Why am I not surprised? And a walk down memory lane.

What can I say, I see people who do not work pushing trollies piled high round the supermarkets. I also see families with a basket picking things up thinking about it and putting them back. There are two sides to every story but to sell newspapers you will mostly see only the worst.

Any how, my swap block is done and sent.

I like this block and am glad that I made 1 for myself.

This version looks unbalanced but it still has to have a border. I have 2 of these.

These are destined to become cushions, now that the borders are on I will quilt them and then add envelope closures. 

I had a look in the fridge this morning, something different for dinner, but what?

A walk down memory lane was called for.

I found 3 small parsnips, 3 small carrots, 2 small onions and 2 big sticks of celery, scrubbed, peeled topped and tailed. Chopped up roughly and into a pan with a spoonful of buttery stuff, add 3 small red apples washed, cored and chopped and sweat for 10 minutes, add a grind of pepper and 3 tsp Korma curry powder, sweat for another 5 minutes to cook the curry powder, pour in enough stock to just cover. Then I drained a can of chick peas and added to give protein and creaminess to the texture.

Bring to simmer, cover and cook till all the veg is soft, then attack with a wand blender. You can pass through a sieve if you want but it is not necessary. Thin out with extra stock if needed.

We will have this with a swirl of cream and a sprinkle of chopped 

coriander on mine. I have not made this for ages, goodness knows why. The smell is amazing and the taste is too. Dinner tonight and 4 portions for the freezer for a cost of around £1.50.  25p per portion,

I will toast some homemade wholemeal bread to go with it and have some Apple Fool for pudding, equal parts of cold custard and thick cream mixed into twice as much apple stewed with cinnamon. The cream was RTC 10p and the custard was left over from another meal, apples from the garden, all in all I guess that it comes to 35p per meal and I am happy with that.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Pain under control today.

2. Ben happy as Larry.

3. Repeats of Duck Dynasty on TV.

4. Tea flowing like a river, the meds make me thirsty.

5. A wet start to the day but glorious sunshine by lunchtime.

Ben decided to have a mad five minutes on the sofa! This is where he landed.

                                              TTFN                             Pam

Spending to Save.

Welcome aboard Angela, I hope you enjoy the voyage.
Angela blogs at Smallholding, Pleasure or Profit, why don't you pop over for a visit, you never know you may like it and decide to stay a while.

Good afternoon, it is a very good one for me. I went to Sutton today to post off my mugrug swap, the Post Office Counter is within the Co op so I thought that I may as well wander round, well I would hate to miss something good. My meal plan is in place but I am always prepared to snap up a bargain and juggle things round.

Look what Pam found.

This was derinded, rind sprinkled with salt and pepper and into a hot oven for a crackling treat, cubed and into the slow cooker to become a succulent feast with onions, peppers, carrots, smoked and sweet paprika, garlic, tomato puree, a pinch or 3 of dried herbs and a tin of tomatoes all mixed up with enough chicken stock to cover. Oh and I added a splash of sherry vinegar, the smell is fantastic.

I bought 8 of these packs and 6 went into the freezer, at Christmas they will become sausage rolls to share with my neighbours, a few may well find their way to work.

I also bought 6 packs of the "best" 100% beef burgers , 2 in a pack for 50p. These are in the freezer, they may well be broken down and turned into pasta sauce or chilli or even an old fashioned  minced beef and onion pie.

As the weather is so, well, wet I decided to play in the kitchen. Out came all the baking gear and RATS! the fancy electronic scales won't work, low battery. So head and shoulders into a cupboard to retrieve these old faithfuls. I have had them for more years than I care to remember, I did buy a set of metric weights many years ago but hung on to the Imperial set, I do have some very old cookbooks.

I made 8 jumbo sausage rolls, some of them have gone next door, Nev did not refuse!

I had a biggish bit of pastry left so quickly made some crumble mix.

I lined a foil tray and a round loose bottomed pie dish with the pastry tipped in a generous amount of Hedgerow puree and topped with crumble mix. The one above went next door to keep the sausage rolls company. I always drape the pastry over the edge, it stops any shrinkage allowing the filling to escape. Ben likes the little bits as a treat (and so do I). I left them on Nev's pie for either him or his Collie,Greg, to enjoy.

The oven now holds a light fruit cake and some potatoes in their skins for dinner tonight. We will have them with some of the Chicken Madras that I made yesterday.

Francesca is working from home until Thursday this week, the Swing Bridge at Sutton Bridge is closed for repairs at night and she would have to drive to Wisbech to get to the train in the morning and again to get home. Her day is too long without the extra hour that would mean.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A lovely day at play.

2. Fran in and out seeing what I am making.

3. An episode of Haven to watch together this evening.

4. Managing to walk Ben in between the downpours.

5. Having the house stocked up for the winter.

I have lived in quite isolated places over the years, we were snowed in for a week at one point and I kept several homes supplied with food and drinks, they all did their shopping on Fridays and the snow fell on Thursday! I am that Girl Guide.

No sewing today, a stack of scraps to press and sort ready for when I need them.

                                      TTFN                     Pam.

PS I was right, tomorrow was another day, and a jolly good one too.

All Sewed Up

The Mugrug mark 2 is finished, and although I am pleased with it I still want to develop it further.

It will be off to my swap partner on Monday. I made another for Francesca to take to work.

This one has a binding, at Fran's request, a fiddly job but finished and in her work bag ready to go.

I went to Wisbech this morning and finished off my stock up shopping, Flour from Asda and first aid supplies from an assortment of shops. I also picked up some clear storage jars at a good price. The ones with a rubber seal and a wire clip closure, they now hold my tea, coffee and sugar. I had metal ones but sometimes struggle with the lids, my grip is not so good some days. I can manage these even on a bad day, anyone care to guess where the old ones are going!
I stocked up on sweeties for Halloween, if the weather is so bad that no children are out (like last year) I will take them to work, plenty of children there, of all ages!
I have found a gadget up the Amazon that is a ruler with a rotary cutter attached, all you do is line it up, put the palm of your hand on the cutter and push across the slot in the ruler. This is now on my wish list and will be mine, it will be fantastic on the days when my grip goes. I looked at the soft grip rotary cutters but they are very pricey and i am not sure that they would work for me.

It was Apple Day in Wisbech and there was a stall on the market, I am happy to say that not only could I name many of the varieties, I also have some of the rarer ones in the garden. They had some Laxton Superb but they were very small, I had these in another garden and they were huge, much bigger than the Howgate Wonder that I have now.

We are having "copy cat pie" for dinner tonight, I was reading blogs first thing, while drinking cups of tea 1,2 and 3 and found a recipe for Leek, bacon and potato pie, it was on" Smallholding, Pleasure or Profit", it looked good and the decision was made. I did leave a comment saying so. I may tweak the recipe slightly who knows, not me until I start cooking. I want to make a batch of sausage rolls and an apple crumble tart for Neville so the oven will be full.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Swap mugrug all parceled up ready to post.

2. Work tonight will be a doddle, the cooking list has dropped down so I should have a half shift.

3. I took Ben for another run earlier, no creaking or wheezing.

4. The leaves are falling fast now, lots of leaf mould in my future.

5. The plan for next years gardening is almost done. I am day dreaming about more fruit trees. But where to fit them in?

I want to go through my fabric in the next few days, I have been pulling from all my containers and I know that it has not all gone back to the right places, possibly a job for Monday. I do have a box for the charity shop and need to move that on Monday as well, I will buy milk for the week then, it always has the longest date on Mondays.

I feel the need for a cup of tea so it must be time for..................

                            TTFN      Pam.

BTW I have spent a great deal of money this weekend, but it is only just over half of what I saved by "using it up" so I am still in profit.
I have bought fabric and paid for a sewing course but that comes out of  my "mad money" and I have not spent out. I have enough money to upgrade my sewing machine I am just waiting to spot a really good deal.
I may not seem to be living a frugal lifestyle but as i have said before, I have no mortgage and no debts. No credit cards, store cards or any other means of buying on credit. Read Frugal Queen, I would hate to have ever been in the same position that she has had to dig her way out of.

Sunday Roundup

It has been a busy few days since I last blogged. Michael,s Dad is very ill and we have been to visit him and his wife who just happened to have a birthday on Friday.
Michael spent time with his Dad while Francesca and I took J out to lunch and for some retail therapy, she had some very fetching frillies.
Dad was in need of some PJs , at least he wanted some bottoms. We were in Matalan and I spotted some Family Guy and some Always Grumpy ones in bright colours, so of course I bought him a pair of each, much better than boring stripes, and he laughed and promised to wear them.

I went through the jumpers and cardies and was sorely disappointed, flimsy and dull dull dull. A pop over to the menswear was more fruitful, I picked up a turquoise and a purple v neck for £14 the pair, very soft and fairly thick. While I was pootling about I spotted some really thick socks for Michael, he has feet like dead frogs, and picked up some of those.

I did not break the bank, I used some of my vouchers from work.

I have stocked up on our tea and coffee, thanks to Cottonreel who tipped me off, I went to Asda and hauled in this little lot.

7 jars here and 7 more in the cupboard should keep us going for a while.

2 each of these means that we are set up for quite some time. I topped up the loose tea about a month ago and that will see us through to next year.
I made a second batch of mincemeat using this recipe.

2 x 450 gm packs of mixed dried fruit.
1Kg cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped finely.
450gm shredded suet.
700gm dark brown sugar.
juice of 1 large orange.
juice of 2 large lemons.
8 tsp mixed spice.
1 tsp ground cinnamon.
1 tsp grated nutmeg.

All this went into the slow cooker, had a good stir up and was put on a low setting for 4 hours. Once the suet had melted I removed the pot and put to cool down, stirring every now and then to keep that melted suet covering evenly. When cold I stirred in 10 tbsp brandy, put into sterilized jars, put the lids on tightly and stored away in my cupboard.


I made Bubble & Squeak and very tasty it was too.

I made large "patties" and dusted them liberally with flour, then pan fried them in a little vegetable oil.

The flour gives them a nice crisp shell and a lttle salt and pepper mixed into it helps the flavour along. We had them with some bacon that needed using up, and I made blackberry and apple sponge pudding, yum.

I used the rosehips along with 3 apples from the garden and a bowl full of elderberries to make some syrup, neat this will soothe a sore throat and help a tickly cough. Diluted it makes a pleasant hot or cold drink and is loaded with vitamins.

I remember going out with my Granny picking pounds and pounds of rosehips to be made into syrup, it was started during the war and she carried on for many years after.

An eclectic mix of containers but my flip top kilner bottles, all bar that one, are in a box right at the back of the understairs cupboard. i put them there when I tidied it out, at that time I did not plan to make the syrup. I will dig them out and sterilize a few and decant into them, some will find their way into Christmas Hampers.

Once the juice had been strained off, sweetened, boiled and bottled I turned my attention to the pulp. I pushed it through a sieve and got 1 pint of smooth thick puree, I stirred in the juice of a lemon, a grated cooking apple and 1lb of granulated sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice and 1tsp cinnamon. This gave me a good amount of gloop which i brought to simmering point and, stirring every now and then, let it burp and belch away till it was almost the consistency of chutney. This went into hot sterilized jars, I got 2 full and a taster.

I owe this to DC at Frugal in Norfolk, once again it is something that I used to do out of necessity. I chose to do it this time and after scraping the saucepan out with my index finger, in the interest of economy, I will be doing it again. I expect to go foraging tomorrow.

I have raspberries that need picking so will add those in as well. I did wonder whether to make some raspberry vinegar but as I am the only one who likes it will pass this time.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Francesca has found a house share for November, she just wants to go and have a look at it. She can almost taste her independence

2. More and more homemade goodies piling into my larder.

3. Continuing good weather prolonging the harvest of wild, free fruits.

4. Laundry done, ironed and put away in 1 day.

5. The sweet buzzing of bees, drunk on sun and pollen, all round my garden.

My sewing machines have sat idle for a few days and will be idle for the next few. I have work outside to do and some preserving to do inside. all too soon it will be cold, dark and dreary and then the machines will come into their own. I have gathered some gloriously coloured fabrics to brighten my days. I have some Christmas sewing lined up and have entered for another giveaway.

Sharon at Little Town Mouse is having a giveaway for some purple paisley fabric and I have my fingers crossed. I am not usually fond of Paisley but this is glorious and my fingers are twitching.

Time for tea, I am very late today so will wish you all a good night.

                                              TTFN                Pam

A Restful Day

Work last night was hectic, there had been a 3 hour breakdown and the Domino effect kicked in. Only 1 cooking line was affected but because the Engineers had to work in the area all cooking had to stop and all materials removed from the cookhouse. Food safety is paramount. Once the problem had been resolved the area and equipment had to have a deep clean, we all joined in but lost 2 more hours, over 4 lines that is a whole shifts worth of work.

2 of the first shift stayed on for 3 hours and Michael worked opposite to me. we worked hard but sensibly and only left 2 hours worth of work to be picked up. Will we get thanks for this? Don't be so silly, we did not even get a request from management to keep them updated.

I had to pick some more apples today before the branches broke under the weight. My freezer has enough for pies and crumbles so I took a lead from Sue at Our New Life in the Country and made a batch of Apple Sauce and popped into some jars.

7 jars, all the seals have popped so they should keep, but I will keep a close eye on them. I will repeat this process until I run out of jars.

While getting my jars out I found these, Smooth strawberry jam, made last year for Francesca. She hated seeds in anything and this makes a good sauce if you heat it gently. It gives an edge to any fruit pudding and is sublime poured over Eton Mess while quite warm.

I have been watching these ripen on one of my walks with Ben and today we stopped and picked some, I will keep them in the fridge till Friday before turning them into syrup. I have time to pick a load more and when they have softened down in the maslin pan I will add elderberries. Once strained through a Jelly Bag the juices will have an equal weight of sugar added and be boiled until the right consistency and then bottled. The syrup is lovely when diluted with hot water, very soothing. It may not cure a cold but it does perk you up.

I have the four quarters of the Jelly Roll Jam quilt made and am just waiting for Francesca to decide if she would like them sashed or just sewn together, once done I will show and tell.

I won a give away last week and have selected my fabric £60 worth! Once it arrives I will share it with you.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Yet more goodies filling up my larder.

2.  Misty early mornings slowly turning into sun drenched days.

3. The smell of wood smoke drifting round the village. 

4. A new quilt plan in my head.

5. My village shop, flourishing and saving me a car journey at least once a week.

I do plan ahead and keep a good store cupboard but when you drop the milk on the floor as you take it out of the fridge,  as you do ..........................you need a shop on the corner rather than a car journey and a 30 minute wait.

All in all a gentle restful pottering day, it was so good I may just repeat it tomorrow.

Until tomorrow               TTFN                    Pam

Reflections on Sunday.

We had such a delicious dinner yesterday, and at a rock bottom price, the Pork was RTC at £1.78, The cauliflower was 50p and I used a third, the potatoes were from my market shop and cost 60p. The cheese sauce took 2/4 pint of milk, a dab of butter and a spoonful of cornflour with cheese from 2 weeks ago total cost I estimate 70p, I only used 1/2 of this, so total cost £2.90 and some pork left over.

cauli and calabrese cheese ready for the oven, I had a small piece of calabrese lurking in the fridge so added it in, the naked side is for Francesca.

The rest of the cheese sauce will have 2 eggs beaten in to it and some cooked vegetables stirred in and become a quiche filling probably for the freezer as my meals are planned for the week.

One of the meals before being anointed with meat juices.

The mincemeat yield was more than I anticipated so I will only make 1 more batch.

The small jar at the front is a taster and will feature as a pudding soon. I make a shortbread mix, press half into a square tin cover with mincemeat and sprinkle the rest of the shortbread over and press down gently, cook at 180c or so for about 35 minutes. It cuts into as many or few bits as you want and is delicious with custard, cream, ice cream or if feeling flush clotted cream. It is also quite good plain with a cup of tea.

I managed to press and cut the fabric for the Jelly Roll Jam Quilt, Francesca cast her eyes over and made the final selection. This quilt is for her new flat, she has 1 double and 2 smaller quilts so will need another double. The smaller ones will morph into sofa throws.

18 sets of 4 strips, this will make 4 blocks 36" square and make a large quilt top. Now I have to separate them into 3 sets of 6 to make the smaller blocks, lots of straight seams to sew. and more ironing!

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Michael gave the car a once over, oil, water, tyre pressures and topped up the washer bottles.

2. A bag of Bramley apples was gifted to me, I have lots of apples but no Bramleys so these will be squirreled away for special recipes.

3. The cupboard under the stairs is the bane of my life, it has been tidied within an inch of it's life.

4. The sun is shining and the air is warm, a long leisurely walk for Ben and me.

5. The house smells of baking, delish.

A long post but entertaining I hope.   

                             TTFN        Pam

It's Me, Pam, I'm Back

Two days lost, never to have again. One of my co workers has returned from nearly 4 WEEKS holiday, then phoned in sick with depression!!, that meant that we all worked an extra day and longer hours. Because he was due back another person went on holiday so we were 2 men down. The job we do is skilled and requires ongoing training, we have to keep up with new products and new legislation.
This means that there is nobody who can be transferred in to cover.

On top of this we had 2 big promotions running and a major visit from our "customer" to see all the new releases going live. We came out on top though and got a gold star and 2 merit points. Lol

I have not done much to shout about, oh do you remember that huge cauli that I bought last Friday, well I set to and did this.

Three nice tubs of Cauliflower Cheese, I put the tin of beans in for scale, these went into the freezer and another was enjoyed for dinner along with a tin of roasted veg. I do not put the grated cheese and breadcrumbs on until they go in the oven, then I leave one end naked as Francesca can not cope with crispy cheese? yet I have to fight her off pork crackling and crispy chicken skin.

Ages ago I picked up a sewing box for £2. it was full of needles, threads, snaps, hooks and eyes and so on. Over time I have used or binned the contents and as I planned to get rid of the box did not worry that it was held together with an odd mix of screws and good luck.

Look at that mess, some off them do not even go right in.

Michael set to with screwdriver and a new pack of brass screws and it looks lovely, now I will have to clean the wood and polish it. Of course I am keeping it and have already partly stocked it with quilting notions.

This side holds scissors, rotary cutter blades and my quilting binding clips, which are on a quilt waiting for my attention later.

This side has pins, tape measures and stitch ripper, then fabric glues and in the bottom I have put some embroidery hoops, a purse frame, a reel of masking tape for holding the layers flat for basting.

I still have to put a few more random things in there but it will make my life easier to have all these notions in one place.

I did my shopping this morning, £1.00 for milk and £6.78 for potatoes and veg on the market. I had to buy for 2 weeks as they are not there next week. I have to go into town next week and will buy another milk then bringing my spend up to £8.78 for the week.

We are having Chilli for dinner tonight, homemade pizza on Saturday and Shoulder of pork in the smoker on Sunday. There will be enough pork for another meal and Packed lunches during the week, Lasagne will feature and Fish Pie will make an appearance. Francesca has requested Scotch Eggs and I will probably pull a meatloaf from the freezer. Weeks food sorted. last night we had bacon chops cooked in cider with mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables and cauliflower. I will use the juices from the chops to marinade the pork shoulder in with some spices as well.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A spruced up sewing box, helping me to keep tidy.

2. A lovely sunny day.

3. My little computerised sewing machine is up and running again. I researched it online and serviced it myself.

4. A stack of hardback books that we no longer want given to the library, pay it forward when you can.

5. A long service award of £100 worth of love to shop vouchers was given to me on Wednesday. 

It has been a thrifty week and we still have masses of food in stock, enough meat, poultry and fish for at least 4 more weeks. dry goods for about the same period and cleaning materials. I only have 6 weeks supply of our favourite tea and coffee so when they appear on promotion I will be bulk buying. That puts me well towards the end of  October before I will have to spend any amount of money. To keep my challenge alive I will record my spending and then buy back as I need it. I am enjoying this and will carry it on to the end of the year. Christmas is paid for and in the freezer and cupboards, we do not go overboard, we both will have to work some of the days.

I have my Co op Divi points and Mr T,s points which will both be doubled up and will take care of January and some of February.

The points from Mr S will just sit there until I need them.

My vouchers from work will replace the clothes that I had to discard because they were beyond the pale.

My friends I am sorted, I am in a happy place and loving it, I can almost hear my Granny saying how proud she is of me.

TTFN     Pam

One Step Beyond

Can I make it through the night week I mean. I had a shufti round my pockets, bags, shopping bags and all the places where I might find some cash lurking, and .....................wait for it ................................came up with this.

Not very impressive, but tidy it up and see what happens.

£9.35, just 65p shy of my challenge sum. So I ask myself can I do the week on this "Free" money, I will stretch a point and say that as this is lost and found money it is free and should not count. If you disagree speak up and I will think about it.

A look in the fridge and I still have nearly half of this weeks cheese plus next weeks. There is half the bag of potatoes left, and I have 9 eggs.

There are enough veg in the garden and freezer for the week and the trees are dripping with fruit. Then there are the raspberries and blackberries. 

I will have to buy milk but as I have not used all this weeks I will be decanting it into smaller containers and freezing it.

I will also buy a bag of plain flour, celery, peppers and cucumber.

If I am fortunate I could do this on £5.00, how cool would that be.

At this point I should tell you that I am an over achiever but we are not starving, indeed I think that we live very well indeed.

Tonight we are having salad with tuna, sardines, and mackerel fillets. Saturday will be Sausage, egg and chips, naughty but nice. Sunday we are having Roast Duck, roast veg, Yorkshire Pudding ( I know it does not go but we love it) and I will make a gravy with some port, orange and red currant jelly, almost a Cumberland Sauce.

The duck was bought last year using my Vouchers from Mr T that I doubled up. This is partly why my freezer is so well stocked.

On the subject of food this was my dinner last night.

I have to say that it was delicious, the herbs from the garden gave it zing and my cherry toms are as sweet as honey with just a touch of acidity to balance. I used the dressing from the tin with a splash of balsamic and a grind of black pepper.

Francesca had Lamb hot pot and I put 3 in the freezer for her packed lunches. The bones have been boiled up and the resulting stock frozen, now Ben will enjoy the bones.

Not bad if I say so myself.

I have been shopping and spent £6.80, £2.00 went on milk for the week and the rest on this haul.

Just look at the size of that cauli, it weighs 2.8Kg and the cabbage weighs 2.4Kg, here it is next to a tin of beans for scale. I bought 3 large potatoes and one night we will have them cooked in their skins and topped with veg roasted in garlicky oil on a bed of salad, I do have some from last week but they are not big enough to bake.

We are looking forward to a feast week full of vegetables and small amounts of  the hoarded meats from the freezer. I was planning to use veg from the freezer to top up the garden offerings but had a change of plan when I saw what the market had to offer. This just means that next weekend I will not have go into town on the Friday. 

We are going to visit Michael,s Dad and Step mum on Saturday and whatever I need I will pick up at Mr T's on the way home.

I went out this morning with £9.35 in my pocket and have got £2.87 left, all I need to buy is a bag of plain flour. I will get this in Asda tomorrow as I have to go into Wisbech, I think it will be around 40p. so will still have over £2.00 for odds and ends. I did get 2 free bags of salad leaves at work last night and they will both be used before they have a chance to wilt beyond use.

If anyone thinks that I am being a little OTT about this personal challenge, please comment, I will not change my mind but am interested in others opinions. I thrive on challenge and intend to pursue this to the end, which will be sweet not bitter.

I should point out that any household purchases are not included in this and I will need a top up of washing up liquid and loo rolls in a couple of weeks. I make my own laundry "gloop" and white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and soda crystals make most of my cleaning products.

 BTW the white vinegar stripped every scrap of limescale out of the shower head and all four bathroom taps for around 15p.

 I do not use fabric softener a good blow on the line keeps them soft and I use tea tree oil in the "gloop" to make them smell fresh.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A 3 day weekend, just what the doctor ordered.

2. 15 minutes chatting in town with an old work colleague and plans to meet up in 2 weeks.

3. A load of laundry, done and hung out by Michael. 

4. Sunshine filtering through the leaves on my walk with Ben, a delight to lift the spirits.

5. Overnight rain keeping my flowers looking and smelling good.

In fact the sun is so warm that I am going to finish my tea and take Ben out for a bonus walk while I can.

On that note it is time to say             TTFN                Pam

PS my fabric win arrived this morning, I will show and tell tomorrow.

Fighting Fit and Feeling Fine

Hi de Hi, I am fighting fit and ready to rock 'n roll, What a difference a day makes yesterday I was yeurghk and today it is gone.

A big welcome to two new followers, I hope you enjoy hanging out.

Work was smooth as silk last night, today may be different. There are a series of Briefings taking place over all shifts and departments so each session will take almost an hour out of the work time.

I was going to shop today but having checked the fridge did not need to, so win win.
Add to that this little lot,

Six very large mangoes, they are under ripe but just the job for a batch of chutney.

Two bags of salad leaves, my favourite mixes.

This little lot was a gift, ok it came from the staff shop, I no longer carry money to work and someone owed me a favour, saw these and knowing that I loved them, bought them for me.

Today Michael asked for beans on toast with grated cheese, easy meal and all from stores, no spend. The bread is homemade, cost about 6p, beans 15p, cheese 25p, total cost 46p. not bad.

I decided on a light meal so tipped some salad onto a plate, added cherry toms from the garden, more fresh basil, coriander and flat parsley from the garden. To add some protein and carbs to this I pulled this from the larder.

I bought these when they were on offer ages ago and used half a tin so the cost of my dinner was 25p. 

Our dinner cost 71p, I am dead chuffed with that and stuffed to the gills.

I took Ben out for a long walk as he was restricted yesterday and a rabbit shot out of the hedge and ran under his nose, he reared up on his hind legs as though he was acting in Ben Hur, he he that was serendipitous.

I watched a feww tutorials on FMQ techniques and had a little play, more on that another day.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Feeling fine, good health can not be over rated.

2. Seeing the scarlet splash of poppies, the gold of dandelions and their fluffy white seed heads glowing against a sea of dark green sugar beet leaves.

3. Turning a corner and seeing an ancient climbing rose frothing with white blooms wrapped in a lovers embrace with an equally ancient gnarled apple tree, glistening with red fruit.

4. Birds wheeling over a freshly turned field harvesting seeds and creepy crawlies.

5.  Having the time and opportunity to see and enjoy our countryside.

A  wonderful walk full of wonder and beauty, free to any one who cares to get out and find it.

On that note I wish you all a good day, what is left of it, and a restful evening.                       TTFN                       Pam