Search results

Remember back in the olden days - July and August - when there was a crippling drought?! ?

Today I got soaked to the bones just dashing from shop to carpark! There was a sudden apocalyptic downpour, and within seconds, the drains at the end of the carpark flooded - right where you had no choice but to go through it, to get to the carpark! Thank heavens for good old Lidl - I was...

Seems like there's one storm after another, at the moment. Today's been so vile, I only stuck my nose outside to get firewood. Howling storm, all day - I hate the wind. It sets me right on edge. I was supposed to meet a friend for coffee today, but we decided we'd be mad to go out driving...

Gorgeous day for a walk - although I was glad of my woolly hat, as the wind felt cold! But bright, sunny, and 15°!

There's frugality - or just old fashioned good value! My Facebook "memories " just reminded me of when I bought my jolly red walking boots - 2015. Not only are they still going strong, but my green suede hiking boots, precious because my husband bought them for me, are also still going strong...

So, once my new stove was installed last Friday, I laid it with paper & kindling, so it would be ready to light on tge first cold evening. I'm still waiting for it to get cold enough! Tonight, it almost feels chilly enough because there's a nasty wind blowing- but not quite! It's 19.7C in...

Yes, you can still buy caustic soda. Isn't caustic soda the same as lye? My daughter buys bottles of caustic soda for making soap.

I have a lot of enamel baking/roasting pans - I love enamel ware. But I'm also a little obsessive about getting every tiniest bit of baked on stuff or that brown discolouration from the oven off. I've found the very best thing for cleaning them is to soak in hot water with a dishwasher tablet...

That rug is one my late husband bought many years ago in Lidl or Aldi, for around €8! It's thin and the back is plastic-y looking but it comes out of the washing machine looking like new! I would dearly love some nice good rugs, but I have two cats who are pukers. ?

The finished project! Haven't lit it, because at 7pm, even having had the front door and all the windows open all morning, it's still over 20C in the house! I'm really pleased with it, and very glad I went for a stove rather than an open fireplace.

I saw this same pic on fb today, just with a speech bubble from the cat saying "For f*** sake!" ?

He manages to look awfully sorry for himself at the rear end and very proud of himself at the front end! Did he recover OK, Shadrach?

Yesterday and last night were filthy days here - very strong wind and heavy rain. Today, although still windy, is a gorgeous day. Bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, and around 15C.

I was woken during the night by very heavy rain battering on the window, and there was one loud roll of thunder. It seemed a brief storm though, because when I woke up this morning, all was clear and bright. There's a very fierce wind blowing though.

Wood is what I will be burning. He's just going to put a timber edge around the tile on the hearth to (a) protect the edge from getting broken and (b) to give a more finished look to the edge, and conceal the layer of tile underneath. We're not talking firewood sized timber, but more of an...

The stove is already sitting on my living room floor! ? The stove fitter rang me last week and said the supplier only had one left, so he grabbed it, and asked if he could drop it off, rather than carry it around in his van for two weeks! Tiling is done! ? My brother did an excellent job...

Current project. I'm reopening the fireplace in the living room, and putting a stove in there. This fireplace hasn't been used in over 20 years, and was covered over with hardboard and wallpaper. I spent about 2 hours yesterday with a hammer, hacking out the fireback. My brother, who's...

Aw, I'm so sorry Hen Gen. It's a big loss, the loss of a companionable pet.

It just didn't recede at all this year, did it? Over here, I haven't heard anything about outbreaks on poultry farms, but a gannet colony on a reserve has been all but wiped out, and right along the coast people were reporting hundreds of dead birds.

If anyone would like a ghoulish idea for Halloween... I had leftover mashed potatoes, so made Potato, Leek & onion soup. But I only had red onions. I thought it wouldn't make much difference - and taste-wise, it didn't. Soup was delicious. However. The colour bled out of the red...