And of course next day -the digger had to come back to fill in the grave....
................now the entrance is even muddier than yesterdays photo. The mourners and men with the coffin came in the top gate and walked down the shingle path avoiding the mud - thankfully. ( I don't stand watching funerals! but it's right opposite the bungalow so can hardly avoid seeing what's happening when I'm in the kitchen)
Such a grey gloomy week with lots of rain. I've not been far at all. The Winter Olympics on TV have kept me company - curling, skeleton, snowboard cross, ice dance and three books have been finished.....although one was a children's book and read very quickly. I even started to feel guilty that all I'd done was watch TV and read, with the odd bit of housework thrown in but then tried to think of other things I ought to be doing.......and there wasn't anything.
This below is by an author who usually writes under Natasha Solomons. I enjoyed 'The Song Collector' and 'The Novel in the Viola' by her several years ago. This is listed completely separately on the Fantastic Fiction website, a one-off under N.E. Solomons, a sometimes violent thriller set in the Balkans after the war there. Details here.
Another one for the 'food-shop-photo-fans!'
There's soft cheese and Blue Stilton (still no Shropshire Blue), tin of tomatoes, two decaf ground coffee - while they had it in stock as they often don't. Celery, kale, carrots and apples. A big tub of peanut butter (no salt, no sweetener - just peanuts, lasts me for months) 1 dozen free range eggs, 4 pints milk and a 600g pack of mini chicken breast fillets.- which I divided up into 5 portions before freezing. The UPF were stuffing mix and tortilla chips and a packet of figgy biscuits- they're there somewhere.
Then on my way home I called in at a village butchers for some lamb scrag/neck of lamb chops and they had some fresh cut, ¾ Kg for £3 so I was able to divide into 2 separate portions before freezing. I'll be making a delicious lamb stew and dumplings twice (two meals each time) sometime in the next couple of months.
Total spend £30.92. Food spend so far this month £54.27
Out of curiosity at the end of the month I'm going to see what % of my purchases are fruit and veg and other basic simple foods - and how many are Ultra Processed Foods.
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There's a jumble sale today, I might go, if I don't run into flooded roads on the way .
Very much like my weekly shop. We are still using our stored eating apples. I must add some kale. Is that the cream cheese with Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Citrus Fibre? I have strained plain yoghurt for cream cheese, and used the whey in scones.
ReplyDeleteThe family behind us at the till had a full trolley, probably 4 x the cost of your delicious ingredients, and not one item which was not UPF.
Oh dear, yes that soft cheese does have odd ingredients. I've been buying it as it sits in the fridge happily until I need it.
DeleteGood to see there are two entrances to the graveyard. But also good that a machine can dig graves as hand digging in this weather would have been nearly impossible.
ReplyDeleteNot easy for the bearers to push the coffin trolley a long way over the shingle pathway which is why they usually use the lower gate straight off the road.
DeleteHeavy clay soil here would really be hard work to dig by hand
Gosh, that is the sort of money I would like to be spending on MY weekly shop, but it gets ridiculous if I have to buy much in Tesco. Normally I go to Lidl for the bulk of the shopping, and then things like cat food, Earl Grey Teabags, filtered milk etc from Tesco, but of course there are always other things which catch my eye . . . I think the biggest rip off are bags of crisps - you are lucky to be able to get the nice ones for less than £2 something unless they are on an offer. Prices - the 3 Raspberry trifles I used to get on occasion in Tesco were £1.50 - I noticed last week they were now £2.25! Stuff doesn't go up by a penny or two like it used to - this is 15 or 20 p a time now. Cheese as well - Edam was £2.50 not that long ago, but last week £3.25!
ReplyDeleteI guess there are lots of things I don't buy - sticking to the basics and I'm much lazier than you are! so don't need to eat very much nowadays.
DeleteAny kind of outside work is nigh on impossible. My lovely gardener came and pruned the roses. She's trying stem cuttings from some of the pruning as I will be losing one probably when they start groindworks for our extension. Glad we weren't planning to start this month!
ReplyDeleteMy back garden grass has turned to moss and very boggy - just no incentive for gardening yet
DeleteWe have blue skies here along the south coast, it won't last too long, rain is due later, BUT it bloody cold!
ReplyDeleteReal nip in the air here today , sun shone for a while but that's probably all there'll be for another week
Delete-2C this morning but I am determined to do some garden tidying today once it warns up a bit. I buy long lasting things on offer too especially things like coffee that are always used. Catriona
ReplyDeleteWell done for getting gardening done, too wet underfoot here
DeleteFor my part of the world, mud at least is a sign that winter is thawing, though the still 10 foot snow pile in my yard will take months still to fully melt even if no new snow. When my son no longer lives with me, I'll likely go back to very simple eating, maybe cooking one-two times a week, knowing that will be multiple meals. Peanut butter will feature prominently in my diet.
ReplyDeleteYikes! 10 foot of snow heap is bigger than we've ever seen in Suffolk!
DeleteWhen it's wet and dreary, watching television and reading are perfectly acceptable pastimes. When it's not wet and dreary I have to find other excuses . . .
ReplyDeleteSo true!
DeleteYeah, this has not been an inspiring week, weather-wise -- and a funeral across the road certainly wouldn't help!
ReplyDeleteThere weren't many people at the grave side yesterday. Hope they kept dry feet.
DeleteI've never lived so close to a churchyard before but I'm used to it now.
I do exactly what you do when the weather is like that. And sometimes even when it isn't!
ReplyDeleteThis week has been lovely, and having the cat to catsit, is nothing but exciting. Bob has never been an inside cat so this week has been a learning experience both for us and him.
ReplyDeleteSnow and cold coming next week so I will be batch making some soups, and spending time baking.
God bless,
Your grocery shop is quite manageable, and you buy a nice variety of items.
ReplyDeleteOur stores are increasing prices all the time. A can of Columbian Supreme coffee used to be $7, today it is $10.99.
The ground is very soggy and the people at the graveside must have been wearing Wellies.
So many posts on UK blogs about depressed-sounding pensioners sitting around looking out at the rain. Don’t you ever long for a bit of adventure in foreign lands? With the internet it’s so easy now to organise affordable accommodation for a couple of months. Have you never considered escaping the winter? Helen.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats a tasty stew bubbling away on a cold Winter’s day x
ReplyDeleteThat was a good price for lamb! I haven't had lamb for ages, nor beef for that matter!
ReplyDeleteMy sister was telling me how horrible the weather has been. She said she'd been dodging raindrops all week!
ReplyDelete