Thursday 25 January 2018

The Best Laid Plans......

I had rather good plans for today.   Because I have had one or  two very busy days (no time to put on a post yesterday as I had visitors in the evening - lovely chatty evening) I intended to have a nice quiet day today.   Hair appointment is always 9.30
and then I had nothing else planned and I intended to just take it easy.

Ha,ha.  I had started to make a recipe yesterday and had to finish it today by adding green olives and chopped tomatoes and simmering for an extra half hour.   When I opened the fridge I saw a parsnip and an apple staring me in the face reminding me that I intended to make parsnip and apple soup.   I did both of those jobs and as I was doing them the door bell rang and it was a friend R calling in for a chat.   Nice to see her and we sat and chatted for an hour.   Then it was time to eat my soup - very nice too..
The door bell rang - Lakeland with a parcel of various bathroom and kitchen cleaning sprays - I unpacked them.  If you have ever considered half a dozen spray cannisters together you will find that each has its way of being opened and it is not necessarily the same as its neighbour, so I now have a line of cannisters in the kitchen waiting for my son to interpret the instructions and get them in working order before I put them away.

I sit down at my computer to put on today's post and find an e mail from a stranger asking if I can tell him anything about Dick Riv ron as he has just bought a painting by him.   He was my first husband's uncle and a very good painter.   He lived in Australia.   So I spent the next half hour photographing the paintings I have by him, then found it impossible to send them by e mail - so that is another job for my son when he next calls.

It is almost tea time now.   The only thing is that I do content myself with the knowledge that as you age it is much better to be busy and moving about all day than it is to sit about.   And I have saved on the central heating because I have been so busy that I forget to turn the temperature up all day!

It has been a lovely sunny morning here but has now gone rather grey and is spitting about with rain.  I cheer myself up by thinking it will be February next week, February is only a short month and then it will be March and things will begin to improve.   Daft really, but it keeps me going in the dark days of winter (getting a bit lighter in the evening though isn't it).

Getting lighter in the morning too.   Those of you who have read my blog for a long time will know that my favourite bird is the rook and that on the farm we lived about half a mile as the rook flies from a huge rookery.   Well, I have literally only moved two fields away from the farm and those self same rooks fly over my bungalow each morning and it is now light enough for me to see them as I eat my shredded wheat and banana.   Nothing changes.

Four of the clock.   Time to get Tess's tea (yes she can tell the time) and then I really sit down with a cup of tea and watch Antiques Road Trip.   Hope I am not tempting fate by saying this - must go I hear the door bell!!!




15 comments:

Shawn said...

It sounds like a perfect day, with some company, some solitude and enough busyness to feel entitled to that cup of tea and a programme. Having the sun certainly helps, doesn't it?

angryparsnip said...

Lovely, busy day.
I love that Tess knows what time it is. Watson and thehamish knew time also.
iwinston just knows anytime is fun time.

cheers, parsnip

Joanne Noragon said...

Four of the clock! I must try "of the clock" on my granddaughter. She still, at age 16, cannot tell time. She must convert quarter to four to 4:45, for example. I really must make it worse for her. Digital time stinks!

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

Wish I could just look at stuff in the fridge and go "Tada, I will make soup or a stew or whatever from that"

Librarian said...

What a fun read, Pat, I do love your humour!
Occasionally, I have such days, too. I intend to do "nothing" and really rest, but then a friend calls, or my sister suggests and outing, or something (or someone) else comes up. Always nice in the end, but always not as expected.
The hours of daylight are definitely lengthening in both directions. And the blackbirds have been singing since January 8th already!

Sue in Suffolk said...

February next week is a Happy Thought.
Hope tomorrow is a 'just right' day for you

Gail, northern California said...

Weave. Can you help me? I can't seem to post a comment for Cro at Magnon's Meanderings. The only available button is PUBLISH so I really don't know what the problem is.

Gerry Snape said...

I love it that Tess knows when it's time to eat...already my two little kittens are ready at ten to five waiting for their wet food....forget those biscuits.....

John Going Gently said...

Brainy tess

Gwil W said...

Sounds a bit like Postman Pat's Busy Day only in your case Postwoman Pat. Maybe the episode is on YouTube to watch in the unlikely event you should ever find time to watch it ;-) The Chinese sage said simply be still and wait and things will happen of themselves. I guess you just had that experience!

Cro Magnon said...

Our dog, Bok, knows exactly when it's time for his supper, and he has a very penetrating bark to tell us!

Rachel Phillips said...

I had a cat who knew when it was my bedtime and at precisely the time when I normally went to bed, even if I still sat in the chair watching tv and hadn't moved an inch, would go and sit by the stairs door and wait. The cows on the farm always knew when milking time was too, and they hated when the clocks changed.

Heather said...

No peace for the wicked!! You certainly don't have time to get bored. It's lovely, if fanciful, that 'your' rooks come to keep an eye on you.
Containers and canisters with different opening methods drive me to distraction. Even with my glasses on I often can't read the diagrams on the caps. I suppose it is all in aid of child safety, disregarding the grandmothers and greatgrandmothers going crazy with the effort of being independent!
Hope you have time for feet up today.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone. Gail, I am off to Cro's site now to see if I can help with your problem.

Jean Jennings said...

My mother always said that all you had to do was get through January - February was a short month and March brought lambs and spring. And even if we did get a snowstorm in March, it was short lived.