Thunderstorms - what thunderstorms?

I awoke this morning to see evidence of a downpour and locals writing comments on facebook about the dreadful thunderstorms we had had in the night - oops - must have slept through that then!

So - first job on today's list was to make two sponges.  I used my go to recipe from Delia Smith  which uses the all in one method - however it had to be made in two batches because I could only find one 7 inch tin - cue for more tidying me thinks!  The cake is for later when Wendy and I go to visit Tanya in hospital - last sunday she said that she really fancied a fresh cream strawberry Victoria sandwich - for herself but also to share with the nurses - her wish is my command.  The cake was assembled just before we left - due to the weather - but I wanted to make the cake before I do THE  job (more later).  (By the way - the food police may think that there are too many strawberries - can there ever be? - I decided that Tanya might just fancy a strawberry if she can't face the cake.)


Next on the agenda was walking the dogs.  I have not taken them out all week due to the high temperatures - when I am at home they have constant access to the garden and are fairly laid back about it.  However the weather was rather overcast and cooler than previous days so I thought that  would give it a go - only to find my ankle really giving me some jip.  The walk was therefore cut a little shorter than planned!



Then it was home to complete THE job - clearing the "sink hole" that is in the front of the house.  The guttering drains into there so once a year you have to pull it up and clear all the decomposing leaves and moss - can you see why (1) I hate doing the job and try to put it off , and (2) why I thought I ought to make the cake first!!  It actually was better than I feared (which is usually the case) although, as you can see, there was a lot of debris to take out!






Next, after some paying of church bills, it was time for a quick hoover around before lunch.  By now the sun had broken through the haze and it was turning into a reasonable afternoon.  Another job I had been putting off for several months was making a summer top.  I had brought the fabric, cut the pattern out and cut the fabric pieces out.  The only thing stopping me was that I had gone off the design.  However now was the time to focus and get started!!  Well - maybe an afternoon nap first eh?




Before

After

Finally it was time to tidy another cupboard - this is a little side cupboard housing some larger cooking dishes, the rolls of foil etc and lots of  junk!!!  I swear that if I ever get to the end of these cupboards and rationalise their use I will find that I have so much space - at the moment I am storing two large cooking pans in my wardrobe!!  May I first say that all that alcohol is so old that I poured it all away and popped to the bottle bank before picking Wendy up - I do not have a drinking problem - but I do have a hoarding problem - who needs this many cocktail sticks in their lives? (Mind you - what did I do with them all?  Put them in a drawer - now why didn't I just throw them out?) I am not even going to mention the ice cube bags - I have enough to make over a thousand ice cubes!!  However ME will be pleased when I say that I have thrown out every tea towel / oven glove with a hole in it!!