Saturday - Sleep in Day

A friend asked me “What did you do today?” and I was reminded of my mother saying something similar every Saturday when she would ring around 9.00am in the morning. She has rung me every Saturday for years and I would almost get a telling off if I wasn’t there to answer the phone. Sometimes it would annoy me but now it is precious. She would ask me what I had done that week and for me it would often be the same thing and so I would just say that. Now-a-days she only rings when she remembers as she is in her late 80’s and things skip her mind or she can't remember what she's done in the past so routines aren't quite happening these days. It’s then that I put pen to paper and let her know what I have done in the last week.

So instead of telling my friend, I said I would blog it with pics. Then she suggested I do a whole week.

So

This is for you Sue.

Saturday for me is ‘sleep in day’. I go to work five days a week and then Sunday I have to be up early for our 8.00am church service so Harry will leave me to sleep and even if someone does ring he will just check and if I’m still sleeping he will tell them, so I can sleep on.
And because Mum and Dad didn’t ring that didn’t wake me either. This meant I (well both of us really) slept until well after 9.00am - so a good catch-up on sleep.

I usually do our sheets on a Monday for part of my 'home blessing hour' but we are expecting the remains of a cyclone then, so I figured I’d do it today so it would get dry.

Dry?!

It has rained off and on all day and the weather report last night had said clouds and then a sunny afternoon … I’m still waiting to see the sun. Needless to say I got them mainly dry and with the help of our hot water cupboard where I put the folded washing, some on top of the cylinder, it will get dry without using the dryer.


I had a look around the garden and decided to harvest some of our rhubarb. There is a huge amount and I wanted to make some muffins as we don’t buy biscuits - I was craving something sweet. There was so much there I made two batches of rhubarb and ginger muffins; one to freeze and the other to use over the next few days. I stewed and froze two ice cream containers and a yogurt container full, for breakfast when the rhubarb is not so prolific.

(In the pic they are just freezing before I put the lids on)

And the garden…. (for you Linda)

We have kept at it over the summer and are already planning our winter crops. Being on a sickness benefit and my income, there really is not much to live on, so we are growing all our vegetables and some of our fruit.

Every day we are harvesting a cucumber or two and maybe a zucchini.



We have a forest of tomato plants and a large spread of pumpkins growing.


The sunflowers (the pic at the top of this post) are blooming and we have a good supply of capsicums.












Carrots are in three different stages - one we are just starting to use, one that will need thinning soon and one that is just coming up. This assures a continuous supply and there are beetroots, parsnips and peas coming up.

Unfortunately as we don’t use any sprays the caterpillars have had a feast of the brassicas (kale, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower) but I will sprinkle some soapy water on them to combat some of them and hopefully they will survive. Fortunately we have already cut the fisrt main head of broccoli off the plants so it is just the sprouting heads to come on.
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Harry puts in a potato crop every year and this year he has already dug out a good supply he planted in spring which he has stored and is putting in the second sewing for the end of the season. This will hopefully last us all year until the first harvests of Spring plantings later in December. The bamboo sticks are to support the plants as they grow so they don't lie all over the ground. We are hoping this keeps the air through them so the blight doesn't get them.




So tonight’s dinner was all home-grown except the chops.












The sun setting was not as bright as some have been lately but never-the-less it still had some nice colours.

All in all - a good day.

And for that I praise God for the blessings He gives us.

Psalm 103 
1 Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 
2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 
3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 
4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 
5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.


New International Version (NIV)