I Blame the Weather

There's a load of writing stuff here, so feel free to skip. However, it's the reason why I've been skimming over blogs and not doing much apart from that writing stuff. 

It's far too hot for me. If we keep getting summers like this, where there's more than a couple of weeks of temperatures higher than 25C, I'm going to have to consider getting some form of air conditioning. It would have to be the portable type, though, as our house is the opposite of open plan. There are currently a lot of fans going. 

I've not done any gardening, because I've been too hot and also I've been distracted by the writing stuff. I didn't really bother with the eclipse yesterday, though I kept an eye on the light levels out of the window. It was strange seeing how the light changed and faded. Bear and DH had a little wander outside, but it didn't get completely dark. I feel that we've been sold unrealistic expectations by films. Besides, it wasn't going to be a full eclipse here, though it was still a little spooky. 

Writing Stuff - The quote that I made on Canva hits the nail on the head. I wrote a post explaining that I won't be posting on my Wordpress writing blog after October, which you can read here on the Wordpress blog and here on my revived Blogger writing blog but it boils down to me not really clicking with Wordpress and that it costs me money in the way it's set up and Blogger is free. Then I sat down to go through 598 posts to work out what I could transfer over en masse, like the collections for Under Dark Hills and Invitation Accepted  and what I had to copy over individually. I noticed a lot of stories that had been saved on my Wordpress blog as drafts were the non-spooky stuff, as the supernatural stuff is sort of my brand. It felt right to take them off a blog that was mainly supernatural, but I liked some of them. We may be looking at as many as thirty separate stories. 

Did you know that you could publish a book on Amazon that is as short as one page long? Nope, I'm not doing that, but I could definitely expand and re-imagine some of my non-spooky stories on there as short reads, and I may well do in the future. However, as I explained in the post, I'm worried about losing the stories and it seems a shame to leave them in the dark. I mean, it's not great literature, but I think that they're okay. So, being unsupervised, overheated and thinking it was a great idea at the time, I set up yet another blog for just the non-supernatural stuff. You can find it here. I've only got about half a dozen posted on there at the time of typing, but it shouldn't take me too long to get things sorted, especially if I stop getting distracted by reading the old stories. I was reminded of one of my favourites, Domestic Demon and it made me smile. 

Thank goodness there's cooler weather in the forecast, and hopefully I won't get too lost in this jumble of posts. 

Hugs and good health to all.

How is it Tuesday?

I've managed to get myself bogged down in some writing stuff, so I've hardly done a thing, though I feel like I've not stopped. It's hard to pin down any concrete achievements, but they're there, or rather, they will be. I've failed with the gardening, so I haven't got a decent pic. Instead I went on Canva and took a few moments. I should have spent them in the garden, but it's currently dark and I wouldn't be able to see much, so you have this.

The poem, The Glory of the Garden, by Rudyard Kipling, is another of my favourites. I was reminded of it when I went looking for a garden quote, and it was a good reminder for me to get a move on!

Writing stuff - I forgot to post yesterday, but the latest instalment of The Guest is here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Still Potatoes

After buying the 500 Potato recipes book, I can see potatoes becoming a thing. 

I was reassured that it was perhaps more than AI as there was a proper author listed, Elizabeth Woodland. She even has her own listing on Goodreads, the site for readers to leave reviews and search for their next book. I had a quick look, and there seemed to be a trend. Her main titles are: 500 Potato Recipes, 300 Best Ever Potato Recipes, 180 Delicious Vegetarian Potato Recipes, and a word search about sharks. I'm sensing a theme. 

It feels like the author has gone online, searched for every potato recipe that they could lay their hands on, and then crammed it all together. There are so many versions of rosti, mash, wedges, and such, all slightly different and filed under different regional names. It's like the old saying Number 37 is the same as Number 18 but with your fingers crossed. There's not really a huge difference between some recipes, but I guess that it's nice to see the different options. 

I didn't follow any of the recipes today. Instead I fried up potatoes, sweet peppers, and onion, added in garlic, italian seasoning and ample gluten free worcestershire sauce, and I very much enjoyed it.

I promise that it's a small pan, and my dinner plate was far from overloaded! I'd had a ham sandwich earlier and proper porridge for breakfast, so I didn't feel the need to add any meat, though I suppose that I could have added an egg.

As for the book, I've picked out a recipe that I'm going to try tomorrow for lunch. It's very basic, but I think that it will be nice and I'll share if I manage to get to it.

Of course, I've got a delivery coming tomorrow, so if I'm cooking it for lunchtime, I'm going to have to be quick about it. I'm working around DH's schedule and whatever bear decides that he's going to do next so I have to pounce when I have the opportunity to use the oven. I wasn't planning on getting a delivery, but there's some offers on, and I prefer to get chilled and frozen food delivered. I'm being picky about which offers I snap up. There's a lot of stuff in the cupboards, but I think that I need to have a rethink. I'm considering going through and working out what I'm realistically going to use in the next three months and donating what isn't going to get used to the foodbank. I bought in loads of ingredients when DH and bear were experimenting with cooking, and most of them were used, but there are still some lurking on the shelf that is unlikely to be used now that we have almost no variation in meals. I am uneasily aware that I haven't touched the opened tub of cornmeal that DH got in for a recipe for two years. I suspect that there are a lot of unpleasant surprises waiting for me. 

On the bright side, at least I'll get the push to be more varied in what I eat. 

I took before and after pics, but I couldn't tell much difference so I'm not posting them. I only was out there for a short while, but I filled a bin bag with nettles which was something. In the process, I got nettled on the face, and I absolutely disapprove of this! Posting here, though, is keeping me going, so thank you.

Writing stuff - I've added another article on research on my blog here. It's amazing how much fun you can have looking around as you try and name your character. 

I'm also putting a link to my friend's video, the one who's writing the Supernovauk music, in with the writing stuff, as it's sort of creative and sharing. This pop song is so sweet, with a story, and I love it. It reminds me of summers when I was younger.

Hugs and good health to all. 

A Few Drops of Rain

We had a few drops of rain this morning. As my back was hurting, I let them chase me in, but I managed a few minutes in the garden.

Posting pictures on here is keeping me going, so I hope that they aren't getting on your nerves.

We're not due for a lot of rain, but at least we're getting some, and I'm grateful for it. The drought is worrying, and it makes it hard to remember that at the start of the year the UK had six weeks with rain every day. I said that if there was a drought then I'd want to see the receipts, and I'm not changing my mind on that. There has to be some investment in water management. It's why I'm still trying to keep growing things (even weeds) instead of just concreting everything - we need places for the water to go and we need plants to keep a little moisture in the air. 

Apart from that, I was stuck with something of a headache, so I pottered very gently. I hope to have more to talk about tomorrow.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Another Five Minutes

I didn't spend long in the garden, and I concentrated on the other side of the house. I went out a little too late in the morning and I was too warm, and my back was hurting too much in the evening, but I managed a little. From this:

To this:

It wasn't much, but at least it was something, and I filled a bin bag with weeds. I also need to practise taking pics from the same place each time to give a fair idea. I may concentrate on this side this week as I need to hack my way through, possibly with a machete, to where the honeysuckle is growing up the drainpipe, which can't be good..

I'm pleased that I made it out to the garden again. I'm hoping that if I keep going, it becomes a healthy habit. 

I also went through my Lyssa Medana email and got rid of something like 1500 emails. There were a lot of old writing stuff that has no bearing on anything, so I could get rid of those. I also got rid of emails that I'd promised myself that I would read and were no doubt full of useful hints and tips, but that were more than two years old. 

Bless mentioned corned beef being expensive in her local shops. I wouldn't say corned beef was cheap but it's not bad for something shelf stable and that is sometimes on offer. That hash had dehydrated onions in as I was hoping to use some up, and I guess the cost was around £4, as it was a big tin of cheap potatoes. It was two good portions that I could have stretched to three, especially if I'd eaten the has with baked beans or similar. Anyway, I have a delivery tomorrow and I'll see what I can come up with for fresh potatoes. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Tiny Steps Continue

I'd seen a lot about the drought in the UK on the news, and my heart goes out to those affected by the wildfires, but it hadn't really sunk in. The garden is surprisingly green, because the white rose, lilac, honeysuckle and fuchsia that dominate our garden are all at least ten years old and have deep roots. Besides, we're at the bottom of a hill that has a spring higher up, and we're near a beck so I suspect that our water table isn't as low as it could be even in this weather. The street looks like this.

Which is the usual green, though perhaps a little dusty. Then this morning I drove to the Salvation Army to drop off a few bags of books, and across from there was a patch of grass.

That is incredibly dry. I hope that it will recover. 

I went out into the garden this evening. I didn't spend long as it was getting dark, but I managed to cut back some brambles. You can barely see the difference, but the corner now looks like this.

I think that there are some self seeded sweet peas, but for some reason I couldn't get the phone to focus so I'll try and get a pic tomorrow, or whenever I get out there. I've got a quantity of dead-heading to do.

Yesterday's dinner (and today's lunch) was a dish with potatoes in it, but it wasn't from the book. It was the corned beef hash from tinned potatoes from Weary Wolf's YouTube channel, and very pleasant it was too. My version looked like this. 

The video from Weary Wolf looked like this.

Though I didn't bother with an egg.

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Took Pictures

I went out into the garden, and I was finally able to take pics. I wasn't sure how well that they'd come out, as there was a lot of glare on the screen, but I hope that they count, and I've published earlier than usual as I want to post before I forget. 

I've been putting off the garden for ages, but I pushed myself out of the door with the new gardening gloves.

They are neither thorn proof nor nettle proof, despite the product description online. I am deeply unimpressed. 

The garden is a jungle. The first thing I tackled was the brambles overhanging the wall onto the public path at the side of our house.

I can only stand for around five minutes at a time, so it took a few moments, but I got it clearer.

I don't know if you can see the cluster of ripe blackberries, but I left them and I intend to send out bear to pick them later. 

The brambles are all over the place and vicious with it, but to really get to them, I'll need to hack back the rose.

It's absolutely gorgeous, covered with roses and perhaps the best showing I've seen for years. It's one that father planted and it's done very well. I don't think that I can cut it down in full bloom, so I'll just have to prune around it. Perhaps I can bring myself to cut it thoroughly back next spring. 

Gladys is also doing well. It's growing more vigorously than it has for years, although there aren't so many blossoms. 

There's all sorts growing in the garden. I wouldn't be surprised if I found a lost tribe or King Solomon's Mines. I found this little plant, and wondered if it was a teasel, a plant whose seed heads were used in the production of woollen cloth. I'm in West Yorkshire and it was a weaving centre even before the Industrial Revolution.

I had a look online, and as far as I can tell, it's not the plant that the weavers used. At first glance it looked like I could have globe flatsedge growing in my garden, but that seemed unlikely as it's native to the Eastern United States, from Mississippi up to Wisconsin, but not really known in Europe. I'm not exactly sure what it is, and I think that I may have already pulled it up, so who knows?

I spent around an hour outside. I need to be a little careful, as around ten years ago I had an easily treated, not very threatening, very small skin cancer, so I am aiming to go out early in the morning, late in the evening and while it's cloudy, which it is here today. I could only do stuff in short bursts, but I managed something.

The four bin bags aren't overstuffed, but they're full enough to be loaded up in the car and taken to the tip. Apart from clearing the path, I made a very small dent. 

If you look at the picture of the roses above, you can see that there is now a very small difference. If all goes to plan (and when does it ever do that here?) I'll do a little more tomorrow. 

Hugs and good health to all.