Rain, Rain, Rain…

Waiting for the rain to stop

Sitting at my desk, the lighting is low, not by my doing. The weather, although we were promised temperatures higher than Spain, has not stopped raining, so much so the roads were flooded in many places.

Well, I ought to leave but the rain it never stops, and I’ve no particular place to go.

Earlier I needed to go out and get the dogs a 15kg bag of dried food that I give them with the cooked stuff I make them.  I also wanted to go to my favourite northern supermarket Booths.  Now, from where we live to the supermarket is a 20 miles round trip, There is another Booths, but that is a 30-mile round trip, so all in all, it is quite a distance.  Not that I mine, when getting my unpasteurised milk, I have to drive 26 miles, but I am a bit of what we call in the UK, a petrol head.

My plans for the morning was to go to the dump/tip and get rid of some of the accumulated crap from the garden, and the old gas barbeque.  Take the dogs for a walk, then off to Booths and the pet warehouse.  Build the new barbeque, and give it a test run, because this is the law in the barbeque world, also on Thursday I could smell someone barbequing so that really got my juices flowing.  The other plans were to plant some more clematis and other climbers.  Of course, then to sit in the garden and enjoy this.  But this was not to be.  When letting the dogs out this morning at 7am I thought it was quite mild, I did not have a stitch on I do admit, but then, my garden is totally private and not overlooked, and I did have some hope for the day, however, as I pottered out there I could feel the spits of rain and knew that it was all about to change.

I decided to treat myself to a leather tape measure.  I have to admit, it is beautifully made, and the smell of leather is divine.  I had seen it on the wrist of a fellow knitter on Instagram and decided I just had to have one.  Along with the soggy post it was in the mail this morning, wrapped and sealed from China.  How many times have we all been there looking for a measuring tape, well now I have one to hand, pardon the pun.

So with the rain still battering the windows, I think I will watch a film and do some knitting, and of course, keep dry.

Fingers crossed for a dry day tomorrow.

 

Local Produce…

I love my food and I love growing vegetables.  I grew up in the country and worked on farms, and I had a career in the agriculture industry, or to be more exact, everything from the ground to the mouth.  But never have I been able to grow a pumpkin like this bad boy.  This was at our local Booths which is a Northern supermarket that only sources local produce and is incredibly green and ethical.

Needless to say, the products they have are delicious.  My all-time favourite is their store baked Mince Pies, which has crispy pastry and the mincemeat inside is amazing.  I have never really liked mince pies and found the Christmas tradition of eating them something that I turned my nose up at, but Booths, WOW.  I bought 8 of them and will be enjoying them later with some extra rich Jersey cream.  I also bought a rather large custard tart, lemon cheesecake and a strawberry cheesecake so it will be a sweet night.