A few days this and that

 I've been busy doing bits of all sorts of things.

Like a computer with too many tabs open!!

Friday was good...arranged for the local fencing Teuchter (Highland Man!) to come and give his opinion and quote for my front gates and fence. That will be Monday morning.

Then a shopping run with a vengeance..just Sainsbugs (fuel for me and the car!) and Lidl.

Friday lunchtime is NOT a good time for me to shop..both of them were heaving!! Still, a conversation with an older man about the merits of the special offer figs was worth it!

They were 35p each...and huge....! We discussed fig preserve recipes ...

Then French conversation, with just six of us and our teacher....reading out in turn the same passage of Fontaine's fable about the Lion and the Rat....written in 1668.

(I discovered yesterday that he lived in Limoges at one time....as did Voltaire...and Molière..)

It was interesting to see how we are all progressing.   

The teacher is also a brilliant artist and draws on the whiteboard easel so we remember things...like how to say "ou"....

Loup Garrou ...is a werewolf!!

From there we went to the French evening. Not just the class, but nearly twenty in all, French people, Scots with French blood, French learners...

I found it a bit overwhelming...but did some talking...

Yesterday was gardening day..

lifting the rest of the tatties. I thought that I'd been clever, planting them closer in closer rows...and not removing any of the eyes. I was aiming for more and smaller ones....

They are now stacked in three more trays under the kitchen bench!!

I started tidying the workshop ready to glaze pots..but that was enough for the day.

Today was grab the chance day..wash..and dry!!  clothes while it was fine. Then prepare chutney ingredients...plums and apples both foraged and onions from the garden...

I put the rest of the plums in the freezer, two boxes minus stones and three with. 

Better there than rotting on the bench!!

blogger's latest quirk

 My following list hasn't been working for two days....

I'll catch up with you soon enough!!

sunny day

 A most pleasant day today ..washing done and dried, ironing not done yet...

Study floor has been cleared...then my brother can decide if he wants to sleep there when he comes or on the sofabed. I need to get new curtain rings for the study....ones that the screw in eyes ( that you clip the curtain hooks into) don't pull out of the ring.

Later on I went for a walk through the nature reserve. Where the top exit to fields is there is an apple tree...not ripe yet! Although there were a few handy windfalls.

Across to the next apple trees...past some inquisitive young cows....

I was lucky to see our farmer friend on whose land I forage. I hadn't seen him since Pirate died. He said I was looking well anyway...and so is he at 85, checking round the sheep that are on his fields for grazing, on his quad bike with sheepdog!

I picked another bag of plums and found a different apple tree with plenty brought down by the winds that we've haf the past few days....then home before the bag got too full!

Then the first five foot long row of tatties was dug...and berries  picked from the elder tree that I grew from a cutting.

Making food

 Days at the gallery leave me feeling washed out the following day.possibly because it is a day without much moving around, let alone exercise. Because of that, I don't sleep well..which compounds the problem.

So today was, shall we say...low key. I wasn't a day for much walking either, with sudden showers!

I did a little tidying in the greenhouse. Taking out the tomato plants that are going nowhere, taking off leaves that are past their best.  Hoping that the blight stays out of the greenhouse!

The squash are making the greenhouse all jungly!! the squashes are only large marble size...but it shows what is possible, if I get them going early enough.

The plums that I'd foraged were crying out for attention....Three and a half pounds are now being pickled..a sweet pickle..this takes over a week after the first cooking in the oven, each day boiling up the vinegar syrup then pouring it back over the plums.

I had bought some limes, reduced  to pence..they are now being pickled on the windowsill in a large glass jar.

As the oven was warm...a batch of granola went in. 

None of these were a lot of work...and plenty of breaks were had!

The last job, start a batch of yoghurt..that looks after itself overnight.

Then to Duolingo. The course finished at level 129, I've gone back to the beginning...

We'll see if I remember enough!!

stocking up

 I remembered to take my cards to the gallery today...stocked up, then stocked up a little more after today's sales!!

one side each ...there are two spinners for cards. The red Two Trees is going well, that was the one I made for our wedding invites!

Heron has never sold much..Howlet did but now has stopped..so they came out.

I need to find a way of "de-briefing" /chilling out after going out that doesn't take an hour or so....  you do it then stress that there are other things not yet done....

I've just realised that it is after 9pm and the bed isn't made...not a big job even after hauling back on the mattress topper that  came off to air everything ....but not the time of day I need to be actively doing it!!

cards

 Today has been mainly cards...even when it was sunny outside it was still a strong gusty wind.

This is the latest batch..that and some other designs will come with me to the gallery tomorrow.

colour!

 A mostly sunny day for a change..taking a breather before tomorrow I think!

Today's achievements have been mainly

A jungly greenhouse...

(note to self...sow seeds earlier next year AND look after them properly!)

foraging...apples plums and brambles...and watching swallows...

a much nicer sight than the metal birds that have been roaring overhead for the Ayr International Air show...

I gave my over the road neighbour a couple of pounds each of apples and plums, and received three ripe tomatoes from her greenhouse!

Then after a cuppa, painting time....

Using watercolour washes on a print.

It will be interesting to see how these sell.

I must look through my drawing books and photos to find the next images to make.