This November...

I didn’t think there was much to say about November, but it turns out I was wrong. We finally put the garden to bed ahead of the cold snap that was forecast, and which duly arrived, but it felt odd as the week beforehand was almost tropical, or tropical for this time of year anyway.

In the kitchen

I picked my peppers and hoped they’d ripen more indoors, and that’s pretty much the case - they got to a lovely autumnal orange (and more orange than below) before heading for one of our dinners.

I did make some jewel coloured chilli jelly, but as yet I haven’t made the second batch I hoped to - all is not lost though as while my crab apples are finished, the recipe can also use Bramleys and I picked some of those up in the village shop. The limiting factor has been a lack of jars, but it’s amazing how quickly they can accumulate when you put your mind to it!

We’re continuing our Reformer Pilates journey, and with some progress already I’m sure. MOH was asked how he was getting on and likened himself to ‘an elephant on roller skates’ which made me laugh, but it’s something I also totally relate to! Our last session was a hard one and learning some very technical and traditional moves, thankfully our instructor knows more about our bodies now and was there to catch me as I toppled forward at one point, for which I’m very grateful.

Stir up Sunday has been successfully completed, even though ours mostly took place on the Saturday. We’ve now got a stock of three various sized Christmas puddings lovingly made by MOH. Christmas puddings have become his thing and are much requested on family visits each year, and this year was no different. Our main job with them now is to regularly feed them with brandy until a week or so before the big day.

Crafting, radio and game

The start of the month saw me heading off to a new village hall for the Living Threads ‘sewing room sort out sale’ and I left with a bag full of inspiration and plenty of ideas. On the way home I checked out a new to me farm shop - Harkers Farm Shop if you’re local, and it’s definitely one I’m adding to my regular visits list. For a relatively small shop it was jam packed full of goodies from farm fresh vegetables, local meats and pies and plenty more besides. Definitely a new farm shop unlocked for me.

I’ve been in a bit of a quandary about what to sew lately, and so having not sorted anything out to take to my evening sewing group I grabbed some embroidery that I’d been toying with for a while. It’s been on trips with me but hasn’t actually made it out of its pouch and started on, but that’s changed.

In fact since I’ve been forced to slow down a bit after catching a stinker of a cold in the second half of the month, I’ve finished the second part of the embroidery. The paler section at the top I completed while we were visiting Gargano’s Peninsular last year, so it was long overdue. I’ve also worked out how I’m going to use this - yes, another pouch - but there’s more to do, and embroider, yet.

I even got around to doing some more Indian Block Printing, and it wasn’t as much of a faff to set-up or clear down as I envisaged, so that was good and I can see that I’ll be doing this more regularly. I just need to remember not to go overboard on the printing side as that leaves me with a pile of embroidering, which vies for time along with everything else.

Our favourite restaurant in Newark held their annual game night, and it was delicious. Of course it was on the same day that I was going to Harrogate for the Knit & Stitch Show with sewing group friends, so it made for a busy day, but both were well worth it and very enjoyable.

We even managed a port tasting earlier in the month too discovering some more favourites, and potentially even a Christmas present or two - but what’s even better is, we had a great night out and managed to time it so we could get the bus home. Writing that though, makes me feel old!

And we finished the month with the restoration of one of our Saturday morning habits of listening to Huey Morgan’s show on 6 Music in a little bit more style than we have been. For a while now we’ve only been able to listen to it on Alexa, and that’s meant it’s been on in the background, but now with the addition of a clever streamer box that’s changed and we can listen to it actually in the room. Sometimes it’s the small things isn’t it? And no, I don’t know why it’s taken us so long either, but there you go…

Markets and discoveries

I’ve not ventured too far from home this month, but there has been a visit to Nottingham and another to Harrogate for the Knit & Stitch show. I’ll share more from the show another day, but Harrogate is very much on my visit list - it looks a beautiful place and full of independent shops and more. Though I might be swayed by one of the coffee station venues at the craft show, which was in the beautifully restored Harrogate Theatre - very grand!

In Nottingham I finally ticked off a visit to Sneinton Markets, and it won’t be my last. As well as the craft shop I planned to visit we also discovered a great independent bakery, a curios shop where I stumbled across a stack of vintage fabric for £9, a restaurant I want to try and an Asian Grocery shop. And that was on a Thursday when the area was relatively quiet, I’m sure on Fridays and Saturdays it’s buzzing, I’m already planning when I can go back!

If you want to read my ramblings from previous monthly updates then please check out my ‘This is’ series.

This October...

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.

This September...

I’m trying to work out as I write this if this month was a normal month, or if that was last month - or what even is a normal month. I’m not sure I know, but I think that’s ok as I’ve a suspicion that not many of us do, so phew.

But I know that despite the sun still making appearances - by the way it’s very welcome, the hint of autumn that started the month has made itself very much at home. I like autumn, and I like September, and I especially like the food and meals that this time of year brings. I’m not liking that by the end of the month there’s so many mentions of the C-word and as for the radio station even thinking about playing Christmas songs, well, if they do so early, I’m out and swapping stations.

We’re still sorting out the garage, and it’s become a bit of a jenga style puzzle with moving everything around while MOH seals the floor to make it less dusty. Yes it would make more sense to move things out, and to do that when the weather’s agreeable, but that never seems to work with everything else we have planned, or it’s too warm, too wet - you know what I mean.

It isn’t helped though as at the start of the month I had some new garden furniture delivered, which is also being stored in the garage. We’ve not used it yet, and realistically we probably won’t use it until next year now, but it was such a bargain with 30% off, that it would have been rude not to buy it. We saw it at Grand Designs Live in London in May, tried it out, loved it but didn’t buy it - then at the end of August I spotted that it had been reduced.

The two arm chairs, two footstools, all their cushions and a glass topped little table all arrived in one very large box, which we couldn’t have moved ourselves. Thankfully the delivery guys were very amenable and delivered it straight into the garage. Getting it out of the box was another challenge as much of it was cable tied together. At times it really did feel like we were ‘birthing’ this furniture!

We’ve also had to move the garden table and chairs into the garage too, as there were predicted high winds and I really wanted to get ahead of that and get them into the garage in preparation - rather than wait til the winds were blowing things around the garden and then frantically dash out there (again) to move the furniture! It did get pretty windy, but windy enough to blow the table over, who knows?

The garden sofa is still outside and that didn’t blow away, thankfully. Though it is now much more ‘weathered’ than it was before, by that I mean it’s experienced weather for the first time - and if we get the garage straighter, then my plan will be to bring it in for the winter. I’m not sure it’s hardy enough, after its indoor life, for an outside winter!

That plan involves getting all of the new storage racks built and in place, and placing stuff on them in ways that make sense, rather than just any old how. It may even (make that should) mean that we can finally empty the last of the boxes from when we moved two years ago. I won’t miss searching through the still packed shed and greenhouse boxes when we realise we need something.

In the garden my bargain pepper plant now has a further twelve peppers on, they’re small and I’m not sure they’ll ripen to be as red as the others, but if we’re lucky they may at least get a rosy tinge. The other main job for us in September is always the lavender - we have eight lavender bushes so it becomes a bit of a mammoth task, and one I’m glad that MOH now helps with.

One of the lavender bushes isn’t looking too well, so I’m not sure it’ll survive the winter - but it had self seeded and there was a healthy looking plant growing in the pavement alongside it. We’ve yanked that up and planted that in the flower bed, so fingers crossed for both of these. We may end up with nine plants, or eight, or worse case, seven. We’ll see.

It hasn’t been all work and no play though. We’ve had an afternoon out at our local wine shop at one of their ‘Vinyl Saturday’s’ where there were many familiar tunes to listen too, along with some very decent wine to drink. For me it was made all the better with the discovery that Google could tell me the name of the tunes, and the artist from the sound.

Absolutely brilliant, and perfect for me who’s always asking “who sings this?” annoying everyone I’m sure!

Feeling proud

I picked up my newly framed Vogue pictures this month and they’ve done a stunning job framing them. I know where I want them on the wall, and currently still have the template up pinned to the wall. The picture’s not hung yet, as it seems every time I get into my sewing MOH appears and suggests hanging the picture. We’ll get there.

This month I had a proud sewing moment, and donated nine of the quilts I’ve made for Project Linus UK. So a double proud moment actually. I went along to a new-to-me patchwork sewing group for the charity day, and have since been back for one of their Friday afternoon meetings. I’m planning to head back for the Tuesday evening meeting too - which will mean four outings a month for my new ‘take to’ machine, which definitely makes it worth buying.

Remembering how ‘to weekend’

This month we’ve had a last minute and impromptu weekend away, and it was glorious. I shared more in my post last week about being reminded how ‘to weekend’ and it really has made such a difference. We’d originally planned to head further afield but that didn’t quite work out, though we’re still working on that, but North Yorkshire was a good alternative.

It’s funny how that by going away you discover the joy of doing something different, albeit for a short time, and how that reignites the travel bug. My list of ‘go to’ places is growing, and Malton’s definitely on my ‘go back to’ list.

In one of the fabulous independent shops I spotted a series of ‘cheeky’ cake plates, I didn’t buy them at the time but found them online where they were cheaper so ordered them. Now I’m having to make cake just so we can get good use out of our treacle, tart, cupcake and crumpet plates - well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

If you want to read my previous monthly updates in my ‘This is’ series you’re very welcome.