Rest Day - Lie in and read - Afto Walk

There was beautiful light around 4.30am and this old shrub rose peeping out at me, appealed. After some mugs of tea and some toast I went back to bed and, half listening to the radio, dozed off again.

Then we had a leisurely morning and caught up on the papers. Really felt warm at 73F and no wind and we decided to resume our afternoon walk habit after lunch. Y went in the garden and I cooked bacon 'n egg, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and some thinly sliced potato baked in the oven. I use a Jamie Oliver method of slicing them around pound coin thickness, seasoning and laying them flat on a baking tray then baking at around 190C till they go crisp and look interesting. No oil is used because the baking tray I use is so well 'cured' by now that nothing sticks to it. If, post meal, we have kitchen helpers, we try to prevent them from immersing it in water and giving the detergent and scour-pad treatment. And now an admission to make - for pudding Y did Butterscotch Angel Delight ! Talk about second childhood !

One of my cookery books I treasure is Marcel Boulestin's 101 ways with potatoes published in 1932. It's hard to believe 101 potato recipes but each one I've tried has been good. He does the traditional 'Potatoes Anna' etc., but adds interesting dishes like 'Potatoes Ménagere' which I always wonder if it's about food eaten in ménage a trois or in a menagerie. He doesn't mess around specifying varieties and simply recommends potatoes of the 'waxy kind', or the 'floury kind', or even the 'yellow soapy kind'. One tip he feels strongly about is that the resourceful cook should always have some cold, boiled, potatoes in the fridge. So much you can do with them ! and quickly !

After lunch we decided on an afternoon walk and investigated a footpath from Hall Lane which, allegedly, leads to the Erewash. Didn't get very far before a fingerpost was down and it wasn't possible to work it out. We spoke to a resident later who said we had gone down the wrong side of a particular hedge. But we were out in the country and enjoyed the fresh air and the bird song.


This horse, as you can see, was happily in a field of buttercups and took absolutely no notice of us at all.

When we returned to the car we had a tour round the the area looking for a photogenic field of poppies but, a bit like evening primroses in gardens, they seem to move around the countryside at will. Last year there was a field on the side road leading to Bulwell with 253,642 poppies in it. This year, zero.

But poppies will be found. I like to keep the station topical !

I think I'm having smoked salmon on toast for tea and Y fancies cheese & biscuits. We try on Sundays not to be slaves to convention.

Tomorrow Y needs a Library and Eastwood is closed for 3 months. So it will be either Angel Row and Bromley House and pull in a long promised trip to the Brewhouse Yard Museum or Mansfield. Play it by ear tomorrow seems best. I'm so pleased the weather has held for our young people on holiday, in fact for everyone who wanted a little sun.

It's coffee, radio and book time. Y is going to watch Jericho and record the Gavin Stamp Architecture programme. It's been a good series. But at 9pm I've flagged, so record is better.
Catch you tomorrow.