Hestia's wet weekend

The rest of you Darn Sarf may be basking in record-breaking October temperatures, but we up here in the land of the Pict and deep-fried Mars Bar are positively trench-footed from the wet stuff falling from the skies.

So, what does your Domestic Goddess do when it's wet?

First of all, she Facebooks until she is quite fractious from the constant clicking. Then she stands and looks out of the window for a bit.  Then she gets out her camera and does this:

Nuit D'ete

Do you remember that I blew an exorbitant sum on bulbs and tubers earlier this year?  Well, this is the dahlia.  It's not exactly black, but it is dark purple, so it's A Stayer in the border.  

I'm thinking that a dahlia is actually very beautiful really, when you strip away the stuffiness of Horticultural Show benches. Time for the dahlia to make a come back in YOUR garden next year?

Anyhoo, I also bought some African Lilies, or Agapanthus - of which nary a sign yet - but they've got another 12 months to come good.  Plus Tartarus has forgotten all about them, so I'm not yet getting the rolling eyes and sniggering when I settle down to watch Monty Don of a Friday evening.  But if they don't show up next year, I've a feeling that my seed catalogues will be confiscated.

I also bought some crocosmia, Lucifer, which is supposed to be a fiery red.  It has flowered looking like this:

Which is not really a red inspired by the horrors of hell, is it? Sort of orange? Just my eyesight?  Anyway, it's got another year to show me what it can do.

After I have snapped at the flowers, I return inside and watch the rain continue to fall.  Any second now, an Ark is going to drift down the street....

Instead of waiting for the End of The World, I decide to make muffins.  Gingerbread muffins from the Good Food Channel recipe box.  This is the second time that I've made them. Except this time I put new batteries in the scales and as a result, I don't have half a hundredweight of butter icing looking for a good home.

These are as tasty as Hugh Jackman just wearing a pair of socks.  

Sadly, my icing bag set could not cope with the pressure of my icing technique and promptly ripped up the back, covering me in butter icing.  Which my son obligingly scraped off my apron with a sharp knife and ate off the blade.  I'm anticipating an 'I Feel Sick' moment very shortly.

I then managed to complete this:

It's called the Birds of the Druid Tradition - 1000 pieces and that owl is tricky character, BUT the frequent repeating pattern on the border was enough to send a woman mad enough to sit in the downstairs toilet rocking back and forth with the mp3 player locked onto Move Like Jagger for 30 minutes straight.

One wonders whether they had seen the dancing skills of Mr J before they immortalised him in the song.  He dances like he's having a seizure.  Or am I missing something? Love the track though.  And yes, love Jagger too ;-)

Tomorrow I am going out and possibly OFF the island.  

What are you doing this weekend?