Autumn

 Hello friends and visitors.  This is a long overdue post!  

this week we took the train to London St Pancras and walked along the canal to Camden Market.  I think its about a 25 minute walk.

The Amy Winehouse statue at Camden Market was much smaller than I expected.

The walk along the canal is very pretty

We have plodded through 5 heatwaves this Summer in the UK and are now sliding into a more manageable Autumn season.

The rowan trees in the woods behind our garden have thrown out berries early, everything around was parched all through Summer.  At last we have had rain! and nature is soaking up strength to renew itself - the yellowing grass is turning green again and my allotment is throwing out flowers in October that should have shown in Summer!

I have harvested a lot of blue bayou tomatoes, black skinned with sweet red centres, some turks turban squash, yellow courgette, purple beans, chard, herbs, raspberries and so many flowers - gladioli, verbena, giant daisy, crocosmia and some spectactular giant sunflowers. Now I have  dug half of my plot over, added compost and manure.  In the other half I planted leeks, winter lettuce, radish and spring onion.

My home garden below has produced lots of flowers too this year but needed a lot of water daily.  We were lucky and had no hosepipe ban here.

  Ive been collecting pine cones and conkers to decorate the house

We recently spent a week in Belek, Turkey. We didn't venture out much as our all inclusive had so much to offer and we were looking for total rest and to recharge our batteries.   I only have a few pictures as this wasn't our usual 'out and about' type of holiday.  We stayed at Megasaray, Belek, which is vast.  The food was exceptionally good with a huge selection three times a day of salads, cold meats and cheeses, cooked dishes, pizza, etc. etc.  The three pools to swim in, a sandy beach.  We took part in some of the entertainment (pool foam party, games in the pool).  There were nightly shows including a contortionist and acrobats).

I am refreshing basic French and hubby is brushing up his Spanish (we are using an app and do a little each day).  Hubby taught me to play chess this year and I have beaten him twice since April!  So you can tell I need to watch some strategy videos and improve!

I have got into a routine since retiring, it has taken a while to get there.  I swim 30 lengths twice a week and do two strength/weight lifting classes at our local gym.  I also enjoy being on my allotment.

Recently we went to Beachy Head for a walk, it was very hot and windy and there were a lot of people coming by coach to see the landscape.   Despite the all Summer drought, there was green grass.  

This week we have had our 18 year old leather sofa resprung and some worn edges were dyed back to look like new - all done by a local man in situ - he did a fantastic job.  

During October I enjoy decorating the house and have brought out a few old halloween favourites....

I think this, my third year on the allotment, has been the most rewarding...

Thanks for visiting my blog :)

UK Weather and Stuff

 Hi folks, after 10 days in Corfu I thought I was used to a bit of hot weather but, my goodness, the UK has been  basking in a 30+ heatwave and its wiped me out!  If you would like to see a post on Corfu, its on my travel blog: 

H E R E

Magic Carpet Travels: Corfu

On Friday the weather cooled and it was overcast all day.   I hopped on the train (40 minutes) and went to Brighton for some shopping .... Short video HERE

I didn't go on the beach, it was quite smelly around the Pier of sewerage to be honest and I didn't feel like lying on the beach!  Unfortunately sewerage is an issue there at times, litter also - the beach was no looking its best after a week of day trippers dropping litter everywhere.  So I headed to The Lanes.

I hadn't taken any photos but my video link above is of the shops I went in and the route I took.

We have a new bathroom refit which started two weeks ago and so I have been swimming every morning and making use of the showers at our gym.  I've been doing 30 lengths a day and am already feeling a lot more flexible!

On the allotment a lot of seedlings died the week before I got home as there were hailstones, heavy rain and an unexpected frost, all followed by a week of extreme heat on my return!  So I will have to order more seeds and plant again.  It is still looking fairly good though.    Garden is looking very pretty but the UK has had torrential rain this week which has again damaged a lot of plants.

We recently made pizza in our oven at the allotment group and had a great social afternoon.  It was good to catch up, everyone brought salad and extras and our own drinks.

This week we have had heavy rain.   I'm on watering duty for a couple of other allotments whose owners are having holidays but looks like the rain will take care of that!  We had another week of swimming and showering at the gym while our shower room is finished, then an evening of skittles which was fun... never played before!

The bathroom is to be finished after the weekend.  So a quiet weekend of catching up on tv (the noise of drilling and banging has really curbed our afternoon tv viewing and book reading, but we have played chess a lot.

We are watching Small Prophets on channel 4 - it's a brilliant series about a man who dabbles with alchemy, creating little spirits that can predict the future.  We also binge watched Two Weeks in August - an 8 part series about friends on holiday in Greece and their complicated relationships.  It wasn't fast moving enough for me, I think it could have been done in 4 episodes maximum!  Also enjoying Masterchef on tv.

Have a good weekend everyone and thanks for visiting my blogs.

Bluebells

Yesterday I went for a walk at the Outwood windmill with a friend.  There is a well known circular walk to see the bluebells here, it had been busy with visitors for the past two weeks so we waited until now.  

Above is a 2 minute video of the bluebells. 

Amongst the bluebells were wood anemone and the walk across fields to get there was equally beautiful as the rapeseed fields are in full bloom.  Some folk are allergic too this (hubby) but luckily not me!  

We have watched Care on Netflix (Sheridan Smith stars), the story of a woman whose mother is taken into care and their journey as a family.  It was very good.  Currently now watching Diplomat on Netflix. Also very good.

My current book is this one - just about to start reading.  What are you reading at the moment?

If you have time to watch my video on Youtube, I hope you will enjoy a glimpse of the bluebell woods.  These are ancient woodland.  Did you know if you step on a bluebell it takes 5 years to fully recover?  They are so precious, being replaced in some areas by Spanish bluebell and in others being lost by building and development.  Our woods are protected and treasured, we are lucky.