Another Week Gone

 I'm sorry I forgot to post yesterday. I got deep into 'The Crow Journal' by Finn Cullen which was quite riveting. I put up a review here. It's a story set in mid-Victorian London with magic and faerie and intrigue all mixed up - it's quite scary in places and I really enjoyed it.

Hester - that made me laugh! I had such fun writing that story. I wonder if my mutterings about flies have summoned something. If so, I'll let you deal with Darren.

Julia - there's so many fruit flies here as well. I've started hiding apples in the fridge, which I normally never do.

Fifitr - I may try that, though the Morrisons stuff is doing fine. I've had a look at some of the Palestinian olive oil soaps and quite fancy them. 

Cherie - no butter dish here, but that would work really well. Or not having fancy soap

Pam - I had to laugh as well. 

Today has felt a little off. I think it's because it has been so cold and wet, and the weeds in the garden are flourishing. I took a picture of the laurels opposite.

As you can see, they are hanging ridiculously low. I spoke to the manager at Matalan yesterday and she came around and had a look. They hadn't realised it was so bad. The branches catch the top of my little citroen so goodness knows what they do to delivery vans. Matalan have always been good neighbours, however, so I'm confident it will be sorted out. They do great kids schoolwear as well.

I still have some bewildered fruit flies around, but they seem lost. Long may that continue.

Hugs and good health to all.

Problems with Soap

Thank you for all the comments about the food bank. Hazel - that sounds a great idea. I would certainly donate then! 

Another thing that I've donated a lot over the last month or so is pasta. Our local Tesco has bags of pasta for something like 45p to clear (I suspect they got some non-standard stock from the great panic buying this spring and they want rid of it) so I've added that. In the past I've also added bars of soap as they are incredibly inexpensive and easy to store. Tesco have a basic bar for 15p, but they also have a pack of four magnolia extract one which is moisturising at £1.20, or 30p a bar. I thought that as apparently many of those going to the foodbanks are in insecure accomodation, a bar of soap is easier to pack than a bottle that could leak.

And speaking of dratted soap, I did not practice frugality. I may or may not have taken drink when I ordered a fancy, lemon scented bar of soap from a local small business that used ethical, natural, non-synthetic ingredients. I had been fed up with father's imperial leather soap, but quite enjoyed bar soap instead of liquid handwash. So the fancy soap went in the bathroom. I picked up a pack of four lemon scented deodorising bar soaps from Morrisons for £1.20 (I don't want to even think about the cost of the fancy soap - as I said, drink may have been taken) and I have one of the Morrisons bars in my room. 

My bathroom is now infested with fruit flies swarming around the authentic, non-preservative, fancy, expensive soap. I can't get rid of the darned things. Everytime I turn on the sink tap, a cloud of tiny dratted fruit flies rise up and makes my skin crawl. I've binned the soap (and I'm still annoyed with myself for falling for a Facebook ad) but they are still clinging on to the taps. The inexpensive soap in my room is unaffected. As is the replacement soap which I can't remember buying, but smells very severe and cleansing and is apparently immune to fruit flies

I've just looked it up. Apparently it's good against prickly heat. That would have been good a few weeks ago, but we currently need sweaters (around 16C, 60F here). And I have fruit flies in my bathroom!

Writing stuff - this week's reply to the writing challenge is here.

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Forgot Tomatoes

 I went to the shop today and forgot tomatoes. I picked up some pencils for bear for school. As long as I can find his backpack and calculator, we should be good to go. I found some trousers for him, which will probably be okay, and some bread rolls. 

Tonight it was supposed to be pepper and roast tomato soup, as I scored some inexpensive jars of roast peppers, but I forgot the dratted tomatoes. So it was frozen mince with chopped pickled onions, mushrooms, packet chestnuts (they needed using up) and peas served with mash. I'll do the soup tomorrow.

Apart from that, I've spent most of today recovering from remembering father. 

Fifitr - I am a sucker for the Subscribe and Save as well. You have to watch them, because the prices can creep up without you realising. I don't always remember the food bank, but it's easy for me when I go into Tesco because they have a big box right next to the exit, and I put in what I remember. Sometimes it may only be a few inexpensive packets of soup, and sometimes it's tinned meat or, like today, sweeties. Morrisons also has a place to leave stuff and they also have bins where you can leave dog and cat food. I usually try and leave some dry food, when I remember, because I think it's easier for them. 

I remember there was a foodbank drive at Tescos once and I donated a box of laundry pods (on sale own brand - I am not very saintly) and they were grateful because they could be divided up and one or two given out per parcel. The volunteer said that it was a help because a lot of the time someone needed to look presentable for a job interview, and clean clothes was an issue. It was a reminder that I am very lucky indeed.

Hugs and good health to all

Happy Birthday Father

 Fifitr - I love the idea of getting out of lessons to 'hunt the car'. It sounds like a great excuse to spend time with an awesome aunt.

I've been thinking about your post about your mother getting lost, and it sort of reminded me of how my father was, and how perhaps we inherit more than eye colour. My mother's family had a lot of seaman, and her grandfather was a Master Seaman, or Captain of a merchant ship. His brother ran whisky to America during prohibition. Most of them had a good sense of direction. Father did too, but I think I inherited his attitude. Unless I am late for something, I don't worry about gettting lost. I usually treat it as a great way to find new places. Looking back, that's exactly how father treated any problems about directions. I have a suspicion that I drive a little like him.

When I was little, before a series of strokes and the drink hit, father was an excellent driver. He drove very smoothly. You never really felt the gears change, it was all very calm. He usually drove right up to the speed limit (and as long as it's 40mph or lower, so do I) or somewhat faster (I don't speed - too scared), but I never remember him being rattled or impatient if there was a queue or a hold up. If he was on familiar roads he could belt along at ridiculous speeds, especially as he never had performance cars. The car I remember most was one he bought for £25 back in the eighties and he drove it all over North Wales, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales (once - we broke down), down to the Cotswolds and all over Scotland. It was only a little Triumph, but it loved the long runs, just as Red does (she grumbles and stutters if I just nip to the Co-op). 

Looking back, I suspect that father wasn't too bothered about where we went, as long as it was an interesting drive. It was the days before a lot of the motorways, so it was mainly A roads at best. I would happily sit there, enjoying the incredible scenery as he enjoyed the challenge of driving on stupidly awkward roads with gaps in the stone walls where previous drivers had failed to make the bends. I admit to terror at the thought of dual carriageways and motorways, but I've driven along tight country roads which some drivers avoid and I've been fine. I found some images of the sort of roads we used, all of which I would approach with caution but with far more confidence than I would approach a motorway.

Road_from_Pentredwr_to_the_top_of_the_Horseshoe_Pass_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1587587.jpg ‎and I remember father driving along it when I was younger. If I remember correctly, this is not long after a shallow (in summer) ford. Sheep wander across the road and there are passing places where you have to edge towards if another car comes the other way. And below is a favourite place, the Horseshoe Pass, though I think the pic is misleading as I remember a white line down the middle of the road. I remember being on a coach trip with father and the family and the coach broke down at the top of the pass and the poor driver ended up walking all the way to Llangollen to get to a phone box (before the days of mobile phones) but getting a lift on the way back. Lots of people were stressing and complaining but father just took my brother up the hill a little for some father and son time and just relaxed and enjoyed the spectacular scenery.

Summit_of_the_Horseshoe_Pass_-_geograph.org.uk_-_235436.jpg

It's the sort of road I would approach with care, but I'd prefer that (especially in decent weather) than the local bypass. I'm not saying I would be great, but I wouldn't be quite as bad as some of the ones I've passed on the local roads.

Father drove to have a drive, which is exactly what I do sometimes. I mean, we went to all sorts of parks and castles and museums, but he enjoyed the driving, and if we ended up somewhere unexpected, then that was okay, we could still have an adventure. And for some reason I don't stress in queues unless I'm late for something, because the stress doesn't help. Besides, like father, I'm usually happy to take an out-of-the-way back road to get away from the jams. 

He would have been 89 today and would have driven us scatty through lockdown. I still miss him. I'm planning to go to Tesco tomorrow and I'll leave some sweeties in the foodbank box. Father was a complete soft touch for kids and always took pockets full of sweeties to church (to the despair of those who had to sweep up the wrappers).

Writing stuff - this week's writiing challenge is here.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Losing Track

I forgot it was Sunday. I've done quite well over the last few months, and on the whole I've kept track of things, but today it completely passed me by. Partly, I think, because DH is on holiday and up until now we still had the structure of his work. 

I worked on some writing stuff in the morning, then I spent the afternoon with the men. They were playing some very silly computer games and having a great time. I was knitting in the background, but chipping in now and again. It was great.

I had a moment when it came to dinner. I am failing at cooking, and had planned to add a jar of korma sauce to some frozen chicken, onion and peas. I could not find that jar anywhere. I checked all the cupboards, looked under, behind and around every inch of the kitchen before giving up and putting a tikka masala sauce in. As I stood up from putting the chicken in the oven, I looked straight at the jar of korma sauce that I had put on top of the fridge to make sure I could find it. I learned two things. One is that I shouldn't rely on remembering where I put something I would need later, like the obvious spot, and instead just have put it in the cupboard. The other is that I need to cook better.

Writing stuff - I got a couple of really awesome reviews on Tome Tender (who are lovely) and on Rosie Amber who co-ordinates some amazing reviews and adds extra art work - it looks so beautiful that I feel very unworthy. 

I feel quite smug about the good reviews, and while I don't think it will last, it's a great incentive for me to keep writing.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Not Quite Lost

Fifitr - I tried the route that got me amazingly, outrageously lost again. I nearly was fine, just a right turn instead of a left and I quickly realised and did a three point turn at a side road to get back on track. If I go down a route half a dozen times or so, I pick it up okay, or I slot in different ways that fit in with somewhere I already know. I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I usually treat getting lost as a glorious adventure. So as long as I'm not on a schedule or running low on petrol, I can usually enjoy it - unless it involves a dual carriageway or motorway! On the other hand, I once got genuinely lost in a supermarket which was mortifying. And I don't really trust satnavs and I've recently picked up a paper road atlas.

Bless - after writing that blog post I did some more writing stuff, knitted a little and cleaned out my handbag.

Sharon - I may keep the money as a prop. And also as a memory. I wish I had some of the old fivers, they were really pretty. And I totally recommend Lucifer. Apart from the plot and some amazing acting, the cinematography is so beautiful! It's like a work of art. The film is lush and sensual and the style of filming is very much supporting the plot. 

Today's run out, apart to test the route, was to pick up a few bits from a supermarket. It wasn't straightforward. An entire side of the M62 was shut down near me due to a severe accident and the traffic spilled over onto the routes I was taking. Fortunately I have learned a few different ways around so on the way back from the supermarket I managed to avoid what looked like a tailback for several miles and nipped down some back ways before the frozen mince I had bought fully defrosted. I hope those in the accident were okay. The little I have seen online looked really bad.

I think my next big push, apart from writing, is actually to do all the knitting I need to do to get the yarn mountain reduced. Hester mentioned donating blankets to a dog's rescue, and I'm sure I can think of a few places that may like similar. I live very near a Cat's Protection League shelter, so I could drop stuff off there. Or I could perhaps sell blankets (if I got them knitted up) as I am trying to watch pennies. Even if I didn't get the cost of the yarn back, it would be something. I may do a mix. I suppose I could donate the yarn but it's all stuff I've been desperate to knit up. I'll work something out. 

Hugs and good health to all.

Lucifer

Bless - I think air conditioning must be a necessity! August is usually the warmest month here, but this is British weather so all bets are off. I've shivered in August before now (it's quite cool today) and we've had 30C at the end of October before now. I wish I could remember where I saw it, but I'm sure I saw an article a few weeks ago that said that the British climate had elements of both polar and tropical weather systems. I hope you stay hydrated - that's so important! As you are from Sri Lanka, at least you understand the importance of tea (more than me!). 

I'm still getting the hang of Instagram and I may yet abandon all hope. I tried taking a pic and got myself into so many knots. I found a little coin purse with £17 in outdated currency in it.

Sorry if the pic is a little big. I'm having a few issues with phone pics as well. So it's on Insta, but I kept having to fiddle with the settings. I don't approve. Next time I will definitely almost certainly remember tags. 

Today Netflix released the first few episodes of Season Five of Lucifer and I decided that I would spend the day watching Lucifer and perhaps doing a little knitting. I told bear and DH that I would be doing nothing else. 

Nothing else has included three loads of washing, ironing half a dozen polo shirts, clearing a forgotten corner (where we found the money), sorting out some bits on the counter, wiping down the bannister and a couple of doors with disinfectant and a certain quantity of writing stuff. I've watched a couple of episodes of Lucifer as well. 

Tonight will probably involve more Lucifer, partly because I adore it and partly because I want to crack on with the knitting, but after today's schedule, who knows?

Hugs and good health to all.