Reading

I love this author, I did not enjoy it as much as other plots, a dad takes his teenage daughter to a camp, they learn about it's dark history, silly things are happening, should he worry. Book 79 read this year. 

Another new author to me, he's ex police now taking a role in the private sector, he has a new team to shape, they have no experience in police work, interesting plots. Book 80 read this year.

Second book in series, the team get caught up with MI16, and help to bring down a evil gang, whose crimes include people smuggling, a good story,  sadly I found the teams ability to find everything out a bit too far, I won't read any more titles. Book 81 read this year.

Another new author to me, and a very different storyline, women have been murdered, what's the connection, and why should Travis get involved. This is a brilliant book, I really enjoyed it, I will look for more in this series. Book 82 read this year. 

Another new author to me, a very different plot, with a troubled past a young mum is a great mum to her young family, whilst trying to come to terms with her teenage years. Her husband is unaware of her plight, how will it all end, too many young lives spoilt.  Book 83 read this year.

 

I am a bookworm, I enjoy reading, I am also a fast reader, if I have a good book (two above hit that category) they are hard to put down, we don't watch much TV, never in the day and often not on in evenings, we will watch a programme we like and then turn it off. 

I have sorted my wildlife camera, it's again working through bluetooth and Wifi, I do need to move it as the lower branches move so often throughout a breezy night, which it records. I had clicked a manual button, which wanted a password each time it turned on, which I had not set up, it now been reverted to automatic log on once apt is opened. 

We met with daughter at her end of town on Friday, got a few bits from Dunelm, popped into B&M, we got George's Christmas present and a great idea for Molly, we could not find it locally, so we went online. Will we will give a book with money inside. Then on to B&Q, I got grit for my spring bulb pots, nothing else, passed on the dead reduced plants, hubby was so happy.

I have turned into my mum, whilst out with hubby I uttered the immortal words 'I wish young people would wear more clothes', there is a local trend for ladies to wear leggings? and a short top, often pale pink, almost looks like they are wearing nothing. Me, I've packed away my sandals, always a sad day, so it's socks and trainers now with warmer jumpers.

Ticking off my list.

I filled my slow cooker with dried fruits, chopped apples, brown sugar, spices and coconut oil, cooked on high heat for an hour, low hear for 2 hours.

Let it cool, use clean jars, mincemeat is done for this coming season. The posh jar will be part of a hand made gift. The 4 smaller jars will be stored longer, the bigger jar will be used for a test run, if I can talk hubby into making pies.

This juice was left over, the dark lower section if from the fruit mixed with the spices, the top section coconut oil, which will solidify, normally discarded, this year I will use the lower section to soak my dried fruit for my Christmas cake, the coconut oil I will add to the cake mix, adjusting the butter weight.

Happy with Wednesdays rainfall on Thursday morning just over 20ml, the garden us looking good.

Wednesday we were inside all day, the rain was relentless, it's that time of year when the spice drifts through the house, it was lovely, I was a bit later doing this, I have everything ready for my cakes, I will wait a couple of weeks before baking, we have visitors due and it's best not to have cakes everywhere.

I sat at my desktop doing a final, final check on my 2025 book, any time at this stage of the task is well spent. I read each page again, checked the placement of text boxes and photo's, did a final spell check, now I'm good to go, Thursday morning I had an email 50% off and free shipping, 2025 has been sent to the printers, the free delivery made it cheapest book for a few years.

I need to check my wildlife camera settings, I saw the first nights recordings, since then I have not been able to view later recordings, it keeps asking for a password and then flipping me over to strange page with no password sections, as yet I have not inputted any passwords. 

Today we are meeting daughter for coffee and chat and a look at toys for some hints, hoping to get ahead again this year.

Thinking ahead

My wildlife camera is set up, this view covers the path beside the garage, any cats visiting always come from the back of the garden. I will leave it here for a while, it's set to video anything passing at night only for now. The first night we just saw Lilly in the front section of the garden, I do plan to move it to the back section at some point.

I did say I had enough spring bulbs, I was thinking about my garden pots, I have previously purchased some white daffodils, but not paperwhites which I love, the other pack can go in the garden pots. Both of these are for inside, I'm giving up on trying to regrow amaryllis bulbs.

 

On our recent trip to my favourite garden centre, we decided to not stop for coffee, instead coming home to hubbys home made scones with cream.

I have been busy with my 2025 blog book, all my post are in the book, they look neat and tidy, all I now need to do is a final read through and do a spell check. I have already received an email with the promise of Black Friday discounts, coming soon. 

I was extremely good at the garden centre, they had lovely plants, we did have a good look, I don't have much space, so I passed on them all. Hubby is going to redo his front garden next year, so there will be a couple of plants I can use. I also did a quick walk through their Christmas section, again nothing I liked. We did get jams and pickles, we both prefer their brands.

We have enjoyed the sunny warm days this week, quite unexpected at this time of year, sat in our sunroom together, it has been the most fantastic addition to our garden space. It's pouring with rain today. 

I have all the ingredients to make mincemeat again this year, the slow cooker does all the work, hubby does like to use homemade in his pies. I have gathered everything for Christmas cakes, I'm making one cake, slightly smaller just for us, I will make a batch of cakes muffin size for daughter and brother, hopefully with a few spare for gifts.

Whose out there

I dug out nerine bulbs from my side bed a while ago, they had spread, I popped them into a pot, my plan was to plant them behind my daisies once the foliage died back. I'm surprised to see some blooms, one already cut and two more buds.

I am cutting back the two vegetable beds a bit at a time, I have leaf mulch to spread over both beds, the leaves have not broken down enough, which won't matter as the worms will do the job. Both beds have net around to stop Lilly using the space, so the leaves should not blow around. I did pick loads of green tomatoes, these will ripen in the paper bags

I've had an early birthday gift from hubby, I have wanted a wildlife camera for ages, just to see who is visiting our garden, hubby has been resisting, this was purchased in an effort to cheer me up, just for fun.

I can do very little outside before backache starts, I try and get things done, hubby will help, but already he is doing loads of things I can't do, both inside and out has been set out for ease as we get older, which is certainly helping me now. 

I have not done any crafting, I moved my work basket from beside my chair, a certain cat called Lilly was sleeping in there, she is a big cat and my knitting was getting messy. I have suggested to hubby I look for a basket with a lid, which could protect my stuff.

Sunday we had late lunch at a local pub, a good old fashioned Sunday roast, which we both enjoyed, we strolled around Portchester castle afterwards, it was a warm sunny day. On the whole it's been a relaxing weekend, the grandchildren were busy so we did not see them, other than video call. I am feeling slightly more upbeat, it's no use to wallow in selfpity, I've just finished a course of antibiotics, which has helped.