Cooking day!

Today has been very much a cooking day. With a glut of courgette's to deal with, and not wanting to waste them, it was time to get in the kitchen and do something with them. 

I've been making soup each week for a while now, so this weeks soup is sweet potato, red lentil and courgette (with a sprinkling of chilli powder!). 

While the soup was cooking it was time to make a quiche. I've not made a quiche for years so I was a bit apprehensive. In went the pastry first while I cooked the bacon and courgettes.  It was a bit of a combination of recipes, but it looks ok! (It tastes good too!).

And while I've been doing all this, DH has been making ratatouille to use up more courgettes! 

Has anybody got any other suggestions as I've still more courgettes to pick?!

What a week!

It's been another one of 'those' weeks this week, when there's just too little time to get everything done. 

I was determined to go line dancing on Monday night, which was really good. The hour I'm there is always fun and I have a laugh with the ladies I've got to know over the last couple of years. 

Then on Tuesday I ended up staying at work a bit later because my line manager was discussing things with me for next week as she's going to be off. Now I don't mind staying at work a bit later when I haven't got anything else planned. But, as this was unplanned, I had to start rushing to get all my other jobs done at home, including checking all the vegetable plants which are growing like crazy in the heat!

Wednesday was another charge round day as DD went to my mums after she finished work, so I went to pick her up, have a chat with my mum, and then did some shopping on the way home. 

Thursday is my 'official' 5pm finish at work, and most of the day was spent going through what needs doing next week when I'll be 'in charge' of the section - a very scary thought as I've never done it before! Hopefully I'll muddle through ok. 

And then we get to Friday which I tend to use as my shopping day. So, shopping done, DD taken to work, sun lounger bought, and assignment one completed and submitted for an online course I started weeks ago - finally! 

And today? Well, today has been a walking day despite the heat. Just with DH - no dogs today as it would have been too much for them. 

And now it's raining. 

I wonder if the temperature will go below 24'c tonight, for once this week.....

Apples at the roadside

The weather for the last few days has been glorious - long, hot, sunny days. 

Lovely, that is, unless you have to work in an office. So it's nice to get out in the early evening sun with Oscar. Unfortunately part of the walk we take him on is along a fairly busy road until we get to the canal. But after that it'slovely and  peaceful. 

Although we walk along a busy road there's lots of different trees to see, including these .....

.....and these....

Lots of apples! I think I might be keeping an eye on these to see how big they get!

Chillin'

Just one word for tonight - chillin'. 

After spending the day either in the car having inconsiderate drivers all around us, or shopping (or rather trying to walk round shoppers who were totally oblivious to anyone else), it's nice to just chill. Finally. In our hut with the candles lit.  While we can. While it's not raining and while it's pleasantly warm. 

Garden update!

I survived being driven to the supermarket by DD this morning. She's still learning and needs the practice so I said she could drive. To be fair, she was quite good, if a bit nervous at roundabouts. And, with my guidance, she managed to park perfectly in the car park! I let her drive home too which was just as good. 

When we got home I thought I'd better check the plants in the greenhouse, and the vegetables outside. It's been really hot and I don't want to lose any of them. 

Oh my goodness!!! All this nice weather has meant that the plants have grown LOADS! The courgette plants are looking huge - the best courgette plants I've ever had .....

... and the tomato plants are doing really well too - better than last year when it was damp for so long ....

... and even the peas are looking good! 

So, fingers crossed for a bumper year. 

After lunch it was time to go out again. Before we left I checked the cats to make sure they were all ok and found these two looking super cute together .....

Awww......

Our Scottish Holiday!

Finally, a week after we've got home, I've finished updating my holidays page, all about our holiday in the Highlands of Scotland. We covered a lot of miles, both driving and walking (so yes, I now need to add a few walks to the Walks page too), so there was a lot to mention.

I hope I've done it justice - the Highlands are amazing and I wish we could get there more often.

It's taken me until now to cover most things we did while we were away - first week back and trying to get back in to the routine, with the trip to Sheffield and DH birthday (while he was working away, so pressie giving was delayed by a day), and catching up with all the washing and ironing that there seems to be after a holiday!

My next challenge is to find a good, fairly cheap holiday for the girls in October - somewhere fairly hot but not too expensive for three of us …………

Wedding trial

Yesterday I took DD to her Auntie's. She's going to be her bridesmaid at the end of next month so yesterday was a trial for hair and makeup. DD did her Auntie's makeup and then we had a trip to the hairdressers. 

This was the result for DD ......

It looked fabulous! 

Roll on the end of August and the Big Day!

Holidays page update

I'm currently trying to update the Holiday page but I think that this may take a while to do.

With two weeks to describe in our favourite part of the country, there's so much I want to add, and so many photo's, that to do it justice it's going to take longer than one day to do it.

I'll get it back up as soon as I can.

Home again

Apologies for not posting for a while.

I kept meaning to add little updates while we were on holiday, but every time I thought about it, I realised I had no signal! The joys of holidaying in the Scottish Highlands!

But what a fabulous time we've had. The scenery really does take your breath away at times. With over a thousand photos to  look through, it may be a while before I've chosen enough suitable ones to update my walks page. And I'll also add some to my holidays page - probably quite a few to be honest.

Surprisingly we all got along ok for two weeks - no real bickering or falling out at all. And both cottages that we stayed in were equally lovely - a delightful cottage in the centre of Ullapool for week one, and a larger, quite secluded cottage in Kilchrenan, outside Oban, for week two.

We've had some lovely weather while we've been away too - lots of sunshine (yes, even the Scottish Highlands has lovely weather at times) and very little rain. We've found new walks to do and sampled delicious food as always from some excellent local suppliers.

It has to be my favourite holiday of the year when we go to the Highlands - good food, lovely people, stunning scenery, and lots of 'nothing' - brilliant.

And then we got home yesterday. Boo.

While we've been away my lovely mum has been looking after the house and the plants for me, watering the vegetables in the greenhouse and generally looking after everything. And this is what I came home to ……..

The tomato plants had grown so much that the greenhouse looked a bit like a jungle!

I managed to pick three mini cucumbers this morning …..

….along with lots of beans that I cooked for tea….

…..and there's lots of strawberries! I also picked a rather large courgette - first of the year.

I will endeavour to update more information about our holiday this week once I've sorted the photos out. But for now, here's just a selection ………