Wildlife ... and Renovations

 

Heron and Greenhalgh Castle Ruins by Dermot Cummins

Isn't this a lovely photograph of a beautiful spot in our town.  I asked the photographer if I could share it and he said I could.  The river is the River Wyre which snakes its way all through our small town.  We are very lucky as well as supporting lots of wildlife, such as the herons and kingfishers, we also have quite a few otters that have returned to the river.

And now, ladies and gentle for your delight and delectation ... yes I am old enough to remember 'The Good Old Days'.  I don't know why I loved it so much as a small child, but it taught me the words of a lot of the wartime era songs, which on occasion I baffle Alan with, here's this months walk through of the bungalow.  

Alan asked me to do another one at the weekend before he fills in all the interior walls with the insulation.  I'll have to have a go at editing all the clips together at the end and make a movie won't I.  😄

https://youtu.be/haO5B4hHrRA?si=o3K-MlEizo7qCopB

I don't know why I talk so softly on these, it must be not wanting to bombard you all with my Mancunian tones in such an echoey environment.

Sue xx

Pies ... and Dates

 

One minute I was looking in the fridge for an egg to make myself a fried egg on toast for my lunch, and the next I was making pies.

I do that sort of thing a lot, it's as though I have a brain that tells me to do something else other than what I actually have planned.  Hey, brain just who do you think you are, who's in charge here ... and where is my fried egg? 😐

Instead I stood looking at all the little tubs of leftovers in the fridge and the roll of ready made pastry that was well out of date, and decided to add them all together and make pies.

The potatoes were actually boiled and in lovely big pieces, but I warmed them up for a few seconds in the microwave, mashed them up with a fork and added in some of the onion chopped into small pieces, and all of the cheese in that tub ... plus a little bit more for good measure.

As I was cutting out the pastry circles I realised that there wasn't going to be the usual perfect fit for my four bases and lids, then I remembered Angela mentioning quite a while ago that the pastry pack sizes were now smaller ... shrinkflation at it's invisible best.  

  Happily though I just about managed to roll out all the scraps to make a circle that just about covered the fourth pie.  No little pastry 'chef's perk' of a couple of jam tarts for me then from now on.  Unless I make my own pastry, which of course I should do.

They are very tasty.

 I had one for my lunch straight out of the oven, I gave one to Alan when he got back from the bungalow after a days work, and the other two are temporarily living in the fridge.  I don't think they are going to make it to the freezer though, they are far too delicious.

Someone asked me the other day if I was still writing the dates on any long term foods that I buy for the cupboard.  The answer, as you can see from this weeks photo is yes.  😊

Sue xx

Always Space for Just One More

 

As you will have noticed Alan had a busy week at the bungalow last week, so when 2pm on Friday afternoon came around and he phoned me to ask if I fancied meeting him at Booths for a coffee and a spot of lunch of course I said yes ... I don't need asking twice.  😄

After some sandwiches for Alan and a shared bowl of chunky chips alongside our coffees, we went downstairs and picked up a few bits and pieces that we both needed, and lots of Ginger's favourite cat food.

I spent £8.40 on the three items of food and I may have spent another £3.99 on a Dahlia.  It was a beauty I couldn't resist.

The next day on our way home from a breakfast at the garden centre, picking up our monthly free coffees while we were there, we stopped off at Aldi because Alan wanted to do his 'proper shop'.  I bought this lovely trolley full.

As well as these flatbreads which I use as pizza bases, and which went into the trolley after I had taken the photo.  

In Aldi I spent £20.95, and as you might have spotted in the trolley photo I was pressured by it's beauty into buying another Dahlia.

Alan said ... 'Will you have space for it in the garden?'

What a silly question to ask a gardener, there is always space for just one more. 💚

Sue xx

One Day It Will Be a Bedroom

 

One day I may just have a bedroom like this.

I do have a bit of hope, as up until Thursday of this week the windows of my bedroom were boarded up.

And now I have windows.

I didn't think I would be so excited about a bedroom window.  😁

Or a bathroom one.

It's made the world of difference to the bungalow,  instead of dark gloomy rooms and builders lamps, there's light so that everyone can actually see what they are doing.  

Alan's first job at the start of next week is to start to move the stack of plasterboards that were left in the exact place where he has to start building the wall for the bathroom ... that was really handy wasn't it.  😐

Yesterday was a really good day in the bungalow, the windows went in, the solar installation was finished, the gas board came to cap off the gas pipe in the pavement off our property, and the plumber called to discuss the first round of work he needs to do, including putting in a stopcock under where the kitchen sink will be.

Yes, one day soon I will also have a kitchen.  😀

Sue xx

A Much, Much Cheaper Option.

 

I went way past my dinnertime yesterday and only really thought about food in the late afternoon, so I fancied something small and tasty to tide me over to my tea.  I opened the freezer for a rummage and  spied a box with one vegan battered sausage in it. 

Now I bought these a while ago when I was making us a home cooked 'chippy tea'.  Our usual chippy order is 'one medium fish and chip meal, one medium fish portion, a battered sausage and a pot of curry sauce'.  From this Alan has the fish portion, the sausage, the curry sauce and half the chips, I have the rest of the chips and the fish.  It suits us both and makes it affordable as an occasional treat.

When I replicate it I buy these battered sausages as Alan really likes them, I also used to have some of the instant curry sauce granules from Aldi, but I think that I threw them out when I was having a bit of a UPF blitz and there was only a bit left in the tub. 

 Oops, I had forgotten about doing the homemade chippy teas. 😐

One sausage cut in half on a little bun with two sachets of tomato ketchup from my freebie stash and I had the perfect little late afternoon snack ... and do you know what I absolutely loved it.  

Now I might just have to buy another pack and a tub of the curry sauce granules to appease Alan next time he says 'Should I go to the chippy?'.  It's a much, much cheaper option.

For those not in the know I am originally from Manchester in the north of England, and there dinner is at lunchtime and tea is our evening meal.  Having also lived down in the south it used to get queried a bit as there it was lunch and then dinner.  But ask yourself this ... if you live in the UK what were your school DINNER ladies called.  

I rest my case.  😄

Sue xx

Canalside Walk

 

I used to share so many of our canalside walks on here when we had the dogs.  It's just not the same without them.  There's no little companion to talk to and to stop for a while and drink in nature while they sniff and explore what must be so many glorious scents for doggy noses.

It all feels a bit flat ... but it is beautiful.

There were lots of little clumps of bluebells in the long shaggy grass.

It's sad to see all these new houses in what were until very recently vast swathes of green fields.  The people that live on these boats are going to feel very overlooked in the near future.

Just how our schools and the single doctors practice that our town has, are going to cope with yet another influx of new people I really don't know.  This new development has hundreds and hundreds of houses and flats along the length of the A6 and going way back into what was all farmland.

Heading back for home it made me realise that I will miss the proximity of the canal when we move.  It always feels calm and green, especially if I head away from the new houses and the noise of the builders.

Sue xx

My Bank Holiday Weekend in Pictures

 

First thing on Saturday morning we went out for breakfast to one of the garden centres we like.  We got a small breakfast each and our free coffees for May.  As usual my 'Vegan Gardeners Breakfast' was brought to the table with a couple of packs of Lurpak butter on the plate and I had to ask for Flora instead, which the waitress brought over with a smirk on her face.  I am starting to realise that someone in the kitchen is out to try and annoy vegans!!  For anyone that doesn't know I am not vegan, but I don't eat meat and I can't eat dairy, but the intolerance often shown to vegans is absolutely infuriating.  I have left a review on Trip Advisor after this visit, enough is enough.

After we had finished eating and drinking  we wandered around to see if they had any Tumbling Tom type tomato plants, but no such luck.  So we called next door to an even bigger garden centre and there we struck lucky.

Alan bought me a tray of spring onions and six Tumbling Tom style tomato plants, three of them being called something else and being yellow.  We detoured to Fleetwood on the way home for some fresh air and another cup of coffee.

The tomato plants are all now in the 'bedroom greenhouse' until the weather gets a bit warmer.  😄

On Sunday we went to visit Mum.  

She's back at her care home now, but still not doing very well.  As is now our habit we stopped at the motorway services to get a snack and a coffee, Alan had the free steak bake that I had available on the Greggs app and we both had coffee.  I wasn't in the mood for a pastry so I decided to get a portion of fries from Burger King ... £3.65 for a large fries and a little pot of mayo!!  Wow, it's a good job Alan's pastry was free. 😐

This stop on the way home is proving to be a very necessary decompressing stage, we are both coming out of the visits more despondent each time.  It's so hard seeing someone you love declining and getting absolutely nothing out of life.

On Sunday we went to Booths café for a quick breakfast before shopping at Aldi.  Alan had a small cooked breakfast and I just had a couple of crumpets, Booths are always good at supplying Flora, there are no problems there.

Then it was onto Aldi for the bits of shopping that we both needed, seemingly this week I will be living on fish, peas and tomatoes.  I was really surprised that the tins of pink salmon were only £1.45, so I thought I would try them, I usually buy red salmon.  If it's just as nice I may stock up a bit as the date on the tins is December 2030.

  As usual I didn't need much, my cupboards are ridiculously full.

The receipt for posterity.

So it's seemed to be a very foodie Bank Holiday weekend, with a bit of plant buying and a detour to the seaside for a coffee and some fresh air.  It's also been a very snooker-y one for Alan as he has been glued to the Snooker World Championship for the last week and the final was over the weekend.  Now he's back to the bungalow for a few days of things really moving forwards.  The solar installation will be finished by tonight, the gas pipes will be disconnected to the road tomorrow and the new windows should all be installed by the weekend.

Big changes.

Sue xx

Appreciating What You Already Have

 

After sitting looking at the soil and rock pile at our new bungalow the other day, shown on Thursday's post, I came home and appreciated what we have here all the more.

Having no money at all to spend on the garden this year is setting me a nice little challenge, making the most of what I already have.  The little tin bath at my front door has been refreshed with the free rockery plant that I got from the garden centre as their April freebie for card holders ... along with the usual two free coffees.

The forget-me-not seeds that we got off the vets after Suky was cremated appear each year, (both Suky's and Mavis' ashes are in this little tin bath, so they will always be with us).  The tall twiggy plant at the back grew from sticks that were in a bouquet of flowers that Alan bought me a few years ago, I just pushed them into the soil et voila.  💖

The little vegetable bed at the end of the back garden had this years veggie seeds sown yesterday.  

There are just rocket, radish and three types of salad leaves in there for now, along with the perennial chives and thyme plants.  Seemingly there's also a random potato plant, which I didn't have the heart to pull up, but I will have to won't I ... maybe I'll try to transplant it.  😀

I was also going to sow some spring onion seeds, but I have none.  Also, much to my dismay I have absolutely NO tomato seeds.  How did that happen?  I was so upset going through my seeds tin and finding it devoid of tomato seeds that Alan asked what sort I had wanted to sow.  I told him that I was simply going to have a couple of hanging baskets of 'Tumbling Toms' this year, so he said that he will buy me a couple of plants when we next go to a garden centre.  Which I think will be very soon with a Bank Holiday Weekend upon us and two free coffees available at two of our favourite ones

Across from the vegetable bed the rhubarb is looking brilliant already and will soon start to be picked, and the apple tree is having a very leafy and blossomy time.  As are the blueberry bushes, two are full of little flowers and the third is the one that always blooms a bit later anyway.

As you may have spotted on the new header photo, we also have a little bit more colour appearing now that the daffodils have all gone over.  

I'm putting the photo here as well as one day in possibly the not too distant future, the header will change and then later readers will not know what on earth I was on about. 😄

Ginger in the garden first thing yesterday morning. 🐱

I hope he's still with us when we move, and that we can make him a new garden to explore and play in.

I hope you have a wonderful Bank Holiday Weekend, if it is one where you are.

Sue xx

Shopping ... and Piles

 

This weeks shopping was from Booths.

As you can see I didn't buy much, apart from not really needing too much I am quickly running out of available cash as I crawl slowly towards my first State Penson pay out in May.  The money I made from my Facebook Marketplace sales is just about keeping me on the straight and narrow, as the interest on my savings is also going down and down each month. I am now paying for all the necessary things for the renovation as Alan's account has virtually emptied.

We are not destitute by any means ... as the next paragraph clearly shows, but I am determined to stick to my guns and make it to my first pension date by using cash.

 I called into Booths because Alan wanted me to pick up a bacon bun and a takeaway coffee for him while he was hard at work in the bungalow.  I had been to the hairdressers so I was in the vicinity.   I got myself a coffee too and we sat on the back step discussing garden plans now that we know the way the sun hits the garden at various times of the day.

It going to be a long time until the garden looks anything like a garden.  This photo was taken at the start of the month, but apart from a few weeds appearing on the soil and rock pile nothing has changed ... but we can make plans.  😄

The front garden is very similar.

Sue xx

Remember the Coupon?

Remember the coupon that I got from Sainsbury's, the one that gave me £18 off a spend of £60 or more, well I only just remembered it in time.  I used it the day before it's expiry date, it would have been a shame not too.

What I did actually forget to do was to take a photo of the shopping when it was delivered.  I thought that I had, but it seems that the only ones I got were the coffee and rice, I was pleased with the long Best Before dates on everything so I took a photo.  Everything else had really good dates too, but seemingly my shopping came from a central hub not the local store so that explains a lot.

Order summary

Trolley total£69.75

Delivery cost£4.50

Coupon savings-£30.50

Total£43.75

That was my total after using my £18 off coupon and my available Nectar points.

I was really happy as my usual large pack of toilet rolls was finally on special offer.  I bought myself two packs of 12 double length rolls, but Alan said he needed some, so I gave him one of the packs.  Well it seemed a nice thing to do, after all he's always buying me bits and pieces of shopping. 😁

I also treated myself to my favourite pizza, and we shared this for tea the next night.

I also bought:

4 pouches of microwave brown rice

4 pouches of microwaveable vegetable rice

a ready made vegan quiche

a couple of large jars of coffee

some hummus

a very large bag of red lentils

6 small bars of dairy-free white chocolate

two bags of dairy-free grated cheese

and

2 twin packs of tissues

It didn't seem a lot of shopping for the full amount but with the coupon, the Nectar points and my nectar offers it all came down by quite a lot.  The delivery guys were lovely too, and came just two minutes after the expected time.  

I'll probably order online again ... when I get another coupon.  😄

Sue xx

Do You Tidy Up, or Return Yours?

 

We went to visit Mum yesterday, and as is our usual routine we stopped at the services on the way home.  On a good motorway day, which it was yesterday, it's only just over an hours journey between our home and the hospital, but on the way home it's nice to have a break mid-way, to get that all important coffee and something to eat after being out since just after breakfast.

As we sat down in our favourite place ... it's perfect for people watching, which we love ... I noticed this table.  It's a usual sight at the services and indeed sometimes they are even worse, food takeaway containers and mess all over the floor.  It makes us both sad, and if I'm honest annoyed, that people especially these days, don't seem to have the desire to tidy up after themselves in any way at the services, or in cafés.  Don't get me started about the terrible littering problem along the side of the motorways and roads either!!

It doesn't take much to either stack your plates carefully in a café, or go to the many bins in the service stations with all your paper, cardboard and detritus.  I have always done this, true we didn't eat out much as children but when we did we left the table as tidy as we could. I drummed it into my sons too, and the times I have eaten out with my grandchildren they always see me tidy the table and join in to help.

Seemingly there was a lot of debate on the matter a while ago, with some people countering that 'servers' don't like you to do it as they prefer to do it their own way.  Some servers said they didn't like the customers tidying up as they put the cutlery into the cups, make wobbly stacks of mismatched plates, saucers and dishes, and sweep all crumbs and food onto the floor.  Now that would get me annoyed too, so I do think common-sense has to be brought into play if you are tidying your table.

We always tidy up and do it sensibly ... do you?

There's a whole other debate too, do you return your shopping trolley (cart) or do you leave it abandoned to it's own devices in the carpark?  

Here in the UK a lot of supermarket trollies need a pound coin or a similar sized token to free them from the line-up.  I use the old pound coins and have one in every single jacket pocket and a spare in my bag as Alan often forgets to bring a pound. This does tend to get virtually everyone to return their trolley to it's correct place after use.

Whether you're tidying tables, returning shopping trollies or picking up litter that you didn't actually drop yourself, it's all just good manners really isn't it.

Sue xx

Ice-creams and Solar Panels

 

A well deserved ice-cream at the seaside.

We went to Morecambe for breakfast this morning, it's less than half an hour away up the motorway so it's a place we frequently visit.  Not quite as often now that we don't have the dogs but we do still go at least once a month.  

Alan tucked into a very well deserved ice-cream for his dessert.  Do breakfasts have desserts?  I don't know usually ... but this one did.  It was a lovely day, the third or fourth sunny one this week, but the first time we have been able to make the most of it.  Even then we had to dash back home for the latest vaccinations for us both at the doctors.  Alan joked to the nurse that since he retired all they seem to want to do is to stick needles in him, it is getting a bit excessive. 😐

Alan has been busy all week at the bungalow battening the walls for the interior insulation, and together we measured up and marked out the measurements for the en-suite bathrooms and their contents.

Simultaneously, the guys came to fit the solar panels on both sides of the roof.

We have a large array so that we can hopefully generate more than we actually use, especially on days like this.  There's not as many as we had on the small holding in Wales, but we are not too far off.

Added-  since publishing this post I've been told we will have 36 panels here, we had 45 in Wales but they were of a smaller capacity.   So we have actually got a much better more reliable and more profitable system now.  Oh, and we have 10 kilowatt hours of battery backup  ... gosh it's all very technical.  😄

Up in the loft are all the control panels for the solar panels and the batteries.  Alan had made sure that the floor had all been boarded safely in the areas that they needed to access.

Alan had laid the piping that will hold the wires that go over to the garage, as that too will have a roof full of solar panels.  Unfortunately, the company had sent the wrong fixings for these to the installers, so it is all being finished off and commissioned next week.

Here's the lates YouTube walk-through.

https://youtu.be/oFv6_OOUfRI

We're back to hospital visiting tomorrow, but hopefully we will be able to stop at the services on the way home and enjoy a little bit more sunshine, along with a sausage roll and a coffee from Greggs.

Sue xx

Riverford, Freebies ... and St George

 

We got our Riverford box last week, this one is going to be our last for the foreseeable future as we want to trial using our local farm shop for organic farm fresh vegetables and fruit that are grown right on our doorstep.  But we owe a massive thank you to Riverford for opening our eyes to the real delight of organic eating, something we had never really dabbled in before with anything but the eggs that I buy.

Alan had the choice for the final box and he chose the Small Fruit Box which we then divided between us.  Now as you know I'm not really a 'fruity' person, but it's been quite nice to have some lovely sweet oranges, and I even ate two of the pears which were so juicy.  I'm weird in that I don't usually like fresh pears but can eat them canned ... or bottled in brandy ... until the cows come home. 

I couldn't bring myself to eat any of the kiwi fruits, luckily Alan loves them so he got the lot.  Apart from hating the texture of the skins, I have been warned in the past not to eat them as anyone with a avocado allergy can also become sensitive to kiwis.  How true this is I really don't know, but I tried to make myself like avocados with disastrous results so it seems wise not to push things for something I'm not that keen on anyway.

Everything that we have had from Riverford has been just that much nicer than the fruit and veg that we had previously been buying from Sainsbury's or Aldi.  So now our experiment is to find out whether this is because of the organic side of it or the more seasonal aspect of it, in my opinion I think it's most likely to be a bit of both.

The little old wall cupboard was eventually picked up, weirdly we both had trouble with dates and times due to hospital parking.  Why do hospitals have such undersized carparks that leave you circling and circling to find a place for such a long time, while you either go in for your appointment or try to visit someone?  

But anyway, eventually we managed to swap the cupboard for the twenty pounds and we were both very happy.  😃

As this little cupboard used to hold my 'freebie stash' it meant that it was time to do something about the sheer amount that I have amassed over the last six months.  We used to use things up much more quickly on our little holidays and weekends away, but we've not managed to have any of them recently so supplies had built up a bit.

You can tell that I wasn't really concentrating on what I was doing ... I was convinced that this sugar tin had white sugar in it, and just poured in the two white sugar sachets without looking properly.  

Oh well, sugar is sugar is sugar.  😁

Everything is now sorted and ready for use at home.  The tomato ketchup sachets had already been put into a tub of their own, but now the salt is in 'Pepper' the name of the salt cellar ... after the cat that I had when I originally bought the cruet, he looked just like this ... sadly the salt one got broken many years ago, so now we just have Pepper holding the salt, and the pepper from the sachets is in the little jam jar as it was two different kinds of pepper and not just the white pepper that I have in my pepper pot.

Did you manage to keep up with that confusing waffle?

I used the two random sachets of mayonnaise on my lunch, slightly too much maybe, but very tasty.

It was a satisfying little job to get done, and now everything is either on the shelf ready for using or tucked away in the main food cupboard, and I have a very nice space on my wall where the old cupboard used to be. 😁

Happy St George's Day if you are here in the England, a day that often slips under the radar. 

Sue xx