September sunshine and showers

Sorry folks,  haven't really been avoiding you all, it's just that I don't seem to have been able to sit down and write, about nothing much in particular, and now I have 2 weeks of nothing much to report on. I'm still not sleeping well, getting up late some days, and having a slow start, I managed to deliver some stuff to the charity shop, and tried to deliver some of Mum in Laws beans to Daughter , but the first time she was out. I still haven't got around to sorting out the broken  food processor, but, tired of  chopping with a 'hand' chopper, I did discover a small electric chopper, which has helped with the things I need to chop, and does them in no time.

Tomatoes going red

So are the peppers

This year some of my anemones have actually grown!

I walked up to the shops near Daughter's the next day, taking the beans with me. I could see as I approached the house that the car wasn't there, but I did need the use of her bathroom, as the local council helpfully, closed most of the toilets in the local shopping areas. I had a key, and thought she would not mind, so I let myself in, and used the bathroom. I decided to leave the beans, and was looking for some paper to leave a  note, when I heard a little voice. I opened the front door and almost gave Daughter a heart attack, until she realised it was me. I was very apologetic, but she said it was ok, and offered me lunch. I declined and suffered the torture of watching her eat a bacon butty. I'm pleased to report that Nathaniel's eye has healed very well and his bumped head is now smooth and white again. After I'd walked home and had a 'healthy' lunch, I tackled the ironing and did a pile of shirts, my most hated item.
At Weight watchers my weight at stayed the same, which was good really, as I'd been wavering, had several days of not calculating points, but then decided, yes I would carry on, so was extra good for 2 days. At Sainsbury's I bought 2 Covent  garden soups, one of which turend out to be rally hot and spicy. I barely amanaged to finish it before dashing off to Toddler group. It was quite a good session with several new children.
As I was leaving, Daughter rang me, she'd had some difficult news, and so had I, I don't want to go into detail atm, but I did go to her home and we chatted and commiserated, and promised prayer, and played with Nathaniel. Oh to be 2 and have no worries!. Although he did fall out of his 'big boy's' bed the first night he slept in it, so now has something soft to land on at the side. Unfortunately the news we received led to a bout of snacking and comfort eating on my part, so I had to give myself a good talking to.
On the Thursday, the announcer on Classic fm got the time wrong, he gave it an hour later than it was, so I shot out of bed, but when I got downstairs, realised that husband was still there, and hadn't even made my tea. So I was early not late. Later as I walked along the canal bank I heard a strange noise like a cry, it happened a few times, then I realised it was a female swan, somehow she had become separated from her mate, who had somehow managed to get through the lock, and was swimming away further upstream. I had never heard a swan cry before, I hope that they were reunited.

Lonely swan

That was the day when I caught up with my blogging, I decided I would try the other soup for lunch, picked up the carton and shook it, but as I did so realised I'd picked up the half full one, as it sprayed over me and the floor! Fortunately it missed my clothes, so I didn't have to change before Women's hour, which was favourite Psalms. What to choose? In the end I picked Psalm 34. There was quite a variety, and I don't think anyone chose the same.
Did I mention that the Baby alarm had stopped working? The parent unit uses rechargeable batteries,and they had stopped charging, so we had replaced them without any joy.  I managed to locate the online receipt, so took a trip to John Lewis in Watford. They managed to locate a replacement at Peter Jones in London, and as they have been reduced prior to discontinuation, I got a refund of half the price. Don't you just love John Lewis? I had tea in their outside cafe, then nipped into M&S food dept, then drove home.
The weekend was fairly normal, walking into town, bus back, with the shopping, then Sunday, as our Pastor was at his former church celebrating their 350th anniversary, we had a visiting speaker who was very good.
On Monday last week I tackled a horrible job. I took the bed apart, to clean underneath it. the worst bit was getting the mattress off. As we are getting a new bed, I would have died of shame had they delivered it and seen the thick dust. It's not that I am lazy, it's just that space is so tight in our room we cannot move the bed to clean. I also vacuumed all upstairs, and downstairs, quite therapeutic really. Husband helped me with the mattress when he came home.The weather was warm again last week, so it was a chance to cling on to my summer skirts and sandals.
Despite my being good my weight was up again, but I think it may have been a blip as my scales tell a different story. I've been eating such things as ratatouille for lunch, and one day I made a big pan of cauliflower and bacon soup, and felt really stuffed after one and a half bowls. I popped in to see Daughter but she was dashing off  to take a meal to a new Mum. However she did call back here to apologise, and so Grandad saw Nathaniel for a while, he hasn't seen him for a few weeks.

Someone had been at the brownie mixture

I had an appointment on Thursday to have my crown fitted. I'd had a few twinges whilst eating, and so he xrayed the tooth, he also gave me an injection. This meant that I couldn't eat for 2 hours, till the 'cement' was dry, which coincided withe time of Women's hour, my tongue was so numb I could hardly speak, so I rang up and made apologies over Women's hour,as it was a prayer meeting, and I don't think anyone would have understood my prayer.
On Friday  I did a  pile of ironing then after lunch my sister phoned. So I was late leaving  for my trip to the Christian Bookshop in Dunstable. The other sister is in need of a new bible, but has no bookshop nearby. However as I reached the A5 at Redbourn, I discovered it was closed, due to a major accident, The traffic was backed up on the slip road from the M1, so I went round the roundabout and onto the Nortbound M!, hoping I could find the bookshop from Junction11.
 The motorway was busy, so was the road into Dunstable. I began to wonder just why I had chosen a Friday afternoon. The chap in the bookshop was very helpful, and although he didn't have what I wanted said he could order it for me. I also enquired about a leather backed bible, but changed my mind when I heard the price. My Leather bound one is peeling, and I don't like the feel of the leatherette ones. Much against my principles, I also bought some Christmas cards, I just hope I remember I've got them later on. As I left Dunstable, I came home over the Downs to avoid the A5/M1,  It began to rain, and soon it was torrential. Oh no! my towels, my only hope was that over our town the sky still looked quite light, I just hoped that the rain was moving South slowly. I dashed in through the back gate, and rescued the towels, which were just beginning to get wet. Thank you Lord, I had envisaged having to bung them in the tumble dryer. Then I nipped up to Daughter's as I had something to ask her about. We had a cuppa, and Nathaniel kept saying 'train, oh dear', so I had to help him put his wooden train back together, knowing that as soon as I did he would take it apart again.
Saturday and Sunday were pretty normal, except that Daughter came around for a bath, as her husband had resealed theirs, and it couldn't be used t ill it dried. On Sunday I dressed for autumn, warmer skirt, tights, long sleeved top, and full shoes, except that the only pair I could find, apart from heels, were some I'd had since just before Daughter went to uni. It was good to have our pastor back. Later, just before we went out to the evening service, I complained there were a lot of black bits on the carpet, husband examined them and said they looked like broken plastic. No time to wield the Dyson, and when we came home, there were even more. I examined them, and suddenly had a lightbulb moment! I checked my shoe heels, except that there weren't any, just holes! the black plasticky heels had just perished! A trip to the shoe repairers methinks, when he gets back from Majorca. Now it's definitely Autumn, the rain and grey skies are back, the summer skirts are disappearing into storage, but I will keep some short sleeved Ts out just in case of an Indian Summer.