A Chilly Day

So Sunday was very very chilly and we nipped off down to Mum's taking lunch with us and shared it with her and her friend Lilian.  It was a lovely couple of hours but with time restrictions it flies by in a flash still signs are beginning to look a little more positive here on the island - there have been two days with no Covid deaths and the number of infections is reduced and vaccinations being rolled out so hopefully it wont be too much longer before some of these more onerous restrictions are relaxed.

This morning I got up and completed my job of staining and varnishing the step stools we got from Ikea.  Many many thanks to the lovely Bobster for letting us use some of the Ronseal he has used for his wood outside.  It was a great colour and covered really well and matched the colour of our kitchen units.

I will now no longer need to risk life and limb climbing up the old ladder to feed Miss Minnie because she insists on eating 'up top' and always needs to have the dish placed just close enough that she will lean forward to rub her head on my hand but never quite close enough that we touch - she doesn't actually want to touch!!  She is such a funny little thing but if she is fed 'up top' and the bowl is in the right position she feels safe - we know that in the past the big bollocked horrible cat Hobo has actually pinched her food from under her nose.  He is the one that has no fear and terrorises our three and even challenged John to a fight on more than one occasion!!

So anyway this little job is now complete and we are pleased with them.

Whilst I was waiting for the varnish to dry I took a turn around the garden and realised that it had gone mad and needed a bit of a trim back as we were fast losing the path at the end of the swimming pool!!!

I decided that I would cut back the whole of the border at the back of the garden which involved chopping back the ornamental grass which we think was what Charlie chewed and then tried to throw up.  The leaves are like velcro and even though we have been and purchased some special grass for the cats to eat when they want to they just give it a stiff ignoring in favour of the velcro stuff.

It was such a beautiful and warm day it was a real pleasure to be out in the garden.  I learned a new word today - an English one!!!  Apricity - this is one of the nicest feelings in the world, it is when you have been in somewhere cold and wintery and you step out of the shade and get to feel the warmth of the sun on your face.  Yesterday had been so grey, cold and miserable but today was one full of Apricity!!!

The plus side to being at home and enjoying the sunshine is that we know we will be guaranteed super hot water mid morning - the only trouble is that until then, and the down side, is that I am to be seen in my scruffers with severe bed-head until then!!!

I took my coffee outside today and decided what we would be having for supper.  Tonight I planned that we would have the spicy chicken wings we got the other day so I needed to make some coleslaw and find a foolproof recipe for some spicy wedges.  

Once my gardening was done I decided I would spend a bit of time on my entries for this weeks' art challenge which is Snails - it was easy to find some for the photographic section but I needed to find some inspiration for the art side.

I have had a fabulous entry in already and it is only Day 1!!!  just sometimes people get inspired immediately so thank you John Painter for your contribution.

So here were my potatoes ready to go into the oven along with the wings.  I had to cut them and then soak them in iced water for 30 minutes and then make sure they were patted bone dry before marinating in a mix of chilli flakes, black pepper and sea salt and some oil - they they were cooked for an hour in a hot oven and they were fabulous.

We had them with the wings which were also lovely and crispy and hot so the coleslaw was a welcome cool element to the meal.

We watched a bit of trash TV and then decided to call it a day as we are both out walking tomorrow and had had an awful night's sleep last night because Charlie decided to disturb us on several occasions - he is clearly feeling better!