Last Sunday in August

I woke bright and early this morning - well actually I do most mornings - not necessarily feeling bright, usually stiff and sore, but hey 'bright and early' sounds better :-)

I was pleased to see that there weren't any puppy 'presents' awaiting me this morning.  Once the dogs had been out, had their breakfast, I took them for a nice walk.  I have walked nearly every day in August as I had planned and sometimes twice a day - more so lately, especially now Stanley can go out for walks.  So hopefully will eventually get fitter and lose a few of the extra pounds I have put on in the last year.

We had some very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl, and rather than throw them away I thought I would try a new recipe using them and made a Walnut and Banana Tea Loaf.  It is very tasty.

Wednesday is our day for taking my Mother in Law out for lunch  - a very enjoyable lunch was had sitting outside at one of our favourite Cafes.

I spent the afternoon in the garden, dead heading and pruning some of the roses, weeding and also planting a rose that I bought a couple of weeks ago.  The guinea pigs were also cleaned out, something they were happy about!

I picked some of the lavender and have hung it up to dry.

The bees really enjoy the lavender.

This pretty rose is one of my small 'patio' roses - I think it is called 'Carefree Days' and was bought many years ago - it is quite petite.  Very pretty rose that has just started flowering the last few days.

The Marigolds are still looking good

As are the Petunias.

I am on a quest to try and find a recipe for Madeira Cake like my mother used to make...I remember her cake so well and I know my sister and I used to really love it.  But so far I haven't been able to replicate it, although both recipes I have tried so far have turned out well and tasted nice, they haven't met the mark or had the taste or consistency of my Mum's cake.  Of course, it may have been her own recipe, and sadly I don't think she will remember now.  It may have been the difference in flour, as I have noticed that on a whole cakes and baking are definitely different here to how they are in New Zealand - my tried and tested recipes are never the same here as they are there, and vice versa...strange.  

This cake above was nice, although perhaps a little dry after the first day.  It still got enjoyed though.

Well August has almost reached a close...I can't believe how quickly it has flown by.  September tomorrow and the Sailor and his Fiancee are back home in just under two weeks!  I guess I better get his room ready again - I have been using it in my quest to sort and clear the rest of the house!  Yikes!

Time for a spa and then to watch the last of BBC iplayer - we are banning all BBC from our computers tomorrow - with the introduction of them wanting to charge a TV licence for Iplayer now, (we don't have a television)  we will no longer be able to watch it and to be honest we are quite sick and tired of their completely biased and one-sided reporting so have decided to block it altogether - we can get news from more reliable sources, especially if we want to know what is REALLY going on...but that is another subject!