Sadly, she is house-bound, and not having any close family (and having lost her husband 20 years ago), other than myself she only has one of her neighbours and her home help for company.

I’m really enjoying visiting Mrs A, she is an interesting lady and I’m finding out a lot about the history of the area (she has lived in the local area for over 40 years so has many tales to tell).

I wasn’t sure what to expect with volunteering with Age Concern, but already I’m finding it very rewarding.  :)

And I’ll try and be a bit more regular with my blog posts in future…

This time I’m attempting:

• Watercress
• Spinach
• Chives
• Parsley
• Chili
• Coriander

Note to self:  Do not rely in sister to water…

I’m really, really, hoping that this article is  a spoof.  I’m not a lover of supermarkets, and truly believe that they already hold too much of a monopoly over our buying habits, put local businesses out of business, and limit our choices as consumers.  And not to get too ‘Big Brother’ but via store cards, credit cards, in-store pharmacies, and on-line shopping, supermarkets already know our buying habits – which brands of shampoo we use, if we are diabetic, whether we smoke, if we drink too much…

(I have a theory that if the supermarkets / major stored linked databases and stored information on each of us with those records held by the public sector, we truly would end up in a Big Brother society.  Imagine a system where the NHS could see how many units of alcohol you were purchasing from the shops each week, and up your National Insurance contributions accordingly?  I think we are only spared this at present because of the ‘preciousness’ of personal data – no supermarket would share it, and also the complete ineptitude of public sector offices to a) keep reliable information and b) not to leave it on trains etc.  But I digress.)

I just wonder if I alone in finding the fact that supermarkets also intend on supplying housing utterly horrifying..?

I love my sister to bits, but it appears that she meant to ‘take care’ of my plants while I was away in the sort of mafia sense, rather than in the Mother Theresa sense that I meant her to.  During my ‘traincation’ jaunt around Europe for a couple of weeks – incidently in the hottest couple of weeks so far this year – it appears that she neglected to water any of the plants at all.

Her insistence that she “did actually water them” is slightly cast into doubt by the fact that I have returned to total mummification of my watercress, parsley, coriander, and basil, while the tomatos and chilis have neglected to germinate at all.

Ho hum…

I’ll have to start again from scratch.

Anyway, here is a quick update on how I’m getting on with my sproutage

• Coriander is looking healthy and hearty
• Parsley is also looking healthy and hearty
• Basil is looking healthy and hearty
• The sweet peas I started in my little pots on the window ledge are all around 3 inches high now, and have been transplanted into the garden
• However, my tomato and chili seeds have yet to do anything.  They’ve been in the greenhouse for 2 weeks now, and nothing.  They are both in their own individual little bags to keep them extra warm and moist…I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong?
• I have also transplanted my carrots into the one tiny patch of soil in the garden that the cat isn’t using as it’s personal potty.  (Any tips on how to stop cats from pooing in the garden much appreciated!)  I’m not sure how they will fare, as the weather has turned here – it’s very wet, cold and windy now.  But we’ll see.

Next time:  Why I have the greasiest hair on the planet.  Well, nearly.

This is a little work in progress at the mo’, but here’s a little painting that I’ve been doing for my dad of a bloke on a motorbike.  It’s his birthday in a couple of weeks, and he’s an ex-biker so I hope he likes it.

(Image: www.bankaholic.com)

Today I cut up my credit card.

This is a big step for me, but I am determined to live within my means, and to get out of this vicious cycle of debt.

Each month – no matter how careful I am – I seem to end up always spending a few quid on the credit card – the end result being that I have never actually paid it off, even though the APR has risen steadily over the past 3 years.

Actually, it was a little bit frightening cutting it up.  The thought that ‘what if I get stuck somewhere and need to use it in an emergency’ ran through my mind.  But I think it’s this anxiety that keeps people in the debt cycle.

I will just need to manage my finances and my expenditure a lot better than I have been in recent years.   But, it was good enough for my grandparents during the war (with rationing as well!), so I am up for the challenge.

Since the weather has been so bad, I have been living primarily on stew and soup…partly to warm my cockles in this cold, wet, windy weather, and partly because of my inability to cook (both are so easy to make).

So, this week I have been experimenting with different types of soups, and I invented a rather lovely soup if I do say so myself – so I thought I would share it here.

This serves 3 people if you are a greedy guts like me and like a lot of soup…but could probably serve about 5 people as a starter.

It is also pretty health-tastic – click on the ingredients below to find out why they are so good for you

Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 medium sweet potatos
• 1 butternut squash
• about 30 ml of olive oil
• Some veggie gravy (or stock if you have it – I didn’t so made do with gravy!)
• Salt
• Chilli
• Dash of milk
• Mixed herbs

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan on a low heat
• Dice the onion and garlic and add to pan – heat until soft  (about 5-10 mins)
• Skin and dice the sweet potato.  Add to the softened onion
• Skin and dice the butternut squash (take out the seeds!).  Add to the onion and potato
• Heat until potato and squash start getting soft (about 15 mins)
• Meanwhile, mix veggie gravy or stock to 1/2 litre of water and then cover the veggies
• Add a pinch of salt and chilli and mixed herbs to taste
• Simmer for another 10 – 15 mins until veggies are soft
• Add a dash of milk
• Blend the whole lot until smooth
• Serve with some wholemeal bread or with a bit of parmesan

Taste-tastic!

At the weekend I also picked up a beautiful red Hebe which I planted in the back garden, along with some Lemon Balm.  Apparently, cats don’t like Lemon Balm very much – so I’m planting some in the back garden to try and discourage Smelly Cat not to use our place as a toilet, and to use the churchyard next door instead.  (There is probably something very morally wrong with encouraging your cat to poo in a church).

Anyway, photos of the plant loveliness to follow…