Star Forever Young

It has been so dry this summer that we have had to water the garden every other day.  Luckily for us there is no hosepipe ban in our area yet, but we are mindful not to use any more water than we really need. We have also been putting our washing up water onto the grass so it has stayed relatively green. We haven't had to cut the grass at all this summer. I think that's a first. The picture shows Larry, my husband, picking blackberries. They are not quite so big this year, but they will be delicious nevertheless.  We can look forward to some lovely blackberry and apple pies in the Autumn. Larry takes our puppy out into the garden every morning at 6 a.m. and while she is nosying around and doing her business, Larry picks the latest lot of blackberries and brings them in.  The freezer is filling up nicely. Today we went for a walk in the countryside, taking Jenny for the first time.  She is 23 weeks old now.  It was a bit adventure for her because we went by car. ...

  Jenny is 23 weeks old now and still puppying around. She doesn't know what rain is because she hasn't seen any for most of her life. She is house trained now, but with the door open so much of the time, that has been easier than it might have been. When it does eventually rain, the door will be closed and then we shall see how good she is about asking to go out. Maybe I should get a bell and teach her to ring it, but I can see how that might work against us! She might like ringing it so much that she rings it all the time, even when she doesn't need to go out and that would be annoying. She is very good about going to bed. She goes to bed at 10 pm and Larry gets her up in the morning at 6 a.m. We've only had two broken nights so far. On the down side, she pulls terribly on the lead when she is anxious to go somewhere or when she doesn't want to go somewhere. She is very mouthy, biting and teething everything she can get hold of so we are looking forward to that ph...

September is pickle time at our house. Jim is the expert here, when it comes to pickles and his best effort is mustard pickles.  Also known as piccalilli, Jim's version is milder and in our opinion, better.  All the family agree on that, lol.  At the end of August we start looking out for marrows, shallots, cauliflower and vinegar - malt variety. Marrows have not been very obvious on the shelves this year, nor last year.  I think it is because people now prefer courgettes or zuchini, whichever you prefer to call them. Jim doesn't use the pickling vinegar because that is rather strong.  Sometimes he puts a bouquet garni into the mixture whilst it is cooking. The other vegetable included is the runner bean, but we don't buy those. Jim grows them himself. He prepares the vegetables in the early evening; salts them, covers them with a clean tea towel and then leaves them overnight to draw out the excess moisture. The next day he rinses them off and puts them in a la...

These fine old motors were on display in the Coventry Transport Museum, where Larry and I found ourselves during a holiday last year. It was raining and, fearful of getting soaked to the skin, we took shelter in the museum, little realising how vast it was inside. I expected to be inside the museum for half an hour at the most, but as it turned out, we were in there for the rest of the afternoon.  To me, one car is the same as another, but Larry is quite a connoisseur so he had a whale of a time. These pictures give a flavour of what was on show, but the more modern section was a WOW moment. Here is the link:  https://transport-museum.com/collection/default.aspx?gclid=Cj0KCQjws536BRDTARIsANeUZ5_-_Qdvqg-S1jQgY-BJD9TOJX2Wnfm1m7fMy0dvTIQ93NcoYs9AMP0aAvj5EALw_wcB

During the lockdown I have been busy making journals and sewing. This is one I made for a very special lady who requested it.  I don't think I would have thought to make a hamster journal myself, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. I hope she likes it too. The journal is handmade with a semi-soft cover and decorated inside with lots of pockets for keeping special bits and pieces.  I have also left a lot of the pages blank for her own decorations and writings. I used to keep hamsters myself many years ago although I never had a breeding pair.  In the main I think they are solitary animals.  They sleep all day and play all night so if you have one, be prepared for it to keep you up with its continuous running around in its wheel or trying to chew through the bars of its cage. Star  

The  Battle of Bosworth Field  (or  Battle of Bosworth ) was the last significant battle of the  Wars of the Roses , the  civil war  between the  Houses of Lancaster  and  York  that extended across  England  in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by the Lancastrians. Their leader  Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond , became the first English monarch of the  Tudor dynasty  by his victory and subsequent marriage to a Yorkist princess. His opponent  Richard III , the last king of the House of York, was killed during the battle, the last English monarch to die in combat. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the  Plantagenet dynasty , making it one of the defining moments of English history. You can read more here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bosworth_Field This is my own white rose, nameless for today because I can't  remember...

Since the start of the pandemic, flour has been hard to come by. It flew off the shelves in my local supermarket and soon we were having to find alternative ways of providing for our daily meals. I have always done a lot of cooking, but now I was faced with make it yourself or do without it scenarios. I also felt that I should be doing as much as I could myself because I have the time. Time, however, became ever shorter because more cleaning is also involved. After a week or so of the shutdown, which started in March here in England, the house had never been cleaner, but I was getting pretty fed up with cleaning doorknobs every day! In the kitchen, I decided to try my hand at making some bread. This is something I used to do when my boys were growing up, but had left behind because supermarket loaves were so easy and labour saving. With the shortage of flour I had to find an alternative means of supply. I looked on the internet and found a mill about fifteen miles away, who provide all...