Onwards and upwards

Life plods on, time is ticking and so only 9 or so months left for us here! Getting towards winter when the migratory penguins and sea lions depart the shores and chickens are having moulting episodes ready for the cold. Having a grey spell of weather right now but fairly mild temperature-wise and less wind so quite helpful for getting about the daily business.

Dug a bumper crop of potatoes out of the polytunnel yesterday. And the fact that the sprouting potatoes I planted were given to us free gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling. And they are tasty too! They were grown in previously used swimming pool lockers His Nibs had salvaged and, once laid flat, the compartments formed ideal spaces for potatoes and carrots. I am possibly becoming the Queen of 'make do and mend' (to use a more flattering description than has been used in the past!) and despite his previous retail compulsion, so is Big Man! He sourced a suitably deep container for a water butt too, oh the joy. It is very distressing living somewhere that still practises rampant landfilling having been used to decent recycling services, so we try and do our bit by taking bottles to Stanley to be ground up for building work (when we are going anyway of course - and boy does it make for resounding rattling throughout 35 bumpy miles but that's another tale) and reusing containers for whatever purpose springs to mind.

Back in the kitchen, those who know me well will understand how thrilled I was this evening to hear the words 'Mummy can I do the washing up?'. Well that was a long wait but totally worth it!!! We are getting one egg a day at the moment so her Highness is often pleading with me to make cupcakes. This is great except that the carbohydrate-rich diet of cake, bread, tea and booze out here (with red meat thrown in for good measure)is not having a positive impact on my waistline so measures are being taken at the moment so that I can still fit into an aeroplane seat.

Overall the domestics are pretty harmonious, but unfortunately, it has been 7 months since I last saw all my nearest and dearest and with no penguins to photograph and provide a distraction I am getting restless... consequently it is not long til we go north! Shops, roads, trees in springtime, fruit, friends and family here we come!!!