drip drip,,, drip
There is something very relaxing about a wet Saturday. The dishwasher is quietly churning away, or whatever noise a dishwasher is supposed to make. Radio 4 is on and I’ve had bacon and egg for breakfast.
If I was playing rugby today I’d be looking out the window thinking urgh, 80 minutes of running around in the cold wet rain. Always ok once you got going but the getting going is the difficult bit.
I do of course have the never ending jobs list. That is fine. When it is written down it is under control. Not spring at me out of left field, as they say in the colonies.
Anne is about to make some soup. Parsnip with ginger and leek and potato. That’s two lots of soup. Not all in one pot. Obvs. Anne is a dab hand at soup making fair play. Radio 4 has just gone off. Monty Don and gardener’s world is now on. One dulcet tone swapped for another. Monty is reviewing the damage in the garden after the winter. Very topical. It’s been a very wet winter for some although not in our part of the country.
Monty talks about spring being here but the weather forecast is for the coldest Easter in living memory, or some such dramatic weather statement. It will provide for interesting conditions in Llanberis when we go there for Easter. I took a look yesterday and there are really two forecasts for Llanberis. One for the bottom of Snowdon and one for the summit. The temperature difference is about 7 degrees centigrade between the two. Also it’s the difference between snow and rain. If Snowdon is snow topped we won’t make it to the top.
Last night’s concert was great. John did a solo on his saxophone which was top notch. Very proud of him. The Dawkinses came with us. Jeremy was a bit worried about sitting through a kids concert all evening but he went away really pleased he’d come.
Anne is chopping up her leeks. Two biguns cost 6 pence in Tesco! Barg.
It’s duck tonight. I’m cooking. I’ll have to look up a recipe – not cooked duck in years. It isn’t that I don’t know how to cook duck but I just thought “hey, why not check out a nice recipe”. Simple really.
In years gone by there was a restaurant called Seelys in Lincoln. They used to make the most fantastic duck breast in ginger. Even if it wasn’t on the menu they always had some in reserve. I never used to have anything else. That and the garlic chicken livers starter. We had some great evening there. Unfortunately the chef/owner died and the restaurant became Gino’s Italian. Long time ago now.
Having gardener’s world on the ipad has reminded me that I need to put the wax band around our pear tree. We haven’t seen a pear on that tree for the last few years so this year I’m going to try and do something about it. The wax band (or whatever it is) is to stop certain pests from climbing the trunk and doing damage. The tree has been getting yellow brown leaves which obviously ain’t right.
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The weather has fined up and I popped out to encircle the pear tree trunk in the waxed band. Very sticky stuff. Took me several goes to wash my hands afterwards but it is done now. Next job, once I’ve sank a cup of tea is to screw the bookcase to the wall. This is a fairly hefty task as it involves emptying the bookcase first. It is a big bookcase and there is probably around 5metres of shelving that will have to be emptied and then restocked.
As I sit here Anne’s phone occasionally pings. It does so whenever she gets an email or a message. I have most of my notifications turned off. One of the few I have switched on is the scrabble app but Joe takes his go so infrequently there doesn’t seem much point in even keeping that one on! He is being walloped which is probably why he can’t be bothered to go.
In other news Anne has decided to chuck some of our old pots and pans. It has meant going out and buying new ones yay. As it happens Biggar of the Bail are in the last few days of their closing down sale. This is sad as the shop has served the people of Lincoln for the last 72 years. It does however mean that we have been able to buy a new set of Stellar stainless steel saucepans for a discounted price – £140 reduced to £90. Photos of the pans in this link here together with the shoot from the garden this morning and miscellaneous other vistas.
Tags: diary