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I'm having a few technical difficulties, but I'll be back soon. 

Mea Culpa - I Have Shopped

I didn't post yesterday because my laptop keys weren't co-operating. So many keys were acting up that I was driven daft(er). So, from yesterday...

I dropped off some stuff at the charity shop. I was really worried because I'm not walking well at all, but, by a stroke of luck, I snagged a place right opposite the entrance. Not only that, but I reversed almost perfectly into the space next to another car first time. I was so thrilled, I took a picture.

There were a few bags, and a very kind gentleman helped me with them, but getting in, a quick look at the bric a brac and then out just about finished me off. 

Other news from yesterday is more yarn arrived. I picked up some bits from Temu, which I need to stop doing, and it included some yarn. 

It looks weird and wonderful, I really didn't need it, and it's probably the first thing I will pick up after Easter to knit myself a scarf. Or at least, I'll try to knit a scarf but the yarn looks complicated. My only excuse is that I bought it before I started sorting out my yarn stash and I'd been longing for it for a while. 

Today we called into visit the crows, who were all very enthusiastic. It was a really beautiful morning and I've completely failed to get any pics. I'll have to have another go some other time.

My room is still a heap, almost literally. I spent some time sorting through some stuff, and I feel that I have to make choices. I've quite a few sewing projects stashed and I wanted to do them and still want to do them. However I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to them. I have finite time and I need to make choices. I've decided to choose knitting and writing (when the keyboard finally co-operates). 

It's hard letting go of some of the projects, because I know that I would have enjoyed them if I ever got around to them. That's the thing. I would see something online, buy it, really want to start it, something would happen, I'd get distracted, I'd see something online, buy it, really want to start it... I'm making deliberate choices and I'm not trying to get everything done straight away. It's proving quite hard. 

I start with - am I going to keep it? If so, it's getting shoved into storage or bags until I can have space to find a decent home, or until I've worked through more of my stash. If I'm not going to keep it, I ask myself if I think it will sell. I'll have a few things to put on eBay on Monday. Then if I don't think that it'll sell, I ask myself if it is fit to donate. That goes into a separate bag. I throw out the rest. 

It's hard making some of the choices. As I reduce the mounds, I expect that I'll find duplicates of stuff and get rid of more things. I'm finding it exhausting, though. 

In other news, bear is going out clubbing tonight. He's been out late and overnight for parties, but this is the first time he's headed into Leeds with a group of his friends. I promised that I wouldn't wait up, but I don't think that I'll settle until he gets home. I'm being ridiculous, of course. Bear is a sensible lad and knows that he can call on me and DH any time in the unlikely event that he runs into a problem. I hope that he has a blast.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Frustrating Day and Signs of Insanity

Our lovely plumber came out this morning and prodded our boiler. It turns out the boiler was fine. The problem was that the gas meter had stopped working and so no gas was reaching the boiler. Lovely plumber couldn't touch it, but he spoke to my energy supplier, Octopus, on my behalf and they agreed to come out 'within four hours'. This was around 11.30am.

What I didn't notice was the email from Octopus and they needed answers to the questions in it before they logged the order. They needed to know if there were pets, if the could park, would they need a ladder etc etc etc. I didn't notice it until around 3pm, so I answered it and then rang their (actually quite pleasant) customer service. I then got another email from their customer service asking for a picture of the meter, followed by another email from the works supervisor asking for a picture of the meter, followed by a phone call confirming that the call was booked followed by a call from the man mending the meter letting me know he was on his way followed by yet another email requesting that I let them know when it was sorted.

It was a lot.

It felt very bitty because I couldn't settle to anything, not even knitting, as I felt that I could be broken off at any time. I didn't even want to make anything to eat, just in case I was disturbed. It was all very frustrating. Still, we now have a new meter as the battery in the old meter had given up. Apparently they only last 10-15 years. The heating is back on and I could wash up without boiling a kettle, so I'm happy. 

I'm making no plans for tomorrow, just in case.

I also got some seeds. I don't need any more seeds. I absolutely do not need more seeds. But these are herbs, and they can be transitioned outside. 

They're called seed mats and you just place them on soil as is, cover them with a sprinkle of soil, keep them watered and they should be fine. I got parsley, basil, coriander, mint, chives and rocket. I think I'll start off with one mat of parsley and see how I go - if I can find space on the dratted windowsills! I've still got loads of chilli seeds, and I'm planting them even if it is late. 

I just hope I don't kill them off. 

Now it's time for an early night in a nice, warm house. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Yarn, Yarn, Yarn, Yarn, Yarn, Yarn...

And yet no pics of yarn - I'm slipping!

I managed to get through to my plumber today. He's an absolute sweetheart and a safe tradesman. He explains what he's doing, is clear about pricing, and will call if he's running late. And he can come tomorrow morning. It's not too bad. Apart from boiling a kettle to wash the dishes, it's been fine. 

It's been a funny sort of week. I was planning to leave the house super early Tuesday morning because I wanted to drop off donations at a charity shop, and I can't walk very far at all so I'd have to park close, which means leaving the house at the first chirp of the sparrow to make sure that I got a parking space. However I didn't get to sleep until 5am Tuesday morning and I decided that I probably wasn't in a good place to drive. I decided to go today instead. I didn't go today as I was trying to get through to the plumber, and as he's coming tomorrow, it looks like I'll get to the charity shop Friday if nothing else happens. I am not convinced I'll get out of the house on Friday, but who knows. Something may actually go to plan. 

My bedroom is a pit, an absolute disaster, mainly marked by a huge heap of bags for life filled with knitting projects. I bought some things from Temu. They're basically hanging storage. I'll treat taking a pic from there the same was as I do taking a pic from Amazon - I'll give an attribution and a link (and I don't profit from links on here). I hope that's fair play.

Yarn organiser

They were a bit of a pain to set up and they're not exactly exquisitely made, but as long as I'm not opening and shutting them all of the time, they'll do. I've filled three. I've barely made a dent. 

There's a lot of yarn, but there are also so many half finished projects. I'd forgotten about a few of them, including the blanket with yarn that had yak wool as part of it's fibre content. I want to knit this stuff. I got this yarn and started these projects because they called to me. They're still calling to me now. I want to get this stuff finished and done. I want stuff out of the bags for life and into sweaters, scarves, blankets, curtains and jackets. I feel like I could sit and binge knit, just to get some space cleared. 

However I'd already decided that, as I fail at giving things up, I was going to spend Lent, which starts today, knitting for Mission to Seafarers. Most of my mother's family had connections with the sea. Some were Royal Navy, including my insane great uncle who learned how to eat mangoes in Palestine during shore leave during WWII, and the brother of my great grandfather who ran whiskey to the USA during Prohibition. Uncle was a ship's engineer for nearly twenty years. I know how much the Mission to Seafarers can mean to sailors in a strange port. I've got loads of yarn, including that sent by a lovely friend who is no longer with us, so I thought I should set to it. 

This is the religious bit and you can skip to the next paragraph if you prefer. My understanding of the Bible, and I'm not claiming to be any sort of authority, is that if you promise something then you should follow through, even if you didn't have to promise in the first place. I may not have promised in front of a panel of bishops, but I feel that I have to follow through. I feel a little frustrated, but it's not exactly a huge hardship and the yarn will still be diminished. It just won't be the projects that are currently calling. Regardless, I worked on this today, which will be donated. Besides, it's forty days, not years and decades. I'll get stuck into the outstanding stuff soon enough. 

While I was rummaging, I filled two black binbags full of rubbish and another bag for donations. I'm looking at a few craft projects and considering my options. Do I really want to take the time to eg stitch a cross stitch when I could be knitting (more relaxing) or writing (more energising). I could even be doing useful stuff like housework!

Once the plumber has been tomorrow, I plan to return to finish clearing and sorting stuff in my bedroom. Due to the way the light falls and the narrow windowsills, my bedroom is perfect for a chilli nursery and I've got a load of seeds that I can sow, even if it's a bit late. Once that is done, and I've moved some furniture around in the living room, I can get on with things. I've even got some herb seeds to plant as well, although I plan for those to go outside fairly soon. 

I don't have a brilliant track record at following plans through, but I'm hoping that the urge to plant chilli seeds will keep me going through any hiccups. I'll share how things go.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Sort of Normal

My usual February brain-switch-off seems to have been delayed until March. Hopefully I'll get an early night tonight (my sleep has been all over the place) and be back and with it tomorrow. 

I have to be somewhat with it as the boiler stopped working this evening so we have no central heating. The shower runs on electric, so that's not affected, and we have electric heaters in DH and bear's rooms and in the study, so we certainly won't freeze, but I'm a little annoyed. I'll call the plumber tomorrow.

I have also knitted the shawl. It will be perfect for the car. 

It's a good size but lightweight and warm. Close up it looks like this.

The knitting came out looking great, but it was horrible to knit and I'm sort of glad that it's over. 

Bear is having a tough time with his course work. DH and I are keeping a safe distance and letting him get on with stuff. Even if we understood it, we aren't allowed to help him with it. 

The chilli seedlings seem kind of stuck, so I'm hoping I haven't got things too wrong.

Hugs and good health to all. 

 

The Yarn is Winning

It's been another quiet day here. I'm feeling a little under the weather and achy, so I thought I would work on knitting, particularly that fancy yarn. 

It's a struggle for supremacy, a battle to see who's will can prevail. The yarn is winning. I cast on, knitted and unravelled five times! FIVE!

I tried all sorts of cast-on methods. I've used the cable cast on plenty of times, like this scarf that I plan to donate. This was a cable cast on.

It's a nice, neat, unremarkably start to a piece of knitting. With this stupid yarn, it's an incitement to riot. 

In the end, I cast on three stitches and started a triangular shawl. I want one for the car anyway. I have a blanket over my lap (that I knitted) and a warm hat (that I knitted) so a shawl around my shoulders would be a great addition. I think that I have enough yarn to make a really good sized shawl, and I've made a start. 

I'll see how much I can do before the start of Lent. After that, all knitting will be for the Seafarers' Mission (crises permitting). 

Tonight's dinner was the now traditional one with sausage, frozen potato chips, peas and gravy. The men really enjoy those chips/fries/product-type-things - products by Lamb Weston like these ziggy seasoned fries. The price that they have as their base price is £3.00 to £3.30, but I think that's the price that they have the sale from. I've seen them as low as £1.65, but I suspect that's not common. They're currently in a sale which is 8 items for £10 which isn't a bad price, but I haven't much room in my freezer. It's tempting to work out how to tetris more into the freezer as the sale ends on 9th March, but I have a suspicion that this sale comes around a lot. If the price is 8 bags for £10, or £1.25 each, and each bag will do two meals, then it's getting close to the price of non-bargain fresh and normal potatoes. As it is, the men enjoy them so much, and I certainly can't duplicate their fancy cuts, that it may be almost worth paying full price (though it would make me cry).

I need another freezer. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

A Little Drama

Today bear had a couple of exams. These are mock exams, sat under the conditions of the real thing and the grades will be used in letters of recommendation and such until he gets the results of the proper exams in August. They're not vital but they're quite important. 

Bear overslept. He overslept by nearly two hours. 

I have made it a practice to let bear get up and out by himself for the last few months. I want him to be used to it when he goes away. I'm usually up before him, but I don't chase him. Today I slept in after one of those 'so tired it hurts but can't drift off to sleep' nights. I was woken by bear's cry of horror.

He flew out of bed, rang school and they followed the procedure that they'd use if it was the real exams and sent a taxi for him. He got there in time to join the exam and fingers crossed he will still get a decent mark. It gave the household collective heart failure, but I'm hopeful that he'll never oversleep on exam day again. When the real exams come around, of course I'll be up at 6am anyway, ready to encourage him out of the house in plenty of time. 

I refuse to write about chillies today but I'm incredibly grateful for the advice and feel free to add more. I'll hopefully be able to post more soon.

Normally I'm a wreck during February. I tend to shut down and fester at this time of year. I've not done too badly this year but I suspect that I'm getting some of it now. But March is the day after tomorrow, and I'm determined to get things moving.

Knitting is definitely not moving. Do you remember the fancy yarn and I was knitting a ruffle scarf but it wasn't working? 

I decided to undo it all and knit a throw. I got so far with a knit two rows, twisted dropstitch one row pattern when I realised that the cast on edge was far too tight. 

I don't know if you can see it, but it was pulling the bottom edge in almost like it was gathered, which isn't good for a throw. I used bad language, undid the dratted thing again and tried with plain knit. Once again, despite my best efforts, the cast on was bunching up too much. I considered digging out a bigger knitting needle for the cast on, but I think it may have been my technique. I was using what I know as a cable cast on, which works just fine most of the time. It's great when you're casting on rib, and it's the way I was taught when I was eight - many, many, many years ago.

So I dug out a knitting book.

And hopefully I'll find a nice, loose cast on that isn't the long tail cast on as I'm casting on 100 stitches. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Not Even Much About Chillies

I've had another very dull day. I've dithered between a dozen different things that I should be doing and failed to accomplish much at all. 

One thing, this blog can really help me, as I've decided that tomorrow I need to do something - anything - worth blogging about and with pictures, no matter how badly taken. 

For those who know these things, I followed the directions and sprinkled the seeds onto the coir soup and I now have this.

They look awfully crowded. When do I transplant them? If I wait for them to get more leaves, they're going to be seriously congested - aren't they? All advice welcome.

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Take Rubbish Pictures

I did all sorts of stuff over the weekend, but I didn't post because I felt that I hadn't done much - and one of the reasons was because I didn't take pics! Today I have taken some pics, but they're not brilliant. But I'm determined to post. I'll try and share all the stuff that's happened. 

On Saturday we went to feed the crows and they were very enthusiastic. There's something incredibly soothing about that car park. I know that doesn't make sense, but it's an incredibly relaxing place. We had a really calm time chilling out together. 

On Sunday, I know that I did stuff but I can't remember much for the life of me. We had Mejadra for dinner - green lentils and rice with onions and spices. When I say spices, I mean spices. The Tesco recipe calls for one teaspoon of ground cumin, two teaspoons of ground coriander, half a teaspoon of turmeric, one teaspoon of allspice and one teaspoon of cinnamon for 200g of rice and 125g of green lentils - and it wasn't overspiced at all! I get the impression, from looking around the internet, that it's one of those old recipes that go back centuries and that every family has their own take on the dish. What is even better, the website costed this at 38p per serving! I didn't check, but it seems plausible. I'm considering making a large pot of it and storing it in the fridge to eat all week. We had fancy peas with it as well. A word to the wise - if you use this recipe, you end up with far more butter than you need. 

Then I took bear to meet up with his friends at the pub where he usually goes to for the pub quiz. The pub is changing hands and no-one is sure what is going to happen. Sunday was the last night of the current landlords so bear went with his pals to mark the occasion. As I dropped him off at 6pm and expected to pick him up at 10pm or later, I came home, but I left early and got quite a bit of scarf knitted.

Today I'm in pain. Both hips are complaining. However while I've not achieved what I thing I should have, I have managed a few things. A surprising amount is connected with those chillies.

I'm twitchy about planting out the chillies, even in pots. First of all, there is the rat problem, but the spice in chillies was evolved to deter mammals so as long as I only put mature plants out, I'm fairly confident that they would survive the rats/pigeons/sparrows/mice etc However we don't have a back garden, the front garden is tiny and we live in a deprived area. The chance of chillies getting stolen is regrettably high. 

I had a think about this. First, my garden is a disaster area. Second, it will take a lot of effort to get things planted out. Third, I could just plant out some of the chillies. Fourth, I need to get my act together regarding the garden. I took some pics of the garden, but they weren't brilliant. This is the starting point.

There is so much to do. There is ivy, plus brambles, plus buttercups. Not to mention enough dandelions to feed an army of rabbits. Today I started to prune Gladys, the fuschia. It always needs to be cut back to allow new growth, and today I was proactive.

See - not a clear picture, but I hope that you can see that inroads were made. I also cut back the branch of the white rose that was overhanging onto the path.

Both my hips were really painful, but it's incredibly good for me to keep at least trying to move. I'm posting these pictures as a way to encourage myself. I've not got good pictures of the 'tree through the year' idea. However, I can at least show a pic once a month of what is happening in the garden. 

Writing stuff - first of all, Connections eMagazine came out and you can find it here. It has fiction (including a short by yours truly), articles, reviews and even a recipe. I've also posted a new instalment from the White Hart here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Slightly More Sane

Yesterday took it out of me in strange ways. I suspect that my laptop is on the fritz. A lot of letters are malfunctioning, it's lagging, loading odd pages and regularly losing internet. I suspect that I need a new laptop, but I don't want to spend the money. I'll consider my options.

Sprouts continue.

Those are pretty awful pictures, but I failed to take them during daylight hours. If every seed sprouts, I'll have over a hundred chilli plants. On the one hand, DH and bear between them will absolutely eat those chillies. And I know a couple of places that would accept a chilli plant or two. But I'm going to run out of windowsill room pretty quickly. 

Yesterday was odd. I browsed the web, posted something that I'd sold on eBay, did a few fragments of housewifery and still wrote just shy of 5,000 words - and that includes having to deal with sticking keys as I type and American spelling. To be clear, I don't think there's anything wrong with American spelling, but I'm British and I'm not used to it, so it takes up extra mental space as I'm writing. It was for a submission to an anthology, and I think that I may have mostly hit the target, but I'm concerned about the pacing. Regardless, it's one of those where if it doesn't get accepted then I'll put it on my writing blog. The revalation about yesterday is that it's plausible for me to write that amount. Now that I know that I can do it, I have to ask, what's stopping me writing that amount regularly? Trust me, there's no shortage of ideas.

Today was dull. I can't plant anymore chillies until I make sure that the pots can find places so I was considering my options. There will have to be some reorganisation but then I can start planting again. I made a nice beef casserole for dinner, which DH and bear very much enjoyed. The dinner we have planned for Sunday is vegetarian, and I try and give a contrast on Friday. It was some lean casserole beef that was delivered with today's groceries, with onion, carrot, celery, and mushroom that I'd chopped and frozen to make the most of left overs or deals. With a little garlic powder, herbs and a couple of stock cubes, it turned out really well. 

There are times when I really appreciate those veggies in the freezer. All the prep is done, I can just bung them in without worrying about additives or waste. Looking at the way my freezer is stuffed, I could do with a second freezer. One would hold pre-soaked/cooked dried beans, parcelled up and ready to be dropped into all sorts of casseroles and soups, together with all the frozen, chopped veggies from the deals and leftovers. The other would hold things like frozen mince, the frozen salt and pepper chips that the men like, the ready meals that bear enjoys and the sausages and chicken that are ready to cook from frozen for a quick meal. It would make my life considerably easier.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Wibble

I wrote just under five thousand words for a fiction submission today. I'll be back tomorrow when I've stopped floating on the ceiling.  

A Long Day

I was up early. Bear was going to a university open day and had to leave early. DH was driving him the 250 miles there and back, which was heroic of him, and I wanted to see them off.

Do you remember that I had the check tyre light come on and the garage replaced a tyre? The check tyre light came on before they'd gone a mile, but they were fine. My car, Red, apparently drove wonderfully on the motorway, zoomed along at 70mph and, as they filled up just after they left the house, did it all on around a quarter of a tank of petrol. And with the check tyre light on. 

I've spent the day struggling with some writing, but I did take two pics of sprouting seeds. Another sprout is showing next to the first.

And I suspect more may be coming. There are also hints for the cayenne that I planted in the soggy coir.

I have nowhere to put the plants if they all sprout. Though, to be honest, that's not a bad problem to have. 

Bear had an amazing time. He had a chance to look around accomodation and make some decisions about what he wanted to apply for. DH said that the facilities and buildings were amazing. I hope that he gets there. It's his first choice now, and if he gets the same marks that he's been getting for the last two years then he should be fine.

They got home around 6.20pm and then I took bear out at 7pm as he wanted to go to the pub quiz. It was the last one as new management were taking over. The same gang had been going there since July 2023, and they aren't sure where they'll end up going, if anywhere, so it was a big deal. What with one thing and another, I didn't get to pick him up until 11pm. I am now offically exhausted and so is bear. And I suspect that I must have used nearly an eighth of a tank just on the 30 miles or so I drove in town traffic. 

Hugs and good health to all.

Dull as the Weather

Another day when nothing much happened. I'm struggling with some writing and I've been ignoring anything else. 

I had a Tesco delivery today, an extra one as it's half term, and I had a rummage and added this to the order.

It's sold as a propagator and ideal. I was mentally working out where I could put it, when I realised that the individual little pots could come out and they would be fine. I plan on saving the pots and reusing them, though with a little luck I may be able to overwinter some of the chillies (if any survive my 'care') as the house stays warm. 

If all the seeds germinate, I'm going to be struggling for room, though I know a few people who would accept a donated plant. 

And my dratted keyboard is playing up again. It's the letter 'F' that's sticking which is an absolute nuisance but not as bad as 'N', which has recovered nicely. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Planted Some More Chillies

I can tell that this blog is going to be sooooo about chillies, at least for the next week or so, and then heaven knows how it will go. 

We have one sprout!!!

It may not look much, but I'm thrilled! There were five seeds planted in there, so I'm feeling okay about buying extra seeds as we may need them. 

There were five seeds left over from the original pack, so I got them out, assembled the plant pots and settled down. I was quite pleased with the pots - they fit on our tiny windowsill. 

So I planted up the five seeds. I couldn't remember what they were called, so I labelled it Chilli One.

I planted two or three to a pot and by the time I'd planted the seeds from Chilli One and the Habanero and Cayenne seeds from this pack

I had eight little pots and I'd run out of the little saucers. They're on the windowsill now, and I'm wondering what I can do about the saucers for the rest. I may even try little freezer bags or sandwich bags, just to keep the damp off the windowsill. The pots aren't getting soaked, so it's not like they're going to shed a lot of water.

Those who have a track record of actually growing things will find this hilarious, but it's such a big adventure to me, especially as it's the highlight of the day. I'm still full of cold and huffing and puffing and not moving much. But at least I got those few chillies planted. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

All Sort of Grey

The weather has been pretty grey and dull and that seems to be the pattern for today. 

We went to feed the corvids. There were a lot of magpies, maybe as much as a dozen, and there were plenty of crows as well, all happily diving on the food. 

We were a little subversive while we were there. We scattered some seed balls around the edges of the car park. These are little balls of clay containing wildflower seeds, a little nutrition and some chilli to deter predators that are supposed to be just thrown onto the soil and contain wild flowers. You can get them from Seedball and we threw out the bee and bat friendly balls in places where they don't mow. Nothing may happen - there are a lot of birds around, not to mention all the voles and similar that must be in that overgrown place - but it would be lovely to go back and see flowers that we encouraged. 

While I was there, I was knitting the scarf with the fancy wool and alpaca yarn. I looked at it and realised that I would never wear it. It just wasn't working for me. I considered about selling or donating the yarn, but decided to knit one of the scarves for the Mission to Seafarers. That way, I'd get the very real pleasure of knitting with the yarn and I'd have the comfort of someone out there hopefully benefitting from it. I had got this far...

Then I unravelled it and now I'm so far...

And I'm finding it wonderfully relaxing to knit. 

I asked myself - what do I enjoy about knitting? It's not the finished project. It's the process of knitting. It's not the destination but the journey. I'm going to try and keep to that yardstick to make decisions about the whole knitting thing. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Not Quite Busy

There was a parcel that needed to go to a friend in the Netherlands. I've not been in a fit state to do much, but although I didn't have much sleep last night, I was feeling better so I set off in a hurry to get to the Post Office at the Co-op to post the parcel - the staff are always lovely there and the car park there usually has a space, even if it is a wickedly sloped surface. I shot out of the door at 9.10am, after the traffic for the school near us had cleared, raced up the road, and the whole building was closed and shuttered. There was building stuff around, so I hope that it will re-open, as the store itself is so useful - it's close, has a reasonable range for a corner shop, has a Post Office Counter, has a car park, stocks ethical, good quality food and is nice and clean. Having said that, I had to belt back because the Tesco grocery delivery was due at 10am. 

The check tyre pressure light came on in the car, which doesn't always mean anything, but the car was driving 'soft' so as soon as I'd got the groceries away, I tootled down to In n Out Garage. They don't mind you dropping in if it's an iffy tyre (it was), and they have always let me wait with my knitting. Today I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

The tyre had to be ordered, and should have been there by three. However it got stuck in traffic. I checked Google maps and there were four accidents between Junction 27 and Junction 25 of the M62! I hope that they were all minor accidents, but the roads were dreadfully backed up. So the tyre, that absolutely should have been there for 3pm, got there at 4.30pm. I had got to the garage at 1pm. It was practically 5pm when everything was finished and paid for - too late to try and find a new post office. I spent effectively four hours intermittently knitting and reading. 

The staff were lovely! They kept me up to date, made sure that I could help myself to tea and coffee and even offered me a Tunnock's tea cake. The one pic I managed to take today was of their drinks machine which was a source of free and unlimited hot chocolate for me. 

At least I got some knitting done. 

Tomorrow I should have some better pics - I got a delivery today with plant pots in, so I hope to progress with those dratted chillies!

I threw together a quick dinner - frozen veggie sausages, frozen potato sort of wide fries, frozen peas, and gravy. It took twenty minutes and the only thing that cost full price was the gravy granules. The freezer may be full, but it's something of a resource and I've been trying to stuff it wisely. 

Then I've zoned out for the rest of the evening. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Lacklustre

Today was as lacklustre as yesterday. I didn't get around to posting as I was out late. I took bear to his pub quiz, then I hung around in a car park with my knitting until it was time to pick him up. It's one of those things where I could drop bear off, drive home, sit around for a short while, maybe half an hour, then go back out, drive back, pick bear up and drive home, with each leg 12 to 15 miles, depending on the route. Or I could drop him off, settle down in a nearby car park and knit and read in peace and quite until it's time to pick him up, only travelling maybe a total of four or five miles depending on the car park. So the only thing of note that I've managed is some cold weather knitting. I decided to abandon the shrug, start again with the blue yarn and I'm hoping that I'll get a blanket out of it.

As a reminder to myself, here is the hat I knitted years ago. It's still soft, fluffy and wonderfully warm. 

So some of my knitting really does come in useful. I snuggled down with a blanket I knitted on my lap, the fluffy hat on my head and a sense of peace. 

Writing stuff - I think that I wrote that there was a call for submissions where the guidelines were wonderful but I only had a day or two to write the story, and I wasn't expecting it to be accepted? It wasn't accepted and I understand why. It was set in the world of Out of the London Mist and it's hard for something like that to fit an anthology as a standalone story. I'm half tempted to bung it on my writing blog, but it's near enough 4,000 words which is a big story to read online like that. I could definitely expand it to novella size, which is around 10,000 words and publish it on Amazon, but I'm easily distracted and it would potentially take me away from other stuff that I'd like to do. I found four places where I could submit stories from Authors Publish magazine which is a free ezine and I've found very helpful. As ever, I find a potential place then try and write to order, which means I've got around 30,000 words to write before the end of the month, plus some interesting research, just for those. By the time I've finished those (if I even get it finished), I'll probably have forgotten all about it. Whatever I decide, if I do something, I'll share. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Lacking a Silver Lining

I slept through a Tesco delivery this morning. I'm not sure how I managed it. It was a whisker early, just before 9am, and DH was an absolute saint and brought it all in, stowed the frozen and chilled and let me sleep. I feel dreadful about it.

I only wanted the delivery because I'm not good about going out at the moment. You can find me by tracking the tissues that I seem to be shedding all over the house. I'm on my fourth box at the moment. I needed a few bits and I took advantage of some coupons - not as good as Bless, though. I managed to take the bill from £53.17 to £48.56. It was stuff that I wanted/needed so I'm not too stressed about getting extra. 

I haven't been productive today. The only instance of productivity is checking in on a publishing house. There was a call for submissions and the formatting is quite strict - and in inches. My set up is in metric. I checked to see if they'd accept my 'near as I could manage it' formatting and they were really sweet getting back to me. Even if they don't accept my yet-to-be written story, I'll probably still buy that issue and recommend it here. They were lovely. Publishers aren't always lovely to writers that they don't know so when I get a kind response, it makes a difference. It's not much of a silver lining on a day when I've been spectacularly ineffective.

As I haven't taken a pic, I had a rummage.

It took this back in 2021, when I could walk so much better. It made me think of all sorts of stories. I need to get back to that. 

I'm determined to do more tomorrow.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Chilli Confusion Continues

Let's be honest, I haven't a clue what I'm doing. I've watched a few YouTube videos but I'm not sure that they're the hands on knowledge I could do with. This morning I decided to try planting these.

I opened them up and there was what they called a stage or staging.

Plus a tray of stuff.

And I'm supposed to add water to the coir, which hasn't worked well for me recently, then add seeds and coir mix into these tiny pod things which I forgot to photo, and those pod things fit in the slots in the staging. I considered it and I had doubts. 

My track record for dexterity isn't brilliant. I have no faith that I could fit the coir plus seeds into tiny plastic thingies that get shoved into small cardboard slots and then how would the seedlings grow to a size to easily transplant?. I could see it all going very, very wrong. So I've decided to get hold of some plant pots and follow the instructions for the first lot of chillies that I planted. In theory I could get hold of some plastic bottles and cut the bottom bit off and use that, but I'd want to paint it to cut out the light so that the soil didn't turn green around the edges and down the sides, and that would mean digging out paint and waiting until I got around to it, and before you know it, October would be here so I'm spending money on inexpensive plant pots. I don't know what the germination rate is likely to be, but as far as I can tell I have fifty seeds so fingers crossed that I should get something. 

I'm also going to plant the seeds left over from the first batch. There are around five, and they're not exactly properly sealed. 

I hope they'll be okay if I get them planted this week.

I know that there are loads of competent gardeners reading this who must wonder why I'm making such a fuss. But apart from some microgreens and some cress, I don't think that I've ever grown anything from seed and I have killed a lot of plants. Not only that, this is a really big deal for DH. I'd also love to be able to send bear away to university with some home made, home grown pickled chillies. It's such a voyage for me, so I'm grateful for all the comments and encouragement. 

In other news, I bought a candle.

I absolutely do not need a candle. I have dozens of candles, stacks of them, we are totally stocked with candles. This cost £8.99 and I did not need it! I had a Morrisons order come this morning. When I'm feeling well, I am in a rut of Morrisons on Monday (minimum spend £25) and Friday is Tesco (minimum spend for free delivery £50). I'd seen this advertised on Facebook, and I was drawn in. I love candles and I adore this sort of blue and white design. I did my usual and added it to the order with a view to going through and taking it off the day before. I book the deliveries in advance and I adjust the order as I go through the week, carefully paring it down. Being full of cold, I missed the chance to take it off. And it isn't even scented. It's a lovely pot, though. The way things are going, it could end up holding a chilli plant. 

Writing stuff - My brain is as bunged up as my sinuses with this dratted cold, so instead of posting the next White Hart instalment, I've reposted one of my favourites that I wrote during the pandemic here. 

Hugs and good health to all.

Disappointing Day

First of all, the dratted cold continues. I had a rough night with strange dreams where I couldn't find my knitting. I was searching all over Tesco and rummaging under escalators. I woke up exhausted by it.

I sniffled through today and got very little done apart from unravelling the previous knitting and casting on a different project. 

And dinner was something of a disappointment. We try a new recipe most Sundays and this one was Veggie Baked Noodles which had tofu along with ginger, garlic, chilli and veggies, but it came out bland and we won't be doing it again.

Then I sniffled through the rest of the evening. I'm determined to manage more tomorrow. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Cold Continues

I'm festering in a pile of tissues. I'll do more tomorrow.

I'm craving some very basic knitting and I'd seen Cherie's awesome shrugs and I was inspired to do something completely different. I feel the cold and I wanted another layer that was loose and could go over a sweater or something. I found one of those patterns where you basically knit a rectangle, fold it in half, seam halfway up the sides and call the gaps armholes. I mentally rearranged the pattern, adding a few stitches to the amount cast on as I was using yarn that was completely different to the pattern but was handy. I wanted something mindless, and this was two by two rib followed by stocking or stockinette stitch. I cast on 180 stitches (I'm a large lass) and pootled along for some 2x2 rib. After a while, I looked at the knitting, tried it against my shoulders, and it wasn't big enough. I mean, I would fit into it, but it wouldn't be loose enough to go over sweaters or allow for movement. 

I'm still wondering what I should do. There's a serious investment in 2x2 rib, which I loathe, but I'm inclined to rip it all out, cast on a load of stitches, plain knit to the end of the yarn and cast off. I know that I'd find it incredibly relaxing and I've other projects that I can follow if I want to do something that needs more attention. 

I also have a very large piece of fleece that could be adapted to something similar, which would save me having to cast on a gazillion stitches and hope for the best. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Have a Cold

Both bear and DH have generously passed on their germs to me. I am utterly unimpressed. This means that not much has happened today, and I expect not much will happen over the weekend either. 

Dinner this evening was 'nice' sausages from the freezer, frozen salt and pepper fries that the men like (which were on offer last week) and peas, all with gravy. The men were very happy with it but I felt that it was lacking. Mind you, I think the main thing lacking was my enthusiasm.

We have a stock of 'nice' sausages in the freezer after a good deal. They are conveniently gluten free, taste great and could be worse when it comes to ingredients. I firmly believe that it's better to spend out on nice sausages (£2.50 for six large, meaty sausages, which is enough for us) than get cheap and poor quality steak.

As for the pickled chillies, it's very much DH's domain. He and bear will eat any amount. I have left it entirely to them, so I'm not sure of the recipe they use, but it's something like 300g of chillies plus white vinegar plus salt and possibly suger plus some water will do enough to make I think two or three jars of pickled chillies that last maybe a fortnight or possibly three weeks. The jars used previously contained pasta sauce, and their lids have a coating that isn't so likely to be affected by the vinegar. These are supposed to take 500g of the pasta sauce and are a decent size. One small jar of 270g chilli pickles at Tesco costs £1.70. At my best guess of the recipe, and erring on the generous side, it costs maybe £3.00 for the chillies and pennies for the vinegar and salt and possibly sugar for the minimum of four times that jar costing £1.70, and we know everything that's in it. That is why spending, say, £12 on two buckets of jalapeno pepper growing packs, which may produce more than two plants and therefore may produce a kilo or so of chillies, makes sense as a gamble.

I don't eat them, as I'm not a fan of spicy food, but I'm always replacing bottles of hot sauce and tabasco as the men love that stuff. DH and bear get through quite a lot during a week, so it's absolutely worth it. I'm going to try and persuade DH to make Cowboy Candy. We've had it in the past but it was £6.99 for a very small jar, so home made would absolutely be worth a try. 

I also treated DH to a bottle of chilli flavoured oil. It was on offer and I needed a small amount to make it up to free delivery, so I added it to the Tesco order and he loves it. If we get enough chillies, he may have a go at making his own. I know that he's really enjoying it. 

Perhaps, if this goes well, I may try growing garlic next year. 

I haven't got any pics taken today, so here is a blast from the past.

It's from 4th February 2024 and if the chillies are successful and I branch out, I may need it!

Hugs and good health to all.

Some Chillies Have Been Planted

There are quite a few pictures today, so brace yourselves. 

The first pack of chilli seeds I attempted was the one where the pots had been stuck.

They included a bag of potting soil and wonderfully clear instructions. I was to cut open the bag of soil (not tear), stand it in the upturned clear pot and add 300ml of water. I was then to leave it for a few minutes to allow the soil to absorb the water. 

I left it for over half an hour, but when I decanted it into the opaque pot, water still ran through. I put the clear pot on top, as instructed, but I'll probably give the soil a little spray tomorrow as I'm worried about the soil being too dry. 

I then went for the cayenne bucket. That had instructions in incredibly tiny print.

As well as all sorts of bits. I was using my phone camera in close up to read the instructions. Then I had to pour 'some' water onto the little coir discs.

They didn't specify how much, and I got a little carried away. I ended up with something like soup and I tried soaking up some of the excess liquid with tissues.

Then, as instructed, I sprinkled the seeds onto the coir and put the clear cover on. Then I put it to join the previous pot on a sunny window ledge. I'll transplant later.

I looked at the jalapenos next. 

These had instructions on the inside of the packaging where the seeds were helpfully taped.

And there are two bags of compost per bucket. These need to be placed in a bright, warm place but out of direct sunlight. There is nowhere in the house like that! I'm going to have to do some serious furniture moving before I try planting them. I also need to plant these.

If they all grow, it's a lot of chillies, even if the plants are just moderately productive. DH and bear, however, will easily see off that amount of pickled chillies in a few months. DH makes a new batch of pickles every couple of weeks. Even with buying the plant pots and potting compost, we will save a fortune by growing instead of buying. The basic red chillies from Tesco are 60p for 60g. That's £10 per kilo, and going on what I'm asked to buy, that's maybe a month and a half worth of pickles (and it's still cheaper to pickle them at home, even at that price). If I can over winter the plants, the savings will be beyond worth it. If they don't grow, I'll have lost some money, but I think that it's worth the gamble. 

I'll keep on working on these. A couple of kind commenters suggested writing a story about planting chillies. I admit nothing.

Otherwise it's been a pretty quiet day which has been very welcome.

Hugs and good health to all.