If the number of flowers (and the bee activity) is anything to go by it'll be another bumper bramble crop this year....and I haven't even finished off last years yet. There's still a few (large) boxes in the freezer and a couple of bottles of bramble/rosemary/balsamic that haven't been opened yet, and I'm pretty sure there's still some jam at the back of the cupboard. But the apple tree....now that's a different story, it must have been hit by a late frost, barely a sign of a baby apple.....hey, you win some, you lose some!
.....the letter arrived this morning, and as from the 31st July I'm a pensioner (the above is back-of-an-envelope-workings-out of exactly how many days of gainful employment there's still to work.....as in, counting tomorrow, 6 and a half, the circled dates are leave not yet taken this year, use it or lose it they say.....no cash alternative) Still in shock because I'd almost persuaded myself they'd turn me down.....
Wonder if the hairdressers can do me an emergency blue rinse............
The cats are molting (hairballs regurgitated regularly in the small hours, one small one takes about 10 minutes worth of enthusiastic heaving and retching.....believe me, I've timed it) and I've got hayfever (runny eyes and a snotty nose).....so all's well with the world then, that means it must be summer! It's a bit hazy down at the coast, but still t-shirt weather, so I'm not complaining. Still waiting to hear about the early retirement deal I applied for (the final date for 'them upstairs' informing applicants is next Wednesday, and it's looking increasingly like they'll leave it until the very last minute) so I'm feeling like real life's on hold at the moment....don't want to make any definite plans/book holidays/empty office drawers/live until I hear one way or the other. It's one of those limbo situations.
OTHER STUFF
.....but there's always time for pointless pointandclickery to take your mind off things.....
it's a ten-minute timewaster.....10 gnomes in Bologna, a surprise follow-up to the Find 10 Gnomes series (link to the original 12-parter, year-long project here)
.....and a possible background soundtrack would have to be.......
(but what on earth was David Bowie thinking of?)
I've been having a bit of a sort-out, the external hard drive is stuffed with blurry shots of bees bottoms and much, much worse....but I did find a few that were worth keeping. The beach shots WEREN'T taken today by the way, I haven't got as far as the sea front yet.....
Moving the blog seems to have caused problems with posting images direct from Flickr, can't work out why......
Yep....I could bore you with '1000 hymns and choruses for evangelistic meetings, choirs, solo-singers and the home' if I really wanted to, but I'll spare you....I'm feeling generous so this isn't one of them.....
A trip to sunny (!) Hartlepool to see Sarah's final degree show.....all I can say is 'well done that girl!!' (the rest of Hartlepool couldn't be decribed as photogenic so we just did the rounds of the many 'pound' shops....we got some bargains!) Then back to Newcastle for a bedouin feast at the Flatbread Cafe. I'm stuffed..........
