. Some rules are made to be broken. It's just a shame that life-saving rules are being broken. They're the rules that shouldn't be broken! xx
ReplyDeleteSo I shall carry on regardless!
DeleteSo, there is absolutely nothing wrong with starting a sentence with a conjunction ( for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so ) This isn't a new trend as even in the Bible many sentences begin with and. Your veg growing is marvellous! We only planted peas, onions and taters this year. We won't be joining in any celebrations either. We live on the coast and the warm weather has had day trippers flocking in by the thousands! Our town website keeps us up to date so locals can keep safe. Whenever there is a period of hot weather we get a peak in the R rate :( Take care. Best, Jane x
ReplyDeleteThe pictures of Bournemouth on the news were awful - even without a pandemic it looked much too busy to enjoy
DeleteThe sight of that crowded beach would have had me heading off to find a much quieter place. How can it be a pleasure to sit or lie amongst all those bodies. Ugh! The most disgusting part was in the report of the clear-up of all the rubbish left behind - including human excrement hidden in takeaway cartons.. Filthy, disgusting people!!!
ReplyDeleteToo disgusting to think about too much
DeleteI envy you your wonderfully productive garden Sue. We are living very close to the centre of our city, in a house with a lovely harbour view, and ideal for our future needs (downsizing done and dusted!) but with a garden that is not much bigger than our living room! There’s one raised bed 3ft by 10ft, a rock bank that a few hardy plants cling on to and a pocket handkerchief of lawn. We concentrate on herbs and greens, particularly silver beet and lettuces. I miss our last, much larger garden, but in all other respects this is an excellent place for us, so I cope with the limitations.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog, with gardening, reading and your daily exploits. I’m glad you are being sensible and keeping safely away from the maddening crowds.... what idiots!
Thank you for your lovely comment about the blog. I really enjoy writing it.
DeleteOne day this garden will be much too big for me - I'm not looking forward to it
What a lovely productive garden you have. Ours is finally seeming to come alive and grow. However rain is becoming a necessity both to water the garden and fill the rain barrel.
ReplyDeleteThe more people gather together in a large mass the more likely they are to pass on the virus. Just look at what is happening in the United States. I am so glad that Canada is opening slowly.
God bless.
I've just been hearing on the news that parts of some States are having to shut down again after an increase in cases
DeleteI'm not a lover of sitting on the beach at the best of times so the thought of doing it with hundreds of other people doesn't appeal to me. I'm befuddled about crowds to be honest. Some seem to be allowed to happen so as not to cause upset, others are told to go home. I hate inconsistency.
ReplyDeleteYou must be pleased with how much you're producing from your garden and what a treat to have strawberries and raspberries every day. xx
The raspberries are a good surprise as last year they were small and poor
Delete