Field trip - Montmell from the other side.

When our children were small we had a seven seater, all terrain type vehicle which took us everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. One of those places was round the back of the mountains we can see from our house. Basically, it means taking a dirt track into the middle of nowhere.

Last Sunday afternoon we tried to get as close as possible to one of our favourite old haunts, la masia de Torrossolla. As we had to leave our little car quite a way off, we decided we didn't have enough time to reach the 'masia' on foot so we opted to walk instead to Can Magí Vidal.

Here are some photos:

Our idea was to go around this mountain to visit the other side

Going up Sugar Mountain

Typical fern from the north face of the mountain

Fonoll (I don't know its English name)

The Masia de Torrossolla - from a long way up!

Can Magí Vidal through the undergrowth

Large, unidentified mushroom

Large, unidentified beetle

Jay

Prunus Spinosa - otherwise known as Sloes

Well, as you can see, this was quite the nature walk. It was lovely, once again, to get out and enjoy the area we live in. Although the afternoon was scorching hot, much of our walk was in the shade of woodland and big, bushy plants.

Note: the photos of the fern, the flower, the sloes and the jay were taken from internet. I often forget to take photos as I am too busy enjoying the real thing :)

Quick post

Honestly speaking, from my experience, mothers with teenage boys do most definitely not have any need for a television in the home.

All you have to do is give each boy a list of household chores which they are obliged to fulfil, make yourself a cup of something, put your feet up on the sofa and watch it happen. Ahhh, this is entertainment in its richest form!

Having said all that, my boys do the work extremely well and quickly. It's just funny how they work out the logistics of it all...

Abundance...

I thought you would like to see a little a bit of what I've been busy with (and thankful for) lately.

Press play and listen to one of my favourite songs while you look at the photos:

 

Cherries - a gift from our neighbour

First courgette harvest

Apricots from our tree

A bucket of beans

Second courgette harvest + plum and salad tomatoes and aubergines

The last of the potato crop (we have the equivalent of 12 crates like these!) and more courgettes

Planting and keeping a garden is a lot of work, much of which I do on my own. After I have harvested, then all the produce has to be preserved in one way or another.* This keeps me busy, too. I planted much more this year because I had more land available and, thankfully, it has been rainy for a longer period of time and I therefore haven't needed to water as much as other years. It's a very productive  year in this respect, too.

*Post to follow shortly explaining how I preserve what the garden produces.

How are my bloggie friends doing? What are you filling your summer days with?

Childhood memories...

Bed in Summer

 

 In winter I get up at night 

And dress by yellow candle - light.

In summer, quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day. 

I have to go to bed and see 

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or the grown-up people's feet

Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,

 When all the sky is clear and blue, 

And I should like so much to play, 

To have to go to bed by day?

Robert Louis Stephenson

Oh, this brings back memories of when I small and not so small and had to go to bed at 7:30. I used to lay awake listening to the blackbird singing in our garden, the neighbours busy in theirs and my friends playing ball on the green out the back. I have never understood why I had to go so early when I lay and fidgeted until my sister would come up at 10:00 pm. I always thought it was such an enormous waste of hours. Many was the day I had a book hidden under the bed...

Favourite quote

Dehydration

The British are right. A nice cup of tea can solve many problems. One of them being dehydration.

If it's mid-morning and you feel tired and 'head-achy' for no particular reason (I mean you haven't been up half the night with a sick toddler or folding laundry into the small hours) it is quite a possibility that you are suffering from a mild dehydration.

Mild dehydration can cause thirst, headache, irritability, weakness, dizziness and fatigue and can generally make people feel tired and lethargic.

When I was small I was discouraged to drink at mealtimes and often didn't remember in between, either, and I'm afraid that, even though now I live in a hotter, drier climate, I find it very difficult to get to the bottom of a glass of water.

Water is essential for your body to function properly. Your brain is 90% water and your body is 70% water, the majority of your blood and every cell in your body is composed of water.

Here are some good reasons why we should be drinking 6 - 8 glasses of water a day:

# Increases energy and relieves fatigue
# Promotes weight loss
# Flushes out toxins
# Eases digestive problems
# Improves skin complexion
# It is a natural cure for headaches
# Eases joint and back pains, prevents cramps and sprains
# Lowers the risk of colon cancer, bladder cancer and breast cancer
# Puts you in a good mood because your body is working well

A winter 'loikatea' by the fire

I must admit that I am not the world's best water drinker and it is something I have to work on. When the children were small every time one of them asked me for a drink of water, I would prepare it and also one for myself, thus ensuring at least five glasses a day. As they grew up and began making their own drinks they would offer to share a tea time moment with me. This was called a 'loikatea'. Now my tea-drinkers have married and left home and I am back at square one again! Even worse is the fact that I rarely actually feel thirsty.

Of course, this is even more serious a problem if you are pregnant or nursing, taking certain medications, doing strenuous outdoor work or inside in offices or shops with air conditioning or simply living through the summer months with high temperatures.

It is very important to keep drinking water based liquids. The experts recommend at least 2 litres daily. Gulp. (Pardon the pun). Also, I read recently that coffee and real tea don't count because their caffeine content counter reacts, as a diuretic. This, however, is still being investigated. 

Here is a recipe for a drink I used to prepare when my family was younger:

Just mix and keep refrigerated:

1/3 water
1/3 fruit juice (nicest with apple, orange, peach or pineapple)
1/3 7UP (or similar, like Sprite. The British call it lemonade! I always used a very economical store brand which was even cheaper than bottled water.)

Does anyone else have a similar problem? How do you solve it? I would love some new ideas...

Another family quote and a Batty Books joke

It was my birthday last Saturday and I made a crazy chocolate cake for myself. Unfortunately, I had a series of interruptions whilst I was preparing the batter and the vinegar started working too soon with the raising agent. When I finally took the cake from the oven, the surface was very bumpy, not smooth like it should be.
"Don't worry" said my dear husband. "I'm sure it tastes as good as ever. Just issue us all with 4x4 forks to eat it with!"

If you were around in Britain at the beginning of the 80's you must be familiar with a set of jokes called Batty Books. These 'books' had a title and an author and while some were unrepeatable, many others were hugely ingenious and often very funny.

Here are a few that I can remember:

@ Babysitting   by Justin Casey Howls
@ Never give up   by Percy Vere
@ The fall of the watermelon   by S. Platt
@ The long walk   by Miss D. Bus
@ A post script   by Adeline Extra    ...and so on.


Well, as you know it's summer here and many days end tomorrow and, as I scrunched up the stairs to bed late last Wednesday night, I made up another Batty Books joke which went like this:

Successful beach parties  by Sandy House

Get the DRIFT? There's just a GRAIN of truth there. O.K. I'll stop, please don't DESERT me!

How I do it: The laundry

Laundry routine:

- Monday - clothes + boy's bed linen (2 beds)
- Tuesday - shower towels, kitchen cloths and napkins, soft toys, cushion covers, extra blankets, kitchen chair cushions, school bags, jackets, etc.
- Wednesday - clothes + girl's bed linen
- Thursday - clothes + our bed linen
- Friday - clothes + boy's bed linen (other 2 beds)
- Saturday - university boy's clothes, towels, etc.

I hang all my laundry to dry outside. I use clothes driers in the winter. This way, if it rains (seldom) or if it is very windy (often), I just leave them in the sun porch. If necessary, I bring them in by the wood stove to dry over night. I have a tumble drier but I only use it for emergencies as it is very expensive to run. Sunshine and fresh air is free!

First, I sort the items into piles - dark, bright, white, towels and bed linen. Then I choose the biggest pile to wash first. If the pile is too big for a correct machine load I split it and put some in with, say, a bed linen wash or whatever I see is going to make up a load, without mixing colours. If I don't have enough to make a load I wait till another day.

I use a good quality liquid soap - Ariel - and vinegar as a softener (more about that in another post). Since I have been using this combination I haven't had to use any other type of stain remover.

My washing machine is in the downstairs bathroom, it has the tumble drier sitting on top of it.

Since I started this post months back, the situation at home has changed somewhat.  My university boy moved to a different apartment and now does his own laundry washes and my second daughter has married and left home. This meant a change in the quantities and now I mix loads a little more. In September there will be another university boy which means I'll have to adapt once again.

At least this gives you some idea of our laundry routine, if you are interested in that kind of info. I must admit the whole thing of actually organizing laundry was an idea I got from a M.O.M.* in the States a good while back and I thank her for sharing her experiences with others. It helped me a great deal, for sure.

*M.O.M. means Mother Of Many

Munchy Monday #40: Macaroni with tuna and bacon

This is so simple to prepare and so delicious to eat... The quantities given are enough for 4 - 6 adult servings. I vary the pasta and often use lumaconi, penne, rotini, macaroni, etc.

You will need:
400 g pasta
100 g smokey bacon rashers, cut into fine strips
A small amount of onion, grated
Juice and flesh of beefsteak tomato or similar
A fair squirt of your usual tomato puree or sauce
150 g tuna in vegetable oil, drained
Oil for frying
Salt
Water for cooking pasta

Method:
Bring water to boil, add salt and throw in pasta, following cooking instructions on the packet. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, pour a little oil and add bacon pieces. Fry gently until slightly crispy then add onion. Stir and fry for a couple more minutes, add tuna, both of the tomato sauces and a little salt. Stir and cook for some minutes. Drain up and rinse the pasta, add to the tuna and bacon sauce. Stir and gently simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot with grated cheese sprinkled over the top.*

 

*To make this dish extra special and professional, transfer the pasta to an oven dish, sprinkle pasta cheese over the top and grill until crisp and toasted.

Final silkworm update

Yes, out of twenty silkworms, ten made it to the cocoon stage and six hatched from their cocoon. If I'm not wrong, we have five females and one male. We have a few grey/black eggs (which means they are fertile) and the rest were laid by females that were just hatched (and are most likely not fertile). These are the piles of pale yellow eggs that you see in the photograph.

So, now we have to wait till about the middle of April next year to see the eggs hatch and therefore complete the whole metamorphosis of the silkworm.

The first cocoon

A female moth

Eggs

Spring/summer visitors

Goldfinch

Bee eater

Hoopoe

Golden Oriole

Swallows, in the awning of our shed roof

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will have realized that I love birds. These are some of our more colourful spring/summer visitors, although we do hear the cuckoo in the valley below and greenfinch, polly wagtails, blackcaps and fly catchers are among the many which visit our garden. All of the photos are taken from Google Images except the last one which is courtesy of Dear Hubby!