Taking stock....

Thanks to Hettie Brown for this idea which seems to be sweeping through blogland... August is probably an ideal time to take stock, all the summer madness is fading away and the glories of autumn are not yet upon us.  This morning I woke to a beautiful sky and the birds going crazy in the garden.

 

This week I am mostly...

Making :   The first batch of Marrow Pickle this weekend.  We use this recipe which is gorgeous!
Cooking :  Chocolate and Courgette cake - Hebegebe Cake in River Cottage Baking book.  Very moist and dense and doesn't taste of courgettes at all.
Drinking :  Copious tea with one sugar.  I will eventually get used to just the one.
Reading:   Katherine Swift's The Morville Hours.  A beautiful and poetic book.  If only I kept awake to read more of it.
Wanting:   Autumn to arrive soon.
Looking: At the bees and butterflies and birds every day in the garden
Playing:  More music than usual, trying to listen to CDs I haven't heard for a while
Wasting:  As little as possible and trying to live as simply as possible
Sewing:  Very little but always planning the next project.  Applique birds perhaps?
Wishing: For good health and happiness for all
Enjoying:  My new sewing/craft area and our new bathroom.
Waiting:  For the new series of the Great British Bake Off next week.  So excited!
Liking:  My new (old) cheese dish (see right)

Wondering:  If we will get enough rain.  Its been rather dry.
Loving:  Mary Wesley books,  I've recently read four in a row
Hoping: To make mixed fruit jam out of our harvest of raspberries and strawberries and redcurrants soon
Marvelling: That after ten years or more I still have lots of my family tree to look into.  It helps to have a problematic great grandmother with a fascinating story.
Needing: Some time off work to do nice things
Smelling: The lavender outside of our door
Wearing: Clothes that I'm utterly bored with.  What to do....
Following: Many lovely blogs - do look at the list
Noticing: That I haven't seen/heard any swifts for about a week, have they gone?
Knowing:  We can make our new bookshelf look far nicer than it is with a bit of work.
Thinking: I shall come back with something from a Vintage Fair I'm going to tomorrow.

Bookmarking: Some new web pages.  I need inspiration, please suggest anything that interests you. 
Opening: Presents.  It will soon be my birthday and I'm still a small child really and slightly excited
Giggling:  At a slightly poor James Stewart film called Pot O' Gold.  He was still wonderful of course.
Feeling:  Like taking stock and planning some lovely things to do.