A Granny's Diary - Another Week's gone by - Wednesday 5 August 2020

Oh dear another week has gone and we are now well into August.  Non-holiday holiday time is upon us and we are making the best of things !

As I write, the sky is looking decidedly grey and the trees are being tossed about by a stiff breeze.  Thankfully, there's colour in the bright green grass and the dahlias are doing their best to look cheerful.  The Grandpa-Indoors has just put a pizza into the oven so soon we shall be eating something hot and delicious, with very little washing up to do!! One is thankful for little things like that!!!

This outrageous year rumbles on with CV easings, new restrictions, new warnings and goodness knows what sort of autumn and winter lie before us.  It is a great shame for people not to be able to fly away on holiday and return, without quarantine difficulties to cope with, but surely, foreign holidays are just tricky things to do right now and, really, best avoided.

We had lunch out again today, in a local PH and yesterday, too, at the National Herb Centre, over-looking rolling hilly views beyond.  Everyone's taking advantage of the Govt.'s initiative "Eat out to help out" and jolly good too.  Let's hope it really does help our hospitality industry during August and, also beyond, into September and onwards.

Last week, 29th July, comemorated the wedding anniversary of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles in 1981, now 39 years on..  Almost forty years ago.  Half a life-time, just like that.  It is amazing how quickly time goes by.  All the changes which have taken place since then, in all our lives, probably in this year alone, equate to an equal amount of change which has been brought about in this one year alone, this Covid-19 Pandemic year of 2020.

Not just an awful year because of Covid-19 but deaths too, such as the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA, whilst under arrest, at the hands of a uniformed white police officer, sparking the "Black Lives Matter" protest, bringing worldwide unrest  in its wake.

Now, once again Beirut is in the eye of a storm, suffering the consequences of an massive port 

explosion, possibly brought about by lack of attention to detail.  Thousands injured, many killed and very many people left homeless.  What a tragedy for all concerrned.

Yet this year of 2020 is not all bad of course, for we've commemorated the 75th anniversary of D-Day on 6 June 1945.  Now on 15 August 2020, we shall be commemorating VJ Day of 1945, marking both the surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War.  Senior members of our Royal Family will be taking part in various ceremonies that Saturday and its a day for many of us to be connected to our TV sets to witness these happenings

I wonder if we will have a day of commemoration for all those lives lost to Covid-19 and the tremendous array of life changes we have, and still are, becoming accustomed to?? I do sincerely hope so.

Gardening - that blissful occupation which has so fully consummed my days this year since April -thankfully continues.  Try as hard as I may, I now fully accept, my energies will not bring about a total completion of all the ideas and schemes begun earlier this year.  There simply are not enough hours in the day to bring everything to that state of perfection I whistfully envisioned one early sunlight  morning.  It simply can't be done.  No.  But what has been created, done and executed is not to be  disregarded.  I remain fully pleased with my efforts.  Whatever has been achieved is a nod to the future, a promise of better things to come and an inherent belief in the future of mankind.  I am already excitedly thinking of all the new veggies I might want to grow next year, for it is that very growth that excites and enlivens my existance.

I am already dreaming of a picking flower garden somewhere, to complement my present planting schemes and the opportunity to grow an even wider choice of flowers.  Ah, if only.  Thank goodness, one can still daydream of future possibilities, not forgetting the fact that it would take a miracle of some great proportion, for this to come about !!!

Happy dreaming folks.

Be safe stay well............... and happy staycations !

Margaret xxx

A Granny's Diary - Wednesday 29 July - Cucurbits

Dear Friends,

I am rather consumed by courgettes right now,  This is my first successful year of growing and harvesting these useful and delicious fruit and my colllection includes sprawling and climbing plants.

Courgettes and cucumbers are members of the  cucurbit family along with squash, marrows and pumpkin and all are heavy feeders.  I am also growing marrow and a cucumber amongst our allotment veggies and Him indoors is also growing greenhouse cucumbers, which are literally, romping away.

I am baking them into cakes, sauteing in oil and butter and grating for salads and there's a host of helpful recipes and comments from others about their choice of useses.  My fruits have been rather over-sized these past two weeks but I am now determined to pick them more frequently to ensure the production of small, slimmer fruit which really are much more attractive to the eye.

Now a marrow should be bigger but not enormous, despite what He says.  A large marrow certainly provides a good vehicle for filling with a variety of savoury ingredients for baking; steaming and serving with a cheese or herby sauce and an oven-roasted marrow is delicious.  Too enormous and they become tougher, thicker skinned and dry.

I am also trialling squash this year, another first, and todate, I have one tiny fruit emerging from beneath its canopy of greenery.  My marrow hasn't put in an appearance as yet but I'm hoping for great moves on its part.

I fed my garden yesterday with comfrey feed.  This feeding should have taken place last Friday but we were out to lunch with friends instead and my garden was not visited.  Then on Saturday, planting out a last collection of dwarf and climbing beans and becoming drenched to the skin by a heavy outburst of rain, we retreated indoors for the remainder of the weekend.  There was no GP for Him to watch on Sunday but I was fully occupied with domesticity and paperwork.

On Monday, in between persistent rain, I managed to garner a small harvest of curly endive - aka frisee and escarole, also lettuce, broad beans, courgette and runner beans.  Names can be bothersome.  Endive is chicory for Brits., Endive in France and then there is Belgian Endive.  Chicory is a small, conical vegetable, grown underground to prevent greening-up and spreading out, has a slightly bitter taste and was a vegetable I used to eat with salads many years ago.  I don't buy it now, which is a puzzle.

Chicory root is ground for a coffee substitute.  Camp Coffee contained chicory essence.  This is another item I've not bought for many years.  My mother used to buy Camp Coffee regularly and I used to buy it only for particular recipe uses.  Fashion and disinclination get in the way somehow.  On the other hand, peanut butter is now a magic ingredient for my son's fav. cookies which, of course, are only very rarely baked as a great treat.  Yet many years ago, its presence in our shopping trolley was a weekly "must-buy".  Indeed, there used to be great conversational gatherings, just to dispute the different varieties and their  representative benefits or deficiencies.   The nutty variety was a "must-have".  I even used it in a chocolate-peanut-butter-fudge recipe...utterly delicious which, devotee that I was, could only consume a tiny amount at any one time !!!

Food is a great consuming fact of life.  Its production fascinating.  Its cuisine delightful and varied and its study a life-long interest of mine.

Happy eating x  Be safe stay well and don't forget to eat up your greens - they're good for you !

Margaret xxx

A Granny's Diary - Week 15 and counting - Sunday 12 July 2020

Well, hello there,

My useful gardening week's work is complete for now.   Plants staked, moved and pruned.   All major diggings done, only little clumps of earth to dig out to allow an extra vegetable plant to be inserted like beetroot, turnip or some other.  My herb seedlings are now being pricked out into the next pot size and stored in the cold frame.  I am running out of sowing space and table space and now there's a raft of new seeds for sowing.  Wallflower seeds should have been sown several weeks ago and since then, sometime in June, they should have been pricked out for their autumn growth but, as you must see,  I am rather behindhand with my garden planting.  Ah well, better late than never !!!

Its a grand life, the gardeners' routine.  There's aways something to do, something to do tomorrow, something that should have been done the day before last week and your list of things you really would like to do, if only you could make the time.

So while I was at my allotment, the world went on turning and Covid-19 is still very much with us.  Despite this, our world is opening up.  Yet all the while, little outbreaks of the virus are happening at home and also worldwide.  Scientists warn of long future days of living with the disease.  Face masks are now to be worn more often and widely too.  The days of horrified excitment of the beginning of Covid-19 are behind us now.  We are left with the contemplation of all that is to come of the disease itself,  a living-with recovery period, a new and useful vaccine and a real recovery of the world's economy; and making it possible for mankind to recover the working life, soonest.

On Friday we bade a final farewell to Dame Vera Lynn, the Forces Sweetheart, who sang her way into our hearts many years ago, during WW2, and where she will remain 'til memories have faded completely away and life is no more.  A Spirtfire Fly-Past thrilling for all family, friends and contempories able to be present in Dame Vera's home village of Ditchling.  "We'll Meet Again" is a compelling, romantic and positive force to carry us forward.  RIP Dame Vera - yours is the legend that will not be forgotten xxx

This week has been busy for happenings.  The first Test Match cricket between Team England and Team West Indies at Southampton, in a safety bubble for all players and support team, but no spectators, no saliva use for the ball and no game as known before.

Jack Charlton's death on Friday, 10 July, is announced and the sporting world mourns his loss.

The weekend is the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, begun in the summer of 1940.  The Imperial War Museum's retelling of the story of this major air campaign will be exciting and thrilling and Duxford is a brilliant venue to visit.  We enjoyed an Air Show there a few years ao and toasted our presence with gin and tonic and a super picnic.  I do hope you were there to enjoy the spectacle

. 

Foreign travel became possible for some on Friday.  The Styrian GP began on Friday with a first practise session on Friday, ending today, Sunday, with a good win for my fav. racing man, Lewis 

Hamilton.

Today's news of this year's Spring being the sunniest is memorable, for we all enjoyed its sunny days, while in lockdown but the weekend's CV death total for England of 44,650 is almost unbearable.  When will a vaccine be available for this horrendouos disease ??

To end on a happier note, the Watercress Line  out of Arlesford, Hampshire, has opened again this weekend,bringing much happiness to weekend train travellers.  We loved the experience of this special train  many years ago and the memory lingers on.

Well, its Monday tomorrow.  Back to sourdough bread making, my rhubarb shrub, housework and gardening...and we have another Sainsbury's food order to  welcome early tmrw. morning!!

Hey, hey world.  Goodnight, sleep well and enjoy the week ahead.

Margaret xxx

A Granny's Diary - 104 Days and Counting

Hello again.  I do hope everyone's well and staying safe..and keeping warm.  There have been a few cold mornings and nights recently but, oddly enough, humid days too.

I've noticed over the last few years, warm May days have resulted in cooler days in July and so it is happening again, now.  Just when we need good regular sunshine to encourage great harvests for home eating, the weather fails us and our earlier tan almost turns to rust.

A few notable dates fror this week - 1st July was the anniversary of the birthday of Princess Diana.  Also, on this day, the 23rd anniversary of Britsh Govt. Handback of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997.   For Australia, at midnight on 1st July, Lockdown for the State of Victoria, for 36 suburbs, due to a rise of Covid-19 cases.

The  world's gone mad and only time will tell how everything-for-everyone will pan  out.

I've been gardening practically every day, madly digging a flower bed to create space for more veg. seedlings, of kale, turnips, chard, dwarf borlotti beans, parsley, dill and Fr. marigolds.  Its all very pleasing when done but jolly constant work making it happen.

Today, I've begun creating garlic water and chilli pepper sprays for pesky garden bugs, to avoid using chemical sprays, and hoping to put these into use, once I have the soft soap component.  This is the Castile soft soap entity of a veg. based product, free of any animal fats and synthetic ingredients.  Soft soap is wonderful and may be used for many household and personal usage, for pets and for garden sprays, and it is the original soap made in the Mediterranean area when it was made with olive oil.  Now it can be made with hemp, coconut, almond, walnut or castor oil. It has a very high PH rating of 8.9.

Talk of Hong Kong reminds me of a two-day stop-over there on my way home from Australia.  It was a most marvellous visit and very excting.

Its the Austrian GP this weekend with a feast of TV commitment, so Himself will not be with me today

at our allotment, which means I can get on and do all the things I need to do !!  High winds, windier conditions, showers and sunshine are all possible today so I shall not be bored but kept on my toes, trying to do all that's needed.  And of course, you simply never manage to achieve all you think to do !  I mean, its just too much and time runs away with you, but its great fun trying!

Another anniversary for us to note and celebrate today, is the 72nd birthday anniversary of the NHS, our wonderful health service which began in 1948, a year after my birth.  How difficult life must have been for so very many people before its conception and roll-out, simply cannot be imagined now.  We baby boomer generation must surely be very thankful and tonight we shall all be outside our homes, joining our neighbours in the anniversary thank you clap for our marvellous National Health Service.  

And of course, I must  also mention 4th July Independence Day anniversary for our American cousins and while celebrations must surely be subdued in this crazy Covid-19 year of 2020, I hope families manage to get some sense of togetherness for their special season.

I'm looking forward to a family Zoom call and then to singing happy birthday to a fourth grandchild .

Be safe stay well,

Margaret  xxx

A Granny's Diary - Week 13 - at the Allotment

Yesterday I planted a second batch of white climbing beans.  We now have three different bean types - runner, French and my white climbing bean and these are good for winter drying, for use as a white haricot bean.  So its great for addinng to stews and casseroles and many types of other European dishes.

Now just last week our home printer stopped working for some reason.  It may have been a problem with the ink, with the cassettes simply not being accepted but, whatever the problem, the result is that now I cannot print off all the docs I need for future use...this is very  irritating.  We may need to buy a new printer .....so annoying......which is something we really do not want to do just now.  No spare fiunds for new toys now !!!

So my beans need to be dried at some point this summer and I needed to update my "how to" guide and now I can't print off the details,s o they've been saved to my Desktop.  This is a problem because this place becomes very choked with all the saved items !!

A Granny's Diary - 13th Week of Lockdown - Saturday 27 June 2020

Our week began with a minor domestic catastrophe...our 'fridge-freezer went into melt-down.  Water pouring out of the escape exit at the base of the freezer and obviously, there was a blockage somewhere.   This had happened in a small way before but now, it was a positive torrent, which we dealt with by complete removal of food items and drawers, doing our best to clear out the outlet exit and the channel going down from the back wall draining section.  So that was that.  All done and freezer cleaned and turned on again for food items to be returned.  Come Saturday morning, the flood was upon us again and further investigations took place, just as we were looking forward to visiting our allotment.  Bother !  This time, the Grandpa deconstructs the base area of the freezer and discovers a further blockage and an enormous amount of ice around internal workings...thus our leakage was still ongoing.  This time we cleared away the blocking and the ice and finally, our freezer was repaired, returned to order and His work done.

It's been a very hot week and gardening has been a trifle exhausting.  More precisely, the digging out of plants in my secret garden has, definitely, been hampered by the great heat of Wednesday and Thursday.  It's a chore which up to now I've simply avoided or allowed Him to do, but do you know, I've discovered an odd thing.  Digging, like changing things around, is positively liberating, allowing one to create a new, even enhanced vision for any space, be it your sitting-room, kitchen, or garden room/garden.  An area you make your own becomes so special, so linked to your every-day self and good opinion of yourself, you feel empassioned and energised to making that space attractive in every way possible.  Its condition confirms your status and personality, reflects the ideals you hold and cherish and keeps you going forward, positively.

I believe the best hopes for humanity to go forward with, during this present difficult time, and for the new normality to be created one day, will come from today.  Our present difficulties are opening up avenues of  activity and real pauses in time, for reflection.  Nature is clearly benefitting from our being in lockdown.  The atmosphere is cleaner as we've been locked into our homes and gardens and kept from polluting our countryside.  Our green, open spaces are full of nature, less choked by noxious substances, more welcoming of all nature.

We were unaware of Covid-19 before it began, suddenly, last December 2019.  We were shocked into disbelief that such a pandemic could begin, just like that.  However, it did.  We have since recovered some sense of ourselves.  We have accepted new rules for living and now are moving forward into a less stringent normality, a new reality yet still cautioned into watchfulness, daily mindfulness and awareness of the ongoing restraints which beset us still.

Talking to my Grandmotherly friends, the one constant is the thought that what we learn today, from our surroundings and self-awareness of today, will influence how we live tomorrow.  How we dig our way out of today and  transplant ourselves into the new normality of tomorrow, can link us to what  many of us are doing right now...gardening and growing. Our gardens and green spaces are positively helping humanity to survive and grow.

Let's hope that the great benefit of these gardening days will carry us forward to a healthier new normality, sometime soon.

In the meantime, our family has grown with the birth of a new darling baby boy.  I have carried on with my sourdough experiment,  completed my elderflower champagne and enjoyed a friend's bounty of a gift  of allotment gooseberries - I made gooseberry crumble; while another allotment neighbour has given me a clutch of verbena bonariensis seedlings.  I am most fortunate.

As I write, grey skies and cool air dominates. We will go to the allotment again and see what the rain has done for our beseiged plants and vegetables.  Will it rain again today or  will I undertake more digging this evening, we'll see ! Actually, I must at some point this weekend, for my squash plants, kale, turnips and chard need a rejuvenated soil to to go into and we shall need a new supply of homegrown vegetables to get us thru'!  At  any rate, spending time in my garden is teaching me a thing or two about  the whole growing process and that can only be a positive outcome for me and my sometime future.

Margaret xxx

ps I've begun a  pip trial for growing a lemon tree .. I wonder if my pips will germinate ? Gardeners' World with Monty Don last night included a viewers film showing how pips are able to develop and,as I'm already experimenting with avocado pits, have grown leek ends and am still now growing broad beans in jam jars for my grandchildren, three of which are already in pots of compost, doing well I just thought I should have a go !!

A Granny's Diary - 12th Week of Lockdown

Here we are, still in Lockdown yet with some easings happening right now.  Good or scary ??  Well, I guess that all depends on your perspective on our ongoing situation this week.

Well, we're still self-isolating, just going to our allotment for exercise and gardening, which is absolutely super.  And like a great many other Grannies, I've been keeping myself busy, making the best of this dreadful time.  Keeping up-to-date with the PM's daily CV news relay, keeping the house tidy, being in touch with family and friends, exercising and having a regular timetable of activities - just to keep me sane.   Not climbing the walls or murdering the Grandpa, sharing my lockdown days and, actually, quite enjoying the time, just being myself and doing all the little things which make life interesting.  Fully realising that I am in a most fortunate place right now; self-isolating with a houseful of craft/hobby activities, an online presence, my WI activities and interests and my allotment for exercise and home-grown food.  Also, having a regular Sainsbury's shopping event to look forward to, which is fabulous; the biggest chore of the week deciding what we need and, for Him, deciphering my sguiggly writing !

Making ready for the delivery is quite another chore.  Gloves on, fill sink with warm water and Fairy Liquid, fresh  dishcloth to hand.  Cover dining room table with mats, tea towels for cleaned items, and printed list + pen.  He brings shopping in; I unpack and wipe-down each item then put on table for checking; throw away emptied shopping bag.  Each bag of shopping items wiped down, checked-off, into kitchen for storage with frozen items first, followed by dairy, veggies, dry goods, bathroom then household items.  All emptied shoppers thrown away, dish cloth to laundry basket, gloves washed and sink emptied.

From this week's shop, my regular jar of marmalade was missing - horror attack - no breakfast marmalade -  that just cannot be.  My solution.  Make a batch myself. We have a few lemons, some oranges and I manage to buy a few limes and lemons from our local PH pop-up shop.  And, we made a visit to a local food shop for extra sugar, wearing gloves and mask of course. So yesterday, I made a small batch of three-fruit marmalade and a huge pot of lettuce soup, with my home-grown mixed leaves salad item, from the allotment, on which we dined last night.  This morning for breakfast, my own marmalade on homemade Sourdough San Fran bread - just how glorious is that ??

From Baby-Boomer to Lockdown self-isolating '70's generation - me a most fortunate member of this particular age-group, and very thankful to be so.  Not financially over-provisioned yet well-supplied with a life-time's collection of bits and pieces to help me thru'. these difficult days, and  hopefully, well-beyond to the "new normality" whenever that begins !!

Stop-press - News this morning - 9.42 am  Today, Thursday 18th June - Dame Vera Lynn the "Forces Sweetheart" has just died, aged 103 - which news must surely sadden our entire Nation.  My sincerest condolences to Dame Vera's family xxx

News also today - 18 June 2020 -  80th Anniversary of President Charles DeGaulle's famous BBC Broadcast to rally his fellow-countrymen, urging them to resist the Nazi invasion, which had happened four days earlier.  80th Anniversary of French Resistance of WW2 today.

Margaret xxx