Goodness me I'm tired. I'm having a week off work at the minute, and I already feel like I need another week off to recover. I don't think I've been so busy for a long time. I started the week with a trip to see my sister's new house, and to walk along the beach with my mum. I think this is the first time I've seen the sea for a year. So nice to see them all, and a lovely day, but more driving than I've done in months. After all that sitting down, Sunday felt like the time for a walk, and the sun was shining, so I donned my sandals and walked to our favourite cafe. It's only just over four miles, so it feels absurd that it was so tiring. The first half was on footpaths and tracks, but the second half was all on the road. It was lovely to be able to stop and photograph the scenery that I so often drive past, but crossing and re-crossing the road to avoid blind bends, and hopping on and off the verge to avoid cars passing too close, did get rather tiresome, and I'm not sure this is a walk I'll be doing too often, despite the views. I met Peter at the cafe, so fortunately I didn't have to walk home as well. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon out in the garden, strimming the grass. I have a love/hate relationship with strimming. Ideally, I'd manage all of the grass in the garden with a combination of the scythe and the push along lawnmower, and most of the year I do this. However, neither of those things is really suitable (in my hands at least) for the narrow strip of verge down the sides of the drive. The pushalong lawnmower doesn't deal well with the bumpy ground that is everywhere other than the small front garden, and the scythe is in need of peening (of which more later) so isn't at its most effective right now. So I braved the strimmer, after a small tantrum while I tried to remember how to start the damn thing. Eventually we came to an uneasy truce, and after three or four hours with headphones and visor on, audio book playing in my ear, I was pretty pleased with the results. I'm not one for a super tidy garden - good job really as I have neither the time to keep properly on top of ours, nor the money to pay someone else to. I quite like a bit of long grass, and don't really cut beyond a small bit of lawn that we use for picnics for most of the year. But after my (so far) annual attack with the strimmer, everything does seem rather calmer and a lot bigger. There was a reason for all my strimming - a friend arrived on Monday afternoon to camp with her family. They'd been planning to go to a campsite, but for various reasons had decided they weren't happy with communal facilities, so I'd offered a spot at the end of our garden. We have a separate toilet and sink, and plenty of space, and of course our deluxe outdoor shelter which got plenty of use, especially in the evening. They left on Wednesday, and there was just enough time to sanitise the spare loo before our next guest arrived (just one this time, and just for a short visit). Today I popped to meet a friend for ice cream outside another cafe, and now one of Peter's friends is here (I'm hiding while they talk about guitars).
I had all kinds of plans for this week. Some things I've done (mostly the ones that involve other people), but others I've not even started. Right now I don't have any appointments tomorrow, and it looks like the rain will have stopped by then, so I might have a day of garden pottering. The list of jobs is getting longer and longer, and I only have another three days off work. No jobs tonight though - I'm anticipating another evening in the outdoor shelter watching the sun set over the hills.
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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