Domestic Science

There was a short sharp shower just before I got up. This the first rain for several weeks and didn’t last for more than a few minutes. By the time I was up and making coffee, the patio was already drying out. It was bright, but very humid and remained humid throughout the day.

I had my usual call with the cousins. Chris was having trouble with a new computer and couldn’t get the camera to work, Maggie was fresh back from a couple of weeks on a narrow boat with her younger brother and nephew. The rest of us had little to add to raise the excitement level even higher. 

Other than this morning’s call with the Empson cousins, my day has been focussed on domestic science. There was a load of laundery to be washed, and a pile of ironing to press. It didn’t take too long, but was enough for me to enter a Zen-like state - I find ironing very relaxing. After that I had to start on my curry. There was a kilo of diced beef shin that needed to be cooked. The usual recipe (adapted from Nadia Hussein) was followed and the beef has been simmering in huge pot for more than four hours now. The smell is fantastic. I’ll turn it off soon and allow it to cool enough to portion into containers to store in the freezer (keeping back sufficient for tonight’s dinner).

Diane’s blood pressure was quite low today so we only had a short walk - though we might repeat it later.