I can't really claim Matins as a New Thing, even though this was my first experience (that I can remember, anyway). This morning, the 9:30 eucharist was replaced with Matins in celebration and commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second. I was not required for anything so it was nice to be 'unrobed' as one friend put it. Music was fabulous, of course.
The first real New Thing of the day was making raw brownies with my new
food processor. Which is not technically a food processor... chopper and stick thingy. I was probably a little impatient with the chopping of the base (I had a time limit after all), so there are slightly bigger chunks of nuts than I would like. Next time. And I started eating a bit too soon, possibly, as the first row was very crumbly and had to be eaten from a bowl. With a spoon. The next row behaved beautifully though (and no, I wasn't eating all these by myself!).
Whenever my parents visit, things change. After some unintended (and some intended) changes to my courtyard area, I was tempted to visit a nursery yesterday and buy up big on plants. I didn't. I figured some preparation might go a long way. Especially as I seem to have lost my green thumb status in the last couple of years. So my balcony went from looking like this:
to this:
Ok, it probably doesn't look that impressive. But I've ditched the plants given to me by an ex, the vines that were really really dead, and the leftover bits of ... I don't even know what to call it... stuff from the disintegrated tv stand that I threw out
last week. The plants that are left are still living, but need a bit of encouragement in the potting mix and fertilizer departments. The bonus is that my room looks calmer now. Next I need to get a bucket and wash the balcony, and ditch the lantern thing - any takers?
Just a tip for the balcony tiles (and you might know this already)... I use a very generous sprinkling of bicarb soda and then spray with white vinegar before scrubbing. I find this gets the tiles clean and the pot stains off with better effect then everything including exit mould and bleach. Takes a bit of elbow grease, but so do the other options. Just rinse with water when you're done. If any drops onto your courtyard below, it won't cause major damage.
ReplyDeleteLanterns are gorgeous! I'll take it if it's going! And I'm not sure whether it would work in your outdoor space, but I find it too hard work to grow plants in small containers. The soil gets leached of its nutrients much quicker, they dry out much quicker, and look seedy much quicker. I find it much easier to buy bigger containers, and put multiple plants in the one container, and I like the look of that too.
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