Bank Holiday chores

We are getting down the list of things we wanted to do this weekend, but more things keep getting added on to the list!

We have shovelled a tonne of horse poo which a kind friend donated this week. He brought his trailer and left it on the driveway, so that we could remove the very well-rotted manure to our garden. Trouble is, as you can imagine, the garden beds are not really ready to receive the manure, since they are still full of plants, so we have had to decant it into bags and store it. It will be a week or three until the beds are clear and ready for it. The shovelling made my shoulders ache a bit but the exercise must have been good for me...

The grand re-arrangement continues. The bedroom is looking good, and the pantry in the garage is filling up most pleasingly - will take some photos to share. The house is looking a little bit of a shambles whilst all this is going on, though - but unfortunately that is nothing new here.

Last night, I made another batch of green tomato pickle - 10 more jars to add to the stash. I must now have enough for about 3 or 4 years worth of pickle eating, so I will have to find another way of preserving next year's harvest of tomatoes....there is still ratatouille in the freezer from last year, so perhaps pasta sauce will be on the agenda - I may have worked out how to bottle it by next year...

My foot is now much better although the bruise came out most magnificently this week and drew me a little more sympathy, even though the pain has pretty much gone!

The week ahead is looking interesting: we are hosting a lunch on Wednesday for the FH and his 5 male friends who go to the weekly OAP lunch. He took them to Hunstanton the first week of the summer break, they went to a 2-4-1 restaurant near Huntingdon last week, and this week, the last week, they are coming here. UJ has helped with the menu, suggesting that he will bring potatoes, carrots and green beans from his garden, so that I can serve them alongside a home made Toad in the Hole, and then he will also provide fresh pears for a pear crumble with custard. On Thursday, I plan to take the girls and possibly two friends to Wimpole Hall near Royston for the day, and then on Saturday, we might go to Sheringham, but that depends on the weather! The FH will be taking three trios of GPOs to the Pure Breed auction on Sunday, and then we are into the last days of the holidays as the girls go back to school on Tuesday.