Friday Skywatch in Bournemouth

We've been in Bournemouth this week, looking after our grandson while his parents were working on their house.

Although the weather forecast had been poor, on Friday the sun shone. Time to drop tools and go for a walk on the beach. We watched the paragliders who were swooping along the coastline, taking advantage of the steady updraft. 

A perfect subject for Friday Skywatch.

The beach huts are council owned and are rented out for daily use. On the upper level are the newer lodges that can sleep up to four adults and two children. They are kitted out with bathroom, kitchenette and beds. Although a lot of fun, I think you might feel rather like sardines in a tin with full occupation!

Two of the lodges were being decorated with balloons and banners in preparation for a party.

We had the beach pretty much to ourselves.

Nothing for the lifeguard to do.
(He was sunbathing on his deck!)

Today it's snowing again!

Seed Swap

The local annual seed swap event was held yesterday. This year I had tabletop space to sell surplus plants from my garden. I potted up a good amount of my sturdiest perennial and bi-annuals. Luckily I'd managed to cram all the pots onto the greenhouse floor before the subzero temperatures and snow arrived, so they were in good shape.

Thank goodness I'd thought to print out a few photos of the things that I was selling because people kept asking what the various uniformly green plants would look like in flower! My stand is the one with the green cloth cover.

In spite of miserable weather and a smaller turn-out than last year business was brisk. My pots were priced at £1 each. Everyone loves a bargain! I shared my proceeds with the swap to help with their running costs. It was really heartening to see so many young parents with their children at this event, hopefully introducing them to a life-long interest in growing both flowers and their own organic produce.

I had taken in packets of seeds gathered last autumn, including climbing runner beans, 'Blue Lake' and 'Lazy Housewife', two prolific varieties. I swapped them for the range of vegetable seeds below.

I spent some of my takings on varieties of mangetout, pea and courgette that are new to me. I've bought from this smallholder before and her seeds are always good. She gives very helpful advice. Pick, pick pick the 'Norli' mange tout, she told me, the way the French like to eat them, while the pods are very small. 

I'll do my best!

I also bought a few tubers of potatoes that I've not tried before. I'm always searching for the perfect spud for my soil. So far 'Charlotte' remains hard to beat.

Now I'm itching to be out in the garden, but guess what - it's raining. I've had to stay inside, FaceTime daughter and grandson, eat trifle, drink wine and other wickedness - it is Mothering Sunday after all!

I do hope that you are also being suitably indulged/indulgent!

Seeds

Back in late summer I hardened off the skins of the squash crop so that they would store well throughout the winter months.

I was very successful - those skins are tough! I tried all my stoutest kitchen knives on a particularly large specimen last week. Hopeless, as impenetrable as Fort Knox. Himself went to the garage and came back with a saw. That did the trick.
This smaller squash was easier to split open. I'm  saving the seeds to exchange at the annual seed swap this coming Saturday. When the seed is fresh it grows away very readily .

Rather than spend time separating the flesh from the tough skin I remove the seeds and put the squash halves to bake in the oven. Once cooked it's so easy just to scoop out the softened flesh.

It goes in the pot for vegetable soup,

 adding good colour and texture.

It's definitely soup weather at the moment!

Minus 6

Looked out of the window this morning. Not much snow, but by golly, it's nippy. The thermometer says minus 6 but that doesn't factor in the wind chill. The snow is very fine, it has blown through the thinnest gaps in the greenhouse and powdered some of the plants.

       

Time to put on my boots and take a look round the garden.

Nice little drifts.

  

 

   

  

The new front door is working well. No draughts, no jamming, no drifts in the hall!

I love the way the garden structures look against the blank canvas of snow.

Here's my grey sky for Friday skywatch. 

We've had a further downfall of snow since I took these photos.

Keep warm, folks.

(Or if you're very hot, keep cool!)

New door

Yesterday we had a new front door fitted.  I can hear you saying, in this weather?! Yes, we are obviously nuts. Lack of a door for much of the day meant that the house became bitterly cold. Trouble was, the old door had taken as much objection to the cold and wet as I have. Swollen joints, creaks and groans from both of us. What a tussle it had become to get the blasted thing to open, and then twice as hard to shut. It was a solid old door with handsome fittings. But it's goodbye to all of it because we've replaced it with (oh, wash my mouth out) plastic. And the plastic door comes with some very ordinary, modern furniture. There was a time when I would have objected strongly but now I've conceded defeat, I just want a door that doesn't sulk or fight back but one that opens, closes and locks with ease.
We had to clear the area ready for the workman. We moved from a farmhouse to this cottage twenty years ago and are still not quite accustomed to the lack of space. Don't mention the word, declutter. (I have a super friend who is an organising consultant. She worked in Japan for several years and her business is called taisei, the Japanese word for system and order. She's very sweet-natured so she doesn't look me in the eyes and tell me to get some control.) So, we took the pictures off the walls and moved the carvings from the floor. How strange it looked without them.
Today the new door is fitted. The surround needs to be painted but things have been put back, more or less, in position.

Phew, door sorted, just before the next deluge arrived.

It's Shrove Tuesday. I hope you're eating pancakes!

Keeping out the cold

We are getting through a lot of wood this winter. Our small woodburner is lit in the morning and by the time we flop down in the sitting room in the evening it has built up a luxurious level of heat . We had another delivery of logs this afternoon, I think it's the fourth truck load.

Himself helped the woodman to chuck the logs into the store. The sun was shining and the wind had dropped. A nice day, but you can see from the roof on the store that where the sun hadn't shone for long a dusting of snow remained.

Himself was well wrapped up in his Rupert Bear scarf!

It's heartening to see spring flowers appearing.

Primroses by Maisie's grave.

Even the rhubarb is pushing through.

By 'eck, yon Yorkshire rhubarb's tough!

Friday Skywatch

As well as a ridiculous amount of rain, we've also had some fierce winds over the last few weeks. No tree branches down in the garden this time, but the neighbour's chimneystack gets the brunt of the west winds and has become somewhat the worse for wear. They put scaffolding up on Wednesday while we enjoyed a rare sunny, dry day, but then the wind got up and it has been blowing merrily ever since. Very sensibly no-one has climbed up to do the necessary work. Perhaps next week!

Sharing my skyline 

with Skywatch Friday.