We have rain

Today we had our first day of autumnal rain.  Bad weather had been forecast and to be fair we are really desperate for the rain - we don't mind - we actually like a day indoors doing 'stuff'.

The 'stuff' we were tackling today was one of those five minute jobs that takes hours - we had bought some cheap and cheerful voiles from Jumbos for the front windows and door to the conservatory.  Bloody hell were they cheap and cheerful - nothing on them is the slightest bit square.  What we wanted to do was shorten them but that proved to be much more difficult than we anticipated.

First of all I cut the tabs off of them because we wanted to use the header tape and then I turned the header tape over several times so that there was less to take off of the bottom.  I had my ideas as to how to achieve this and John had his own which were very different and as I think this was deemed to be a 'pink' job then my ideas should have had precedence!!

I was just getting to the end of the last voile, and my patience, when I ran out of cotton and I would not have done if the bloody bobbin hadn't kept messing about and so I threw away more cotton than I would have needed to finish the last bit.  I hope no-one notices but I had to used white which offended me greatly.

So here they are finished and hanging - and that wasn't as straight forward as it should have been because John ended up having to take all the wooden trim down and cutting bits off so that the curtains hang properly.  They look good and because we don't know whether the house next door is sold or not will provide us with some extra privacy if needed.

At least some things seemed to be enjoying the rain - all the slugs and snails were putting in an appearance.  We are so glad that we managed to get the Do-Jo packed away.  The cushions on this sofa are very tolerant of the rain so stay out most of the time but I remembered later in the day that the cushions at the outside dining table and on the steamers were still out and getting soaking.

With us all confined to barracks because of the rain this was our house today.  We were up and down with the cats and having to get a towel out to dry them off and no sooner was one settled than one of the others would want to go out and then not be too sure.  We think Charlie must have slipped somewhere because he is limping again - doesn't seem to have any bites or scratches so may have just jarred himself.

The plus side to a rainy autumnal day is that we have comfort food and I had a chili con carne bubbling away in the slow cooker for most of the day which John kept tasting (for quality control purposes) and was desperate to eat proper.

It was a particularly good one and deserved to be accompanied by our favourite red wine Agios Onoufrios which I am not so keen on when it is hot and sunny but love when we are snuggled in the lounge with the candles lit.  To be fair the lounge was still 23 degrees and we had no heating other than the candles and we both felt comfortable.

We have heard rumblings that it is going to be a wet winter - we do hope note and we do hope that the weather improves soon because Jane and John arrived late last night and they like to be able to get out and walk.  Their last few visits here have been rather fraught - they got caught up with the first lockdown last year which was announced only a couple of days after they had arrived and then they had to race to get back to the UK.  They had another trip when they were here and it rained nearly every day and they couldn't get out and then they were here when my Dad died and we had to call them to go and keep Mum company whilst we were racing down having had Mum's call to say he had collapsed.

Anyway we hope they have a lovely time.  We have invited them up for Sunday Lunch and will be able to catch up with them then and we plan to do some walking with them - weather permitting!