on a gloomy Friday afternoon

I cleaned the outside of our kitchen cupboards last weekend. Such a satisfying chore with our shiny white units but also such a futile one because next time a teenage boy breezes through the kitchen a greyish sticky miasma settles on all surfaces. Our house always looks a bit grubby even when it is clean. 

Cleaning is like chasing squirrels, you can get close but never quite catch one. Jack knows exactly what I mean, he is crashing through the cat flap at great speed several times a day, in pursuit of our resident squirrel. We call it Ricky and I rather like it. There might be two actually but we call all squirrels Ricky. 

We've been holding off turning the heating on. Although I feel like I am showing our energy provider the middle finger, it is of course I who feels cold, not them, while watching Frozen Planet II on the telly. On a more positive note, our living room bay windows face South and when the sun is out (rarely), it warms up beautifully, like a green house. We have decided that we should finally get blinds that fit the odd windows and the weird shape of the bay. I can't be sure but I have a fleeting suspicion that the windows are not fitted correctly. The blinds we have were a temporary measure when when we first moved here 18 years ago. They are too short and don't properly fit, we have to take them down to open the windows. I have made an appointment with a blind fitter. I didn't know this job existed but I am glad it does because I wouldn't know where to start. I feel defeated by these windows, but luckily the rest in the house are just normal.

With winter approaching, I am airing winter coats and jackets. I have more of those than I have pairs of shoes. There is "the good coat", an elegant black wool coat with satin trim which I use for special occasions only, of which there have been none lately. I think I wore it last to a funeral six years ago. Then there is my blue Harris Tweed duffle coat, which I made and love but rarely wear because it feels too precious to do so. The same holds true for my also me-made short teal A-line coat with the big square wooden buttons. And so it goes on. Mostly these days, I am wearing a worn-out mended lightly padded Decathlon jacket or full waterproofs. 

The weather is shocking, has been for a couple of week. My waterproofs get good use! Still, I spend as much time outside as I can. Last weekend for example, I was planting wild flower plugs in a local park. We must have planted about 1000 wild flower plugs between us. We had different plant species for different areas in the park. I mostly planted red campion, cowslip and wild primroses. Of course the plug trays were not labelled and it took some time to identify species correctly before planting them in the right area.... Did you know there are apps that can help you identify even young plants with just a few leaves? I didn't. The council wants to keep several areas in recreational parks wild to support pollinators and other wildlife. In some areas, we are using seed mixes, in other areas plug plants. I hope someone has thought this through because it was a lot of work. 

Just now, there is flooding along the large main road near us and traffic is backing up for into the distance. I noticed when I walked to the pharmacy to get my flu jag. The road floods in the same place regularly, each year the area expands by a metre or two. I am certain flooding occurred there since the beginning of times and likely will continue to do so until the sun supernovas in the distant future. 

Oh the rain! It does get to me some days. It is also getting gloomier and indoor photos more tricky to take. The scone shown here was much more golden and the soap is also more vibrant. 

Thanks for visiting 😊. Enjoy your weekend!