A Busy Year, A Busy Weekend

 

September from my 2026 Lucy Almey Calendar 

It's been such a busy year and my calendar has seen lots of fillings in over the last nine months.  Fillings in with times and names, and then ticks as each job round at the bungalow is done by the professionals.  We don't keep tabs of all the work that Alan has done ... his poor old knees are telling the story all by themselves.  😐

Art by C.  Burnett

There has been a lot of reading going on this month.  The darker nights and slower mornings are very conducive to it, and I'm into a really good book at the moment.

I can't believe there are only three months left of this year, this past week has really flown by with a very busy weekend at the end of it. We've been selling on Facebook Marketplace, there have been visits to us by ex-family members that we bumped into in town, and visits by us to see Mum.

It's been nice to have a quieter start to the week.

Sue xx

Summer to Winter With Old Clothes

 Autumn, my favourite season.  🤎💛🧡

A very lucky score on the charity book table this week.  

I've always wanted to read this but somehow never gotten around to it, now I can once I finish the book I'm currently halfway through.  Isn't Michelle Obama such a very beautiful person, in looks, intelligence and attitude.  

My Summer to Winter changeover is now almost complete.  My t-shirts were removed from the drawer ...

... and the jumpers and pyjamas replaced them.

Now the weather will turn hot and sunny, but this year I have left a few summer weight things out, it's not fooling me again like last year.  😄

The only drawback to doing this over the past week has been the near constant rain, so things have had to have a quick wash and dry overnight on the airer instead of on the washing line.  Some of my jumpers are ten years old or  maybe more, and a couple around five, but they come out at this time each year and go away again in Spring.  The changeover each year feels like having a new wardrobe of clothes, but at the same time somehow it's like welcoming old friends back into the fold.

I'm not completely against new clothes, and after a completely fruitless trawl of charity shops I have added a couple more new checked shirts from good old M&S to my collection of Autumn wear this year.

I love reusing my 'old' clothes season after season, and I am completely in favour of the ban that France and a lot of Europe are bringing in on the advertising of fast fashion brands like Shein and Temu.  I have never and would never buy from either company, but each to their own.

Sue xx

Random Bits ... I am Themeless

 

My £2.69 Aldi flowers that lasted for over three weeks before suddenly falling apart.  What an absolute bargain, better than any expensive bouquet.

I don't know what I had in mind when I took this photo, it's simply a bread crust, toasted with homemade marmalade and that all important first coffee of the day.

I take photos all the time as I use them for a starting point on most of my blog posts ... I don't know what this post would have been.  😄

Ginger's 'Tasty Licks', only he doesn't lick them from the tube the way cats are supposed to, he has a special little flat dish that he licks them from.  I can never remember the name of them so they are nicknamed 'squidges' ... well I do have to squidge them out of the tubes!

I buy them as it's the best way to get his thyroid medicine into him.  They must taste good together, he's always begging for them at breakfast and teatime.

One of this years teeny, tiny harvests, three little potatoes from a volunteer potato plant that was growing in amongst my spring onions.

My breakfast yesterday.

The quickest breakfast in my repertoire thanks to my silicone egg poachers that go in the microwave and cook two eggs in one minute and ten seconds, while the toast pops up and gets buttered.

There that cleared a lot of photos from my September photo file, and no doubt confused a few of you.

Yep ... today I am themeless.

Sue xx

Posh De-scaler, Random Meals and Happy Finds

 

This is possibly the poshest de-scaler that I have ever used.

My kettle was suddenly furred up, a very rare occurrence here in the north-west of England, so I rummaged in the cupboard for some bog standard vinegar.  There was none to be had, I checked Alan's under sink cupboard as he tends to have sachets of de-scaler under there, nope none at all.

So I bit the bullet and tried it with some of my very out of date Apple Cider vinegar.  Oh well better for it to be used in some way as I had never gotten around to using it much in recipes ... I hate vinegar flavours. Why had I bought it then, I have no idea!! 

It worked but it took four boilings of the kettle whereas malt or white vinegar takes two at the most.

Making Alan's dinners and teas while he has been working so hard at the bungalow, means that I am going through the contents of the freezer satisfyingly quickly.  The bottom drawer is now full of homemade items rather than convenience foods and as they are used up only a few of them are being bought again.

Fish fingers are a good emergency standby for a quick and tasty, even if slightly naughty lunch, so they will be replaced ... occasionally. 😁 

These garlic Plant Menu Kyivs are also a good standby, but I don't eat them very often these days, so again another occasional purchase from now on I think

Rummaging around definitely has it's advantages, as I found a single block of homemade soup and half a garlic baton yesterday ... it made for a very tasty lunch.

Sue xx

Replicating a Kitchen

On the previous post, in the comment section, Maeve asked if our new kitchen is the same as the one in the annexe.  So I thought I would dig out a few old blog photos to show you all just how much it really is the same.  A good side bonus to being a long-term blogger, is that you have an arsenal of photos at your finger tips to share and share again if the urge to do so overcomes you.  😀

There are three main differences, the first being the size as the new kitchen is much larger.  In my current kitchen there is only actually one set of drawers, two single base cupboards and one double wall cupboard.  Both base cupboards house something, one of them the sink base and it's pipes and the other one the main electrical consumer unit, so there is not actually a lot of shelf space in them.  What looks like a large cupboard next to the fridge freezer is actually housing the combi-boiler.

The second difference is the sink.

   My current one is cream in colour and has a twin bowl design, and the new one is stainless steel with just one larger sink bowl.  You do learn from your mistakes and I have.  The cream one while looking brilliant, and tying in so well with the colour palette of the kitchen, takes a lot more upkeep than any sink I have ever had before.  We eat a lot of spicy curries and tomatoey pasta sauces and they can stain it so easily.  Stainless steel is so much better at coping with this.

The final difference is the worktop, or countertop if you are not from the UK.  

While it looks exactly the same from above, the new one is a traditional worktop thickness and my current one is a much narrower design and is what is also used as the backsplash in place of tiles.  While the kitchen design company could get enough of this for the backsplash of the new kitchen, we had to go with a standard thickness for the worktops.

Alongside these three main differences there is also the size of the induction hob, I currently have a two zone or multi use sized hob and in the bungalow it will be a four zone.  Above it I have a smaller extractor unit than we have in the new place.  Our new one actually has shelves incorporated into the cupboard around the extractor fan, so even more storage ... although only Alan can reach the top shelf, unless I keep my little steps handy. 

The last difference that I can think of is the washing machine, in my current kitchen I decided to keep my old freestanding washing machine, but as our new kitchen is in the only living area of the bungalow this time we have gone for an integrated model.

Over the years I have have made very good use of the space in my current much smaller kitchen, it has really done me well.  So because Alan has always liked my kitchen he was more than happy for me to work with the same kitchen designer and fitter to replicate it.  💖

Finally, here are the two kitchen designs in the final planning stage.

My current kitchen.

Our new kitchen.

Oh, just look at all those cupboards and drawers.  😁

Right ... that's more than enough kitchen talk.

Sue xx