Wednesday, 28th September 2016 - Great Dixter Hornets

I took tim to the station for the start of his trip to Bangkok. The flight is eleven hours which sounds rather unpleasant to me even with films to watch. I could have gone with him but the price of the flight and Tim being at a conference dissuaded me. It was only yesterday that I found out he is taking have the week as holiday!!! I suppose it's reasonable when travelling nearly six thousand miles. That doesn't stop me feeling outdone and grumpy.

I took Sarah to Great Dixter this afternoon. We had a rather splendid time. The dahlias were looking gorgeous. We wandered through the meadow to find four men up to something. Sarah being the inquisitive sort had to find out what was going on. They were preparing for a plant fair at the weekend by fencing off a hornets nest. I hope the hornets keep to their side of the fence.

The Great British Bake Off was there to comfort me in my lonesomeness this evening.

Friday, 23rd September 2016 - Discipline

During a photo download I was told my memory was full. This is when I hand over to Tim with his technical abilities to sort it out. And he does and has whilst telling me how to correct the problem. Yep, yes, yes, OK, got-it. Sssshhh, I really haven't got a clue. Thank goodness for intuitive Macs. Unless you still haven't got a bloody clue. Back to Professor Dwyer.

Those of you who do watercolour painting and know about stretching paper....do you find it a pain in the arse? I now use heavy weight paper that will cope with water being sploshed about and not buckle so I don't have to. My art tutor likes us to stretch our paper. I have been taking on the task over the last couple of days to be a good student and prove that I can succeed. It is all about the right amount of water on the paper and tape and timing. Out of a dozen none are perfect. I have buckles, cockles, bends, ripples and lifted tape. To push myself further into the abyss of failure I decided to try using some handmade Khadi paper with embedded petals. It's a bit on the crinkled side.

Drawing with silverpoint is something I am working on. A technique that is beautiful. I got totally and utterly lost in concentration while having a go this evening. You cannot rub it out. I rather like the fact that all mishaps cannot be erased. You use a piece of silverwire in a holder which leaves deposits on a prepared surface. Mine is ground containing sanguine colour (bit more fleshy than I intended) with chicken bone. All rather gorgeous.

Thursday, 22nd September 2016 - The Walled Nursery

The warmth tempted Tim and I out in the MG. We took a trip to Cranbrook to collect my drugs and iron, through Kilndown to drop off a rejuvenated computer and onto The Walled Nursery for coffee and cake for me and creamed tomato soup with Parmesan, garlic and herb bread for Tim. We saw the delightful Anneli taking a break from her Shepherds Hut where she does amazing massage and Reiki Therapy. I still have a voucher to claim to release my stress and tension. Sooo looking forward to it. We returned home with a geranium that smells of Turkish Delight. Tim is building a shelf for it to live in our bathroom so when I have a bath I can float a leaf or two in the water. He likes the taste of Turkish delight and I will be infused with it.

I had Poldark to accompany me while I was on a ironing marathon, but was interrupted by a call from Mum. She called 999 last night and was admitted to hospital. Don't worry she was back home by 6.30am with the advice to go to the GP if she gets any further pain. They thought her severe pain could be a heart attack but thorough tests came back negative. She did inform me that on the way to hospital in the ambulance it stopped and reversed so the driver could rescue an injured owl that they showed to Mum. I don't think they were that concerned about her intolerable pain. She has painkillers which she does not wish to take as they don't agree with her. This is reassuring as it means she cannot be in too much discomfort.

We watched Prometheus this evening and were warned about the gory content. There was plenty. I am rather disturbed as it involved slimy snake/octopus type aliens which liked entering through the mouth and exiting by bursting out a stomach. Rather painful. Sleep well.

Wednesday, 21st September 2016 - Sourdough Day One, Attempt Two

My sourdough experiment is up and running again. Now I am back from holiday and have time to look after it. This is from The Sourdough School. Flour and water as a starter. Done. No contamination from beer, rotted fruit or cheese. I am rather excited.

I have put myself under immense pressure this afternoon. I have set the timer to fifteen minutes. I feel this is an appropriate amount of time for the sprinkler to water a patch in the dehydrated garden. But it has made me very competitive (only with myself) to see how much I can get done in that fifteen minutes. I have a gathering sense of panic. My picture I had to carry over from one fifteen minutes into the next to get it finished. I had time-in-hand so managed to get the rice on and cooking too. I didn't have enough minutes left to hunt down the basmati so we have easy cook long grain with our curry.

My life is in fifteen minutes slots. I quite like it. I can pour and drink a glass of wine, chop onions and get them frying, prepare half a butternut squash and a sweet potato all in one slot. Pretty good going I say.

Got to go my time is up. Paul Hollywood kneads me!!!