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Wafting Along...

 Here I am, wafting along through October, enjoying a calm before an anticipated storm. Of course, there may NOT necessarily be a storm but isn’t that how the Pattern of Life happens - peaks and troughs, ups and downs, calms and storms? Regardless, I’m making the most of these settled times where I can potter through my days doing a bit of this, some of that and a smidgeon of the other. And thus was the rhythm of today.

The mincemeat was cooked up and stored yesterday...


...six delicious jars! It smells gorgeous and I’m looking forward to turning it into various pies and puddings as the cold, dark days close in. It’s a few weeks yet until Stir Up Sunday when I shall make the Christmas Pudding. Usually, I use ye ancient family recipe passed down through the maternal side of my family, but this year I am going rogue, oh yes I am! I’ve found a mediaeval recipe in a spelt cookery book which I am keen to try. Just don’t tell my Mum that I am rejecting the traditional family recipe this year! Actually, will she be bothered? Probably not.

To my shame (because in previous years I have refused to consider Christmas shopping until the middle of November) I have pretty much completed the task for this year. No way was I ever going to shop on the High Street, not all the while face coverings are mandatory. It’s taken all the pleasure out of browsing, I’m afraid, and I’d rather peruse at my leisure on-line, rather than suffer the grab and dash approach I would have to adopt if I went on physical shopping excursions. As such, and because I have the leisure of time, I’m well ahead of the game. It feels odd, to be honest. Satisfying, yet odd.

And that is all I have for today. It really has been that peaceful. The cats are both well. The cockerels are moulting and, having lost the magnificent swoopy plumage of their show-off tails, look like oven ready rugby balls. The Autumn raspberries are fruiting well, the apples are pretty much all off their trees, the tomatoes off their vines. Andy’s new cold frame is nurturing some radish and Winter greens. I’m about a third of the way through knitting my cropped jacket. 

Oh, and I have officially lost 30lbs in the last 6 months, and am, after 34 years, finally back to my pre-pregnancy weight! It can be done! Only 13lbs to go before I am officially ‘normal.’ 

Whatever that is...

Comments

Meryl said…
Well done, lovely lady on so many levels!x
7 October 2020 at 20:04
Anonymous said…
Good for you! I love days like that just pottering.
KJ
7 October 2020 at 20:31
Denise said…
Thanks Meryl! I hope you are well?

Can’t beat a pottering day, eh KJ?
8 October 2020 at 08:25
aileen g said…
I am an expert potterer (a pottee?). This week though I have been having "a concerted effort and getting things done" which is a good antidote to the grey, wet weather. So the craft room is finally not looking like a jumble sale, and I "found" 4 unfinished projects (now on the kitchen table ready to be completed). I freecycled some old craft magazines, and even sorted out the drawer of doom in the kitchen dresser (do Allen keys reproduce as I seem to have several more than I remember?).
I'm still working on the baby weight (youngest is nearly 39!)! Must work on getting more punctuation in my comments too (hee-hee)!
8 October 2020 at 10:46
Anonymous said…
And when you do need an Allen key it’s never the right one or is that just me?
KJ
8 October 2020 at 18:27
Denise said…
Goodness, Aileen - what industry you have displayed! I’m glad you are tackling your U.F.Os - I do that on occasion, and it is very satisfying. As for Allen keys - we have the obligatory collection, too, and I can’t for the life of me think of anything we’ve bought in the last 5 years at least that have required one. Perhaps they just manifest from the ether?

And going on from that, KJ, perhaps Allen keys manifest as baby ones and then grow, a millimetre or so every couple of years, very subtlety, and that’s why they never fit, merely twizzle around ineffectually?
8 October 2020 at 18:52
Anonymous said…
I will now install a camera to test your theory. I’ll report back with any developments I observe.
KJ
8 October 2020 at 20:18
Denise said…
KJ, if you would be so kind. We could be on the verge of a scientific revelation here...
9 October 2020 at 08:47
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