Prepairing for the winter...

The tarp on top of that mountain is 3x2m. We don't have a wood shed big enough. At the end of last winter our smaller wood shack was crushed by two huge spruces. And because they were huge, we have even MORE firewood to stack - but nowhere to stack.

And - of course - our biggest and oldest fireplace, the huge several ton heat reserving fireplace is out of order. It has crumbled inside, the smoke channels which distribute the heat in to the huge mass are finally given up.  There is no fix, it needs to be demolished. I knew it will come to this eventually, but I was hoping it could hold on for few more years (it's 43 years old, so it really has done all it could).

Se do have two other fireplaces in the old part of the house, so it is not a disaster as such. But it is very expensive job to demolish and replace. And VERY dirty job!!!

But, the new part of the house has only one fireplace. Some day there will be kitchen, and I need to get a wood burning stove for the kitchen. Price range is 900-9000€. I might want to aim to the lower end of the price range... It's NOT going to be an AGA!

And for the wood shed? The timber for the size of the shed we'd need would cost around 2000€. Pre-cut timber would cost around 3500€. And fot that price you still need to buy roofing.

Where is my lottery win?

It is hot - now

A week or three later than rest of Europe, we are having a heatwave. It's been +30 few days now. Quite a change from last weeks +14 degrees...

As it IS hot, I can't take 'Suma to walks during the day, we try to get going in the morning. But we also need to wait for Aunt E to finish her porridge before she can join us... I can't do anything in the garden/yard during the day, because 'Suma wants to join me and because she's a dim and a black dog, she would het a heathstroke - because she wants lo lay in the sun! I mean she's my darling, but sometimes I wish she would have few more brain cells.

I can't imagine how insufferable the heat has been in southern Europe (way over +30 several weeks). We have AC machine to cool down upstairs and heat pump to cool down middle floor. 

Meals are very simple - I cooked a big fat piece of pork to make pulled pork. We have been eating it in several ways: hotdogs, hamburgers, tortillas (or burritos? never remember which they are), in salad, in sandwiches. In fwe days I'll get my first tomatoes and maybe - if I'm lucky- a cucumber! I've already got few tiny bellpeppers, and now spinach, chard and new zealand spinach are big enought to be picked occasionally. My veggies look so much better than I was hoping for!

Aunt E is getting old

Here in my village there's quite a lot of my family/relatives. Of course there's my mother and old man, my sister with her family and my cousin. Then there's my uncle and two of my aunts with their s.o. It is very nice to have a lot of my kind here.

But we all age. My oldest aunt E is really getting old, it seems. Last summer she complained about her feet, and her eyesight is getting worse. She has real physical problems with her eyes, and she had had two operations, now there's a lot of scarring which makes her vision blurred. But it is not the problem. I think (and my yongest aunt, who doesn't live here and my sister) that she's getting some memory chellenges.

She can handle most things, but in last few months she's been saying it's very difficult for her to start doing things. When she can make herself to start something, there's no problem. And she says it's the most difficult in the morning, in the afternoon everything is easier. Hmmm.

No this week she got a change in medication (her previous one 2x4mg tablets were replaced by 1x8mg tablet) and for some reason this was something she couldn't get grasp to it. She had written down the notes from her nurse several times (and they were ok, nothing amiss there) but she was so unsure if she was going to have the right dose. (she worked over 40 years in accounting, she know he numbers). She had written and calculated everything right, but just couldn't understand.

She had called my yongest aunt a couple of times already. She lives three hours away, so of course she couldn't do anything. She called my sister, who was stuck with number three who's teething... And she called me.

One thing I also noted was her handwriting is deteriorating. She's had one of the most neat handwriting I've ever seen (another is my mother - I've not inherited it). Of course you can blame her poor sight for that, but...

I filled her medicin dispenser with the right pills, wrote down EVERY pill she needs to take for the next week and she put a mark on her dispenser what date each weekday is. She showed me a cabbage she had bought in order to cook a cabbage stew. This was yesterday.

Today I went for a 'Sumawalk and took my time to greet my aunt, too. She had taken the right pills (yay!) bus asked if I was going to town to shops. She said she needs some ready meals, because she can't just get going with her cooking. Oh dear. I asked if she wanted me to help her to chop the cabbage?

So in the end, we chopped the cabbage, then she wanted to check her blood pressure and I finished cooking the stew. I even chopped a whole onion! with gloves, of course (I can't touch raw onions). Tomorrow I'll go and check her fridge if there's any old spoiled food. I'm NOT going to fill her fridge, but I can help her do things.

Yes, she's getting older and having troubles with several issues. She lives alone, in a big bungalow, she has a swimming pool in her yard, a VERY nice garden with VERY neat flower beds, she still drives (her eye problem doesn't affect her driving, doctor has confirmed that) but everything is going to be too much for her eventually.

Eating down the freezer

 This time of the year I'm usually trying to empty my freezers. I have three, one huge chest freezer, another much smaller chest freezer, and one upright freezer.

Smallest one is half empty - it really is very very small, so we useit mainly to store ice cream (which we usually have more than excess amounts...) and if there's room, bread.

The big chest freezer is for meat, chicken and big container of berries. It has four hanging baskets which keeps all "consumables" like yeast, ginger, pastries and pasties, a tub of ice cream (because it's a bit warmer place so ice cream is soft), half bags of veggies, half bags of toast and other breads, coconut flakes and other nuts, coffee...

And then the upright freezer. It has EVERYTHING. Fish. Butter. Cheese. Berries. Fruits. Pastry and puffy dough. Mushrooms. Mushrooms. Vegetables. Mushrooms. Freezer meals (usually leftovers packed in margarine tubs). Mushrooms. Ice cubes. Sausages, ham, shredded ham. Surimi. Kebab meat. Maybe some mushrooms?

Ok, I might just got a bit over the top with the mushrooms, there is only one basket full of mushrooms left (there was about 3 just before Christmas at the end of the foraging season).

So as you can imagine I NEED to get some more space in freezers! I'm not getting another one...

So, today we are most likely to have a pork stir fry; pork, green beans, mangoldi stalks, zucchini from the freezer. I might fry some mushrooms to go with the stir fry, but I can't use mushrooms in the fry becaus hb can't eat mushrooms. I have a lot of green leaves of garlic in the veggie plot, so I use those as well. I have some bell peppers in the fridge. There's yellow rice already in the fridge, and some noodles, so I have no need to cook any carbs.

Yesterday we had chicken wings (well, not me), yellow rice, fried mushrooms and green beans and corn. What did we had a day before? Can't remember! Oh, ham! I bought a small ham right after Christmas (on sale) and I was suposed to cook it on Easter, but we had so much other stuff I decided not. I was supposed to cook it n Midsummer, but we had so much other stuff I decided not. But now even d was home, so there were six people eating so it was a perfect time to cook it. We ate ham for several days.

So, maybe tomorrow I will need to go shopping for some fresh items, like eggs and mayo - but nothing for the freezer... I promise?

When you loose almoust everything?

Today I visited my co-worker/friend first time after she had a house fire. Or kitchen fire, but result is about just as devastating.

I bought her flowers, and then I realised she wouldn't have a vase for them. So I bought a vase, too. No, she didn't have a vase. (and tea, and tiny lemon cakes and strawberries and... and... and)

With a stroke of luck, there was an empty house only few blocks away from their own house, and they were able to move in right away (insurance pays for the rent). But it was an empty house. So what do you need first? Beds, or at least mattrasses to sleep. Bed sheets, bankets, pillows. They had this guy from the local red cross to help them do shopping. He was adamant children should have sweets! (and he was right, they also bought toothbrushes and toothpaste, he clearly knew what he was doing).

But, for real. When you have to start all over again, with just the clothes you were wearing?

At work we passed the hat around and gathered around 700 euros for that family to buy something. 

She is still at shock, I could clearly see that. I promised to go shopping with her when she wants to go. (She asked my help, just to walk with her at the shops, she said she panics every time she needs to make a decision, just even if it is as simple as should I buy these navy or brown socks.)

I mean, I CAN imagine what it is like, but I DON'T understand. 

Minced meat soup

I made chili con carne on the other day. I had only big bag of minced meat (700g) in the freezer, there is a shortage of minced meat here. I try to use it sparingly, so I used only half of in in the chili.

Potatoes need using up, they are sprouting already! I got half swede and a nice parsnip for free, but I needed carrots anyway, so those I bought. And never-ending cabbage from the fridge.

Peeled and diced potatoes, carrots, swede and parsnip, and sliced a thick wedge from the cabbage (and sliced it to smaller pieces). Into the pot I added leftover ketchup from the "empty"bottle - there's always some left that will not come out. I just pour some warm water into the bottle and shake... A stock cube and some green powder, paprika, salt and pepper with a whole clove of garlic. And tumeric! I forgot about it. Once the soup was boiling, Iadded fried minced meat from the fridge.

Once potatoes and swedewere soft, soup was ready. We ate it with sourdough rye bread, which was free, too. Very good warming meal in this dark rainy day. I think most of the world thin soup as a lunch, but for us it is just a meal. Meal is a meal, no matter what time of the day it is eaten...

                                                                 (added a picture later)

The whole pot of soup (or stew, we call it soup because there is liquid) was max 4€ for five people! No leftovers, I think. (later: I was wrong, there's still 2 more portions left, so lunches later)

Tomorrow I'm going to make something with the chicken leftovers. Pasta? I don't mind I can't eat it, I'll have some leftover chili.

Now I've managed to pay all the credit cards I had to use earlier this year for car repairs. Next, I need to save up money for another surprices which are wainting to happen. I've not had credit cards unpaid at the end of the month for a long long time, so this wasn't very pleasant situation. At the same time I'm paying for another loo to be built. I haven't bought the seat yet, but I do have the sink, tiles for the walls and floor and panels for the ceiling. And there is no water connected yet. Yay.

Medieval madness

 So it's midsommar. Midsummer. We've had a warm week lately, and now - cold and wet. Yay!

But luckily it was warm and dry last weekend, when we had our Medieval Fair. Of course ys wanted to be a plague doctor- he has this black leather beak mask. Well, he didn't have rest of the outfit.

Mom to the rescue!

Idk if there's enough needles?

It's been a long long time since last time I made any garment of this detail...

So in a few days I made him a tunic, a veil/robe and a hood. Next year he needs new trousers (he has brown medieval trousers but they are not good match to this outfit, they were for the peasant outfit.

Here is ys and my lovely brother. He is ys's godfather, which is a bit strange because both of them are atheists. But it's completely another story... Oh yeah, ys really really really needs proper shoes, too. I can't make leatherwork, so have to find another solution for that. Anyone has elephant skin for the shoe soles? Maybe mammoth skin? Dinosaur skin?

(I know there are a lot of anacrhonisms in those outfits, but you just can't have it all)

We found very nice buckle/clip for ys for his tunic - but of course it's not visible. But it was only 18€, which is a bargain! Th mask was filthy expensive, we bought it last year. Fabrics for the outfit were less than 70€ (they are linen or linen blend). I bought an applewood needle for needlebinding (? oh, its nalbinding?) but I still don't get how you are supposed to proceed after the first loops... Maybe I'll get it by the next summer.

I'm trying to NOT to do any food shopping for the rest of the month. I have my freezers shockingly full, I've been able to get food and bread from the waste food distribution organisation (grand words, the organisation is a woman from my community society, and she's also the distribution system...). Now I'm trying to get us eat to eat through the freezers. Just now there's a whole chicken in the oven, it was already seasoned, so I just dumped it into the cast iron pot (dutch oven) with the lid on. Now I need to wash and boil potatotes (I got maybe 6 kilos of new potatoes), and we will have some freezer veggies steamed/boiled with them. Of course I don't eat poultry, so I'll have some pickled herring (lime and ginger), which was free.

New potatoes, butter and pickled herring with some sourdough rye bread - my summer is here.

Skipping the winter?

 I've tried to find time to write a blog post. Once I've made part of the text, cats start a fight od 'Suma needs to go out. And when I', able to continue, I've lost the plot, I had no idea what I was going to say 😆

I've had an interesting winter workwise. I've written an article with my colleagues on a real magazine (about my work)!!! Need to add that to my CV. I've got three more years in the EU commission work, and it means I need to travel abroad. I don't like flying...

The weather in this winter has been miserable. Wet, grey, soggy, lousy. Thick clouds all the time, we haven't been able to see auroras, or full moons or planets. Next week forecast says 20cm snow. Oh NOW it will snow when spring has been here for weeks?

I haven't put any seeds to germinate, because I'll be on work trip next week. After that I might be able to do something with all the seeds I need to get growing. Papricas, chillies, tomatoes, maybe ocra. No aubergines though, our summer is way too short and cool for them.

But the big news!  My sister gave a birth to a number three January, so now she has been stuck to sofa with the baby 💗  The baby is growing fast, weight gain is about 500g per week!!!

No pic of number three, but here is my field last weekend:

Polytunnel is still a skeleton, sunny parts of the village are bare, my field has some 10 to 30 cm of snow. Tractor tracks go to our forest, it's time to do next winter's firewood.