Monday 14 October 2019

Here and Now

Hello Lovelies,
I hope you are well and enjoying October. It's whizzing by rather too speedily for my liking.
These are a few of the images that have ended up on my camera since we last spoke....

One wet day I decided to bake, on a whim.


It was a recipe on a leaflet from the milkman and contained ingredients I had in the cupboard which need using up.


Is usual, to make me feel more organised and to make best use of the turning on the oven, I doubled the quantities and made two, weighing each to get even cakes.


They turned out great, and there's still one in the freezer to enjoy later.


As well as rain we have enjoyed sunny days. I'm still loving the zoom on my camera. This looks like a young male Sparrow to me.


It's also great to focus on the distant landscape.


Here the Ivy Flowers were a-buzz with pollinators.


Great to see.


Back home I'm still trying to make adjustments towards a more environmental lifestyle. Some changes stick and some slide. We can only keep trying our best with the time and monetary constraints we have. I do love my simple cleaning routine. Yes, there is still plastic involved here but the products are affordable and natural.


It makes me happy to buy Bicarbonate of soda in a cardboard box (wonderful stuff for loads of things....I've just discovered a little sprinkled in a tea stained cup and rubbed in with a damp cloth gets the stubborn marks off easily) and to make it last longer I create a " sprinkler" with my cake skewer, or a kebab stick.


We still use bar soap. It's just basic unscented "own brand" stuff but still creates less plastic waste than liquid soap and saves us money (also, my hands are not so dry)


These next few pictures are from a group walk in Derbyshire we did on a dull Thursday. I was shocked how cold it was too. Still, the views were pretty and I've since updated my rucksack to it's winter setting (to contain a woolly hat, gloves and hand-warmers) so I'm prepared the next time the temperatures drop.






Chatsworth house in the mist.


Back in the garden now :0)
Here my newly planted hostas are still looking great, much to my surprise. I thought they would have died back by now.


And my Dahlias are still flowering their heads off.


I'm training this climbing rose to spread along the fence (this was a prickly job).


and I'm still picking the odd rose to enjoy indoors. I love this orange one which I've had for many years. I wish I knew it's name.


I'm also trying to spread my growing space around the house. Eldest made me this large planter to go where our bins used to live. It was his good idea to mount it on casters, which he already had. The only bits we bought were the trellis panel and the planks that make up the sides. I've planted a few evergreens in it which were from the garden. I do love Lemon scented conifers. Their lime green foliage is so cheery and the whole purpose of this planter is to give me something green to look at out of my side kitchen window. I'll add some spring bulbs soon, mini daffs I expect :0)


On our front doorstep I've placed a couple of pumpkins. They are so seasonal and cheery. Never-mind it's not Halloween yet.

I also got out the one Halloween decoration out of storage that I own these days, don't think I would ever want to get rid of this cute lady.


Now it's getting cooler at night my large sunburst blanket is back on our bed, until it gets cold enough to need the winter duvet. It's a nice compromise and easy to throw off if the weather turns mild again.


I've also been doing a little sketching with my coloured pencils, some countryside scenes for an article in our parish magazine about the walking group I'm part of. I've made birthday cards for members in the past and the chairman asked me to do these too. How kind was that. Did I ever say how much I love those people :0)


One even contains the tractor I put in my first drawing of recent years, which I blogged about HERE.
Oh and Tom Tit too :0)


Onto another random subject. Here's the harvest of apples I picked from our young apple tree. Not that many but we didn't get any last year so I'm just glad to see any sort of crop.


Some are pretty tiny :0)


but I still had a go at peeling them ( they are Bramleys, cooking apples)


And popped them all in a pan with some of my foraged Blackberries.



Yay, 2 apple crumbles. One for now


And one for later


While I was in the kitchen I obviously decided to snap my "new" kitchen clock.


The old one has broken so I was thrilled to find this lovely wooden one in the Cancer Research charity shop.

£5 to a good cause and great recycling. What's not to love.




 And Finally. Last Saturday morning at 7.30am I opened the bedroom curtains to see this scene. I had to smile. I think we made right decision to invest a lot of time and effort (and money) into building a workshop for eldest.  He loves to be busy that boy, and by economising on day to day expenses as best I can I'm making projects like this possible.


 Thank you as always for reading, and for your kind and helpful comments.

Jacquie x



22 comments:

  1. Nice to see you posting again, Jacquie, and with snippets from your daily life!

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    1. Thank you Sandra. I think I may have to borrow that as a post title. Much better than mine :0)
      xx

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  2. Like the zoom picture of the black and white house. I didn't realise those flowers were on the ivy. I have seen them before but didn't know. Learned something there. Bet you are pleased with the planter !

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    1. I am pleased. It's great when your "helpful" offspring really do become helpful :0)
      xx

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  3. The workshop looks great. I have seen it in its various stages, haha.

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  4. I'm going to steal your idea of white yarn around the Granny Squares. I've always used black, just seems to be the way it's done locally.

    Thanks for the idea.

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    1. I'm glad you like it. I should try using black one day.
      xx

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  5. I'm always happy to see your blog pop to the top of my list.. I enjoyed each thing you shared. Your baking, landscape, your gorgeous crochet blanket.. and how sweet to see your son up so early making something wonderful in the shop. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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    1. Thank you so much Theresa. I always love to read your comments.
      xx

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  6. Loved your drawings - they are inspiring me to get out my own art stuff and do a bit of dabbling. I think your photos are awesome as well.

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  7. Thank you. I hope you do try some drawing.
    xx

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  8. Lovey scenes as always. The countryside photo with the red vehicle in it reminded me of when my children were very small - it looked like the opening credits of the children's program "Postman Pat"! My local landscape is so very different - not even that green -it is fun to see that the animated depiction of your countryside is based on a real thing. ;-)

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    1. I always love to see the red postman's van on it's travels and this was a particularly picturesque setting.
      xx

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  9. Fantastic Jacquie....your baking sure looks delish.....what is your camera?
    Love all the pics and we love bicarb here at my home in Oz

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  10. Thank you Wendy. My camera is a compact Panasonic Lumix TZ70. I'm pleased with it so far.
    xx

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  11. A really enjoyable post, Jacquie. I am making a note of the cake recipe for the book club I go to. The leader of the group is very kind and usually bakes something that takes my allergies into account but on the occasions when she has been unable to I bake a cake to take and the pineapple and coconut loaf fits the bill perfectly! How rewarding to be able to support your son as he develops such practical skills especially as he makes such useful items for the garden. Vicki in the East Riding

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    1. Glad the recipe works for you Vicki, thank you for the kind comment.
      xx

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  12. Those cakes look gorgeous, and I love the little Bramleys :-) I don't know what it is with me and little things, so cute!!

    That clock was a brilliant buy too.

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  13. A Busy Boy... well the world needs more of those I think. Great to catch up with your news. I have a bag of cooking apples to attack tomorrow. Jo x

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  14. Another good post and you always find interesting things to write about. As usual I love your photos and did not realize you are an artist also. What a great job your son is doing with his workshop. Keeping them busy is important.

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  15. A lovely collection of photos and snippets of daily life. I love the bicarbonate of soda. I decant mine into glass jars then I have a little wooden spoon on scoop in each jar and use that to sprinkle... I can't believe I've never though to pierce the box - that'a great tip!

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