Apples and things

I called at Chatsworth on Friday afternoon.

They were celebrating Apple Day. For the whole weekend.

There was a gazebo out the front of the farm shop filled with baskets of loads of different English apples -- varieties that you can't get in the supermarkets. I hadn't heard of lots of them. I bought one of each variety and came home with a huge big bag full of different sized and shaped, interesting apples. And a Bramley.

I also came home with one of those pale green spiky cauliflower/broccoli thingies (it's an Italian style cauliflower but I'm sure it has a proper name), two bags of rare "breed" potatoes, huge big beetroots, various other vegetables, lots of ciabattas ("What are those things, dear?" "Oh, they're Italian. You won't like them" "But that lady [me] is buying loads of them. Do *you* like them, dear?" Well yes. I toast them for 5 minutes or so in the oven to crisp up the tops and we have them for our lunchtime sandwiches. "Oh. That sounds good. Can I come and live with you and your kitchen?" !!!). Then I bought some pâté, some smoked mackerel pâté, various sausages and two beautiful boneless pork chops. And some Chatsworth brewed ale for The Builder. And some chestnuts. First of the season. Clearly for The Builder and not me. And, also for him, some lambs kidneys. He does seem to like them; a man of odd tastes!!! And then I went to the Chatsworth garden centre and bought loads of bulbs and a pink flowering verbena. Then I went home before I could be tempted to buy anything else! Over the moors. A new way home. Was very pretty. Except that I turned the wrong way in Holymoorside and ended up in Chesterfield and had to come home the last leg on the A61.

We had beef Wellington for dinner on Friday. I used the pâté from Chatsworth. And a piece of fillet that came in the beef box I bought there a couple of weeks ago. And we had some boiled pink fir apple potatoes (they look like long stubby thumbs, or perhaps like semi flaccid male members, and taste fantastic). And various vegetables including the Italian cauliflower. Do wish I could remember its name.

Last night we had the boneless pork chops, with the Bramley apple and vegetables from the Hangingwater allotment, and some (oven) chipped Arran Victory potatoes. I grow Purple Arran sometimes; I might grow some Arran Victory and Pink Fir Apple potatoes as well if I can get the seed potatoes. The Builder spent most of the evening asleep. Sound asleep. Kind of curled up in his club chair. He's a bit big to curl up in a club chair, but he simply wouldn't go up to bed!! In the meantime I surfed the pay-TV channels and watched old episodes of Time Team, then Inspector Gadget and the Wombles and Portland Bill until I got bored and decided we would *all* go to bed!

The Builder wasn't working today. I am working, but I'm at Psalter Lane and that's open 1-8 on Sundays. We both had a morning off! HOORAY!!!!!! No reason to get up at 05:15 to make the tea. No reason to get up just after 05:30 to make lunches and breakfasts and things. No real reason to leap out of bed at all, really. So we didn't. Well, not till later anyway. I did some useful inside things like washing and ironing. And we've been gardening. It was very windy and rather cloudy and a bit damp, but not actually raining this morning. I've planted the bulbs and the verbena in the new, triangular, garden bed. I've also rescued lots of very tiny wild strawberry runners from the condemned raised bed and edged two sides of the triangle with them. The third side is edged with rescued yellow irises. If all goes well, we should have small purple tulips, scented small narcissi and lots of scented crocuses in the spring in the new bed. And, great excitement, The Builder has built the first of the new raised bed frames. It's a humungous big planter which runs almost the width of the back of the garden (ignoring the sheds, of course). He went out and bought sand and cement ready to start laying the bricks behind it to hold it in (we're intending to cover the concrete, plus paths and things with bricks). He was intending to make a start on that this afternoon, assuming the rain held off. It's still too warm to uproot the fruit trees; they haven't really properly begun to lose their leaves yet. But assuming we can get the gravel and soil to fill the new containers, we should be able to shift them late in November or even some time in December. Sooooo exciting. The wooden box at the back of the garden makes it look different already, and the breeze block raised bed is still there!

A fishy day today. We had Yorkshire oak-smoked kippers with tinned tomatoes and toasted French bread at half past eleven (with pink grapefruit juice, and a crumpet each with local honey). Tonight there will be grilled haddock, potatoes and vegetables.

It's only 6:00. There's two whole hours to go before I can go home. It's raining merrily and most of the students have gone home. It's raining in Tupton as well. I wonder how much The Builder got done in the garden before being driven inside.