November 2007

1 A happy end to the paving slab situation.  I searched the internet last night for Bradstone British Standard Paving but had no luck finding another supplier for the very plain, large slabs that I want.  they all just seemed to be selling fancy stiff for patios, driveways etc.  Undeterred, I called the local building supplier whom has them in stock, can deliver tomorrow and is cheaper anyway!!  Thank goodness I don't have to try to phone B&Q again.
2 Pear salvage!  I already lost one box of stored pears last month as, in my haste to stop mice getting at them, I sealed them up with too much moisture and they rotted.  I just caught the second box in time today.  Lost three, but cook the rest into a puree for desserts.
Fireworks
3 Crow is organising another small (12 car) rally next March, called the Essex 100 and we've been out today to reconnoitre part of the route.  Think we've decided on the first coffee halt and the lunch halt, so far.  The evening was spent at my best friend Sue's 50th birthday party, in the Shire Hall at Chelmsford.  Being a friend from my youth, there was a good Geordie contingency there and we met up with people we hadn't seen since Grace's christening, over nine years ago.  We were amused in the first hour by a magician roving the tables.  He was very entertaining!
4 A good veggie garden tidy, emptying plastic pots and my two plastic climber planters for winter storage. I dug up 2 jerusalem artichoke plants and harvested the first of this unusual vegetable.  They're supposed to be best after the first frosts but who knows how long we will wait for that to happen?  I also dug up two scorzonera, but I'm not sure they look as expected.  Some more investigation is required......
Harvest:  46oz jerusalem artichokes, 2 potatoes, 2 scorzonera.
5 Just what did I do today?  Not al lot, it seems.
Harvest: 4 oz brussel sprouts.
6 An unexpected visit from my god-daughter Grace.  Under the weather, Sue needed an emergency baby-sitter, so she rushed around here with Grace, before heading off to work.  We watched Nanny McPhee, then baked, filled and decorated a chocolate cake.  I had an introduction to hama beads and Grace "rescued" all of the bears and chocolates out of the mini grabbing machine.
7 I'm now making a jumper in Sirdar Tufty and I've just finished the back.  It's quite unusual - a very open loopy type pattern.
8 My paving slabs have been delivered.  Just need a man to lay them now......
Today's treat was a visit to London for dinner with Caroline & Bex - at the Canteen again.
The east coast is waiting with baited breath overnight for an early morning high tide coinciding with a forecast storm surge.  Some poor people are being evacuated from their homes, especially around Great Yarmouth in anticipation of severe flooding.  I'm so glad we don't live in a potential flood zone.
9 The flooding and storm surge in East Anglia was not a complete disaster, but try telling that to those who were badly affected.  Overall, it wasn't as severe as potentially forecast, but some homes and businesses were seriously hit.
I set my world swimming record this morning, that's 800m breast stroke - never swum that far in one stint before - and I actually got a plumber to visit so we might solve our leaking/seized up tap problems, hopefully, maybe, one day soon, with a bit of luck...............
Harvest: last 5 small squash, 2 red peppers.
10 11:00 I was hoping for a "garden" day today, but I'm looking out of the window at pouring rain.  Fingers crossed that it's just a bad shower.
14:00 Still raining  :-(   Not so heavy, but not pleasant to work in.  Better do housework instead and hope for better tomorrow.
11 At last, another chance to get out into the veggie garden where I cut down the jerusalem artichoke foliage to about a foot high. so I can see where the remaining plants are for harvesting.  Then I cleared out all of my plastic pots as the first widespread frost is forecast for tonight and took down one runner bean wigwam, harvesting some dried pods which I hope will yield next year's seeds.
Harvest:  4 carrots, 5 small leeks, 2 giant red peppers.
12 Brrrr...  we had sub-zero temperatures overnight and this is the first real wintry day with temperatures not exceeding 7C.  That means it's also time to pick sloes..... maybe later this week.  Today I had a second wigwam to dismantle and the failed sweet potatoes to clear.  Remember last month I dug up two plants and they bore no produce?  Well there was hidden treasure today!  The rest of the sweet potato plants yielded 5 lb of produce.  Not sure if that means I've broken even as I don't know the current price.  I'll try again next year but I'll definitely put some in pots so that I can control their conditions in a better fashion, unless a red hot summer is forecast, of course.
Harvest:  5 lb sweet potatoes.
13 Now that it's time for sloe picking, I thought I had better decant last year's sloe gin & vodka.  No use making more if we don't like it.  I'd already given a non-decanted bottle away, but not heard anything about the quality.  I'm no judge, of course, having never sampled either brew before and not being a great alcohol drinker.  However, both seemed to taste good and I've heard it can be used in cooking and I have certainly one friend who would appreciate a bottle.  It seems quite potent so I don't think I want to admit how little I would need to get me drunk!
Now....  what can I do with the boozy sloes removed from the gin & vodka.  Seems a shame to just throw them away.
14 Been out choosing new basin taps for our bathroom and shower room.  We've chosen Victorian style lever taps which will match well with our current fixtures.  Just got to get the plumber to come back and fit them now!
Harvest: 2 litre tub of sloes.
15 Quite a while since I stirred in my big pot, but it's been out today and I've made 6 jars of Tipsy Sloe & Apple jam, using the gin/vodka laden sloes removed when I decanted on Tuesday. I had to spend over two hours de-stoning them, so I hope it's worth it!
2 "fresh" bottles of sloe gin mixed and shaken and 2 sloe vodka.
Harvest: 2 big beautiful red peppers, 1 litre tub of sloes.
16 Everything was all white when I got up this morning and the temperature was -5C.  Not snow, just a very heavy frost, making everything look quite picturesque.   Two more slow vodka bottles prepared but not quite enough sloes and I've almost finished knitting the Tufty top.  Just two more rows to go, then the dreaded stitching up.  Which reminds me, I never finished stitching up the last jumper......
Preserving:  8 jars of Tipsy Sloe & Apple Chutney.
17 Been cleaning out the chicken run and pottering about the garden, mainly just harvesting veg for dinner.  I picked a final few extra sloes, just to fill up my last two sloe vodka bottles and emptied the last potato pot which yielded a modest haul of Sarpo Axona.
Harvest:  5 small leeks, 4 beetroot, cauliflower, spinach, 4.75lb potatoes, sloes.
18 Spent just over an hour tidying the front garden, then had to retreat indoors as it was just too cold at 3C with a biting wind.
19 Lots of my friends are 50 this year and I had another 50th card to make (plus one for our up and coming 3rd wedding anniversary).  Bored with stitching up the tufty jumper, I started to knit a scarf with the leftover wool.
20 Indoors, out of the continuous rain.  Believe it or not, I've been doing Christmas preparation - working out how many presents left to buy and even wrapping some I already have.  I'm not going mad this year so there's very little left to do.  I've also started the Xmas card making.
21 I finished that scarf tonight with a border crocheted in a contrast colour, but I'm a little disappointed with it.  It's not good enough to give as a gift, so it will have to remain in my wardrobe.
22 Started my next knitting project - a Wendy Pampas waistcoat in cream.
23 Well, the plumber has been today to fit our new taps, but it didn't go well.  New taps were fitted successfully to the bathroom basin but the taps sold to us for the shower room basin turned out to be bath taps, not basin taps and the bath taps couldn't be serviced and now also need replacing which means breaking up the tiled bath panel as it has been installed without an option to remove it.  Needless to say, I'm not over the moon.
However, spirits are raised as we are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary today.  Not doing anything special, except being together of course.....
Harvest:  12 tomatoes, chard, turnip
24 A trip to Yorkshire because Crow is competing in the Beaver night rally.  I get to have a girlie night with Janet and then drive a very tired Crow back in the morning.  I finished the cream waistcoat, except for stitching up the side seams.
25 11th place on the rally, which was a good result.
26 Met Sandra for a lunchtime gossip as we had gotten a bit out of touch.  This evening, I finished the cream waistcoat and I'm pleased with it.
27 Back in the garden I cleared all of the remaining pepper plants from the potting shed and dug up some more jerusalem artichokes.
Harvest:  a big haul of jerusalem artichokes, cabbage, beetroot, brussel sprouts, 9 red peppers, 4 green peppers.
28 On with the Xmas card making - a batch of twelve completed.
29 At last, I finished stitching up the green cargo jumper and it's turned out rather well, even if I say so myself.  It's already allocated as a Christmas gift.
30 More stitching up to complete the blue tufty jumper which is also allocated as a Christmas gift.
Started jumper for Etienne.