Greetings and salutations! I must admit that it has been rather a long
time since my last post despite my best intentions. So; what have we all been up to this summer?
I have been enjoying the fact that
we’re actually having a summer this year.
I.E. – sunshine. I've taken the
opportunity of not working to busy myself hacking back the garden. I knew there was a shed in there somewhere
but since it seems that this year is the year that finally the bramble and the
honeysuckle have declared all out war on each other, and are both intent on
full domination of the garden, said shed took some unearthing!
I have been navigating the perils of
‘signing on’ for the first time. That’s
fun! There is a distinct paucity of
information readily available about what you can get, how you’re eligible for
what and how long anything takes. The entire
system seems a bit of a mare but better minds than I have waxed lyrical on this
subject many times so I won’t bang on about it.
It has meant I've had to go up into the city centre rather more often
than I usually do with the side effect that I happened to go through the Exeter
farmer’s market on a Thursday and take a look at what I spied:
Razor clams! I have wanted to try
these for a very long time. Ever since I
saw HFW extolling their virtues several years ago. After that I came to realise they were one of
things that people used to forage for and eat rather a lot more in decades past
than currently. That seems to be
changing now though with the rise in popularity of foraging, and awareness of
what local delicacies we have available without having to ship our food for
miles. I didn't purchase any yet; being
out of employment they seemed a little unnecessary, but I spoke with the stall
holder (from local fishmongers Gibson's Plaice) and he told me they have them most weeks
bar the winter. I shall save them for a
treat. J
In fact all of their produce looked very tempting, and beautifully
fresh.
I have been making some crafty
things. Remember my purse I made that
gets re-invented every time the cover is falling apart too much? A friend had mentioned that she cannot find a
card sized purse anywhere and as it was her birthday coming up I decided to
make her one.
I used some scraps in her favourite
colours and stitched it up on a visit home to Ma (and her sewing machine) and
she loved it.
I've also been doing waaay more baking than I ever normally have the time for - tried cheese and courgette scones - thoroughly lovely. Useful to use up any excess courgettes from the garden or allotment. Which brings me to the news that I am helping a friend with her allotment as she has virtually no experience at growing things. In return I get to adopt the shed on the right and get part of the plot to myself and we share the rest. I've been loving getting back into the digging - it made me realise how much I missed the old plot. Lots of plans going round my head for next season.
All of these things have made me
rather wish I could make a living crafting things, and doing gardens, and
baking, with perhaps some social media marketing and invoicing / IT thrown in
for good measure. I wonder if that’s
possible... Sadly something tells me I'm
going to have to get a ‘real’ job. It
has been lovely having a several weeks to myself though, for which I am grateful,
and it has given me time to re-evaluate quite drastically what I want from a
job. I have come to the conclusion that
as long as I can pay the rent and bills and have enough for Zeke and I to live
on then it is far more important to me now,
to find something I am happy doing / can believe in. It may take me some time to find this so in the time being I have been applying for casual type stuff/temping whilst I
search. Wish me luck in my quest!
