Oh, and a trip to Croatia

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Where does the time go?

I rarely get a moment to sit and think, let alone write but, presumably, this is what life is meant to be like. Grandsons are now 7 and 1 and the 1 year old is just recovering from chickenpox. Childhood illnesses, nowadays, involve time off nursery and, as parents continue to need to work, grandparents spend time soothing spots in calamine lotion. Time away looking after grandchildren then results in gardens becoming ridiculously overgrown, rain doesn't help in the need to garden and makes matters worse by bringing on extra growth and then, when the sun finally arrives, it is just too hot to be outdoors!

However, for the past few days, it has been possible to:

A - not be called on to look after a sick child

B - spend considerable time in the garden

C - feel a sense of achievement in not leaving the curtillage and eking out meals from leftovers in the fridge and freezer.

One of the other inevitabilities in looking after grandchildren and not being home has been in the food we have been eating. Travelling, always seems to me, to bring on the unhealthy. Picking up a coffee and a pastry on the early morning drive to the kids' home. A sandwich from a supermarket for lunch or even fish and chips. Then, exhausted on the way home, an instant microwaveable meal from Waitrose. The past few days we have been eating:

Griddled courgettes from the garden

Greek salad with feta that has been sitting in the fridge for nearly too long

Salads with store cupboard essentials 

Lots of eggs from the chickens who seem happy to have us around again

Cakes from the freezer which weren't quite good enough for WI bakes but taste just fine

Tomatoes from the garden

Lots of herbs from the garden which make a difference to every meal.

As for knitting and crochet - I am doing bits in between childcare. Another set of hen party hens went off to Sussex recently and baby knits are coming on, slowly.