We have made progress in the garage - and so much so, that the garden sofa is also in there and there’s more floorspace visible than ever before. It didn’t take as long as I expected and we managed to finally empty some boxes from our move. It looks a lot different now to the before pictured below, which is good news. We need to make some more time to do a bit more but we’re getting there.
It’s been a month for random new stuff - including a new kitchen bin, and the shock of realising how expensive kitchen bins are! Though I think the one we ended up is worth it, it was over £100 and reduced at that. I looked at some half the price and the quality was awful, so I guess it’s a cost versus quality decision.
We’ve also had a new internet router which meant an afternoon reconnecting so many devices - two TVs, one dishwasher, one printer, laptops, ipads and phones, the Alexas, the doorbell and numerous Tapo plugs and I’m so over it. Once we were done, and it was the printer that was the most troublesome, our provider app started working offering a quick way to move everything over - if only that had sprung into life a couple of hours earlier. But we’ll know for next time…
I’ve joined a new patchwork group who meet twice a month about 30 minutes from here, so that’s two sewing groups now which mostly, but not always, seem to meet on consecutive days. Ah well, it is what it is. I’ve also finally persuaded MOH to start Reformer Pilates with me, as I think we’ll both benefit from it and the introductory offer was too good to turn down. I’ve since signed up for extra sessions, and we’ll both go once a week. I know that MOH is finding it hard, which I think is partly because he’s not had a lifetime of attending exercise classes, so things that I don’t need to think about, such as cat-cow stretches, he is completely bemused by. He was also given ‘hamstring homework’ which I don’t think he was too impressed about, but he knows they are tight.
I’m a bit peeved with the NHS decision to move to 28 day prescribing, which in effect would double the cost of some of my medication and triple the cost of another if I didn’t already have a pre-paid prescription. I do thankfully, and one of my medications will stay on a three monthly cycle, which I discovered when I challenged the information provided. It’s also a whole host of more admin, and needing to tie in trips into Newark to be when the chemist is actually open (so not evenings and Saturday afternoons). The chemist will now pick up the admin for my now monthly prescriptions, which I’m grateful for - but it does seem like a job creation and cost based exercise, which has nothing to do with the reasons the NHS cite and give very little consideration to those living more rurally.
Preserving and foraging
I’ve not spent much time in the garden gardening after the sprint to get all our lavender bushes cut by the start of the month, but I have enjoyed seeing the autumn colours develop. I have plans of where I’ll move our succulents and pots to to overwinter, some will be in the garage (now there’s space for them) and others will be deep in the borders. A job for next month, before it gets too cold. I also want to sort out my bulbs as some are in quite small pots, and I think I can probably upgrade them and give them some new soil too, but that’s on my to do list.
This month we’ve been foraging from our neighbour’s garden - foraging in the loosest term though, the chestnuts and walnuts were handed over in a carrier bag on their doorstep, but you know what I mean. The chestnuts were hard work, and I think we left them too long before roasting them, lesson learnt for next year.
The walnuts are amazing - we dried some in our plant room overnight (pictured above) though most of the ones with the black on didn’t make it. They are quite hard to get out of the shell, but once you do the reward is amazing.
We’ve had so many crab apples this year. I’m not sure if that’s because they’re responding to the pruning the tree had last year, or because as others have said it’s a mast year. I’ll share another post on my chilli jelly soon, but it was quite the operation and resulted in the most gorgeous jewel coloured jars, even if there were a few more than I expected.
I’m planning to make another type of crab apple jelly if I get the chance, as there’s definitely enough little apples. But this jelly strainer from Lakeland was invaluable, and I don’t think I would have tackled making a jelly without it. Highly recommend.
The other thing I’ve loved this month was my Bernina day in London. Not only did I get to learn even more about my Bernina which I’ve been able to put into use at home, but I also got to wander around old City haunts, seeing how things had changed and how things had stayed the same. It’s strange though that after spending nigh on thirty years working in the City, it’s possible to feel like a bit of a visitor and not bump into anyone I knew - though it’s been ten or so years since I commuted to the City every day (and in the days when you mostly did go into the office every day).
While wandering around the shops I saw a skirt in M&S and fell in love with it. I didn’t buy it at the time - as the regular length dragged along the floor - but I have since ordered it, and I still love it but I’m not quite sure how I feel about the fact that it’s made from recycled polyester.
It’s not an everyday skirt (!) but I’m also not sure where I’ll wear it, but I have it in case the appropriate situation arises…
Castles, crows and Great Dixter
We’ve been out and about a fair bit this month seeing Divine Comedy in Nottingham and the Counting Crows in Wolverhampton. We’ve seen Divine Comedy before, many years ago at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich - at the time I didn’t have much knowledge of their songs, but since then I’ve been educated by MOH. The Nottingham concert was fab and we had great seats booking them months in advance. There’s a recurring theme with me and concerts though, as I often don’t know much about the band before we go to see them (happened with The Killers and The Courteeners too!), and it’s the same for the Counting Crows - I probably do know some of their songs, I just don’t associate songs and bands together very well (which is why I was so impressed with the Google music search last month - a total revelation for me!)
Towards the end of the month we had a few days away with my in-laws in a cottage near Robertsbridge in East Sussex. The cottage had a view over Bodiam Castle from its back windows, and despite Storm Benjamin we did get out for a quick explore and breath of fresh air, and without getting rained on too which was quite the achievement.
I was keen to visit Great Dixter which was also close by, and we spent some time exploring there the next day before heading into Rye for lunch. What I loved about Great Dixter was how lived in and how un-gardened the garden was, which may sound like a criticism but isn’t. It was a joyous mix of colour, even at this time of year and I’ve now more posts to write, photos to edit and share here.
It’s definitely seems true that as we get towards the end of the year the months speed up, does anyone else feel like that?
If you want to read my previous monthly updates in my ‘This is’ series you’re very welcome.