Tuesday

Well so much for a quiet day yesterday. Despite planning a quiet home alone type of day, I somehow became 'the person to see' and had a steady stream of visitors from mid morning through to late afternoon. In between, I fitted in a flying visit to the garden centre (didn't buy anything), made a list of everything in the freezers, scanned some documents for Lauren, ordered some goodies, and sorted through another box of stuff.

This week has to be about restocking the freezers. I've made a list and will go shopping later, after I finish teaching at 3 pm. I'm going for a slightly different approach this time. Usually, I spend a couple of days cooking non-stop but this time will cook a different meal every day and then freeze the extra portions. It'll take a bit longer to fill the freezer but shouldn't be as time consuming as my usual approach. Today I'll be having chilli so will end up with four main meal size portions, one to eat and three to freeze. I'll also make some pea and ham soup (using the soup maker), giving six lunch size portions to freeze. 

The climber in the front garden has started to flower and has put on a growth spurt with all the rain we've been having, so today or tomorrow I must give it some attention and fix it to the trellis properly. It's a Solanum lacuna 'Album', more commonly called jasmine nightshade. I'm definitely going to have to learn how to photograph white flowers properly!

The white rhododendron (Madame Masson) is also starting to flower but is looking suspiciously pink in places!

I've found the compost bin I want and have ordered it, hopefully for delivery tomorrow. I then have to decide if I want to paint it or just leave it as the natural wood. I also ordered a couple of shrubs, some bulbs and a few perennials for the garden but they won't be here until next week. I'm debating with myself on whether to do a gardening notebook/scrapbook; part of me thinks it'll be fun and useful but a bigger part of me isn't sure! 

This evening will be put to good use, finishing this month's book ready for the book group meeting next Tuesday. We went for something lighthearted this time, The Burning Man by Christopher Fowler, and I'm enjoying it so far.  I like the two main characters, find them quirky and fun, and as there are several more books featuring them I'll be looking out for others to read. As if I don't have enough books! Anyway, I'm just over half way through with another 170 pages to go so should easily get to the end tonight. I have a friend coming to stay for a couple of days so I want to get it out of the way and know it's done.