Friday, November 01, 2024

Accounting, hair and vodka in paper cups.

1. My invoices fly out and the month's money comes flying in. But like a weary air traffic controller, I divert quite a lot of it out again into the joint account.

2. Plaiting extensions into her hair for her Wednesday Addams costume.

3. Aunty Katie appears at the door for trick or treat and soon we're drinking vodka with the blood-coloured Dracola we bought for the children's Halloween supper.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Waxcaps, beech leaves and my coffee.

1. Bright waxcap mushrooms -- crimson, orange and yellow -- in the veg box today.

2. Beech leaves the colour of rust flakes cover the mud.

3. I'm on my own for coffee, so I have a very large mugful.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Old news, new airer and Halloween tunes.

1. The post includes the new Fortean Times, with a Lord Lucan round-up. It does seem awful that the story is about a badly-raised man of loose moral fibre who made dreadful choices and not the poor nanny who got murdered -- her name was Sandra Rivett.

2. Nick finally buys a new airer as the old one broke beyond repair. It's an updated model of the old one, and it has a lot new features (such as non-slip bars and extending hanger hooks) that he is very excited about.

3. Rachel puts on some spooky music to set the tone for our Ghostbusters Monopoly, and it makes me remember that I have my own Halloween playlist.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

High-five, long walk and grey wagtail.

1. We pass a man and his toddler, a tiny chap with white curls wearing a dark blue waterproof suit. We smile at each other and he holds up his hand for a high-five.

2. The path is a straight tunnel of autumn trees, and we almost feel like we can see all the way to our destination.

3. We stop to watch a grey and yellow bird with a long tail where clear water has collected on clots of orange leaves to the side of the path. It plays, dipping its head and shaking its tail and wings to make water drops fly. We take  photos so we can show Grampy for an ID later on.

Monday, October 28, 2024

Ginkgo, battenberg and last of the daylight.

1. To pick up a few ginkgo leaves -- bright yellow, ridged like fingertips.

2. Small battenberg cakes for tea: pink and yellow and very, very sweet.

3. Through the blind slats, the duck egg blue fades out of the sky.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Mushrooms, meat and veggies.

1. I open the fridge for a little gloat over the three types of mushroom -- nameko, maitake and shiitake. I'm ordering in a few each week to learn them, and discover which ones I like best. I like them fried for breakfast, and the words of the mushroom farmer on the Pantiles echo: 'Fry them like really crispy bacon. Mushrooms aren't like anything else. They release more nutrition the more you cook 'em.'

2. Picking the meat off the chicken carcass before it goes into the stockpot.

3. Nick has diced and ribboned an array of vegetables for my noodle soup.

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Orange, cyclamen and roast dinner.

1. Fox by Sainsbury's local -- not sure which is more orange and jaunty. But it's just past 4am and the fox is definitely more awake.

2. It's the work of a few minutes to plant out that cyclamen -- swapped earlier this week for a few apples. 

3. The parsnips come out of the oven in pools of caramelised honey.

Accounting, hair and vodka in paper cups.

1. My invoices fly out and the month's money comes flying in. But like a weary air traffic controller, I divert quite a lot of it out ag...