Photocall day

This morning I enjoyed a lie-in whilst the FH took the girls to church, then whilst they were gone, I had a lovely bath, got some plums for my breakfast, and started on the chores - hanging washing was first on the list. The weather today has been dry and bright after a terribly squally night - a lot of wind and rain.

When the FH brought in the eggs this lunchtime, one of them was cracked. We have a theory that one of the hens is expelling the egg at high speed, and then it cracks when it hits the nest box - but perhaps she is just choosing the nest box with the thinnest layer of straw. Anyway, we are getting a cracked egg a few times a week, and that has to be removed from the shell and put in the fridge to be used as soon as we can. Usually, that means the next morning's breakfast. This egg is the freshest I've photographed as it was still warm from the nest box.

This is the meal plan for the next two weeks. We are continuing with our minimum spending on groceries, using up what we have in the pantry and freezer. This menu is a combination of what we have left that I can make without buying anything like meat or pasta, for example. Yesterday I bought broccoli, cabbage, apples, clementines, honey and instant mash. The instant mash is used for a kind of bread dough that keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days, so that you can just use a little at a time. I use it to make cinnamon buns, breadsticks, bread rolls, etc but I find it a bit heavy to make actual loaves of bread.

These two girls were just looking out when I passed by - in an earlier photocall last year, there were three white girls, but one of them died just before Christmas, and we don't know why. However, these two are looking fit and healthy and continue to put on weight.

And last, these are new pictures of the quail. The FH cleaned out the house this morning and gave them some more straw and they absolutely love it - they are making themselves deep nesting holes to rest in, and having a great time.

Quail are ground-living birds and love to get under things, so this straw is just the business for them - they dived right in and hid themselves away! We haven't had any eggs from them yet, but we are hoping that as the days are lengthening, the eggs will soon come!