Ridgeway Cottage anyhow

I am sure that I am not the only one who doesn't want to get old. I am not talking about getting a few wrinkles, stiff in the morning and becoming forgetful, that's just life. I mean that old where you are isolated and cut off from society. The time when you seriously can't afford to put the heating on and you survive on the tiniest portions of lunch. I like old people, they just know so much and I think that it is very important to teach my children to respect them. I always to talk to my elderly neighbour and it is a joy although there is a real sadness in his eyes when he talks about the wife he has lost and how his ability to keep on top of the house and garden is dwindling. Last year I knitted two hats for this Innocent Smoothie's Big Kni t so it hasn't been too hard to improve on that. Just in case you have never seen them, Innocent Smoothies wear little hats during the month of November and for each one that is bought, Innocent Drinks donate 25p to Age UK .

Crochet and my bike are two features of my daily life, so it's only natural that I should try to combine the two. I've recently got a new bike. I loved my old one so much but the brakes didn't work, the back tyre was cracking and the gears were all but destroyed a couple of years ago in a fight with a carrier bag. This would be my dream bike, possible a little darker on the mint but certainly the combination with the tan leather. When it came to choices for a new bike, I was hugely disappointed. Of course budget is always a limitation even for the most well-healed and despite there being such a thing as a hybrid (traditional and mountain bike combined), there was nothing I fell in love with. Although I do like the image of myself floating around on a beautiful vintage bike looking pretty, I do actually need a bike that works well, with gears as I often have to get from a to b at a speed of knots laden down with my life. (This is the decal sticker on the back of my

It's that time of year where all the digging, weeding and watering finally pay off. Each trip I make to the allotment,  results with my bike being so laden with goodies that I have to cycle home at a snail's pace.   I love the idea that the majority of ingredients for a recipe have been homegrown and have a huge amount of fun inventing new recipes to match my supplies. It's like the opposite of buying the ingredients for a recipe.    This year has been totally fab for tomatoes, despite being a little later than usually I now have a bumper crop. The simplest way to make a tomato sauce is to roast them in the oven, with a little chopped onion, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.  If you are fussy about tomato skins, let them cool and peel them first but I just give them a blast with my hand blender, straight from the oven.   Next thinly slice a courgette (once again it has been an excellent season). Chop and wilt some rainbow chard. T

The summer holidays can be a riot of chaos, with breaks in routine, habits disrupted and a whole host of excitement throwing any schedules into disarray. Sometimes I like it, the "anything could happen" feeling but it does seem that the children need that security of knowing what we are doing. In previous school holidays, the question "what are we doing today?" has wrangled my nerves almost as much as "what's for lunch / tea?" I've been back at work for over a week, although the students have only been in for tge last couple of days. In some ways I am looking forward to there being a little more structure to our lives but I do so wish the summer could really be endless.   At the start of the holidays I introduced the "half an hour reading after lunch" rule. It took a bit of work for the children to accept it as a habit but it has worked well. It's the enforcement of a rule that's tougher than the rule itself. The childr