Day Two in the Holiday House

A lot cooler today, with a good breeze, much more pleasant. Very quiet day, only other living soul I saw was the cat, this morning, not seen him since...................and the garden birds.Heard horses and cyclists, not much else..Watered plants in friend's polytunnel, and had croissants and coffee for breakfast. Sewing machine still unhappy with me, will give it a day or two before I  give it a hard stare and a wagging finger in its general direction.  Knitted sheep's legs instead. Garden full of squabbling shouty wee starlings most of the morning, lovely and great fun to watch :) Morning shower was cold, as seemed to be no hot water, need to look into that, but not tonight. More success with new camera- got the strap attached/battery in/memory card in, then managed to install it all on to the laptop - well chuffed about that, small victories and all that. Had the luxury of a few hours sleep in the middle of the afternoon, slept off headache, but in the meantime have come down with some rather horrible bug, must have picked it up in town yesterday is all I can think of. Feeling really bleurgh, so heading up the hideously frighteningly steep wee stairs to bed, hoping to feel more like myself in the morning.

Day one in the Holiday House

Hot and humid here still, not pleasant, weather-wise; finished some bunting, started another project, fell out with sewing machine. Egg and bacon for holiday breakfast, gin and Danish pastry for supper - and why ever not?  Took delivery of new camera after having discovered that cameras really don't bounce on Italian ceramic tiles.....  looking for ward to getting to grips with  it, but not tonight ( see gin/supper comment)  Awoke this morning at usual time, but to almost silence - missed my Geordie and Donald at 5am. Lapsed back into sleep to be literally rudely awakened by very robust bleeping of friendy's alarm which they'd forgotten to switch off. Time will tell if I managed to beat it into submission. Caught up with two good old friends by phone, one very drunk and rambling, matched my mood perfectly. Missed one other friend on Facebook :( but will catch up tomorrow.  Now to try and sleep, bed is very comfy, but very big.............. need to go and open window again. Have found holes in favourite dress...................and need another lime. Seems to be raining now - that light, spattery summer rain.......

1st August

I'm off on my holidays today :)

Rosebud cardigan

I enjoyed knitting this, the yarn is a lovely soft cotton, with tiny pink rosebuds along the way. It just needs the right buttons now, and will hopefully be entered into the County Show - more on that anon!

Wee hoose

Home made cottage cheese

This is very very easy, and a great way of using up any surplus milk, just scale it up or down in accordance with what you have available 2 quarts of milk 1/4 cup white vinegar Heat milk to about 170/180 degrees, remove from heat and stir in the vinegar; almost immediately it will start to separate into curds and whey. Leave for 2 - 3 hours or so, then drain carefully through a muslin lined colander. When drained, tie the top and suspend to drip right through - I leave mine on the tap overnight.  Turn out the cheese into a bowl, break up with a fork and add coarse sea salt to taste. Keep in the fridge.

Charleston Farmhouse

I'm a huge fan of the art and crafts of the Bloomsbury group, and am lucky enough to be sending off for a ticket to have a house/garden visit and to see the murals at Berwick church, in August. I first went to Charleston back in the late 1980s, not long after it first opened to the public, fell in love with it all. I'm looking forward to re-visiting it again, will make sure I have my camera! http://www.charleston.org.uk/