Well a “three week furlough period” has hit the five month-ish mark. I still have maybe five weeks of part time furlough left and should be working full time again from October. There is a lot of stuff in the media about Birmingham going into local lockdown which would mean my volunteer groups cannot start up again which will be a bugger.
Mental Ill-Health
I am feeling better this week. We have been to the seaside!!
Physical Health
I am feeling knackered this week. We have been to the
seaside!! We walked lots and swam in the sea a couple of times, and I was
trying to keep up with my daily exercises too. I developed shin splints again
and my knee has been twingey.
Homelife
We have been to the seaside!! The weather was glorious with
the exception of Wednesday afternoon/evening, but we had a lovely time AT THE
SEASIDE. We stayed in Trusthorpe but walked down to Sandilands, and up to Mablethorpe.
This week I have baked cakes as an excuse to a) bake cake but b) a reason to use up a courgette. These are courgette and orange cakes, with cinnamon.
I have completed part five of Sophies Universe blanket. This is quite a fun pattern to work on despite having to translate US to UK terminology and having to read, read and re-read the pattern. I am finding it hard to follow as it is written as paragraphs rather than rows but having the pictures to compare is very useful. I will have to order more yarn when I get paid next week as I have just started the second ball of white.
Allotment
It is courgette season! Or maybe marrow season. The tomatoes
are starting to go red so they’ve had a splash of tomato food. The butternut
squash has perked up and it rambling away with about 5 fruits forming. The other
pumpkin/squash/butternut is going a nice shade of orange, and the little white
pumpkin has a few fruits coming on it too. I do so love pumpkins.
Momma Pat’s Pumpkin Patch on Plot 4 is growing well! It looked so sad when we first planted it but now the plants are huge and sprawling, and there is lots of fruit forming. Spaghetti squash, pumpkin, crown prince (blue) pumpkin, butternut squash, and loads of courgette. 21 plants in total.
I am going to wait a couple more weeks before I try another sweetcorn as the one I pulled the other week wasn’t quite developed. I have dug up the potatoes this week as the plants had died back a couple of weeks ago, I have filled a fat ball tub with spuds which isn’t bad.
Garden
Came home from the seaside to discover that the bird feeder
pole with hanging baskets was at a jaunty angle, one of the sunflowers was
swinging all over the shop, and another was being battered by the winds. Some of
the sunflowers are way taller than the fence so there just isn’t anything to
tie them too now so they are at the mercy of the wind. One has broken but the
flower head is trying to grow so I have tied it across the back fence panel.
I dug up the home potatoes this week and they were naff. All marble sized except for one. So, not a great attempt at growing my own!
The trough planters over the fence have all died off – why can’t
I keep anything alive – so I need to have a rethink and a replant. Maybe I’ll
buy more herbs…
The seeds I had sown in the trug planter have all come up
and it’s looking quite full. The leeks, cauliflower and calabrese are also growing
well, so that’s next summer on the allotment sorted!
The aubergines are starting to put out flowers! Better late than never, but I might have to give the plants to my father in law as he has a greenhouse.
More piccies...
