I have to report that the lads have worked like trojans today.
Tim has sorted the remaining garden chores, (we needed to transplant some wild strawberry and garlic chive plants which had settled into the wrong plot), plus some additional weeding and checking on the beans and potatoes we have our eye on for Christmas day...
Chris cleaned windows in the sitting room and kitchen...there are more to go but they were the main ones I wanted done before the weekend, he still has the remainder on my agenda, if not his! Plus he had to do some extra vacuuming as the chairs, sofa, sideboard and tables etc all had to be moved for the workmen. It was just as well we did so really, Sarah and Karina's dogs like to disappear under the furniture when they are here and so we were able to vacuum up quite a bit of dog fur that they had left behind in those dark, carpeted recesses which had escaped the more cursory cleaning that generally occurs around here.
Tim got out his tools and worked on our elderly and, I have to say, rickety dining chairs. I have a sentimental attachment to them as I grew up with them, inheriting them from my mother once she decided to move into smaller accommodation and needed a home for them. We really no longer need the large extendable table that seats twelve at a pinch, or the eight dining chairs, but somehow it is hard to get rid of them and replace them with smaller, more modern furniture. Anyway, Tim has tightened them up and given them a much needed polish and once again they do look lovely. Another reprieve...
I have been busy too, making shortbread and both pastries for fruit mince tarts and a special rhubarb jam tart for Sunday, some more of the wonderful strawberry sorbet for the freezer and some chocolate gingers to have in the cupboard. I just love anything ginger and especially like them coated with good chocolate with an after dinner coffee, strangely, as I do not eat chocolate as a rule. Plus they are a lovely little treat piled into a cellophane bag with a Christmas tag if you need a gift to take someone you are visiting at this time of year.
Yesterday I made the annual dog treats and packaged them up for our canine friends...they smelt amazing when they were cooking, having sesame and linseed, garlic and parmesan included...I had to get them packaged before anyone decided to have a taste! Only kidding, but it has actually happened in the past when one of the children (who shall remain nameless but we all know who it was...), ate almost a whole container of clearly labelled dog chocs which I had left on top of the fridge...
Enough of the reminiscing...
Bye now,
Di