A LAZY SUNDAY

Having had three nights in a row with practically no sleep I felt disinclined to do very much work today. I did not sleep at all until about six thirty and was awake by eight thirty,very weary and with a fog where my brain should be. My son and I had tea together and after packing him off to bed I went downstairs to make some breakfast. Pa was up! After I had recovered from the shock I made him a coffee and set about boiling two eggs each and making plenty of bread and butter soldiers and a pot of strong tea. Pa was feeling energetic today and was inclined to clean out the under stairs cupboard, I managed to talk him out of it as he always makes a terrible mess doing it and I had no desire to spend the afternoon sifting through piles of plastic loo roll wrappers, empty cat food cartons and the host of other ephemera to which he always seems to be attached.

I cleared the kitchen and Pa fed the birds, this is quite a big job as we have about fifteen feeders, it is well worth the trouble to be able to sit at the table eating a meal and watching such delightful visitors as Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Robin, Wren and a quartet of different types of Tit to name but a few. I trundled off down the lane to cut some sprays of red Pyracantha which grows almost wild in places,these with some sprays of ivy flowers and the odd red sunflower from the garden made a brave display for the kitchen table housed in an old tin milk jug.
I brought six small yellow courgettes,two knobbly gourds and a small Crown Prince pumpkin in from the garden,the cold nights will soon finish off the plants and I observed that the tomatoes already looked shrammed, as we say up north.
Dinner tonight was a baked pasta dish.

CHILLY NIGHT PASTA BAKE
I bag fresh penne
8 rashers of streaky bacon
four small yellow courgettes
1 tub of garlic roullade
4oz cheddar cheese
4 oz Cheshire cheese
1 .5 pints of milk
2oz butter
3oz plain flour
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to you taste.
Cut the bacon into small pieces in fry gently until the fat runs out, then add the finely chopped onion, crushed garlic and sliced courgette and stir-fry gently until the fat is absorbed
put a large pan of water on to boil and in a two pint saucepan melt the butter then add the flour and cook for about three minutes.(If you do not want to faff about use cornflour to thicken the sauce.).
Add the milk and whisk well or it will form nasty lumps, cook for another two minutes and then add the grated cheddar cheese. Cook the pasta in the boiling water until it begins to soften and stir in the garlic roullade then add the bacon onion, courgette and garlic mix, place in a large oven proof dish and pour the cheese sauce over the top. Sprinkle on the Cheshire cheese and bake at 180c for about twenty minutes.
This dish is not for the calorie obsessed but it is guaranteed to warm you up on a cold night. This quantity will serve four to six people depending how hungry you are and can be served with any type of salad you like.
The cat Twiggy spent the morning cavorting about the garden chasing the flying leaves and adorning the kitchen step with her trophy collection of dead mice. When it began to rain heavily she gave up and took herself off to the bedroom where she lay stretched on the quilt until dinner.
I have enjoyed my lazy Sunday, tomorrow it will be every man for himself again as my son starts his week off. If I do not sleep tonight I think I shall employ someone to hit me on the head with a lump hammer at about midnight tomorrow, that should do the trick!