fudge

Thursday 8 June 2017

You Know That You Are Loved When ...

I haven't been near the blog much in weeks.

I haven't been writing, reading or commenting.

Sometimes you just need to take a break don't you?

It wasn't a conscious decision, just the way things worked out.  SD was on holiday for a week too so that meant I was busy with other stuff but I'm hoping to catch up with everything that my blog friends have been up to in the next week or so.

I've also been struggling a little with this divorce thing.  There has been a lot of re-visiting the bad times in order to give my solicitor as much information as possible.

It hasn't (and continues not to be) much fun.

This morning SD left me to lie in when he went to work.  I'm not much of a lie'er in and I dozed on and off until about 9:30am when I finally decided I might as well get up and get on with the day.

I came downstairs to find this on the kitchen counter:


A reminder from SD that I should eat breakfast.

I know he worries that I will go back to that time where I didn't take good care of myself.  A time where I lost far too much weight and generally wasn't in a good place.

I love that he cares, I hate that he worries.

I don't see myself going back there.  The support and care that he gives me means that I am in a very different place now and although I may struggle from time to time I know that I'm not alone and I know that I am loved.

So, what else have we been up to?

Well, there's been plenty going on at the farm.  We have been helping SD's Dad to get the vegetable garden in order.  It was becoming a little hard for him to manage so SD came up with the great idea of sectioning parts of it off by putting in paths.

This has given it some defined areas and parts of it have been put down to grass:



So now we have rows of potatoes and runner beans with a separate area at the far side for Raspberries and the Damson tree and the Apple tree are set in an area of grass as is the Lilac in the middle.

We've had to patch up a couple of areas where the chickens have been scratching around but it's all looking pretty good right now.

Another thing that's making me happy right now is this:

GOOSEBERRIES!!!

I LOVE Gooseberries and you really don't see them much.  I've no idea why but they just aren't a popular fruit for some reason.

Grandad used to grow big sweet yellow gooseberries the you could eat straight from the bush.   These are the greener ones that need to be cooked with a bit of sugar as they are pretty sharp but they taste SO good!

What else?

Well, the other weekend we went to a local village to watch a soap box derby.

Seriously, these guys spent a lot of time making these, some of them looked better than the stuff you see on the roads!





There was some fierce competition and it was lots of fun.

Then last weekend we headed for the Dorset coast and Lulworth cove and Durdle Door:





How stunning is this place?

We spent the morning mooching about Dorchester, one of my favourite towns where we visited an antiques market and picked up a couple of bits of kitchenalia for my collection:



The Tala hand mixer with it's enclosed wheel and the Spong mincer are both 1950's and make great, colourful additions to the collection.  They are both also in really good condition and cost less than a fiver each!

Finally, the weather has been ALL OVER the place in the last few weeks.  We've had brilliant sunshine, gales and torrential downpours but I have managed to snatch a few hours in the garden where I was joined by Chicken (the kitten who got caught up in the barbed wire) for a little bit of sunbathing on the decking:



This weekend SD and I are heading for Bristol Volksfest which really marks the beginning of the Summer fun for me.

Fingers crossed for some sunshine!

9 comments:

joeh said...

I've heard of gooseberries...i thought they were just a made up fake fruit.

Sarah said...

Ha ha, really Joe? Nope, they are real! They are about the size of a large grape and grow on low bushes. Most of them are covered in fine hair (which disappears as you cook them) but some are smooth. They range from Red to yellow to green and mostly need to be cooked with sugar as they are quite tart but they taste amazing! You can probably get them tinned, well worth trying if you do see them.

Di said...

What a great find with those kitchen tools Sarah! I have to admit that I used to watch my Mum using both of those items when I was a child. She used to put half a slice of bread through after she'd minced the meat - partly to clean the implement I suspect but also it would have padded out the meat a little bit as well. Wonderful Dorset photos - just like picture postcards. And the farm garden looks amazing. Great to see you blogging again!

Hugs

Di xx

Val said...

That garden looks pretty healthy! Good finds with the kitchen antiques. My husband would be envious of them, and he would have loved the soap box derby. I've never had a gooseberry, but both my grandmas used to talk about them, so I'm pretty sure they're around this area somewhere.

Sarah said...

I think you are right Di, my grandmother used to do the same and SD's Mum still uses hers and does the same thing. We are really pleased with the veg garden at the farm, it's been lots of hard work but it's paying off. Dorset is so beautiful, this area give Cornwall a run for it's money in my book. xx

It's looking great Val, I think we are going to have a bumper crop of Raspberries this year! A little worried about the Damson tree which seems to have got something called plum leaf gall mite - all the websites say it shouldn't affect the health of the tree and there seems to be nothing you can do about it so we shall wait and see. Hick would have loved the derby, it was lots of fun and there were cream teas too! If you see any gooseberries do try them, they are unlike anything else but really good.

Sarn said...

I simply LOVE Dorset. Lulworth Cove and Durdle Dor are picture postcard beautiful aren't they? I also liked Dorchester when I visited.

Chicken? CHICKEN? I thought the kitty's name was Postie! What happened to the name?

Glad to see you getting out and about and staying positive in the face of adversity.

Hugs, Sarn xxx

AGuidingLife said...

popping in. I do hope the sunshine and fantastic fun is keeping you out. Thinking about you xx

Sandra said...

Hello Sarah!
That kitten looks adorable...I've now got twelve (!!) cats on our property, must blog about them and how they came to join our family on my new blog. Hope to see you there x

Polly said...

Oh Sarah, I’m sorry I’ve been absent, I hope you didn’t think I had abandoned you. Your ex sounds thoroughly despicable. I’m glad you have SD. Your daughter is a credit to you, and, not that you need it, but confirmation that you are a great mum. I cried when I read about Master Mac, I hope it mends very soon.
Your cabinet is gorgeous, and your marble desk, I like all the accessories too. What fun you have down the park. The veg garden looks great. A gooseberry bush just appeared one day in my garden, must have been a bird, but I don’t like them, too bitter for my sweet tooth.
When times are bad you have some lovely go to areas in your neck of the woods. I only know you through blogging but I think you’re strong and will survive. I’m going to be a regular proper visitor from now on, I want to make sure that you are going to be ok :-) xx