Random things

I've written a lot about working at home recently, and rather less about the living at home part.  I blame computers.  In fact, I blame computers for a lot of things, but in this instance I blame them because when I'm sitting in front of one, I am generally working and so that's where my thoughts naturally rest.

So, on the living front...

A 'new' garden with lovely raised veg beds and a shady patio is definitely on the horizon.  (This means I am being very lazy about all the jobs that need doing both in garden and allotment; soon the allotment will no longer be mine and soon the garden will be dug up and remade.  An excellent excuse for laziness - if I didn't manage to find 1001 other things that need doing in the house instead.)

I have, however, dug most of the potatoes and harvested rather too many French and runner beans.  Thank goodness for a freezer.

Tomatoes, beetroot, sweetcorn and celeriac appear to be a washout this year.  Also courgettes and pumpkins (the plants simply haven't grown - they look like bonsai squash plants).  How is it possible to not have a courgette mountain in the summer?  I've harvested exactly two finger-sized ones and there are no more that I can see.  There will be a few carrots, and the peas were great while they lasted, despite the best (or worst) efforts of the birds.

Looking after a friend's two daughters meant that yesterday I had three times as many children as I am used to.  I was on my knees with exhaustion by the end of the day.  Was it the noise levels, the stress of being in charge of someone else's offspring, or the constant arbitration of disputes that was so draining?  (Mind, the hours previously spent digging potatoes can't have helped either.)

I took my knitting to the pub last night (a large shawl/blanket which I seem to have been knitting for approximately 79 years) and didn't knit a single stitch because I'd run out of wool and hadn't taken a new ball.

Sewing, knitting, spinning, writing - I am achieving none of these.  There has been some sitting in the (old) garden drinking wine and daydreaming, so the time hasn't been altogether wasted.

I'm taking a complete work and computer break for a couple of weeks - back in September, hopefully with lots of enthusiasm for all these creative things left undone in the tangle of summer, especially since I still don't know what the autumn will bring work-wise.