Warm.

Romas, my youngest, is 25 today. We haven't seen him this year as he has been busy working at one job as well as building ramps and things for his indoor skatepark. I do see the occasional skateboarding video of him on Facebook and from the latest photos I see that his long hair and minimal beard have gone. I suppose no news is good news. 

It's been incredibly warm today. I had a day off from my various tasks and started the day by meeting up with friends for coffee at the local garden centre. 

For once it wasn't raining so I stopped on Whitefield Hill to take photos of the views. One of my friends came past in her car and stopped thinking I had broken down down but no I was just taking photos again. 

I took my usual scenic route along the winding back roads one of which had grass growing down the middle. 

I also stopped in the village of Prixford to take a photo of the thatched roof with the thatch horse on the ridge that I mentioned before.

Just before driving down in to Ashford there were views across the estuary and out to sea. 

As usual it was great to see my friends. Although originally we all worked in the same school now only 3 of us are there others having retired or moved to new schools so there is always lots to catch up on. After a couple of hours nattering and laughing we slowly made our way out past all the lovely but expensive Christmas displays. You could spend a fortune in that shop which sells lots of gift type things as well as plants and garden equipment. I spent the rest of the afternoon in town and got lots of things done. It was so warm that I even left my fleece in the car and was walking around in a t-shirt. I picked up 6 white dinner plates that I had ordered at Wilkos to go with the white sideplates, pasta bowls and soup bowls we already have. All bought at different places but they go together well. I called into Tesco's and finally was able to have my flu jab. Good value at £9 as I'm not in an at-risk group so can't get it free at the doctors. I've never had an adverse reaction to a flu jab but you never know so I just had to buy a cake in case I felt poorly in the evening! It's been a lovely day.

Warm.

Another grey but even warmer day. The temperature, confirmed on the weather report, went up to 19C. One of my old English roses is suddenly sporting 2 new flowers.

I had planned for this to be a cooking day but as someone forgot to bring home a tray of free range eggs yesterday the Christmas cake will have to wait until the weekend. I did cook 2 red cabbages with bacon, apple and onions in vinegar and honey. Now I have 3 large (6 person) portions and 3 small portions stacked in the freezer. I had promised to make something for Peter to take to work for his team members but my options were limited by the lack of eggs. So I made some butter biscuits with chopped nuts in for them to have tomorrow. 

For most of the day I've been working outside. The cement did set even under the puddle that was still there today. In order to try and drain the raised bed there I used the wrecking bar to make holes down and into the subsoil. Unfortunately the subsoil is almost solid clay so even though the holes were 3-4ft deep I don't know how much effect they will  have. I also gave the honeysuckle that grows on the wall there a severe cutting back. That would have had to be done at some point and it made it easier for me to get to the back of the flower bed which now looks rather strange with all these holes in it. The soil is very wet there so I've got astilbes, primulas and ferns in there.

Later in the afternoon I did the slightly tedious but satisfying job of picking all the leaves, which were mainly from the acers, off the raised gravel and stone bed along the side of the house.

Damp.

Warm and grey again but the morning's very light drizzle didn't put me off getting on with the cementing. 

I've done nearly all of this section but I ran into a bit of a problem with ground water. There was a permanent puddle in the far corner by the steps that I thought I should deal with. After a messy session with some silicone sealant topped with cement I managed to stop the flow of water through the wall. I wasn't too worried about the water getting through later on, I just wanted to be able to re-point the slabs and give the mortar time to set. All was fine until I turned around and saw a big puddle in the middle of the paving. That was on the first area I had done this morning so I don't know if  the mortar there will set or if I'll have to buy some underwater cement (yes, there is such a thing).

I was just washing off my tools wit the garden hose when rain started to fall. A hint that outdoor work was finished for the day. I retreated indoors and did some ironing instead.  

Grey.

There was no rain forecast for today so I thought I'd take advantage of the light breeze and hang the sheets outside to dry. I needn't have bothered, the damp air cancelled out the breeze and the sheets were just as damp when I took them back in later in the day. Here goes another winter of drying everything over the rayburn. 

During my morning browsing I found out a bit more about the bra display. The details are  here (or here) which does explain things but I still think if my initial reaction was one of distaste then that might be the same for a lot of other people. Perhaps hanging up pink ribbons might have been better.

Although damp it has been a dry and warmish day  so I was back mixing cement in a bucket. I got a good section done and the old mortar pulled out from the next bit. I'm having to replace almost all the mortar but I am getting better at it. Just don't look too closely at the finish.

This morning I had a go at roasting the pumpkin seeds that I had taken out of yesterday's pumpkins. I roasted them in olive oil and smoked paprika but the first time I took them out of the oven (the rayburn is oh so slow these days), they tasted a bit too oily. I put them back and now they are crispy and I can only really taste the salt that I sprinkled on them. Not sure if I would bother doing that again.

Grey.

I drove in to town through heavy drizzle this morning which cleared up later on though we never saw any proper sun.

I had quite a few things to do so I parked at Lidls for the 2 hours free parking and walked over the bridge to the High Street. Coming up from the square I saw that Youings had scaffolding above the shop which was festooned with bright items. It was only as I got closer I saw that these were bras and the occasional g-string. I class myself as pretty liberal minded but I thought this was inappropriate. I even went in the shop and asked the girl behind the counter to tell her manager that I thought it was in bad taste. When I got home I rang the council to complain and was told it was in aid of a charity. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy.

I got nearly all the things I wanted in town including some brightly coloured wallet folders for work. I have tried to be organised and had separate folders (from the school supply) for each of the year groups that I work with. Unfortunately  I managed to leave 2 of them somewhere in one of the classes and as everyone is using the same yellow folders I have failed to locate my folders. Hopefully I'll be less likely to leave my bright pink, purple and green folders behind at the end of the day.

Crossing the bridge back to the car I joined several people watching this shag make several attempts to get this flat fish into its mouth. Then I went to Tesco's where I booked myself a flu jab. The person to do it had gone to lunch but would be back at 2.00. I did my shopping, packed it in the car and returned in time for my 2.15 slot. Unfortunately I had forgotten to reset my watch when the clocks went back yesterday so I was an hour early! I cancelled my jab and will try again next time I'm in town.

At home I spent the afternoon chopping bacon, onions and pumpkin. Tesco's had lots of pumpkins this year so I searched through the massive box with pumpkins in and found 2 large ones for £3. Pumpkin soup is now cooking in my biggest saucepan and more pumpkin is in the oven for me to turn into pumpkin puree which can also be frozen. I've still got one pumpkin to cook but I ran out of time and pans today.

Grey.

Looking through the window this morning after an extra hour in bed due to the clocks going back an hour, it looked as if we were in for another grey and miserable day. But when I ventured outside although it was grey it felt fairly  warm and the light levels were high. Needles to say I've spent most of today working in the garden. The final clump of the big crocosmia has been cut back and the corner steps up the side of the bank are no longer a hazard. Not only was I trimming the very long grass but I cleared any weeds in the flower beds either side of the path. I had worked my way halfway along the path across the bank when I got side tracked into digging up weeds from the path itself. I'm not fanatical about weeds in the grassed parts of the garden but last summer I did have what I thought was a thorough clear out of the greater plantain which mainly grew in the path. But they were back again, some of them large plants so those had to be dug up. Everywhere I look there is weeding to be done but then again how long will I have left before it gets too cold to be mixing up cement? I think I had better have a few more re-pointing sessions on the paving at the side of the house. And fit in some weeding too.

There are a lot of pink flowers out in the garden at the moment. The fuchsia flowers are hanging like tiny pale lanterns and the pink garden lilies go well with the blue foliage of a buddlia bush. There still a dozen pale pink roses over the porch and the miniature rose is still blooming too. 

Gloomy.

It's been a mainly grey day with frequent showers. Peter went to work today as they were almost begging people to work overtime so I ended up spending most of the day working in the garden. I had on my old gardening coat and just worked through the light showers. Today's job was to hand cut all the long grass in the wildflower meadows. Thankfully that's a once a year job which has now been done. I weeded the bank of winter flowering heathers too and made a start on cutting the grass on the steps.

The ground in that corner of the garden is wet subsoil so trying to have a lawn or flower beds there would be almost impossible. The long grass provides a different habitat and although I didn't spot the orchid this year blue butterflies and darters took full advantage of the long grass.