There's another raspberry Liz!

We had a busy weekend. There was an auction on Saturday, but there was nothing we could not live without, so went early. We had to dash round to a friend’s house to put up the 4 metre by 6 metre marquee for a party on Sunday. The weather was great on Saturday, really warm. We went round to an allotment and picked three punnets of raspberries for the lunch on Sunday. Liz enjoyed the taste, they were good. The party was a 70th birthday party for Melly, our friend’s, father. The party was great and we had a hog roast prepared by our neighbour’s brother, the same one who catered for Catriona and Bobby’s wedding.

Drink Liz?

The marquee is up

The weather has really perked up now and I’ve put away the snorkel and flippers and got out the braai and lawnmower. Whilst waiting for the rain to go I did wonder what responsible sourced prawns were, did they jump voluntarily into nets and responsibly harvested fruit, did that just fall into the pickers baskets, a mystery? Liz has now decided to go on diet as all she has done in the winter is eat, she is doing a weigh-less type diet, but it involves baked potatoes and baked beans, it is right up there with the cabbage diet, I am going to put up a tent for her at the bottom of the garden! I had my eye test yesterday, it is all run by people from the Asian sub continent, got away with less than £200, boy they know how to charge.

Catriona now has two cats from some cat rescue place, I wonder what they think of her fish tanks. Tristan Toyer is fairly growing and gurgling, and Louise is looking at a larger car, as she can’t fit the child seat in her Celica.

19th July, 2012

All aboard!

The engine was called Dragon. ( I said engine!)

We went to the Nene Valley Railway on Sunday, there was a steam engine show on as well and we went for a little ride on the old train into Peterborough and back. I got a discount ticket because of my advanced years, over 60! We went for the first mile or so behind a steam engine and the rest of the trip was behind a diesel locomotive. There were quite a few miniature steam engines to run on the roads, plus a couple of full size vehicles. It would appear that the major problem with the miniature engines is the soot that builds up on the driver’s face, no picture, sorry. The coaches on the train were genuine vintage, a lot of the coaches etc were from Europe and were wider gauge, I guess they won’t fall over so easily, ha, ha. They were offering free bus rides on a vintage bus to a farm that had a vintage bus show, but we had no time. We were treated to a few sights on the trip and at Ferry Meadows I wanted to get out and take pictures, but I was told by a station person to shut the door if I was not getting off, ulp! We were able to disembark at Peterborough station and take a few pictures. We had a great day and even saw an ancient Vellocette motor cycle that would have appealed  to Andrew. We also managed to get pictures of a steam train.

Some old boy at the station

Chinese takeaway

I made a lovely Chinese dinner last night, spicy lamb with Jasmine rice, mmmm tasty and expertly cooked. Chinese food is supposed to be healthy, but if eaten in the quantities we have it maybe not, still we’ll see. Sweet and sour chicken is on the menu tonight, with some stir fried veggies, that should keep us going. The lawn is crying out to be mowed again, but it may not get it’s wish, it is going to rain soon (I hope), we need the rain for my proposed rice paddy. If I am going to eat Chinese we are going to have to take up subsistence farming, how do you grow bamboo shoots and soya sauce! The cats think we are already doing that as they get to eat birds freshly caught under the bird feeder, placed within a short stroll of the back door. Sooty is a bit fed up with the wait for the right flavoured bird to fly in, she is partial to the ones with yellow feathers, although I have not seen the robins recently.

The starlings are fighting over the bird feeders next door, so the sparrows are using our feeders, Sooty is salivating and also has a crick in her neck.

Went for an eye test today, didn't managed to see anyone, I will have to go back next week, maybe I will have better luck then. ( I hope you got the pun)

13th July, 2012

Grammy's boy

We finally had a short break from the rain, so I have managed to cut the lawn and release the cat’s, I expect they will be hungry now, there weren’t any feathers when I found them in the long grass. I am thinking of selling the lawnmower, it gets so little use these days,and buying a rubber duck and fishing rod instead, I have also had a huge delivery of wood, not a good sign, it means the rain may continues a few days longer! Had a little chat with Robyn, on skype, in Korea. She seems to be settling well and says that the Koreans don’t seem to have many old cars.I gather the old cars are sent to Taiwan. They appear to drive a bit fast but no sign of any dented cars, amazingly. The scenery looked very picturesque, on her iPhone,a bit like Cape Town, she was amazed by the fact that they had fields of crops in the middle of town.

Chinese

Coming soon!

Bucketing again, and I was going to prune the hedge today, oh well.... The birds around here are thoroughly fed up and tired of hiding under the broad leafed plants. We also have a bit of washing that has been out for a few days, it is now on it’s tenth rinse cycle. The Olympic flame seems to be zig zagging across east Anglia, and rushing around to meet itself all over the show, I am surprised it is still burning with all this rain. Black pudding, eggs and crispy bacon for breakfast this morning with some fresh tomatoes. We will not be braaing today, will roast a bird instead! There was a hedgehog at the back door last night so Liz rushed out and opened a tin of sardines for it, and shoved it through the cat flap, the door was locked see. Soolee the cat thought this was for her and went flying through the flap to get it, she could not understand why Liz insisted on putting it outside, still humans do behave weirdly at times and it was a nice little treat,mmmm... The hedge hog was around again and I managed to snap a couple of pictures of it. I am going to have to tag them so that I know whether it is the same one, this looks like a new one, they do stop when you start taking their pictures, and as soon as we finish they act like Flash and are gone.got the grass cut and half the hedge, top still needs doing, when the rain stops, maybe the weekend, or maybe not! Liz is having a bake-a-thon in the kitchen, cheese scones, fudge and a lemon drizzle cake. I will just stick to the Chinese food, made a lovely Kung Po chicken with Thai jasmine rice when Louise came around, it was nice and spicy, but not too hot, everyone loved it. There are rumours of hot dry weather on the way, maybe more braais.

8th July, 2012

We finally had a short break from the rain, so I have managed to cut the lawn and release the cat’s, I expect they will be hungry now, there weren’t any feathers when I found them in the long grass. I am thinking of selling the lawnmower, it gets so little use these days, I have also had a huge delivery of wood, not a good sign, it means the rain may continues a few days longer! Had a little chat with Robyn, on skype, in Korea. She seems to be settling well and says that the Koreans don’t seem to have many old cars. They appear to drive a bit fast but no sign of any dented cars, amazingly. The scenery looked very picturesque, on her iPhone,a bit like Cape Town, she was amazed by the fact that they had fields of crops in the middle of town.

Reminder: prune hedge....

The washing will dry soon, if it stops raining

Bucketing again, and I was going to prune the hedge today, oh well.... The birds around his are thoroughly fed up and tired of hiding under the broad leafed plants. We also have a bit of washing that has been out for a few days, it is now on it’s tenth rinse cycle. The Olympic flame seems to be zig zagging across east Anglia, and rushing around to meet itself all over the show, I am surprised it is still burning with all this rain. Black pudding, eggs and crispy bacon for breakfast this morning with some fresh tomatoes. We will not be braaing today, will roast a bird instead! There was a hedgehog at the back door last night so Liz rushed out and opened a tin of sardines for it, and shoved it through the cat flap, the door was locked see. Soolee the cat thought this was for her and went flying through the flap to get it, she could not understand why Liz insisted on putting it outside, still humans do behave weirdly at times and it was a nice little treat,mmmm...

Cationa and Bobby's wedding

The wedding was on the only dry sunny and warm weekend in May. We put up two marquees, a 3 metre square jobby and a 4 x 6 metre one. There were also two porta loos, hired, plus an emergency caravan loo, to place next to them, you would have to be really desperate to use that one though. I had managed to get hedges trimmed and lawns mown before the marquees were put up. Michael and Sophie arrived on the Thursday and were a great help, Michael was in the bar sorting it out in no time. We had to pry him out to go home on Tuesday with a crow bar, we managed to put a fridge in the bar  as well. It still needs work though, but there is the mirror and even a set of optics on the wall, that Liz bought some time ago in anticipation. The wedding was to be a standing only reception with hog roast, so we managed to get seating for everyone! The cake was a collusion between Liz and Christine (Bobby’s mother). Catriona bought a lovely cake stand to hold the four tiers that were made, the stand was made of reinforced iron and concrete ( I lie, it was stainless steel and quite strong), to hold the fruit cake. Catriona’s theme was pink, naturally, with butterflies. Bobby now finds he has a mad urge to step on any butterflies or moths he now sees, I can sympathise, we are still finding scattered butterflies around. The bridesmaids looked lovely in their green outfits, I won’t describe the colour because I am sure to get it wrong. I had a a relatively easy day, no cooking, although I would not have minded, still it was nice to have someone else do it. Catriona looked lovely in her wedding gown and we even managed to squeeze her into the passenger seat of the Mustang driven by a friend of theirs. I had to sit in the back and hold tight! We laid a bit of rubber on one section of the road, just to make sure that the car had the oomph, it did! The ceremony at the church went well and the little flower girl had a ball. The wind blew the confetti around the bride and groom when it was thrown, making it look like, dare I say it, butterflies around their heads. Little Bobby was a very happy looking soul, poor bugger! Bobby is only 6ft 7inches or is it 7ft 6, don’t know, but he can reach everything on the top shelf. Liz managed to get a lovely outfit at the last minute in Peterborough, I bought a new tie in honour of the occasion, spare no expense that’s me.

Bobby and Michael discuss 'bar' matters

We, Michael, Bobby, Matt and me, went round various shops and supermarkets buying booze on Friday, we were not going to run out! We had shed loads of lager and a few ales for the others, we did have a little left over, but not a lot, we had a bunch of piss cats to cater for, I don’t know who invited them. I have had to buy booze since the wedding, the rotten devils managed to drink most of it! We managed to get all seventy odd folks in the garden and all had a merry old time, the last lot left at 11pm. The cake was easy to cut, Liz did not use her concrete blend, but bought some ready made from the Co-op. The main dish was, of course, the hog roast that went down very well, there was even a bit left, not a lot, it was finished with a bit of sweet and sour sauce the next evening.

The cake in assembly mode, one more layer to go!

The bar was run by Michael, with help from Sue and Melly. They looked positively tropical in the garden and had a ball. Cat and Robyn’s friend Helen even supplied a bit of exotic hard tack, Captain Morgan spiced rum and Malibu, that went down well. The bar was really busy the whole afternoon and evening from 3pm until 11pm and beyond. There was no one disappearing into the house either, even Granny and Lindsay enjoyed it.

Catriona passes the loos

Tristan was there too

We were able to get the marquees down while it was still dry, instead of having to wait for a week, like the last time. Oh yes, no one used the emergency loo.

Liz reads the guide

The machine an Elna

Had a busy weekend. The auction was on Saturday. We went via Holme, the back roads to Oundle, we were caught by trains for about eight minutes, luckily not like the iron ore trains in Saldanha. We had the usual fun trying to find somewhere to park the car. The auction had started when we got there, the rain stayed off, so that was a plus. There were a couple of fairly new sewing machines, Liz got quite excited.  I bought some lamps for the bedroom for very little, they are wooden so that Liz doesn’t break them when she knocks them of her bedside cabinet, the shades are made of rubber(should be), not really, they are a gold material with tassels, very nice. The sewing machines came up and I bought the first one a very nice looking Brother for a shade over £40, a bargain as they retail for over £200. There was a lot of nail biting when the next one came up and Liz had to look away when it got to £40, the auctioneer looked a bit numb too when I kept bidding, I had never spent this much at auctions there before, my previous record being only £8,when the mist etc had cleared and the dust settled I was sixty pounds odd in debt and Liz was over the moon, my washing, ironing etc is now assured for many years to come. The auctioneer nearly passed out when he knocked the machine down to me, I don’t know who was the most surprised, him or Liz. Louise had the Brother sewing machine and Liz kept the other machine, an Elna, to replace the one I bought her about thirty years ago! That’s it she will have to wait a few more years for another. After shopping we got home at four and were off out again for a braai with friends at five thirty. Sunday was quiet, Liz played with her new machine, I rewired and put plugs on the lamps, fixed a sticking door and cleaned fish tanks, watched England beat Australia, oh, and cooked some sweet and sour pork fillet with egg fried rice. Thank goodness the day was miserable and windy so we couldn’t sit outside!