DINNER
Roast Chicken, stuffed with Baked Sweet Potatoes
Roast Potatoes
Roast Parsnips
Organic Carrots
Cabbage from t'garden
Heavenly Gravy
Happy Birthday to Fatey, a young 84 today!

It's a lovely day, as Mr A keeps remarking, and I'm indoors!
He has finally perfected the charcoal burn! Hurray!
This time he burnt it for longer and more slowly and got more charcoal than all the other times he'd done it. He is a happy bunny.

Last night, tucked in bed reading and I glanced to my right.
There, on the wall, a great big fecking brown spider.
The sort you normally see in the bath.
Gulp!

Mr A, (my hero) got rid of it outside. Quite a feat, as he doesn't like them either. Too close for comfort that one!

I've got several lifetimes worth of shallots to peel to make pickled onions. They are fiddly things to peel, and I've been putting it off, cos once I start, I'll have to do it, and that'll quite a chunk out of my day. Still, it'll be worth it.

According to my stats, I've had 100 visitors today.
I have had one comment.

What's going on?

DINNER
Sirloin Welsh Steak, fried with mushrooms and garlic
Chips
Fresh Asparagus
Frozen Peas

Haagen Das Baileys Cream Ice Cream

The ice cream isn't as good a Morrisons Walnut Dream. I fancied trying some new icecream flavour, and not that impressed with it.

Here are some cheesy characters I thought up for no reason at all:

Kate Wensleydale - a big softy. She crumbles with the slightest pressure.

Catherine Zeta Caerphilly - another one who crumbles when pressure is applied. A good Welsh cheese, quite tasty and versatile.

Paris Stilton - Very strong willed. Has marketed her own perfume, a distinctive aroma not to everyones taste as it can be quite overwhelming.

Simon Cheddar - Can be a bit bland, also sometimes mild mannered, but is very popular with those who like him when strong and mature.

Gorgonzola Brown - Very deceptive as he looks mild, but can blow tastebuds when tangled with. Very strong mannered.

Nicole Brie - Very pale, a washed out taste with underlying creaminess.

Russell Camenbert - A creamy character with hard skin. Can be runny if left too long in the sun.

Harriet Halloumi - Quite a hard character which can be cooked. Very salty.

Feta Doherty - Sharp tasting, creamy. Good in salads. Crumbles easily.

Mr A is watching rugby, I can hear the occasional cursing or jubillation coming from next door. Apparently Wales have turned the game around from being the first half losers to now being even with Fiji.
He asked me to get some garlic bulbs whilst shopping today as he is going to plant them out in the garden.

Woken up in the early hours with the scrabbling sounds of a rat underneath the house. Bloody rodent was so noisy. Mr A banged on the wall and floor very loudly and told it to feck off. If it happens again then they will be meeting with Mr Poison for a fatal dinner date.

Looking forward to the X Factor after the rugby, that might sound sad to some, this being saturday night n all. But I don't care. One can appreciate the deeper mysteries of life when compared to the crass simplicity of mass entertainment. (Without sadness, how would you know happiness etc...)

Latest rugby (yawn) news...Wales have just gone into the lead accompanied to the sound of Mr A shouting 'come on my son.'

Ah, bless!

DINNER
Starters: Fresh baked Corn on the Cob from t'garden
Organic Pasta Twirls, from t'garden (no, not really!)
Chorizo in spicy Tomato Sauce with Marjoram from t'garden
Spinach from t'garden

I have a table lamp next to me with a big brown moth fluttering around, so I thought I'd include them in my blog.

Last night we had 2nd hand curry, with added chickpeas. It was actually better than the first time it was cooked!

Charity shop bargain of the week!
A pair of black suede 3"heeled shoes, with a cute bow, at an angle on the front. They are quite easy to walk in.
I guess this is one of those post menopausal things, where I've got into wearing heels, like a power-dressed refugee from 'Dallas.'
No shoulder pads though!
Also bought a posh frock. It is black, it has diamonte over the bust area, it has net underneath and black ribbon. Gawd knows where I'll wear my new posh gear. Oooo, I know! Morrisons!
Actually, a friend of mine said that she loves dressing up, and puts on her silver lame catsuit to load the dishwasher!
She may have been kidding me though!

Scarabella have a gig, for someone's birthday next week, so I'll get dolled up for that. What with me and Brenda in our newly acquired high heels - I just hope we don't fall off them and make a complete arse of it.

Mr A is watching the Rugby, England v Tonga. It's good to see him relaxing as the last couple of nights he has had to complete a deadline and has been working till really late.
The weekend starts here! Hooray!

I'd already written bloody loads when it all switched itself off.
Mr A had plugged the kettle in when the immersion was plugged in at the time. Through previous experience, we've found that this blows a circuit and power gets switched off.
I didn't save it either.
"I can't remember everything" he said as I cursed out loud.
Ah well, I'll try again...

LAST NIGHTS DINNER
Cauliflower Curry
Basmati Rice
Salad a la Moi

Monday night, before singing rehersal I went and got a take away from the Sushi Bar so I could eat and listen to 'Just a Minute' in my car.
Eels and Rice - nice.
Fresh Crab Sushi. Well. I was expecting, you know, crab meat. What I got was 2 baby crabs, complete with all their legs, which were sticking out of the roll. The legs still had the crusty skin on them, and they looked like taratulas who were hiding in my roll!
Needless to say I couldn't eat them.
Yeuch!

Tonight Scarabella are singing at Swansea Museum (no cracks about us being ancient relics please!)
It's going to be videoed, so eventually it will appear on My Space and Utube. I'll put a link up when someone has got it together.

So, a chance to glam up tonight. Little black number with evening gloves and clackity heels I think.
Brenda hit lucky. She bought a fabulous pair of shoes from a charity shop. Black suede with 3" heels, ankle strap with diamonte fastening. Very nice, for 4 quid. She's going to look great tonight!

Walls are coming down in the house, new wood going up and being painted at the mo. Wooden houses are easier work on than the usual stone ones when it comes to insulating them. Mr A is beavering away in his office, he has a deadline to do, so we have Taff, our neighbour hammering away inside, taking down panels that cover the wooden walls. Taff's a professional busker who informs the job centre so that they won't send him off for job interviews. He says that he just about makes a living from it, and also does jobs for people (like us) to bring
his wages up.

Well, the bath is running. I have to get my clothes ready - I'll slap the makeup on at Brenda's. You know the scene, 3 women fighting for space at the mirror, doing each other's hair, twirling to try and catch compliments .....

Oh yes, no fish were caught on Sunday, despite Mr A having an audience along (his family were watching).....

Mr A has gone fishing, I didn't fancy it, not to mention frequent showers, so stayed at home, reading and catching up on the blog.
Going by his fishing history, I suspect the fishes will remain safe...

I sent birthday greetings to my ex daughter in law 3 days too early, and did the same last year! Still, better than forgetting her altogether.

Menu of the day is going to be whatever I can find in the fridge/freezer tonight, may well be Scampi n Chips.
There may...through a miracle, be fresh fish on the menu if Mr A has gone and actually caught some.

Again, the photograph doesn't do justice to the raw power of thundering, rushing water that drops into a river, to continue it's powerful journey.
Conwy Falls, you can view it from high up, on the wooded walk, or closer, by clambering down big stone steps.
No burger vans or souvenir selling touts to be seen.

It never seems to capture the 'bigness' when you look at a photo of somewhere that caught your breath with the splendour of it in the flesh.
This is Snowdonia country with rolling hills, as we veered off from the paths and struggled with barbed wire fences and natural barriers.
Ah but the scratches and nettles stings were worth it, going boldly where no day visitor had been before....

These are the ringlets that have gone unchecked and seem to be on a par with those jesters hats with the 3 peaks with bells on the top. If you see what I mean.

This is Liberty in full ringletted glory!

Back from a few days away in north Wales, the Conwy Falls to be precise. Further photos of said falls to follow. I've got about 2mb of space left, it may just be enough.
Fantastic to be up close and personal with so much URGENT scenery. A mountain, in your face, is quite something and can't easily be ignored. We spent a day clambering along a riverbank. This included going over a barbed wire fence. I didn't have enough height to climb over so Mr A had to lift me over bodily to the other side. Luckily I'm a featherweight. Lots of walking along an incline, so aching ankles the next day. His job was to check out the geography of a potential pipeline to run a hydro-electric system. Report on what sort of rocks are in the way, sort of thing.

We ate out at a posh looking hotel on the way home. It looked posh from the outside, but inside it was like a throwback to the '50's with browned wallpaper and faded carpets.
I ate the worst dessert ever. It was billed as 'Chocolate Fudge Cake' and it was a stodgy lump of chocolate dull cake with brown goo here and there. The best thing about it was the ice cream. Bloody awful, and at just over 3 quid, a rip off.
The veggi lasagne was dull too. Still, it was fuel that we needed for the long drive home.
The actual falls are amazing, as there are 2 of them, side by side, thundering into a pool of white water. The sound of pouring water is really loud. The rushing water churned along this river and you could check the views from a forest walk above it.

It was a long drive back, and Mr A slept whilst I drove. The next day though, I was aching from all the previous day's effort!
Oh, so this is what getting older is like! Apparently you have to 'recover' the next day, if you exert yourself by climbing steep hills all day.

DINNER
Starters: Roasted Corn on the Cob from the Garden with +++butter
Outside reared pork chops
Mashed Potatoes
Runner Beans from Garden
Baked Courgettes
Baked Green Pepper

Mr A is tearing down one of the inside walls, insulating it and replacing it with new timber at the mo, so the front room is a bloody mess with the smell of preservative cloying the atmosphere.
With an hour to go before X Factor, I'm hoping the fumes will have died down by then.

It's my son's birthday on Monday and he is having a wild party tonight. He warned us that it will be very loud, and also invited us. I may give it a miss, as it will be mostly blokes ambling around to loud music, smoking and drinking. Nice of him to invite us though. He has sent away his wife and child for the night, but thinks his mother can cope with it!

I haven't read friends' posts for ages, just takes up so much time, and this computer is slow slow slow. I try and catch up with Juzzzy though and Prydwen's blog, which always gives me a laugh.

SPIDER UPDATE
Our neighbour, Taff, came for a visit and I asked,
'do you mind picking up spiders?'
'Not at all' he answered.
Ha! wait till he sees this monster, which incidentally, is a killer. There was a dried up body of another, smaller spider sucked dry and left in the bath, with 2 of it's legs torn off and mangled.
Ha! He won't feel like picking it up then! I thought...

He only went and picked it up in his bare hands and took it outside!
This man has grown in my estimation now.
'They can't hurt you,' he said.
Ha! It's not the body at risk with these monsters, it's the soul, which would be sucked dry, just like that unfortunate spider lying dead in the bath. Just a dried up shell left. Vampire spider!
Harmless?
My arse!

LAST NIGHTS DINNER
Starters: Roasted Corn on the Cob from the Garden

Chicken Soup made from Sunday Roast Chicken leftovers
Organic Potatoes
Organic Carrots
French Beans from Garden
Onions from Garden
Half a Chilli which didn't seem to add anything to the taste, or hotness
Fresh Homemade Bread, half white, half brown

Now then missus, Ooooo that corn on the cob! Bloody tasty, that's what it was. Absolutely fantastico! Fresh from the garden, it was an explosion of sweet nectar on the ol' taste buds.

The soup was good, but a bit starchy, as I put quite a few potatoes in there.

Now for the travel news...
Myself and Mr A will be travelling to Shropshire today, staying overnight in shared accommodation with 4 geologists, then travelling to Snowdonia tomorrow. Mr A has a job to do there, so I'm coming along for the ride, and the views. I did specifically state that 'no mountain climbing.' I know from experience that Mr A will see a steep slope and the next thing I know he has disappeared up it. I don't mind gentle rolling hills, at a leisurely pace, but I think my climbing steep slopes is over. Well it is if I'm being good to myself.

So, what to pack? I think the bikini can stay in the drawer, along with evening gloves.
Waterproofs, thick jumpers, socks and clean knickers are what I'll be taking.
If we get invited to a posh soiree, then I will be miffed at turning up in jeans and Doc Martens.

SPIDER NEWS
Yes, it's that time of year again when those big brown hairy buggers climb out of the overflow and into the bath - to sit there menacingly, watching as one takes a pee. As I write, there is a spider in the bath now. It is so big that if it were on the palm of my hand (yeuch!) then it would completely cover it.
The likelihood of a spider of those proportions sitting in the palm of my hand are about the same as my winning a gold medal at the next Olympics for javelling throwing.

So, tomorrow, we will be ambling along a riverbank, looking for geological faults that might impede the progress of a hydro-electric pipeline. So there, now you know.

Menu of the Day on the back burner for the mo...

So I went to 2 musical 'gatherings', friday and saturday.
Friday was an evening of different people taking turns to stand up and do their thing. I thought it would be songs, but it turned out that it was mostly poems. So I did 4 of my songs, which went ok, but I've performed them so much that I felt (while I was playing) that I needed to write some new songs as I was getting bored with them!

There was a band, at the end of the evening, and I settled back to see what the songs would be like. Songs! Ha! Now here comes the comparison in the title.
You know abstract paintings? Well, this music was like an abstract painting. It was improvised, lots of spaces, different rythmns, and totally unpredictable.

Saturday night was a jam session, all improvised. No recognisable riff in the house! However, I enjoyed it emmensely. It was Jazz man, but not as we know it.
It was more like, feeling the energy, like, all of a sudden, it got frantic, staccato, and all over the place, completely chaotic, then it would change into lots of spaces with single notes bleating from all corners. I was playing complete rubbish, but it was meaningful rubbish. I found chords I'd never played before.
There were about 8 people playing, changing all the time as some left for a bit then returned, the music didn't stop for the 4 hours I was there. Some people played unusual instruments, and lots of percussion, but not as we know it Jim.
There was a double bass, about 3 guitarists, percussion, piano amongst the recognisable instruments. Voices were used like instruments, I enjoyed making some weird sounds up close to the mike. As I said, complete rubbish, but rubbish in the right places!

It's singing rehersal tonight, we have a gig next week in the museum of Swansea, where we have an exhibit with pics and info about us, as we are local. So, if Brenda's up for it, it'll be the Potato Wedges with Chilli n Cheese. If not, I may go for Sushi again. I had the grilled eels with rice before, and it was really tasty.
I remember as a kids eating eels. My mother would go to the fishmonger, point out an eel in a sink full of wriggling black glistening bodies, and the guy would take it out and chop it into small pieces. The amazing thing was that each part would still be moving after being chopped up. Bit yeuchhy I know.
...so that's improvisation! I loved it! There is a 'gathering' every first monday of the month...I'll be back.

LAST NIGHT'S DINNER
Take away Plaice n Chips.
From our local cafe in the village. Pan fried fresh Plaice, delicious. they asked if I wanted it battered or pan fried, nice to have a choice.
The chips were fried in clean oil and tasted scrumptious!

Tonight I'm going out to a musical gathering, leaving in about an hour, so will cook a quick Tomato Sauce with Chilli to go with organic pasta. Mr A wouldn't want to eat so early, so can reheat it when he wants.

Will report back on how the evening goes, and whether or not I make a complete arse of myself in a room full of total strangers...
All I know is that a load of musicians from London (that big city down sarf) are coming to it. They are probably quite good and my accompaniment with the kazoo may go down well, or not....
I'm also taking the Swanee whistle along. The poor man's trumbone...

Molly and Eve and Liberty have been down this afternoon. We spent a pleasant time refilling the glass dome from Disneyland with glitter and water. It was a present from them when they went to Disneyland in Paris. The journey was horrendously long and the food crap there. As they are vegetarians the choice was the same as everyone else but without the meat. Still, it was a good bonding time with their dad.

Green olives can go stale! I've just learnt this after opening a new jar and tasting the difference between fresh olives and the old jar that lasted ages.

Halloumi cheese, as a starter is great! It is sliced, then either grilled or roasted till brown and the edges crispy. It is quite salty and is delicious with pickled cucumbers, olives and salami as a starter.
It's a Greek cheese, like Feta. Those Greeks know how to make a tasty cheese!

Went to look for a new bed today. As the old bed is so old it could qualify for a pension, we thought it time for a new one.
They are really quite expensive so may well end up with just a mattress and Mr A will make a base for it.
There's a whole new language when it comes to beds:
'Pocket sprung'
'Memory Foam'
'Individually Tufted'
'Latex'
'Deep quilted'
I've got my eye on a pocket sprung mattress with 1600 springs, no latex or memory foam (sounds too sweaty) and is king size, so Mr A can keep his feet covered.
Prices range from a couple of hundred to a couple of grand!

So I spent about half an hour dossing down on different beds, tossing and turning, as you do whilst asleep. I had to lie on 'my' side of the bed (the right side) to get a feel of what it had to offer to a light sleeper like me.
I even took my shoes off, though there was a plastic doodah for the shod foot on each of the beds.
I was tempted to ask for a glass of water to put on the cabinet next to the bed though, and a duvet, to make it more realistic.
Mr A has to see it first though. So that's our weekend sorted, as it's open saturday and sunday......I may well take along a book and go for a chapter whilst reclining on the most comfortable bed in the place.

Well, it's not really a mystery, but I thought it was a good title.
I lost count of the number of mice released into the wilds after 11. Part of the mystery is: are the same mice returning? I should really walk further away from the house to release them, but figured that a short walk into the woods would be enough, maybe not.
They are mostly grey mice, with long tails and small. When I release the door and shake it to get them out, they don't want to go! Looking in the end of the box, they are curled up, desperately trying to cling on in there. They come out sweaty, and there are scratch marks on the box, so if the same ones come back, they reckon the food on offer is worth the risk of getting caught again.

For some reason, I haven't felt like blogging in recent days, almost an aversion to it. Part of the reason is that it takes so bloody long to actually get to the part where I write. This computer is slow, slow, slow. It's either a virus, or it's just getting old, like me, and slowing down. I've got a virus detector, but as a freebie, it may not be up to the job. When it comes to sorting out another virus-buster, I can't seem to get up any enthusiasm to sort it out. Blah, blah, poor excuse, well, no excuse at all really.

Had a game of Scrabble last night with Mr A, Molly and Eve. Of course I won, I usually do. Not a boast, just a fact. I like the game, but Mr A doesn't like to play with me usually, the girls really wanted to play, so he joined in. It went on, and on, Molly giving exasperated cries of boredom in the length of time everyone took for their go. It was Death By Scrabble! I do enjoy word games though, including Boggle.

Mr A always astounds me when we watch 'University Challenge' as he gets most of the answers right! I get the odd, novelty one, but he's a bit of a star when it comes to using the ol' nogging. Sometimes I can't even understand the questions, yet alone answer them!

Met Mr A off the train coming home from work yesterday, as his pick-up isn't very well. I got there early to find a crowd of cars and people by the station in our village. It's an old fashioned station, with a little hut with the signal man (or woman) sitting in there.
I was asked by a lad with a walkie talkie to stay put, as they were filming! I heard a shout of 'Action!' and clouds of smoke appeared and some actors rushing out of a building (the boat club), carrying a woman. I asked what they were filming, apparently it's for the S4C, and a Welsh version of 'The Soprano's'. Maybe they'll call it 'The Davies's', or 'The Evans's.' Still, it was a fairly exciting time watching them all rush around doing their jobs.

Right, down the bit that most people are interested in:
FOOD!
I've been using Sundried Tomato Paste in some recent sauces, and it's good! The price put me off before as it's quite costly, over a pound a jar, but I thought I'd splash out, so bought one.

A FEW RECENT DINNERS

Welsh Lamb Cutlets
Organic Potatoes
Cabbage from the Garden

Chickpea Curry
Basmati Rice
Salad a la Moi

Organic Pasta with Sundried Tomato Sauce, n half a Chilli
Salad a la Moi

Roast Chicken
Roast Potatoes
Parsnips from Garden
Beans from Garden

Morrisons Walnut Dream Ice Cream.
This is my best ever ice Cream. It's got walnuts, it's got chocolate, it's got advocaat flavour, it's got vanilla, it's scrumbumptious!

Tonight I'm going out gallivanting, well, actually, it's a musical evening, so Mr A will have:
Homemade Chicken Soup

I just read the first V.I. Warshawski novel (female detective) by Sara Peretski. In the introduction she goes on about how it took a year to get it accepted by a publisher and how she received lots of rejection slips. As it is a fine first novel, and the following ones even better it is encouraging! I am, and have been, thinking of writing a book. Maybe of short stories first, I've got several ideas which I ran by Mr A. They have a science fiction base, with a bit of horror thrown in. I won't give the main story away, but here's some of the ideas.

A manuscript which has been passed on to each generation of the same family, bears a dark secret. It gets added to by each member of the family who has it in their possession. It only gets passed on when the present owner of it dies.
At the age of 21, the eldest in the family receives it, usually a grandchild. They have the quest thrust upon them.
The consequences of not taking on the quest would devastate the family -as the original manuscript was written by a family member from the future, and the continuance of the family depends on the Quest being carried out! It has been in the family for many generations, and each chapter is recounting how that person deals with the Quest.

So there are the bare bones of it. The Quest itself has yet to be revealed (to me!)

I'll try and keep up some interest in blogging and tune in again tomorrow. I haven't read my friends' blogs for ages. It's not that I'm not interested (hey, look Ma, a double negative!) It's because it takes up so much time with my slow computer.

The above title I will always remember, it was from a play written by Heathcote Williams. I never saw the play, or any play by him, but for some reason it's stuck in my memory banks.

I guess I've diverged from Menu of the Day, as I haven't decided yet what to cook for later.

So here's what we had for lunch.

Baked Beans on Homemade Bread, Toasted
Fried Free Range Egg
Fried Green Homegrown Tomatoes
Dash of Worcestershire Sauce on the Beans

I managed to spill some food off my plate, right down my arm, splashing my shorts, and onto the carpet. The reason? I was gesticulating at the same time as a forkfull of food was travelling to my mouth.
I'm not even of Mediterranean descent!

Not a lot happening today, Mr A is working from home to the sound of The Fall playing and the occasional 'Bollocks!' (From him, not The Fall.)

So, I have prepared the window frames before painting them a bright, cheerful, Carnival Red. That's on the outside, the inside colours will be a bit more muted. Ooo I love it when the painting's finished and a whole new look emerges with fresh colour.

What else? Writing an email to explain to my mortgage company that I have resigned from work due to ill health. I explained that I didn't let them know earlier, as I still don't know if I will get the Ill Health Retirement Pension. I should know in about 2-3 weeks. Eyes crossed! (Can't type with crossed fingers...)

What else? Erm...made the bed, washed up...O Yes!
We have a very cunning mouse in the house..
I spied little mouse droppings right next to the humane catcher, but the lid was still up. I changed the tempting morsals from dried apple and raisins to peanut butter.
Molly said that is what they used when they had a mouse problem in the truck. She said that one night she found about 5 of them in her bed!
Urgh!!
She felt one of them run across her body, that was when she shone a light, checked, and found a group of the little buggers. She actually didn't seem too upset by it, but then she has a pet hamster and used to have pet rats, which she still talks about in loving terms.

What else? ...erm....had a bath and continued to read an Ann Rice novel 'Blood Canticle.' She is a really good writer of gothic fiction. If you like an interesting vampire story, then check her out. She has written a whole series and one of them, 'Interview with a Vampire,' was made into a film with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. How tom Cruise got away with acting as a 6ft tall, blonde haired, charismatic vampire, I don't know. Maybe all the other actors had to stand on boxes when they talked to him....

What else? um..er..sowed up the tear in the swing seat, which I had repaired, temporarily, with masking tape. I always find it satisfying to mend something with needle and thread.

What else? ermm..ah...um...erm...aa.. mmm... er...ooo...erem......

DINNER
Bolognese-type sauce with Chilli
Rice
Salad a la Moi

I added an organic beef stock cube and veggie stock cube (half of each) which added more flavour. They ate and saw that it was good.

Right, Mouse count is up to 9! The traps have been empty for 3 days now, so I think there is a happy family running around in the woods. I did detect some mouse poo, so there is 'Brains' left. I am trying to tempt it with dried apple and raisins.

Now, the Harry Potter film was long. Very long, I nearly fell asleep. It seemed to consist of one scene crashing into the next with not much explanation or continuity between. I much preferred the previous films.
I have just finished the last HP book, from the library. I thought I would have to wait ages for it after requesting it, but no, about a week only.
Anyway, it was good. Real life kept interrupting my read, so it took a while - it's a big book. I'm sure there will be criticisms of the book, but I enjoyed it, it flowed, was exciting and what more do you want from an adventure book?

Mr A had his first customer yesterday, ordering a pick-up full of wood. He only has about 20 tons to go.....
He got back from Germany Sunday after working away for the week. Again, a lovely pressie. A bracelet of Swandowski (or whatever they are called) crystals.

Molly and Eve are staying with their dad for a week, next door. They are growing into teenagers so fast..how did they get so smart? Eve had a slice of my bread while it was still warm. Molly remarked that it was the shape of a football. I think it must be the yeast, but it doesn't seem to rise like in the old days, when it appeared, rising out of the tin. The last 3 bakes, it barely reaches the top. Tastes ok though.

My fennel plant is growing into a monster! It is over 6 feet and looks lovely with the little yellow flowers. To think, I bought it in a supermarket as a culinary herb in a little pot and just chucked it in the ground....

I've been wearing lipstick today.
At the last Scarabella rehersal, we looked at some photos taken at the Workhouse festival. I had lipstick on, and thought it suited me, or added some colour, whatever - but I liked the effect. Normally I hardly ever wear lipstick, but for the purposes of boosting my self esteem, I think I'll paint my lips in future, even if it's just going to the shops.
Drat! That means I'll probably have to change out of wellies, wear a bra and comb my hair too!