Sewing, stitching, baking, cooking, gardening, shopping and general homemaking.

Saturday 28 May 2011

The Month Of May

I had a lot going on during May.  I went to Weymouth for a few days, then home for a few days, then to visit my brother and sister in law who live in Suffolk.
The short break in Weymouth was lovely because of the beautiful weather we were having at the end of April beginning of May.  I did a lot of walking and even got a bit of a sun tan, and I don’t tan easily so really I just ended up with a very red face!  The hotel we stayed in was ok, though the room we had wasn’t exactly nice.  It was clean and the bed was comfortable, the en suite bathroom only had one of those tiny hand basins in it but, as I said, it was clean.  The food was fine, proper dinners (meat and two veg) with a very nice starter and dessert, and full English breakfast if you wanted it as well as the usual cereals and fruit juice.  The bar lounge was very pleasant too and there was entertainment every night.
I really enjoyed my stay in Suffolk as well.  As usual we were made very welcome and enjoyed my SILs always excellent cooking.  We had two outings, one to Lavenham, which is a very interesting old town with a lot of Tudor buildings, and a full day in Bury St Edmonds, a really fabulous place with lots of proper shops, not your usual high street chains (these were tucked away in a new shopping precinct).
At home I’ve been doing my usual sewing and trying to learn to hand knit.  This knitting lark is a bit of a struggle for me!  I’ve knitted a couple of dolls things and a tiny teddy bear.  Today I’m having a go at crochet.
In the garden we now have the polytunnel up and running.  So far I’ve planted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, broad beans, peas, beetroot and carrots.  Only a few of each, enough for the two of us.  There is still enough room left for some successional sowing, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to extent out harvesting season by doing it this way.  Outside my strawberries are doing well, if the weather would pick up a bit we could have strawberries soon.  After such a lovely April it’s disappointing that the weather has turned cool, dull, rainy and very windy.
I’ve been doing my usual amount of baking.  This week it was almond and apricot cake.  It should have been almond and orange cake but I forgot to put the butter into the mixture and it turned out so rubbery it was inedible, the birds and fox got this, it disappeared quickly so they must have enjoyed it!

3 comments:

nic @ nipitinthebud said...

goodness Ann, how do you fit it all in!
Polytunnel progress sounds good.
Well done for persevering with new craft hobbies - I'm quite good at knitting now but still harvest mastered the beast that is crochet.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ann...great to see your post! Happy the polytunnel is working well for you and hubby!

I have a baking story for you, my Dad liked to bake 2 cakes at Christmas time, pound cake and rum cake. One evening he was making his pound cake and two boys from the neighborhood turned up. He got to talking to them about one thing and the other and turned the oven on to BROIL rather than BAKE! So the cake cooked on the top but not the bottom (which was runny and gooey). He was so upset he wouldn't even make another one! I think we ate the top and I guess Mom threw out the rest. So I understand about your baking dilemma. I'm sure the birds and foxes enjoyed their treat! *smile*

Looking forward to seeing your knitting and crocheting projects!

Peggy said...

Hi Ann, you have been busy!At least the weather cannot affect the veg in the tunnel, this wind is drying and tearing everything to shreds over here.Our peas & beans are looking very much the worse for wear, I am holding onto the sweetcorn at home as long as I can.