Saturday 24 June 2023

My Quiet Week in Suffolk

The sun has shone and I have books to read and tennis on TV and I did  the Wordle in less than 6 goes all week and in just two tries on Wednesday - a good fluke!
So I'm one of the lucky people with nothing to moan about! 

My Quiet Life in Suffolk this week has involved the Keep Moving Group, swimming and a trip to Morrisons in Ipswich after a very quick stop at  the  Wednesday boot sale (where I bought nothing). At Morrisons I bought a new pair of shorts having abandoned 3 very old pairs last week - all three were really too big and two were chucked due to falling to bits and one pair still OK have gone into the charity shop bag. Too old for shorts I may be but I shall keep wearing them!

Below are the small courgettes that were my 3rd  harvest from the garden, the first small harvest  was a cucumber from the greenhouse and the second was a handful of raspberries from the canes that were here when I came. I cut all the courgettes that were there to encourage more to grow. 




These are all from 2 plants, the third is really slow growing and one I put in a pot in the greenhouse because of being short of space outside is even further behind which is odd. If all 4 plants were to really get going there will be far too many courgettes. But I want to leave one or two to get to marrow size so I can do the Marrow and Apricot Jam (This link is so I know where to find the recipe in July!)

This weekend there's some repair work to do on a piece of trellis that's against the fence which has a yellow climbing rose on it. I hadn't really thought about how the trellis was fixed but, like so many things here, it wasn't really fixed at all. I noticed it had collapsed almost on top of the climbing beans after we had a sudden mini storm on Thursday afternoon and in the rain I went out to try and prop it up - getting nicely scratched in the process! I managed a temporary fix but it needs something more permanent  and I reckon putting a couple of screws into the fence panel and wiring the trellis to the screws should do it - if there is some wire left from what I used for keeping the raspberry canes upright, if not it will be tied with my ever faithful baler twine.

Not sure what else is happening this weekend although I'd like to go to a farmers market so I can get another 'artisan' cheese to try. And I might raid Brother-in-Law's strawberry patch again!

Have a lovely weekend wherever you are and whatever you're doing.
I shall be back Monday
Sue


40 comments:

  1. Courgettes are lovely when they are that size. Somehow, later in the season, they seem to balloon overnight!

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    1. I'm enjoying them just softened then a little balsamic vinegar over them

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  2. Having made the decision (for husband's sake) not to grow any veg this year, I'm missing the courgettes. Who says you're too old for shorts?!

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    1. I have never heard anybody say "too old for shorts". Too large (better not say the F word for fear of offending anyone! ) but go with whatever you're comfortable with is my mantra.

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    2. I've always worn shorts and always will! Can't bear trousers in heat

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  3. I think having nothing to moan about is an attitude of mind and one that you have in shedloads!! It's lovely.
    How nice to be harvesting already. The courgettes look lovely!
    xx

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    1. There are another lot of courgettes now - one plant has gone mad!

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  4. I wore my shorts to go shopping last week, and wondered if a woman my age should do that. My daughter declared that " in weather as hot as this, all bets are off, just be comfortable." Which I accept as wise advice - knowing she is caring enough to gently suggest an alternative if my outfit isn't quite right. It looks like another scorcher today!

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    1. I wear shorts all the time, to go everywhere except evening WI - that would be odd.

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  5. I have one pair of gardening shorts! Usually prefer to wear long skirts but they are not good in the garden.

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    1. At the smallholding before shorts were common to buy each summer I wore long skirts and tucked them in my knicker legs!

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  6. As a cyclist and gardener I wear shorts most of the time, what else would be as practical? Sometimes I think at 62 I’m too old to wear shorts for going out but if you’ve got the legs (I swam another fast 1500m this week, husband swam 500m) then why not. I felt svelte and sporty in my shorts at the beach this week (we walked for two hours mostly barefoot on the sand and along the shore which is good exercise for my husband who has Parkinson’s) followed by shopping for shorts for husband and gallery visiting in Chichester. I draw the line at shorts in the bookshop though and yesterday wore a me-made cool chambray cotton shift dress. As soon as I got home I was back in my shorts and boots for digging up potatoes, harvesting salad, picking broad beans and watering. Very impressed by your early courgettes - reckon I’ll be picking my first courgette on 30 June - but I do have four trusses on my greenhouse toms as well as baby cucumbers, baby chillies and baby melons. The squashes are beginning to wander too - all very exciting. Growing to eat is never boring. Sarah in Sussex

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    1. I definitely don't have the legs for shorts but I'm past caring!

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  7. Sounds like you had a good active week. I am wearing shorts but have so far not been to the cinema in shorts, I think I did last year when the temperature got above 30.

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  8. I haven't worn shorts since I left school. I prefer to cover up against the biting, stinging beasties.

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  9. Your quiet week in Suffolk sounds just perfect. And nope, you are never too old for shorts if you want to wear them. I have only worn mine a couple of times this year but when it's hot enough to do so, I do. My courgette plants are really struggling this year, but the cucumbers are coming along beautifully.

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  10. May I ask what's your percentage score on Wordle, mines 93% and I had a fail this week think it was TASTE i put waste, baste, haste etc and didn't think about two Ts :)

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    1. I've only played 113 games out of 735 because I started late and I'm at 96%. My longest run without a fail is 44. It's very annoying with double letters isn't it

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  11. I am patiently waiting for my plants we are way behind you the weather just got good here we had a hard frost in April that set everything back.
    Cathy

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    1. The courgettes are doing well - other things are slow.

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  12. On a hot day, shorts are perfect. I also like cotton pedal pushers, capri pants or shorts that sit just above the knee. It is hot and humid with showers at the moment and shorts are perfect. Your harvest looks good and the taste of freshly picked vegetables is always outstanding. Wiring your trellis to the fence sounds like a quick and lasting fix. Last year, I needed a wide trellis so I wired 2 wrought iron trellises together and they are still secure today. Black flexible wire works wonders!

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    1. Mine are all just above the knee length anything longer annoys me. The trellis is now fixed to the fence

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  13. You're never too old to wear shorts, unless they're the skimpy type of course. I made a big mistake in sending all my shorts to the charity shop when my legs changed due to the MS I suppose and now I'm wishing I still had them to wear in the bungalow. Another scorcher today (sad face)

    Doing Wordle is a ritual for us in the morning and can usually get the word in 3 or 4. Don't know what my percentage is.

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    1. You could find new - most supermarkets with clothes have shorts nowadays.
      If you do the New York Times Wordle it should show your percentage

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  14. I’m 60 and I wear shorts every day, all summer, from the first good weather until it’s too cold to do so. Mind you, I don’t do short shorts. I favour the ‘Lofty from it ain’t half hot mum’ length 😁

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    1. I’m 68, have always exercised and delighted to say that the only time I don’t wear shorts is when I go to work in a secondary school! It’s all about keeping your core muscles in shape which will hold you up when you eventually need holding up!

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    2. I wear shorts (not short-short), capris (I'm old enough to call them pedal pushers) and jeans, depending on the weather. I hope I am not too old at 77! To Joan in Devon, if you regret giving away all your shorts, buy some new ones!

      I am recovering from the wounds of trimming off the "crazy" branches of a climbing rose and tying the rest to the trellis. Yes, I wore gloves with rubber palms. Should have worn gloves to the elbow--at least. Good luck with your rose, Sue. I used binder twine, too.
      --Maxine in Idaho USA

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    3. Thank you everyone above. My shorts are more skirt like not too short and I wear them all the time - tatty ones at home and tidy ones for out. I really dislike the calf length things on short people makes them look even shorter.

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  15. I'm wearing shorts now and am glad to be the age where I don't care what is in and just wear what I want and what is comfortable! I worried so much about "being cool" when I was young but finally I know better! :)

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    1. It's good not to worry about clothes anymore - I'm not bothered too much either although I like to be tidy when out

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  16. Two things: I'm nearly as old as you and live in shorts in Summer: too hot for anything else, and my legs mightn't function quite as well as they used to, but they still reach the ground and get me from A to B!
    Two: you made me smile with your reference to baling twine. My dad (who was born in 1915) was a motor mechanic who was very adept at using bits and pieces to fix things in emergencies, and he always had a bit of baling twine somewhere close by!

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    1. One of the things that has come from the smallholding was a brand new roll of baler twine that wasn't used there - it will last me forever!

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  17. At our age, we have earned the right to dress as we please, and anyone who studies us deciding where or not we are too old or too 'f', as the commenter above wrote (god forbid we offend her sensibilities) is to be disregarded all together. We are all free to be ourselves.

    I love courgettes and it is amazing just how quickly one overlooked courgette can become positively monstrous. But we love them too. We split them and stuff them with peppers, onions, sausage and a nice spaghetti sauce. Bake them, and top them with grated mozzarella. So good.

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    1. ooh yum ...might have that for lunch today !

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  18. I'm really enjoying courgette season but once they start it can be hard to keep up with production can't it? Thank you for the jam recipe link - I'll be trying that this year.
    Alison in Wales x

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  19. What a lovely quiet week in Suffolk. My sister said the weather has been quite nice. Too warm at night though! What a great beginning harvest. The jam sounds quite interesting!

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  20. I haven't worn shorts for years. I do wear capris with are longer than shorts. Most of them are 1 - 2 feet above my ankle. I wore a skirt today for the 1st time in months, when we went to church. Wearing a new blouse I bought a couple weeks ago. The couregette is zucchini in USA. I like it but my husband doesn't like squash. He tolerates it when I make zucchini bread.

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  21. You jolly well wear those shorts ......and ankle bracelets and flowers in your hair if you want to ! 💐🌿 Did you see Cat Stevens performance at Glastonbury yesterday ? It was brilliant !

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