Too Late

Autumn really provides us with some lovely Sunrises and Sunsets. This was the view from our window one morning in September and there have been some excellent pink clouds at both ends of the day. At home we’ve noticed bats flitting about when it’s still quite light before dusk and after dark a hedgehog has been trundling through the courtyard.

The allotment is waiting to be cleared, but my heart’s not in it at the moment. That bed has the parsnips and beetroot but almost everywhere else needs clearing. We want to dig a trench under the old polytunnel frame where the climbing beans will grow next year. All the old foliage can go in there but I need to clear the squashes first - maybe I’ll actually do that today…

I’ve planted some daffodil bulbs around the orchard and in the flower plot and I did get round to planting the garlic at the beginning of the month - about 30 Czechmate Wight. Sprinkled onion fertiliser on the leeks, onions and those garlic cloves.

I pulled the last Pink Fir potato from there. Just enough for a couple of meals from some potatoes left on the allotment spares shelf, with 20cm chits! They were very tasty roasted.

At the end of September I cleared the small raised bed - the pak choi had all bolted and the Chinese cabbage disappeared - but I discovered the seed tray where I’d sown All Year Round cauliflower! I hoed and cleared (not dug, brassica don’t want dug soil - luckily!) an area in the brassica cage and stuck 14 seedlings in, so we’ll see…. I don’t know if the whole country is the same but we have hoards of whitefly - in the town as well as at the allotment.

There are still a few redcurrant tomatoes hanging on, but I’m expecting that this was the last meal that included fresh home-grown toms this year - they’ve certainly served us well!

Talking of food - we visited beautiful Oxford yesterday specifically for the regular street food market at Gloucester Green and to visit a museum. 

Gloucester Green didn’t disappoint - so much choice Nepalese, Thai, Lebanese, Italian, Korean with so many veggie options! I opted for a Persian halloumi bowl - so delicious- and Jamie had Chinese dumplings - yum yum 😋 

We browsed the shops including Blackwells Bookstore and visited The Covered Market for coffee and cake at Browns Cafe - it’s a must.

We wandered along streets - a bit dodgy for Jamie at times - admiring the architecture and considering the history in these cobbled alleyways and walls - so beautiful. And spotting the weird features and gargoyles on many of the buildings.

We heard music and when we turned into Broad Street we stumbled across another street market - what a stroke of luck! Being surrounded by so many different nationalities and languages makes Oxford such an interesting city to sit, watch and listen. Oh, and have a little drink of course ☺️

What a lovely, exhausting day! Now, as we’re well into October and it’s not windy or rainy I really should go to the allotment… Carole King provides the great song because we didn’t make it to the museum on time! That’s ok, we’ll be back.

Upon a Winters Night

It's Christmas Eve - Merry Christmas!

We've had a very busy month. It's been extremely wet, but luckily on a few important dates it didn't rain so it's been a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas. We had our usual trip to Oxford and I had some delicious tofu Singapore noodles in the Gloucester Green street market.

Then bought a few pressies at the Christmas Market before having a cuppa in the Covered Market - visiting some of my favourite places in the City.

The beautiful Elisabeth Convent (Belarus) convent - I should have bought more there

Back in Hungerford we saw Will Young (local singer) switch on our lovely Christmas lights and enjoyed the Christmas Extravaganza, including being in the lantern parade - this year we made the HAHA lanterns in the shape of snails.

 

Somebody paid me £4 for mine at the end of the parade! I gave it to The Big Issue seller.

Kerry's is now residing on her plot - although it's a skeleton again because the rain removed all the paper.
We managed to avoid rain at the Newbury lantern parade - huge compared to the Hungerford one, but we're hoping ours will grow and more people join in in future years.

It's been a very wet Autumn/Winter so far.

 

That's not the allotment. It's the River Kennet in Hungerford which is very full and fast-flowing at the moment. We did actually visit the plot yesterday and it was very soggy, although it was a crisp clear blue sky day. We only visited to pull some carrots for our, now traditional, carrot lox which we'll have on Christmas Day. We have our big Christmas meal late this evening.

Here's the latest addition to our Christmas tree. Unfortunately we had to buy sprouts but we may get some from the plot for another meal this Christmas.

We had lovely visits to family and lots of shopping trips. And this is a photo from our window as the sun set at the end of the shortest day of 2019. Hooray, we're on the way back up now - but I wouldn't mind a bit of snow before Christmas holiday is over (or maybe just at the end of the holiday so I can't drive to work)!

Here's a lovely version of this song performed by Cara Dillon. Enjoy and Happy Christmas!

Spaceman

50 years on from the first man on the moon I figure space deserves a mention on my blog.

Of course, this isn't a spaceman, but he looks like one to me.

We had a trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford yesterday.

What an amazing place - so much to see!

Too much, on the hottest day of the year at 30°.

I loved all the masks and figurines - apologies for the quality of photos, the glass cases make it tricky.

The whole place was stacked full of interesting artifacts, though we missed the shrunken heads. Some were just plain freaky!

Bad photo - but you get the gist

The Museum of Natural History was interesting too. Not just the architecture.

I loved seeing all the skeletons, particularly the huge ones. But not keen on all the stuffed birds and animals.

We went up the Carfax Tower. Those 99 spiral staircase steps were hard work, but worthwhile.

So lovely to see the Dreaming Spires from that height.

And be above the crowds in that heat.

It was so hot that we actually didn't buy anything (apart from food). It was just too hot to be shopping!

Aah, such a lovely day. Back to my birthplace on my birthday.
And the song is by Babylon Zoo.

Always Something There to Remind Me

10 years ago this week I had my kidney transplant - I try not to go on about it too much, but I figure 10 years of a much-improved life is worth a highlight. My pills keep my kidney and the rest of my body working and working together.

There are a lot of pills, but they're just part of the daily routine so no problem - and if it keeps me away from dialysis for a few more years I'll be very happy to keep on taking them. To mark my 10th anniversary I'm saving up all my 10 pence pieces to give to the Six Counties Kidney Patients Association in a years time. And, since mentioning it on Facebook, I've had so many generous offers from friends and family that I think I'll need a bigger collection pot!

As a kidney patient under the Oxford Churchill Hospital I am extremely well looked after. I have a blood test every 3 months (more if I feel that I need something checked out) and can look up my own results within a couple of days using PatientView - it's brilliant. Then the following week I see my consultant to discuss my results, how I'm feeling, any issues and whether my pills need altering. It's a very smooth system, for me.

Thank goodness for our NHS! Where would we (I) be without it? Well I can guess, and it's not a happy place and I wouldn't have a lovely allotment to play about on!

Please support the NHS and sign up for organ donation if you can - thanks for reading.

Song title courtesy of various people but I couldn't find a good video, so here's a Sandie Shaw version...

Song for a Friend

I had such a lovely day with my friends yesterday - a day in Oxford and in particular the Botanic Garden.

The oldest botanic garden in Britain - founded in 1621!

It has 7 glass houses with different climates from the fernery to the arid cacti house. I particularly liked the insectovores house.

The laid out gardens and these amazing meadows are so beautiful!

And the walled border, which was planted up 10 years ago - wow!

The sun shone for much of the day, after a grey wet start which would have upset our open-top bus ride!

My lovely buddies - good luck in Switzerland Sarah!

 Thank goodness for the sunshine as it makes for much more colourful photos!

So, we had a great day with lunch at The Vaults and later a cream tea in the oldest coffee house in Britain, The Grand Hotel. 

Such a beautiful city

It was a fab send-off for Sarah who's moving to Switzerland. Today's title song is for her by her favourite, Roddy Frame.