After having to pull out of the Windsor Half Marathon despite doing the training I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for another half marathon asap in order to keep my momentum going.
But the nights are drawing in, the weather is getting a bit wet and the excuses start to pile up. Do I want to go out for a run? It's so wet/dark/murky/cold/all of the above. Why don't I just stay indoors in the warm and curl up with a magazine/book/hot chocolate/chocolate/cake/all of the above (!!)?
The solution? Sign up for a half marathon where the dirt etc. is half the fun. And so, training began today for the Dirt Half Marathon in Leighton Buzzard at the end of November. I have my place, I have paid. I've checked the elevation of the course (slight hill between miles 6 and 8) and now all the reasons that were keeping me for running are reasons to be out. I have to train when it is horrid weather in order to be fully prepared for what is ahead.
I might yet regret this, but there is nothing quite like the buzz of coming in from a long wet cold run, so then again it might be just the boost that I need to keep the training up over the winter months.
Dirt Half Marathon
Monday, 11 October 2010
Sunday, 10 October 2010
An ode to unwritten blog posts...
I realise that this title suggests that I might be about to write poetry - sorry, I'm afraid that I'm not. Given that my main thesis here is that sometimes time is against you I definitely don't have the time, or the creative inclination, to manage to make this scan or rhyme. Sorry. :)
However, this blog post is dedicated to all the blog posts that never quite get written. Whether you think of something and forget to scribble it down. Or write a title and never get round to filling out the body of the text. Or save a draft of something that just doesn't sound right and delete it. Or lose your train of thought half way through a sentence. Or for the mothers who blog you start to type and then... well, either they are in something they shouldn't be or they wake up!
So next time you think of something to blog and don't quite manage to post it, fear not. Remember that the times you do will mean even more as they shine with the creativity of all the others that could have been...
However, this blog post is dedicated to all the blog posts that never quite get written. Whether you think of something and forget to scribble it down. Or write a title and never get round to filling out the body of the text. Or save a draft of something that just doesn't sound right and delete it. Or lose your train of thought half way through a sentence. Or for the mothers who blog you start to type and then... well, either they are in something they shouldn't be or they wake up!
So next time you think of something to blog and don't quite manage to post it, fear not. Remember that the times you do will mean even more as they shine with the creativity of all the others that could have been...
Thursday, 16 September 2010
The perfect breakfast...
slice and eat to toast on your own table in a Dualit and Monmouth
coffee... This is breakfast heaven!
Friday, 27 August 2010
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Things lost that can't be found...
Today I'm at my Grandmother's house waiting. Just waiting for people to call, waiting for my son to finish his long afternoon nap, waiting to be able to go home and get dinner on. Just waiting.
I'm in my Grandfather's study. When I first set up Making Do and Mending last year the 'Mending' referred to the fact that I lost both my Grandfathers last year in the space of just four weeks. As my Mum said later in the year, 2010 owed us a good one, because 2009 was just about people dying. So now I'm doing my waiting while sitting in the place where my Grandpop did his filng, typing, thinking and writing.
When my Grandmother is gone I know that this house will be gone too, but I am sitting here wishing that we could keep this room to visit whenever we liked. There is so much of my Grandpop here. Literally, he had so much filing! But also, it is just so amazing what he kept in here, and what he kept. I've just found a little magnet stuck to the side of his filing cabinet that gives his name and what it means. I have no idea who gave it to him but I know that he must have kept it because it meant something to him, like the little cartoon that someone drew him to thank him for monitoring a conference, or the pictures of the family, or his little address books and a neat drawer of his pocket diaries going back decades.
Last week I looked after my Grandmother for the day and I went to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy. Seeing my Grandmother's name on the prescription they asked me how my Grandfather was and I had to tell them that he passed away. The pharmacist said that he had always been coming in and that she was only commenting to another member of staff this week how they hadn't seen him in a long while. I was really taken aback. I knew that he regularly went to the high street, did all his shopping there at the same shops every week, but it had never occured to me that anyone else had noticed, or that he had spoken to people or made an impact on their lives. It made me smile, so like my Grandpop, and then miss him terribly.
My Mum says that people stay alive in our memories. I hope that I have stories to tell my son about Grandpop so that even if I can't sit in this room or touch any of these things any more I can still feel him close like I do today.
I'm in my Grandfather's study. When I first set up Making Do and Mending last year the 'Mending' referred to the fact that I lost both my Grandfathers last year in the space of just four weeks. As my Mum said later in the year, 2010 owed us a good one, because 2009 was just about people dying. So now I'm doing my waiting while sitting in the place where my Grandpop did his filng, typing, thinking and writing.
When my Grandmother is gone I know that this house will be gone too, but I am sitting here wishing that we could keep this room to visit whenever we liked. There is so much of my Grandpop here. Literally, he had so much filing! But also, it is just so amazing what he kept in here, and what he kept. I've just found a little magnet stuck to the side of his filing cabinet that gives his name and what it means. I have no idea who gave it to him but I know that he must have kept it because it meant something to him, like the little cartoon that someone drew him to thank him for monitoring a conference, or the pictures of the family, or his little address books and a neat drawer of his pocket diaries going back decades.
Last week I looked after my Grandmother for the day and I went to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy. Seeing my Grandmother's name on the prescription they asked me how my Grandfather was and I had to tell them that he passed away. The pharmacist said that he had always been coming in and that she was only commenting to another member of staff this week how they hadn't seen him in a long while. I was really taken aback. I knew that he regularly went to the high street, did all his shopping there at the same shops every week, but it had never occured to me that anyone else had noticed, or that he had spoken to people or made an impact on their lives. It made me smile, so like my Grandpop, and then miss him terribly.
My Mum says that people stay alive in our memories. I hope that I have stories to tell my son about Grandpop so that even if I can't sit in this room or touch any of these things any more I can still feel him close like I do today.
Sunday, 1 August 2010
If you get lemons... or courgettes...
One of the things that I can't get my head around my life is that I don't have a garden. I would love a garden. I'd be out there everyday. I would open my back door and stand nursing a cup of coffee looking out at the world to start my day. I don't mind what is out there in the garden, a bit of lawn, a bit of dirt, a nice patio, slabs of concrete, I wouldn't care, I would just be out there enjoying a bit of the outdoors that is all my own.
I would have a chiminea, a small table and chairs so that I could sit out for longer during the year, not just in the summer.
But more than anything I would grow vegetables and herbs. I know that you might have worked out by now that I already do this, but I mean that I would really do this. I'd dig up the lawn if I had to in order to have an allotment space that matched my ambitions. I'd grow vast quantities of everything that I grow at the moment - rows of tomatoes, courgettes, potatoes (OK, I've kind of done that this year but mainly because last year's pots came back to haunt me!), onions, garlic - of all varieties and store them in cans, jars, the freezer, as jam, as chutney, to keep us in local tasty produce all year round...
But alas this is not meant to be. My balcony herb garden, with a few trays of lettuce, does give us mint tea, rosemary, thyme and taragon on a regular basis and our courgettes are coming on a treat but it isn't the same.
However, I've found a solution - the local farmers market. Today I bought broad beans (mine got eaten by black fly last year, so I didn't even try again this year), peas, marrow and courgettes (fabulous ones in yellow and green shaped like gourds, not just the common green ones we are growing) and came home to cook up a storm. Shelling peas and beans while the babe chewed on pods and threw around a few fresh peas and roasting courgettes for a local ratatouille made me feel the satisfaction I get when I'm cooking my own produce. And before you think 'yes, but what did this all cost', well I got around 500g of peas for just £3, fresh from a farm in Kent, marrow for 80p, five weird shaped courgettes for £1 and two bags of broad beans for just £2. Everything was fresh, local and in season so it was all going for a song.
Delicious food from not so far away for not so much, now that is a dream I can get on board with until my garden dream becomes a reality.
http://www.lfm.org.uk/
I would have a chiminea, a small table and chairs so that I could sit out for longer during the year, not just in the summer.
But more than anything I would grow vegetables and herbs. I know that you might have worked out by now that I already do this, but I mean that I would really do this. I'd dig up the lawn if I had to in order to have an allotment space that matched my ambitions. I'd grow vast quantities of everything that I grow at the moment - rows of tomatoes, courgettes, potatoes (OK, I've kind of done that this year but mainly because last year's pots came back to haunt me!), onions, garlic - of all varieties and store them in cans, jars, the freezer, as jam, as chutney, to keep us in local tasty produce all year round...
But alas this is not meant to be. My balcony herb garden, with a few trays of lettuce, does give us mint tea, rosemary, thyme and taragon on a regular basis and our courgettes are coming on a treat but it isn't the same.
However, I've found a solution - the local farmers market. Today I bought broad beans (mine got eaten by black fly last year, so I didn't even try again this year), peas, marrow and courgettes (fabulous ones in yellow and green shaped like gourds, not just the common green ones we are growing) and came home to cook up a storm. Shelling peas and beans while the babe chewed on pods and threw around a few fresh peas and roasting courgettes for a local ratatouille made me feel the satisfaction I get when I'm cooking my own produce. And before you think 'yes, but what did this all cost', well I got around 500g of peas for just £3, fresh from a farm in Kent, marrow for 80p, five weird shaped courgettes for £1 and two bags of broad beans for just £2. Everything was fresh, local and in season so it was all going for a song.
Delicious food from not so far away for not so much, now that is a dream I can get on board with until my garden dream becomes a reality.
http://www.lfm.org.uk/
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Working 9-5, or maybe not...
It is tough enough at the best of times to decide what you want to do in life. Whilst it is true that trying make decisions about your life at 16 when you are choosing A level subjects is hard, I'm not sure it really gets any easier the older that you get. These days I feel like there are so many things that I could be doing, and so many cool jobs around that trying to think about sensible things like career progression is tying myself down to only one option.
Looking at work through the lens of motherhood makes things even stranger. I don't think I could love my new job as a Mum much more, and I know that I am very lucky to feel that way about it. But it does also cast a shadow on my work life up to now and where that might go next.
Unhelpfully I seem to be surrounded by people (note: mainly childless people) referring to my maternity leave as a 'holiday'. My best friend calls it my 'baby holiday' and is constantly moaning that I'm off doing baby yoga, coffee mornings, nursery drop ins and afternoons in the park while she is at her desk. I've tried to gently explain that yes, it is fun doing all these things, but my new job has very crazy hours (24/7) compared to my last and there are a lot more baby sick/nappy/washing/random screaming incidents involved than any other job I've ever done. But for overall job satisfaction, motherhood gives me more than anything else ever has.
And so now I look at my job and wonder, do I want to go back? On the most basic level the idea of doing something so structured, 9-5, meetings, overtime, spreadsheets, more meetings, just seems a million miles away from how things are now. I imagine motherhood on those terms - turning up at my 'desk'/the cot at a certain time each morning, meetings to discuss just how much dribble one child can get all over their clothes, overtime needed in order to make a few more quick meals to freeze ahead - and it makes me laugh.
In addition to all of this there is an extra element which I realise is totally personal to me when thinking about what I want to do - I don't really like the job that I would go back to. I'm passionate about what I do, I work hard at it and it makes me proud to be part of the team that I work with, but deep down it doesn't suit me. I wish that it did, but in reality having some distance from it could be just the push I need in a different direction.
And so my thoughts turn to what direction that might be. Again I am filled with excitement at all the options out there, all the things I've thought about trying, all the jobs that I come into contact with every day I think 'I could do that', 'I'd love to do that', 'What a cool job' and my mind starts whirring with plans, thoughts, ideas.
But this time I know that it needs to be worth it. And I know that I might decide that no job is worth it. Time that I invest in work is time that I invest away from my child and I'm acutely aware that I no longer want to fritter my work life away, wasting time I could be spending at my new job, watching my little one grow up a little more everyday. But at the same time I want him to look at me and his Dad and see that we do good jobs, that we work hard, that we love what we do, and I feel a responsibility to set an example in a way that I never did before.
I keep coming back to the fact that I would like to do something creative, crafty, a little cottage industry that I could fit in around motherhood. I don't hanker for the office, for a space outside my home where I don't have to be a Mum, but I do want to have a little space for myself and something to call my own.
Looking at work through the lens of motherhood makes things even stranger. I don't think I could love my new job as a Mum much more, and I know that I am very lucky to feel that way about it. But it does also cast a shadow on my work life up to now and where that might go next.
Unhelpfully I seem to be surrounded by people (note: mainly childless people) referring to my maternity leave as a 'holiday'. My best friend calls it my 'baby holiday' and is constantly moaning that I'm off doing baby yoga, coffee mornings, nursery drop ins and afternoons in the park while she is at her desk. I've tried to gently explain that yes, it is fun doing all these things, but my new job has very crazy hours (24/7) compared to my last and there are a lot more baby sick/nappy/washing/random screaming incidents involved than any other job I've ever done. But for overall job satisfaction, motherhood gives me more than anything else ever has.
And so now I look at my job and wonder, do I want to go back? On the most basic level the idea of doing something so structured, 9-5, meetings, overtime, spreadsheets, more meetings, just seems a million miles away from how things are now. I imagine motherhood on those terms - turning up at my 'desk'/the cot at a certain time each morning, meetings to discuss just how much dribble one child can get all over their clothes, overtime needed in order to make a few more quick meals to freeze ahead - and it makes me laugh.
In addition to all of this there is an extra element which I realise is totally personal to me when thinking about what I want to do - I don't really like the job that I would go back to. I'm passionate about what I do, I work hard at it and it makes me proud to be part of the team that I work with, but deep down it doesn't suit me. I wish that it did, but in reality having some distance from it could be just the push I need in a different direction.
And so my thoughts turn to what direction that might be. Again I am filled with excitement at all the options out there, all the things I've thought about trying, all the jobs that I come into contact with every day I think 'I could do that', 'I'd love to do that', 'What a cool job' and my mind starts whirring with plans, thoughts, ideas.
But this time I know that it needs to be worth it. And I know that I might decide that no job is worth it. Time that I invest in work is time that I invest away from my child and I'm acutely aware that I no longer want to fritter my work life away, wasting time I could be spending at my new job, watching my little one grow up a little more everyday. But at the same time I want him to look at me and his Dad and see that we do good jobs, that we work hard, that we love what we do, and I feel a responsibility to set an example in a way that I never did before.
I keep coming back to the fact that I would like to do something creative, crafty, a little cottage industry that I could fit in around motherhood. I don't hanker for the office, for a space outside my home where I don't have to be a Mum, but I do want to have a little space for myself and something to call my own.
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Bliss Buggy Push 5km - done!
And so I've survived my first 5km since the babe arrived.
It was a lovely day out with the Buggyfit girls - we came, we saw, we conquered. We were also the only eight people running out of around 50 so arguably we also stuck out like sore thumbs! But it was fun to be out and about and all for a good cause.
Alas I did not put in my best performance. My usual trick for events such as these of turning up with plenty of time, paying no attention to the ever increasing sunshine, add in the fact I was paying no attention to my child and once we got off on the course it all went a bit wrong. But only a bit.
Having eaten a hearty breakfast as I left I then didn't snack, so half way round had to stuff down a banana and drink my water quickly. That was fine but then the little un decided he was hungry and grouchy and didn't want to be in his pushchair any more, not matter how fast the scenery was whizzing by. (Not that fast as it happens, I'm really not the fastest runner out there by any means.) So we walked for a little while, and then had to walk again at the end. So we ended with a little walk across the finish line, me holding the babe as we went under the barrier.
Afterwards there was time to picnic and savour our success. And our rewards - a top goodie bag was given out to all runners with loads of goodies in it, perfect for some snacks on the way home.
So first step done. Next step - well some more training I guess as the half marathon is drawing ever nearer...
It was a lovely day out with the Buggyfit girls - we came, we saw, we conquered. We were also the only eight people running out of around 50 so arguably we also stuck out like sore thumbs! But it was fun to be out and about and all for a good cause.
Alas I did not put in my best performance. My usual trick for events such as these of turning up with plenty of time, paying no attention to the ever increasing sunshine, add in the fact I was paying no attention to my child and once we got off on the course it all went a bit wrong. But only a bit.
Having eaten a hearty breakfast as I left I then didn't snack, so half way round had to stuff down a banana and drink my water quickly. That was fine but then the little un decided he was hungry and grouchy and didn't want to be in his pushchair any more, not matter how fast the scenery was whizzing by. (Not that fast as it happens, I'm really not the fastest runner out there by any means.) So we walked for a little while, and then had to walk again at the end. So we ended with a little walk across the finish line, me holding the babe as we went under the barrier.
Afterwards there was time to picnic and savour our success. And our rewards - a top goodie bag was given out to all runners with loads of goodies in it, perfect for some snacks on the way home.
So first step done. Next step - well some more training I guess as the half marathon is drawing ever nearer...
First Secret Post Club...
What a wonderful month it has been for post!First I am kicking off my jewellery making by getting in some new supplies and making a whole new range to launch asap. This has meant many happy hours scouring eBay for bits and bobs, finding new craft shops nearby and generally getting back into a more creative state of mind. Most days something is arriving, from small packs of beads or buttons to squishy jiffy bags full of thread.
And then in the midst of it all I got my first parcel from the Secret Post Club. A lovely goodie (jiffy) bag full of delights. I'm so pleased with it, a good book to curl up with and a little notebook to put down all my best lists/thoughts/etc.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Bliss Buggy Push - one step closer to Windsor...
The challenge is set - well that's not true really. I'm running 5km on July 17th for Bliss at their Buggy Push in Kensington Gardens. But alas I only wish that were the challenge.
My friend Helen has signed us up for the Windsor Half Marathon at the end of September. Between us we are carrying a knee injury (her) and a post-natal out of shape woman (me) but Helen feels that she and half marathons have unfinished business.
It all started two summers ago when Helen decided that she wanted me to 'teach her how to run'. I resisted the temptation to tell her - put on your trainers and get out there - but she clearly thought I had a secret formula, so we started to go running.
My friend Helen has signed us up for the Windsor Half Marathon at the end of September. Between us we are carrying a knee injury (her) and a post-natal out of shape woman (me) but Helen feels that she and half marathons have unfinished business.
It all started two summers ago when Helen decided that she wanted me to 'teach her how to run'. I resisted the temptation to tell her - put on your trainers and get out there - but she clearly thought I had a secret formula, so we started to go running.
This whole situation was my own doing. I drummed into her from the start that a 10km run was easily achieveable and by the end of the summer we should do one of the Run10k series for Cancer Research UK.
But it all backfired. Helen swiftly realised that 10km was easily achieveable, so really why stop there. Let's do something really crazy and do a half marathon! So at the end of March last year we ran the Reading Half Marathon together and Helen bust her knee. It was also the last exercise I did before I became pregnant (literally, I must have conceived while I was having a break after the run and from that moment on was far too tired to run anywhere!).
So now we are both back in the game and Helen is determined that Windsor will be our true glory run, everything that Reading couldn't be as after 8 miles she was limping. I would like to point out that even so we made it round in 2 hours and 18 mins, so I keep telling her she really has nothing to prove. But she won't listen...
So anyway that gets us back to where we started - the Bliss Buggy Push. Me, and a team of other Buggy Fit Mums throw ourselves around their 5km course for a great cause. And for me the first race in my steps towards the Windsor Half Marathon.
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
The Thrill of the Harvest
At last our first big harvest from the garden is in.
We've been nibbling on the odd lettuce, plucking a few baby spinach leaves to bulk out a salad and snapping off a rogue ripe pea pod but now we have full containers.
The dramatic rise in temperature made our lettuces in the greenhouse bolt and so Sunday I pulled up the remaining half a dozen for immediate consumption. Unfortunately the next lot are not quite ready to be planted out, so my continuous sewing falls at the first hurdle and we'll be without lettuce for a few weeks, but by the time we've finished this lot I'm sure we'll be glad of the break.
Out in the patch the spinach also bolted so I pulled up the lot and picked off the baby leaves to add to the salad pile.
Our peas, flushed with the success of producing one pod, have now produced half a dozen and I think a tablespoon of peas could make a tasty sidedish or delightful starter one night this week. To be honest the peas were hand-me-down plants from my Aunt and once my boyfriend knew they were looking for a home I had to plant them out. He won't let anything go to waste, to him thinning veg is tantamount to murder and I've taken to quietly letting excess seedlings wither without water so that I'm not see to be actively taking part in their demise.
In the fruit cage we have had our best win of the year so far, and I think it will take a lot to top it. Our strawberries (I say ours, they've been there for many years before we came along tended by my Grandmother) have been sheltered from marauders and we can finally say that we have grown and harvested strawberries in Wimbledon week - our family's true indicator of strawberry growing greatness.
As well as these the redcurrants are out and we enjoyed a fresh soft fruit salad for dessert on Sunday night. Redcurrants, strawberries and blackcurrants - sweet and delicious paired delicately with yoghurt. It's the kind of dessert that makes you realise why you grow fruit/veg in the first place, fresh, tasty and worth every moment of the labour you put in.
We've been nibbling on the odd lettuce, plucking a few baby spinach leaves to bulk out a salad and snapping off a rogue ripe pea pod but now we have full containers.
The dramatic rise in temperature made our lettuces in the greenhouse bolt and so Sunday I pulled up the remaining half a dozen for immediate consumption. Unfortunately the next lot are not quite ready to be planted out, so my continuous sewing falls at the first hurdle and we'll be without lettuce for a few weeks, but by the time we've finished this lot I'm sure we'll be glad of the break.
Out in the patch the spinach also bolted so I pulled up the lot and picked off the baby leaves to add to the salad pile.
Our peas, flushed with the success of producing one pod, have now produced half a dozen and I think a tablespoon of peas could make a tasty sidedish or delightful starter one night this week. To be honest the peas were hand-me-down plants from my Aunt and once my boyfriend knew they were looking for a home I had to plant them out. He won't let anything go to waste, to him thinning veg is tantamount to murder and I've taken to quietly letting excess seedlings wither without water so that I'm not see to be actively taking part in their demise.
In the fruit cage we have had our best win of the year so far, and I think it will take a lot to top it. Our strawberries (I say ours, they've been there for many years before we came along tended by my Grandmother) have been sheltered from marauders and we can finally say that we have grown and harvested strawberries in Wimbledon week - our family's true indicator of strawberry growing greatness.
As well as these the redcurrants are out and we enjoyed a fresh soft fruit salad for dessert on Sunday night. Redcurrants, strawberries and blackcurrants - sweet and delicious paired delicately with yoghurt. It's the kind of dessert that makes you realise why you grow fruit/veg in the first place, fresh, tasty and worth every moment of the labour you put in.
The Secret Post Club - my new blogging inspiration...
So it is my first Secret Post Club ever. The draw has been done and now it is up to me to make a package for someone and hope that they like it...
I'm not going to blog about making the package or what I was thinking of putting into it, I wouldn't want anyone to see the blog and then realise that it is them that is getting the package, how dreadful would it be to spoil the surprise.
Instead I thought I would write about one thing that has been bugging me for a few days - being a blogger.
In order to be part of Secret Post Club I need to be a blogger. I've been trying to keep a semi-regular blog for over a year now and it is clear from my list of posts that I've not really managed that. But now I need to be a blogger to take part in this wonderful idea, so the fact that I even have a blog means that I can play with the lovely people, and yet I don't think of myself as a blogger and because I don't blog that much it paralyses me and I don't blog more.
How ridiculous is that? If I want to have a blog about little things that I like and my life, well the only way to do that is to... er... write the damn blog!!
So now Secret Post Club is my new blogging inspiration. Keeping me on the blogging straight and narrow. I need to think about what I'm going to fill my first package full of and then make a pact to also think about what I want to blog about and be a bit more like the old Nike ad - just do it!
I'm not going to blog about making the package or what I was thinking of putting into it, I wouldn't want anyone to see the blog and then realise that it is them that is getting the package, how dreadful would it be to spoil the surprise.
Instead I thought I would write about one thing that has been bugging me for a few days - being a blogger.
In order to be part of Secret Post Club I need to be a blogger. I've been trying to keep a semi-regular blog for over a year now and it is clear from my list of posts that I've not really managed that. But now I need to be a blogger to take part in this wonderful idea, so the fact that I even have a blog means that I can play with the lovely people, and yet I don't think of myself as a blogger and because I don't blog that much it paralyses me and I don't blog more.
How ridiculous is that? If I want to have a blog about little things that I like and my life, well the only way to do that is to... er... write the damn blog!!
So now Secret Post Club is my new blogging inspiration. Keeping me on the blogging straight and narrow. I need to think about what I'm going to fill my first package full of and then make a pact to also think about what I want to blog about and be a bit more like the old Nike ad - just do it!
Friday, 18 June 2010
This year's gardening...
This year is year two of our garden at my Grandmother's house and already I'm thinking about our home grown vegetables night and day.
After last year the one thing that I have learnt is most important is that we need to be there regularly. The more we are there the more we can do, the more we can monitor and the more that we can get from our kitchen garden.
Also on this year's target list is take our own balcony in hand. Last year we managed to do some great growing at my Grandmother's but to the detriment of growing anything on our own balcony a mere arm's length from our kitchen. This year, despite having had a baby at the start of the year, I am much more disciplined about just opening the window and climbing out to spend 5-10 mins watering and tending to the balcony garden most days. Already the balcony is flourishing with herbs, two types of mint (already harvested for a delicious mint tea), potatoes and our little apple tree, this year covered in apples.
At my Grandmother's things are progressing well, but I can't help still being overcome by the amount of stuff there is to do all the time and the fact that I'd love to be there more often doing as much as I can. The babe does try his best to join us but really it is the one activity for which he is far too small, all my efforts to try and garden whilst entertaining him have come to not much and so my boyfriend and I take it in turns to baby sit while the other gets down to business.
As per last year we are tending the soft fruit cage with raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants, blackberries and this year's additions of blueberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants. The greenhouse is home to our tomatoes, a bed of ever replenished lettuce, two cucumber plants that we have our fingers crossed will grow, two pepper plants, a weedy aubergine plant and our spinach seedlings before they are planted out in the bed. And out in the bed, potatoes (ones planted this year as well as the ones that were killed off in last year's frost making a comeback), peas given to us by my Aunt, two rows of red onions, a lone courgette plant and a pumpkin that we bought at a local fair.
But there is more to come. This week I've planted another three courgettes on the balcony and three pumpkins from a packet of seeds I didn't even know we had! I'm also planning to put in some mange tout next week. These late additions will be started on our balcony and then moved to the garden, taking residence on the sunny patio and hopefully therefore taking off in no time at all.
As we begin to see the fruits of our labour I remember already why I love doing this so much. The triumph of finally harvesting spinach after trying two years in a row and getting nothing feels like I have earned the right to eat a fresh and tasty baby leaf spinach salad. Our first lettuces are crisp and tasty. And watching the pea pods begin to swell reminds me why it is that I do this.
And this year there is an added bonus, over the summer as we start to harvest our veg we will also be weaning our little boy. Digging at weeds and thinning out veggies knowing that these could be some of the first foods that he eats really does make this even more worthwhile.
Secret Post Club
One of the many lessons that I learnt the year that I worked at a Summer Camp in America was the power of the post. Watching kids who are almost incurably homesick tear open a letter from their family and hastily devour its contents is enough to melt the hardest of hearts.
Getting a hand written letter, lovingly put together parcel or scrawled postcard can bring a smile to your face any day of the week. And when thought and a little bit of humour has gone into it, so much the better. My favourite item that arrived in the post at camp was a milk carton with a mocked up 'missing child' announcement on the side; a humourous and yet plaintive plea from a mother for her child to write and tell her he was at least still out there somewhere and hadn't had a mishap on the lake or been eaten by a passing bear.
Since then I've made every effort to put a little postal joy in people's lives and I applaud anyone who does the same. The year that I lived in Portugal I envied my friend Clare who took it in turns with a friend of hers to send random joyful parcels back and forth to and from the UK throughout the year. My random act of postal kindness that year was to send postcards to friends and family at semi-regular intervals, a steady stream of little thoughts and memories scribbled on the free postcards available in bars across the city. And post from the heart works, that was the year I managed to worm my way back into the life of an old school friend who is now my best mate and who I couldn't be without, all with a series of postcards to remind her that I was still out there somewhere thinking of her.
So when I read about the Secret Post Club I suddenly realised that this is the reason that I write a blog! The brainchild of Heather Sunderland, author of the Notes from Lapland Blog, the Secret Post Club pairs fellow bloggers together, who then send a parcel each month to another blogger. As soon as I read about it I had to be part of it, so I sent an email immediately. I'm now officially accepted and signed up to take part in July - I'm so excited!
Watch this space to find out what I send (although not until the recipient gets the parcel!) and what I get in return.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Cheese - my first love
When you are pregnant everyone asks you the same question - how can you give up alcohol for nine months? Well, I have a dirty little secret - I could give up alcohol for nine years and still feel absolutely fine, I don't really miss it at all.
At first it does help that the thought of drinking any basically makes you want to puke more than the feeling of being awake makes you want to puke (there is a basic underlying nausea during waking hours for the first 12 weeks, you just learn to deal with it after you realise it won't go away!) but after that I can safely say that I've had no problems sticking to a little tipple now and then.
But one thing that makes me very sad is that I can't fully indulge in my first love - cheese! The rules are a bit hazy on cheese and I have to be honest I didn't take as much time as maybe I could to understand all the soft/hard, pasturised/unpasterised rules but basically it comes down to this - I can't eat all the cheese I want to eat so why make it more complicated, stick to the hard stuff and tough it out...
But today I went to La Fromagerie. Do not fear, I didn't crack and have any cheese that I shouldn't but I was surrounded by the promise of cheese to come, of the plates of cheese that I can enjoy once my baby has decided to join me in the world. I sat and devoured my delicious cheddar dreaming of the day in the not so distant future when a perfect triangulation of events comes together - baby has arrived, I've worked out how to dress myself and leave the house during daylight hours, I can eat a full rosta of cheese all over again - and hoping that that day comes soon.
http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/
At first it does help that the thought of drinking any basically makes you want to puke more than the feeling of being awake makes you want to puke (there is a basic underlying nausea during waking hours for the first 12 weeks, you just learn to deal with it after you realise it won't go away!) but after that I can safely say that I've had no problems sticking to a little tipple now and then.
But one thing that makes me very sad is that I can't fully indulge in my first love - cheese! The rules are a bit hazy on cheese and I have to be honest I didn't take as much time as maybe I could to understand all the soft/hard, pasturised/unpasterised rules but basically it comes down to this - I can't eat all the cheese I want to eat so why make it more complicated, stick to the hard stuff and tough it out...
But today I went to La Fromagerie. Do not fear, I didn't crack and have any cheese that I shouldn't but I was surrounded by the promise of cheese to come, of the plates of cheese that I can enjoy once my baby has decided to join me in the world. I sat and devoured my delicious cheddar dreaming of the day in the not so distant future when a perfect triangulation of events comes together - baby has arrived, I've worked out how to dress myself and leave the house during daylight hours, I can eat a full rosta of cheese all over again - and hoping that that day comes soon.
http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/
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